Weekend Report May 24 - 26

One of the least welcome scenarios for a gliding club is to discover a mechanical problem with the towplane at the beginning of a long weekend. Imagine my surprise when I found the battery dead during the preflight inspection Saturday morning. Apparently, sometime after Doug parked the towplane at the end of last weekend, some vandal snuck in and left the master switch on. Luckily, there was plenty of time to fix the problem, since Kevin had arranged for an early tow.

After our slow start, we had a pretty good day. It was a bit breezy, so the guys with the new gliders decided to postpone their first flights for 24 hours. The lift was good in places, but it was difficult to relate the climbs to the clouds, which tended to hang around long after the thermal had expired. It was a fine day for local flying, checkrides, and wind practice. Andy G, Tim, Kevin, Skip and Jon all had good flights in the Blanik, and Evan zoomed around locally in T8. Tim is now a 1-23 pilot, and he made two perfect landings in 3J.

Sunday was the kind of day you think about all winter. Blue conditions, infinite visibility, and great lift. On one flight, Jon and I identified Jay Peak, Mount Monadnock, and the Adirondacks, which means we were seeing the entire state of Vermont from our perch at 7000 feet. Seven private gliders flew (KX, 7H, ZP, JS, KG, T8, S1), three of them for the first time in the hands of their happy new owners. Sonny made his first 5-hour attempt (better luck next time, Sonny), and Paul and Evan flew for OLC credit. Paul reported climbing over a snowfield on top of Moosilauke, and Evan managed to avoid landing at Franconia (twice) and Morrisville, but not Montpelier. Check out his decision to turn around at Knox Mountain. Good call.

Donn, Nancy, and Tom worked hard all day on the ground and waited patiently for their turns to fly. During Andy's one break from towing, he brushed dope on the 2-33 fuselage. It's beginning to look like a glider again. Andy G and Rich showed up for checkrides, but we weren't able to squeeze them in. Sorry, guys.

Twenty-one people attended the cookout, perhaps a record. There was plenty of food, and thanks again to all the contributors. This is well appreciated, in light of this article, whose title I find appropriate.

We had just three flights on Monday. Jon, Tom and Tim were able to get in the air before the rain moved in. Skip, Tony, and Zippy showed up to fettle their new sailplanes. We had to cut short the work on the 2-33 when a highly educated medical professional gliding student, who shall remain unidentified, managed to lock the keys inside Andy's car.

I hope that the pilots of new gliders will write about their first flight experiences.