Women's Soaring Seminar 2007

It was not without a little trepidation that I decided to attend and join
the Women's Soaring Pilots Seminar in Avenal. Being X chromosome deficient
(more about biology later), I didn't know what kind of reception I would
get. But the chairwomen, Kathleen Morse and Neita Montague, were the most
gracious of hosts and so supportive of women in soaring and men who
encourage women to discover thrill of soaring.

NCSA had four members attend. Monique instructed in FB, Buzz in Avenal
club ships, (Central California Soaring Club), and Mighty Gorilla was
offering rides is his starship Duo Discus.

Monique and I arrived Sunday afternoon. Originally she had planned to stay
in a house in town, but then decided the swinging parties and all-night keggers would be more fun at the West Hills Community College in Coalinga
where I was staying. Buzz reserved a motel room, but he also longed for the
dorm life, and we ended up rooming together in the women's dorm for
$15/night. (Remind you of a old Tom Hanks TV sitcom?)

Although the building was built in the early '80, the style was '50's: one
bathroom down the hall with communal showers. (That is probably not much
different from the nearby state prisons in Coalinga and Avenal.) A
make-shift sign on the bathroom door indicated whether it was occupied by
men or women. Luckily glider pilots are much too mature play any practical
jokes on occupants by switching the sign on an occupant. The dorm manager
was a retired navy radar operator, and the resident manager, Maryan, was a delightful
young woman from Uganda via Sweden, to whom Monique gave a ride on Friday.

Dan Gudgel, Avenal instructor and FAA examiner, gave Monique and me area
checkouts. Avenal has two dirt strips intersecting in a V much like Byron
minus the taxiways. The setup requires a different mindset: manage energy
to stop at point of the V where gliders stage or stop quickly if you're
landing away from the vertex so you don't end up half a mile from launch
area. Without golf carts that's a lot of pushing. Occasionally cars
ventured onto the strip to tow when distances became prohibitally long like
when Monique and her student had to overfly a 2-33 stopped on the runway
which had landed against the launches and prevailing traffic without flying
a pattern.

Avenal has no cables to tie down transient airplanes. I purchased a set of
three extraordinary tie-down anchors for NCSA and FB from Paul Hanson, a
Central California Soaring Club member. I think they will be very useful
for securing gliders at Byron in the staging areas in strong winds. Each
tied-down anchor has three stakes which can be pulled out by hand, but the
tie-down anchor itself requires about 1200 lbs force to pull out. They're
in the clubhouse in a carry bag that should be placed in a golf cart when
strong winds blow. I think they would be a useful addition to any land out
kit.

I appreciated learning to launch without seeing the towplane. Close your
vents and windows and follow the tow rope. The tow plane kicks up enough
dust to hide itself as good as any WWII smoke screen. The tow pilot, Loyal,
had a spate of bad luck. He lives on the field in a trailer which caught
fire before we arrived. Ex-social worker Monique took up a collection to
get him back on his feet. On day three of the seminar morning talks were
interrupted by fire trucks turning onto the field. Loyal's Cessna 152 tow
plane engine had caught on fire. The fire truck arrived before local members
could find their only fire extinguisher, which was locked in a hangar. I thought how
smart we were to have Burt Compton, SSA safety consultant, evaluate our
operations at Byron.

Loyal had a back-up Cessna 150 that was sufficient for all but two place
glass ships. Kurt, who teaches aeronautical engineering at California
Polytechnic University at San Louis Obispo flew in his Husky tow plane who
turned out to tow all week. Winds picked up to create a dust storm worthy
of the Great Plains Dust Bowl on Wednesday. You really miss paved runways
and weed covered fields when blowing sand begins to sting. Buzz tried to
launch his DG 800 in the afternoon, but the combination of dirt strip and
strong crosswind weather-cocked him twice.

Two close misses with the tow rope impressed on me the added safety created
by retractable tow lines. On one occasion the released rope landed about 15
yards from assembled gliders and ground crew. Near the end of the day, the
crosswind became so strong that the tow line snagged a car parked at the
edge of the runway.

The other MOE (moment of excitement) was provided by Mighty Gorilla when his
canopy opened on takeoff. He ended up landing out in Coalinga and
discovered that a piece of canopy latching rope had prevented proper
latching of the canopy. THL (take home lesson): don't trust latch
position; always push up on the canopy when doing checklist.

On Friday Monique was honored with an award because of her contribution and
encouragement to women in soaring. NCSA members were put on the spot at the
last moment to make glowing remarks about Monique. Buzz recalled his NCSA
instructor checkride with Monique, "Give me a loop, spin to the right, spin
to the left and a no spoiler landing." I recounted her expletives -
actually quotes from a farmer - when she landed out near what is now Los
Vaqueros Reservoir, and the volume of work she does for NCSA.

Mike Green also won an award – Most Improved Fashion – for keeping his shirt
on through-out the whole week, at least in the presence of the ladies. Mike
also had the honor of reading the entries in the limerick contest at the
banquet. I think the fix was in because my entry was inexplicably lost
until the last moment. The winning entry--like so many other discussions
about gliding--had to do with bodily functions.

However, I did win a prize. I was first runner-up in maximum altitude on
Tuesday, winning a nice parasol which I'm happy to share with other NCSAers.
BTW it's the first time I've used a parasol--actually an umbrella--and I
was thoroughly impressed by how effective they are in cooling the user. I
thought they were just sun protection.

Mornings were predominately seminars with occasional flight instruction.
Dave Cunningham flew down and talked about badge flights and Kathleen found
time for me to explain my innovative chart marking method.

When thermals grew strong in the afternoon, instructors, students, and
private pilots set off. Avenal is far enough away from the coast to avoid
the marine influence and has numerous safe land-out sites. More than once
Monique and student ended soaring away when initially taking a pattern tow.

The incongruity of Avenal bracketed by two state prisons couldn't escape me.
Structures containing imprisoned men creating the best thermals to set
soaring pilots free was too ironic. Is there a prison escape screenplay
plot here?

Our mascot was Isaac, a Raven who survived a crash when as a chick her nest
got blown out of a tree near the clubhouse. Her siblings died immediately
and its biological parents couldn't care for her without a nest, so Paul
Hanson became her surrogate mom. Although she earned an "A" badge during
the seminar, she was unconcerned with controlling bodily functions in flight
or on the ground to the consternation of attendees.

The Avenal newspaper reporters arrived on Friday to report on the gathering
when Monique was instructing Marissa, a 16 year-oldscholarship student
from Reno. The experience of age passing on her wisdom to the exuberance of youth -- what a heartwarming story!

The next Women's Soaring Seminar will be held on the East Coast and then in
Slovenia in 2009. Next time it's held locally, I would recommend
all our members and especially our instructors to participate to encourage
more women soar and join our club.

PS: Note from Monique:

I agree with Bill that it was a successful and fun week in Avenal--20+
participants. We couldn't have done it without Bill as he did all the
work leading the crews--Byron and Avenal--to de-rig, rig, and de-rig and
rig, load the glider on its trailer; unload the trailer; load it again
etc. Bill had to stop at every Rest stop to make adjustments to the
glider on the trailer. Thanks, Bill.

--Bill Levinson