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.