CONGRATULATIONS to BIFF FORBUSH - FIRST SOLO SATURDAY JULY 10TH

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

---

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

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

CHANDLER LOUGEE writes of her passion to fly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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