Halfway

Today marks the midpoint between soaring seasons. Have you made your Spring flying plans yet?

Heat transfer

Here's a picture of Gordon demonstrating what happens when you toss a cup of hot water into the air at -25°F.

News from Alexander

Sonny received a post card from Alexander and the photo here is of him plowing a field in Norwich this past year.


He wrote that he's now back in California at his family's farm and not sure where he'll be next year.

-Andy

Breakfast season has started

Andy, Christopher, Mike, Paul, Paul, Rick, Steve, Sue, and Thomas kicked off the breakfast season at EBA's on Sunday morning. The new 9am rendezvous time was fairly well tolerated, and that left enough time to go flying. Three airplanes made it into the air later that day, despite some squally conditions.

Rick, Tim, Andy, and Rich are all looking for passengers (i.e. shovelers) to assist in flight operations this winter. If this sounds familiar, it should. Come out and fly with us.

The next breakfast is scheduled for Sunday, January 16, at Mickey's in Enfield NH. Be there.

The full breakfast calendar is here.

Blanik update

The worldwide campaign to get the Blanik flying again has been noted by the factory. A few days ago we received an update describing their progress toward developing a suitable means of inspecting the wing spar. Good for them.

Their plan of having an inspection ready for certification by "early 2011" seems to be falling behind, however. This is bad news because even if a factory approved inspection were released today, it would have to be sequentially masticated by two torpid bureaucracies, EASA and FAA, before we could fly. Our chances for this summer are anybody's guess.

As pilots, we can't do too much about the schedule. I can think of only two things.

If your name isn't already on this list:

2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 48, 57, 140, 182, 295, 386, 499, 504, 517, 610, 612, 887, 1280, 1281

then put it there.

The other thing you might consider doing is to write a letter to our pusillanimous, apathetic, hypocritical, useless Blanik dealer and tell him what you think of his level of customer support and how much you are looking forward to doing business with him in the future.

Don't forget to be polite.

Don't let this happen to you - VIII

Slow news month

The customarily prolix editor of PMSC News is suffering from severe writer's block. I need a topic. Please suggest something in the comments. Thank you.

In the meantime, here's something new from SSA.

More Statistics

Here is a table showing club data since 2002:

Club Statistics for 2010

Total Club Glider Usage:

SGS 2-33: 156 flts 55:21 hrs (Average 0:22 hrs/flt)

Blanik L-13: 134 flts 74:23 hrs (Average 0:33 hrs/flt)

SGS 1-23: 71 flts 78:23 hrs (Average 1:06 hrs/flt)

HPH 304: 58 flts 100:54 hrs (Average 1:44 hrs/flt)

All club gliders: 419 flts 309 hrs (Average 0:44 hrs/flt)

Towplane Usage:

Tows to Club Members (includes encampments): 555

Tows by our Birddog: 510

Altitude Towed by our Birddog: 1,035,500 feet (196 miles)

Busiest Tow Pilot: Evan - 108 tows*

Most Tows Given in a Day: 23 (on July 3, 3 were by FSA)

Most Tows by a Pilot in a Day: Evan - 19 (on August 8)

Instruction:

Formal Dual Instructional Flights - 125

Formal Dual Instructional Flight Time - 36:29 hrs

Busiest Instructor: Thomas - 88 flights**

Number of First Solo: 2

Number of New Pilot Certificates: 2

Accidents:

Total: 0

* maybe the first time in PMSC history this distinction does not belong to Andy

** maybe the first time in PMSC history this distinction does not belong to Rick

It's not over yet

Tim (PM) flew 167 km, reached 12500 feet, and was home in time for a late lunch today. Not bad for November.

Pilot Paul

Congratulations to Paul Dixon on his first solo of a full-scale glider today!

Airman Alexander

Alexander put on his lucky shoes today and took Bill Stinson for a couple of rides in the 2-33. The result was the issuance of a Private Pilot certificate, and now Alexander is on the lookout for passengers. Congratulations, Alexander!

Christopher, Thomas, and Rick were on hand as witnesses. Bill had nice things to say about our club and our training program.

(Sonny, you're next, no excuses).