HIGHLIGHTS:
 

1. We had two groups of visitors today. Evgeny came from his training at Byron where he was working on his solo signoff. He came to Avenal because we have a safer place in which to solo since we don't use radios and Evgeny has a hard time speaking clear English. He took one flight with me and one with Alex Caldwell. He flies well and could likely be signed off in the next one or two flights. He told me he already has a license for gliders achieved in Russia, flying the Blanik. We may see more of him in the future.

2. Frank Rheinisch and son, Erik, visited Avenal and both took demo rides. It looked like they were enjoying the time aloft and maybe they'll join the club and begin pilot training. Erik did very well off tow, flew most of the flight, and I was able to talk him down for a landing. He should pursue his pilot training.

3. Julie Butler will soon take delivery of her new sailplane, a DG100. It looks like it will be ready at the end of March and she'll be heading to Williams Soaring to pick it up. In the meantime, she wisely chose to get some spin training with me in the Blanik, something that should be a necessity for all glider pilots at some point in their flying careers. It doesn't take a lot of time, and the lessons to be learned are important. We all thermal at slow speeds and could inadvertently cause a spin to occur. Getting out of a spin is not a difficult maneuver as long as you know what to do and how to do it. If you're wondering how scary it is to spin, schedule a ride and find out that your fears are unfounded. Being in control of your own flight regardless of attitude is the most important lesson to be learned.

4. Rich Miller flew his LP49 today, and based on the excellent forecast for tomorrow, he will likely fly again on Sunday. He's really a dedicated glider pilot often spending entire weekends at Avenal soaring every day, assuming, of course, that he can find someone to come out and tow for him. Any volunteers?

5. Morgan and Harlow were at Avenal today but didn't fly. Instead, they worked on getting Big Bird ready for a trailer ride to Fresno for its annual inspection. We are also still struggling to repair the wing tip wheel that broke off when the Chicago folks were loading it on the trailer. The steel stub is still inside the wing and doesn't seem to want to come out no matter what we do. We've got to get it fixed soon because the great soaring season is now starting.

6. Andy Reistetter was scheduled for Big Bird but didn't realize it had a tip wheel problem. Instead, Andy took our 1-26 aloft and did some sniffing for us. The lift wasn't great and the scattered clouds were at about 2700 msl, not exactly a great soaring day early on. It got better in late afternoon.