I like this club

An amazing number of things went haywire this week, any one of which could have grounded us.  In the end, we got it all working.  Even better, we did it all with volunteer labor.  Well done, especially Andy for getting our fuel situation figured out (and volunteering to tow on the best XC day so far this year) and Henry for working with Brian on the balloon fest.  Also my personal thanks to whomever got the golf cart fueled and running after I ran it out of gas near the South launch area (sorry!).

Conditions yesterday were spectacular, in case you didn't notice.  Well done, mother nature.

A scene on the way back from Goffstown, NH, sometime after 5pm...

Coda to a beautiful soaring day.  About 7:20pm.  Turn up the volume.  (Thanks Dan!)

-T8

Slacker report - May 8

Moshe (RU) and the flock of slackers (Greg (JD), Dan (EA) and Tom (2W)) flew for the second day in a row.  Everyone found some wave which topped out at nearly 11,000'.  Here is Moshe's report:

The forecast was for light winds, dry air, thermals without cumulus, and patches of high clouds from the approaching warm front stalled by the remnant high pressure. In the morning the sky was blue but with lenticular clouds in several locations, including one large cloud that kept Post Mills in the shade until noon. We watched as the wisps of the cloud streamed towards the SE past the sun, but the leading edge on the NW kept reforming. We almost gave up on flying, but Andy arrived to tow and up we went, Greg, Dan, Tom and Moshe. Lift in the hills to the NW of PM was weak, and one of us needed a relight. Thanks for the tows Andy! The thermals were rather weak down low and much stronger higher up, sometimes changing from a broken +1 knot at 4000 to +10 knots at 7000 in the same thermal. There were also large patches of strong sink, especially east of the river. The pack scattered in all directions around Mt. Cube, with Greg finding wave to 10,000 while others sunk to below 4000 and clawed their way up again. The winds aloft were not clear and quite variable with altitude. The MPV ASOS reported 11 knots from the NE in mid-afternoon but from the NW an hour later. The wave clouds disappeared early and the sky was turning more and more milky. After falling into too many sinkholes Moshe gave up on the NH side and retreated back to Vermont where both the lift and the sink were tamer and the thermals reached 8000 feet even approaching 5pm. The others made it to Moosilauke and back. As Greg said, it's always better than it looks!

-Tim

It's Spring!

(Best if you click through to youtube and view in HD) -T8

Slacker report - May 7

Slacker season got off to a great start with Evan (T8) taking the first tow a 11:00.  Evan had big ambitions which didn't pan out but he still managed a 7 hour tour of Morrisville VT, Newport VT and Gorham NH for 591 OLC points (520 km).  This was the longest flight recorded for the day in the US and 3rd in the world.  If you count his drive to the airport and back he would have got 900 points.

Greg (JD), Dan (EA), Tim (PM) and our friend Tom (2W) from GBSC flew up to Old Spec Mountain in Maine like a giant flock of plastic birds (squawking the whole way).  Clouds and thermals were reliable up to 7,500'.  Moshe (RU) past the flock as it was on its way back to PM then found wave that the others missed at Mt. Madison and went up to 10,000'.  Mark (HG) had a little XC flight to Mount Moosilauke.  And Dennis flew 3J for a few hours (how was it Dennis?).

Thanks for towing Andy.  And thanks for the ground support Keith.

Here are some of Moshe's pictures:

Climbing in Weak Wave

Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington from 10,000'

Mt. Moosilauke

-Tim

Weekend report - May 3-4

Saturday saw 7 flights with Evan towing (thanks Evan).  Greg (JD) and Tim (PM) managed a couple 3 hour flights without seeing the sun once.  Mark practiced going up and down.  And Andy (by riding shotgun) help Ben, Henry and Dennis get going for the season.  Sunday was a bust.

-Tim

Delta Bravo

Here are some pictures of Dick Butler's Concordia at the Region 5 contest in Perry, South Carolina. This contest was good practice for Dick and his crew. Next stop: World Gliding Championships!

Name that club member

And if you think that's too easy, name that airplane type.

Another postcard from Florida

Karl and Lane send their best from the Sun 'n Fun fly-in in Lakeland, Florida.

No Spring For You

In case you're not from around here or you're far enough away to not know what's going on it's still very much winter here in New Hampshire and Vermont. Snow depth is at least 2 feet just about anywhere you look.

Not likely that we'll be flying gliders any time soon at Post Mills but Springfield is open and ready to go. Walter wrote me today to say that the glider winter storage season has been extended another month. This seems like a good excuse for all those private owners to get a jump on the season and maybe others could at least go down to enjoy the action.

Let's all think warm thoughts and make that snow go away. I'm sick of it, how about you?

-Andy

Barefoot In Florida

Karl, Rick and Lane are all smiles in sunny Florida.

From the background it looks like they're at the Senior Nationals at the Seminole Lake Gliderport.

What a shame they're missing all this good snow.

Looking out from my hangar. Think I'd make though that stuff?

-Andy

Experimental Balloon and Airship Meet-May 16-18

Here is an announcement for the Brian's Balloon event at Post Mills:

http://aviation.vermont.gov/node/242

-Tim

AGM

From the turnout at the 2014 Annual General Meeting, it is clear that, after 25 years, we still have a strong and enthusiastic club.

We gathered, discussed our future, handed out jobs, and held elections - all without the excuse of a party or other incentive to get people to show up.  Everyone seems enthusiastic about being ready for the 2014 season (only 50 days away), and we are all looking forward to flying again.

Congratulations and thanks to the new Board of Directors: Greg, Mark, Paul, Tim, and a player to be named later.  These guys will be working hard for us in 2014, and we should not hesitate to work hard for them.