Some of us are flying

While most of us are waiting for our runway to dry out, a few club members have been flying at other sites this week.

Tony has moved his base of operations from Zephyr Hills (TBSS) to Clermont (SLGP) and has just posted his 18th flight of the OLC season. Evan is flying the Region 5 contest in Perry, South Carolina, and Moshe reports that the conditions in Vermont today were as good as they looked: 7 knots to 9500 feet.

Evan has been too preoccupied to post his flights, and Moshe forgot to turn his flight recorder on.

Weak excuses, both.

Blanik News

In case you haven't heard, our Blanik is grounded.

The saga continues with an announcement from the German engineering firm, Aircraft Design and Certification Ltd. AD&C has developed a factory-approved inspection and modification that strengthens the wing at the root.

European approval of the modification seems imminent, and FAA approval would follow an unpredictable time later.

AD&C is making the modification available as a kit, accompanied by a Supplemental Type Certificate. The kit costs a mere €6500, not including labor, nuts, and bolts.

What do we do now?

A sure sign of Spring

Anybody want a tow?

723 km

Our own Rick Sheppe, of course! Weekday slacking, Southern style.

Well done, Rick.

Spring Wave

A friend (Mark Lindberg) was skiing at Attitash last Thursday (3/17) and took these pictures looking toward Mt. Washington (to the left).

Here is the skew-t:

I guess the clouds were around 12,000'. Surprisingly light wind (multiply w/s in m/s times 2 to get kts). About 26 kts at 6,000', 40 kts at 12,000', 46 kts at 18,000'. The observatory on the summit of Mt. Washington was reporting 40 kts.

Tim

Name That Club Member

Where is Waldo?

Sight for Soar Eyes

The VT soaring season opened on the last day of Winter, at 12:43pm. I've always enjoyed the view down Runway 5 at VSF, but rarely more so than yesterday.

-Evan

This picture needs a caption

Name That Club Member

1,280 Miles in the Sierra Wave

Here is an audio interview with Gordon Boettger who recently flew 1280 miles in the Sierra Wave:

Interview

-Tim

Thermals in action

A longish video but very interesting to watch.

This came via Paul Kram.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxRT60-kw78

PMSC in Soaring Magazine

If you haven't noticed on page 36 of the March issue of Soaring is Pete Dodd's photo of Tom Hopper returning from his Diamond Altitude flight.