Belly up

TV Breakfast

The 2012 PMSC Sunday breakfast schedule is not actually a secret, we just haven't published the calendar yet. The member in charge of the schedule claims she was busy with an appearance on national TV. I thought supermodels could do anything. I guess I was wrong about that.

Anyway, the first two breakfasts were successful, and the third one will be on Sunday
at the Crossroads Cafe in White River Junction at 10amat the Farmer's Diner in Quechee at 9am. If you show up early, you might catch a glimpse of a TV star.

Pampas

The idea of a Continental Gliding Championships has been around for a long time, but until recently, the only continent to stage such an event has been Europe.

The Third South American Gliding Championships started yesterday in the lowland plains near Buenos Aires. The contest is also serving as the practice contest for the upcoming World Championships at the same site, in December 2012.

The US Team is there. Sarah Arnold, Peter Deane, Francois Pin, and Tom McKnight are racing around the pampas, not too concerned, apparently, by the finer points of field selection:


So far, SoaringSpot has been a better source of results than the contest website, and at least one competitor is keeping a blog (the source of the photo above).

Sarah came in second yesterday!

Continuing education

EAA is offering a series of webinars over the next few months. At least two of them look to be interesting to glider pilots. The first is about emergency parachutes and will be given by our friend Allen Silver in less than two weeks, on January 19. The other one is on radio communications, scheduled for February 22. Both take place on weekday evenings at 8pm.

The webinars are free, and you don't have to be a member of EAA to attend, You must pre-register, however.

Happy New Year!

We may not be flying (much) this time of year, but at least we can look forward to some social events.

We can expect the 2012 Breakfast Schedule any day now. I'll look for a copy posted at the local library. Our annual meeting will probably occur in early February, as usual.

The NESA party will be January 21 in Springfield.

There will be a combined birthday/Mardi Gras party in February, at an undisclosed location in Post Mills. Details to follow.

Rumor has it that one of our more handsome members is featured in the 2012 SSA Calendar. I'd like to get one, but I can't afford the postage. If anyone can think of an economical way to get a hold of a calendar or two, let me know.

Happy 2012!

Wright Brothers Day 2011

108 years after Orville and Wilbur ruined their best glider by putting an engine on it, a few hardy PMSC members celebrated by going flying. Andy, Rich, Rick, and Tim took off from Post Mills in various airplanes and headed for Springfield where the hardiest of all NESA members, Walter Striedieck, was preparing a gliding operation.

We flew the PW-6 (I1) four times, and Tim found a nice 2-knot December thermal that gives us the right to claim that soaring is a year-round sport in Vermont.

Meanwhile, Tony (7H) had almost as much fun on a 159km jaunt down in Florida. He must be practicing for his Diamond Distance flight later this Spring.

Near miss

At 1:50 in the video. You never know what you will find up there.



[Thanks a lot, Gregg. You can give the next club safety briefing. -Ed.]

Soaring 100 Celebration

Ski season started today

Congratulations to Tim and Andy for getting into the air on skis today. Rick and Rich are in a tight race for last place again, what else is new?

Come join us this winter. It's an easy and fun way to stay in practice between soaring seasons.

Hemisphere shift

South of the equator, it's Spring, and once again, our friend Roy B is on his annual African Safari. He will be reporting his flying adventures at Bloemfontein for the next week or so using an unsophisticated blog-like thing called Google Docs.

Club Statistics for 2011

We had a slow year compared to last year...

SGS 2-33: 62 flts 60:15 hrs (Average 0:58 hrs/flt)

Super Blanik L-23: 5 flts 8:30 hrs (Average 1:42 hrs/flt)

SGS 1-23: 39 flts 36:53 hrs (Average 0:57 hrs/flt)

HPH 304: 48 flts 86:31 hrs (Average 1:48 hrs/flt)

All club gliders: 154 flts 192:19 hrs (Average 1:15 hrs/flt)

For Comparison 2010 totals were:

All club gliders: 419 flts 309:00 hrs (Average 0:44 hrs/flt)

Towplane Usage:

Tows to Club Members (includes encampments): 233 (including 26 tows by Stowe and NESA)

Tows by our Birddog: 234 (including 24 to non-members)

Altitude Towed by our Birddog: 654,300' (124 miles)

Busiest Tow Pilot: Andy L. - 127 tows

Most Tows Given in a Day: 13 (on 10/8/11)

Most Tows by a Pilot in a Day: Andy L - 13 (on 10/8/11)

Instruction:

Formal Dual Instructional Flights - 24

Formal Dual Instructional Flight Time - 17:14 hrs

Busiest Instructor: Rick - 24 flights

Number of First Solo: 1

Number of New Pilot Certificates: 0

Name That Tow Plane