Soar Vermont

A new organization, called Soar Vermont has been formed.  It consists of the four gliding operations in the state, and its purpose is to collaborate with two other organizations, the CAP and the Vermont State Aviation Program^* for the purpose of helping glider pilots to become flight instructors.

The Soar Vermont leadership consists of (from north to south), Don Post, Rick Hanson, Rick Sheppe, and Walter Striedieck.

This fall, the State will spend some of its treasure on a formal training encampment for CFI applicants.  Sketchy details are available on the Soar Vermont website, which should become more informative over the course of the summer.

So far, Evan, Moshe, Bill, Keith, Lane, Sue, and ALaw have expressed interest in getting their CFI-Glider ratings.  Here's hoping they all do!

All of this is thanks to the enlightened thinking of our Designated Examiner, Bill Stinson, and the Vermont Aviation Program Administrator, Guy Rouelle.

^*For some reason, it's a "Program," not a "Commission." There's probably a story there.

Weekend report June 20 - 21

Well it was only half a weekend.

Saturday weather was nice, but unsettled.  We had a couple of soarable periods separated by doldrums.  We tried hard however, Dan (EA), Evan (T8), Henry (3BA), and Willie (3BA) all flew twice, and Tom (2W) tried it three times.  In all cases the lift was weak and low, and nobody got out of gliding range of home.

Karl (3J) and Skip (JS) made good local flights, but the winner of the day was Tim (AT) who stayed aloft for a couple of hours, nobody quite sure how.

Steve requalified in the back seat of the Blanik, and Dennis experienced his first round trip trailer/staging/trailer day.  All in all, it was a fun day of local flying, with 16 total flights, all of which were towed by Andy.

We celebrated the summer solstice with the first organized cookout of the season, attended by

Andrew, Andy, Dakai, Dan, Evan, Judy, Karl, Lane, Laurie, Mary, Mike, Peter, Petey, Rick, Skip, Sonny, Tom

and we had plenty of good food, drink, and stories to ring in the new season.  The entertainment was provided by Dan, whose automotive systems demonstration act still needs a bit of work.

Evan brought his wide-angle lens (click to enlarge):

We were rained out on Sunday.

Picnic weather

Every once in a while you get a day that is so beautiful that it doesn't even matter that the soaring is actually quite difficult.

It was sunny and warm all day today, with light winds and nothing but blue skies from now on.

Despite this, the air was marginally unstable, and the thermals were completely unpredictable. Nevertheless, Dennis (DC), Jim (US), Tim (AT), Doug (3BA), and Dan (EA) gave it a shot.  The results were some long struggles, low saves, and nobody getting more than about 6 miles from home.

We call this "picnic weather."  Nobody in his right mind would complain about this weather.

But glider pilots aren't in their right minds, at least not immediately after landing on a day like this. After grumbling for a few minutes about the struggly soaring conditions, we all realized that we had just shared in the enjoyment of a beautiful day in a beautiful place.

Déja vu, RU

The last time we picked up RU at Dean, Dan took a fantastic picture of the takeoff.

This time, Andy snapped an even better one.

Thanks, Moshe, for providing all the photo ops.

What's Happening Here?

Making the Airport a Little Safer One Tree at a Time

A work party on Saturday removed tall trees from the approach end of Runway 05 and a lot of brush from an area between the runways.  It was hard, dirty and a little dangerous work.  Thanks Bill O, Lane, Dennis, Willy, Sonny, Mark, Keith, Dakai, Pat and Tim.  Be sure to bring your shovels this weekend.

When towpilots get bored

PMSC TV Episode 3