Wave Camp 10/10/16

Dennis sent in some pictures of his and Evan's flight in the Blanik.  They got up to about 14,000'.

Wave Camp Coordinator

From what I saw all the aircraft, equipment and fuel got up to Gorham and back with little drama.  We are a good team.  Thanks to everyone for their efforts and especially Dennis who took on the roll of Camp Coordinator.

Tim

Private Pilot

Friday was a spectacular late summer day, with lots of activity at Post Mills Airport.  We had scientists doing aerodynamic experiments on the runway, and bunch of volunteers working on a new exhibit in the museum.

But the highlight of the day involved actual flying, as it should.

Kasie Cavagnaro drove her dad to the field to do some flying with Bill Stinson. Dennis and Bill took the 2-33 up for a variety of exercises, and when it was over, they were ready to pose for pictures. Congratulations to Dennis Cavagnaro, our club's newest Private Pilot!

And thanks once again to our indefatigable examiner, Bill Stinson, who has done so much for gliding in our region.

Five days in a row

We've had some really great weather recently. The slackers and the regulars combined for another "five day weekend," ending yesterday, with a total of 31 flights.

WEDNESDAY
Tim (PM) took a high tow on Wednesday, hoping for wave. The forecast said it was a possibility, but the wind had died down by the time he took off. He turned it into a nice 3.5 hour flight in thermals, visiting Goose Pond, Cookeville, and Strafford.

THURSDAY
Dennis made the trip to Post Mills to work on patterns and landings. After the last one, there was nobody left on the airport and no hurry to put the glider away. We stood around talking and enjoying the late afternoon sun. A perfect day to be outside in a beautiful setting.

FRIDAY
Dan and Greg showed up and Karl flew in. The weather was good, but the thermals were a bit widely spaced. Greg had his first extended flight in PM, and Dan flew 3J for about an hour - twice.

SATURDAY
It rained a bit on Friday evening, and the forecast for Saturday was pessimistic and completely wrong. The day turned out fine for flying, if not for soaring.  Tim towed early, and Andy took over for the rest of the day.

Kevin started things out by flying PI with a guest and then had to leave. Mike and Sonny showed up to help out but didn't fly. Greg and Andy Lawrence had short flights. Mark had a good day: 3 flights in two gliders with two instructors.

But the best time was had by Dennis Cavagnaro, who made his first solo in a sailplane!

It was a bit too cool for a water dunking, so we used leaves instead.

Dennis saw me coming with the bucket, and he didn't know it wasn't water.

SUNDAY
We had another frontal passage Saturday night, and Sunday was windy. We put student flying on hold, hoping that it would calm down toward the end of the day. In the meantime, we had a day of maintenance, standing around, and socializing, with a little bit of flying thrown in.

Tim, who started our five day weekend, finished it off with another 2 hour, 114km flight in PM. He heard Evan on the radio somewhere in New York (Evan, apparently, is slowly making his way home after finishing second in the Region 4 contest. Good job, Evan).

Karl made it to 7000 feet in 3J, and found so much lift in the pattern that we thought he was going to land somewhere else.

Then something strange happened. The wind and the lift both quit in the middle of the day. Late launchers Skip and Mike found nothing at all, and flight instruction suddenly became possible. John Lippman had a pair of flights with Thomas, and Bob flew with Rick. Dennis capped off the day with his second solo.

Five straight days of flying. Congratulations to all.  Anybody want to go for six?

Lightweights

I think we should have a new membership category.

I was a student pilot when hang gliders first became popular. In those days, their safety record wasn't very good, and I was told by my instructor that I was smart to stay away from that thrill-seeking cult of daredevils.

I have to admit that it was easy to adopt the prejudice that those guys weren't real pilots, and that they were just an aerial version of a motorcycle gang. I had never met one, and they were easy to ignore.

I was already totally immersed in gliding when paragliders came around, so they were easy to ignore, too.

Over the years I have become vaguely aware of the advances made by hang glider pilots, both in the capabilities of their aircraft and in their attitude toward safety. The USHPA is a mainstream organization with over 10000 members - they can't all be outlaw bikers, right? Also, I began to meet sailplane pilots (Rick Roelke, Steve Arndt, Tim Donovan, Tim Chow) who had a background in foot-launching, and they didn't seem crazy at all.

At the beginning of this season I was comfortable in my belief that there are two different sports, and that I am interested in only one of them. That suddenly changed when I met Greg Hanlon, Dan MacMonagle, and Dennis Cavagnaro, cult members all, who joined our club all at once.

I have to say that these guys know a lot about micro-meteorology and its application to soaring. And they really know how to fly. Here's a picture of Greg outclimbing a sailplane (which one, anybody know?) at Newport, NH.

It has been a real eye-opener for me as the person tasked with introducing these guys to sailplanes. Learning, in this case, has definitely been a two-way street.

Here's what I have learned:

They are really good at thermaling and knowing when to stay and when to go. They are really bad at using the rudder properly. They are really good at looking where they're going. They are really bad at aerotow (at least at first). They are just mediocre at keeping the home field within range. They are really good at helping other people fly, fixing things that are broken, and partying after flying.

For their part, they have learned (I hope) not to dive or do S-turns on final, not to pay too much attention to 200-foot fields, and not to throw their bodies around the cockpit when we hit a bump.

These guys are in a class by themselves, and we need a new membership category for them. They aren't Students, Private Owners, or 304 pilots, and, so far, only one of them is a Weekday Slacker.

All we need is a name for their sub-group. ("Hell's Angels" is already taken). Hey, I know...

Lightweights