Blanik grounded

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Half a dozen slackers

It was a nice day today, with cloudbases reaching almost 7000 feet before it was over.

Tony (7H) took off first and flew to Cabot, then over to Dean, then...nowhere. It was another one of those missed photo opportunities. If his crew had remembered to bring a camera, we would have had another picture of a glider on the ground with a fantastic looking sky as the backdrop.

Despite his landout, Tony beat Tim (PM) on the OLC by a couple of kilometers. Tim did a double out-and-return to Cookeville and Mount Moosilauke.

Tom (TH) and Matt (89) flew locally, and Evan (T8) limped home after almost landing out at Twin Mountain (288 km, not bad).

Thomas (ZP) had a nice flight (as usual), made a textbook approach and landing (as usual), and, as usual, refused to publish his flight log. What a spoilsport.

Meanwhile, Christopher made a fuel run, endured a fuel transfer, ran wings, and generally helped out on the ground (Thanks, Christopher!)

Weekend report June 18 - 20

Well, it wasn't an official long weekend, but the Slackers made it into one.

On Friday we divided our forces and flew at Sugarbush and Post Mills. It was the first time in memory that PMSC members talked to each other in the air while flying from two different places. Tim (PM), Evan (T8), Matt (89), and Kevin (6Q) took off at Post Mills and enjoyed some nice flights in variable conditions. Evan made it to Mount Washington and announced that he expected trouble getting back. His crew didn't get too excited, and sure enough, Evan got home in time to do some towing.

Meanwhile, Tom (TH), Rick (S2), Thomas (ZP), and Tony (7H) got three tows for the price of four at Sugarbush. We ran up and down the Mad River valley, which seems to be the thing you do there.

On Saturday, back at Post Mills, we found the summerlike conditions were sufficient for local flying and lessons, but not quite good enough to go anywhere. Evan and Bill (3J) gave it a shot but elected to stay local. Our new students - Chris, Paul K, Alexander - got two flights each and all made good progress. All 14 flights were made possible by our new towpilot, Kent (Thanks, Kent).

Saturday ended with a great cookout, attended by

Andrew, Andy, Anne, Bill, Creighton, Dirk, Ella, Elinor, Evan, Gretta, Ian, Jill, Jill, Judy, Kent, Kevin, Marsha, Mary, Mike, Nathan, Olivia, Paul, Paul, Peter, Petey, Sonny, Sue, Sue, Thomas, Tom, Rich, Rick

and the food and beverage providers deserve special emphasis.

The three-day warming trend continued through Sunday. We made seven flights on a pleasant but windy day. Thanks to Thomas and Doug for instructing and towing.

Late season slacking

Today was not Kevin's day as a weatherman, and Tim is glad he installed a radio in PM.

Last night, Kevin predicted morning wave conditions for today. He and Tim showed up early and helped each other prepare 89 and PM for flight. Kevin went first and took a high tow into smooth (dead) air. As he slipped back beneath the clouds he called Tim on the ground and advised against the high tow. Tim took the advice and the two spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in thermals. Cloudbase was around 4700 feet and the lift was sometimes as strong as 6 knots.

Tim took a gamble that didn't pan out and wound up landing back home. He was off again at 2pm for another hour's flying. Kevin flew the Blanik for over three hours, which is saying something, since the entire day, sunrise to sunset, was only 10 hours long.

Tim's flights are on the OLC. Kevin's is not, because the club electronics expert put the batteries in backwards.

Weekend Report October 31 - November 1

The forecasters' bad luck streak ended on Saturday. They told us we would have a warm south wind all day, followed by lowering skies and rain by sunset. Amazingly, they were right this time.

Andy spent the early afternoon fixing the towplane's flat tire and leaky brake while the rest of us sat around and watched. By the time we were ready to fly, the sky was overcast and the wind had picked up. After a great deal of discussion about the forecast, we stood down and dispersed to our homes to hand out Halloween candy.

Later in the evening we reconvened at Skip and Laurie's for a nice chili dinner. It wasn't completely clear who the party-goers were, due to some very clever costumes. All I can say is that the celebrity guests included Little Red Riding Hood, Indiana Jenkyn, the Cat in the Hat, and King Arthur himself.

Sunday's weather was spectacular. The post-frontal winds were not as strong as forecast, and we were able to find the wave at the beginning and the end of the day, with thermals in between. In the early wave, Kevin (6Q) got to 8500 feet and Tim (PM) made it to just over 9000 feet, before making a round trip to Montpelier. Andy and Bill (89) had a long flight in thermals, and Christopher and Jason also made some good climbs. Perhaps the most interesting flight was made by Bill (3J) at the end of the day. He was in the air for the return of wave conditions and was able to make the thermal-to-wave transition twice, eventually reaching 9300 feet.

Weekend Report September 4 - 6

Our Labor Day weekend featured fun flying, fine food, and familiar faces.

The conditions were suitable for local soaring and barely adequate for modest cross-country attempts. Sunday was slightly better than Saturday, with 2 knots to 5000 feet or so.

On Saturday we had 12 flights. Tony (7H) flew the farthest, beating Andy (PM) by only 1 kilometer. Skip (JS), Sonny, (KX), and Tim (PM) had local flights. It was nice to see John Marshall, who flew with Andy in the Blanik and appears not to have lost his touch, despite a summer-long layoff. Andy also gave a ride to our new friend David McGaw who used to fly a 2-22 back in the seventies. David and Carol joined us for the cookout Saturday night.

We had 11 flights on Sunday, and we all forgot to thank Bob for making the trip here, spending his day with us, and doing all of the towing. And here's a personal plaudit for Thomas, for doing the rides and instruction on Sunday, allowing this reporter to indulge in a bit of aerial weedwhacking.

On Sunday, the regulars (Tony (7H), Skip (JS), and Andy (PM)) were joined by Rick (S2), Evan (T8), Christopher (67)^*, Andy Lawrence (3J), and Janet (89). Yes, Janet! She set her bicycle aside and took a nice hour long flight with Thomas. Has it really been six years? Welcome back!

While Tony and Evan were battling it out for first place, Andy made up for his 1 kilometer shortfall the day before, by beating Rick for second place, by the same margin.

Since it was a long weekend, we had another cookout Sunday evening. The following diners:

Andy, Andy, Andrew, Charlie, Christopher, Emma, Evan, Hans, Jane, Janet, Jill, Judy, Kevin, Mike, Nathan, Olivia, Rick, Sue, Thomas

enjoyed the leftovers from the previous day, along with the usual abundance of contributions. It is notable that the parents of public school pupils are beginning to get out a little bit more these days.

We got a late start on Labor Day due to the traditional blocking of the runway by cars, fire engines, and other strange vehicles. Monday's weather, if not soarable, was perfectly cromulent for landing practice, rides, and public relations. Following the parade, quite a few spectators showed up to watch us, and at least one took a ride.

Tim (PM, 89) can claim the distinction being the first club member to make two OLC flights on the same day, and Christopher (89) kept the Blanik in the air for as long as humanly possible.

Evan towed, Andy flew the Champ, and Rick blogged. The times, they are a'changing.

^*First solo in the 2-33, and first OLC flight by the 2-33.

Flight analysis

We had a beautiful day today, and only Matt was smart enough to go flying. I decided to analyze his flight.

Here it is (click to enlarge)

He flew from Post Mills to Moran and back. His outbound leg is the zigzag path northeast of his return leg.

His altitude is encoded in the color - blue is high and red is low. Of course, you can see his altitude more directly in the barogram, at right. He reached 5800 feet twice, at 1550 and again at 1640 EDT. The elevation of the terrrain is also indicated. With the analysis program (SeeYou), you can inspect each fix and relate each point on the barogram with the corresponding point on the map.

The program also gives you statistics. You can see from the statistics page on the left that he flew for 1:51:16 and was credited with 59.2 kilometers, even though his total path through the sky amounted to 99.8 km. (OLC, which gives you credit for zigzags, gave him 72 km). He used 16 thermals and spent 40% of his time circling. His average climb rate for the flight was 1.6 knots.

What can we learn from all this? Did he zigzag too much? Did he spend too much time circling? Could he have climbed faster? Was he lucky to get home? The answers to all these questions are subject to judgment, but if you study these statistics over the course of a season, you can draw conclusions about your flying style, compare your performance to others, and watch your flying improve. You can also earn points for the club on OLC. It's fun!

Tuesday slacking

Kevin wanted to do some flight testing of a camera mount today, so he arranged for a tow last night. The weather started to look pretty good, and a Slacker Alert was issued.

Tony (7H), Skip (JS), Christopher (89), and Tom (3J) took tows from Tim, and then Tim and Christopher took a tow in the Blanik from Rick. Finally, the "Free-tow Bandito" (S2) launched at 3:30pm.

The conditions were so-so, but we had a good time. Tony flew the farthest, 83 km.

The only guy who didn't fly was Kevin, whose plans changed at the last minute.

Weekend Report August 15 - 16

It is definitely summer. Hazy, hot, humid weather has been the norm for over a week now. Flying has become work... but there are still rewards available once you make the effort to get off the ground.

On Saturday we had some good flights. Steve (PM), Skip (JS), Evan (T8), Tony^* (7H), and Christopher (89) all put flights on the OLC. Sonny (KX) flew over to Smarts Mountain and back and made his first OLC claim, finally. Cloudbase was around 5000 feet, with higher bases in the White Mountains.

On Sunday we were defeated by extreme temperatures and humidity. Only Nancy (3J) and Steve (PM) were brave enough to fly. It must have been cooler up there; Steve stayed up for 4 hours. That makes three days in a row for Steve. He's putting time on PM at a rate that's reminiscent of Evan two years ago. Tim showed up to tow, but wound up working on the ground all day while Evan took some flight instruction in the towplane. Thanks, Tim!

Flying is fun, but the smarter move was to spend the weekend at the beach, as Mary and Sherry demonstrated. They spent the day at Wells Beach in Maine. Mary traveled by Cub. Here's a track of your reporter getting lost in the haze on a trip to pick her up at the end of the day on Sunday.

^*Omitted from the original post. Sorry, Tony!

Friday ops

We had a good flying day today, but it was trickier than it looked. The thermals were well spaced and climb rates above 2 knots were rare.

Tim (PM) flew for 3.5 hours touring central Vermont between 4 and 6 thousand feet, then climbed suddenly to 7000 feet at the end of the day. Paul N (S1) got pretty close to Morrisville, looking for Moshe (KG). They spoke to each other, but never actually rendezvoused. Moshe flew for 4.2 hours and made it as far east as Cabot (he also had the longest flight of the day, beating Tim by 0.6 km). Paul reported a long quiet glide across a blue hole between Montpelier and home. Tony (7H) made an "extended local" flight, with turnpoints at East Corinth Hammock Shop and Bethel. Steve (89), Skip (JS), and Christopher (89) had local flights. Steve took a passenger from work, which earns him double slacker points. Christopher qualified for a C-badge by flying for just over an hour, on his third solo flight.

Weekend Report August 8 - 9

Saturday was an eventful day. Bill (3J) made the news with his routine field landing in Hartland. The newspaper story got some of the facts right and all of the nomenclature wrong, as usual.

The weather on Saturday was pretty good, with variable conditions and a light northerly breeze. We put flight recorders in six gliders (7H, 89, PM, S1, S2, T8), with Jason making his first OLC flight in the Blanik. Evan took the prize with a 320km trip to Mount Washington, Caledonia, and Lebanon. Zippy and Bill did not submit flight logs, and we have not heard if Moshe flew on Saturday.

Conditions to the south were weak, especially in the river valley. This is probably what got Bill. S2 made it to Springfield, but would not have made it out of there without the on-air help of friends Ira (A1) and Bob (JS1) from GBSC and NESA, respectively. Ira flew over Post Mills twice, but landed out on the way home to Sterling.

By all accounts, the beans, chicken, and band music (in that order) at the Post Mills church were enjoyed by all who attended.

On Sunday, the weather was barely good enough for some spot landing practice in the Blanik. Matt was able to log his 20th solo flight before the rain started.

Thanks to Doug and Bob for towing. Andy is on vacation, and his absence was noted.

Two days of slacking

The Weekday Slackers had a simulated weekend of flying and enjoyed two consecutive days of decent weather.

On Thursday, after Tim's flight test, Matt, Sam, and Creighton took flights in the Blanik, and Matt's buddy Andrew took an introductory flight at the end of the day.

Our great expectations for Friday didn't pan out, but it was quite an enjoyable day nonetheless. The trick was to escape the river valley and stay in the good areas in western Vermont and in the high ground in New Hampshire. Evan (T8) had the longest flight, at 276 km, going to Morrisville, Dean, and Hanover. Paul (S1) made a similar flight, but didn't go quite as far north or south. Tony (7H) stayed in Vermont and racked up 157 km. Moshe (KG) flew about the same distance out of Morrisville. Rick (S2) attempted the crossing from Bailey to Moosilauke and wound up landing at Dean. Meanwhile, back at Post Mills, Steve struggled to get out of the river valley for two and a half hours, never getting high enough to make a dash for the cloud field. Matt (89), and the other Andy (3J) flew locally.

Eight flights on a Friday, not bad!

Playing the odds

So far this season, the good weather just hasn't been showing up on the weekends. The Weekday Slackers have figured out that it is two and a half times more likely to find good weather Monday through Friday than on the weekends. Slacking isn't very difficult; all you need is an understanding boss and a towpilot with a motorglider.

This week, Tony (7H) and Rick (S2) chased each other around Kevin's 100 km triangle in conditions that started out weak and improved throughout the afternoon. The last climb, at the second turnpoint (near Dean), went to nearly 6000 feet. That was yesterday. Today, Tim (89), Andy (PM), Paul N (S1), and Rick tried it again. The conditions were much weaker, and nobody ventured far afield. It wasn't too hard to stay up. (Tim may not agree with that. Perhaps he would have done better if his flight recorder hadn't failed.) The average climbs were less than 2 knots, and it was a struggle to get above 4500 feet. There were no clouds.

Meanwhile, The Lone Slacker (KG) put us all to shame with a terrific 226 km flight out of Morrisville. Moshe reported plenty of several nice cumulus clouds and a maximum altitude of 8000 feet.

The depressingly familiar stratus clouds returned as we were putting planes away. The weekend forecast is grim, and the Slackers have returned to standby status.

Weekend Report May 23 - 25

There are several candidates for the highlight of the weekend. The contenders are the first glider solo by Bill Swartz, the first glider flight of the season by Andy Lumley, and the Saturday cookout. There are other runners-up as well.

On Saturday we had another of those grey training days - a lot of takeoff and landing drills and not much soaring. Bob D showed up early to tow, and we completed Tim's preparation for his flight test. 

Along the way, Bill took the Blanik up by himself. He made a nice flight and reported that it was surprisingly easy without all the distractions coming from the back seat. (Click to enlarge the photo by Paul D., who has challenged Pete for the position of club photograper. More of Paul's photos here.)

The Saturday evening cookout was popular and featured a surplus of food and drink. Thanks to everyone who contributed. The under-12 set was well represented by Jane, Ellenor, Ella, Christina, Ellie, Olivia, Andrew, Nathan,  Gretta, and Maia.

PMSC - The Next Generation

The best and worst weather of the weekend both occurred on Sunday. It rained in the morning and stayed overcast until around 2pm. When the sun came out, Skip (JS), Thomas (ZP) and Andy (PM) were ready. This was Andy's first solo glider flight since last October, and we can't even remember the one before that. If you think that being Club President, Chief Tuggie, Chief Mechanic, Chief Information Officer, and Family Guy leaves plenty of time for flying, think again. We should all look for opportunities to help Andy go flying.

The last day of the weekend, Monday, was difficult.  We assembled early and stood around for a couple of hours waiting for the crosswind to abate.  Finally, Tom (Blanik), Skip (JS), Thomas (ZP), Doug (3J), Steve (3J), and Tim (Blanik) went flying.  The lift was good, but it was a struggle not to get blown away.

Some of the survivors of the Saturday cookout returned on Monday and were joined by a few who weren't able to make it on Saturday.  The leftovers were augmented and dispatched.  There were fewer kids this time.  It was a school night.