Saturday, May 10

WEATHER
Visibility: 10+ 
Wind: light NNW
Altitudes: 16000
Time Aloft: 6.5
Max Lift: insanely good
Temperature: HOT, 95+
Comment: Amazing spring soaring day
Tow pilot: Theo

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It was a beautiful spring soaring day with strong lift and abundant cloud markers. IMHO, the best performance of the day was from Darrell, who didn’t even fly.

Eight people came out to fly gliders, but unfortunately there was no instructor, so only 4 got to launch. Everyone spent the cooler parts of the morning getting their ships ready for an efficient launch sequence then retreated to the patio to discuss plans. After some discussion over an excellent lunch prepared and served by Darrell, Theo agreed to get some practice towing.

Morgan had his new JS3 At the front on the line followed by Philip in his JS3, then Ollie and Julie. The motor gliders both took a tow with intentions to fly south and cross over to the Sierras then make the crossing over the valley to home. Ollie and Julie were planning on getting ready for contest flying this week. Darrell helped get everyone hooked up and off the ground before retuning to prepping the facilities for the upcoming contest week. Theo did a great job of getting everyone up quickly and waiting a bit to make sure we were established before flying home to KSBP.

Morgan and Philip were successful in their team flying and made it home from near Mt. Whitney. Morgan’s crossing was a bit stressful, crossing over the Kettleman Hills ~700ft, while Philip was a few miles behind him and came in with plenty of altitude to close his triangle and find a climb for another run in the hills west of the field.

Mt Whitney

Ollie struggled a bit early on, but once he got going flew far and fast heading up to Center Pk, then down into California Valley and back up to San Benito. Julie got up and headed up to Center Pk and connected with a bunch of the Hollister group heading down to the south end of Soda Lake before turning around to practice a very long final glide. It’s amazingly difficult to bypass spring climbs and keep the hammer down to the finish line. I guess that’s the beauty on contest flying… it makes you change some habits for new experiences. 

Huge thanks to Darrel for assisting everyone with glider assembly, feeding us all, safely getting us airborne, washing our gliders and helping us disassemble, and especially for babysitting Lizzy so Julie could fly without worrying.

I hope many can come out for the contest. It will be a great opportunity to learn, make some friends and good memories, and help bolster the club.

Safe flying!

Here is a link to the flights:

https://www.weglide.org/flight?club=Central%2520California%2520Soaring%2520Association,915

Instruction and Contest Tune Up

WEATHER
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: 10 G 18 NNE
Altitudes: 6,800 feet
Time Aloft: 2.75 hours
Max Lift: 4-6 kts
Temperature: 74 F
Comment: Different Weather
Tow pilot: Jim Rickey 

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The May 4 forecast looked interesting with lift predicted over the mountains and clouds and rain in areas.  This was apparent in the morning hours as there was a large amount of cloud cover and developments to the south of the field.

                                                    The sky at the start of the day

Special thanks to all who have spent time working on the field and the clubhouse – the facilities look great!  Richard Walker was onsite aiding the flight operations.

The wind was from the south as training flights began with the SGS 2-33 13F using runway 12. With Jim Rickey towing, Larry Suter and Mark Pomaville made four flights after some ground instruction covering the relationship between the center of gravity and the center of lift. 

                                            Mark and Larry on tow

During these training flights, clouds were organizing over the mountains, and the wind began a slow shift to the north-east.

During this period, Julie Butler (XD), Ollie Tedeschi (JG) and Peter Sahlberg (06) made their ships ready at the south end of the field.  This was a session that allowed them to get some flying in before the contest and become more familiar with the navigation and scoring programs in their ships. 

                                            Julie, Ollie and Peter prepare

                                                     Ollie receiving advice

Morgan Hall had supplied a task that directed the participants to EL5, back to Orchard Peak, then onto Center Peak before an Avenal finish.

Juile went first and returned shortly after a brief warm up.  Ollie and Peter then launched, followed by Julie. 

These three engaged is some gaggle flying near the Tar Canyon start before the taking separate paths to EL5.  The convergence and cloud cover over the mountains made for interesting choices, with all three making the first turn and Ollie and Julie making the second before coming home.  There were areas of good lift and sink, with some clouds in decay as time passed.  Peter was cut off by rain 3.5 miles short of Orchard and chose to return to Avenal. 

                                            The view from XD

Meanwhile… Darrell Eggert and Larry had launched in 13F, connected with lift, climbed to cloud base at 6,800 feet at Tar Peak, flew down near the Hwy 41/33 intersection, arriving home at 6,000 feet.

                                    Darrell and Larry discuss where the tow plane should be...

All in all, a good day to fly!

                                      Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times

The contest is May 14 – 18, see you there.

Spring is here. Time to fly!

WEATHER
Visibility: 10+
Wind: variable
Altitudes: 6000k
Time Aloft: 2.5 hours
Max Lift: 5kts 
Temperature: mid to upper 60s
Comment: beautiful spring day
Tow pilot: Jim Rickey & Brian Rouska

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Julie and Darrell arrived in her Citabria to find Larry, Mark, and Jim already hard at work and Peter getting his ship ready. Larry headed up the crew to make a dump run and was back before noon… just in time for flying.

Julie launched first and released into a nice climb over the red barn and had a 2.5 hour flight with a multitude of ravens, a red tailed hawk, and a golden eagle pair who were gracious enough to mark a thermal and try to teach her a few skills about coring it.

Peter was up next in his ASW20 for a 30’ warm up flight before relighting and staying another 1.5 hours getting up to 5300’.

Both Darrell and Mark got in a flight with Larry in the back seat and appeared to be maximizing the thermals out there.

The best part of the day was seeing Jim fly a glider instead of a tow plane. Brian came out to ferry Jim in the 2-33 to Hanford and then return with the 1-26. 

Soon all the aircraft will be back online and ready for the season. Don’t be a lazy dog… let’s go fly!

CA69 Projects

Work Day at Avenal

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A number of members got a lot accomplished on the March 1st work day.

This group (Jim, Richard, Morgan, Mark & Darrell) tore down the 1-26, did all of the routine maintenance and cleaning work, reassembled and generally got it ready for its annual.

 

Joe got the old batteries out, did a thorough clean-up and installed the new batteries in the second golf cart.  So now both carts are working well!

 

 

And a couple of others (Larry & Kevin) created temporary tie downs at both ends of the main runway.

 

   

 

More to do next time...
 

January 11,2025

WEATHER
Visibility: clear
Wind: increasing crosswinds

Altitudes:.  3300’
Time Aloft: 0.5 hours
Max Lift: 2-3 kts
Temperature: 60ish
Tow pilot: Julie

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The morning started off cool with a slight NE wind. There were some good training flights in both the 2-33 & 1-26. The wind consistently built until it blew a car sized tumbleweed across the runway on the last tow. With that, Julie decided she was done towing leaving Peter sitting in his ASW-20 on the ground. Sorry to everyone who was grounded!