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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Photos by Tristan

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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

New NCSA Instructors in Byron: Larry Suter and Paul Searles

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

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

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

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

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

New CFIG in Byron

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

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.