HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. The wonderful story is that Bob Stroup used to fly hundreds of hours every year. He owned several power planes, most notably a P-210, a pressurized Cessna single engine, six-place aircraft. But somewhere past, he had a stroke and that cost him his flying, and his driving. He thought, as he probably was right in thinking, that his flying days were over. But, January 9, I gave a presentation to a group of high-time power pilots and Bob was there. I guess it was the first time he realized that, just maybe, soaring would be his path to flying again. So, today, Bob drove out with me to Avenal, and indeed, he flew again from the front seat of the 2-33. I can assure you he did well, doing all the four fundamentals of flight in a smooth manner. He wasn't at all afraid of steep turns even though he had virtually no prior experience in flying engineless aircraft. He was smooth on the controls, not hesitant to fly the glider from the moment of release until touchdown. And the second flight he took much of the tow, making mistakes like any new pilot to the idea of being on tow behind a power plane. His landing the second time was unassisted from about 50 feet on down to a touchdown which he accomplished with the dexterity he probably had when he was flying power planes. So we hope he continues his training in gliders and soon will fly again, solo, in the bluest of skies. Yes, he has some limited use of his left leg and left arm but we can overcome that with clever ideas and his persistence, of which I have no doubt he possesses. Oh, and just a side note; he said he scored a double header today. He flew for the first time in years, and drove for the first time in years. Right away, as soon as he got to Avenal, I had him driving the golf cart and towing the gliders to the launch area. Yes, he did fine, and we might just make him the Official Driver of the Avenal Golfcart. NASCAR has nothing on Bob.

2. Steve Schery arrived from the Bay Area just for one flight. He didn't spend much time at Avenal before heading back home to the peninsula. Before he left, however, he did sniff for us and reported back on the absence of lift.

3. Joe Anastasio was here today doing some work on the gliders and just generally having a nice time in the warm sun. I don't know whether he flew but if so, it would have been in the 1-26.

4. Jerry Smeltzer came out today and flew the 1-26 reporting he found no lift at all. That pretty well jibes with what others found in their searches. But there were some weak (50 fpm) thermals over town that cycled on and off.

5. Francisco Nunez brought his grandson out to Avenal for their first glider rides. Francisco lives in town at the east end, and Noah Nunez, five years old, lives in Lemoore. Noah was up first and after piling the seat cushions high enough, we strapped him in and launched. He did well, enjoyed the scenery and most surprising of all, he directed me to his grandpa's house, recognizing it from the air. Not too many people could have done that. I was a bit skeptical it really was the right house until I took Grandpa Nunez aloft and he confirmed it was his house. They both really enjoyed the flight and Francisco assured me he would bring Noah back another day soon. We'll look forward to having them both here at Avenal, even if just to watch the flight operations and enjoy the members who are present.