Weekend report September 11 - 12

Another one-day weekend.

Saturday was clear with 6000 foot cloudbases. The clouds dried up early, but the lift continued right up till sunset.

On Saturday Andy took an "early" flight in PM, and landed early by choice (something to do with fatherly duties). His flight was long enough to beat Tom (TH) by less than a kilometer on the OLC. It's a good thing he didn't know it at the time.

Mike (PM), Rich (3J) and Christopher (3J) all flew locally. Paul K and Rick had a nice long flight in the 2-33, but they spoiled Bill's plan to take a guest up for a ride. Someone suggested that a radio would have been useful in that situation.

The best flight of the day was a tossup between Evan's long distance flight (T8) and Sonny's long duration flight (KX). You decide.

The Saturday cookout was cooked outside, but we moved indoors for dining purposes. It's getting to be that time of year.

Sunday was cool and overcast. Nobody showed up!

Weekend report August 7 - 8

Much of what follows is hearsay; I was away for most of the weekend.

Our spring-like August weather continued through Saturday, and we had 13 flights. By mid-afternoon, cloudbase was over 7000 MSL. Once again, Evan led the way with a 271 km flight in T8 to Morrisville, Sugarbush, and Dean.

Steve made a nice 107 km triangular flight to Bailey, Hanover, Mt. Cube and home in PM. Skip, master of the zigzag, went 10 km further in JS. Sonny (KX) took the "per ardua ad astra" award by flying to Franconia, landing, and bumming a ride back to Dean from the FSA towplane - from which release point, he soared home to Post Mills.

Sam, Christopher, Keith, Paul N, Moshe, and Alexander flew locally at Post Mills while Thomas instructed and Bob towed.

On Sunday, the conditions were so good for instructing that Thomas flew eleven times (Thanks, Thomas!) Thomas's list of student pilots included Chris, Paul K, and Christopher, who is getting ready for his Private Pilot flight test. It was nice to see club founder and former instructor John Gass getting back into practice in the 2-33. John's son Ryan is our newest student.

At the end of the day we had two first-in-type flights: Alexander in the 1-23, and Matt in the 304. Congratulations to both!

Weekend report July 31 - August 1

We had excellent flying both days this weekend. On Saturday, Evan's 347 km flight was eclipsed by Alexander's first solo, a two-hour flight in the 2-33:




Sonny attempted a 5-hour flight in KX, but fell short by 20 minutes. Tim (PM) flew to Barnard, Stowe, and return for 227 km. Kevin (6Q) raced around his 100 km speed triangle, but failed to break his own state speed record. Thomas (ZP) also made a nice cross-country flight, but, as usual, refused to submit his flight log.

Although Sunday was reported as a little bit trickier, Evan managed to go two more kilometers (349) in T8, on a trip to Belvidere mine, Sugarbush and Franconia. Skip (JS) and Kevin (6Q) got late starts, but were able to add 62 and 70 km to the club total, respectively.

Meanwhile, back at Post Mills, Jason, Chris, Alexander, and Paul K flew with each other in the 2-33. Tim's contribution was to break the brake in the Blanik.

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.

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!

Weekend Report July 19 - 20

Only two flights on Saturday and none on Sunday. On Saturday, the difference in ages between the two pilots who flew probably set a record. Sam D took his third lesson in the Blanik, and Tom H flew 3J. The lift was ragged to non-existent, and the quotidian thunderstorm put an early end to that day. Pete, Tom and Sonny assembled KX and rearranged trailers.

The Sunday weather was typical - rain all day. We haven't flown on a Sunday at Post Mills since May 25 (eight weekends ago!) We've had a lot better weather during the week this year, especially on Tuesdays.

Perhaps we should be going to church more often.

Franconia Encampment July 3 - 7

You can tell how much we were looking forward to our Franconia encampment this year by the level of activity during the week leading up to the 4th of July weekend. Charlie and Rick dragged the 1-23 and the Silent to Franconia Tuesday morning. On Wednesday, Pete showed up at Post Mills to help pack up and work on trailers. Andy and Rich aerotowed the Blanik on Thursday afternoon, and Tim towed the golf cart. We were completely ready to fly on Friday morning, and a good thing, too. We had three perfect weather days, and we used them all.

FRIDAY FLYING
Rick was the first to launch in the Silent, humbly accepting an aerotow from Bob D. John Good followed and the two had an interesting struggle together on the lower slopes of Cannon Mountain. Eventually the day heated up, and John was able to complete a grand tour of Northern New Hampshire and Vermont (Colebrook, Newport, Jay Peak, Mansfield, Moosilauke) in the Discus 2. Respectable XC performances were also turned in by T8, who visited Post Mills, and ZP, who wasn't carrying a flight recorder. Thomas also wasn't carrying a checklist to remind him to retract the undercarriage following release. I think that everyone who spotted him in the air that day mentioned it to him that evening.

Back home, local flights were enjoyed by Skip (JS), Andy (PM), Mike (PM), Paul (S1), and Tim (PM), all of whom had flight recorders. For some reason, none of the Blanik, 1-23, 1-35, or Silent pilots seemed to care about recording their flights. We made 23 flights in all.

FRIDAY NIGHT
The annual cookout-meeting at Arethusa started shortly after flying and lasted till the wee hours. The culinary volunteers, led by Judy, outdid themselves once again. The performance of her husband the grillmeister was slightly above average once again as well. There were 40 celebrants, including Herb Weiss and Jim David from the Franconia club.

Tony called a club meeting to order around 8pm. The only agenda item was the presentation of our annual awards. The Most Enthusiastic New Member of 2007 was Jason Cohen, whose parents were there to congratulate him. The Babs Nutt award, given for the highest altitude achieved in the previous year, went to Steve Voigt, who made it to 25574 feet on October 21.

And while the David Shapiro Trophy is not a club award, we were happy to present it to Evan Ludeman, the 2008 New England Gliding Champion. The trophy also makes a good mount for a 4th of July sparkler.


SATURDAY FLYING
On Saturday, Paul, Evan, Tim, Skip, and Rich were able to prove where they went on a day that was consistently good. You can see Mount Washington in the photo on the left (click to enlarge). It is hard to complain about lift of 5 knots to 7300 feet. A few of us made the pylon turn around the MW Observatory, and Tony did it for the first time. We don't know where Thomas went, but from all accounts, he had his wheel retracted during the flight. Sonny proved that he has what it takes to get his Silver Duration leg by flying for 4 hours and 58 minutes in KX. Tom, Jason, and Pete had nice flights in 3J, with Tom demonstrating that you don't really need a 3000 foot tow at Franconia.

I wish I could say that we were just as careful on the ground as we were flying. We managed to poke a hole in the screen house with a wingtip, and we gave a scare to a FSA pilot by deciding to launch while their 2-33 was in the pattern.

The Saturday night cookout was an informal reprise of the night before. Mary emptied out her refrigerator, and leftovers were collected by all hands. The party was at Arethusa, of course, and someone calculated that Judy and Andy presided over about 80 meals during the course of the weekend.

There was a debate about whether to attend the fireworks at the Mount Washington Hotel, as tradition would dictate, or to roll down the hill to the newly-established and much more convenient display in downtown Franconia. In the end it turned out that the Hotel fireworks were not actually at the Hotel, and the Franconia show was at least as good. We may have established a new tradition.

SUNDAY FLYING
Overall, Sunday's weather was excellent, but the soaring conditions were inconsistent. I saw 7 knots on the averager once, and Skip reported 10 (I think he was hypoxic at the time). There were also significant quiet periods, when you were happy to be climbing at all. Tim, Rich, Steve, and Evan all earned OLC points, but Rick did not. Jason soloed the Blanik (twice). The usual suspects flew 3J for a total of about 5 hours, which is a pretty good accomplishment in a shared glider. Thomas made a 4-hour XC flight, still without a flight recorder. It was nice to see Andy Lawrence getting back into flying shape on a 1.5 hour flight with John Good in the Blanik. It was also nice to say hello to a strangely familar looking fellow named Lane.

Tony tried to repeat his summiting of Mount Washington, but wound up landing at Twin Mountain airport. His aeroretrieve was so efficiently performed that he hardly missed any flying that day.

Flying lasted until fairly late, which meant that packing up required a lot of volunteer effort. Thanks to Charlie, Tim, and Andy Lawrence for doing the ground hauling, and to Rich and the other Andy for air hauling the Blanik back to Post Mills.

MONDAY
A pleasantly warm summer day, perfect for picnicking, but lousy for soaring. Our timing this year was perfect. We retrieved the last two trailers, and Thomas went out and bought a flight recorder, in plenty of time for next year's encampment.

SUMMARY
We made 61 flights in 11 gliders. Our total time in the air must have been about 100 hours. The L-19 climbed something like 150000 feet hauling us up, with most of the tows provided by one guy (Thanks, Bob!) We were able to give rides to family members Elizabeth, Sam, Jeff, Renee, Zack, and Kelly. We had a first-solo-in-type, a first summiter, and enough OLC points to allow us to pass NESA in the standings. We renewed our relationship with FSA. The instructor got to fly (Thanks, Andy and John!) We had outstanding parties (Thanks, non-pilots!), and we were even considerate of the wildlife.


I can't wait till next year!

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.