WEATHER
Visibility: More than 10 statute miles.
Wind: Light and variable. A few times wind was perhaps 3-5 kts. out of the SSE.
Altitudes: 3000 ft. AGL - tow release altitude on a few flights.
Time Aloft: We think approx. 30 minutes by Quinn Marsh???
Max Lift: ???
Temperature: 108 deg. F. on our porch thermometer. at 3:00 p.m., long after we had wrapped things up for the day!
Comment:
Tow pilot: Dan Gudgel Many thanks to Dan for all the hard work in the heat! Dan made 14 tows, all before 1:00 p.m.!
Quinn Marsh (L) Solos!!! After sticking it out with his instructor Alex Caldwell (R) , passing his pre solo written exam, and wading through getting his temporary student license through the FAA's IACRA web site. Quinn made 3 very nice solo flights today in our SGS 2-33A, "Big Bird", N3613F. In fact, he seemed to find weak lift, and had our longest flight of the day!
Yes! I am beginning to think these clothes do make me look short! Will have to talk to wife Diana about these clothes she's been getting me! They also seem to make it appear that my stomach sticks out in front a bit! Another thing I'm noticing is how these new digital cameras make it look like your hair is thinning on top and turning grey! Funny, we never used to see that effect before with the old Kodak Instamatic film cameras we used to use in gliding although they did have that same "shortening" effect, but curiously, not the "enlarged stomach" effect! It may be something to do with the default lens focal length, perhaps kind of a "fish eye" lens effect, that may also be causing the hair thinning and "shiny on top" head effect! The "gray hair color effect" is likely some kind of "chromatic aberration" problem with the new digital photography, possibly, (I hope)!
Newly rated ( a week ago last Thursday) glider pilot Carl Lindgren(L) came out to schmooze with last week's recommending instructor Caldwell(R) and also made 3 good flights, as PIC, in our club's SGS 1-26E single place sailplane. I think he might be looking to accumulate experience, so he can fly the club's DG 100 sailplane next! Carl has a lot of farming experience in his background, and was seen today removing tumbleweeds with a shovel from the glider tie down area after finishing flying. He also knows how to drive a tractor, and has an impressive tolerance to working outside in the oppressive heat we've had all this summer at Avenal!
Also flying with Caldwell today was Christian Cueto, from the Cal Poly University Akaflieg Group, who is doing very well. He practiced low and high tows today, boxing the wake, and practiced premature termination of the tow, light cross wind, as well as accuracy landings. Christian is well on his way to soloing, I strongly suspect.
Private Glider Pilot John Harbick came out today, arriving at 06:30, and expecting a grueling flight review with instructor Caldwell. His previous flight review was found to still be valid, until the end of June, 2022, however. So he made three nice solo refresher flights in "Big Bird". It actually appeared from the ground, that he was doing quite a bit better without Caldwell even being on board! We think his previous flying experience back in Viet Nam, as a copilot/observer in Forward Air Controller aircraft is paying off for him!
Quinn make a cool video of his first solo glider flight today. I'm the one holding the nose of the glider down at the very beginning as he gets in. I also checked the seatbelts in the back cockpit to be sure they were secure and were not going to be able to catch the controls back there. I also secured the back door. I think most of that was edited out of the video. Be sure to have your sound turned up!
