Mishap

Sorry to report that a couple of days ago (that gusty day that made most of us glad to be on the ground), the Stemme S-10VT based at Morrisville swerved off the runway and bashed into Moshe's glider at its tiedown.

It could have been worse. Preliminary reports indicate that Moshe will need a new canopy and turtledeck. Damage to the Stemme is unknown.

Tough luck, Moshe. At least now you have an excuse to come to Post Mills to fly.

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.

July summary

Despite 25 days of below-normal temperatures and eight inches of rain, July was a pretty good month for us. We flew on 12 different days, from four sites. Seven gliders (3J, 7H, KG, PM, S1, S2, T8) flew 1544 kilometers, a total that includes 129km and 137km flights by Tony and Thomas that didn't make it onto the OLC.

We have lots of flight recorders now. Don't leave home without one.

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.

The Weekday Slackers strike again

It wasn't too difficult to see the good weather coming last Sunday. A well-defined cold front was forecast to pass through in the evening, and we could see from the map that it would be followed by high pressure and light winds.

However, it was difficult to pick the right day.

Kevin predicted that Wednesday, May 13, would be the day. A Slacker Alert went out Sunday evening. The second-guessers chimed in with alternative days. A few of us were convinced that Wednesday would be too late for the peak conditions and made plans to fly on Tuesday. But in the end, Kevin was absolutely right, and Wednesday turned out to be the best day we've seen around here in seven years.

The participants, in order of takeoff, were Evan (T8), Tony (7H), Tim (PM), Paul (S1), Kevin (6Q), Skip (JS), and Rick (S2), slackers all.

(Paul's flight log was glitchy and couldn't be analyzed properly. We have asked OLC to analyze it manually. Here's an image of his flight; click to enlarge. Update: it's OK now.)

We were assisted by a pair of transient airplane pilots who arrived in a Cessna 182 as we were assembling. They were visiting Post Mills after reading about us in the AOPA article.

The first takeoff occurred at 1130. Just before closing the canopy, Evan commented, correctly, that we should have been launching an hour earlier.

What a day! The best thermals averaged an honest 7 knots, and everyone reported seeing 10 knots on the averager at least once. The clouds were reliable, and their bases were in the vicinity of 10000 feet. The last climb of the day was 5 knots to 6500 feet, at nearly 6pm.

The seven of us flew a total of 1826 km. Evan went the farthest at 529 km and can claim his Diamond Distance. Tim flew 316 km, visited the summit of Mount Washington, and earned his Silver Distance on the way back. Skip flew his first hundred miler, and Kevin (who outclimbed us all) completed a 100 km speed triangle. The day ended with everyone back home in the trailers and free beer for the towpilot.

If you see Thomas, ask him how his cello lesson went that day.

(The doubters who flew on Tuesday also had good flights: KG and S2).

Weekend Report October 11 - 13

Most of the action was at Gorham this weekend. Thomas (ZP) had wave flights on Saturday and Sunday totaling about 5 hours. He hasn't yet emailed or posted his flight logs. Tim (PM) also flew both days, but had flight recorder problems. Most of his flight on Sunday was recorded before the battery died. Tim made the most of his day with climbs in ridge, thermal, and wave lift, taking a side trip to Whitefield before returning to the Mount Washington wave. Skip (JS) also had a good flight on Saturday. He set a new personal solo altititude record of 12,258 feet, documented in one of the zillion photos he took that day.

Meanwhile, back at Post Mills, Jon suffered through simulated emergencies all day in the Blanik, and Gregg flew the 1-26, just to prove he could still do it. On Sunday, we discovered the reddest tree in Vermont. The picture can hardly do it justice. It's still there. The best way to see it is by Cub.

And, just to round out our presence in northern New England, Moshe (KG) reported a 3.5 hour wave/thermal flight at Morrisville on Saturday. He got to 7,900 feet.

Weekend Report May 24 - 26

One of the least welcome scenarios for a gliding club is to discover a mechanical problem with the towplane at the beginning of a long weekend. Imagine my surprise when I found the battery dead during the preflight inspection Saturday morning. Apparently, sometime after Doug parked the towplane at the end of last weekend, some vandal snuck in and left the master switch on. Luckily, there was plenty of time to fix the problem, since Kevin had arranged for an early tow.

After our slow start, we had a pretty good day. It was a bit breezy, so the guys with the new gliders decided to postpone their first flights for 24 hours. The lift was good in places, but it was difficult to relate the climbs to the clouds, which tended to hang around long after the thermal had expired. It was a fine day for local flying, checkrides, and wind practice. Andy G, Tim, Kevin, Skip and Jon all had good flights in the Blanik, and Evan zoomed around locally in T8. Tim is now a 1-23 pilot, and he made two perfect landings in 3J.

Sunday was the kind of day you think about all winter. Blue conditions, infinite visibility, and great lift. On one flight, Jon and I identified Jay Peak, Mount Monadnock, and the Adirondacks, which means we were seeing the entire state of Vermont from our perch at 7000 feet. Seven private gliders flew (KX, 7H, ZP, JS, KG, T8, S1), three of them for the first time in the hands of their happy new owners. Sonny made his first 5-hour attempt (better luck next time, Sonny), and Paul and Evan flew for OLC credit. Paul reported climbing over a snowfield on top of Moosilauke, and Evan managed to avoid landing at Franconia (twice) and Morrisville, but not Montpelier. Check out his decision to turn around at Knox Mountain. Good call.

Donn, Nancy, and Tom worked hard all day on the ground and waited patiently for their turns to fly. During Andy's one break from towing, he brushed dope on the 2-33 fuselage. It's beginning to look like a glider again. Andy G and Rich showed up for checkrides, but we weren't able to squeeze them in. Sorry, guys.

Twenty-one people attended the cookout, perhaps a record. There was plenty of food, and thanks again to all the contributors. This is well appreciated, in light of this article, whose title I find appropriate.

We had just three flights on Monday. Jon, Tom and Tim were able to get in the air before the rain moved in. Skip, Tony, and Zippy showed up to fettle their new sailplanes. We had to cut short the work on the 2-33 when a highly educated medical professional gliding student, who shall remain unidentified, managed to lock the keys inside Andy's car.

I hope that the pilots of new gliders will write about their first flight experiences.