HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. On Thursday, Richard Walker and I flew a few flights in preparation for his checkride on Saturday. No one was there, of course, in the middle of the week, except Loyal. Finally on Saturday morning, Richard Walker passed his checkride for his Commercial Glider License. CONGRATULATIONS, RICHARD !!

2. Norm Lambert continues his quest for his first solo flight. That may be a few weeks off but the experience he's gaining is valuable. We used one of our two flights to cover up the instruments and I showed Norm how he's been developing a data base of knowledge regarding both altitude and airspeed. So I had him guess how high we were at one point and he guessed 1500 agl. Removing the cover, it read 2330 msl, which is only 50 feet off his guess. We did the same with airspeed several times and most times he was within a few miles per hour of the actual airspeed. It's a valuable lesson and gives the student the necessary confidence to look out the canopy instead of focusing on the inside. Norm continues to improve with each lesson.

3. CCSC had it's Board Meeting today and covered a variety of topics including the decisions regarding the future of towing at Avenal. As you may know, Loyal is leaving for Hawaii and selling his Avenal assets. So the club will take over the responsibility for owning a tow plane and having members take turns doing the towing. It will work out well. If you are already a power pilot and would like to take your turn doing the towing especially on a Saturday, contact Dan Gudgel and put your name in the hat. We hope we have enough pilots so that no one pilot should have to sign up for more than one towing day per month or even per two months.

4. Daniel Solis came out again today and although we flew only once, it was a good one. We were up for 1.3 hours and Daniel did very well getting into a very strong thermal and working us up over 6800 msl. At various times we were in 10+ knots of lift. Daniel is going to do well as he continues his glider training.

5. Jerry Badal came out again after a few weeks absence. Jerry bought his own glider, the Libelle formerly owned by the late Dennis Mast. It is a fitting tribute that Dennis' glider should fly on at Avenal after him. And Jerry is about one millimeter from finishing his license and I'm going to bug him forever until he gets it done. Oh, and we had a very good flight up over 6000 msl, and 1.3 hours aloft.

6. Jeff Lowe is right there, about to solo. I expect that to happen  next Saturday and he'll be there early to avoid the heat that has been plaguing him throughout his training cycle. He has done quite well and should be ready for me to exit the glider. He's bringing his honey, Margo, out next Saturday to witness his achievement.

7. Mike McClellan arrived mid-afternoon from Felton to have his Biennial Flight Review conducted. We flew the required three flights, did the hour ground time, and he passed quite satisfactorily. Mike went flying near the end of the day, and I wasn't around to talk about his success in finding thermals that late. They should have been mostly over the bare rocks at the foothills as they usually are in late afternoon.

8. Mario was out today as you can see from the photos. He flew on flight but I have no information about it.

9. Joe Anastasio flew the Blanik and did quite well, as shown by the aerial photo of him over the foothills. He also brought out our golf cart from the hangar at the southeast and we used it for the first time towing gliders. I knew we had the cart, it has been here for at least a year or more, given to us by Jerry Smeltzer. We just needed batteries and a charger and Joe got all that taken care of. So, hooray, we can tow rather than use muscle power. Now, those of us who used to provide the motive power, must renew our memberships in our local gyms.

10. Paul Hanson and dog showed up for his weekend tour of Avenal. Not sure if he flew but I'm certain it would have been at some time over the weekend. His glider was assembled and he could have flown today but I was quite busy and didn't see him aloft.

11. Dan Gudgel and Harlow Voorhees flew in the Blanik, for Harlow's refresher flights. Their first flight was a good one, thermaling for a nice long flight and up over 5000 msl. They took another that turned out to be a real rope break at about 3-400 feet agl, but they made it back with no trouble. That's a very good reason for all of us to remain vigilant about rope breaks that can happen at any time.

12. The barbeque turned out quite nicely with hamburgers, chips, drinks, etc., for everyone. Thanks to Richard Walker. I don't know if he was celebrating his License, or just thanking everyone for coming to the Board Meeting, or showing off his cooking skills.

13. Durval Freitas flew his Cessna 140 to Avenal, stayed awhile, then had to head home for family stuff. I believe he towed two or three times today.

14. Don't forget to vote for your favorite photo at the bottom of all the photographs. I'm not suggesting that either one is gallery quality, I'm just interested in how each comes across to everyone. They're similar but different enough to cause you to stop and think about composition, color, etc. Don't forget to vote.