Weekend report May 25 - 27

After a disappointing three weekends, the month of May finally produced some decent weather for the Memorial Day long weekend.

In a reversal of what normally happens around here, the weather was much better than forecast.  Unfortunately, the pessimists who believed the forecasts missed out on Sunday, the best flying day of the year so far.

Saturday was a training day, mostly.  Henry and Michael each had two flights, and we met Rick Walters, who has joined the club, and who will be bringing his ASW-24 to the field soon.  Skip did his field check and did a nice job with a non-standard landing pattern.  Kari (2C) practiced some more.  Tim towed all day, and we were able to put everything away before the rain showers started around dinnertime.

There was no instructor scheduled for Sunday, and there were only four flights!  Pete (3BA) flew all over the place and came home after a little more than 3 hours.

Both Don (JM) and Skip (JS) had good flights, but they both had flight recorder failures, so we won't be able to see their flight logs.  At the end of the day, Moshe (RU) showed up and was able to get 1.5 hours in the Russia.

Finally, on Monday, we had a normal turnout.  Moshe flew in the 2-33 with two students - Fred and Henry - and everyone else flew solo.  There were good climbs to 7000 feet once the day got going, and Paul (S1), Greg (JD), Tim (BU), and Evan (T8) all managed to stay in the air most of the day.  It took Dennis (DC) and Karl (HK) two tries, but they managed good flights as well.  Karl claims he got to 9300 feet in wave, but he doesn't have a flight recorder, so we don't know whether to believe him.  Pete (3BA) had another long flight in the Blanik, and just as the overcast moved in at the end of the day, Peter showed up and flew 505, just to prove that the lift had died.

Dan (EA) had an opportunity to land out at his home field, but he managed to get back to Sterling.

Outside of flying, we had a terrific weekend of volunteerism.  Thanks a million to Fred, Henry, Don, Pete, and new member Sam Strohl, who manned the golf carts, ran ropes, moved a trampoline, mowed grass, and pumped gas.  Pete, who had to go back home today, de-greased the towplane, washed, waxed and repaired the 304 trailer - and organized the clubhouse, which included putting up some nice pictures.

PMSC at the races

They've been running the ridges at the Region 2 contest in central Pennsylvania.

Our guys (Dan and Evan) are having a great time and are doing well, for a couple of ASW-20 drivers.  They are competing in the combined Standard/15m class, so their high wingloading, combined with their handicap keeps them competitive.

On Wednesday, Evan won the day, flying 212 miles at 83 mph.  Dan flew a bit too fast and fell off the ridge, going from 100 mph to a landing in just 4 minutes.

Yesterday, they assigned a "Long MAT," which is intended to be too long to complete.  You're supposed to collect as many turnpoints as possible in (at least) 4 hours before dashing for the finish line.  It also requires you to program about a dozen points into your glide computer before takeoff.

Dan must have programmed it right, because the preliminary results show that he won the day!  He averaged 90 mph over 5 hours.

Evan decided to maximize his distance, rather than his speed, and was actually able to claim all the turnpoints before coming home 15 minutes before sunset.  His total was 622 miles (1001 km), having spent about 8 hours in the air, and he got OLC credit for 856 km - the 4th best flight in the world that day.

Today is the last day of the contest.  The final results will be published here.

Slacker day

After the crummy weekend, everybody was looking for a good day to go flying.  Wednesday was nominated, and when the day came, the usual suspects bolted from their day jobs.  One of them didn't even bother to change into his flying clothes as he went out the door.

In all, 8 pilots made 10 flights.  The weather wasn't quite as good as we wanted.

Don wrote:

The day started out breezy and improved as the afternoon progressed. Thermals were around but all chopped to pieces by the wind. During my brief flight, indications were northerly in the 20s-30. At 3000-5000’. 

Flights that started later in the day tended to stay up. Tim (BU) and Moshe (RU) made two flights, so had twice the fun. I had to leave before Tim/Dennis/Moshe returned so don’t know their stories. Eric (NT) started early and made it to Mt Washington and back. Kari (2C) made an hour plus flight in his Jantar.

Don took this picture of Moshe on his first flight.  Note the scummy sky and lack of cumulus.

Peter and Dennis (DC) made long local flights later in the day, both over 2.5 hours.

Weekend report May 18 - 19

We were rained out on Saturday and the first half of Sunday.  Around 3pm on Sunday, Tim came over and woke up the instructor, who was napping on the job.

We squeezed in four flights at the end of the day.

Weekend report May 11 - 12

On Saturday Tim (BU), Dan (EA), and Greg (JD) launched early and zoomed up to the White Mountains.  Evan instructed for as long as he could stand it, and then he jumped into T8 and joined them.  When he got to the wave at Mount Washington, he made that fantastic climb that was previously misreported.

On Sunday, Evan was back on the field, and this time he made more instructional flights than anyone can stand (7).  The beneficiaries were Chris, and Michael.  While that was going on, Paul and Dennis shared two flights in the Blanik.

25 mph UP

The speed limit in the village of Post Mills is 25 mph.  Evan (T8) exceeded that, vertically, at Mount Washington on Saturday.

Remote slacking

And Dan (EA) seems to have stumbled into some wave on a flight out of Sterling.

Slacker report May 6

It's hard to tell from far away, but it seems the Slackers had a good day on Monday.

Moshe (RU), Greg (JD), Don (JM), Tim (BU), and Dennis (DC) all posted their flights.

It's a tough job, but at least the coffee is free

New glider

Congratulations to Kari on the first flight of his Jantar Standard!

Tied with Florida