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.

A couple of weak days

Sometimes weekday operations don't pan out as expected.  We gave it a shot Thursday and Friday this week.

On Thursday, we had a nice airmass, but the day started with a discouraging amount of altostratus.  Karl, Dennis, Peter, and Rick took their time waiting for heating to start.  Karl showed off his new ID (KH) which is now displayed on his fin and trailer.  Eventually, the sky cleared and trigger temperature was reached.  Karl took off first and stayed in the air for about an hour.  Dennis (DC) crawled up to 5700 feet once and spent the rest of his 90 minute flight practicing low saves. Peter, who is getting really good at unassisted takeoffs, flew the 2-33 while thinking about getting a flight recorder.

There was only one slacker on Friday, Tim.  He and his guest took a wave tow in the Blanik (3BA), but didn't connect.  They had a nice flight in thermals and were able to reach their tow height a couple of times.

Thanks, Karl for fixing the green golf cart again.  It's running like a switch watch.