Editor comments

Abstract

Editor’s comments

Information on the upcoming XXX OSTIV Congress is on the next four pages.  The Congress will be held 24 July to 8 August 2010 in Szeged, Hungary.  Please plan on submitting your studies and attending the Congress so we can all learn from each other! 

Technical Soaring relies primarily on the Congresses for content although unsolicited manuscripts are received from time-to-time.  For example, for the August 2008 Congress in Lüsse-Berlin, 48 papers were submitted, 40 were presented and 27 manuscripts were received.  As of this issue, 23 have been published, 1 is in review and 3 were withdrawn.  As of 1 June 2010, the press deadline for this issue, 21 papers have been submitted (a list is on Page 51).  So, TS needs you to present your studies in Hungary this summer.

This issue continues the publication of papers presented at the 2008 Congress.  Trappe and colleagues present a lucid description of the testing of state-of-the-art glass fiber reinforced plastics.  And, Hartmann and Löser present a possibly revolutionary system for countering adverse yaw on the new big-winged sailplanes.

The following persons located the reviewers and supervised the reviews of the papers in this issue: Guest Associate Editor Christoph Kensche (Trappe, et al. paper) and Associate Editor Helmut Fendt (Hartmann-Löser paper).  To assure accuracy of the published manuscripts, each senior author received a ‘galley-proof’ for corrections-only prior to publication.  I applaud the team that made this issue possible in a timely manner: associate editors, peer-reviewers, authors, copy-editor/layout person, printers and distributors.  Thank you! 

The World Meteorological Organization Technical Note No. 203 “Weather forecasting for soaring flight”, authored by a team from the OSTIV Meteorological Panel, was published in the Spring 2009.  Copies can be obtained either from the OSTIV at www.ostiv.fai.org (bookshop) or from the WMO at

www.wmo.int/e-catalog/detail_en.php?PUB_ID=535&SORT=N&q=.

Technical Soaring is online at journals.sfu.ca/ts/ and compliments the print copy; the print copy will continue for the foreseeable future.  The main benefits of being online are use of color, access to back-issues and, as members choose to terminate receiving print copies, saving OSTIV money.  You must be a paid-up-member to have complete access to TS online and OSTIV must have your e-mail address.  So, please either mail your name and e-mail address to OSTIV c/o TU Delft, Faculty Aerospace Engineering, Kluyverweg 1, NL-2629 HS Delft, The Netherlands or e-mail the information to l.m.m.boermans@tudelft.nl.  TS online is open to non-members for titles and abstracts.  Currently, non-members cannot access complete papers.  A quick-start guide to access TS online is at www.ostiv.fai.org.

You are invited to send me comments on papers so a useful dialogue with the author(s) can occur in Technical Soaring.  Guidelines for comments can be found on the Technical Soaring website at

journals.sfu.ca/ts/. 

Congratulations to our honorary member Dr. Joachim Kuettner on his 100th birthday, 17 September 2009.  In a worthwhile video interview from August 2009 (bit.ly/2hnKPb), Kuettner reflects on an unexpected detour after he arrived in the United States in the late 1940s to work at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Cambridge MA.

Finally, please, submit a paper to the upcoming Congress.  If you cannot attend, I’ll find a knowledgeable colleague to present your studies and provide you with the ‘instant’ and valuable peer-review.  Thank you!

Ward Hindman

OSTIV Chief Editor and Technical Soaring Editor

hindman@sci.ccny.cuny.edu, www.ostiv.fai.org (editor), journals.sfu.ca/ts/