HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. It was indeed a busy day for glider activity. We had visitors from all quadrants including three first-time glider riders, two Navy Hornet pilots from NAS Lemoore, Juhani Smith from the Bay area, two from the SLO area, and our regular members we can always count on to be there.

2. Ruth Cowell bought husband, Warren, a glider ride for a Christmas present and Warren decided that today was the right time to go aloft. It wasn't a really good day for soaring so I hope that Warren and Ruth will come back in a few weeks to experience the very strong thermals we usually get this time of year.

3. Paul Hanson brought his friend Juhani Smith down from the Bay area, and while Juhani worked on his laptop, Paul went through his BFR with Alex Caldwell. Juhani indicated a desire to learn to fly gliders and we hope he gets the chance and makes Avenal his home base.

4. The two pilots from Lemoore NAS came to Avenal so that Austin Coovert could get checked out in our gliders. He's already an accomplished glider pilot and after a checkout with Alex, he then took Ryan Davidson for a glider ride. These two gentlemen belong to VF-192, which just happens to be quite an honor to be invited to join that squadron. Both fly the legacy Hornet and both agree they wouldn't have it any other way. Congratulations  guys.

5. Flying took a turn of excitement when Bruce McJunkin went aloft for a checkride maneuver flight. We drifted downwind a bit too far and were unable to make it back to the field. So Bruce calmly landed in the plowed field just to the northwest of our gliderport with no ill effects on aircraft or occupants. We were able to move it through the gate at the corner of the field with the help of both passersby and crew from the clubhouse. No harm, no foul. In fact, it is good that a student experiences a landout early in his flying career just to get over the anxiety always with you if you've never landed out.

6. Pancho Herrera continued his progress towards solo and I expect that he will solo within the next 2 or 3 flights, probably happening next Saturday.

7. Jack Cashion, Jr. and Terry Easley arrived to go for their first glider rides. Jack has been talking with me for some months now about experiencing being aloft in a glider. Most of that conversation took place over games of pool for which Jack is a superb player, of the caliber of Fast Eddy Felsen. He claims not to be a hustler, but after playing him, I'm not so sure of his denials. Jack and Terry got to see at least small amounts of lift and we hope they visit again when the thermals get hot and high. Today was unusually cool for this time of year so the thermals weren't all that great.

8. We've added a new instrument to the patio near the temperature gauge. It is a standard temp gauge that has been overlaid with density altitude information for our pilots. It is calculated specifically for Avenal, using a pressure altitude of 29.92 and a standard temperature based on the field elevation of 780 msl. If the pressure altitude is different from what I used to calculate the density altitude, then just make the necessary adjustment which is likely to be rather small by comparison to any temperature differential. By all means, check the density altitude before you go flying to determine how your aircraft will behave under those conditions. It is especially important for the tow plane pilots to check and remember the density altitude as the summer heat sets in. It wouldn't surprise me to see the density altitude exceed 4000 feet in the middle of the summer.

9. On Sunday, we had three sailplane pilots take tows and remained aloft for hours. Mario Crosina, Rich Miller, and Paul Hanson all flew. The heights weren't great but they did get to 5000 msl. Peter Mersino and I flew to Avenal in the Dakota and made four tows. Then headed home.