SATURDAY, April 16, 2016. New Students and Demo Flights

WEATHER
Visibility: Unlimited
Wind: N at 8 kts
Altitudes: More than 6000 msl
Time Aloft: More than 3 hours
Max Lift: 800 fpm
Temperature: Low 80's
Comment: Good lift and heavy sink.
Tow pilot: Julie Butler, Yutaka Buto, Harold Gallagher

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Beautiful weather, a smaller crowd of high performance sailplanes, student training, a new demo flight,, visitors from Mendota, and the beginning of cross-country camp week rounded out the day's activities.

Ethan Ronat's glider is first. But others are assembling. Dave Greenhill, and Peter Deane were welcome visitors.

Bob Glougie is chatting with Paul Scheibel while Joe Oldham prepares Big Bird.

The launch line is busy as usual. Peter Deane is first, Julie Butler second, and Dave Greenhill third. All long flights.

Paul Finck visited and waited patiently for his chance at a demo flight.

Paul's photo of the gliders lined up for launch.

Joe Oldham working hard to maintain thermal updraft. He did very well.

Joe is working with a three knot thermal, but saw much stronger during his flight.

Charles Johnson, Director of Administrative Services for Mendota and his kids.

Andy Reistetter waiting for the tow plane to return and launch him.

Paul Scheibel's first glider flight, courtesy of his lady friend as a gift to him.

Yes, Paul was excited and really enjoyed the time aloft. He did two flights as a member of CCSC.

Larry Johnson went flying with Thomas Greenhill while Thomas' Dad flew in the mountains.

The hills behind Tar Peak are still green.

Well, not all of them. But rain is forecast over the next two weeks so they may stay green.

At least there are enough green hills to make the scenery enjoyable from a glider.

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The Cross-Country camp, headed by Julie Butler, began with flights on Saturday, April 16th and continued on through Wednesday, April 20th. There were excellent flights, at high altitudes, for long duration, and everyone had a great time. Ethan Ronat send the following photos of his flight on April 18th and it's fairly representative of all the flights during the Camp. Strong thermals, even at high altitudes, were nearly common for the time everyone spent soaring. The names of the participants were not available at press time, but most of the high performance gliders and pilots were on hand.

Note the vario pegged while at 11,000 msl.

The cloud forms were most beautiful in all quadrants while Ethan flew all afternoon.

Ethan captioned this, "Many clouds were cheating". Not sure what he meant.

First view of Hernandez Reservoir below the glider.

Another view of Hernandez Reservoir and one of the possible landout spots.

Ethan is on his way back to Avenal after a beautiful flight.

Beautiful sunset over the glider just before it gets put away in the hangar.

The end of a great day of soaring in the Temblor Mountains both north and south.

We'll look for you next Saturday. Bring friends and neighbors for a fun time even if it's just on the patio watching the launches and landings.

Cheers,

Harold Gallagher