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
Showing posts with label Monique Weil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monique Weil. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Our Own Private Air Show
.JPG)
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.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Chasing Dust Devils at Byron
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
Monday, August 18, 2008
New Soaring Enthusiasts
Monique introduces three new potential enthusiasts to the sport on Saturday.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Mike Shapira earns B Badge
.JPG)
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
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.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Mike Shapira, A Badge
Congratulations to Mike Shapira, who had his first flight in the 1-26, just after achieving his SSA "A" Badge!
Well done Mike!
Well done Mike!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Larry Suter - Wings Certificate
Congratulations to Larry Suter for receiving a Certificate for completing a phase of the new FAA WINGS!
Well done, Larry!
Well done, Larry!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Soaring Reports May 17th 2008
From Ramy Yanetz:
Great flight Buzz. You pulled out a truely incredible flight on Saturday and in challenging conditions. I did not quite make it back to Hollister on Sunday. I landed some 25 miles from Avenal (Lost Hills) and got a tow back from Avenal.
Here is my posting on hgcgroup on my safari trip from Hollister to Hemet:
My Hemet adventure (long):
About once a year, if the conditions look good enough to have a shot at a new mad dash record, I give it a try. In the past I used to do it with a crew (usually my wife) following, but recent years I started experimenting with other methods, and started going crewless (and some might say clueless). Last year I self retrieved by catching an airline back home from Ontario and taking the family for a trip the following weekend to retrieve the glider. This year the plan was to either land at a glider port or close enough to one to get an aerotow from there, so I set my eyes to Jacumba again, and figured that the $500 prize will more than cover for the aerotow to Warner Springs if I make it that far. I didn't have a good plan in case I'll land out in a field. It wasn't a pleasant thought so I didn't think much about it.
First attempt was on Friday, which failed spectacularly with a landing at Panoche. Saturday looked great, as well as Sunday, so I decided to go for it, and called an optional straight out task to Jacumba, which Eric and myself attempted. However one of the key things is an early start, which requires an early day. I launched at noon, but the conditions started late and slow, and were developing behind us, so it was rather a struggle up to California Valley. I still made New Cuyama in good time (3PM) exactly 3 hours from takeoff, something I could have accomplished in the past with my LS4 only in the strongest conditions. However 3PM in New Cuyama is marginal for a trip all the way to the border, and requires faster progress from that point, which wasn't possible, as it requires transitioning through 4 more shearlines: the Frazier Mountain shear line (behind Mt Pinos), the Crystal shear line, Big Bear, and last the San Jacinto to Jacumba line. There are 30-60 mile gaps between the shear lines, which requires slowing down to best glide, then long and occasionally slow climbs back. I am now convinced that a pure thermal flight to Jacumba (as opposed to catching a wave in Mojave) is only possible on very rare days which have great conditions all the way through, start early (no later than 11AM so New Cuyama can be made before 2PM) and last all the way to sunset. Saturday wasn't even close. By the time I got high enough over the shear line behind Frazer Mountain (south of Gorman) to 14K (my highest for the day) and committed for the Mojave desert it was already 4PM and there were only few cu's far in my direction. I realized that I may make Warner Springs (50 miles from the border) at best if I don't get low on the way. The transition to the Crystal shearline by Palmdale wasn't too difficult this time, but it was a slow going, and I didn't get quite as high as needed (at least 14K) to make the jump across the Cajun pass to Big Bear Mountain. By around this time Eric landed near Lancaster, so I was now completely on my own. I still tried to make it to Big Bear following the recommended route on the Great Western (Crystal) web site by climbing on the northern flanks, but hit tremendous sink and had to take a detour towards Apple Valley. Down to about 1500ft AGL I gave all hope, dumped my water and was heading to Apple Valley airport, where I landed in my previous attempt last year. This was disappointing, as I wanted to at least break my own record south. I finally got out of the Cajun pass sink and started climbing very slowly, at first it started looking like I may be able to make it back to Crystal so I started heading back, but continued climbing to 11K. It was after 6PM so I figured it is likely my last good climb, not enough and too late to attempt Big Bear again, but high enough to glide over the Cajun Pass to Hemet, where I can take a tow the next day. I could have easily glided to Palm Spring instead, but getting a tow there the next day would have been tough...
I landed at Hemet at 7:30PM, around 520km from Hollister (620km OLC). Not quite a new distance record, but the furthest I have ever gone from Hollister, so I am not complaining. I tied down the glider, got a ride to the nearby Motel 6, jumped in the pool and took a much needed rest.
The following day looked great, with high base cu's popping over the high mountains by 11AM. I took off at 11:30, but it was a long struggle to get out of the Hemet Valley and climb up the flanks of the San Jacinto Mountain overlooking Palm Springs. I eventually got to 14K and enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountain and Palm Springs below, then headed across the Banning pass, climbed up San Gorgonio and Big Bear where I topped at 16,500 feet, my highest for the day. I easily connected with the Shear over Crystal to Palmdale, where I had my last Cu at 13K. From there I had 3 options: cross to Tehchapi and go up the Sierras, however the cus were not high enough and west enough to give me a decent chance on crossing back the San Joaquin valley later. Besides it was a bit too late for that. There were few cus far over the Frazier/Gorman area, but it is all high terrain with very few landing options there and I figured I will arrive there too low for comfort, so elected to take a straight line towards the Kern Mountains and Taft, and hope for the best. It was a dead glide until I got below 6K, and from there it was a slow progress to Taft. I could not get over 6K and only found sink over the Taft ridge due to the NW flow. I was too low to cross the California Valley, and there were no indications of shear lines, it was blue and hot. I could hear the Avenal contest pilots announcing their distance from the finish gate, but had no idea where they flew and could not get any information from them, as they kept radio silence except announcing 4 miles out...
I did hear Kurt not very high somewhere near Henandez, but it was so late and slow progress against the wind with deteriorating conditions, I figured if I make Avenal I'll be lucky. I didn't quite make it, landed at Lost Hills some 25 miles from Avenal, but got hold of Loyal who came from Avenal to tow me. I released half way to Hollister somewhere near EL4 and landed just before sunset.
It was quite an adventure, and great to be back without needing a crew.
OLC traces:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1490067
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1974524
Ramy Yanetz
From Buzz Graves:
http://www.onlineco ntest.org/ olc-2.0/gliding/ getScoring. html?scoringId= 1&year=2008&month=05&day=17
Saturday was great day to be in the air. Each weekend through the month of May the HGC host a contest and we are tasked to push the envelope. This is my longest flight in the Bay area, while Ramy was reaching for the Jacuba at the Mexico bounder. We flew together helping each other as far as New Cuyama near San Ynez where I decided to turn back north. We launched early and as you will see on the traces we struggled a bit in the beginning before the day kicked into gear. The ride back was one to remember, the convergence was marked by small clouds and haze domes and progress was quick and easy cruising along at 10-12k. Then things changed north of Coalinga. My last climb was at Central peak to 10.7k and from there it was a long 60 mile final glide to Hollister getting there just at pattern altitude. Several times I thought I was going to need to light the engine, but I was just able to hold on enough to make it back. I was ridge soaring small hills, enough to slow my descent be not enough to climb. What shut the area down was the intrusion of the marine layer, the same wind we get at Byron down 23 in the afternoon this time of year..
A small note, I flew off the end of my waypoint list on See You around Avenal, from there to the south was using a sectional the old fashion way. Wasn’t that hard as at that point I was mostly following the clouds.
The day ended with retrieving UV that landed out at Hernandez South, a great strip up in the mtns near San Benito just north and west of Coalinga. A long day and it was near 1:00am before I got home.
By the way Ramy made it to Hemet on Saturday and rumor has it he launched from there on Sunday to guess what, he flew back to Hollister…..I think??? His SPOT trace showed something like that with him landing around 8 pm.
Once understood the soaring conditions that exist to the south can rival those in Nevada a good day. The dynamics of the atmospheric motions between the Central Valley air mass and the Marine air mass is unique. For those of you that want to study this, use the RASP for the Sierras that Dimitri has made available to us.
http://www.norcalso aring.org/ BLIP/SIERRA/ index.html
Buzz Graves
From Yuliy Gerchikov:
Perhaps I should just be quiet given what the Hollister crowd (and a couple of our own NCSA members) have accomplished today... But I'll chirp anyway.
Since Pacheco Pass crossing looked iffy in today's forecast, and since it was not easy even yesterday with much stronger forecast, I decided to save a high launch and did an equivalent of a local tow. It quickly turned out that the only game in town was the "usual" Byron convergence building up in the early afternoon. But what a convergence it was! Later in the afternoon it drifted on over Clifton Forebay and revealed two things I haven't experienced before.
First of them I can only describe as dust devils on water. I was working a late (tm) quiet lazy thermal that started over Byron highway and drifted all the way across the Forebay. From the vantage point just east of the Forebay one could clearly see the wind on the water -- and what a sight it was!
Over the western -- closest to the airport -- shore the wind was blowing quite strongly from the west, dragging streaks and tossing occasional "crow's feet" across the water. This was consistent with Byron AWOS reporting 230@14G18.
At the same time over the northern shore the wind blew equally strongly from the north, also drawing its clear signature on the water.
And sure enough, in the middle of the Forebay they collided. Clearly visible on the water surface, the late afternoon sea breeze was fighting with itself -- the Altamont Pass arm was wrestling with the San Joaquin Delta arm along an amazingly sharp line right over water.
Where the two winds touched, the air had no way to go but up, and up it went -- with a flare. Clearly visible on the water there were several mini-tornadoes, small but vigorous swirls that were appearing, waltzing around the surface for a while and disappearing only to reappear next minute a short distance away. If it was over dry land I guess there would be a line of dust devils dancing across the ground -- but the two winds that created them would not be so amazingly palpably visible.
Anyway, the sight was so powerfully mesmerizing that I stayed in lift over it and watched... and watched. And that led to another interesting experience.
Now I think that it must have happened to me before, but I could not interpret it as clearly as with today's visual signs.
After a while I noticed that the air was not the typical convergence air anymore. It was no longer bumpy and lumpy -- it had no texture. The flow was completely laminar in that unreal and almost eerie way that is characteristic of mountain wave. Except, of course, there wasn't enough wind for wave, nor nearby triggers, and no typical wave crosswind bars. The air was just uniformly going up for miles and miles, both upwind and downwind -- I traced the line half way to Stockton before turning back, all while staying close to 4000 and not losing any altitude. I must have been above -- and clear of -- the collapsing late afternoon boundary layer, in smooth undisturbed flow that was only gently bulging up supported by the convergence line below.
I wanted to see how high this lift went, but it was getting late. So instead, to lose altitude, I checked how wide it was. It turned out to stretch from not quite up to Mountain House to not quite up to Discovery Bay.
And then I landed on 30 and bounced three times. At least when it's late no one is watching.
--
Yuliy ("L8")
P.S.: If you left before sunset you missed a small airshow put up by Elevator Two.
Great flight Buzz. You pulled out a truely incredible flight on Saturday and in challenging conditions. I did not quite make it back to Hollister on Sunday. I landed some 25 miles from Avenal (Lost Hills) and got a tow back from Avenal.
Here is my posting on hgcgroup on my safari trip from Hollister to Hemet:
My Hemet adventure (long):
About once a year, if the conditions look good enough to have a shot at a new mad dash record, I give it a try. In the past I used to do it with a crew (usually my wife) following, but recent years I started experimenting with other methods, and started going crewless (and some might say clueless). Last year I self retrieved by catching an airline back home from Ontario and taking the family for a trip the following weekend to retrieve the glider. This year the plan was to either land at a glider port or close enough to one to get an aerotow from there, so I set my eyes to Jacumba again, and figured that the $500 prize will more than cover for the aerotow to Warner Springs if I make it that far. I didn't have a good plan in case I'll land out in a field. It wasn't a pleasant thought so I didn't think much about it.
First attempt was on Friday, which failed spectacularly with a landing at Panoche. Saturday looked great, as well as Sunday, so I decided to go for it, and called an optional straight out task to Jacumba, which Eric and myself attempted. However one of the key things is an early start, which requires an early day. I launched at noon, but the conditions started late and slow, and were developing behind us, so it was rather a struggle up to California Valley. I still made New Cuyama in good time (3PM) exactly 3 hours from takeoff, something I could have accomplished in the past with my LS4 only in the strongest conditions. However 3PM in New Cuyama is marginal for a trip all the way to the border, and requires faster progress from that point, which wasn't possible, as it requires transitioning through 4 more shearlines: the Frazier Mountain shear line (behind Mt Pinos), the Crystal shear line, Big Bear, and last the San Jacinto to Jacumba line. There are 30-60 mile gaps between the shear lines, which requires slowing down to best glide, then long and occasionally slow climbs back. I am now convinced that a pure thermal flight to Jacumba (as opposed to catching a wave in Mojave) is only possible on very rare days which have great conditions all the way through, start early (no later than 11AM so New Cuyama can be made before 2PM) and last all the way to sunset. Saturday wasn't even close. By the time I got high enough over the shear line behind Frazer Mountain (south of Gorman) to 14K (my highest for the day) and committed for the Mojave desert it was already 4PM and there were only few cu's far in my direction. I realized that I may make Warner Springs (50 miles from the border) at best if I don't get low on the way. The transition to the Crystal shearline by Palmdale wasn't too difficult this time, but it was a slow going, and I didn't get quite as high as needed (at least 14K) to make the jump across the Cajun pass to Big Bear Mountain. By around this time Eric landed near Lancaster, so I was now completely on my own. I still tried to make it to Big Bear following the recommended route on the Great Western (Crystal) web site by climbing on the northern flanks, but hit tremendous sink and had to take a detour towards Apple Valley. Down to about 1500ft AGL I gave all hope, dumped my water and was heading to Apple Valley airport, where I landed in my previous attempt last year. This was disappointing, as I wanted to at least break my own record south. I finally got out of the Cajun pass sink and started climbing very slowly, at first it started looking like I may be able to make it back to Crystal so I started heading back, but continued climbing to 11K. It was after 6PM so I figured it is likely my last good climb, not enough and too late to attempt Big Bear again, but high enough to glide over the Cajun Pass to Hemet, where I can take a tow the next day. I could have easily glided to Palm Spring instead, but getting a tow there the next day would have been tough...
I landed at Hemet at 7:30PM, around 520km from Hollister (620km OLC). Not quite a new distance record, but the furthest I have ever gone from Hollister, so I am not complaining. I tied down the glider, got a ride to the nearby Motel 6, jumped in the pool and took a much needed rest.
The following day looked great, with high base cu's popping over the high mountains by 11AM. I took off at 11:30, but it was a long struggle to get out of the Hemet Valley and climb up the flanks of the San Jacinto Mountain overlooking Palm Springs. I eventually got to 14K and enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountain and Palm Springs below, then headed across the Banning pass, climbed up San Gorgonio and Big Bear where I topped at 16,500 feet, my highest for the day. I easily connected with the Shear over Crystal to Palmdale, where I had my last Cu at 13K. From there I had 3 options: cross to Tehchapi and go up the Sierras, however the cus were not high enough and west enough to give me a decent chance on crossing back the San Joaquin valley later. Besides it was a bit too late for that. There were few cus far over the Frazier/Gorman area, but it is all high terrain with very few landing options there and I figured I will arrive there too low for comfort, so elected to take a straight line towards the Kern Mountains and Taft, and hope for the best. It was a dead glide until I got below 6K, and from there it was a slow progress to Taft. I could not get over 6K and only found sink over the Taft ridge due to the NW flow. I was too low to cross the California Valley, and there were no indications of shear lines, it was blue and hot. I could hear the Avenal contest pilots announcing their distance from the finish gate, but had no idea where they flew and could not get any information from them, as they kept radio silence except announcing 4 miles out...
I did hear Kurt not very high somewhere near Henandez, but it was so late and slow progress against the wind with deteriorating conditions, I figured if I make Avenal I'll be lucky. I didn't quite make it, landed at Lost Hills some 25 miles from Avenal, but got hold of Loyal who came from Avenal to tow me. I released half way to Hollister somewhere near EL4 and landed just before sunset.
It was quite an adventure, and great to be back without needing a crew.
OLC traces:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1490067
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1974524
Ramy Yanetz
From Buzz Graves:
http://www.onlineco ntest.org/ olc-2.0/gliding/ getScoring. html?scoringId= 1&year=2008&month=05&day=17
Saturday was great day to be in the air. Each weekend through the month of May the HGC host a contest and we are tasked to push the envelope. This is my longest flight in the Bay area, while Ramy was reaching for the Jacuba at the Mexico bounder. We flew together helping each other as far as New Cuyama near San Ynez where I decided to turn back north. We launched early and as you will see on the traces we struggled a bit in the beginning before the day kicked into gear. The ride back was one to remember, the convergence was marked by small clouds and haze domes and progress was quick and easy cruising along at 10-12k. Then things changed north of Coalinga. My last climb was at Central peak to 10.7k and from there it was a long 60 mile final glide to Hollister getting there just at pattern altitude. Several times I thought I was going to need to light the engine, but I was just able to hold on enough to make it back. I was ridge soaring small hills, enough to slow my descent be not enough to climb. What shut the area down was the intrusion of the marine layer, the same wind we get at Byron down 23 in the afternoon this time of year..
A small note, I flew off the end of my waypoint list on See You around Avenal, from there to the south was using a sectional the old fashion way. Wasn’t that hard as at that point I was mostly following the clouds.
The day ended with retrieving UV that landed out at Hernandez South, a great strip up in the mtns near San Benito just north and west of Coalinga. A long day and it was near 1:00am before I got home.
By the way Ramy made it to Hemet on Saturday and rumor has it he launched from there on Sunday to guess what, he flew back to Hollister…..I think??? His SPOT trace showed something like that with him landing around 8 pm.
Once understood the soaring conditions that exist to the south can rival those in Nevada a good day. The dynamics of the atmospheric motions between the Central Valley air mass and the Marine air mass is unique. For those of you that want to study this, use the RASP for the Sierras that Dimitri has made available to us.
http://www.norcalso aring.org/ BLIP/SIERRA/ index.html
Buzz Graves
From Yuliy Gerchikov:
Perhaps I should just be quiet given what the Hollister crowd (and a couple of our own NCSA members) have accomplished today... But I'll chirp anyway.
Since Pacheco Pass crossing looked iffy in today's forecast, and since it was not easy even yesterday with much stronger forecast, I decided to save a high launch and did an equivalent of a local tow. It quickly turned out that the only game in town was the "usual" Byron convergence building up in the early afternoon. But what a convergence it was! Later in the afternoon it drifted on over Clifton Forebay and revealed two things I haven't experienced before.
First of them I can only describe as dust devils on water. I was working a late (tm) quiet lazy thermal that started over Byron highway and drifted all the way across the Forebay. From the vantage point just east of the Forebay one could clearly see the wind on the water -- and what a sight it was!
Over the western -- closest to the airport -- shore the wind was blowing quite strongly from the west, dragging streaks and tossing occasional "crow's feet" across the water. This was consistent with Byron AWOS reporting 230@14G18.
At the same time over the northern shore the wind blew equally strongly from the north, also drawing its clear signature on the water.
And sure enough, in the middle of the Forebay they collided. Clearly visible on the water surface, the late afternoon sea breeze was fighting with itself -- the Altamont Pass arm was wrestling with the San Joaquin Delta arm along an amazingly sharp line right over water.
Where the two winds touched, the air had no way to go but up, and up it went -- with a flare. Clearly visible on the water there were several mini-tornadoes, small but vigorous swirls that were appearing, waltzing around the surface for a while and disappearing only to reappear next minute a short distance away. If it was over dry land I guess there would be a line of dust devils dancing across the ground -- but the two winds that created them would not be so amazingly palpably visible.
Anyway, the sight was so powerfully mesmerizing that I stayed in lift over it and watched... and watched. And that led to another interesting experience.
Now I think that it must have happened to me before, but I could not interpret it as clearly as with today's visual signs.
After a while I noticed that the air was not the typical convergence air anymore. It was no longer bumpy and lumpy -- it had no texture. The flow was completely laminar in that unreal and almost eerie way that is characteristic of mountain wave. Except, of course, there wasn't enough wind for wave, nor nearby triggers, and no typical wave crosswind bars. The air was just uniformly going up for miles and miles, both upwind and downwind -- I traced the line half way to Stockton before turning back, all while staying close to 4000 and not losing any altitude. I must have been above -- and clear of -- the collapsing late afternoon boundary layer, in smooth undisturbed flow that was only gently bulging up supported by the convergence line below.
I wanted to see how high this lift went, but it was getting late. So instead, to lose altitude, I checked how wide it was. It turned out to stretch from not quite up to Mountain House to not quite up to Discovery Bay.
And then I landed on 30 and bounced three times. At least when it's late no one is watching.
--
Yuliy ("L8")
P.S.: If you left before sunset you missed a small airshow put up by Elevator Two.
Monday, May 5, 2008
SS Landout Recovery
SS experienced a gear lockup Sunday, May 4th, and landed out on a newly mown field. Here is the derig and recovery sequence by trailer.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tragic Loss
NCSA mourns our DAVE CUNNINGHAM - APRIL 18th, 2008 - Dave will live on in our hearts!
Our condolences to Kathleen.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
New Accomplishments
Congratulations to Mike Voie who completed the requirements for and earned his SSA "C" Badge,
and to Seth Dunham who achieved his Private Pilot Glider Rating on Saturday with examiner Dan Gudgel.
Congratulations also to Ramy who flew three 500km+ X-C flights from Byron in the past month.
Well done.
Monday, April 7, 2008
New Badges for the Club
New Badges:
-CONGRATULATIONS TO:
SAL LOPEZ WHO EARNED HIS SSS "C" BADGE,
and to:
STEVE YODER, WHO EARNED HIS SSA "A" BADGE
WELL DONE!
Monique
-CONGRATULATIONS TO:
SAL LOPEZ WHO EARNED HIS SSS "C" BADGE,
and to:
STEVE YODER, WHO EARNED HIS SSA "A" BADGE
WELL DONE!
Monique
Monday, January 14, 2008
Scenes from Winter Soaring
A 65-th birthday glider ride for Doug B.
Preparing for a checkride.
Dimitry cheers.
Egg capture. (No, I don't believe that rainbow either. Photoshop city.)
Pencil-work during a checkride.
Intensive training with Monique.
--Monique
Preparing for a checkride.
Dimitry cheers.
Egg capture. (No, I don't believe that rainbow either. Photoshop city.)
Pencil-work during a checkride.
Intensive training with Monique.
--Monique
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
West Wind Jet Stopped By Sunday
Buzzard readers might want to know that West Wind pilot Wilbur dropped in for a social call to NCSA clubhouse this AM.
He showed me his jet and said it was really very easy to fly.
Ask Shannon how his landing was...
-- Monique Weil
Truckee Bash, July 21st, 2007
This year it was the turn of NCSA to host the Annual Truckee Bash.
By custom the three clubs who fly in Truckee rotate the event.
By custom the three clubs who fly in Truckee rotate the event.
Richard Pearl showed his Chef's credentials, and brought out his giant smoker to Truckee to feed 84 people on Saturday July 21st. The feast was first class, per Richard's reputation!
The highlights of the menu were Richard's delicious smoked ribs.
The barbecued salmon, prepared to perfection by Ben Hirashima, was good too. Ben is a pro at the grill.
What a sumptuous Banquet!
About 18 NCSA club members attended the bash, including several private glider owners and two students (Norman Leung, Eric Nelson and friend) who were flown in
by Thomas Daniel, one of our Tow Pilots, in his Cirrus. Check out his glass cockpit above, as he demonstrates a steep bank over Lake Tahoe.
After landing his Cirrus, Thomas took the opportunity to refresh his glider skills with a flight in 81C.
We also had the pleasure of seeing one of our former club members,
Irv Powalka, who drove in from Southern California to get reacquainted with old friends, such as Willy Snow.
During the Bash weekend and the next, many long flights were flown:
Saturday, July 21st: Ramy, Shannon, Yuliy all flew close to 500KM
On Sunday, Ramy, Yuliy and Morteza also flew close to 500KM, while
Jim Conger flew about 335 miles.
The following Saturday, July 28th, Yuliy flew 850 KM, Ramy flew 680km,
Uwe flew 570km, Mike Mayo flew 460km, Jim Conger flew 380;
the next day, Sunday July 29th, Ramy flew 760km, Yuliy 770km (but got fewer points than Ramy) Shannon flew 410km and Uwe flew 360km.
The afternoon before the Bash, Ken Ferguson and Bill Levinson decided to move our storage container to the other end of the tie-down area, to be closer to our 2-place gliders.
Also, the day before the Bash, the highest tow I have ever experienced in Truckee
was requested by a potential Trial member who wanted a long tow to sharpen his tow maneuvers and turns on tow. Here is Paul Pencikowski on tow in Blanik AS above 10,000' on the way up to 11,000' before releasing from Pawnee 6Z near Mt Pluto.
It's best not to ask the cost of the tow.
NCSA's newest club member, Norm Leung, was apprehensive before the flight with Thomas, and sought assurance that the pilot was a safe pilot. Here is Norm, after the Bash, preparing to fly back in a sunset flight. He emailed back that they landed back in
Palo Alto just after dark and that the Cirrus was well equipped with advanced instruments for night flight. Norm was relieved that Thomas was a very experienced pilot. The flight
was a treat both going and returning and was very comfortable for everyone after all.
The next day, several club members had flights in the Grob, including Bill Gage, while the NCSA Board meeting was being held; and later,
Mark Violet, is seen here smiling after a two-hour thermaling flight in Grob 81C.
Grob 81C is on final for Runway 19, Truckee.
-- Monique Weil
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Best ever flight from Byron: 115mile triangle, 13,500'
Saturday (August 4th) was a one in a million flight - or so it seemed - thanks to
Jack Glendenning's Blipmaps with the RASP maps for Byron configured by
Dmitry Chichkov.
Jack Glendenning's Blipmaps with the RASP maps for Byron configured by
Dmitry Chichkov.
And thanks to Ramy who asked to share Grob FB for a flight in the
Diablo Range to check out those unbelievable Blipmaps forecasts.
I was not the Byron duty instructor so was free to fly and no one else
requested the Grob, so I found myself at the right place at the right time.
We launched at 2:20 and Dave Stroh towed us to the Diablo Range, release
3 (?) then easily climbed from one thermal to another (not infrequently
10 knot average) to 13,500'. We had an oxygen tank leak so I did not want to
climb any higher; I began to get a slight headache--my initial hypoxic
symptom.
There were some clouds in the morning to indicate the convergence but
none during the flight--there was haze however, which indicated the
convergence zone.
We turned over Pacheco Pass (highway 152), then Ramy suggested we detour
to go over Mt Hamilton (Lick Observatory) which we did, before heading straight
to Mt Diablo. We found a weak wave near the Livermore valley, which
gave us zero sink to Mt Diablo. Total distance covered from release
was 184 KM. Open spoilers were necessary to head for Byron as there was
good lift all over the Byron area. Peter Wilson, the Byron Field
Manager was kept busy all day and will report separately after he has
rested a bit.
Ramy was unused to not having an audio vario or any electric vario (or
PDA or flight computer) just a good mechanical vario that FB has.
This was "Back to Basics" for Ramy. We also had no transponder so I did
all the communicating with ATC--Norcal Approach--We were transferred
to 5 different controller sectors during this 3.4 hour flight. The
first controller was initially skeptical of our presence in this busy
airspace, often referred to as "Tiger Country" by glider pilots, without
a transponder. He asked what instruments we had; "A compass.", was my
reply". Without too much trouble however, he was able to paint our
primary target and all the subsequent controllers also easily tracked
our course. The fact that we were able to locate most of the targets
(mostly 737s) pointed out to us helped smooth out the interchanges. I
think the controllers were a little awed by our climbs--as we were
also. Once a controller told an airliner that we were a
"motorglider", and I didn't contradict him. We were frequently asked for
our altitude and I could sense the disbelief in the pause that followed
our reports of continued climb. The only reprimand I got was when I
mispoke--and said we had the 737 three-mile "dead ahead" (I was
probably a little hypoxic and couln't think to say: "twelve o'clock" -
Controller told me never to say "dead" on the air.) Only once were we
asked to change course and we were given two options: to turn north or
south. Ramy chose "south" and our responsiveness to their requests was
appreciated.
What a joy this flight was for me! Ramy said he had never flown higher
than about 10,000' in the Diablo Range before.
Keep checking those RASP Blip maps--who knows what we missed before
this creation.
I hope this flight will spur other club members to explore the Diablo
range when good lift is predicted.
-- Monique Weil
The Westwind Jet Returns to Byron
The Westwind jet we had a close encounter with some months ago is returning to Byron. Here's the letter they sent us:
Hello Monique,
Hope all is going well for you.
Just wanted to let you know that the Westwind Jet will be going into Byron on August 9 at about 10:30 AM and will be leaving again within a few minutes.
There will be another arrival on Sunday August 11, tentatively scheduled for around 4:00 PM with a departure shortly thereafter.
Position reports and intentions will start being broadcast 10 minutes from landing.
Will advise a more exact time for Sunday when it becomes available. The Byron airport management will also be made aware of the times.
All the best.
Regards,
Anne and Wilbur
Let's watch out for it this time, and avoid a repeat.
--Monique Weil
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