HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. CONGRATULATIONS TO JEFF LOWE ON HIS FIRST FLIGHT SOLO !! This young man really worked hard at making his dream come true. He worked especially hard because he had a few motion issues to deal with. At one point, I thought I had lost him as a student because once or twice he really suffered when back on the ground. But he's tenacious and was determined to become a licensed pilot so he fought through those issues and came out on top. We are all proud of you, Jeff, for how well you stayed with your goal in spite of the difficulty. Now, as a real pilot, you will probably not suffer those kinds of issues any longer. Regardless, we welcome you to the ranks of the elite in aviation and will continue to follow your progress all the way to your license. His lovely wife, Margo, was here today to witness her honey's great day. And she was as happy, perhaps more so, than Jeff. A great supporter of Jeff's goal in life.

2. Jeff got top billing today but Doug Staudmeister's solo is equally prominent. The difference is that Doug is already a licensed pilot and this will be for his add-on rating. Nevertheless, his accomplishment, in a very short time, was excellent and worthy of  CONGRATULATIONS !!. It really is nice to have new solo pilots in the club because of the serendipity of them comparing notes and progress and wishing each other good flights from a solo perspective.

3. Royson Parsons brought his daughter, Erin, to Avenal for continued training towards her license. Erin, like Hanna before her, is determined to get her pilot's license before she receives her driver's license. And at the rate she's going, that will likely be soon. She hadn't finished her flying for five minutes today and asked if she could come out next Tuesday for continued training. How could I refuse such a dedicated student. So we will be back out again next week for more flying. In fact, she has progressed so well that it wouldn't surprise me if she flew well enough next Tuesday to solo.

4. Jerry Badal came out today to fly with me in preparation for his newly scheduled checkride with Dan Gudgel on September 12th. But with all the commotion of solos and early student training, I really didn't have the time to work with him. So he took the 1-26 up for a flight and didn't come back for more than four hours. Now that was some good thermalling. As I recall he was up above 7000 msl near the mountains.

5. Jerry Smeltzer flew the 1-26 before Jerry Badal but he struggled with finding good lift and his flight was cut shorter than he anticipated. But that happens to us all, and usually Jerry is an excellent thermaling pilot. I'm sure he'll make up for it the very next time he launches.

6. Mario Crosina was here today, flew his Ventus 2AX for many hours in the mountains up and down range just having fun.

7. Dave Pilati also came out and flew his neat and clean Schweizer 1-35. He, too, had a long flight and was gone for several hours.

8. Joe Anastasio flew the Blanik and had what he characterized as a great flight. I wish I had gone along with him. We would have had some fun going cross country because that's how great the conditions were today.