Solstice

On the darkest day of the year, 39 of us slid down the LumRuss driveway to arrive at an island of warmth, light, and hospitality. We gathered for the perennially outstanding feast known as Julbord – Swedish for “I dream of July.” And what a feast! While it is a cliché to assert once again that Judy outdid herself, and despite the logical certainty that at some point it becomes impossible to make that assertion, Judy outdid herself. The meal featured sculpted delicacies ranging from spherical to orthogonal, with origami in between. We enjoyed melon balls, meatballs, poached potatoes, spiral cut ham, folded smoked salmon, herring, various cheeses and flat breads, all of which have exotic-sounding Swedish names that Hans can pronounce, but have been forgotten by this writer. I do remember that Hans pronounced the entire presentation flawlessly authentic. Just when we thought we could eat no more, our indefatigable hostess unveiled a fancy tablefull of cakes, cheesecakes and coffees. If you made the mistake of not attending, you have my condolences. The way I see it, the only acceptable excuse for missing the LumRuss Julbord is to be out flying somewhere in New Zealand. Today our hemisphere turns back toward the sun. That thought goes a long way toward fending off cabin fever, but not as far as the sight of so many friends gathered to celebrate the season.

Wave at Post Mills

The best wave day of the year may have been last Sunday. Too bad the gliders were put away. Paul and I flew in my Champ and Andy in his. Paul and I went to 11,000’ between PM and Montpelier. At times the rate-of-climb indicator showed over 1600 fpm (with the engine throttled back to produce zero sink). We probably could have gone higher, we weren't even trying. Wave windows and some lenticulars marked the wave over many oscillations. The winds were not that strong so it probably would have been easy to transition to the next crest upwind in a high performance glider. The picture (Paul’s) above shows a wave window and the backside of a lenticular. You can see the rest of Paul’s pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/postmillsrc/2009126Paul

Here is the Skew-T for the day (sorry about the units). Wind was due west at 28 kts (14 m/s) at 9,500’ (2908 m).



Tim

Best glide

How calm would you be if you had to fly a 17:1 glider toward an unknown destination...at night?

Watch this presentation - from AOPA.

Matt gets his commercial glider rating

Everyone please congratulate Matt for passing his check ride today.

We had a nice day for it and Tim, Pete and Christopher all showed up to help and or just provide moral support, it all came off without a hitch.

That makes how many this year?

--Andy

If Ida known

We're averaging just under 15 launches per day here at winch camp in Jefferson, South Carolina. We had 44 on Monday and none since then. Thanks a lot, Tropical Storm Ida. I guess I should have stayed up north.

Creative uses for catsup

A real encampment

Here's a nice story. I've always wanted to do that.

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.

Mount Washington Video

As I promised in my previous post, here are 2 very nice videos from the L-19 on our flight around the observatory.





Video credit: Bill Swartz.

Determined

Congratulations to Jason Cohen for getting his New Hampshire driver's license and his Private Pilot Certificate in the same season!

When Jason joined the club two seasons ago, he was determined to become a Private Pilot at the minimum allowable age, which is 16. Today he took Bill Stinson for a couple of rides in the Blanik, and when it was over, Bill couldn't think of any reason to do the third flight. Jason met his goal by six months.

I'm sure he'd be happy to give any of you a ride before the end of the season.

If you've never seen a picture of a determined 14-year-old, here's one:

His hair is a lot longer now.

All in a single season

Here's a picture of Christopher at the conclusion of his first flight in 3J. He had a nice 50 minute flight at the end of the day today.

That makes three new types in a single season. He wants to go for four. His next objective is the big one: the Schweizer 2-33.

Mount Washington Observatory

Bill and I had a fine ride around the top of Mt. Washington after towing Jason this past encampment and this shot proves what a spectacular day it was.

We took the scenic route back to Gorham airport, video to follow.

See full size image here.

-Andy