Monday, Monday

And I'm at work, of course. It's gorgeous outside. That satellite view is the current one, and it's pretty good! Even more interesting is the satellite loop for the last couple of hours. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to capture this. But it shows, among other things, that the cu that are decorating the PA ridges are moving SW along the ridge tops, clearly marking thermal convergence lift of the type that I've been talking about with some of you these last couple of weekends.

-T8

Weekend report June 4 - 5

We had a decent flying day on Saturday. The conditions were variable all day, and, for the cross-country fliers, the strategy of running away from the stratus clouds worked.

Evan (T8) made it to the Mount Washington Observatory by a non-standard route: via Mount Madison. He reported no prevailing wind at the summit, with convergence winds on all sides. We'll have to take his word for it; Evan seems to have forsaken OLC.

The rest of us enjoyed local and semi-local flights at Post Mills. Paul (S1) flew for two hours without his landing gear doors, which were not quite reinstalled after servicing the hinges. Skip (JS), Tom (TH), and Steve (3J) had nice flights. Bill (PM) had a good flight, but he left his Flight Recorder in the cockpit, and we weren't able to download it till Wednesday (after the OLC deadline). There was a rumor that Moshe (RU) would visit Post Mills this weekend, but that turned out to be a hoax.

The Saturday night cookout was as pleasant as ever, and we owe our thanks to the usual contributors. Let's keep this tradition going!

On Sunday our weather was dead flat calm with a solid overcast - perfect for flight instruction. We were able to congratulate our newest member, Mike, for making his first complete flight as sole manipulator of the controls. The rest of us stood around and watched Paul install his gear doors.

Weekend report May 28 - 30

After one nice day of flying last week, the steamy August weather returned for the Memorial Day weekend. The unstable conditions caused overdevelopment during the days and scattered thunderstorms each evening.

For the second weekend in a row, the partying was better than the flying. On Saturday A gregarious gang of glider guiders, groundlings, and groupies gathered at the grill. The potluck meal featured a variety of entrees, representing most of the animal kingdom. The salads were good too, but the theme of the evening was definitely carnivorous.

Following a weather delay on Sunday, we were able to make four flights in the afternoon. There was a brief sunny period in which Tim made two attempts in PM and our newest member, Mike Stzrelecki got a couple of lessons. There were bumps, but no lift.

Monday was sunny, hot and stable at the lower levels. It would have been a nice day for boating or picknicking, but we stubbornly attempted to go flying instead. After painstakingly removing the fourth robin nest in a week from the towplane engine compartment, Evan towed Skip (JS), Bill (3J), and Sonny (LT). Sonny managed to stay up for an hour and seems to really be enjoying his new sailplane.

It's June already. What happened to our Spring?

First solo

Congratulations to Paul Kram on his first solo today!

Here's a picture of Paul in his next glider:

Trailer restoration

Nice job, Andy.

Some good weather at last

With only five days left, the month of May made a belated attempt to redeem its reputation today.

We had 5 knots to 6000 feet, and at one point Andy (PM) saw 7 knots on the averager during his 150 km flight. Tom (TH) had a similar report when he landed after his 2.5 hour flight. Bill disappeared in 3J, landed when nobody was looking, and disappeared in his truck, so I guess we'll get his story later. Moshe (RU) got a late start at Morrisville, but had a nice flight.

But the best flight of the day was Tim's (67). He found a climb above cloudbase, cruised up to Bradford, then back to the Elizabeth mine, and basically raced around the local area, getting the most mileage possible from a 2-33.

Here's hoping that June's weather will be true to May's reputation.

Spar Doubler

The Blanik spar saga continues.

Here is a picture of the spar doubler offered by the German company AD&C, installed on the bottom surface of a Blanik wing. It looks like a pretty neat solution, if a bit expensive.

A few gliders in Europe (most notably the Blanix aerobatic team) are flying with a conditional "Permit to Fly" (similar to our EXPERIMENTAL category) using this doubler. Full approval by the European authority is expected, and FAA will probably rubber-stamp the approval some day.

The latest news from the factory is that they are still working on a solution of their own, and they have promised more news in July.

Weekend report May 21 - 22

Lots of partying, some flying, as our rainy Spring continues.

The first cookout of the season happened Saturday evening, after nothing at all happened at the airfield that day. It was a nice gathering of friends and neighbors:

Andy, Christina, Christopher, Dirk, Ella, Gretta, Jill, Jill, Kevin, Lynn, Mary, Mike, Nathan, Olivia, Peter, Petey, Rich, Rick, Sonny, Sue, Tessa, Tim

We had our Spring open house on Sunday and made a handful of flights, including a couple of guest flights, under mostly overcast skies. Steve did the best in PM (by spending 77% of his time circling)!

New phone number

The club has a new phone number and associated answering service.

802-333-0401

Please use the new number to find out whether we are flying on a given day. We will update the message on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and on other flying days.

Also, the new number will be used to process inquiries about the club. Please give it to anyone you meet who is interested in PMSC.

The Mother of all Omega Blocks

...is right here, right now.

Read all about 'em

These things persist for days and days. Now you know why the Region 2 contest at Mifflin Co PA was rescheduled for next week.

Weekend report May 7 - 8

Saturday:

Today was a reminder that spring gives us the best thermals of the year, and despite the mediocre forecast, conditions today were excellent.

Skip (JS) made a nice 143 km flight, and Steve and Tim each flew PM for over an hour. The 1-23 was assembled and Keith, who has come back to fly with us, flew 3J until after I left the field. I'll bet he was smiling the whole time.

Thermals were 8kts to cloudbase, and tomorrow looks to be more of the same. We made a new towrope today.

Two fuel runs were made this week and, ouch, a tow to 3K costs us $10 just for the gas.

We're looking for a towpilot for tomorrow.

Good flying, mediocre reporting

PMSC operations in Vermont got off to a great start today, according to my source (whose identity is withheld to protect his reputation as a reporter).

Steve, Evan, Thomas, Skip, Rich, Andy, Tom, Christopher, Bill, Skip and Lane (yes, that Lane) put on an old fashioned flying show at Post Mills, while the southern auxilliary squadron (Sonny, Doug, Paul K) chose to fly at Springfield.

That's all I know since my source neglected to say anything about the weather, the runway conditions, the nature and strength of the thermals, the number of flights, or where the gliders went.

My source did send me this picture, and I gather from it that there weren't many cumulus clouds today:


(This photo almost qualifies as a "Name that sailplane" blog entry, but I'll give it away by telling you it's an ASW-24).

The quality of the reporting is forecast to improve.