Thursday, August 30, 2012

Slacker makes good

Congratulations to Greg Hanlon on his Private Pilot Certificate!


Greg took the day off from work, and Bill Stinson made the trip from Sugarbush to administer the test today. Christopher and Rick served as ground crew. It was a beautiful day for a flight test, and Greg made two perfect flights. That was enough for Bill, and Greg became our newest Private Pilot.

When asked who would be his first passenger, Greg was unsure. He was more interested in talking about the club rule that requires a Private Certificate before flying the 304.

The day was still young, so why not? During his cockpit checkout, Janet Frank showed up on her bike and agreed to run the wing. Greg took a high tow, found some wave, and kept PM in the air for about an hour. So congratulations again!


Monday, August 27, 2012

Weekend report August 25 - 26

After a brief holiday, PMSC News is back.

Both days of the weekend were summer-like (I guess that's to be expected in August), with haze and the threat of thunderstorms. As it turned out, the storms never came and there was lift to 5000 feet under the clouds both days.

On Saturday the turnout was relatively low, but that gave us a chance to celebrate Dan's first solo in sailplanes and to tune Greg up for his flight test. Skip and Thomas worked all day in the hot sun figuring out Skip's new one-man-rig device. We made about ten flights, with Bob doing all the towing (Thanks, Bob!)

At the end of the day, Mary, Sue, and Petey whipped up an impromptu cookout, and Thomas and Dennis provided the beverages.

Sunday was even hotter, and the lift started earlier. Dan and Greg conspired to be in the air at the same time, and we enjoyed listening on the radio as the two experienced pair-flyers chased each other from thermal to thermal. They reached the end of their allotted time aloft at about the same time their transmissions became weak. They dutifully returned. They aren't saying where they went.

Christopher, who gets full credit for working all weekend, finally got a chance to fly the Blanik. One of Christopher's projects is to install an oxygen system in that glider. It's not an easy job. Help him (or at least thank him) if you get a chance.

Probably the happiest pilot of the day was Kevin. He finally had an opportunity to go soaring on a good day in his glider. Nathan was a big help on the golf cart, and he was the photographer for Dan's solo flight.

Skip (JS) and Thomas both worked on their gliders, and Skip flew toward the end of the day. Andy Lawrence shared the 1-23 with Bill and Greg, and he shared the 304 with Doug, who stuck around to give Dennis and Rick a couple of tows at the very end.

Another second first solo

After waiting patiently both for his Student Pilot Certificate and for his instructor to return to Post Mills, Dan MacMonagle soloed the Blanik on Saturday. Congratulations, Dan!

His first solo in a sailplane lasted over an hour, and he did it again the next day. He's already talking about the 1-23.


Saturday, August 18, 2012

Uvalde radio

Today is the last day of the World Gliding Championships in Uvalde, Texas.

You can listen to the action on the radio on LiveATC.

The interesting times to listen are takeoff (1400 EDT or so), and landings (1900 EDT). In between, we will be transmitting the US Team frequency which will be interesting only when the gliders are within range.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Postcard from Uvalde

Rick sent a couple of photos:



Tres Caballeros




Concordia on the Ramp


Butler placed 16th yesterday (9th place overall) at 143 km/h over 673 km.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

World Gliding Championships - Day 3

Since Rick is busy, I thought I would blog for him.

Rick's pilot (Dick Butler) won Day 3 in the open class in the one-of-a-kind Concordia. Winning speed over the 715 km (444 miles) task was 154 km/hr (96 mph). Dick is currently in 9th place. He had a rough Day 1 and landed out (placing 23rd of 26). The competition goes on for another week. Way to go Rick (and Dick)!

In other PMSC news:

John Good is acting as Deputy Director and Task Director at the contest.

Andy L. (El Presidente) is sitting on his butt, by a lake with a cocktail.

Tim

Photograph: Pete Alexander