Weekend report June 30 - July 6

It was a long weekend, especially if you count the preparation phase.

The preparation phase

MONDAY
Pete and Rick drove to Franconia and delivered 3J and RU.

TUESDAY
Pete and Rick drove to Franconia and delivered PM and the golf cart, and drove back home.  Then they went back to Franconia by air with the Blanik in tow, and returned to Post Mills by air.

WEDNESDAY
Pete and Rick took the day off.

THURSDAY
Evan drove from home to Franconia and dropped off his car and trailer. Andy flew to Franconia in the Champ, picked up Evan, and brought him back to Post Mills. Evan then flew the towplane back to Franconia, towing nothing. Karl towed the fuel trailer from Post Mills to Franconia. Pete drove his truck back to Franconia, towing nothing, and checked in at the establishment across the street from the airfield. This completed the preparation phase. Rick took another day off.

The flying phase

FRIDAY, the Fourth of July
The first day of our encampment was cold and fairly miserable. Henry took a couple of practice flights, which involved towing up to the ceiling of 1500 feet AGL and gliding back down.  Andy towed. The Franconia towplane was having some engine troubles, and their club asked ours to provide some tows.  This is a Fourth of July tradition.

SATURDAY
Saturday started out overcast, cool, and quite windy.  We initially thought it would be a loser of a day. Fortunately, the wind was on the ridge, and everyone who wanted to get in the air did so, with the exception of Henry, who spent the day helping everyone else fly.

The sun broke out in the middle of the afternoon, and several pilots made it into the wave. Tim (AT), Skip (JS), Dan, (EA), and Paul (S1) posted good flights, but the best one was by Andy Lawrence (PM), who reached 13000 feet. The Blanik flew several times, with Bill instructing. Rick and Dakai made it to 8100 feet on the last flight of the day, and landed at 7pm.

In all, we had 21 flights on Saturday (including a few tows for FSA, whose towplane engine was still not yielding to the ministrations of their mechanic). Andy did all the tows, allowing the other three PMSC towpilots time to enjoy their day.

Thanks to Judy's last-minute organizing, we had a traditional cookout in the back yard of the Kinsman Lodge, where a few of us were staying and a few more were camping out. A lot of people contributed, and a few probably still owe Judy a small amount for groceries. The evening ended with some low quality fireworks and some high quality stargazing.

SUNDAY
Sunday was a beautiful day from end to end. Tim (AT) took off first and was one of the last to land. He went up north and made it up to 13000 feet. Evan (T8) and Dan (EA) made it to similar heights. Moshe (RU) spent several hours practicing low saves in the vicinity of the airport, and Skip (JS), Dennis (DC), Pete (3J), and Andy Lawrence (PM) chased each other back and forth on the ridge. The Franconia club again benefited from our visiting towplane, as the consensus on the status of their engine converged on "ruined." For the third day in a row, Andy did all the tows, for a total of 46 for the weekend.

Greg organized the retrieval of all the equipment. Thanks to the hard work of Pete, Karl, Angelica, Annie, Andy Lawrence, and Andy Lumley, everything got packed up and brought back home by the end of the day.

Monday it rained. A perfect weekend. 

The only thing left to do was the laundry.

Weekend report June 7 - 8

One of the advantages of having over fifteen hours of daylight is that you don't really have to hurry to squeeze in a good flight.  If you do use the available time efficiently, however, you can accomplish some amazing things.

On Saturday, Evan was the first to take off, at 1130. Cloudbases eventually reached 6500 feet, but the thermals became strangely difficult to work below 4500.  With a limited height band, Evan stopped often, averaging less than 10 km per glide. But if you do that for seven hours, you wind up with a remarkable 508 km! He flew to a spot just south of Alton Bay, then to Mount Equinox and Mount Mansfield before coming home.

In all, we had six cross-country flights (T8, JD, 2W, EA, JS, US), for a total of 28.5 hours and almost 1500 km. This had to be a club record. On the way by Springfield, Greg spotted Dennis (DC), who was enjoying a nice three hour flight in the Ventus.

After towing the XC fleet, our towpilot Andy retreated to his hangar to work on the Champ. Henry, Moshe and Dakai coaxed him out to do three more tows of the Blanik and 2-33.

The only glider that stayed in the air later than T8 was the Blanik, with Moshe and Annie, who enjoyed a 1.6 hour flight.  Annie was the only person smart enough to send her photos to the editor.

Later, Evan broke into PMSC News to add this photo taken while tanking up at the Hungries (near Morrisville) for the ride home.  View of the sky is roughly down the course line to Post Mills, a little over 40 miles away.

If we set a cross-country record on Saturday, we broke it on Sunday!

At first the lift was weak, and after Tim (PM) fell down at noon, nobody was in a hurry to go next. Finally, at 1230, Dan (EA) took off and reported that the day had finally started.  Suddenly there was a rush, and five more took to the air (T8, JD, PM, RU, S1), and they were joined later by JS.  The seven of them flew 1845 km. Paul and Moshe flew up to Catamount, and Skip made it to Black Mountain and back, despite a late start.

The other four headed north together, initially:

Identification of the 4 tracklogs above are left as an exercise for the reader.

While all this was going on, Karl got his Blanik checkout, fixed a golf cart, and then flew the Blanik for an hour. Bill Swartz, who will have his CFI any day now, flew with Willy and Dakai and helped them get their logbooks up to date. Rich, who never seems to get rusty, showed up and gave Rick a ride in the Blanik for about an hour.  Lane, who never seems to fly, put his 1-26 together and took it apart again. Henry, who never downloads the flights recorded on his iPhone, reinstalled the variometers in 3J and took it for a test flight. Dennis (DC), who is welcome to come back to Post Mills any time, flew with NESA again. Doug, who finally got to fly PM last weekend, was trapped in the towplane all day and made 16 tows.

Weekend report May 24 - 26

Our long weekend started off rather slowly with a cool, cloudy Saturday. Paul and Sonny showed up to work on their gliders, and Evan made the long drive to Post Mills to tow. In the end, there was no flying. Dan and Greg made a fuel run, and Dennis spent the day getting more familiar with his glider and trailer. At the end of the day (just before we got the Ventus back into the trailer) we were soaked by a passing storm.

Sunday was a different story altogether. The day showed every indication of overdeveloping, with low fat cumulus clouds in all directions at ten o'clock in the morning. For reasons we don't understand, the air dried out, the clouds rose, and we got an outstanding soaring day with very little wind. The four horsemen (EA, JD, 2W, S1) galloped off together on a 260 km triangle with turnpoints at Lake Willoughby and Mount Washington. They flew the whole course as a team and arrived back home together at the end of the day. Moshe (RU) and Skip (JS) went their separate ways.

Back home, Sam accomplished his field checkout and then flew the 2-33 for an hour, reaching 8300 feet in the process. Henry took the 1-23 for a short flight and vowed to fix the variometer. Yay for that!

Moshe took this picture of the scene at the end of the day:

The only glider missing in this picture (besides the photographer's) is the Blanik. Dennis had a nice 2.5 hour flight, making a perfect landing at 6:15, thereby missing his chance to volunteer to help de-rig the other gliders.  Clever guy.

Evan, who had volunteered the night before to tow again, brought his glider just in case he wasn't needed. That didn't work out for him at all. He spent the whole day in the L-19 and didn't complain once. I like this club.

At one point during the day we met one of our neighbors. This guy came out of the woods by the creek, marched diagonally across the runway, and accosted Dennis. The neighbor, whose name is Andy, was not happy. Apparently he has been listening to airplane noise for 15 years and has decided he's had enough. He chose this weekend to tell us about it. Dennis has a lot of experience with public relations. He listened to Andy's complaint and politely asked him where his house was. Andy's reply was classic: "Ask your towpilot. He knows exactly where it is!" And stomped off.

Andy, if you're reading this, please get back in touch and tell us who you are and where you live. We promise to try to work out a solution with you.  We're sorry that nobody told you there was an airport here 15 years ago.

Once again, the weather changed dramatically overnight. Monday's leaden sky did not inspire any optimism. Nevertheless, Skip (JS) and Tim (PM) took off, struggled, and managed to connect with the elusive Post Mills Wave.  They made it to a respectable height (around 6000 feet) right over the field. It was fun to watch them flying together, standing still.

Henry and Andy Lawrence combined to fly the 1-23 four times, and they are now both volunteering to improve the instruments in that glider. Yay, again!

Our towpilot on Monday was Doug, who, like Evan, drives a long way to enable the rest of us to fly. Doug wants to get back into the 304. Let's help him do that.

Altogether, a good weekend with good weather, good flying, good stories, and good volunteerism.  The only thing NESA did better this weekend was dining. We'll do better in that category next weekend, I'm sure.

Weekend report April 27 - 28

The season got off to a roaring start this weekend.  (Actually, last season never ended; our club members flew during every month since last April. This must be some kind of record!)

We had two excellent weather days, with a few clouds on Saturday and even fewer on Sunday. Light south winds and good lift to 7000 feet, with some climbs to 9000. Just as an indication of how good the weather was, on both days Skip came home after several hours of flying and found a 10-knot climb to 7000 feet right over the end of the runway.

On Saturday Paul (S1), Skip (JS), Tom (TH), Dan (3J), Greg (JD), and Moshe (RU) flew cross-country flights or "extended local" flights, but only four of them were recorded.

The rest of us did annual field checks and ground school, the latter performed while we were waiting for Sam to come back with the 2-33.  We also had time to swap stories and learn something about the life of an air traffic controller from our newest member, Toby Bucsescu.

Our cookout Saturday night was well attended, and as is usual this time of year, we ran out of food, but not beer.

Sunday was a banner day. We were fairly efficient, having learned from all the operational mistakes we made the day before. We wore out four towpilots. The golf cart died a couple of times, but we dealt with it. The hotshots flew a total of eleven hundred miles, including Evan's record setting flight of 575 km, and Tim's 137 km flight which began at 5pm.

For the weekend: 19 glider pilots, 4 towpilots, 35 flights.

Two Sticks

As posted on rec.aviation.soaring

I'm really kicking myself for leaving my camera in my car...

Yesterday I didn't feel like rushing to finish a glider project, so I elected to do my club mates a favor and tow. Just playing my part in the "vast high wing conspiracy" (ask Gregg Ballou about that).

It was a beautiful soaring day. Late in the afternoon, I got word via radio relay that Paul had landed his LS-4 at Twin Mountain airport, which is just a few miles from Mount Washington. He requested an aeroretrieve. I've looked at this airport from as low as 1200 agl a couple times, never landed there. Now I get to go on someone else's nickel: perfect!

Paul had staged for takeoff on 27. Back at the runway threshold, the scene looked post apocalyptic: the paved runway is deteriorating badly, looks ancient. The wilderness comes right up to the runway from all over. The ground is densely covered with moss, lichens and... moose poop. Lots and lots of moose poop.

Looking around from where the glider was staged, there was no evidence of humanity other than us two pilots, two planes and an "obviously" 500 year old runway in the wilderness. It was a very weird sight. But what to do about those damned 500 year old runway lights? They're high (this is snow country) and not all that far apart!

"Paul, you need a stick." A little later "No! I've got it. Two sticks." One under each wing tip on the tip skid with a little bend in the wing to keep them put. This worked so well we could hardly believe it, but you really do need two people to set it up. Do it after you position the towplane with slack out. Piece of cake. Full throttle with brakes on, release brakes as soon as max rpm achieved. Paul held a little brake until the line went taught.

The better solution is a stick-on (suction cup, etc) wing wheel. I have one, but it was a hundred miles away from where I needed it. ...and it didn't really fit the image, anyway. The sight of that LS-4 with a couple of gnarly old branches propping up the wing tips in the wilderness was really something.

(Obviously: don't leave sticks anywhere an airplane can/will run over them.)

-Evan Ludeman / T8

Weekend report June 16 - 17

On Saturday two unexpected things happened. We had cumulus clouds and Lane showed up. In case you haven't been flying with us for 20 years, Lane Cobb was the first person to join the club after it was founded in 1988. He was quite active until 2005 when he took a short break from flying that lasted till this weekend. It's great to have him back.

In addition to being a superb pilot, Lane is an excellent source of flying stories. We reviewed some of them at the cookout Saturday night. If you haven't heard the one about his final glide into Post Mills in the 1-23, or the one about holding his breath at 18000 feet in the 1-26, or hopping over the road in the 2-33, or re-installing his instrument panel in mid-flight, or being infested with bird lice, be sure to ask him.

The first three people to arrive at the field were towpilots. Not sure what that's about. Evan found a detached spring in the L19 exhaust system, fixed it, and towed all day, including a long cross-country tow at the end of the day when he could have been drinking beer. Thanks, Evan!

The best round-trip flight of the day was turned in by Moshe (RU), who took a 225 km tour of Vermont. He crossed over to the Green Mountains at Stockbridge, went north almost to Morrisville, then home. He made his last climb at Spruce Mountain where he elected not to divert over to New Hampshire to join Paul. That turned out to be a good call. Here's a picture he took somewhere over Hancock.

Paul (S1) set out on an ambitious trip with turnpoints in northern Vermont and at Mount Washington. Things were going well until he flew into a stable airmass at Whitefield and plummeted to the ground, thereby demonstrating the wisdom of the old adage, "If you find yourself flying over the cumulus clouds, it's best to turn around."

Paul's cell phone battery had just enough juice in it to make two calls, one to Marsha to let her know that he'd be late for dinner, and the one that got to Evan in time to organize an aeroretrieve.

Tim (PM) had a nice two hour flight early in the day, but it wasn't recorded properly for some reason. After a quick turnaround on the ground, Andy (PM) took off and flew up to Mount Moosilauke, a 109 km flight that included an escape from Dean.

The Schleicher team of Skip (JS) and Thomas (ZP) weren't able to come to the cookout, so we didn't get to hear their stories. Skip flew 81 km. As Thomas was landing, he did a good job of keeping his eye on the towplane taking off in the opposite direction. It wasn't close, but we should all be more alert for this situation on no-wind days.

For the third day in a row, local flying was more difficult than cross-country flying. The thermals were widely spaced, and if you found yourself between two of them without the option of pressing on straight ahead, then you probably were faced with a short flight. The successful local pilots were the ones who found a lucky thermal and loitered at the top. These included Greg (3J, new type), Tim (PI), and Dennis (67, PI). Lane and Rick tried to leap between two thermals in the 2-33, and paid the price.

All in all, a good day at the airport. The happiest moment was when Rick found his wallet on the runway after it had fallen out of the 2-33.

The cookout started right on time, which was before Paul and Evan returned home, and before Moshe was finished preserving a few yards of gap tape. Eventually, the party included

Andrew, Andy, Christopher, Dennis, Ella, Evan, Gordon, Jane, Judy, Keith, Lane, Marsha, Mary, Mike, Moshe, Nancy, Paul, Peter, Petey, Rick, Sherry, and Sue.

Thanks go to Mary for her cooking and organizing and to all the contributors. Special mention to Dennis, who elevated the PMSC cookout experience by bringing a platter of shrimp!

The airmass was getting a little stale by Sunday, our fourth flying day in a row. But it was another fine day to be outdoors in a beautiful setting, never mind the haze. Eleven club members turned up, and eight of them flew. It was a good old fashioned local soaring day, with all the racing gliders remaining in their boxes. The best two hours of the day were between 2pm and 4pm, and Greg (3J) and Nancy (PI) took full advantage. The rest of us sat around in the screenhouse and watched the next generation of glider pilots (Sawyer and Andrew) fly a really weird RC glider that seemed to be immune to damage.

The day ended on a high note when Bill Swartz gave his Dad a ride in the Blanik.

Happy Father's Day!

Let's take Friday off

The Slackers set some sort of record today with ten sorties, including a rare weekday instructional flight. The conditions were slightly better than yesterday, with weak climbs near home and good lift in the high ground across the river. Paul (S1) and Moshe (RU) headed up to Mt. Moosilauke, while Kevin (PM) chased them partway.

It was a bit frustrating for the local flyers around Post Mills. The sky was seriously blue with no clouds, and winds from all different directions. The thermals were far enough apart that staying in the air was just a coin toss. Tom (TH), Greg (PI) and Andy (PI) fell down early in the day, but as the day wore on, Dennis (67) and Greg (PI, again) were able to make some good climbs.

Here's a picture of Moshe taking off. He flew for over four hours, landing at 6:40pm.

Altogether, ten club members went flying today, a Friday. Doesn't anyone work for a living any more?

Weekend report June 9 - 10

We realized how spoiled we'd become when we lost the previous weekend to weather, and our mood didn't improve as it continued to rain into last week. By Wednesday, however, the forecast for the weekend took a turn for the better, and so did our mood. We are so fickle.

The weather on Saturday was even better than forecast, and it actually caught us by surprise. We weren't prepared for moderate lift to 7000 feet, and in the end, no one tried anything ambitious. There's a carpe diem lesson in there somewhere.

The big event was Greg's first solo in a real aircraft. He accomplished this in less than a month, and it would have been even quicker if it weren't for the delays he encountered getting his Student Certificate from the FAA. Anyway, he put on his lucky magenta-purple-orange flying shoes and took the Blanik up for an hour.

The 1-23 spent much of the day in the air, with Steve and Bill taking turns. Bill went farther, but Steve got higher. Skip, Thomas, and Karl also had local flights.

Moshe (RU) finally brought his new glider to Post Mills, and flew it 124 km. He came very close to landing at a deserted airport, but Greg and our new friend Dan stuck around long enough to help him tie down.

Sunday's weather was almost as good as the day before, but this time we were slightly better prepared. Evan (T8) took the prize with a 317 km flight down to the south. He did a nice job of touching down gently after we told him that his tailwheel had come apart on takeoff. Moshe, Paul, Rick, Andy, Andy, Skip, and Nancy took second place with a total distance of 533 km. Thomas came in last, as usual, because he had no flight log. This time his excuse was equipment failure, if you believe him. Sonny (LT) had a similar problem, but we believe his stories more than Thomas's.

Our newest member, Dennis Cavagnaro, flew with Rick and Tim in the Blanik (separate flights, duh...). Dennis is another highly experienced hang glider pilot. They seem to be everywhere these days.

Finally, the 2-33 saw some action with Karl (solo), Sam (2 lessons), and the best ride passenger, ever.

Weekend report July 30 - 31

After a slow day Saturday (one flight in 3J by Bill), Sunday turned into a good day for cross-country flying.

Paul (S1) and Tim (PM) flew to Mount Washington and back while Sonny (LT) was taking a 175 km tour of central Vermont. Constrained by time, Skip (JS) and Andy (PM) made extended local flights.

Monday, Tuesday

Hey, Evan, you were right. You missed a good day on Monday. Keith left work at noon, drove to Post Mills, and staged the 1-23 by himself. After stretching out the rope, he inspected the towplane and warmed it up by buzzing the neighbor. The neighbor finally realized what was going on and wandered over to give Keith a tow. The result was a three-hour flight in 3J. Not bad for a workday.

The next day, Tuesday, Keith again left work at lunchtime (things must be slow at the Academy these days). He gave Paul (S1) a tow and allegedly went back to work. Paul flew 139 km and reports that his gear doors and plumbing modifications are both working well.

The golf cart, which came to life mysteriously on Monday, died again on Tuesday. Christopher and Andy are working on it. Thank them.

Weekend report June 4 - 5

We had a decent flying day on Saturday. The conditions were variable all day, and, for the cross-country fliers, the strategy of running away from the stratus clouds worked.

Evan (T8) made it to the Mount Washington Observatory by a non-standard route: via Mount Madison. He reported no prevailing wind at the summit, with convergence winds on all sides. We'll have to take his word for it; Evan seems to have forsaken OLC.

The rest of us enjoyed local and semi-local flights at Post Mills. Paul (S1) flew for two hours without his landing gear doors, which were not quite reinstalled after servicing the hinges. Skip (JS), Tom (TH), and Steve (3J) had nice flights. Bill (PM) had a good flight, but he left his Flight Recorder in the cockpit, and we weren't able to download it till Wednesday (after the OLC deadline). There was a rumor that Moshe (RU) would visit Post Mills this weekend, but that turned out to be a hoax.

The Saturday night cookout was as pleasant as ever, and we owe our thanks to the usual contributors. Let's keep this tradition going!

On Sunday our weather was dead flat calm with a solid overcast - perfect for flight instruction. We were able to congratulate our newest member, Mike, for making his first complete flight as sole manipulator of the controls. The rest of us stood around and watched Paul install his gear doors.

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.

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!

Franconia Encampment July 1 - 6

This year's 4th of July Franconia encampment was as hectic as ever. We had a great time, despite some wet weather. I counted 42 participants, including spouses, parents, kids, and dogs. We brought eight gliders, ten trailers, six bicycles and one towplane to the Franconia airport. The expedition actually began on the previous Sunday when Andy and his crew put 3J on the trailer after flying at Post Mills. In the early part of the week Rick, Mary, and Charlie transported PM, S2, the golf cart and the fuel tank. WEDNESDAY We cancelled our original plan to aerotow the Blanik on Thursday, due to the uncertain forecast. Instead, Kevin and Matt wrestled the glider onto its trailer on Wednesday and Andy and Andrew delivered the L-19 that afternoon. Rick towed the trailer to Franconia and brought Andy and Andrew home. THURSDAY Tim showed up with the 1-23 and we assembled it and the Blanik. A few of us checked into the Westwind and met the new owners. They have a new approach to keeping the bears out of the dumpster. The Ludemans arrived at the Horse and Hound. I don't actually remember if anybody flew on Thursday. We don't have a logsheet for that day, so if you did fly, please let Sonny know. Judy and Andy organized a takeout Thai dinner, the first of three consecutive fine dining experiences at Arethusa. FRIDAY The weather on Friday was pretty good, right up until the end of the day. The wind was southerly, so the ridge wasn't much help. The thermals were reliable in the sunny areas, but we were overrun by cloud shadows several times throughout the day. Andy towed and instructed, and several members got their introduction to mountain flying. There was only one landout. In the late afternoon the sky to the west turned very dark, and we rushed to get everything put away before the rains came. We were not very successful, and Paul got the wettest. We dried ourselves out and reconvened for a spaghetti dinner at the LumRuss compound. It rained for much of the night. SATURDAY Saturday, the actual 4th of July, dawned drizzly and foggy, so we didn't rush out to the airport. A few of us, having failed to get into Polly's Pancake Parlor, had a leisurely breakfast at Wendle's Café in downtown Franconia. At the first sign of blue sky, we dashed to the airport and stood around, waiting for the ceiling to go up a bit.

Finally, Jason, Christopher, and Rick took off but were quickly flushed out of the sky by another rain shower. We stood down for a few hours until the sky cleared again. During the break, Skip, Sonny, Mike, Sue, Mary, Diane, Tony, Carol, Paul D, Ellie, and Maia all showed up to visit. At the end of the day, we were able to squeeze in a couple of more flights before getting rained out again. Andy and Tim got on the ground just before the downpour: After the landing, Andy decided to stay dry by remaining in the cockpit while the glider was towed back to its tiedown. I guess you can do that if you're the club President. Fortunately, the rain stopped in time for the annual Saturday cookout. As usual, it was quite a feast, and this year it was almost entirely the work of one person, Judy. This was at her request, and her reasons are completely beyond this reporter. SUNDAY This was the day we deserved. It started a bit late, but once the sky cleared, we were able to enjoy ridge, thermal, and wave conditions until late in the afternoon. It was the first day of the encampment that we didn't get wet. We made 17 flights, with Bob and Andy sharing the towing. Thomas (ZP), having recently received the Babs Nutt Award for the highest flight of 2008, put in his claim for this year's award by soaring to 10000 feet in a thermal wave. Paul (S1) and Evan (T8) racked up a bunch of miles on "local cross-country" flights that featured some nice cloudstreet runs. Christopher, Tim, Pete, and Jason chased each other on both the Cannon and Lafayette ridges, missing a bunch of great photo opportunities. We'll bring more cameras next year. Paul, Skip, and Thomas trailered home Sunday evening, and Charlie fetched the golf cart back to Post Mills. Most of the rest also went home, despite the promising forecast for Monday. A few stragglers remained. MONDAY The stragglers were rewarded with some good thermal soaring on Monday, a day on which the ridge was dead again. Tony had the best flight, with 3.5 hours in PM. After landing, Tony hopped in the Blanik for an aerotow back to Post Mills, hitched a ride in a Champ back to Franconia to pick up his car and the 304, delivered the glider back here, and made it home in time for dinner. Charlie made yet another round trip to pick up the fuel tank. On Tuesday, Tim and Rick retrieved the last two trailers, and that was it. Another Franconia adventure in the PMSC record books. Thanks to everyone for all the volunteer labor.

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).

Under the overcast

Thanks to Kevin, who was watching the weather, Paul (S1), Tim (PM), Kevin (6Q) and Rick (S2) were able to take advantage of a weird soaring day yesterday.

The day started out as forecast, with lots of sunshine and some early morning cumulus clouds. However, the moisture that was scheduled for today moved in early, and by the time we were ready to take off, the sky was completely obscured by a thin overcast. Nevertheless, we pressed on and launched all four gliders in the mid-afternoon.

The conditions were surprisingly good. Tim flew the farthest (we think), 129 km. Rick was second (we think), with 100 km. Kevin's flight recorder failed, so we aren't sure how he did (and we don't believe any of his stories). Paul is still trying to figure out how to download his flight recorder, so he may have made the best flight of all. The results will be on the OLC.

Whatever the final results, we sure had a good time.

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!