Derustification

The weather wasn't terrific today, but it was good enough for Mike and Rick to get their first flights of the year in PM. We are very lucky to have Walter providing tows at Springfield these days.

Weekend report April 28 - 29

If you believe in the Monte Carlo Fallacy, then you will be glad to hear that it was too windy to fly both days this weekend. We weren't able to fly anyway, due to the lack of a towplane. The chances of another windy weekend are reduced, right?

While doing some minor Blanik chores on Saturday, Christopher, Sonny, and Rick discovered the Blanik manual, which Christopher will copy and make available to the club. We also decided to improve the canopy seals and figure out the best way to protect the cockpit from the sun.

We ran into Andy G who is making progress on the towplane. We think we can get away with only one or two more orders to Aircraft Spruce for parts.

On Sunday, Tim and Andy decided to go to Springfield where there is a towplane and where strong winds are less of a problem. They each had a flight in PM and reported good lift (9.5 knots at one point) to 8500 feet. When the lift is that strong, the winds are less of a factor on a local flight.

Blanik L-13 Update

As you know, our Blanik L-13 is grounded by an Airworthiness Directive from the FAA. This action was in response to the grounding of the glider in Europe by the controlling authority, EASA.

The German engineering firm AD&C has developed a modification to the glider which has been approved by EASA, with the result that modified Blaniks are now allowed to fly in Europe. All that remains is for FAA to follow suit.

Responding to an inquiry from Andy today, the USA Blanik dealer replied with this status report, which isn't very encouraging:

The FAA sent yet another engineering stress analysis request to the developers of the German repair kit rather than accepting that which has already been approved by the European FAA counterpart, EASA.

This adds an extra complication which may require additional time and expense. If and when there is progress on the side of the FAA we will put an announcement in the News section of our website.

Sorry I don’t have a more positive news to report.

Sincerely,

BLANIK AMERICA, INC.
Vitek Siroky

The whole sordid tale is here.

The bottom line is that we will keep our glider in storage until we hear from the FAA. It could be a very long wait.

Source

Zephyr Hills and Perry

Tony and Evan have been tearing up the skies down south, according to OLC. They have logged three long flights in April. But that's all we know, since they haven't sent in their stories yet.

Assembly Day

It's beginning to look like a gliderport again. The next thing to assemble is the towplane.

Thanks to Andy, Tim, Lane, Christopher, Mike, Bill, Rick, and Sonny for assembling and washing today.