PLEASE NOTE: 71 PHOTOS WILL TAKE AWHILE TO LOAD.

HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. The turnout for our Annual Meeting was the best we've seen in years. There were a total of 38 people on the field, most of whom were club members there for the meeting. No need to go into details. The President will probably formalize the notes from the meeting and we'll post them here in subsequent pages. Thanks to everyone for showing up at our Meeting.

2. Morgan Hall enjoyed his first flight in the ASW-20. Right after the meeting he began assembling it and with Mario's input, he got quite a few lessons in the assembly and operation of that glider. For those of you who recognize it as my glider, Morgan Hall is now an equal partner in the glider and I am really happy to have him fly it and help maintain it. Since I rarely get to fly solo, it didn't make much sense owning the glider alone. And when Morgan decides to fly it, and assembles it, I will likely have a better chance at flying it than I might have otherwise. Morgan's takeoff was smooth, no significant oscillations and he remained aloft much longer than I thought possible with the very weak conditions. Finally he reappeared and his first landing was smooth and uneventful. He did acknowledge getting quite a kick out of flying it. No doubt it's a huge difference from the 1-26 or the Blanik. I am looking forward to flying much more this season knowing the glider will already have been assembled and ready after Morgan is finished flying for the day.

3. Grandpa Nunez brought his grandson, Noah, out to Avenal again today. You may recall he was here on January 17th for Noah's first glider flight. Today, Francisco brought his wife, Yolanda, to Avenal for her first glider flight. She really enjoyed the thrill and the smooth quiet of glider flying.

4. Jeff Lowe flew the 1-26, and like most of us today, didn't find much in the way of positive lift, other than some zero sink. But at least he flew and stayed current. I expect Jeff will pursue his license with fervor now that the weather is beginning to clear up with spring thermals on the horizon.

5. Peter Sahlberg flew the 1-26 as well, found no lift, and returned no quite disappointed. For the remainder of the day, Peter stayed around and like a good club member, helped out those on the launch line who needed assistance.

6. Julie Butler flew once with me to review her skill set. She did quite well especially boxing the wake, a maneuver most students don't practice by themselves, so they get rusty and a bit sloppy when asked to perform it. But Julie surprised me with her competence on the task. The rest of the day she spent photographing her honey, Morgan, who was intent on the ASW-20 and hardly noticed anyone, except perhaps Mario Crosina, who was there from assemble to first flight and disassembly. Morgan and I really appreciated the time and effort Mario put in to help out with this important event.

7. Bruce and Polly Patton arrived in their RV-6, a beautiful aircraft that Bruce built himself. We haven't seen Polly for many months so it was nice that she could accompany Bruce to Avenal.

8. Harlow Voorhees brought his son, Tom, and friend, Tavar Zawacki, out to Avenal for some time in the Blanik. First, though, Harlow needed some refresher flights and we did three, including a rope break at 200 agl. Then Harlow took Tavar up first, and when the returned Tavar had quite a smile on his face. Harlow's son, Tom, an excellent pilot himself, took his turn in the Blanik and it would be nice to see Tom come back and earn his add-on rating. Harlow thinks that might be possible so we'll be looking for them both sometime soon.

9. Bob Stroup came out to Avenal with me this morning and by mid-afternoon he was ready for his two flights. Bob is determined to get his glider add-on rating and based on his performance to date, I'm sure he will. If it was up to him, he'd be flying seven days a week just to get it done. Perhaps we can accelerate his training cycle a bit more than just on Saturdays.

10. Luke Owen went up with me for a nice flight. Luke took the controls in flight and did quite well, handling the stick smoothly and confidently. If he decides to get his license, I have no doubt he could do it with no difficulty.

11. Paul Hanson went up for a short flight, again because of the almost nonexistent lift everywhere in the area.

12. Steve Schery and Frank Owen flew the Blanik with the same result. Nice smooth flying, no good lift. But spring is nigh upon us and that means vertical development, with booming thermals.

13. Kurt Colvin and friend flew to Avenal in separate aircraft. I know Kurt's was a Husky and I think the other aircraft was the same. Not sure, tho.

14. Daniel Solis arrived for his weekly flights in the 1-26. He's still enjoying the great feeling of transitioning from the 2-33 to the 1-26. But one of these days, we'll have to get him back into the 2-33 in preparation for his Pilot's License.

15. Stay tuned. We may have a second camera installed to show all of the launch area all day long. That's really where the most action is during our busy days. The current camera will still be in use but pointing slight to the right where it's null position will be pretty much towards Black Mountain.