2026 Shapiro Trophy

 

For many years, there was a Region One contest, usually held in June at Sugarbush.  At first there was no permanent trophy for the winner of the competition.  That changed in 1985 when the David Shapiro Memorial Trophy was created.  The trophy honors the best glider pilot in New England and is named in memory of David Shapiro, a pilot who was tragically killed in a competition.

When the Region Onc contest fell out of fashion, the definition of "best glider pilot of the year" changed and the trophy is now awarded to the most successful cross-country pilot in the Region, as determined by the OLC decentralized competition.

Last year the winner was Evan Ludeman, and yesterday, Evan took the opportunity to present the trophy to this year's best pilot, Greg Hanlon.  Congratulations to both Evan and Greg for being the best and for combining to keep the trophy in our club for two years!

The rumor is that this is the last year of OLC.  So this probably means that the definition of "best glider pilot" will change again.  Whatever it is, PMSC pilots will be sure to take a shot at it.

Certificates - Round 3

 Just for the record:  this was peak foliage weekend at Post Mills.

Once again, Ed Winchester traveled from his club in Saratoga to Post Mills to perform some more flight tests.  His primary goal was to complete the weather-shortened practical tests of Erzo and Mathias, but in the interim, Friedrich made the final push in preparation for his test, and he was added to Ed's list of applicants.

Congratulations to Erzo Luttmer, Mathias Wahl, and Friedrich Baumeister, all of whom are now certificated Private Pilots in Gliders.

This brings the total number of new ratings this year to 12.  Nothing like this has ever happened in our club before!