Saturday March 5, 2016

WEATHER
Visibility:        15 miles below clouds and out of rain.
Wind:             Light at beginning of day, gusts up to 30 MPH by end of day.
Max Lift:        Wave Action.
Temperature:  Low 60s.
Comment:      No Flights Today.

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Because of the forecast for rain, only one person, Sergio, came out to fly.  But even he opted out, because of the chance of rain.

Martin sent everybody this picture at 9:17 AM.  You could see the line of rain just a little ways up the hills.  It would come closer sometimes, then retreat further away than seen here.  At 10:30 AM it reached the gliderport, then retreated, not even recording 0.01" of rain.

Line of rain at base of hills at 9:16 AM.  Rain line advanced and retreated throughout the day.

(Notice the lawn/weeds have been mowed--thanks to Dennis Lyons.)

By noon the ground was dry enough to operate.  Sergio was there, and he and Alex kicked back and forth whether or not to fly.  Ultimately, he decided to forgo it this weekend because of the constant threat of rain
.
It could have been an experience.

Rotor Cloud with "Sucker-hole" above it.

The Highway 33 Wave was there, just like Morgan predicted.  It was very well marked, along with other waves in the vicinity.  The base of the wave clouds appeared to be five or six thousand feet.  Martin, Alex, and myself talked about the tempting high overcasts that could have trapped somebody by closing in below them.

"Highway 33 Wave Cloud" at 3:54 PM.  A small rotor that came and went is above the light pole by the towplane hangar.

It turned out that there could have been good flying from a little after noon to about 5:45, when the rain started again.  But you never knew for sure.

The day was productive, however:

1. The 1-26 is ready to go!  
2. The four interior panels that had to wait until the wings were on got some fitting today.  
3. Alex made kindling out of the tree that fell a couple of weeks ago.

Alex used hand tools only to make kindling of the branches.

Unfortunately, the parts for Big Bird's aileron bell crank support did not arrive, so Big Bird is still off-line for at least couple more weeks.