The Buzzard

more Highlights from Saturday, from Mang, witha a great rainbow photo

2012-01-23T14:52:00.001-08:00

Mang had his second solo flight Saturday, and Yuichi Takagi had his first day as NCSA tow pilot:

<Saturday was my second solo flight. I was all set to go on runway 30 but then checking the AWOS the winds were from 250 and I made the call not to launch. Our great ground crew (thanks Jerry et al!) pushed 81C and me over to 23 and I was much happier launching off 23.

Yuichi towed me out near the reservoir and it was clear that there was some convective action because every now and then the tow plane would surge up or down almost a full tow plane wingspan.

I released at 4,000' a little south of Vaqueros Reservoir. I saw a line of clouds on the east of the Altamont Pass and figured that would be the best lift. But fighting a strong headwind I hit the 3,000' limit I'd set for myself without getting to the clouds and decided to turn back to the airport.

There was lift over the windmills west of the airport under clear skies but it was pretty bumpy and seemed unorganized. I tried to circle but most of my circles would be half lift and half sink. I was almost holding 2,900' but couldn't quite stay there. I would do a few upwind legs as I could see I was being blown east at a pretty good clip (you can see what my circles looked like on OLC http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2195421).

I tried going upwind to see if there was anything different and hit an area of 6-8 knots down. Hmmm, does that mean it's going up somewhere? I didn't have a lot of altitude to try penetrating upwind so after some more circling attempts headed back to the airport entering the 45 at a quite comfy 1,500' and bleeding off the extra altitude with airbrakes.

Next time I'd be tempted to tow a little farther/higher to be able to sample the area I thought would be the best lift with some margin to make it back.

Oh and before takeoff Dmitri sagely asked me if I really wanted to take an unsecured water bottle with me. I elected not to and was glad when I hit a bump that would have sent it flying (under the pedals or somewhere equally dumb no doubt). Would be nice to have a cargo pocket up front in FB.

Here's a rainbow from the ground. Turned into a great day!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/6741071727/in/photostream/lightbox/>

- mang

Highlights for Saturday January 21st, from Buzz and Boyang

2012-01-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

Saturday was a day for rapidly changing conditions and the tail end of a
strong frontal system pushing through the Bay Area. Forecast were for
high winds with possible wave and then there was plenty of instability
with lots of moisture and some rain. The beginning of the day was very
wet with low cloud bases then drying with strong winds. My first flight
was working underneath the clouds with Rachel where we were able to
explore the strongest lift under the darkest areas. Then it was chasing
wisp in later flights to climbing up the upwind side of the clouds at
the end of the day with Boyang in wave to 7k, well above the cloud bases.

The winds were very fickle starting nearly down 30, later swinging to
23. Surface winds were mostly westerly and the upper winds were from
the north. Looking at the wind generators and comparing that with what
the clouds were saying showed there was a 90 degree shear well below the
clouds bases around 4k. This was critical to understand to work the wave.

All and all a pretty good day with a mixed bag of flying conditions,
thermal, convergence, and wave. Several visiting pilots from Montreal
were happy there was good flying conditions.

I was a bit late getting to the banquet, my excuse was being stuck. Not
in traffic but in wave!!!

See the attached pictures to help tell the story. Boyang was in the
front seat getting his first wave experience!! He climbed from 4.5k to
7k flying the upwind side of the clouds as if they were a mountain with
ridge lift

Thanks to Jerry and everyone else for making the day work so well.

Buzz

- Boyang wrote:

<Here's my take on the wave.

I arrived at the airport around noon. It was raining quite heavily in
the fields around Byron, and I was prepared to spend the day picking
Buzz's brains in the clubhouse. However, the rain dried to a drizzle
near the airport, and I saw glider operations in full swing.

The clouds looked promising, and good soaring days are often preceded by
rainy days. We had plenty of rain this past week, so...why aren't the
cross country regulars flying today?

Flying FB, I took off on runway 23 with Buzz in the backseat and asked
for a tow towards the reservoir. A string of clouds stretched from Mount
Diablo to the mountains west of Byron, and we begin investigating west
of the reservoir. At first, we were below the cloud base. By flying
figure eights in front (North) of the clouds, we picked up altitude, and
soon, we were above the cloud base. Clouds were forming, moving, and
disappearing at a steady rate, and that wisp a few figure eights ago
could have changed to nothing or something big. New clouds generally
provided the best lift, but unfortunately, we didn't get high enough to
fly to Mount Diablo.

Also, I saw a glory while looking down at the clouds. It's a beauty.>
Boyang

Chandler Lougee - FIRST SOLO CHRISTMAS EVE

2012-01-19T14:48:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve, Chandler Lougee decided to have her FIRST SOLO
All her instructors reported that she was ready weeks before.

If you see the pictures of the Santa Lougee family, you will
understand why Chandler chose this date! It took a while to collect all
the appropriate Santa Family Outfits.

Chandler wrote this about her solo:

"I currently have 20.3 hours. As for the solo, you're right, I will
remember that for the rest of my life. It was an amazing feeling,
looking behind me and realizing that there was nobody looking over my
shoulder, telling where and how to fly. And I just started enjoying the
view and having fun flying. It was awesome!!
I will be coming to the annual meeting, I'll see you then"

Larry sent photos of Chandler about to take off on her solo flight, with
a send-off by instructor Larry. Tow Pilot is Paul McDonald.

https://picasaweb.google.com/106307406519655220480/ChandlerSSolo?authkey=Gv1sRgCPiwrqDY1qPAGQ#

Chandler's Parents Lance and Barbara were present of course.
Barbara is a professorial photographer well known to NCSA members -
Attached are three photos of the Event taken by Barbara.

More from Mang about his first solo - Jan 14,2012

2012-01-17T20:50:00.001-08:00

It had been a long final stretch to my first glider solo. Having been
a power pilot back in Canada (through the Royal Canadian Air Cadets,
eh) my stick and rudders skills just needed some waking up and of
course it took some work to get used to how much rudder you need
(especially with the Grob 103) with those almost impossibly long wings
stretching out beside you. I reached the point where I was ready to
solo - then it was just a matter of getting the right combination of
pilot, aircraft and environment. Oh and let's not forget that other
factor - paperwork!

I called the Oakland FSDO to make an appointment to get my FAA student
pilot certificate. The woman who answered was quite nice and said
they'd give me a call back to make an appointment. I also learned
that I could transfer my Canadian Private Pilot Aeroplane License to a
full FAA Airplane License. I can explain the requirements as I
understand them but the upshot was that getting an FAA Class 3 medical
was required. So off I went to Dr Denbo in SF (I got a next day
appointment) and got a combined Class 3 Medical / Student Pilot
Certificate. I'd recommend this route if you plan to do hypoxia
training or go power later.

With Student Pilot Certificate in hand I was ready to go! I got out
to the field and I was up next for instruction when the winch stopped
working. Some puttering around and we found a problem or two and it
was no go. Bummer. Next week I came out to the field and I was ready
to go! Except it was an epic wave day and much better for riding wave
than going first solo. I'd be bummed except Larry and I flew a 1.9
hour flight topping out at 14,000 feet!

The next week I was a little slow on the draw and the instruction
lineup filled up. I'd been planning to fly Sunday but it was looking
like another wave day. Saturday was 81C's annual and I wanted to come
out to get a deep peek into the inner workings of our (not always so)
trusty steed. The air Saturday was completely dead. Gosh, it would
great to go solo. While we were putting the wings back on 81C someone
came by and said "the last student didn't show up, anybody want to
fly?" Can you say, YES?!

Up I went with John Randazzo. Since we weren't doing patterns (on
account of that rope trailing behind 16Y) it was a high tow to 3,500'
over Brushy Peak. We boxed the wake and did the standard maneuvers on
the way back. Back we came into the pattern for a simple landing with
windsock completely limp.

We got out of the plane and John said "OK, you want to go fly it?"
Can you say, YES?!

John tied back the straps in the back seat and quickly verified with
me that I'd done rope breaks, etc (indeed I had and I believe every
instructor in the club had said at one point "I think you're ready").
The tow pilot asked me where I wanted to go and I said "let's just do
that again". Keep it simple.

Sitting on the runway doing my pre-flight checks for the third time
the thought was just "OK, here we go!" Up we went! The air was
perfectly smooth (not moving at all) and it was easy to stay behind
the towplane. Near Brushy Peak I got off tow at 3,500'. I headed
back towards the airport and did some basic maneuvers. I did a
straight ahead stall and noted the reduced stall speed with one less
body in the plane. Some steep turns, slips and turning stalls. A 360
or two to enjoy the view! Then back to Byron to get set up for the
pattern. I crossed the Byron highway at about 2,000 feet. Plenty of
time to get ready for the landing. I got a call requesting I take the
second turnoff, closer to the tie-downs since this was the last
flight.

I made my calls to the empty pattern. On the 45 I used some spoilers
to get to pattern altitude. With the windsock still limp I aimed for
the first turnoff. Touchdown with about half spoilers, not a 10/10
but not too far off! Test the brakes. Keep it rolling, watch the
wings and energy. Get a little right of the centerline. Make the
turnoff and..... stop!

I hopped out, a big grin on my face! And there wasn't anyone there!
I'll take it as a vote of confidence that no one was nervously
watching my landing and were instead closing shop at the end of the
day. Ramy came over with a cart and gave me a congratulations. All
in all my first glider solo was "by the numbers" with no surprises.
I'll take that! Can't wait to get up again! Thanks to all the
instructors and the whole club for keeping our operations going!
(photos courtesy Ramy)
- mang

Jan 15,2012, Another Wave Day in Byron - Mang's first solo was yesterday today is his first as FM

2012-01-16T20:31:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was another Wave Day in Byron- a West wave. Last week was a
North Wave- Ramy's made a video from his wave flight last Saturday:
http://youtu.be/qDdnfIANUxU?hd=1 It is also on our Web site.

Here is MANG's report of January 15- his first day as Field Manager:

Ramy called for Sunday to be a wave day and he was right! There was
quite the lineup of gliders eagerly waiting for the towplane at the
start of operations. Once we started it was solid tows until everyone
was up. Winds were mostly 210 varying from a relatively mild
11-17knots in lulls all the way to 25 gusting 31 when we decided to
end towing around 15:40. It wasn't an early end to the day though
since people were really staying up and there was an exciting finish
with three gliders all returning for landing at the same time just
before sunset. The CAP cadets had some great flights (with Major Bob)
and all of them got to fly.

The tow rope seems to be holding up OK but it was challenging
operating off 23 since it required someone to be at the turnoff to
coil up the rope after the tow plane would pull off. Luckily we had
some eager cadets with their supervising officers. Jerry cut himself
on the pinky while handling the rope during hookup (he wasn't quite
sure how, might have been on the rope/rings or possibly the tow
plane). I'll be glad when the winch is fixed and we can minimize
handling of the rope.

We had 11 tows and 2 self-launches. That makes 13 different pilots in
the front seat (each flight was a long one!) + instructors that got to
play in the wave

It was my first time as FM and it was a bit challenging with the big
lineup to start the day and the big finish at the end where three
gliders touched down literally within a few minutes of each other. At
one point there were 3 gliders that needed to be cleared off the
runway/taxiways and it was a bit of a scramble. Duh.... if it's a
great lift day there will be a big rush just before sunset. Next time
I'll have more people on hand. Randy the airport guy helped pull EP
out of the grass midfield where we he was guarding his glider against
the wind while we cleared the other two gliders. I chatted with him
while driving him back to his truck and he didn't seem put out by it.

Congrats to Terence who took the 1-26 to 14,000 feet! He rather
politely called down a few times to see if anyone was waiting for it
and we called back "nope, go have fun!"

No new squawks. The large handheld club radio was transmitting weakly
when we tried it. AFAIK there is only one club radio that is working
well and with no radio operational in FB I'd recommend bringing your
own handheld if you have one when flying that ship.
Mang had his FIRST SOLO the day before - see his solo take-off photo

SHANNON wrote about his 300km flight: "As Mang said, today was a nice
west wind wave day. When I launched around noon, there was wave lift
directly over the airport at maybe 2,000'and above.Can't get much better
than that. The most consistent and reliable lift seemed to be over Los
Vaqueros reservoir, and I was able to climb a little over 12,000 feet
there about 3 times.Otherwise, conditions were fairly dynamic and on
several occasions, we'd see wave markers (rotor clouds or high linear
clouds) but not find any usable lift nearby.

I explored as far north as Mt. Diablo and as far south as San
Antonio Valley. The RASP predicted an area of lift around Rel1 and
Rel2, and it did in fact seem to be there, though not much stronger than
anywhere else. Overall, it was a fun day to explore, and I managed a
little over 300km. Click on the link to see Shannon's flight path.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/glidingflightinfo.html?dsId=2192991
We did have a little excitement at the end of the day, with 3 gliders
landing on runway 23 in 25 knot winds (gusting to 31), but with a little
radio communication, we were able to coordinate the use of the runway
and get down safely. I got some help from the airport guy to get the
glider through the grass and onto the taxiway. No worries,
Mang,compared to landing out at a deserted airport and having to push
the glider around solo, it's nice to have any help at all. :-)

RAMY summarizes the day: Indeed we got wave today! Interestingly the
wind at altitude wasn't any stronger than on the ground, as a result the
wave only went to around 14K. The highest we got was 14.6K. Buzz,
Shannon and myself went south to Mt Oso area and I also went north to
Vacaville ridge. Ramy's flight is on OLC. The wave was easily accessible
from a local tow right over the airport.Descending through the rotor and
landing in strong gusty wind was interesting.

Special thanks to John Randazzo for lending me his O2 bottle. Also
thanks to all who helped me with my glider today and with my FM duties
yesterday which was much needed due to to my injured elbow."

This was SHAMIM's first solo day in wave. Shamim wrote
"I had planned to take a high tow and work on turns etc.
At the flight line everyone was heading off to the wave, but
I didn't think I'd know what to do with one if it were
handed to me on a plate... I decided to stick to my plan.

I released at 3k over the airport and found myself in 2 kt up,
perfectly smooth. Then I remembered Dmitry had radioed down that he
was in wave at 3.5 directly over the airport. I guess this wave _was_
being handed to me on a plate!

After that it was just figuring out how far it went and trying to stay
in the strongest bits, around 3kt. I had noticed another glider
further upwind, and it seemed to be climbing faster. I pointed the
nose into the wind and increased speed. And just like all the books
say, first there was lots of sink, then much better lift. And these
bands of lift had rotor clouds under and behind them, just like the
pictures in the books!

All too soon it was time to descend. I found the sink between the lift
bands (again, just like the books) and rode it down with boards out.
There was a large (rotor?) cloud over the pattern entry point that I
stayed well clear of but still found myself climbing with full spoilers.
Lower down it was the roughest air I've flown in, everything below 3k
seemed brutal. Shamim's favorite Glider Books:
" I think it would have to be the Hertenstein one, "Ridge, Wave, &
Convergence Lift".Also the FAA book. I will never forget that flight, it
felt like the books had come to life."

It was 1.7 hours on the clock, 11k highest (8k post-release gain!).
Best of all it felt like a big playground up there to explore. I could
get used to this!"
DMITRY sends his wondrous photo sequence of the day's sky:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60002130@N03/sets/72157628890840529/

Bay Tour - the sequel

2012-01-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

Less than a year after my first Bay Tour, which was almost entirely between 2-4000 feet and below the the floor of class bravo, I repeated the trip, this time way above the 10,000 feet ceiling of class bravo, between 15-18,000 feet. What a spectacular view!
Took off on Saturday January 7 shortly after 11AM and released couple of miles west of Los Vaqueros towers over the red roofs in 1-2 knot wave, which got stronger further up, then moved to the Diablo wave and topped just below 18,000 feet nearly 2 hours after I launched. The wind was mostly from the north 40-50knots. Before the flight I decided that if I can get to near 18K I'll try to repeat my Bay Tour flight, this time way above class bravo instead of below. I calculated that as long as if I can stay above 15,000 feet I can continue safely above class bravo, otherwise I should be able to escape to the side without risking dropping into the airspace below. So once I got to just under 18K near Mt Diablo, I headed west, working multiple wavelets making sure I stay well above the ceiling. I found the next wave over the Oakland Hills, then crossed over the Bay Bridge to Downtown San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge where I found the next wave downwind of the Marin Headlands, which got stronger as I got closer to Mt Tamalpais and Stinson Beach. The best wave was over the Pacific, and I continued over the water to Point Reyes where the wave petered out, then turned around and flew back to the Mt Tamalpais wave. Once back to near 18K I went downwind south along the San Francisco coast to Half Moon Bay and La Honda where I encountered strong wave again downwind of the Santa Cruz mountains. It was now after 4PM, with less than an hour left to fly over 40 miles cross wind back to Byron, so I turned east over Mountain view across the bay to Mission peak where I found strong wave again, but no much time left to enjoy it, so pushed the nose down to near VNE, did one last detour to the Diablo Range (Release 1 waypoint) to burn altitude, and back to land at Byron 3 minutes before sunset. Total distance was 322km, almost entirely within glide of Byron! I got below glide back to Byron only once near Point Reyes...

OLC info: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2188763

Flight Trace

16,000 feet over Downtown San Francisco

San Francisco

15,000 feet over Point Reyes

Point Reyes

17900 feet over the Pacific

The Golden Gate Bridge from near 18,000 feet

Over Mountain View on final glide to Byron

Civil Air Patrol Glider O-rides at Byron Airport, with Major Bob Semans

2011-12-12T21:25:00.001-08:00

Bob Semans, a Major in the Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing Glider Center
of Excellence has intermittently worked for the past three years to get
a new CAP glider operational center established in the North. He has
succeeded in accomplishing this important milestone by offering O-rides
in Byron in our Grobs.
See details of the new CAP Glider Orientation Rides offered to CAP
cadets in this blog from the Oakland Squadron 188
http://blog.squadron188.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpzd-b1SMtg&feature=youtu.be

Shamim tells his Story of A Checkride - how the lizard brain threatened to quit but human brain won out....

2011-11-16T19:33:00.001-08:00

Thanks everyone, for all your congratulations and good wishes! Monique
asked me to write up my checkride, so here it is.

Story of A Checkride
Or
You Don't Fail Until The Examiner Says So

I started flying in the early 90s. I had been working on the glider
rating around the turn of the century but I had taken a few years off
since then. I decided the break had been too long and I would mark my
return to aviation by finishing up the G rating. In the summer NCSA
had been having trouble with glider availability so I decided to go to
Williams and just get it done. After 3 months of flying every weekend,
Ed S. (the CFI at Williams) said I was ready; I made a 2 pm
appointment for Nov 7 with Rex Mayes, DPE and owner of Williams Soaring.

The oral part of the exam was fun. It was thorough and explored the
depths of my knowledge -- but there's nothing wrong with talking about
flying for an hour or two! It made me realise how very little I knew,
but also that I was in fact prepared for the test.

I preflighted the glider, and soon we were hooked up and ready to go.
The takeoff was a little squirrelly and I reminded myself to relax.
Rex had told me that instead of giving me a slack line, he would just
put the glider into an unusual attitude on tow, and expect me to
recover -- ideally without any slack developing, but to fix any slack
that did happen. We did a couple of steering turns, boxed the wake,
and did a few unusual attitudes. He asked me to give the "slow down"
signal, so I rocked the wings.

"Are we slowing down?"
"No, because I gave him the wrong signal!"

I wagged the tail and we slowed down, and it was time to let the
tow-plane go.

After release he pointed out that making a right 90 isn't the best
idea: it's better to only turn 20-30 degrees so you can keep an eye on
the tug until it's far enough away and below the horizon. (He reminded
me of the accident at Crazy Creek where the towplane and glider
collided soon after release.) Phew, we're finally off tow! I can relax
now. And then he said,

"Where's the airport?"

!!! It was almost 4 pm, Daylight Savings Time had ended, and the sun
was low. All my other flights had been during the morning and early
afternoon, and all the fields had been green. They had now been
harvested, burned, and flooded, and it looked like an alien landscape.
I could see I-5 and the towns along it, but which one was Williams?

"Over there," I said, pointing to Maxwell.
"Ok, where are the Twin Barns?"

I look to where they should be, and there are only fields there! Was
the other town Williams? I haven't been lost since I first started
flying... and I picked a checkride to repeat it. This is a fail!
Lizard Brain wants to quit and go home! Luckily Human Brain took over:
we're PIC, and we don't give up. There's I-5; where's Highway 20? Oh,
it's under the glider. So that town to the left is Williams, and look,
there's the runway, and there's Twin Barns. We're north of the field,
not south -- which makes sense, because the winds aloft are from the
north.

Since I was convinced I had already failed, the pressure was off. We
did a stall series, and then "falling leaf" stalls, followed by steep
turns. (He tried to lead me downwind away from the airport, but I
noticed and told him I would do a 180 first.) As I rolled into the steep
turn,

"Can we get back to the runway from here?"
"Yes, if we're above 2K here we're fine."
"How far is the airport?"
"3 miles."
"How high will we be if we head there now?"
"Argh, I can't do arithmetic while I'm turning!"
"Well, in a glider you're always turning."

After all that, the pattern and landing were uneventful. My speed
varied more than I liked, and I touched down 50' beyond my selected
spot. I need to practice more before I re-take the checkride.

After we climb out of the glider, Rex put out his hand and said
"Congratulations, you passed." What?! After getting lost? And letting
the airspeed wander all over the place?

We then de-briefed the flight. He told me everything was within the
Private PTS, but I need to work on precision.
- if the airspeed is supposed to be 50, it should be 50, not 48 or 53
- no dawdling over the pre-takeoff checklist if you're on the runway
- a 30:1 glider goes 5 nm per 1000'; 40:1 goes 6.5; 50:1 goes 8.
- check spoilers high enough (above 1500) to be able to do something
about it if they're stuck
So, even though the FARs say there will be no instruction during a
flight test, I learned a lot. The most important: to not give up,
and to relax -- remember that flying, even a checkride, is supposed to
be fun.

A big thank you to all the CFIs and tow pilots who made it possible.
Now for badges and XC!

Shamim Mohamed
ASEL, IA, G

Photos from Oktober Fest and Work Day, + a couple of training flights getting ready to launch

2011-11-16T16:21:00.001-08:00

Photos from Oktober Fest and Work Day, + a couple of training flights
getting ready to launch

-click on the link below, from Picasa:

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=monique.weil&target=ALBUM&id=5675042494597361697&authkey=Gv1sRgCKXPzbP7rbOTXg&feat=email

Photos from Oktober Fest and Work Day, + a couple of training flights getting ready to launch

2011-11-16T11:18:00.001-08:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=monique.weil&target=ALBUM&id=5675042494597361697&authkey=Gv1sRgCKXPzbP7rbOTXg&feat=email

Maja's detailed Report of Flying with women at El Tiro

2011-10-27T09:08:00.001-07:00

Flying with women at El Tiro: a Seminar journal

This year's Women Soaring Pilot Association (WSPA) Annual Seminar took
place at El Tiro gliderport north of Tucson, Arizona, from September
22nd to 25th. Each Annual Seminar, which is the most important event for
WSPA, has specific goals set by the location and flying habits of the
hosting club. This year, the goals were improving cross-country (XC)
skills, Badge Work and aerobatics instruction. Customarily, the Annual
Seminars are organized during the summer when most WSPA members can take
time off. This year we had to change venues abruptly for some
unprecedented reasons, but September in Tucson seemed like an excellent
alternative to the original plans. Fourteen of us participated, a
relatively small number of participants, mostly due to the short
lead-time and the fact that schools have already started in September.
But, Tucson Soaring Club (TuSC) members went out of their way to make
this a memorable event for women pilots who could be there. Thus, we
were pampered by 78 TuSC volunteers in 4 days. TuSC members donated
money for one full Seminar scholarship ($500), grant money ($300)
towards hauling Neita's ASK21 all the way from Air Sailing; one of their
CFI-Gs donated his time, and they had a designated cook or two who
folded egg-whites into pancake batter every morning for us, and made
roast-beef au-jus, grilled beef au-jus, salmon (not au-jus), with loads
of good side-dishes and salads for every lunch and dinner, all made in
their club's kitchen. We had a great time!
The gliderport is about an hour drive on I-10, north from Tucson. Once
off the highway, directions to El Tiro are clearly labeled with road
signs. The street that finally leads to the gliderport is appropriately
named El Tiro Road, and it's unpaved for the last two miles. The
entrance to the gliderport grounds is a large gate, paddlocked at night,
after which the speed limit goes down to 10 mph to prevent raising too
much dust and sand onto the glider canopies. Like Air Sailing, El Tiro
is on Federal land (Bureau of Land Management), and consequently has
enough "real-estate" to house 11 runways (26 Right, Center, Left,
8R/C/L, 35 R/L, 17 R/L, and the diagonal winch runway), with 8/26
runways being the fantastic 7000 ft long. Club's and some private
gliders are kept in the shade hangar, which has wide roof and no walls,
where each glider is tied-down on the specially-built cement platform.
The club's fleet got almost completely destroyed few years ago by a
tornado which ripped gliders out of the tie-down spots and left them
mangled in the nearby bush and saguaros. The insurance covered the loss,
and El Tiro eventually recovered the fleet. However, in the wake of the
tornado and club operations being down for 6 months, they built this
super-sturdy shade hangar to protect aircraft from the future bad luck.
I arrived on Sept 17, a Saturday before the Seminar started, hoping I
could help with final preparations, as I am WSPA VP and Seminar
Coordinator. Also, getting all the check-out requirements early out of
the way seemed like a good idea. My host, Greg Hodgins, and I drove to
El Tiro that same afternoon. I got checked-out in their G103 Twin II
acro-ship, one of the three G103s Tucson Soaring Club uses for initial
training. The first flight was a standard 2000 ft high tow, with release
over the Black Hills, their source of house-thermals. After releasing at
around 4000 ft MSL, we found a strong thermal and flew to 8000 ft. This
gave us more than enough time to do standard maneuvers like stalls, slow
flight, and slow flight with spoilers fully open. In addition, I got
well acquainted with the local landmarks of Ragged Top, Silver Bell
Mine, and Pinal Airpark. Couple of pattern flights, one of which was a
simulated rope break followed by the landing on a different runway,
finished off the checkout process. Next day, Greg and I went for a 2
hour XC flight: we covered a larger part of the Avra Valley, to Waterman
and Towers South on the Southern side, and almost reached Picacho Peak
on the North. I got to see land-out fields. Good ones are Ultralight and
Sasco strip, both towable. A very bad place to land would be a
dirt-strip-looking place, south of Silver Bell Mines, where a hidden
missile-launch site was during the Cold War. On Monday, I finally went
flying by myself. It was a good enough soaring day that TuSC had
operations going, even though it is usually not open on Mon/Tue. I took
off in the early afternoon and found lift up to 10.000 ft in usual
places like Black Hills, hills sloping off of Silver Bell and around
Towers South. Sometimes even cattle ponds kicked off thermals, but
valley floor gave serious sink most of the time. It was very convenient
to have Black Hills to go back to in order to get high up again and stay
afloat. I stayed up for 2.3 hours.
Tuesday was a non-flying day for me, but Neita and Mark Montague, who
arrived from Air Sailing the night before with their ASK21 in tow, got
an area- and G103 check-outs so they could act as additional CFI-Gs
during the Seminar. In return, TuSC chief instructor, James Lyne, got
checked out in their ASK21, which was apparently a very nice experience
for James. Wednesday morning we got treated with the visit to the Desert
Museum, a very beautiful and very hot place. Wednesday afternoon
participants finally started arriving and the entire afternoon got
filled with more check-out flights. Since all the Grobs were taken, I
decided to take the hosts up on their offer and get checked out in a
PW6, dual-seater of Polish built, which "is a great spinner like all the
other Eastern European gliders". I read the manual, passed the mandatory
test, washed the glider as part of the pre-flight (the washing part also
mandatory), and went flying with Chuck Schroll, a good soul who donated
all of his CFI-G time to women pilots during the Seminar. PW6 flies with
a nose-high attitude, so it took me few minutes to switch the
pitch-attitude from the Grob's to the PW6's best L/D . PW6 is an easy
ship to fly, and unlike Grob, very light on the rudder. It was a breeze
to stay coordinated, After a single dual flight, I flew it solo very
briefly, since the sun was setting and all the lift was almost
completely gone by that point. One of the oddities of PW6 is that it
should not be towed in low-tow position because the tow-rope would rub
against the fuselage and damage it eventually. I guess boxing the wake
is still OK, since James Lyne and I did it the next day on our way to
the acrobatics "box".
Thursday, Sept 22 2011, finally the whole thing started officially. For
me the highlight of the Seminar was the opportunity to get instruction
in aerobatic flight. TuSC has three acrobatics instructors who are also
competition acro-pilots. One of them is their chief instructor, James
Lyne, with whom I had two acrobatics flights Thu afternoon. But before
that afternoon excitement, we got a great lecture by their parachute
rigger, Mike Morgan. Mike-the-rigger worked once upon a time with Alan
Silver, our own NCSA parachute rigger. WSPA participants got to read
Alan's old articles from Soaring Magazine on proper parachute
pre-flight, fitting and bailing-out procedure from the glider. As part
of the demonstration, I got to deploy the parachute, and learn how to
find steering handles to land parachute as safely as possible. Bail-out
practice was an eye-opener. One thing that becomes crystal-clear right
away is that if you have never done the bail-out routine before, you
will be too slow; probably too slow to save yourself if the situation
was for real. I did the "bail-out" twice in a row, and second time I was
significantly faster. Practice makes perfect, and as Alan suggests in
his articles, it probably does pay to rehearse the bailing process every
time one gets in and out of the glider. Apart from being useful, this
exercise had a great entertainment value because we got to jump out of
the glider and onto the mattress by diving out head-first…and there are
many "styles" of leaving that glider in a rush. The fastest girl,
Gretchen, got an award that evening for the speediest egress from the
glider.
My first acro-flight was in PW6: spin training with recovery to a
heading. First two spins were one full turn, spinning to the left and to
the right. Both times, I overshot the heading during the recovery. On
the last one, I spun PW6 three full rotations, experienced the fully
developed spin with the nose of the aircraft pointing straight down to
the ground, and recovered exactly on the heading. On the second
acro-flight in G103 I got to practice loops, chandelles and wingovers.
Loop entry was at 120 kts, which allows for a nice, large, show-like
loop. At 120 kts, pulling the stick back to about 3 Gs, got us up and
inverted. Since the inverted portion of the loop is not sustained, it
feels like weightless state, we did not really experience negative G
force. With stick relaxed, the glider recovers into the upright flight.
One of the consequences of aerobatics flight, is that afterwards,
landing pattern speed seems very slow. It was true for me: I had to work
hard not to fly too fast. Adrenalin-rush immediately after the
acro-maneuvers made straight-and-level flight awfully boring.
Friday morning brought fun and educational landing exercises. Women
got to practice low-energy short-field landings, ground-effect flying
and steep approaches. Flying in ground effect along 4000-5000 ft of the
runway was everyone's favorite. To get enough energy for a long glide in
ground effect the landing approach speed needed to be as high as
65-70kts. Once ready to flare, the spoilers got closed completely. The
glider had enough energy to fly for a long time in ground effect, only
few feet above ground, before it eventually settled down very gently,
"like a butterfly with sore feet".
Training in cross-country flying took form of the team-flying challenge.
On Friday afternoon, teams did XC practice-flights, so everyone would
get first acquainted with local turn-points and land-out options. Since
by Friday I got to know most of the local XC area, and since all the
dual-seat gliders got occupied, I decided to go get another check-out
and fly solo in a PW5. It is a single-seat version of PW6, and, of
course, another "excellent spinner of Eastern European origin". After
fighting with the seat-belts that appeared to be modeled on leather
weight lifting belts, I took off around 2 pm. It was not a good soaring
day. The cumuli were there, marking the lift, but those were not growing
cumulus clouds. They appeared flat, and the lift beneath them was rather
weak and disorganized. In addition, frequent overdevelopment kept
shutting down the reliable source of thermals. PW5 is a very light
aircraft, and the "secure" feeling of flying in a heavy Grob was gone.
It took me awhile to habituate to the fact that I will be bounced around
a lot. Like PW6, the ship is very light on controls and easy to fly.
Because of its short wingspan and very slow minimum sink and best L/D
speed, it climbs nicely even in weak thermals. After the initial
struggle, I spent almost half of the 3.4h hour flight between 6000 and
10000 feet MSL. The Grobs and ASK21 that all took-off before me were
coming back to land very quickly. Some of them tried to connect to the
thermal I was in, but without much success: PW5 had an unfair advantage
in the weak lift conditions. The downside of PW5 is obviously the very
poor penetration into the wind: 47kts best L/D speed will get you down
more-less vertically once in sink. The OLC trace for this flight is
rather funny, showing mostly thermalling, and not much horizontal
flying, until later in the afternoon, when sink associated with cumulus
clouds was gone.
Saturday, I teamed up with the local woman pilot, Sheena Stogsdill for
the OLC XC challenge. TuSC weatherman, Mike Stringfellow, gave us a
weather briefing in the morning, which turned out to be too optimistic.
The cloud street running to the south of El Tiro was supposed to take us
all the way to the Baboquivary Mountains further southwest where the
long convergence awaited, marked by cumulus clouds all the way to
Mexico. Around 1pm, a long grid of gliders kept getting longer as all of
those who took-off, quickly came down because the cloud street
overdeveloped right above El Tiro shutting down the lift. Sheena and I
caught a blue thermal after the second take-off attempt. Once we got to
10.000 ft we pressed on south, towards clouds that promised more and
higher lift. The highest we got that day was 12.500 ft, to keep us legal
without oxygen supply. We had a portable oxygen system that sat next to
Sheena in the back seat. But with only one flow regulator, it meant only
about 15-20 min of oxygen for the two of us. It seemed easier to just
stay below the 12.500 ft, and we did fine on that day (tomorrow was a
different story, though). Decision was made to try to go further
southwest towards Kitt Peak, but we quickly reneged on that commitment
because of the unrelenting sink we encountered and no known land-out
places in the rugged terrain. Instead, we changed course towards east.
We skirted Ryan Field, and made it to Robles Junction to see Sheena's
house, before we finally headed back "home" and away from almost
complete overdevelopment further south. Even going back north towards El
Tiro and Black Hills was a struggle because all we had to work with were
small sunny patches that did not always make thermals. The few
good-looking clouds were too far for us at that point. Once we reached
the relative safety of El Tiro and Black Hills, we got disappointed
again: the usual sources of blue thermals were covered by cloud shadows
most of the time. It took monitoring when each potential thermal source
got insolated and then waiting for at least 10 minutes of sunshine to
finally attempt getting some lift off of it. We did something right,
because we finally managed to get back to 11.000 ft. There were no
clouds north of where we were, but it looked like we would encounter
less sink if headed that way, than back south. By the time we reached
the foothills of Picacho Peak to the north, it was getting to be dinner
time and we headed back to El Tiro. The rest of the flight was spent
monitoring who was landing before us, eating animal crackers and Sheena
did some wingovers and steep turns for me as she got bored with
straight-and-level flight. (A side note on Sheena: she is a 20 year old
acrobatics glider pilot of impressive precision and talent. Since her
dad is also an acro-instructor and TuSC A&P, Sheena started flying
early, when she was 13. On her 4th solo flight she had a "dogfight" with
her dad flying the other glider.)
Saturday evening was a WSPA Banquet, this year specially honored by a
lecture given by a former space-shuttle commander Don McMonagle, who
flew on three missions. Overloaded power generator kept blowing fuses
during his talk, but he was quick on his feet. Don pulled out a Space
Shuttle "toy" and explained all three modes of emergency landings and
then some, all without lights or a working projector.
On Sunday, the last day of the Seminar, the soaring weather was finally
outstanding. Unfortunately, most of the participants were pooped. I woke
up immensely tired, with heart racing at 130 beats/min. Since no amount
of coffee or food helped, and after seeing Sheena in the same condition,
I concluded that we both got hypoxic on the previous day's flight and it
carried over as fatigue the next day. After all, we did spend most of
the time of 3.4h flight between 9 and 12 thousand feet without
supplemental oxygen. I wanted to do precision landings solo in order to
finish off the leftover Bronze Badge requirements. Trusty PW5 was all
mine. Chuck Schroll set-up orange cones for me, marking the beginning
and end of the 600ft stretch of the runway, within which I was supposed
to touch-down and come to a complete stop. The first landing was as
hoped for. When the time came for my second take-off, we got a
radio-call from one of the airborne gliders that the dust-storm is
coming our way. Everyone locked their canopies and waited beside their
gliders for the storm to blow over. After few minutes it appeared that
it was bypassing us on the east side of the field, and we got a "green
light" from the line chief to resume operations. I was the first one to
take-off from 26. When the tow-plane made its usual left 180 degree turn
towards east, we faced a "wall of sand", which was high enough that we
could not see Mt Lemon and Catalina Mts on the other side of Avra Valley
and I-10. The dust-storm was not bypassing anything, it was going right
over the field! Tow-pilot kept circling above the west side of the
field, and in front of the dust-storm, until we got to the pattern
altitude. Luckily, there was lift everywhere, since I needed to stay up
for another 30 minutes because the ops got shut down again on the
ground. Eventually, I landed "downwind" on rwy 8, since 26 was jammed
with the gliders in the grid, and rwy 17 which would have made the most
sense, if the wind-socks are to be trusted, was at the edge of the
storm, and the awesome wind-shear made it difficult to have good
airspeed control on the final.
After all that excitement and my pulse rate still going at 130, I called
it a day. After a nap on the futon on the conference room floor, and the
lunch of elegant Mexican dinner leftovers catered for the previous
night's event, I spent the rest of the afternoon on the shaded porch of
the club-house, watching gliders go by, and enjoying my water spiked
with electrolytes. 100F never felt so cool.
The Seminar in Tucson was a success for every participant, as well as
organizers. Women achieved Gold Altitudes and Badges, some of us had
first serious acro-instruction, and some young ones got to see for the
first time what 10.000 ft gain in altitude feels like in comparison to
their wet, Seattle, 100 ft gain on a good day. At this point I have to
specially mention two TuSC members, Kate Porter and Greg Hodgins, who
put their hearts and heads together to make this a really special event
for women pilots. Three of us worked hard to jump-start the whole
project back in April 2011, get appropriate-turned-overwhelming support
from their club, as well as do as early PR as possible. Gretchen Gibbs
designed the wonderful logo for the Seminar, which we all enjoy now on
our Seminar t-shirts and posters. At the end, we all had tremendous fun
working and flying together, and both TuSC and WSPA got some loyal new
members.
Maja
PS. Few links:
https://picasaweb.google.com/118398722524838847134/WSPASeminar2011AtElTiro?authkey=Gv1sRgCPrPrNLf0fzk4QE
In addition, please find attached the pdf file of photographs taken by
our "official" photographer Pete Rendek, whose daughter Kim got one of
the WSPA scholarships to help her towards her private rating:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalsoaring/attachments/folder/1843408749/item/list

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html;jsessionid=8ACAAD4D6A5108D95AEC6FA88BCE1188?dsId=2133058
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html;jsessionid=8ACAAD4D6A5108D95AEC6FA88BCE1188?dsId=2135456
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html;jsessionid=8ACAAD4D6A5108D95AEC6FA88BCE1188?dsId=2136390
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ramy CAPTURES the EGG from AIR SAILING, flying from Williams

2011-09-17T10:54:00.001-07:00

The flight from Williams to Airsailing took me first to 25 miles west of Yolla (on the Mendocinos west of Red Bluff), getting as high as 16,000 feet only 30 miles or so from the coast, then from Yolla accross the Central Valley north of Red Bluff to 20 miles or so NW of Lassen where I started climbing again, but had to struggle for a while getting as low as 2500 feet AGL before connecting with the better lift. From there went to Lassen, Lake Almanor, Susanville and Ravendale area before landing at Airsailing.
Total OLC distance 585KM. Highest altitude over the sierra was the same as over the Mendocinos: 16K!
OLC trace: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...l?dsId=2124662

Arriving at Mt Lassen

The next day I flew back to Williams, but not in a soaring flight. While it looked decent to the SE from Airsailing (but with relatively low bases) it was either overcast, blue or OD to the west, and bases over the crest were only 11K, just as the NAM predicted, so I figured it was not possible to make it all the way to Williams in a soaring flight. It looked bad towards Truckee as well and it looks like no much flying went there at well. As such, I took a 55 miles tow to 12K and released a little west of the crest NW of Sierra Butte, 80 miles from Williams. From there it was a dead glide all the way to Williams, over an hour with not a single climb until landing. With a slight tail wind at the beginning of the glide I achieved 50:1 glide for the first 50 miles until I started flying faster and playing around, arriving at Williams with couple of thousand feet. Since it was not a soaring flight I can't justify for myself to post it to OLC and claim any points.

Special thanks to Lee Edling, who really took care of me while at Airsailing, provided me with a trailer to spend the night and a tow back towards Williams. And many thanks to the Airsailing folks for their hospitality. The Banquet was great and the food was delicious.

Now we need to plan the next egg attack from Byron or Hollister before Lee captures it from Williams again :-)

Ramy the eggnapper

_Plenty of delicious food. We can definitely learn from them how a banquet should be..._,_._,___

Mike Mayo shows how FAA WINGS flights can be soaring fun, with over a dozen required tasks slipped in

2011-09-17T08:37:00.001-07:00

Yes, I did have a pleasant "Wings" flight with Monique in KP. It would
have been nice to get the trace and post on OLC. Maybe next time. It
is the same equipment as I used in 5H but that was a long ago now. It
was a Friday, we took off just before 3pm and just before the tow pilot
stopped for the day. No possibility of a relight and it was just
beginning to be soarable. After what seemed like a lot of work we got
to the Pine Nuts and made our way to Mt. Patterson and then back to some
way across Lake Tahoe with "final glide" to Truckee. Landed back at
Minden after nearly 3 hours.

Two years ago I also had a fine flight with Monique for "Wings". That
time it was even harder getting to the Pine Nuts but was rewarded with
wave to 18K eventually. The same wave gave us more than 2000 ft/min
climb to 14Kft in the Long-EZ on the way home to Palo Alto.

My most memorable "Wings" flight was with Dave Cunningham in 81C out of
Truckee. We went to Susanville and back, quite easily, after deciding
at Spooner that the glide angle would not get us to the big clouds at
Freel Peak. Returning from Susanville we were dodging spectacular
overdevelopment. All very pretty.

--MikeM

Bob Semans has a flight of extremes in KP at Minden

2011-09-16T19:35:00.001-07:00

A week ago today, I had a flight of extremes in KP. Take off around 12:30 proved to be too early for a release over the Johnson Lane sand pits. Down to pattern entry altitude, it seemed to take a half hour of sweating to get back up to release altitude of 6,500 feet. Finally, my passenger spotted two hawks circling nearby north of Starbucks (stayed with them for three turns) and got high enough to get to the first ridge NE of the sand pit. There under building Cu a strong thermal got stronger, eventually yielding 13+ knots on the averager for several circles. So, famine ... then feast! Went East to the Pine Nuts easily and eventually reached 15k near Mineral Peak with Cu circling the whole Carson Valley. >From there it was straight flying down the Pine Nuts to Leviathan Peak, Markleeville, Freel Peak and up the Carson Range to Marlette Lake ... the Grand Tour with no circling!

My passenger was Mike Wojcik, an ex F-111 pilot, who had never flown in a glider. He is the USAF Liaison Officer for the CAP Nevada Wing who had come to "inspect" KP as a requirement for me to use a non-CAP glider to give CAP cadets their USAF paid glider orientation rides. After I return in early October from a trip East, Mike will fly down to Byron to do his inspection of 81C and FB so they will also be approved for me to fly cadets. I hope to fly a few cadets in October and through the winter.

On this flight, I flew with my own Cambridge Model 20 flight recorder and posted the flight to OLC. http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1198649639 As my summer home is near MEV, it's easy for me to fly KP during the week so to avoid the members who come to Minden to fly KP on the weekend.

BTW, I brought my Ventus to Byron and look forward to getting an introduction to flying in Tiger County this fall from those who have been making nice flights there. During the years I flew at Hummingbird, I never got South into the mountains ... but then, in those days I was flying 1-26s.

Bob Semans "SE"

__._,_.___

Rick's first flights in Minden

2011-07-11T08:14:00.001-07:00

Had a great week end at Minden flying KP.
I want to start by thanking Mike Schneider for spending more than four
hours while I bobbed and twisted in KP.

On Sat 7/9 I had the second flight of the day. Maja had the first
flight and she came back her usual smiling self. I knew it was going to
be good, we took off at about 3:45 for a 2.1hr intro flight to the world
of more than 1 to 4 knots of lift. I wasn't ready for the tooth jarring
ride to 6,500ft where we found 10kts+ of lift. Spent the time learning
more about thermaling. We got to 14,200ft once. Traveled up and down
the Pine Nuts(SP?) as far north as Virginia City and south short of
Topaz Lake. Moderate to very good lift the whole flight. I am kind of
hooked on this. I can see why the rules say you need a check out here.

Sun 7/10: I took the first flight and it was again a bump and grind ride
to 7,200 ft where Mike cut us loose in 10kts of lift. Today was a
different day. It was up and down the whole 2.1hrs (weird, 2hrs and
8min on both days). We wound up to 10K and then it was 8-10kis down to
9K and back. Hit 11K then 12K off and on, 13,100 for a brief second.
Lost altitude quickly and gained slowly. We headed back to MEV a couple
of times but found lift. We were at the south end of the valley at 10K
and headed back. After all the work we kept running into lift. Back to
12K. Enough of this I worked at loosing altitude. At 8K found lift and
tried to ignore it, I looked and we were at 8,600ft. Flew out of lift,
put KP in a steep turn and came down. I had to leave as Maja and Mike
took off.

Hope Maja posts her adventures soon (HINT).
Again thank you Mike you are a patient teacher.

Rick Robbins

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Air Sailing Cross-Country Camp 2011 - John Scott

2011-07-08T06:51:00.001-07:00

XC Camp 2011 by John Scott

The ASI camps are always a great experience and are highly recommended. Classroom work was very educational, as usual. The weather this week did not cooperate (not so good thermals) so some of us newbies had trouble getting out of the valley.

My first XC was to Stead and I made it, but I didn’t make it back. I ended up landing out at Spanish Springs. When I came over the ridge looking for the airport I was expecting to see an asphalt runway and I didn’t have a lot of time (altitude) to look around. I kept circling over the dirt runway of a private construction site next to residential housing. Unable to locate the airport I landed on the dirt strip. After landing, while sitting on the wing of 2SS and studying my Sectional, I noticed for the first time the hollow circle designating Spanish Springs as a dirt strip. This was also the first time that I noticed the words “Hazardous” as an airport description.

LESSON #1 Study your alternate airports before you land at them, not after. It works better that way.

ASI does not tow out of Spanish Springs (too dangerous) so I had to wait for the trailer and got more practice de-rigging 2SS. Special acknowledgement to Buzz Graves for all his help and mentoring on 2SS.

My second XC (the first successful one) was on the last day (Friday). These photos were taken just minutes before I launched.

After releasing at 3,000 AGL I had difficulty maintaining lift over the Red Rocks and the side of Tule Ridge. I worked my way back trying for lift and thought I was going to have to land and re-light. Just over the “knoll” to the north of ASI I was saved by a house thermal that took me from 6,300 MSL to 13,000 MSL. From there I proceeded on course for Tiger passing over Nex-Rad and Pond peak. It is easier to stay high than to get high. Thermals are larger (wider) and easier to find and work up high.

LESSON #2 If you’re new to XC, get high and stay high. “Tank up” often.

Any time I got below 11,000 I took the next thermal to get back up.

After passing over Tiger I proceeded to Silver Springs, both of which I easily recognized having now done my homework. From there I headed back. I “tanked up” to 12,500 MSL before crossing the foothills. I was practically at final glide altitude for ASI before proceeding. Passing over Pond Peak and Nex Rad there was a constant lift in the form of bumpy “zero air”. I came off First Lift still at 12,500, I hadn’t lost an inch! During my spiral descent to ASI everything electronic stopped working; radio, transponder, vario. After 3+ hours my battery was dead. I made the landing using my handheld.

LESSON #3 Consider carrying a handheld.

LESSON #4 If you don’t own an Oudie, or something like it, consider getting one. Not having to read charts and do glide slope mental math made things more enjoyable for me.

Flight Statistics:

Duration: 3.2 hours

Maximum Altitude: 13,000 feet

XC Distance: 103 miles

Every glider pilot should try to attend the two ASI camps “Thermal” and “Cross Country”.

We had people from as far away as Kentucky, Florida, and Canada.

Many people come to these camps more than once.

END

Terry Lowe flies the Whites at the NSA Bishop encampment - 'Impressive' is the understatement of the year!

2011-06-27T20:42:00.001-07:00

I've just come back from 4 days at the NSA Bishop encampment,. What an experience flying the Whites! Unbelievable thermals (one went to 17,800') and even a bit of wave to 18,000'.

I didn't get chance to drive to Schulman Grove, but I did give the visitors there a close up (and I mean really close up) view of my glider as I rode the thermal ridge lift at their eye level.

'Impressive' is the understatement of the year!

Although I never needed a relight on the four days I flew there, on three of the days I released too early in what I thought was good lift, only to find myself scratching round at 5,800' - 6,000' for 1/2 an hour to an hour trying to find the elevator to take me to the top (I believe my tow costs were the lowest for those four days). That in itself was a learning experience - doing short, figure-of-eight beats of perhaps 1/4 mile in length, just a couple of hundred feet above ground (airport still within glide, of course), just to stay airborne. Of course, once decent lift was found, it was no trouble getting to the ridge line. People often talk about ten-knot thermals when in fact they're really only ten knots (an optimistic maybe) for a short duration. Well, in one thermal, my averager showed a minimum of ten knots+ for two minutes straight! Unbelievable!

The other quite amazing learning experience (common knowledge to power pilots, of course) is the effect of altitude on true airspeed. Since most of the flying on the Whites is above 12,000', a glider's true airspeed can be quite remarkable - and hence the need for extra vigilance in the lookout for other gliders and also being cognizant of the glider's design limits in the sometimes turbulent conditions. It is easily possible for two gliders to be approaching head-on at closing speeds approaching 250 knots. The lesson is - use your radio frequently, give position reports and keep your eyes out of the cockpit. On the day I contacted wave (oh, so smooth), west of Bishop, I initially burned off my 17,999 feet of legal altitude at about 140 kts true airspeed (it was my turn to be cook for the barbecue that night!).

Incidentally, and it didn't seem to matter, anyway, there was no cumulus on the Whites to mark the lift during those four days. Once you were on top of the ridge and running in the clear blue sky, it was easy to find thermals just by flying along the ridge, from peak to peak.

All-in-all an experience not to be forgotten and one I hope to repeat in years to come.

Cheers,

Terry Lowe.

Michael Ang, newest NCSA member describes wierd day in Byron-GREAT PICS!

2011-05-17T00:34:00.001-07:00

Sunny, rainy, maybe some lift locally, definitely not lift locally, sunny, hail, sunny. The day seemed to go something like that... interesting to say the least.
Here's us camped out under the wing waiting for a dark patch to keep moving:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/5724891065/in/set-72157626606662081/lightbox/
And some more pics, including what the sky looked like Saturday in San Francisco: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangtronix/sets/72157626606662081
Special thanks to Rick for taking over the towplane to squeeze in a few more tows for the day!

- mang

Buzz has a Post frontal tiptoeing tour March 22,2011

2011-03-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

There are better days, but this one was good enough to take in some
amazing views of our area that is the greenest I can remember. Was a
day to tiptoe and be in the right place at the right time.

It has been nearly month since that epic flight Ramy and I had doing the
Bay Tour in grand style. As we start to leave winter behind, we are
moving into the best time of year of X-C soaring out of Byron. March is
normally when things start kicking off, but this year it has been pretty
flat compared to one of the best February's on record. With lots of
rain in the forecast for the next week, I was getting disparate to
stretch my wings.

Thanks to Rolf and Ramy I decided to take a day off of work and take
advantage of the brief window before the next storm came in this
evening, timing is everything.

Getting to Byron the sky was showing promise with lots of blue in the
valley and nice cumulus clouds over the high country just as RASP had
called out. If the forecast was to pan out we could have cloud bases as
high as 6-7k. Early on it was more like 3-4k local and getting better to
the west and to the south in the Diablo range. The day was definitely
dynamic and was changing rapidly with the next front moving in producing
rain in places and good lift in others.

First thermal was over Byron at 3-4 knots up to a little over 3k. I
worked towards Diablo and Concord I found the cloud base increasing to a
little over 5k. I stretched glide to the Delta and then headed back
south in the Livermore Valley. I could see good looking clouds in San
Antonio Valley with bases near 7k and had little hope of reaching them
until I found the cloud step where I could climb above the lower base by
over 800 ft. I rode this shelf to Rel1 and then connected with the
higher bases. About this time I heard 1JH (Matt) out of Hollister doing
well near Lick Observatory. I continued in the Valley, sometimes
referred to as "Tiger Country" to near Hoover Lake before heading back
north. On the way back I flew over Lick Observatory for some cool
pictures of that classic facility surrounded by snow. By this time the
sky was getting darker as the front was coming through, I headed back to
Byron near cloud base for a easy run.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1631754

Attached are some pictures to help tell the story.

Buzz BG

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Fwd: [norcalsoaring] Post frontal tiptoeing tour

2011-03-22T23:26:00.001-07:00

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	[norcalsoaring] Post frontal tiptoeing tour
Date:	Wed, 23 Mar 2011 05:31:49 +0000
From:	Buzz Graves <bgraves@aoptix.com>
To:	Norcalsoaring@yahoogroups.com <Norcalsoaring@yahoogroups.com>

There are better days, but this one was good enough to take in some amazing views of our area that is the greenest I can remember. Was a day to tiptoe and be in the right place at the right time. It has been nearly month since that epic flight Ramy and I had doing the Bay Tour in grand style. As we start to leave winter behind, we are moving into the best time of year of X-C soaring out of Byron. March is normally when things start kicking off, but this year it has been pretty flat compared to one of the best February's on record. With lots of rain in the forecast for the next week, I was getting disparate to stretch my wings. Thanks to Rolf and Ramy I decided to take a day off of work and take advantage of the brief window before the next storm came in this evening, timing is everything. Getting to Byron the sky was showing promise with lots of blue in the valley and nice cumulus clouds over the high country just as RASP had called out. If the forecast was to pan out we could have cloud bases as high as 6-7k. Early on it was more like 3-4k local and getting better to the west and to the south in the Diablo range. The day was definitely dynamic and was changing rapidly with the next front moving in producing rain in places and good lift in others. First thermal was over Byron at 3-4 knots up to a little over 3k. I worked towards Diablo and Concord I found the cloud base increasing to a little over 5k. I stretched glide to the Delta and then headed back south in the Livermore Valley. I could see good looking clouds in San Antonio Valley with bases near 7k and had little hope of reaching them until I found the cloud step where I could climb above the lower base by over 800 ft. I rode this shelf to Rel1 and then connected with the higher bases. About this time I heard 1JH (Matt) out of Hollister doing well near Lick Observatory. I continued in the Valley, sometimes referred to as "Tiger Country" to near Hoover Lake before heading back north. On the way back I flew over Lick Observatory for some cool pictures of that classic facility surrounded by snow. By this time the sky was getting darker as the front was coming through, I headed back to Byron near cloud base for a easy run. http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1631754 Attached are some pictures to help tell the story. Buzz BG ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalsoaring/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norcalsoaring/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: norcalsoaring-digest@yahoogroups.com norcalsoaring-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: norcalsoaring-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Ramy (TG) & Buzz (BG) Golden Gate Bridge Flight

2011-03-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's not all about the distance. Today I had a flight which will be ranked way up there with my most memorable flights. After last weekend flight when I turned over Chabot in the Oakland Hills I made up my mind to try one day to continue this route all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. This requires a very unusual day, unstable, with reliable lift which can allow fly safely below the 4000 feet floor of class bravo. Today was the day. I made up my mind in the morning to give it a shot and talked Buzz to join me. And indeed, Buzz and myself made it from Byron to the Golden Gate Bridge and some more! We went from Byron to Oakland Hills, Tilden Park, Berkley, crossed the bay just north of the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito while staying below class Bravo (and getting as low as 2300 feet over the bay!), over the Ocean to Mt Tam, Navato, Sonoma, Napa, back to Mt Diablo and an unexpected 5 knots wave to 10,000 feet in less than 15 knots wind, then south to the Diablo Range and back to Byron. The view was spectacular and a video will follow. But it wasn't just a spectacular flight, it was over terrain which I never flown before (and I wonder if any glider flown this route before), and it was the first time I flew with another glider (BG) from takeoff to landing without loosing sight of each other for the whole flight. I doubt any of us would have attempted it alone, but flying together is easier, more fun and more encouraging.

Flight is posted to OLC: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1616705

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggv5kkjqHrI

Ramy

If only willpower were enough....or 'Aller aux vaches!'= French for 'landing out' - some of those cows were ferocious bulls, staring threateningly

2011-02-21T16:02:00.001-08:00

Mike Voie's report of his land-out with the cows:
('Aller aux vaches!'= French for 'landing out' i.e. 'going to the cows')
Title as suggested by Monique.
Sunday turned out to be a most excellent soaring day as prognosticated
by our expert soaring veterans Ramy and Buzz. I did not have my soaring
computer, but that did not deter me from going cross country in SS with
a trusty sectional, knowledge of how many nautical miles across my thumb
is, some handy math and a tow.
I managed to make my way out there for the first tow of the day at about
11:55am. I took a high tow to 3k feet and proceeded to descend back
down to the boundary layer which was only 2,500 feet or so AGL at the
time. I scratched around Discovery Bay and the duster strip East of the
Forebay for about 30 minutes until Buzz, Ramy and Bill had launched.
Buzz and Ramy decided to try for Diablo across a nice big patch of blue.
I stayed behind and looked Eastwards towards lots of cumulus. Once
they started having some troubles, I committed to the East. Since I
didn't have my soaring computer and hence no waypoints (landable strips
that are not on the Sectional), I confirmed the location of the duster
strip with Ramy and away I went. The cloud base was up around 3k, but I
could only manage 2.5 before the thermals started breaking up. But, I
wanted to make Stockton, so I kept creeping every so slowly away from
the duster strip as I managed to get another couple hundred feet. Soon,
I had Kingdon in glide and went for it.
I got a nice thermal at Kingdon, and headed over to Lodi to debate
making my way to the Sierras. Of course, the whole time, I was
struggling to achieve 2,500 and Buzz came across the radio saying he
made it to 4,900. So, my mind was made up and I pointed the nose of SS
towards Byron. Thankfully, the clouds got higher and higher as I went
West, which made coming back much easier. Not easy, easier.
I actually arrived over the Forebay with 3k of altitude. Morteza was
down by Tracy and Buzz was super excited about a convergence zone with
8+ knots of lift on the averager, so I decided to see what there was
down there. Well, my luck ran out and I headed back to Byron. I was
over the Forebay scratching for lift in zero sink for about 10 minutes
at 1k feet and decided that was enough for one day and made the decision
to head back in. Just as I was coming over the Marina at the Forebay, a
Cessna was on downwind. I tried to mention that I was low and a glider,
but he just kept on going and giving me position reports. I was
convinced I had enough altitude, so I hung back for a second to give him
some room. By the time I looked back to the runways, I knew that was a
bad decision. I pointed the nose straight at Rwy 23 and kept the
landing gear up as long as possible. With a quarter mile to go, I had a
choice. Try to make it over the fence, or dump everything now and make
sure I come up short of the fence. I decided not to tempt fate, dumped
the gear and went full spoilers. The landing was nice and short in an
ok grass field full of cows. No damage, but cowpies all around and some
were fresh. Yuck.
Thanks to Ivey, Rick, Boyang, Charlie, Peter, Morteza, and Monique (I
hope I didn't forget anybody), we lifted the glider over the fence
(after towing it through tall grass and potholes) and safely to the
airport environment. Of course, 5 feet from the runway, we rolled
through some very deep and sticky mud which caused me to spend an hour
over at the wash station with SS and some brushes.
There were several factors which I hope people can take away and learn
from. On my way back from Lodi, I noticed very little impact from
headwind and assumed (wrongly) that it wasn't affecting me too much. I
was a little too optimistic on making Byron from 950 feet over the
Forebay Marina. I hung back a little bit waiting for the Cessna to
clear when I should have been more assertive. This probably would have
given me more than the extra 1/8 of a mile I needed to make the runway.
I listened to Byron AWOS and heard winds 220/9, which is a 20%
reduction in best glide for SS.
If I was at any other airport, I would have committed to being in a
pattern at that altitude, but my complacency and level of comfort with
Byron proved to be my undoing.
On a side note, while trying to keep the left wing off SS from scraping
along the barbed wire fence, we managed to hit the right wing on a rock
in a culvert. There is a small ding underneath the wing that will
probably require eventual fixing.
-mike

Video clip of the retrieve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTxn-94cC4

Buzz in Wave flight on Saturday, before Annual Meeting

2011-01-24T10:11:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Ramy for making a perfect call on wave conditions. Indeed Mtn
Diablo was working as advertized and near the exact altitude, it is too
bad more did take advantage of the day.

Winds were showing about 20-25 knts out or the Northeast, best lift was
just down wind of the Peak right on the border of the Class C airspace,
in the Hollister Data base it was near Wav2. I contacted the wave at 6k
and when I found the best spot I was climbing at 4-6 knots up to 12k
where the lift dropped off quickly to around 1 knot or so. At around
12.5 it was time to explore, I first headed south in very friendly air
to Hummingbird and then back north back to Diablo. Then I pushed across
the Delta to the north, I retrospect I could have gone much further, I
had Byron by over 6k when I turned. Then it was back to Diablo to top
out again to head south. I had decided to I would continue south until
I had byron by 3k, this got me close to Mtn Oso. I found friendly air
most of the way, I am thinking the NE direction is contributed to this.
Nearly the whole afternoon the winds on the ground at Byron were calm.
This made for a very easy day.

OLC trace

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1273010745

A couple of pictures to help tell the story, one of the Bay Area from on
top and another showing the climb rate going through 10k.

I saw one of our Grob at the end of the day in wave at Diablo, but
wasn't sure who it was. (It was Rick Robbins) At least there was one
other to enjoy the day called by Ramy. Ramy has his own story and it
was sorry he wasn't able to join the fun. With his presents we probably
would have pushed a bit hard to get more from the day.

Richard Robbins, recently soloed, had first soaring flight of the year in wave: - 22 JAN 2011

2011-01-24T10:09:00.001-08:00

Sat was GREAT. Mike Voie suggested the wave. I dusted off my surf board (N103FB) and a little before 2PM we took off. I got off at 6,500' with 800-1000' f/m up. I did figure 8s and circled. At around 10,500' I was down to 400 f/m, after 11,000' 200 f/m at around 12,000' I was somewhere around 50'-200' f/m by 13,300' I was 0-50 f/m so I stopped trying. The world looks different from the Grob than any of the power aircraft I have piloted at any altitude. I really enjoyed it, just basking in being there. I went to LVK and looked around and back to Diablo then Brushy Peak. A great deal of this was at zero to a little over 100 f/m sink. I went almost to SCK and came back a circled the Fore Bay. I was at 6K and got to watch Elevator slide under me at 4K doing about mach 1. The FM asked how much longer I would be? Eh, it was getting late so I went Discovery Bay and used the air brakes. The total flight was 2.6hrs. If I had played around I think I might have had another 45' in the air. The Grob just did NOT want to come down. I landed long and was almost on the center line of the taxiway as I exited. As I said, "Sat was Great."

Thanks Mike for suggesting the wave.

Rick Robbins

__._,_.___

__,_._,___

2010 Soaring Summary

2010-12-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

Just thought I should share my 2010 Soaring Summary. 25% of those flights originated from Byron.
The above traces are from 62 Cross Country flights I had in 2010, totaling 18,673 miles and 348 hours, averaging 300 miles per flight. The flights spanning 8 states (California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming).
Photos from these flights are available in the following links:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramyyanetz/2010SoaringSafaries
http://picasaweb.google.com/ramyyanetz/More2010SoaringPhotos
Raw unedited video clips are available at
http://www.youtube.com/ramyyanetz

Ramy Yanetz (TG)

[norcalsoaring] Byron to Big Sur and back in a very rare EPIC Wave Day [12 Attachments]

2010-11-16T20:49:00.001-08:00

What was learned on Saturday was instrumental in putting together a flight we have talked about for years, a x-c flight with a north wind to Big Sur from Byron and back the hard part. There were flights out of Byron and Hollister on Saturday that helped mark some critical wave locations , starting with northwest of Wav1 down wind of Mtn Diablo, second was near Mission peak over Milpitas and third was on the Santa Cruz range near Loma Prieta. Connecting these dots was going to get you to Big Sur, missing was where to find the wave at Big Sur and how high would it go. This type of x-c wave flying is all about makingdown and up wind transitions and not cross wind runs where really high speed and long distance wave flights are accomplished parallel to the mtn, like Jim Payne and others have shown using the Sierras

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=491326351

I launched just after 9:30 am and now wish I launched earlier, on wave days the lift is actually better at the beginning and end of the day, you don't want thermals to break up the laminar flow over the terrain. What makes wave flying difficult at times is when there are no markers like rotor clouds and linticulars, you have to know the wind direction and imagine the wind flowing over the terrain, making your best guess where it might be found, when you are close you use your experience to move in the best zones, it always helps to fly with other and to do your homework using OLC to find other flights in similar conditions. The lift is fixed to the terrain like ripple in a stream and therefore staying the lift in 40-50 knot winds can be tricky using S turns, crabbing and hovering with straight into the wind at minimum , GPS can help and so can looking for land marks and your drift.

So here is my blow by blow experience...

Leg1 Diablo to Mission Peak

Mtn Diablo to Mission Peak was a piece of cake, going directly down wind with a 40+ knot tail wind was giving me a average glide ratio in the hundreds. Lift at Diablo was 1-3 knots nearly in the same place as the day before and similar reported by others including Mike V. It was close to Wav1 if you fly with moving map PDA with something like MSeeYou to help with navigation. Actually a little more west and north with the winds out of the NNE down low shifting to more N as you got higher and even a little NNW at times. At 14k I decided it was time to make the jump to the south. With a indicated airspeed of 60 knots I was showing a ground speed around 110 with a glide ratio of 250:1 at times. The joys of going down wind...yahoo...but coming back is a different story.

Leg2 Mission Peak to Santa Cruz Loma Prieta

At Mission Peak I found the wave right where EP and TG had found it the day before. It stronger than Diablo with 3-4 knots consistent starting at 12.5k, I stayed with this until I was over 16k. The exact location was between the Peak and highway 880 over Milpitas. This was a new place to be, looking down on San Jose intnl and getting a panoramic view of the entire Bay was amazing. Next stop would be over the Santa Cruz mountains where the Hollister pilots ICH and TG found good lift the day before. Down wind of Loma Prieta was were I found 2-3 knots to near 17.4k. The whole time climbing I was thinking about the next leg to Monterey. should I go? would I find lift? what were my landing options if things didn't work out, etc.

Leg 3 Santa Cruz to Big Sur

From 17k my glide computer saying I would get there at 11k, plenty high to search the area, I keyed the mike and made a radio announcement I was going for it....There was no doubt about getting there, but would I find lift where the RASP said it would be and could I get back. The ride was smooth and fast and found some down wind wavelets that gave zero sink, I was maybe 5-8 miles offshore at times and the experience of being over a open ocean is something you won't forget. Last place I had this experience was flying between islands in Hawaii a few years back when I lived there owning a ASW 17. All went well with me arriving over Monterrey looking down on Pebble Beach at 13k, another first for me.. Moving further south to Big Sur I found weak 1-2 knot wave at 11k and proceeded searched for the best lift. Anxious to get high and think about the glide back into a 40+ knot wind filling my thoughts. I needed to get back to the Santa Cruz range with enough altitude to get back into the wave. The climb was really slow and around 16k and Watsonville in glide at a estimated arrival altitude at 7k I headed back. I actually got there at 6k.

Leg 4 Big Sur to Santa Cruz Loma Prieta

On the way north I met and passed TG headed south at the same altitude, it some where around 13k over The Monterey Airport. Penetrating into a strong head wind is filled with anxious moments, your ground speed really low like around 30 knots or so, your glide ratio is in the upper teens even in my 50:1 DG 800 and when you hit heavy sink it takes forever to get through it. As Jim Payne summed it up what x-c wave flying is all about, the wave giveth and taketh very quickly. Having a very good glider is really appreciated at a time like this and you wish you had your ballast tanks full to the brim. I could hear two other gliders from Hollister ER and U2 working very weak wave around Watsonville as I flew north, not getting much over 6-7k...not good report as it would take 16-17k to get back to Byron from there in the strong head winds. I got there just about the same altitude as they were, we worked and worked the area exploring here and there looking for the elevator. Here is where I made the biggest mistake of the day, not being satisfied in the 1 knot lift I continued to search till I lost and lost, now down to 2800 ft and being threshed around in a super turbulent rotor was not fun. Meanwhile ER was going through 8.5k with the lift was getting better. TG then appeared from the south, he had gotten a 1k higher before leaving Big Sur and found another 1k feet on the way back arriving at 8k he quickly joined the others for the slow climb back up. Timing is everything and my time was running out as the sun was getting lower and lower with still a long glide back to Byron into that stiff head wind. I climbed back up in some really gnarly rotor until I was back into wave at around 4k. Best I could find was 2-3 knots and about a good as the others found down low. Looking at my watch, estimating my gnd speed at 40-60 knots best case to Byron that was 54 miles away the math was looking clear, sunset was at 4:56pm and time was running out. By the time I climbed to 6.5k and knew it had run out, so I started the engine and headed back. Oh well...still a great flight

Leg 5 Santa Cruz Loma Prieta to Byron

TG and I got back to Byron with in minutes of each other, me motoring up to over 13k over San Jose Airport and TG setting out from Loma Prieta at 17.5k. We made it, we had done something new and different and was talked about for years, like big wave surfer finding a new unexplored place!! I was disappointed to say the least, but wouldn't have missed the chance to share this level of adventure with others for anything. Patience can be a virtue as we all know, even in a moment when we are feeling anxious about wanting things to happen, but need to realize what is actually happening so we can then do the right things. I got back to Byron minutes before the sun set and feel good about how things came together. Worse that could have happen if the engine didn't do its job was to land at Watsonville and depend on some help to work through the logistics. I never felt alone and knew friends were near by to help. That goes a long way to raise your level of confidence....a piece of cake....

Thanks to all who helped make this possible even the ground crew at Byron who stuck around until we were safely on the ground right a sunset..

Attached a ffew pictures, if the look similar to Ramy's, well they should:)

(View all Photos)

New NCSA member Jerry Robison is introduced to WAVE FLIGHT off DIABLO by Mike Voie

2010-11-16T10:59:00.001-08:00

-My first Wave experience-
"Mike Voie described our flight last Sunday to the southwest side of Mt
Diablo to find and ride a Wave up to 15,800'. This was my first
experience with Wave Soaring and I really enjoyed it. We did a series
of figure eight turns west of Mt Diablo to stay in the wave and make the
most of it. We contacted NORCAL Control to advise them of our position
just outside the Class B airspace. The ride to Stockton and back to
Byron was also great with visibility CAVU the whole trip. Thanks to
Mike for the Wave instruction and Rick Robbins for the tow to the Wave.

-Jerry"

Congratulations to Buzz for winning the 2010 PASCO Sawyer Award

2010-11-15T21:20:00.001-08:00

Congratulation to Buzz Graves for winning the 2010 PASCO Sawyer award. Buzz flew this year to the true spirit of this award, milking out the soaring conditions to the max, whenever and wherever he could. He is usually the first to launch and the last to land, accumulating miles and hours. According to OLC, Buzz flew a total of 22,242 km in 2010, accumulating 15232 pts in Region 11.

All it takes to win this award is to fly far and often. As one of the Sawyer recipients said, the award should come with a discount coupon for marriage counseling ;-)

For more information about the Sawyer Award, see http://www.pacificsoaring.org/awards/sawyer.html

Ramy Yanetz

PASCO Awards Chairperson

Terence Wilson flies KP Cross-Country with Mike Voie - 3.3hr -263km,13,000'

2010-10-17T20:24:00.001-07:00

My First Sailplane Cross-Country

It all started on a Tuesday morning when I read an email from Ramy to the NorCalSoaring email list pointing to the very favorable soaring forecast for the coming days. Quickly navigating over to the blipmap forecast page I found the following plot, which helped explain Ramy’s excitement.

Rolf was available to tow (thanks Rolf!) and Ramy suggested that it would be a great opportunity for a student to experience cross-country soaring (assuming we could find a CFI-G). Luckily for me, Mike Voie kindly volunteered his services and promptly sent an email with some cross-country planning instructions. The night before our flight I drew circles of varying radii around Byron and Hollister, each was annotated with the altitude required to make a conservative glide to pattern altitude. The next morning I arrived at Byron to find a hive of activity, trailers were open and gliders were being assembled. I helped Yuliy, Peter and Morteza assemble and they returned the favor helping Mike and I get the wings on the club’s Grob 103 twin acro, N41KP. Soaring is a team sport!

After a couple of hours the gliders were lined up at the first intersection of rwy 30 and ready to go.

Ramy was first to depart, then Dick, followed by Yuliy, Morteza, Matt, Mike and I in KP, then Peter. The long tows to rel 1 meant that it took a couple of hours to get everyone airborne, but we all made it. Rel 1 is south of Byron over the Diablo range. The planned release altitude for KP was 7000, but we got off tow early after finding lift at 6000. We gained about 1K before moving slightly east and thermalling to 9000. After Mike found the lift, he turned over the controls to me and gave instruction on how to turn efficiently in the lift. I asked a few dumb questions like “How long do we stay here?” - the answer “until the lift runs out!”

We continued to move south under the long street of cumulus until we found a big thermal that lifted KP at a consistent 600-1000 fpm (even with yours truly at the controls). Close to an indicated altitude of 12K and within glide distance of Hollister we stopped turning in the thermal and pointed KP south towards Hollister. As we sped south at our best L/D KP continued to climb! With the base of the cumulus fast approaching, Mike pushed over to keep us VFR. Post flight GPS data indicated that our peak altitude was just over 13K.

After gliding within 10nm of Hollister we turned around and headed for home. Heading back to the north there was no lift to be found. As we descended through 6000 just south of Lick Observatory Mike identified possible land-out areas and explained the decision making process.

For benefit of those who don’t know, members of the glider community have compiled a GPS database of landing points in a format that can be loaded into a portable GPS unit. As we continued to look for lift, Mike periodically gave bearing and distance information to our best land-out location at South County.

As we sank through 5500 indicated (~2500 AGL) I started to think that a landing at South County was a real possibility. But then Mike found a whisper of lift and patiently worked it, methodically searching for the core. After a few minutes the vario started to show a 200 fpm climb, then 400, then 600, 800! Soon we were back in the game climbing to 10,000 feet before it petered out. Below us another glider (Peter I believe) worked the same thermal.

Byron was now within glide, but Mike thought it would be useful to head slightly east and fly over South County to identify the landing strip for future reference. After doing so, we continued north and entered our last thermal of the day to 10,500 feet. With plenty of altitude in the bank and Livermore in our sights we decided to overfly the summit of Mount Diablo and then head back to Byron. After checking in with NorCal on 125.35 we started to get traffic reports-

“Glider one kilo papa, Boeing 737 2’o’clock, 4 miles, 6000 descending”

And there it was, a Southwest 737 1000 feet *below* us passing right to left inbound to Oakland. I started to imagine the Boeing captain announcing our presence to the passengers.

We banked about 1000 foot over the summit of Mount Diablo for a quick photo opportunity, then headed to C83 for an uneventful pattern entry and landing.

We had been airborne for 3.3 hours, travelled 263km with a peak altitude of 13,000 feet. Although impressive (at least to me and my power pilot friends), it was the shortest flight of the day. Ramy made it all the way down the coast to Hearst Castle and several of the guys flew the Big Sur coastline. Yuliy and Ramy both travelled over 600km, which is pretty mind-boggling!

I’ll close by offering thanks to everyone who participated, particularly Mike Voie for introducing me to the arcane and exciting world of cross-country soaring and Rolf for sacrificing a great day of soaring to tow us all.

Bill Levinson: Soaring Glacier Divide from Bishop, with Google Earth image of Bishop area glaciers

2010-07-27T08:10:00.001-07:00

Soaring Glacier Divide from Bishop

Geologists first settled California. They didn’t know they were geologists. They called themselves prospectors and later we named them 49ers. Nonetheless they discovered that gold always occurred with quartz underground. More than a hundred years later college educated geologists explained the science behind the miner’s observations. In the molted soup created by the friction of plate tectonics, the first rocks to crystalize at the highest temperatures where iron, aluminum, copper and other metal bearing silicates.

Unlike other metals, gold does not incorporate into the crystal lattice of silicon. When the molten mixtures has cooled sufficiently, only gold and pure silicone dioxide (quartz) remain to solidify in the cracks of the existing granites forming veins of gold bearing quartz.

These early prospectors also discovered and mapped the diried-up, millions-of-years-old so called Eocene rivers of California. They had enough data for many a dissertation. But is wasn’t degrees they were after; it was the gold: placer gold just like in the modern rivers.

About 12 years after the discovery of gold, the California Legislature decided it needed to know the breath of California’s mineral wealth. They hired college educated, Josiah Whitney, author of the acclaimed book, Mineral Wealth of the United States, as Director of the California Geological Survey.

When Whitney was doing his geology, John Muir was doing his natural history studies of the Sierra Nevada. In 1869, the same year that saw the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and the arrival of John Muir in California, Whitney published his travel guide to Yosemite Valley, The Yosemite Book and claimed that the Yosemite Valley was formed by the sinking of the valley floor. John Muir contended that the valley was formed by the action of glaciers.

To discredit Muir, Whitney claimed that it was impossible for glaciers to have created the valley because the Sierra didn’t then and never did contain glaciers. John Muir demonstrated the existence of Sierra glaciers by demonstrating the movement of permanent blocks of ice, completely undermining Whitney’s theory. The public, to this day, accepts the theory that glaciers carved Yosemite Valley, even though there is scant evidence that glaciers can do the massive carving required to create such monumental features.

Soaring from Bishop, you can view the namesakes of these historic figures. Josiah Whitney got the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states named after him, while Muir was honored with a hiking trail, a mountain pass, and a peak next to Whitney’s 479 feet lower.

About 20 miles south west of Bishop, Glacier Divide houses about six glaciers in a series of cirques -- huge steep-walled amphitheater-like features. As you fly down the ridge,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXLDmLm0vtM

you encounter several more glaciers – Goethe, Darwin, Palisade, Norman Clyde, until you reach the mountain peaks named for the opponent and champion of Sierra Glaciers.

CONGRATULATIONS to BIFF FORBUSH - FIRST SOLO SATURDAY JULY 10TH

2010-07-11T17:34:00.001-07:00

The weather was hot, near 100deg for Biff's FIRST SOLO. His take off and
landing were excellent and he had the longest and highest soaring flight
of the day - almost an hour, climbing to 4,200'. Fritz was ready with a
'surprise' cooling shower to initiate Biff into the 'post solo'
community. Maja was Field Manager and was waiting to Biff to land so she
could have the last flight of the day. Thanks to Tow Pilot Steve Yoder
and to all those who helped push gliders. We had 4 solo pilots who flew
yesterday. Both Biff and Maja will be participating in the WSPA soaring
week at Air Sailing next week.

Mark Violet's 4 days of spectacular soaring at the NSA Bishop Encampment

2010-07-09T20:32:00.001-07:00

I spent 4 days excellent days last week at Bishop, CA with the Nevada Soaring Association. They bring down their tow plane to Bishop and invite members to come and fly at one of the world’s premier soaring sites. I went with Bill Levinson, another club member, with whom I planned to share a glider, which meant I would fly 2 of the 4 days we would be there. As you may know, Bishop (el 4100’) is located in the Owens Valley between the Sierra Nevada and White Mts. The backside of the Sierras rises very dramatically up to 12-14k ft peaks. It reminded a lot of the Grand Tetons. The Whites are nearly as high, with White Mountain ~12k ft. They slope up more gradually than the Sierras, but are still steep with deep canyons.

The first day Bill had the plane so I took a flight with an instructor, Rob Stone (Stoney), to get familiar with the area. It was a great lesson. The wind was coming from the south and was flowing over the White Mts. Stoney explained how thermals don’t work very well in these conditions, and the best strategy is to fly figure eights close to the ridges and then move further up and into the range. It’s quite a feeling to fly right at the ridge and feel the plane rise rapidly as the ridge passes below. We made it up to the top of the Whites to about 14k and flew just below the face of White Mountain Peak, back to the south end of the Whites, across the valley to the Sierras, and then back down to Bishop; total flight time ~ 2.5 hrs, most of it spent with me trying to climb up the ridge.

Second day was my turn with our sailplane (Grob 102, SS). I released at nearly the same place as the previous day’s flight with Stoney. So I just did all the same things I had done before and made to the top of the ridge & up to 16k ft. That’s a personal best max altitude for me; total flight time ~2.5 hrs.

Third day, my next scheduled day off, I was invited by another pilot to fly with him in a DG-1000, a high performance 2 place glider. Its glide ratio is about 46:1. He did most of the flying, especially climbing the ridge, but he let me fly as well. We went up the Whites to Boundary Peak, back to Bishop, across the valley over to the Sierras and down to Lone Pine. At that point we turned into the Sierras toward Mt Whitney (14,505’). At first we flew past Whitney, it doesn’t really stick up much higher than the surrounding mountains, but it is recognizable by the stone hut on the peak. We flew back and found Mt Whitney and could see hikers on the peak by the stone hut. We did a pass over Whitney and took pictures of the hikers while they took pictures of us as well. From there we crossed the valley again to the Inyos and flew back to Bishop. Total flight time ~5.5 hours. Cool.

Fourth day was my turn in SS again, so decided to try for the Silver badge requirement of a 5 hour flight. Again I released in the same area as my previous flights and managed to climb up the ridge to the top of the Whites. I flew along the top of the ridge trying to stay where most of the lift is found. After several runs up and down the crest I ran into sink and had to turn toward the valley and quickly descended. I flew along below the ridge looking for lift without luck until I was down to about 8600’, less than 1000’ higher than my initial release. Finally I found lift and climbed back up. I flew along the ridge again and tried taking some video from the cockpit, which is not easy. Mostly it consists of pointing the camera toward the window and pressing the record button for 30 seconds or so, and hoping it captures something good. At the southern most end of the ridge I hit sink and again fell off the ridge to about 9600’. I finally hit a strong thermal which I stayed in and climbed up to over 11,000’. For the remainder of the flight I managed to stay over 10,000’. Five hours came, but I wanted to make sure I had more than enough time, so I ended up flying for over 5.5 hours. Another personal best for me….

See photos from Mt Whitney flight at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhviolet/2010_06_23_Bishop?authkey=Gv1sRgCJa42YmCsujFLw&feat=directlink

See flight recorder trace graphs in attached jpg files. The graph shows altitude vs time, with the dark mass below representing the ground altitude.

Great flying and hope to return next year.

Mark

Chandler's mother Barbara celebrates her Birthday in the air

2010-07-06T20:33:00.001-07:00

Chandler is happy her mother took to the sky on her birthday - note who
is wearing Chandler's "Women Fly" cap!

Paul McDonald is a member of the 1-26 Assn, and at their request sent them an image of our 1974 Schweizer SGS 1-26E, sn 591, N65972, taken long before the recent rudder damage

2010-07-06T18:20:00.001-07:00

CHANDLER LOUGEE writes of her passion to fly

2010-07-05T08:17:00.001-07:00

The Place Above Me

Freedom to explore. I want to explore and the best way I have found to do that is to fly. I want to see the world in any way I can and the experience I gained from flying a plane for my birthday has stayed with me for two years. The experience of seeing the world spread out below me and the feeling of myself being almost alone above a world with so many people in it is something I will never forget. By flying I feel like I am more than just an average girl looking at things at only one level, at only one height.

I have always thought that the fact that a tin can with wings and heavy metal motor and seats can fly was fascinating. But unlike some, who fear to get into those metal cans, I always thought that looks so cool. I still do. I want to see the world in a way that not many others can. I want to fly so that I can feel like I have something special. When I am flying I feel like everything is quieter and simpler. I don’t have to worry about the problems on the ground when I’m up in the air. The feeling is peaceful and I feel slightly powerful when I see the world spread out below me. I want to explore, feel free, at peace, and calm.

I also have an absolute fascination with space. My dream is to become an astronaut and I figure what is a better way to start a dream of space than with the sky. If I can get into the air, I can get into space. I want to be off the ground in any way possible and this is a great way to start. When I look up into the sky at night I see stars, the moon, and everything that is bigger than us, but makes up everything we have. When I look into the sky in the day, I see the gateway to getting there. I see everything beyond just the fluffy clouds and the birds. I see a place I want to be in.

MEET CHANDLER LOUGEE, 14 yr old aviator, now accepted as CUNNINGHAM SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

2010-07-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Chandler, in her own words, dreaming of space.......

CONGRATS to all! Recent BADGE legs and other ACHIEVEMENTS!!!

2010-07-01T10:54:00.001-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS for Recent SSA BADGES and BADGE LEGS:
FIRST SOLO and 'A' Badge for MAJA DJURISIC! WAY TO GO, MAJA !
Mike Voie wrote: "A well deserved solo. Maja worked very hard and earned
every bit of this solo. I'm very happy to have been the cfig to sign her
off.
After three flawless landings in a row, I felt I had no choice but to
send her on her way. She was very nervous, but settled down and showed
us all what a landing is suppose to look like.
She was glowing when she left the airport."

'B' BADGES to FRITZ HENSHAW, LEN EDMONDSON and TRISTAN DUPLAN!!!
WELL DONE to ALL!
'C' BADGE TO TRISTAN DUPLAN, who also earned: SILVER ALTITUDE and
DURATION + GOLD ALTITUDE at AIR SAILING THERMAL CAMP!
SETH DUNHAM was also in THERMAL CAMP and reported "My thermal camp
flights worth sharing would be: my first contact with ATC, my first land
out on a dry lake, and my near miss with another glider"
'SILVER'DISTANCE (160 miles!)-landing at Tiger Field- and
SILVER ALTITUDE for TAYLOR NICHOLS at AIR SAILING CROSS-COUNTRY CAMP.
Well done Taylor!
'BRONZE' BADGE TO MARK VIOLET! +
SILVER 5 hr DURATION at BISHOP ENCAMPMENT!!
This completes requirements for SILVER BADGE for MARK !!! (
pending SSA approval)WELL DONE & CONGRATULATIONS TO MARK,!
SILVER DURATION AND SILVER DISTANCE, completing SILVER BADGE(pending SSA
approval)by PAUL MCDONALD!!!, Paul reported:
"XC Camp was good. It took about a day to reacquire some competence in
thermalling technique. Although weak, I was introduced to wave (at
about 12,000' over the north Dogskin range). I exceeded my previous
personal best performance in all three areas: duration, distance, and
height gain (achieving 15,700' MSL (a 9,000' gain) on one flight, 5.5
hours off-tow on another, and over 63km (Pond Peak to Flanigan Dry Lake)
on a third. I think I satisfied the requirements for Silver duration
and distance. I previously earned Silver height gain, so maybe I'll get
the Silver badge. I found that I'm conservative, and not that
interested in landing out. I'll have to grow into this concept of
glider XC slowly. On Monday, I ended up at 5,800' MSL 20NM north of Air
Sailing (elev. 4300'). I had Flanigan Dry Lake in glide, but was
woefully below the 12,500' MSL or so minimum required to start back to
Air Sailing. It was by the end of this flight that I improved coring
skill ... enough to claw my way out of the weeds up to 13,000'+, and a
return to ASG. I guess that's called a "low-save".

Seth's photos at Air Sailing and Flanigan Dry Lake

2010-06-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Seth reports on some of the highlights of his Air Sailing Thermal Camp experiences

2010-06-26T19:40:00.001-07:00

My thermal camp flights worth sharing would be: my first contact with
ATC, my first land out on a dry lake, and my near miss with another
glider.

*Me:* Reno Approach Glider 132SS VFR Request. *Reno:* Glider 2SS
warble garble garble warble. *Me: *Unreadable. *Reno:* (sounding
angry) Say Request. *Me:* Reno Approach Glider 2SS 10,200' over
AirSailing, how 'bout a transponder check? *Reno:* Glider 2SS Ident.
*Me:* Glider 2SS Ident. ( I Press Ident ) Then about 5 minutes go by
with no response, and I really want to switch back to AirSailing.
*Me: *Reno Approach Glider 2SS switching back to 123.3 *Reno: *Glider
2SS is 10,200 your correct altitude. *Me: *Affirmative 10,200 *Reno:
*Have a nice flight.

The land out on Flanigan Dry Lake was a blast. I was a little
intimidated by the thought of leaving ASI and fighting a 10 to15 knot
headwind, and possible sink to the lake bed, but my eyes, sectional,
and gps all said I could make it. I left the Dog skins at 10,600' and
arrived over Flanigan at 8,000' (4,000' to spare). That feeling of
actually going somewhere in a glider is a real rush if your used to
just floating around over the airport (even if it was just a short 20
mile hop from ASI) I have photos on Face Book if anyone wants to
see.

I have been trying to think of the best way to describe what almost
happened to another glider pilot and my self. We came about 50 feet
from a head on collision over Tule ridge. I was thermaling over Tule,
then headed north on the ridge (about 10,500 60 knots). As I scanned
for traffic on the ridge there was suddenly another glider blocking
my view, he was rapidly expanding in my field of view. The next thing
I knew I was doing about 100 knots with the stick full forward.
Everything that had been stowed in the side pockets was in my lap.
Later the other pilot told me he saw me push the stick forward.

We talked after landing. Both of us were looking out. We almost
didn't see each other in time. It happend so fast there was not even
time for adrenaline to be released.

I've been gliding 3 years and have had as many "to close for comfort"
calls with other aircraft. Each time it's been closer then the last.
The sky is not so big.

Keep the canopy clean. Talk on the radio (IF SOME PEOPLE DONT LIKE
ALOT OF CHATTER "TOUGH SHIT")

THERMAL CAMP 2010 - TRISTAN and TERRY fly ridge,thermal,wave

2010-06-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

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Tristan

I arrived at Air Sailing, about 30 miles north of Reno, on Sunday evening to be greeted with a sky was full of lenticulars (I thought I thoght I was supposed to be at a thermal camp, not a wave camp!). However on Monday, after the morning lecture session, Tristan and I took the second tow of the day in the Grob 103 Acro and found plenty of thermals. I suppose it must have been a good day - we were in the air for 5.5 hours (I wish I had some foam for under my rear end!).

Tuesday didn't look too promising at first. The sky had a lot of high cirrus and no obvious thermal activity, but we took a tow and the tow pilot headed for an area where he thought lift would be (you can't beat local knowledge). We scratched around for a while, eventually found a thermal and headed up. We maintained a good altitude of about 8-9,000 MSL for a couple of hours, exploring the area, and eventually ended up soaring along a ridge at 9-10,000' MSL. We did this for about an hour, as there was a report of wave in the area and we could see the lennies forming in front and behind us.

This really paid off for us. All the other gliders had returned to the field and we set off upwind. We contacted the smooth wave lift and almost before we knew it we were contacting Reno Approach, since we were now approaching 18,000' MSL. We came down with full spoilers at 80kts to around 9,000' and said "what the heck, let's do it again". So up we went in 10kts+ to 18,000' again. This time we flew downwind (through the sink) until we contacted the next wave, which we worked for a while. We didn't get quite so high in this wave since we were getting pretty close to cloudbase.

Since we now had plenty of altitude and knew where the lift was, we did more exploring, burning off altitude for distance, Tristan taking some sightseeing photos on the way. Since we had only been in the air five hours, Tristan made the decision to go into the wave again. So, off we went rocketing up to 18,000'. This time we came down with full spoiler at 80kts again, and landed back at AIR sailing after a total of six hours in the air. Did I say I needed a foam cushion?

Thermals, ridge lift and wave, all in one six-hour flight. Magic! I suppose Tuesday wasn't a bad day, after all.

Today (Wednesday) looks like it might be another wave day.

Oh dear. Where's the foam?

Terence Lowe.

-photos by Tristan

New NCSA Instructors in Byron: Larry Suter and Paul Searles

2010-04-04T23:06:00.001-07:00

NCSA welcomes two more instructors who are joining the NCSA Instructor
group - Larry Suter and Paul Searles

NCSA is fortunate to have two more very skilled and talented glider
pilots join the NCSA instructor group.

Larry Suter recently completed his CFI-G in Byron and has already
started instructing. He passed his Commercial Glider rating last
September in Air Sailing in a SGS 2-33.

Larry is an active, long time member of NCSA and acts as club secretary
on the Board. He is an active cross-country pilot, flying his 1-36
(purchased in 2008)-over 2,000 miles in 2009 with a flight out of Bishop
over 300 km. He received the "most improved pilot of the year 2008 (or
was it 2007?). He is also an active power pilot with Attitude aviation.
He recently purchased a DG 300 but may not have flown it yet - tow plane
problems were partly responsible. More details about Larry's bio will
be obtained when he returns from his present trip to Russia.

Paul Searles came to the NCSA and the Bay Area from Texas Soaring
Association, where he was a CFI-G and owner of a DG-300.
Prior to flying gliders he was an Air Force flight instructor and flight
examiner in C-130s. He enjoyed giving instruction in the G-103, SZD 50-3
and ASK-21 at TSA and is looking forward to helping out as an NCSA
Instructor.

The NCSA Board has just voted (by email vote) to accept Paul as club
instructor.Paul brought his DG-300 to Byron and is planning on taking it
to the Air Sailing Thermal and Cross-Country camps this summer.

.Now that NCSA has eight (8) club instructors, members will be able to
get quality instruction without the long waits and rushed briefings that
were too often the case when we only had 3, or 4 active instructors. We
hope members will come more frequently for instruction and arrive
earlier as that is the best way to make progress. It will be great when
we have access to one or two more tow planes.

New member: Ananth Racherla

2010-03-24T00:58:00.001-07:00

Ananth Racherla is the newest member to join NCSA.

Ananth writes:

I am certainly having a great time flying with NCSA. Flying has been a
lifelong dream for me. Back in India about 10 to 15 years ago it was a
big deal just to fly a commercial airline as a passenger. So I certainly
have come a long way and the romance has only strengthened.

Prior to joining NCSA, I have had a little bit of experience flying
ultralights out of Turlock. I used to live a short distance from Bryon
and would see gliders in the air driving down the Byron highway on my
motorcycle. So I just goOgled for Byron airport and thus found out
about NCSA. There is something very intriguing about being able to soar
without power and thats why I am here.

Besides flying, I am an avid video gamer and work as a software engineer
at a video games company.

Finally, I might be the only vegetarian in the Club :) So just like to
remind everyone, esp the food committee, to keep me in mind when
organizing all future club lunches. :)

New Member: John Scott

2010-03-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

John Scott was born and raised in San Francisco, went to UC Davis to become
a Mechanical Engineer and has been working at Lawrence Livermore for the
past 30 years. At present he is the Facility Manager for the Lab's High
Explosives Applications Facility. John originally learned to fly as a
member of the Cal Aggie Flyers while a student at Davis. He resumed the
sport after a 26-year hiatus and purchased a Piper Cherokee 180 as birthday
present to himself. John and his wife (Diane) live in Concord and the plane
at Buchanan Field. This Christmas, while vacationing in Tucson with
relatives, John was able to slip away for 5 days to get his Glider add-on
endorsement at Arizona Soaring (Estrella Sailport). Since then, he has
joined not only NCSA but also NSA (Air Sailing, NV), a location he has yet
to visit in person. He is already signed up for Thermaling Camp in June.
John and Diane enjoy weekend trips in the Cherokee which will now include
Truckee and Air Sailing. "Sorta sounds like I'm hooked, doesn't it?" Yes
John it does. In Byron,John soloed an L-13 and '972'. Welcome to NCSA.

New Members

2010-02-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

Tammie Carswell and Paul Searles are the newest members to join NorCal Soaring. Paul looks forward to helping out by instructing when he's not tending to his Silicon Valley law practice. Tammie, also a CFIG, is anxious to receive her tow pilot check out. Tammie and Paul enjoy their dual membership with the Texas Soaring Association and have felt a very warm welcome to their newest club. Paul is the happy owner of a DG-300.

Tammie's little pug is named Pugsy - and is a Certified Therapy Dog for Furry Pets in San Jose, CA.

New Members

2009-12-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

Two new NCSA members, who started as Trial members this summer:

Biff Forbush is our most distant club member. He lives in New Haven, CT where he teaches and does research in Cell Physiology at Yale....and commutes to Mountain View (and Byron) to visit Maja. "Flying is something very different for me, and it is fun to have the new challenge"

Maja Djurisic is one of our very few women members. She moved west from the east coast a couple of years ago for a post doc research position in Neurobiology at Stanford. She had a wish to learn to fly and this seemed like a good moment in her life to tackle it. "So, I found NCSA, with very friendly and supportive instructors and members. It turned out that I like flying much more that I ever thought I would. It makes me happy".

On our recent Work Days' struggles to install the control surfaces on our Blanik 53AS, Maja was in great demand, due to her persistence and nimble fingers when attaching cotter pins etc

Thanks,

....Monique

Scholarship Recipients' Solo

2009-12-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 15th,2009 was a big day for John Pericich, who had his first solo in Blanik EV exactly one month after his 14th birthday. John is the first recipient of the Cunningham Youth Scholarship Fund, a memorial fund in memory of Dave Cunningham, who loved to encourage youth to fly.

Dave's widow, Kathleen Cunningham arranged to come to Byron for John's solo and also meet our new Scholarship recipient, Russell Reed.

Kathleen Cunningham with John and his parents

Kathleen wrote: " I was very glad to be there for John's solo. It gave me goose bumps to see him take off and land so successfully and I felt very good (for me and for Dave) to have been a small part of making his adventure in flying possible."

Kathleen was also able to meet Russell Reed, who has recently been accepted as a recipient of the Scholarship also; Russell soloed late last Spring and Kathleen also enjoyed seeing Russell fly on Sunday. She wrote: " I am just happy that these two fine young men are receiving benefit from Dave's fund! "

Pasted below is the essay Russell sent to the NCSA Scholarship Committee
when applying for the Scholarship:

...Monique

September 23rd, 2009

Dear NCSA Scholarship Committee,

For those of you that do not know me, my name is Russell Reed. I have been taking lessons with the club for about a year now. Prior to flying out of Byron, I took lessons at a glider port in Morgan, Utah. I moved to the Bay Area just over two years ago to attend the California Maritime Academy. I am a full time student here, and am on track to graduate with a degree in Marine Engineering in 2011.

I am applying for the Cunningham Youth Scholarship. I feel I am a well-qualified candidate for the scholarship.

I have always loved flying. When I was about 13 I began paragliding, and before I was 14 I had my license. That is what instigated my love for flying. About a year later, my dad stopped paragliding, which made it nearly impossible for me to get out flying on a regular basis.

Once I got my drivers license I decided to upgrade from paragliding to soaring. I was able to make the trip for Salt Lake City to the Morgan Soaring Center on a regular basis. Had I waited till I had enough money to begin lessons, I believe I would already have my glider rating by now, but I didn’t. The sporadic nature of my lessons made for slow progress. Once I moved to the Bay Area, I stopped lessons completely for a year.

The reason I initially came to this school here, was to attempt to receive a commissioning in the Coast Guard as a pilot. Once I got here, I realized that I thoroughly enjoy marine engineering. I abandoned my goal to fly for the Coast Guard, and set out to simply fly for fun. Once I graduate, I will have large chunks of time off from work each year. I have been thinking that being a sailplane instructor, among other things, would be a rewarding use of my time.

I started flying again last year. The engineering program at the California Maritime Academy is very difficult. Sometimes, looking forward to a weekend of flying was all that got me through the week.

I have been paying for a majority of my flying from a portion of my student loans that, in past years, has been refunded to me from a small scholarship I am receiving. Due to the large budget cuts imposed on California schools, tuition has gone up 30% from last year. Needless to say, I am no longer receiving any leftover money from my student loans. This is making it more and more difficult to afford flying.

With financial assistance from this scholarship, I believe I can complete my glider rating by years end.

Thanks for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Russell Reed

New CFIG in Byron

2009-11-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

We have a new CFIG in Byron, a Frenchman called Tristan Duplan. Tristan started his flying dreams as an airplane pilot at the nearby San Jose airports and quickly transitioned to taildraggers at Aerodynamic Aviation, (then Amelia Reid Aviation), where he teaches airplane. He now has an Airline Transport Pilot license with privileges to fly land and sea planes. Born in France, he relocated to California in 2000 as a software engineer working for Cisco Systems. Tristan has always been interested in expanding his horizon in the flying world and as such started developing interest in flying gliders. After being introduced to the soaring basics in the south bay with friends, Tristan decided to start flying gliders at Byron in May 2009, got his commercial glider add-on license 3 months later and his instructor glider add-on license soon after that.

He is also part of the tow pilot crew at Byron. Over the summer 2009, he was able to experience some of the Sierra soaring weather at Minden including wave flying under the watchful eye of Michael Schneider and Michael Voie, got his self-launch endorsement from Rolf Peterson in the Grob 109B at Byron and kept training with Monique Weil at Byron. He looks forward to the 2010 training camps and more safe cross-country flying. He is now part of the CFIG (glider instructor) crew at Byron and looks forward to flying with you.

The Castro Trio

2009-09-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

New life for Eric Castro's Diamant: N1795, now THE CASTRO TRIO - Jason Proctor and Sebastien Belanger have joined Eric Castro in THE CASTRO TRIO.

Cirrus Auction Winner

2009-09-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Fritz Henshaw won the Auction for the Standard Cirrus - also he had his first GLIDER SOLO recently.

Progress on the 1-26; Mike Shapira's Schweitzer Limbo

2009-08-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Mark Violet organized a mini-workday to try to get the 1-26 airworthy. It had flunked annual because the total energy tube was dangling where it could jam the control cable and because the elevator central hinge had too much play.

Hero of the day is Mike Shapira who refastened the tube. See how he did it at
http://picasaweb.google.com/ljsuter/MikeSSchweitzerLimbo?authkey=Gv1sRgCMbYpZ67mPWOtQE#

Same link also shows the offending bolt from the elevator hinge that Sam's going to replace.

Larry

New Glider Instructor Mike Voie

2009-07-05T13:50:00.001-07:00

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Congratulations to Mike Voie, who became a Flight Instructor Glider today in Byron on Independence Day, a pleasant day, with a cool breeze (17Kt down runway 23, just strong enough that Mike decided agains a crosswind landing!). Here he is before the Checkride

And another photo after he completed the Instructor Glider Practical Test, and a little cool water was poured on his head to wash the perspiration.
Examiner Dan Gudgel and Tow Pilot Boris are congratulating Mike

Mike will now ask for "willing victims" to sample the new CFI-G

Well Done Mike!

I am soo happy to have another instructor to share the load,...

.....Monique

New Member Dhiren Ghandi

2009-07-05T13:46:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Dhiren, (pronounced as in "the rain", as in "the rain in Spain"), Gandhi who became a new NCSA member today, a pleasant, quiet Independence Day in Byron!

The above photo was taken last weekend, with MikeVoie and Ray Rauen. Dhiren lives in Danville and works for San Mateo County. His youngest son has just graduated from High School and Dhiren now has time to learn how to fly, which has been his desire for many years

.....Monique

Mike Voie gets the Bronze!

2009-06-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Mike Voie, who completed the requirements for and received his Bronze Badge on June 27th. Well done Mike!

Next is a check ride this Saturday..........!!!!!!!

Mike is achieving some milestones in reverse - He was awarded his Silver Badge last summer! He finally managed to take his Bronze written exam on May 31st - this year.

as Morteza wrote:
> What do you mean bronze? This dude is doing 200-300km flights on marginal days. He should be getting his gold ;-)>

He will get his gold and more very soon.... First he needs to write up his experiences during the Air Sailing Cross-Country camp.

...Monique

New Private Glider Pilot

2009-06-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO SAL LOPEZ who achieved his long sought PRIVATE PILOT, GLIDER (add-on) this past Saturday evening.

Sal had not flown power for a long time and it took him longer to earn this glider rating than he had thought. He did not give up, he persisted and kept his eye on his goal, and - in addition to his instructional flights in Byron - he participated in last summer's Soar Truckee Thermal Camp - together with Len Edmondson and Mark Violet (see photos below) organized by Richard Pearl.

Sal flew with most of the NCSA club instructors, - Boris Deianov, Rolf Peterson, Richard Pearl, Mike Schneider, Monique Weil and the late Dave Cunningham. Thanks to Mike Schneider, who shepherded Sal through the final part of his preparation for the Private Glider Checkride, and to Dan Gudgel our Examiner Designee, who came from Monterey on Saturday at 6PM to finish the Practical Test.

Well done Sal, new Private Pilot Glider

...Monique

Dead Stick Landing at Byron

2009-06-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting situation yesterday at Byron.

I was the tow pilot and was positioned on the runway 30. The glider was already hooked and the rope was tight. I was just looking at the panel, to verify oil temp and pressure and waiting for the glider call to start rolling. Instead of the usual "rope is tight ..." call, I heard "16Y, do you see the airplane of the runway?". I looked up and didn't see anything, the airplane nose partially obstructs the view ahead. I looked to the side and this is when I saw an airplane rolling on runway 12 towards us. It was a warbird (not sure exactly what it was) (T-28B, ed.) and I noticed the propeller was not turning (he was close enough to see that!), he was decelerating and moving to the right side of the runway.

I remained in position until the airplane stopped on the side of the runway, maybe 50 feet from us. After the initial shock, I realized there was more than enough room to start the takeoff roll and the glider announced they also were ready to do it. Since this is was clearly the fastest way to get out of the runway, I decided to take off and the rest was uneventful.

It turns out that the warbird had an engine seizure at 6,000 feet, about 6 miles from Byron and he elected to land there. During the emergency, he didn't have the time to fetch Byron frequency and since he was not on flight following, he didn't have ATC to ask for it either. He just broadcasted on 121.5 and landed on the first runway he saw, which happened to be 12.

I sure am happy that we didn't start the take off roll 10 seconds earlier.

Note to self: verify that there is nothing on the runway right before starting the takeoff roll, by looking not only over but also to the side of the towplane cowling. Or, position the towplane slightly to the side so as to have unobstructed view of the runway ahead.

Thomas Daniel

NCSA's Newest Member

2009-05-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

We had 2 "firsts" on Sunday:

CONGRATULATIONS to TRISTAN DUPLAN - NCSA's newest member on his first glider solo, and to PAUL McDONALD on his FIRST GLASS SHIP CHECK-OUT.

Sorry, no picture - Paul worked non-stop on Sunday as our very efficient Field Manager for 27 tows - Thanks to Leonardo Pavese for the 27 tows!

...Monique

Ken Ferguson's Last Tow Day

2009-05-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 23rd, was Ken's last day towing for us in Byron and he experienced the roughest ever tows, with winds at the end of the day of SW 25Kt gusting to 30Kt. The tow plane rocked up, down and sideways, with the glider attempting to follow.

We celebrated his hundreds of tows for NCSA (137 tows in 33 hours in 2008) with chocolate cake and cherries.

See you in the air Ken, and thanks for the tows.

...Monique

And special thanks to Ken for all the tows he volounteerly provided us (especially me...) during weekdays, saving some of us the agony of seeing a great soaring day goes wasted. Some of my best Byron flights were on weekdays thanks to Ken.

Ken, you will be missed. Hopefully you'll have more time to fly your own glider now...

Ramy

Ken,

Thanks for all the tows the last few years. I'd like to echo Ramy's comment... some of my most memorable flights from Byron were on weekdays, which wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for you.

Thanks,
Shannon

New Glider Rating!

2009-05-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Paul McDonald- from his first flight in a glider 29 years ago to his commercial glider rating!

Dan Gudgel writes it up.

Recent SSA Badges and FAA WINGS

2009-04-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Russell Reed and Len Edmondson who recently completed requirements for and earned their SSA "A" Badges,and to Mark Violet, who completed requirements for and earned his SSA "C" Badge, and to Sal Lopez and Mark Violet who both passed their Bronze written exams.

Several club members recently completed the requirements for and achieved the Basic phase of the "new" FAA WINGS:
Dale Roberts; Phil Hoyt; Charlie Ferguson, Mark Violet and Yuliy Gerchikov. They will receive a WINGS pin, now provided by Avemco.

The goal of the FAA WINGS is to improve proficiency and make flying safer.

Well done guys!!

...Monique

Mad Dash to Arizona, a flight to the borderland - 4/15/09

2009-04-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

(View the youtube video clip HERE)

I have been wanting to fly to the border for long time. My quest started almost 10 years ago when I did my first attempt on breaking the Hollister Mad Dash straight out distance. After years of flying mostly straight outs in hang gliders, it felt natural to me, so during my first season on my first sailplane (LS4) I was focusing on breaking Tom Hubbard's 185 miles record to the Grapevine, and indeed on 5/11/2000 I finally made it to Tehachapi. Back then, Tehachapi and Mojave were considered the ultimate goal, and no one dared thinking much further.

The following year I made it to Mojave, and the year after I made it to Barstow. But the real break through came with Brian Choate's historic flight to Palm Springs area in 2003, some 362 miles from Hollister. What was so unusual about his flight, was that after sinking like a rock on the back side of the Gorman pass, a few minutes from having to crash land on a dirt road, he contacted wave at 800 ft AGL(!), taking him all the way to 18K which gave him over 100 miles final glide to Bermuda Dunes. The idea that it might be possible to fly thermals to the Grapevine, then transition to wave flight, was born, but no one (including Brian) really wanted to repeat this, so we all continued focusing on thermal flights.

Around this time we started to talk about flying to the Mexican border, first as a joke, but later as a real goal. Making it to the border became the ultimate dream flight for Eric Rupp and myself. I continued attempting to break the mad dash record at least once every year, and while continuing making it further and further all the way to Hemet, it became evident that breaking Brian's record is going to be very challenging, and will require an epic day, mostly due to the complex terrain further south which requires multiple shear line transitions, in which the sun usually won the race. While gaining more experience on how to actually accomplish the task, I also became more creative with my retrievals. Usually my wife would crew for me while we were going on trips down south, but occasionally I used other methods of self retrieve, such as landing at gliderports and flying most of the way back the next day, or taking a Southwest airline back home after landing not far from Ontario.

Then, on 6/21/08, 5 years after Brian's flight, the ultimate breakthrough came with Eric's outstanding 444 miles flight to Calexico, making him the first man who made it to the border. Eric proved that with the right day, preparation, determination and skill, nothing is impossible. For a while it seemed like this fight will seal the Hollister Mad Dash, as there is no where to go further south without landing in Mexico, until Kempton suggested Yuma, AZ, as the ultimate goal, as it sits further east right where the 3 corners of California, Mexico and Arizona meet. There is practically nowhere to go further from there as it is all surrounded with border, restricted areas and many miles of unlandable terrain with no airports. A quick check confirmed that by overflying the airport by a few miles, the 10% requirement for new mad dash record can be met. What's more, Yuma is directly downwind from Hollister in NW wind, making it the best goal for NW wind wave.

On April 14, it became evident that the next day is going to be the day. A large very cold low pressure was moving down with strong NNW flow. All the forecast models and blipmaps pointed to moderately strong NW wind with relatively high base cu's (up to 9K) all the way from Hollister to the grapevine.

This is especially rare since often there are no clouds near the grapevine, and if there are, they are typically too low to safely cross the passes in strong wind. In addition, the wind was predicted to be much stronger, up to 50 knots, further south, virtually guaranteeing wave down wind of the pass. Yuma suddenly looked doable, and if all goes as forecasted, it may even be easy. But the hardest task was to overcome all the logistic obstacles. First we needed to generate enough excitement to justify a tow pilot on a day when HGC is closed and the runways were closed for maintenance till noon. Once this was accomplished (thanks Quest!), the next problem was to get time off from work for the 2 days the trip will require, find a babysitter and convince my wife that driving for 12 hours, alone, with a trailer, can be fun. Apparently my level of confidence in the weather forecast was so high, that I managed to make it all happen. I then sat down with my computer until late at night, analyzing maps, flight traces and weather, and carefully planned the flight. I figured that even a noon launch, which is relatively late for record attempts, will still do thanks to the strong wind. But it was also clear that the key to make it is the transition to wave south of the Grapevine. It will not be possible to accomplish such a distance using only thermals in 7 hours so early in the season, as the Mojave Desert thermals are relatively poor this time of the year. Without wave I would have landed somewhere in the Mojave desert in 30-40knots wind, not so pleasant.

On the morning of the flight, everything looked as expected. The forecast was still holding, and cu's were everywhere and already high enough when I arrived at Hollister airport around 10AM. I knew that today is the day. I even shared my plans and my goal with few friends, but avoided announcing it on hgcgroup so not to jinx it, as last time I announced my intention to go to the border, I landed at Panoche instead. Due to the downwind nature of the flight, and the expected wave flight, I decided not to bother with water ballast.I took a local tow around 12:15 and released around 2000 ft AGL west of the airport, put promptly dropped to 1500ft AGL before finding a good climb to 5500ft. In retrospect, I should have dropped another 100 feet or release a little earlier, as it turned out I missed diamond altitude by 100 feet!

The first portion of the flight up to the grapevine was uneventful. Bases were around 6K near Hollister, rising to 9K further south, exactly as blipmap predicted, and it was relatively easy to follow the clouds, with a 15+knots tailwind. The lift under the clouds was strong but often choppy, and I decided not to spend time trying to core if I didn't find the core right away, and just kept going. I took the usual route over the mountain ranges to Taft, and then moved further south east towards the Grapevine, where the Kern Mountains are lower and narrower, allowing safe jump to Mojave. The ridge tops there are around 5000 ft. Knowing that the wind was predicted to be over 50 knots in this area, I decided I will not attempt this if I can not get high enough before the pass. I slowed down significantly to get as high as possible (9000 ft) before I committed to go over the back, and by the time I got over the ridge top, at 3:20PM, I was down to 8000 ft. The wind was still below 20 knots on the upwind side, so with 3000 ft clearance above ridge top, and 3000ft or more above glide to the nearest airports in Mojave, it felt completely safe to hop over. I did hit more then 20 knots down on the back side, but for very short time and only lost 1000 ft or so before I hit the wave at 7000ft near Quail Lake/Gorman area. . The wind was blowing twice as strong down there. Landing in the Mojave desert would have been "interesting", but the look of the wave clouds did not left much to worry, the wave was obviously working there. Cloud base was about the same as in front of the pass, around 9000 ft, and it only took me 3 to 4 turns to establish in the wave in front of it. In less then 20 minutes I was approaching 18,000ft, with climb rate often exceeding 10 knots. Once I got close to 18, I pointed the nose downwind with 50 knots tail wind and ground speed of 120-150knots, following numerous wave undulations, perfectly spaced from each other, towards Palm Springs.

I got down to 10,000 ft over San Bernardino before I hit the Cajon pass/Big Bear wave, but this one was only good to 14K with relatively slow climb, but I needed all the altitude I could get to be able to fly over the top of the clouds to the next gap without risking sinking into the clouds. The ground below me and in front of me was often completely obscured by clouds. Although I didn't need it, it was reassuring to have a turn and bank indicator. I knew I needed to be near 18,000 feet over San Jacinto to be able to go on a 130+ statue miles of final glide to Yuma. And indeed downwind of San Gorgonio Mountain I finally found a good climb back to 18K, right in front of San Jacinto, then one last climb to 17,500 ft down wind of it, near Palm Springs, before I went on final glide.

My flight computer was showing I had Yuma with at least 4000 ft to spare, but before I got too excited I realized it was assuming 50 knots tail wind all the way down to the ground, which I knew will not be the case, as the Yuma AWOS was reporting less then 20 knots. As such, I decided to fly conservatively and stopped a few times in weak wave lift, although it was not really needed. It was interesting to notice how far down wind of the mountains I could find wave patterns of sink and weak lift. I needed to navigate around the restricted areas and through the 4 mile corridor between them, flew by the Mexican border, and received clearance to land from Yuma tower. I arrived over Yuma at 2500 ft, then over flew the airport by additional 3 miles to meet the straight distance requirement, before turning back to land at Yuma International Airport shortly after 7PM. I was greeted by the friendly FBO who also provided me with the airport courtesy car so I could drive to the nearby motel and wait for my wife who was still 5 hours behind. The next day it took us 12 hours to drive back home.

The flight trace can be viewed on OLC:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1262262147
Pictures are on hgcgroup:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hgcgroup/photos/album/2037791424/pic/list

Total OLC distance = 810.6KM (504 SM), 6:49 hours, 118.82 km/h. Straight Out distance to goal = 489.4 SM (787.6km) - a new Bay Area/Hollister record and first flight to Arizona from Hollister.

A special thanks to Quest who towed us on his day off, to Joy for coming to help us on the ground, to Matt who brought this special day to our attention, to Kempton for suggesting Yuma as goal and providing great insight into the Gorman wave, and last but absolutely not least, to Katia, my lovely wife and crew extraordinaire, for driving 1000km in 12 hours to retrieve me, and putting up with me the rest of the time.

Ramy Yanetz
ASW27 "TG"

I was reflecting over my recent flights and realized again why I am so adicted to the sport of soaring. After almost 30 years of soaring (20 in hang gliders and 10 in sailplanes), I can still find new excitement and new experiences in almost every flight. I am not aware of many other sports which can provide the same. In one week I had 3 flights, each provided new experiences - I flew the furthest from start than ever before (nearly 800 km), went to places I never been before, including over the Ocean by Big Sur, altitudes I never imagined possible (nearly 15,000 feet in thermals over the Big Sur coastal range, as high as pilots over the Sierras that day), and flight regimes I rarely experienced before such as transitioning from thermals to down wind wave dash. I also realize that although soaring is mostly an individual activity, none of this would be possible without the dedication of the FBO's, clubs, tow pilots, friends who can be relied upon for retrieves, and of course spouses, who put up with their husband's somewhat selfish pursuit. :-)

Thank you all,

Ramy

New Solo! Congratulations, Russell!

2009-04-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Buzz and Russell

Unusual Day at Byron

2009-03-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday at Byron was an unusual day for winds. We started off with very light winds favoring runway 12. Later the winds shifted, became stronger nearly straight down 23. I found our tow pilot Steve Yoder to be very accommodating and personable, taking us just where we wanted to go.

In the morning, I was discouraged by the local weather here in Albany, and called Mike Schneider to set up some ground school time during what I imagined would be a long, marginally flyable day. He immediately encouraged me, saying, "I intend to fly." On 580 east, I could see the promising blue patch of sky in front of me. It drizzled slightly as we towed FB and EV out to the line, and the rain more or less left us alone for the rest of the day.

Larry brought out his yellow Nevada desert special glider and had a go at it, but tied down after one flight. I flew solo twice in EV, one high and one pattern. I was able to sustain altitude just under a cloud base of about 2800, but was able to work no more lift down about 1500 ft. It was good practice for me to land on an unfamiliar left pattern on 12. John, our youth scholarship student was out, and flew with Mike. They reported weak lift. I had the opportunity to observe his and others' slips on final 23 from nearly directly below with strong head wind. Looked like anti gravity. Vertical landing.

Eric Yeargan flew with Mike. I had some good talks
with him. He said how using the radio overloads him on landing. "It's enough to concentrate on approach angle and airspeed." I've been there. I guessed that he's going to solo with fewer flights than I. Eugene was out and flew once as Mike's last student of the day. Mike S. bridged the language gap with flying gestures. I heard Eugene talk on the radio for the first time.

Dmitry Chichkov made an appearance on his cool radio-controlled electric powered skateboard, saying he needed to take some photos of the main gear on his Rossia glider. (When I saw the board alone I thought Buzz was paying us a visit) It had been a long time since I'd seen Dmitry out. I asked him briefly about the RASP, and learned he's still working at the same place. It was a do-it-yourself day, as the scheduled FM did not appear, so duties were split informally between Eric, Fritz, and myself.

The jumpers were using elevator 1 most of the day, a much smaller craft than elevator 2. As they IFR jumped, through the clouds, Steve and I wondered if it was legal. Steve made his first tow off 23, first asking me for advice. I suggested he talk to Mike. "Make a left turn at about 100 ft to avoid windmills and rising terrain." At the end of the day Mike gave an hour of much appreciated ground schooling. Having recently soloed, it's all new territory, and resetting of goals and priorities.

I changed the battery connector on EV to the Anderson power pole, and so this is the first day that we flew with both the new Sonnenshein batteries, numbers 8 and 9. The radios were strong all day, and Mike surmised that one of the batteries had fully recharged in an hour's time. On the negative side, the new connectors do not provide a firm connection. And EV's battery came disconnected when I fished out a parachute cover from behind the seat. Apologies for what I've forgotten or left out. Even though I came prepared for the work with all manner of rain and cold
weather gear, it turned out to be quite pleasant, listening to the red-wing blackbirds calling from their hiding places in the tall green spring grass.

Leonard Edmondson

A Diamond in Minden!

2009-03-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

"I have been after this last diamond since 2005 and Last time I missed it by 300'. I was not going to make the same mistake today!

Lets hope the badgelady does not find any technical problems with the trace or application."

-Morteza

"Wave kicked up again this afternoon in Minden, and Morteza Ansari, who has been chewing his fingernails all January and February waiting for his chance, got up here from the Bay Area in response to our wave alert to give it a try. He launched in SoaringNV's LS-4 just after lunch, got off tow at 7,600' MSL (2,900' AGL) and poked around looking for some strong, smooth lift. The Minden West window as already open for another SoaringNV glider, so there was no delay as Morteza worked up to 18,000 and beyond. We had excellent visibility again, with clouds only up to around 12,000', so remaining clear of clouds was not a problem. About an hour after launch Morteza decided he had enough altitude for the diamond and the Lennie pin, so he headed home.

Analyzing the trace after his flight it appears he turned around at around 26,500', for a total gain of approximately 18,000'."

Fred LaSor

SoaringNV

Saludos de Chile!

2009-03-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Great flight in Santiago over the Andes foothills in a Super Blanik L-23. Also see OLC file under Chlile 03/08. Saw a condor in flight. The mountains are big and steep, the thermals are narrow and choppy and you fly really close to the rocks to get good ridgelift. Also, it is different to fly over parts of a city of 5 million people, as you can see in the attached photo.

See you in April!

Peter Kelemen

Recent Achievements

2009-03-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO SETH DUNHAM, MARK VIOLET AND SAL LOPEZ who passed their BRONZE exam today

-Well done guys! Now to finish up the flying tasks of that badge....,

Thanks to Ramy Yanetz for sharing his experiences on cross-country soaring from Byron - in particular on the decision making process which led to his recent field landing.

Thanks to Larry (buried in Grob KP in these photos) and his assistants, who worked hard on removing and re-installing 2 sets of wings for Grob Annuals.

Thanks very much,

-Monique

Successful Safety Seminar

2009-02-22T15:39:00.000-08:00

NCSA had a very successful Safety Seminar - FAA Wings eligible - yesterday - with 58 persons attending.

Allen Silver, our parachute rigger, giving a presentation on Bailing out.

First Recipient - Dave Cunningham Youth Scholarship

2009-02-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

John Pericich, aged 13 - and his parents, John and Katherine

NCSA 2008 details of ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AWARDS

2009-01-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

BADGES AND BADGE LEGS

Eric Nelson: "A" Badge
Mike Shapira: "A" Badge
George Papich: "A" Badge
Seth Dunham: "A, B, C" Badges
Phil Hoyt: A, B, Badges
Mark Violet, "C" Badge, Silver Altitude,
Larry Suter: Silver Distance; Gold Altitude,
Mike Voie: "C", Silver Badge
Taylor Nichols: Bronze Badge duration

Glider checkouts,:
Taylor Nichols: 1-26, 1-36, 2-33
Mark Violet: 1-36 and 2=33
Ramy Yanetz: KP
Larry Suter: KP
Roy Moeller: KP
Mike Mayo: KP
Bruce Roberts: KP
Mike Voie: KP
Jason Proctor: KP
George Papich: G-103
Seth Dunham: 1-26; G-103, SS

New Glider Ratings, WINGS:
Mark Violet: Private Pilot Glider
Seth Dunham: Private Pilot Glider
Larry Suter:, Commercial Glider Written Exam passed 96%
WINGS:
Taylor Nichols
Larry Suter,
Mike Voie,
Bruce Roberts
Mike Mayo,
John Randazzo,
Yuliy Gerchikov

AIR SAILING and Truckee CAMPS,
Taylor Nichols: ASI thermal camp
Mike Voie: ASI Thermal camp
Larry Suter: ASI X-C camp
Jason Proctor: ASI X-C camp
Michael Green ASI Lead Pilot + Presenter
Mark Violet: thermal camp+ Mountain Soaring Camp - Truckee
Len Edmondson, Truckee Mountain Soaring Camp
Sal Lopez, Truckee Mountain Soaring Camp

New Gliding Sites:
Ramy Yanetz: Hemet
Seth Dunham: Truckee
Mike Voie: Air Sailing

First X-C flight:
Larry Suter: Not by the "one leg >10sm" definition. Did that last year.
However, I feel like this year I took my first xc baby steps.

Seth Dunham: (dual) 230km; longest leg: 68km; frozen toes

First Contest:
Larry Suter: OLC

PERSONAL BESTS:
Seth Dunham: First Aerotow in AS Byron to Truckee; first XC flight (dual). Longest flight in Truckee: 4.5hr SS. First Wave flight (dual)- flew in a DG 505"took my dad flying"; took my nephew flying
Mike Mayo: 8/17 Farthest landout. Adin, California, from Truckee. Many miles beyond Spalding, the middle of nowhere. 258 Km by OLC.
8/12 Fastest in USA according to OLC. 2nd fastest in world. 135 Km/hr over 596 Km. Beaten by a Slovenian going back and forth in wave (~90K further and 2K/h faster).
Morteza A: Had a ~ 600km flight visiting all the major attractions of southern Utah and be nsariyond: out of Parowan to Wayne Wonderland, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Zion, Cedar Breaks

Mark Violet: Longest flight 3.5 hours Highest altitude 14,000’.Longest flight at Byron 2 hrs; Highest flight at Byron 5000’
Ramy Yanetz: Looks like upgrading my glider resulted in
my best year ever, with most miles, hours and speed flown than any previous year!

Larry Suter: Highest, 17.9K. Longest OLC distance of 120 sm was a
personal best. Several longest in time flights, up to 4.5 hours but still
haven't done the five hour thing (because of "the coldest feet during a
glider flight" personal best). silver distance four times before the flight recorder
finally worked for the whole flight. Is that a record?

Michael Green, age 79 and still racing, slower yet made it back each day of the Nationals at Montague.Let's not forget the training flights, not just the private glider thrills:
Taylor Nichols: 2.7hr flight in 1-26 at Air Sailing
.Landouts:
8/17 Farthest landout: Mike Mayo:Farthest landout. Adin, California, from Truckee. Many miles beyond Spalding, middle of nowhere. 258 Km by OLC.3/30: -Closest landout: Ben Hirashima, ,1/4 mile NW of C83
Shannon Madsen: first field landing - near town of Milford, CA (West side of Honey Lake off hwy 395) - on first day of Air Sailing Sports Class contest
NCSA 2008 AWARDS
Note: Advanced and Standard categories: - a winner in previous year in std becomes "adv"

1.TOTAL GLIDER CROSS-COUNTRY STATUTE MILES -2008:
Adv:
1.Ramy Yanetz: 16,980 statue miles
2.Shannon Madsen: 5323sm
3.Rolf Peterson: 3,348 mi Total Cross-Country Aerotow Glider (ASW 20) (18 Cross-Country Flights in ASW 20)
Std:
Jim Conger, 6036 sm (OLC)
Mike Mayo: 2800 sm
Michael Green: 2,646 sm (from OLC
Peter Kelemen: 1064sm
Larry Suter: 1232sm
Seth Dunham: 238km (dual)
2.TOTAL GLIDER HOURS IN 2008:
Adv:
1.Ramy Yanetz: 315 hrs
2.Shannon Madsen: 161.2
3.* Rolf Peterson: 117 hr Total (incl 34hr instr)): 28 hr Motorgliders + 89 hr Aerotow Gliders
ii.Std:
1. Jim Conger 128hr
2.Larry Suter: 96.7
3.Mike Mayo: 84:18 hr
Michael Green : 82.3hr
Peter Kelemen: 68.7hr
Morteza Ansari: 65hr
Seth Dunham: 48hr
Mike Voie: 35 hours
Mark Violet: 32hr
Eric Yeargan: 6.9hr
Charlie Ferguson: 6.5hr
Len Edmondson: 14hr
Taylor Nichols: 13.2 hr

Monique Weil 94.2hr (includes 85.2 instr.hr)
3.LONGEST DISTANCE FLIGHT ANYWHERE:
i. Adv:
1. Ramy Yanetz: 651 sm from Truckee
2.Shannon Madsen: 512sm
3. Rolf Peterson: 365.65 mi
ii. Std:
1. Jim Conger: My longest flight was 713km (443sm) - Truckee, Schulmann Grove, Nervino, and return.(Jim's shortest flight: I went from Truckee to Carson city and promptly had to land.
Truckee staff started referring to me as a "lawn dart" after that...)
2. Morteza Ansari: 646KM (401.4miles)3.Mike Mayo: 370sm
3. Mike Mayo:370sm
4.. Peter Kelemen: 239sm
Michael Green : 225.8 sm
Larry Suter: 120sm (on OLC)
Len Edmondson: 20 sm
4. LONGEST DISTANCE USING ONLY CLUB SHIPS:
i. Adv,
1.Ramy Yanetz: 255 sm KP (with passenger) from Truckee
2. Shannon Madsen:71sm (SS flight from Byron)
ii.Std:
1.Morteza Ansari: 168km (104.4 sm SS from Byron)
2.Larry Suter: 65sm (OLC) with Len on Nov 8
2.Len Edmondson: 65sm with Larry 11/8
Michael Green: 6 sm
Longest (time:) flight :
Mike Voie: 6 hr ASL
Seth Dunham: 4.5hr in SS at Truckee
5.. LONGEST( DISTANCE) FLIGHT FROM BYRON:
i. Adv:
1.Ramy Yanetz: 325 sm
2.Shannon Madsen: 254 sm (Byron - Firebaugh - Stockton
- Byron)
3.Morteza Ansari: 262KM - 162.8 sm
ii.Std:
1.Mike Mayo: 141sm
2.Larry Suter: 15sm past KTCY
Michael Green: 6 sm
6. LONGEST (TIME) FLIGHT FROM BYRON
iAdv:
1 Ramy Yanetz: 6.5hr
2.Shannon: 5.9hr
3.Morteza Ansari: 4.8hr
ii.Std:
1.Mike Voie: 4 hr
2. Mike Mayo: 3:21hr
3.Larry Suter: 3 hr
Mark Violet: 2.3hr
Len Edmondson: 2hr
Eric Yeargan: 0.8hr

7.HIGHEST ALTITUDE ACHIEVED FROM ANYWHERE:
i. Adv:
1.Shannon Madsen: 25,000' Minden wave window
2.Ramy Yanetz: 18,000'
3.Mike Mayo: 18,000'
Peter Kelemen: 17.900'
ii.Std:
1.Morteza Ansari: 17,999'
2.Larry Suter: 17.9
3.Mike Voie: 17,500' TRK
Len Edmondson: 17,000'
Seth Dunham: 15,600' Truckee (SS)
Mark Violet: 14,000' ASI
Fritz Henshaw: 12,500'
Taylor Nichols: 10,500'
Eric Yeargan: 4,400'
8.\FROM BYRON:
i Adv:
1.Ramy Yanetz: 16,100' in wave
ii.Std:
1. Shannon Madsen: 14,400'
2.Larry Suter: 10,500'
3.Mike Mayo: 8,500'
Morteza Ansari: 7,500'
Len Edmondson: 7,000'
Fritz Henshaw: 6,400'
Mark Violet: 5,000'
Taylor Nichols: 4,500'
Eric Yeargan: 4,400'
9. FASTEST AVERAGE X-C SPEED ANYWHERE?
i. Adv:
1.Ramy Yanetz: 120MPH along 300 statute miles over the white mountains
2.Rolf Peterson: 81.02 mph 303.43 mi
3.Shannon Madsen: 80.3mph over 512sm

ii. Std:
1.Mike Mayo: 135KM/hr (84mph = 72kt) av over 370miles
2.Morteza Ansari: 119.3 km/hr 74.1 mph over 646 km out of Parowan
3. Michael Green: 54.3mph over 225.8 sm
Peter Kelemen: 52mph, 237 miles
10.FASTEST SPEED WITH NCSA SHIPS:
i.Adv:
1.Ramy Yanetz: 58MPH along 146 miles in KP from Truckee.
2.Shannon Madsen: 36.5mph over 71sm
3Morteza Ansari: 65km/hr out of Byron
Len Edmondson: 70 kt?
STATE RECORDS: Records set:

Rolf Peterson: State Records
California Sports Class Free Out and Return Distance
Nevada Sports Class Free Distance
Utah Open Class Single Place and 15 Meter Class Three Turn
Point Distance
other records:Larry Suter: Flew silver distance four times before the flight recorder
finally worked for the whole flight. Is that a record?

12. TOTAL NUMBER OF FLIGHTS IN 2008 (*includesCFI's instructional flights)
1.Mark Violet: 79 flights
2.Larry Suter 73
* Rolf Peterson: 146 [33 flights + 113 Instr flights] (85 Motorglider Flights + 61 Aerotow Glider Flights)

Len Edmondson: 58 flights
Shannon Madsen: 40 flights
Michael Green: 28 flights
Peter Kelemen: 27 flights
Mike Mayo: 26 flights
Taylor Nichols: 25 flights
Morteza Ansari: ~20 flights
Eric Yeargan: 18 flights
Fritz Henshaw: 13 flights
Charlie Fersuson: 13 flights
Jim Conger:
13. TOTAL FLIGHTS LISTED UNDER NCSA on OLC
Ramy Yanetz: 4383km / 12 flights listed under NCSA in OLC 2008
Rolf Peterson: 2,417 mi OLC 12 OLC flights
Shannon Madsen: 8473 km and 29 flights
Jim Conger 6036 sm (128hr)
Morteza Ansari: 14 flights; 4942KM total
Peter Kelemen: 1799miles 13 flights
Mike Mayo: 1693 sm, 9 flights
Larry Suter 17 flights totalling 1100sm
Michael Green: 2,646sm 24 flights
CONTESTS:
Contests: Larry Suter OLC
15. TOTAL GLIDER INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT/HOURS GIVEN?
1. Monique Weil :218 instr flights/85.2 instr hrs
2. Rolf Peterson: 113 Glider Instruction Flights =
78 Motorglider Instruction Flights + 35 Aerotow Glider Instruction Flights
34 hr Total Glider Instruction =
19 hr Motorglider Instruction + 15 hr Aerotow Glider Instruction

16 .TOTAL TOWS/HOURS AND FLIGHTS?
Ken Ferguson: 33.2hr 137 tows
Dennis Vied: 19.8hr 113 tows
Tom Hail: 20.0hr. 95 towsFor almost 10 years, 243 hours in N4116Y and 910 tows. 3.7 tows per hour. :-) No wonder my knees hurt. Imagine how Ken feels!

NOTE: Pilots are strongly encouraged to post their flights on the NCSA page in OLC, to help the club rankings.
GRAND TOTAL NCSA OLC :
#12 of 50 US clubs in 2008 - 226 flights: 74,732.72 km
list of pilots:Buzz, Shannon, Peter K, Ramy, Yuliy, Jim Conger, Larry Suter, Morteza, Mike Mayo, Uwe, Rolf,

Rolf Peterson: 2,417 mi OLC 12 OLC flights

Ramy Yanetz: 4383km / 12 flights listed under NCSA in OLC 2008

Shannon Madsen: 8473 km and 29 flights
Jim Conger 6036 sm (128hr)
Morteza Ansari: 14 flights; 4942KM total
Peter Kelemen: 1799miles 13 flights
Mike Mayo: 1693 sm, 9 flights
Larry Suter 17 flights totalling 1100sm
Michael Green: 2,646sm 24 flights
PILOT OF THE YEAR:
Adv:RAMY YANETZ 16,980 miles Looks like upgrading my glider resulted in my best year ever, with most miles, hours and speed flown than any previous year
Std: JIM CONGER 6036sm1. My longest flight was 713km (443sm) - Truckee, Schulmann Grove, Nervino, and return.

INSTRUCTOR OF THE YEAR 2008 :
MONIQUE WEIL 218 instr flights/85.2 instr hrs

List of 2008 Instructors:
Mike Schneider,
Rolf Peterson,
Boris Deianov,
Dave Cunningham
Buzz Graves,
Richard Pearl,
Monique Weil

TOW PILOT OF THE YEAR 2008
KEN FERGUSON 137 Tows: 33.2 hr towing

List of 2008Tow Pilots:
Uwe Kleinhempel
Ken Ferguson
Tom Hail
Boris Deianov
Brian Forsyth
Dave Stroh
Thomas Daniel
Bruce Walters,
Don Brown
Rolf Peterson
Mike Schneider
Dennis Vied

NCSA SPARK PLUGS OF THE YEAR 2008:
MIKE SCHNEIDER: spent dozens of hours to keep the towplane running,
checking out tow pilots, instructing, pitching in when needed.

MOST IMPROVED PILOT OF THE YEAR 2008:
SETH DUNHAM: PPG; A ,B, C, Badges: check out in 1-26,G-103, SS,
First Aerotow in AS Byron to Truckee
First Wave flight (dual)- flew in a DG 505
Longest Flight is 4.5 hrs at Truckee. (132SS
Flew at Truckee for the first time
First XC flight (dual) 230 km, longest leg 68 km, frozen toes
First Wave flight, 15,600' highest altitude in Truckee (SS)
Flew in a DG 505
Took my dad flying
Took my nephew flying

MOST IMPROVED PILOT OF 2008 USING ONLY NCSA GLIDERS
Seth Dunham: 4.5hr in SS; altitude to 15,600'
- Longest flight in club ships
i adv:
Ramy Yanetz: 255sm with KP out of Truckee
ii. Std:
Morteza Ansari: 168 km (SS) out of Byron:104.4 sm

-Survived FourthYear as NCSA President:
BILL LEVINSON
NON FLYING AWARDS to be reviewed for next year -
--BEST PHOTO
--BEST ARTICLE :
BUZZ GRAVES - "A Very Special Flight" -
-Special Award: SOARING WITH CONDORS

A Very Special Flight

2008-11-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

Below is a write up I did for the HGC on a very special flight I did out of Hollister last Sunday. Hope you can enjoy it. Sort of the magic moments that only soaring can offer that you can not plan, it just happens. And it happens only if your are there!!

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-866464246

Didn't expect much for the day, but thought flying was better than Sunday football.

I had a dream come true today that I wouldn't have missed for anything, I'll get to it in a minute.

If you looked at the tie down area today you would have thought owning a motor glider is nothing but a lot of work and you wouldn't be to far of the mark, but when it is working and you can trust it, it opens the door to some special moments. I had three possible things I was thinkiing about doing, 1) go south and see if I can stay up, 2) motor west towards Salinas to checkout if Dr. Jack was right on some wave action in the Salinas Valley, and 3) do a cross country sawtooth flight across the central valley to Mariposa. Why Mariposa? It is the stepping stone Brian Choate used getting into the Sierras. I and others are pondering on how to get to Minden and get the Egg when things are right, Mariposa may be the gateway. Today wasn't the Day, but it is all new territory and thought getting a first look would be good practice.

Well I decided to go south towards Panoche, signed all the papers with Quest in case I landed there and off I went. Very smooth cool still air with a great climb rate, density altitude does mean thrust, a new concept for me in my first power plane/ motor glider. Engine off at 7k and the long glide to Panoche, few bumps but nothing to core, then on to near EL2 and bingo some lift I could climb in. Now comes the special moment, barely holding my own I was joined by two Condors, together we cored the lift and climbed over a thousand feet. What a special moment, circling, diving and bobbing climbing higher and higher. They topped out about 150 feet above me and headed out south. I took another couple of turns and spotted them in the distance for a while, then they were gone, and then I got lower and lower, lite the engine near Panoche to head towards Salinas Valley, I'll save Mariposa for another day. Did find some friendly air at times, but nothing to climb on, Then near Salinas I lite the engine one more time and explored the eastern edge of the range leading to Big Sur. Just peaceful smooth air and nothing to do accept savor the moments.

http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/condors.htm

I knew there were some Condors near Pinnacles and have hoped some day to fly with them, After having lousy week at work and having a second cousin die this year just last week, it did wonders for my head. They seem to accept me and didn't look disturbed by my presents. My ego says I found the thermal first and they joined me...... doesn't really matter...... it was just what I needed.

A good friend of mine who knows I was struggling some had this to say to me......

" Be good to you...find comfort in the life around you"

I'll try my best,

Buzz

Achievements

2008-11-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to John Randazzo for achieving the requirements and completing the Basic Phase of the FAA Wings.

The goals of the updated FAA WINGS - proficiency program is to improve flying skills and make flying safer.

John will receive a Wings pin, now provided by Avemco.

Well done John!

Happy safe soaring to all,

-Monique

Another Nice Soaring Day at Byron

2008-10-19T20:12:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Greg Fountain for the pictures.

Our Own Private Air Show

2008-10-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Patriots gave us four private aerobatic displays this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, both before and after their Fleet Week show.

Here is a photo of Roy Moeller letting the Patriots fly by just before one of their departures yesterday.

Early Fall Soaring at Byron

2008-10-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Eric Yeargan flying the Blanik along a convergence line and thermalling along the big cumulus near Discovery Bay.

Nice Day at Byron

2008-10-05T22:07:00.001-07:00

Chasing Dust Devils at Byron

2008-09-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Just received these photos from Roger, who celebrated his birthday in the air last Sunday. We chased dust devils and climbed in the local area to 4,900' for a pleasant early fall soaring day.

Monique

Great Wave Day in Truckee

2008-09-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

8/31/08 was a great wave day at Truckee.
Winds aloft 250 at 35 knts

Only 2 gliders flew at Truckee that day (KP and JH). Winds on the ground were intimidating. A gust almost knocked me off my feet while waiting for ground crew. I would not have flown without an instructor and an experienced tow pilot (Thanks to Don for the tow).

Buzz and I towed to 9000' in KP and found wave about 11,200' over Northstar. The lift was between 1 to 5 knts and extended from south of Emerald Bay to north of Sierraville.
Spent the XC portion of the flight between 14,000' and 17,999'.

I cant fly this weekend because of work.
If you fly Truckee watch out for those Reno air racers.

Seth

Additional comments

It was one of the windiest nights I have ever spent in Truckee and one of the coldest for this time of year with temps in the low 20's. The first cold front from the Pacific northwest passed through and changed the normal summer weather patterns from unstable air with thermals to stable air with increasing winds aloft, all the right ingredients for good wave. Main problem was the rotor was reaching the ground and had operations shut down during the first part of the day. It was till around noon did the wind start to back off and come more down the runway on 19. Seth and I had just finished making a battery adaptor cable for KP and were checking it out in the plane when Don came by and said he thought it was OK to tow if we wanted to go. The forecast was near perfect for wave, there were no cloud marker to tell us where it might be found. A quick discussion with local experts gave us some idea where it might be and they were pretty much right. Tow was bumpy and Seth did a good job of staying in the correct tow position to minimize slack rope, low and to the inside of the turns. At around 7k Don found the upside of the rotor an indicated 17 knots up, in less than 2 turns in this area we gained 2k and released around 9k. Continued to climb to around 11.5k when we started our up wind search for the wave, we bumped along turning when we thought we could until around North Star we felt that smooth air, going up at 1-2 knots at first. This is the classic way to get your self into the wave, work the rotor until you can't climb any more and then push out up wind. A mistake many make is to try and circle, the lift is fixed to the ground and it is easy to get blown down wind. Better to correct a mistake of being too far up wind than to get blown down wind and have to fight your way up wind.

Our flight trace

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=463039639

Well this was going to be Seth's first wave flight and x-c if things worked out which they did. And yes the winds early on were really nasty, you know when the rotor is reaching the ground when you experience very gusty winds with a large variability in wind direction. A situation that has been the root cause of many accidents to both gliders and tow planes a like. The irony of it all is after you get through all the turbulence, on top it is perfectly smooth air that is heavenly. I sort of relate it to surfing in big waves, you need to paddle out through the white water before you can get to the outside to enjoy the fast clean rides.

This day had all the elements including a first comfortable place to be flying wave in high winds, i. e. flying a wave band up wind of the airport. As nice as it is flying in the lift, the bands of sink between the wave bars can dump you in a hurry, especially if you need to penetrate into the wind, The day before I and others needed to use wave lift to get back to Truckee, for me it was all the way from Mono Lake , in doing so I need to jump several wave bands up wind, each time losing tremendous altitude with each jump. My trace on OLC tells the story pretty well. Talk about a roller coaster ride on the grandest scale.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=386033728

Sharing a flight like we had together is one of those experiences that has kept me in the role of instructor for over 20 years. These are conditions that require skill, knowledge and experience to fly safely and can teach you a tough lesson if you find yourself in the impact zone, a phrase we use in surfing when you get caught on the inside where the waves are breaking on your head. Coming up this winter we can have similar conditions at Byron with great wave flying off Mt. Diablo. There is great x-c potential when this happens and we are still learning what might be possible in terms of distances. Wave can be found as far south as Avenal and north well beyond Williams. So who is going to claim the first 1000km flight out of Byron!!!! Maybe a prize could awarded like some free tows or something like Soar Hollister gave Eric Rupp for his flight to Calexico this last season.

http://www.soarhollister.com/news.htm

It was a great flight and fun to share the knowledge and experience and look forward to doing more of the same in the future,

Buzz CFIG

New Soaring Enthusiasts

2008-08-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Monique introduces three new potential enthusiasts to the sport on Saturday.

Mike Shapira earns B Badge

2008-08-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

MIKE SHAPIRA SOARS 1hr 20 min in the 1-26 and earns SSA "B" Badge,

CONGRATULATIONS and WELL DONE Mike!

Beautiful Soaring Day in Truckee

2008-08-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

A sky covered with lenticular clouds which last until after sunset.

Richard and Penny host a Pancake Breakfast.

John and Sue Randazzo help tie down Grob KP after flying.

Bruce Walters, longtime NCSA Tow Pilot refreshes his soaring skills in KP.

Blanik AS joins Grob 41KP and Grob 32SS on the Truckee flight line.

Mike Shapira, A Badge

2008-07-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Mike Shapira, who had his first flight in the 1-26, just after achieving his SSA "A" Badge!

Well done Mike!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ERIC NELSON FOR FIRST GLIDER SOLO TODAY!

2008-07-13T21:26:00.001-07:00

Well done Eric!

Check out on the 1-26 next!

Coming to the Truckee Bash July 26th?

-Monique

Mountain Soaring Camp 2008

2008-07-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Smoke gets in your eyes
Wild Flowers, Wild Fires, Wild Fliers

We were 9, Sal, Mark and I from NCSA, and Eric, Cheese, and Bill from USAF, Monique, Richard, and Rolf. I was at first impressed and daunted by resumes including F-15, commercial airline, and air force glider instructor rating. I held the role of least experienced.

The 3 from USAF were bent on attaining silver ratings. We had 2 gliders, our own Blanik AS, and Duo Discus DDX rented by the USAF contingent. Mornings were dedicated to ground school, briefings,and classroom learning. I remember especially much excellent material on flight physiology.

The rest of day was dedicated to flying. It was my first time flying out of anywhere but home Byron. I thought the Truckee operations were efficiently run, with off-runway staging areas, and towing gliders into place with golf cart. The deep pit below the glide path of runway 19 was scary to me, especially at first. I was perennially far too high in the pattern. It was also my first time using oxygen, and I was having a little trouble layering on yet another piece of essential equipment. This became a little more natural and comfortable by the end of the week.

We were hindered most of the week by smoke. On one flight, I saw the deep brown smoke literally pouring into the valley through clefts in the mountains and through Donner pass. I flew three soaring flights, one each with Richard, Rolf, and Monique,reaching altitudes of 13, 12, and 15 K feet. Fittingly, my last flight of the last day was my best. With the smoke significantly cleared for the first time that week, Monique and I soared to 15,000 feet, a new personal record. I thought I flew the best when I had lots of altitude and time to get used to it. At high altitude, Monique suggested, "OK,let's go someplace." So we toured Mt. Verdi, Mt. Rose and NorthStar /Mt. Pluto. I learned the "photo op" turn. Steep right turn ... OK, got it, roll out. We had Reno Intl. in sight.

Also on Friday, Cheese happily achieved his 5 hour flight.Monique told me during the week, "This is a manic depressive sport." I could certainly relate to that. I had flights I loved and where I couldn't seem to do anything right.Richard's BBQ Friday night was well and cooperatively done. Very hospitable. I consulted on menu planning. While at the BBQ, I observed a hawk carrying its fish dinner home from Martis Lake by air. The sun appeared as a large distant luminous red balloon at sunset. I was recognized as the most improved pilot at the awards ceremony.

I helped put out a small brush fire on next Saturday morning with the garden hose used to run the lawn sprinkler. 100% containment. No structures threatened. Turns out that the hot coals from the night before were dumped in the sage brush and smoldered for a couple of hours before coming to life in flame.

Thank you to our instructors for organizing, making it all happen and being there for us.. Yes, I'd do it again next year, but hopefully without the smoke.

Leonard Edmondson

New Tow Plane?

2008-07-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hot day musings in Byron: dreaming of a new Tow Plane.?????

Larry Suter - Wings Certificate

2008-07-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Larry Suter for receiving a Certificate for completing a phase of the new FAA WINGS!

Well done, Larry!

Mark Violet's Thermal Camp Report

2008-06-11T12:49:00.001-07:00

Had another great time at Thermal Camp at Air Sailing, NV last week. The weather didn’t cooperate the first 3 days: cold and wet. First time in many years (1930’s ?) that Reno received eight days of consecutive rainfall at the end of May. By Wed, weather was good, Thurs better, and Friday still good. My previous longest flight time solo was 55 minutes at Byron, which is not too bad for a rookie. On Wed at AS, I had two flights of over an hour in length; first up to 8800’, then 9300’ on second. Great fun. Thurs was better with a flight over 3.5 hrs and up to 11,900’ near Tule Peak. Lift everywhere… After almost 3 hours, I was getting tired and was down to about 7000’ and thinking of landing. Flying near the airport I flew into a 4 knot thermal and couldn’t just ignore it, that would be wasteful! So I circled and climbed back up to 11000’ again. Lift was stronger as I approached cloud base (maintain 1000’ clearance) and a few times the variometer was pegged and bouncing against 1000’ per min vertical climb rate. Whoopee…. Finally decided to pull spoilers around 9000’ and spiraled back down to airport….

Mike's Thermal Camp Report

2008-06-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

I showed up in Tahoe City on Friday night with a nice cold welcome and some good solid rain to help make me feel cozy. With rain in the forecast through most of the week, I was beginning to feel rather un-optimistic about thermal camp.

We all showed up at various times throughout the weekend. Mostly on Sunday. It stopped raining long enough to get some of us area checkouts. Monday and Tuesday were mostly spent watching everyone using their laptops to check the weather. Some very short flights were made.

Wednesday made up for it though. Rolf let us out early from morning class and we all made some pretty spectacular flights. I managed to eke out a 6 hour flight in SS. I could have stayed up another hour or so, but I knew Mark and Taylor were waiting patiently for me on the ground to head out to town for pizza. So, along with a 5k foot gain in altitude, I came down and was assured a portion of my Silver Badge. Ah, but Rolf said I needed a data logger, so I would have to do it again. So, I took advantage of another wonderful soaring day on Thursday to pull off a 5.8 hour flight or so with at least a 6k foot gain. This time with the data logger.

Rolf took me off the leash on Friday (our toughest thermal day) and let me plan a 35 mile flight to Silver Springs. After a VERY short first flight (roughly 5 minutes from release to landing), and a most embarrassing wait behind 4 other gliders I managed to get back up and stay up. Although, I was almost back in the pattern on that tow as well. Finally, I caught a break and rode a decent thermal to 10k. From there, it was perhaps one of the slowest average speeds on record, but a completed cross country nonetheless.

It was the first time I have been out of gliding range of my homefield and the initial commit was, to say the least, quite exhilarating. The final 10 miles or so to Silver Springs was completely devoid of lift and I wondered what I was going to do to get back without an aero tow. I saw some cu's forming another 10 miles further away and thought, if I'm going to land out at Silver Springs anyways, I might as well go big. Luckily, they paid off big time and allowed me to work my way back up to I-80 and over into Palamino valley. I'm gonna be honest with ya, even at a conservative 4 miles per thousand feet, my final glide looked quite impossible. Especially with some areas of sink.

So many emotions on a cross country flight. Exhilaration, frustration, relief, disbelief, complete elation. I can't wait to do it again.

With the Silver Badge out of the way, it's time to look forward to finishing off my Bronze Badge. Haha, you've got to love soaring up there.

Mike Voie

NCSA Cross-Country/Bronze Badge Class May 18th 2008

2008-05-20T08:36:00.001-07:00

	Problems? We're doing maintenance, but things should be back to normal soon.