1. Bart Klusek is a working machine. Not only does he drive down to Avenal from Davis, CA, but he stays the weekend and works constantly. Some of our members help him with the task of removing the paint and preparing the 1-26 for new paint. Members like John Harbick, Pancho Herrera, Mike Paoli, Joe Anastasio, Richard Walker and others have contributed varying amounts of their time to this nasty project. I say nasty because the paint and primer don't come off easily (hard scrubbing is the only way) but the smell of the acetone, alcohol, etc makes one fly higher than if they were aloft in a booming thermal. I know it will be a spectacular finish when it's all done but getting there is one of the tougher projects we've had here lately.

By now, nearly all the paint and primer are off except for around all the rivets and that has to come off as well. And have you counted the rivets on a 1-26 lately? Too many to think about and too many for one person to attempt to clean. So, please, any of you out there reading this, whether club member of not, volunteer your time on the coming weekends. We have lots more work to do before the project is completed.  If you have any of these talents, your participation would be enormously appreciated.

We also are taking submissions for the new paint scheme we plan for the 1-26. If you are artistically inclined or just happen to have a scheme in mind, perhaps you saw another glider painted the way you like, send in your ideas to Bart Klusek or Morgan Hall and we'll consider your idea. We'll give you credit for your idea if we adopt it for the glider. Join in and have fun watching and working on this important CCSC project.

2. The headline might be a bit misleading. We still have the tow plane but it is in Fresno for its annual inspection. This turned out to be a fortuitous time because of the recent rains, the condition of the runway, and in mid-winter the flight schedule is very light. We expect to see it back on line quite soon.  more info

1. Well, it was a rather short day today. Harlow Voorhees had to fly the tow plane back to Fresno Chandler for its annual so he had to leave early. Better to get the inspection done in the winter when the activity is low. But today we could have used another tow plane since there were several more tows waiting to go up. But there will be another day.

2. Mike Paoli arrived today after being away for a few months. His one flight was excellent and surprised me since he hasn't flown since November and I expected him to be a bit rusty. But he took up right where he left off and he attributes his performance to playing with the Condor simulator since he last flew a real glider. That must have been the reason so I encouraged him to keep using the sim and come out to Avenal when it's easy for him to do so.

3. Peter Mersino kept up his determination to take his checkride within a few weeks, probably right after Andrea completes hers. That may be near the first week of February and that's good news for all of us. He's ready for the oral and just needs a few more flights to smooth the edges of the maneuvers.

4. Bart Klusek continues to be a dynamic leader of the project to restore the 1-26 to its previous excellent condition. Hopefully he'll get some help from our members because the task isn't easy or quick. Today, Richard Walker is helping while Peter Sahlberg fabricates some aileron locks for the gliders. It seems to take forever to remove all traces of paint and primer as John Harbick and others can attest to. But the final result should be spectacular.

5. Jack Wiegand and his Mom, Irene, flew out here today in the Cherokee 140 that Jack had originally done his power training in and now Irene is learning to fly in that same aircraft. Son, Daniel is quite far along with his power training so I expect to see at least three of the six Wiegands with their pilot's licenses. That should be fun. But can you imagine all three in the same plane at the same time. Who's in charge here?? :-)  more info

1. Wouldn't you know it? Just when Andrea Mersino finally gets her checkride scheduled, the winds blew stronger than a Private Checkride flight. It would have been OK for a commercial glider checkride but not for Andrea. She finished her oral portion but will have to reschedule the flight portion sometime in the next few weeks. At least that part of it is finished and the stress is a whole lot less now. Her confidence should be a lot higher now. Attending her checkride was her Dad, Peter and Mom, Jennifer. No real disappointment on their part because they were experiencing the wind even on the patio.

2. The bright side of the strong wind is that it was from the north east and made for good ridge soaring. We rarely get such strong winds from a direction conducive to ridge soaring over on the West Ridge. But today the wind blew strongly and from the right direction. Morgan Hall and Karl Kunz both towed out to the West Ridge and were there for quite awhile. Karl was flying the ASW-20 and Morgan was flying Julie Butler's DG100. They apparently got up towards 7000 msl and worked their way northwest and then back southeast along the ridge. They were up for several hours and probably could have stayed up until dark since the wind didn't abate much all day.

3. Peter Mersino and I were the first up today in the Orange Crush. It was good experience for Peter to work the strong turbulence just on the takeoff portion of the flight and in the lower altitudes. Once higher up, the air smoothed out a bit and was easier to handle.

4. Alex Caldwell invited a fellow Doctor from Tulare to fly with him today. The gentleman is Abraham Betre and they had started to preflight Big Bird but when we finished with the Orange Crush and Dan Gudgel determined that the flight portion of the checkride wouldn't take place, Alex and Abraham decided to use that glider.

5. Julie Butler arrived today with Kevin Condron in her Cessna 152. She was scheduled to tow for us and did do a few early tows, but when the winds got worse, and the two fiberglass sailplane pilots opted to be towed to the West Ridge, she declined for lack of turbulent towing experience. That was a very good move and shows that she understands her limits at this point in time. I also declined for the same reason. Dan Gudgel has enough towing time for three people and he took the sailplanes to the West Ridge. Later on the winds subsided somewhat and made towing that much easier.

6. Bart Klusek and John Harbick were hard at work stripping the paint from the 1-26. It's a tough job and seems to take forever but they kept at it like automatons. Thanks, guys, for all the work you've done and probably will continue to do, especially on the glider.

7. Rich Miller is back at Avenal. We haven't seen Rich for many months but here he is working on his glider. Seems he might have to terminate his soaring activity due to factors somewhat out of his control. When he finishes restoring his glider it will be one very fine ship and he will probably be selling it to some lucky pilot. Welcome back, Rich. Nice to have you around for a change.  more info

1. Peter Mersino and daughter, Andrea, flew several times today in preparation for her nearing checkride and Peter's hopefully short term span for his checkride. We're hoping that Andrea will finish her training and earn her license before she returns to college on Sunday, January 15th. She is nearing the level of passing on her oral and needs little additional training on her flight skills. Maybe one of these days ...

2. Peter Mersino has been working on his glider add-on rating for more years than we might care to understand. But perhaps this time, he'll see fit to get serious about the rating and along with Andrea, work hard until he earns it.

3. John Renfro came back out again today and it was good to see him here again. John is another of those selfless members who always seem to be where the help is needed most. He hasn't flown much in the past few years but maybe now he'll become a more regularly flying pilot.

4. Headed by Bart Klusek, our members have been working on both the tow plane and especially the 1-26. It needs a complete stripping of the old paint and primer and that's a job that requires more than just one person. Bart has appealed to the membership to help him out on the weekends and we hope many respond. Karl Kunz has volunteered to recover the control surfaces and that is not an easy nor quick task. We'll all be proud and happy when we see the "new" 1-26 come of the hangar and fly again with new colors to show off.

5. Since there was obvious lift in the area, Joe Anastasio decided to assemble his PW-5 and head for the thermals. He did stay aloft for quite awhile and was at least satisfied that he spent the time assembling the glider. Maybe that will encourage other members to come out and fly even when the weather seems to have little or no lift in the area.

6. The bonus here at Avenal is that just sitting on the patio and visiting with other members or just in quiet solitude can mean a worthwhile trip even though the lift may not be worth assembling one's glider. Freya Stark put it most eloquently way back in 1932 in her book, "Valleys of the Assassins". See her words below after the photos on this page.  more info

1. Another December day turned out great for training but not so great for long soaring times. Morgan Hall managed to keep himself and David Swift up in the Duo D for more than seemed possible, but that's Morgan for you. David's friend, Margaret Buell declined the invitation to fly with Morgan but had fun anyway. David is from Southern California and Margaret is from Maine. Now that's a real separation.

2. Del Blomquist had not flown his 1-26 is quite a long time but today he finally took to the skies and surprisingly stayed up where no one thought there should be any lift. The combination of the very light Schweizer 1-26 along with the skill level of Del's flying made for a nice 45 minutes aloft. Getting back into the sky again made Del a happy pilot.

3. The Mersino's came out in force today. Andrea trained in the 2-33 while Jacob was treated to the use of Morgan's Duo Discus. No problem there. Jacob has more than 50 hours in the Air Force Academy's Duo Discus fleet so he is more than qualified to fly any Duo. Nice of Morgan to invite him, and Jacob was pleased to be able to take his Dad, Peter, flying in that beautiful glider.

 4. It was a bit disappointing to see so few pilots out here today. It is the holiday season and perhaps the members felt it necessary to use the time for shopping and other forms of wonderful recreation. Can't blame them but a multi-hour escape from the ravages of shoppers smashing into one another for the chance to spend money seems reasonable. Once the holidays have expired and we're into the blahs of January and February the members will return to the excitement of the gliderport.  more info

1. It was Julie Butler's turn to be added to the rolls of tow pilots at Avenal. She is our first female tow pilot in the history of the CCSC and we welcome her to our group. Maybe now the guys will start dressing better, talking better, and generally behaving like gentlemen. Of course there's nothing wrong about being ungentlemanly but it is nice to have Julie in our midst. Besides, being lighter than all the others, Julie's takeoff performance should be much better and thus safer. Welcome, Julie.

2. Kevin Condron and Kelly Brookshire arrived, spent the day, flew for awhile in less than stellar lift, and headed home happy, at least because the day was beautiful, wind mostly calm, and the mountains nice to look at.

3. Near the end of the day, Morgan Hall and John Harbick flew three flights, partly to move the glider around and to give both a chance to fly with one another, something they haven't done much of, or at all.

4. Other activity around the field included Karl Kunz changing the oil on the tow plane. Karl and Morgan working on the new panel items on GD. Alex Caldwell trying to get his RV-3 battery charged. Other than that, the day was relatively slow, but an easy pace permeated the day, and no one felt particularly rushed to get anything done in a hurry. That's one of the benefits of coming out to Avenal on Saturdays in the winter. Although the soaring isn't great, the training weather is EXCELLENT. And just relaxing on the patio as others take short flights makes for a stress-free day.  more info

1. This was definitely family day at Avenal. The Mann family came out with Jon Soble and all wanted to fly. The littlest Mann, Micayla, decided to go first and had a great time in the air. She wasn't bothered at all by the tow and when off tow she was amazed at how quiet and smooth it was. She did a lot of looking around and enjoying the scenery. Next up was Jordan, the one with the beautiful red hair. She also enjoyed the time up there and just sat quietly looking out over the landscape. Then it was Marlena's turn. She has had some glider experience in her past and it showed when I let her take the controls. If she decides one day to take up flying again, she'll make a darn good pilot. Finally John Mann flew and took the controls when off tow. He, too, did well and perhaps one day we'll see another Mother-Father soaring team in action. I can't forget Charlie Soble who flew again today. Charlie is hard at work learning to fly gliders so that he can solo on his 14th birthday. We wish him well.

2. Bart Klusek brought his wife, Alicja Omanska-Klusek and her sister, Ewa Omanska, and friend Thomas Mykytyn out for the day. Ewa and Thomas are from San Jose where Bart and Alicja were visiting. Bart took care of the demo rides and both Ewa and Thomas took turns aloft. Alicja decided not to fly today but perhaps one day soon she'll be back and ready to go aloft.

3. Peter Mersino brought his entire family out today. The young adults are all home from college for Thanksgiving, Andrea from San Diego, Scobbit from Seaside next to Monterey, and Jacob home from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Everyone flew today, including Peter who was doing all the towing. Andrea is closest to getting her license and she promised to get it done between now and January 1st. They will all be back for the Christmas holidays. Jacob took his brother Scobbit for a nice glider ride with very little in the way of lift, but fun anyway.

4. Raphaela came out with me today and simply enjoyed the peaceful time and views of the mountains. It was fortunate she did because at the end of the day today, we all headed for Harris Ranch where we enjoyed a delicious dinner compliments of our host Peter Mersino. Thomas and Ewa had to get back to San Jose so they weren't with us. It was a fun ending to a beautiful gliding day and nice to share an evening with good friends Bart and Alicja, and the wonderful Mersino family.  more info

1. It's not as if John Renfro went away and is now back. It's just that John has stayed in the club, volunteering, helping out on numerous occasions, and just being there for meetings and social events. What he hasn't done in the past few years is fly. And that was always a puzzle since John was an excellent student, licensed pilot, and loyal club member. Well, after these past few years, John decided to get back in the air and called me for an appointment. After three flights, including a very surprise simulated rope break, John earned his Biennial Flight Review and is back flying again with all the associated rights and privileges. Welcome back, John.

2. Mike Paoli continues his quest for solo flight and keeps getting closer. Today we flew twice and both times Mike improved in all phases of flight. His towing as reported last week, is much improved. His in-flight skills have continued to sharpen. We practiced simulated rope break turns at altitude in preparation for those we plan to do at 200 ft. msl next time Mike is out here. Keep up the good work, Mike.

3.It was a day that I guess most members thought was going to be unflyable. It had rained the day before, and threatened to rain again today. But the post-frontal system wasn't as moist as forecast so the day turned out to be flyable and fun. Few members enjoyed the experience, though. We had only seven launches all day, and besides John and Mike, Morgan Hall and Kevin Condron arrived to fly the Duo Discus. It was a great day to learn and Morgan put Kevin through that process. Following is Morgan's report:

4. "I flew with Kevin Condron in the Duo and gave him PIC for the flight. He handled the takeoff and tow perfectly despite it being his first takeoff in the Duo and only having flown the 1-26 recently. Harlow towed us straight to a nice looking cloud north of town and under the leading edge of the cloud we hit solid lift. This was where Kevin got his main learning experience of the flight. We flew through lift for a solid 5 seconds or so, before he decided to go ahead and release. We weren't at 2000 agl yet, but it was a solid core. Unfortunately, a delayed release and not making an aggressive enough 225 degree turn back towards the lift left us searching. It may have just been a very short cycle or just that we couldn't map out it's location. That was his only real thermal though. Everything else was broken and weak. I took over at about 1000 agl to try and salvage something and to give Harlow time to tow out the 2-33 before we landed. I couldn't put together a climb over town and resolved to landing.

We had a quick debrief on the ground about what to do differently on the next tow. Harlow got back down and we towed off to try again. This time we hit a boomer at the edge of the cloud and I stole command from Kevin and rolled hard into the lift. That climb took us to cloudbase at about 4k and I gave the controls back to Kevin and put the decisions in his hands. We ran east along the clouds, a slight convergence over the Kettleman hills. We pretty much were able to run without circling about 15 miles out from Avenal at right around 4k the whole time. Reaching the end of the street down near Dudley Ridge, Kevin decided to cut SW to the next cloudstreet out near Orchard Peak. It seemed like a reasonable choice. Our other option was just just run back NW, but a little adventure sounded interesting. As soon as we left the cloudstreet the air was dead. Really dead. Although we were getting a really flat glide across the 10 mile or so gap. Reaching the next line of clouds, they were a bit more ragged than we hoped for and not working terribly well. Below 3000 ft and well out of glide of Avenal, I did eventually ask for the controls back. I really didn't want to land out and felt like the few hundred hours I have in the Duo might help me work the lift better. I was able to get us back up nearly to cloudbase. Only 3500 or so. I pressed west towards the mountains and the dark clouds and while we found lift, it was really marginal and we were just sustaining at around 3400 and the line NW wasn't looking good. Toward CA valley it looked like bases were higher, but the inconvenience of a landout was not something I wanted to push on anyone. So we turned back along the clouds. A decent climb over Sunflower Valley and hwy 41 put us 100 ft (with a pattern) over glide back to Avenal. With that I pointed the nose towards China ridge and decided to get closer to Avenal before losing glide again. Kevin was back at the controls and found a good climb back near the Prison. With that he took us back across to the Kettleman Hills where the street was still working and we made contact with Harlow on the radio so he knew we were in good shape. Kevin flew us NW to the end of that cloudstreet over Coalinga before turning back for Avenal. Again, we were 800 below glide to Avenal, but expecting the street to work. Thankfully it did and although it was rapidly dissipating, we gained on glide most of the way back. 8 miles out Kevin "lit the afterburners" and we pushed home at 80-90 knots. He flew a nice crisp pattern and put the glider on the ground almost exactly where I'd told him, nice precision approach.

After putting the glider away we made a fuel run to Coalinga, although we lost the fuel cap to the trailer at some point. So we probably left a little fuel on the ground on the way home which is only a little scary. But we have full fuel cans and a full fuel trailer.

We debriefed on the flight. Both during the flight and on the way home. It's a really good exercise to debrief, even on your own, but especially after a flight like yesterday where there were a few interesting decision points.

I think the big takeaway for Kevin was that any time you can release in a fat thermal, take it. Even if it is below your intended tow height. Much better to release at 1800 agl into a nice thermal than tow to 2000 and then try to go back and find it. Set yourself a minimum "Don't Release Below" height, much like our 200 ft decision height. Once beyond your minimum release height, plan on taking any thermal that is good enough. On tow, this usually means anything that is 4-5 knots more than your average climb rate. I think less experienced pilots tend to take a high tow to give themselves more time to find something instead of releasing and working a solid core down lower. There are a few keys to making this work. You've got to decide to release while you're still in the thermal. You've got to remember that you are moving much faster on tow than you will be once you release. This means that aside from a tight turn into the thermal, you'll likely need to backtrack a bit. Usually something like a 225 degree turn after release will help put you back towards the thermal. Then start working your circles and adjusting them towards the stronger lift. Debrief points that may help others:

I haven't posted the OLC flight yet and I may have a picture or two, though I wasn't doing a very good job of documenting the flight. Morgan"  more info

1. Saturday was a no fly day. It had rained pretty hard and nearby at Kettleman City they had received a half inch of rain. So the runway was nothing but moosh (or some similar word). Unfortunately Mike Paoli had driven out to Avenal on Saturday hoping to fly as scheduled. But when he got there he realized why no one else showed up. He got my early morning messages only when he returned to Fresno. He did confirm the condition of the dirt that had turned to pure mud.

2. We had scheduled Sunday as a work day depending on the weather. It cooperated and turned out to be a beautiful day. By midday, the runways had hardened and only showed light tracks when driven or flown on.

3. We all got a lot accomplished, cleaning up areas that have been a bit of an eyesore for months, sometimes as long as a year or more. We burned two huge piles of tumbleweeds and assorted leaves and branches from trimmed trees. Richard Walker, Morgan Hall, Bart Klusek and others worked hard on the southeast hangar, cleaning it out, then patching the one area of the roof that had blown off in one of our fiercer wind storms.

4. The sign in front was restored to its original vertical position although the lettering is badly worn from the sun and wind. The clubhouse was cleaned and rearranged as well as cabinets cleaned out with non-essentials thrown out. Finally, in what Mario Crosina does so well, he started setting fire to both huge piles of tumbleweeds as well as the weediest areas along the fences from the southeast end, up the northwest to the clubhouse. Just the blackened earth looks so much better than the tall weeks.

5. We did take a break at 1:00 pm to have lunch provided and prepared by Julie Butler. Hamburgers and hot dogs and brownies, and a most delicious chili dip compliments of Peggy Harbick, that everyone clamored for and was almost totally finished by the end of the meal (as were the brownies).

6. Late afternoon, Peter Mersino and I went for a training flight and to the consternation of the groundlings, encountered good lift and stayed up longer than we should have, returning only so that Peter could go solo and Bart could do his flight. Our first lasted 45 minutes, Peter's second only a short time since he took a low tow for practice. Then Bart Klusek took Ethan Ronat for a flight that lasted only about 20 minutes and never got much above 3000 msl.

7.Thanks to all who took part in today's workday. Morgan Hall, Julie Butler, Mario Crosina, Bart Klusek, John and Peggy Harbick, Harlow Voorhees, Alan White, Steve Smith, Peter Mersino, Ethan Ronat, Joe Anastasio, Richard Walker, John Renfro, and I hope I've not forgotten anyone else. My apologies if I have overlooked anyone.  more info

1. Nice Report from Morgan. I'll add some below.

4. Greg Gouleff came out today as a result of a suggestion from Harlow Voorhees during our normal Friday morning flight instructors meeting. Greg is part of a long-time family of crop dusters located in San Joaquin. Greg's grandfather started the business long ago and it has been going ever since. Harlow thought Greg might be interested in flying gliders but as it turned out he wasn't terribly thrilled with the gliders but more interested in flying the tow plane. Maybe that will change one day as he sees how much fun we have soaring and socializing at Avenal.  more info

1. The CCSC Annual Meeting was held today after flight operations. We had a nice turnout of members and guests. Some of the pilots couldn't stay for the meeting or the dinner but we appreciate them coming out today to fly.

2. Here is a report from Morgan Hall about the days activities:

The schedule for next week looks pretty light. Lot's of planes open during the day and good looking soaring potential with clouds forecasted in the afternoon and decent cloudbase heights.

Banquet:

4. Raphaela brought her nephew, Viggo, out today for his first glider ride. He was quite happy with the ride but my guess is that he got more of a thrill from driving the golf cart than he did flying the glider.  more info

1. It wasn't a great lift day and probably resulted in only a few members arriving to fly. Saving the day from a complete waste of time was enough lift to see 5 knots at times but the heights weren't all that good. Most of those flying were working on their license and continuing to make significant gains.

2. It was good to see Jon and Charlie Soble out again because that's helpful to learning and retaining the flying skills of soaring. Because of Jon's patient duties he doesn't always get away. This time though it really helped and both made good gains in flying the glider. Now if they can just make it out every weekend they'd really improve from week to week.

3. Mike Paoli was at it again, training hard and getting better with each flight. Naturally the tow is always the most difficult to overcome but as I tell all my students, once you get the tow it becomes the least most significant skill in your soaring array. I know Mike, and the Sobles, will find that to be true someday very soon. From that point on, they'll only remember the great flights they had and won't remember the tow at all.

4. Peter Mersino made it out in late afternoon, flew with me, then flew solo, and actually liked being up alone again. Now if we can all just rally behind him to push he and his daughter, Andrea, both of whom are so close to their license, to get it done once and for all.

5. Karl Kunz flew the 1-26 and had several half-hour flights. That's not much of an accomplishment for him since he flies the ASW-20 and has multiple hour flights on his record.

6. John Harbick was on hand today but I don't know if he flew. He's always letting others go before him and often he runs out of time to fly for himself. Somehow he always appears where there is work to be done or someone needs help assembling or launching. John is always there for everyone.  more info

1. Mike Paoli came out several weeks ago for his first glider flight. He thought it was something he wanted to accomplish and sure enough, he joined the club and began his training today. Mike is a licensed power pilot who has been doing a bit of Light Sport flying. Since our gliders can also be classified as Light Sport he is taking that same approach but for a lot more fun and a greater challenge. Congratulations Mike, and we're happy to have you as our newest club member.

2. Lynette Keck called me a week or so ago and wanted to give a glider flight to her husband, Tim Keck, for his birthday. I didn't know her last name but she said she'd be out at Avenal today. What a surprise!! It turns out that Tim and I are on the same governing council for our homeowner's association and live just around the corner from one another. Off we went and Tim did very well on a day when the thermals weren't all that great. He gained several hundred feet and handled the controls deftly. If he ever decides to take up glider flying I have no doubt he'll do well and become a License Private Pilot in due course.

3. It was a fairly quiet day with just a few members flying. The thermals were not easy to find, then not easy to remain within. Most who launched were able to stay aloft for a little while but in the end, Mother Nature prevailed. The great duo of Morgan Hall and Alex Caldwell, both expert cross country soaring pilots who "never" land out, did so today. They got as far as the Coalinga area, then struggled to find enough lift to get back to Avenal. But it just wasn't to be, so they opted for a nice landing on that large and inviting Coalinga runway and called for a retrieve. Peter Mersino and I went after them and we all got back to Avenal in "fun" time.

4. Ethan Ronat was probably the most successful soaring pilot today having stayed aloft for longer than anyone. But his flight was marred by a flat tire on landing that rendered his glider difficult to move. After trying several different methods to get it back on its cradle, we gave up. In the meantime, Morgan was circling to land and even though Ethan's glider was in the middle of the runway, Morgan was easily able to avoid him, landing to the east of the center line of runway 13.  more info

1. Steve Blain arrived today looking for his first glider ride. He got it and seemed to have enjoyed himself. It's hard not to when Alex is flying back seat. In fact, Steve may have had more than one flight because two of the photos were taken just before noon and one was taken at 4:30 pm. Regardless, Steve may be back again, and perhaps starting to train for his glider license.

2. Pancho Herrera flew a number of flights in preparation for his tentatively set for October 29th. Having flown mostly solo for many months, he was a bit rusty on the correct procedures, but not at all unsafe. It's fun and instructional to fly solo because it adds immeasurable to one's self confidence and understanding on how far away to wander before heading back to the gliderport. But too many flights without the oversight of a flight instructor can lead to less than precise flying and a need for undoing of bad habits. Pancho is on his way to a glider add-on rating and I'm certain he'll do quite well.

3. Mario Crosina was flying his aerial symphony in the vicinity of the gliderport and several times was within camera range of our training glider. But my pocket camera is not up to the task of recording his fly bys in a sharp and crisp manner. Some came out OK, though.

4. I believe John Harbick flew today. There wasn't too much work so that usually means John takes the time to enjoy himself aloft.

5. All in all, it was a nice day to fly and surprisingly very few members took advantage of the nice weather. Maybe next weekend we'll see more here.  more info

From Julie Butler:

We had extremely efficient operations yesterday with six gliders all launched and back on the ground in 2 hours. Go team!

Basically, it was a terrible day of soaring so, good job to everyone smart enough to fly last weekend.

Here is the recap.

Super tow pilot: Stephen Smith

Pilots who flew: Morgan Hall with Ron Ronat as co-pilot

Julie Butler

Peter Sahlberg

Mario Crosina

Alex Caldwell

Kevin Condron

Pilots who were smart enough to save their money and put the gliders away before launching:

Ethan Ronat

John Harbick

John did a nice clean up job on the Orange Crush, thanks John.

Launching on runway 13 due to fairly strong south winds

Visitors from Madera - a dad with his two sons Ryan and Lance

Photos to be posted on website.

We will try again next weekend.

Julie________________________

From Morgan

Fence lines Down:

Stephen Smith and Mario got all motivated to remove some fence posts and wire from the fence bordering the runway. Peter S and I also got in the mix and did some wire cleanup. Since he was on the airport, I'm sure John Harbick got in on the act as well, although he was acting as our marketing and soaring ambassador to our visitors from Madera.

We'll do more, but now there is at least a 150 ft gap with no wire and no posts in alignment with the main runway at both ends. Huge safety improvement in the unlikely event of a runway overrun. We'll need to do more work during the fall workdays, but it's a great start.

Morgan___________________________

From Bart Klusek
Big thanks to everyone who participated in this effort to lower the barriers at both ends. This will make hot day takeoffs much less scary!
Bart  more info

A. Bart Klusek reports:

 I arrived at 2pm on Saturday, so my knowledge of what happened earlier is somewhat limited.
1. The convergence line, usually found over the Black Mountain, parked itself over the Kettleman Hills and stayed there for most of the day. Beautiful cloud street with 5+ kt lift underneath.
2. Jim Reed flew a 2-33 solo, then hung around and helped.
3. Richard Walker had a nice long flight in his 1-35, getting well past Coalinga at one point.
4. John Harbick flew the Big Bird solo. My understanding is that he followed Richard but turned back short of Coalinga to stay within gliding range of Avenal. He must have broken a couple of personal records during this flight.
5. Karl Kunz took the GD past the Hernandez Reservoir, staying high all the way. He may have gone somewhere else as well, but his logger seems to have died mid flight.
6. Alex took his friend, Tom Unruh, for a ride in the Orange Crush. They flew to New Coalinga, then just short of the Hewitson strip and back. This flight earned them the best OLC score of the day.
7. Joe flew his PW-5, but I have no idea where he went. He needs a logger!
8. Pancho flew the 1-26, stayed up for an hour, got to over 9000 MSL and only came back because I was waiting for the glider. Then I went up and got to just a couple of feet over 10000 MSL (personal best!)
9. Steve Schery taught the fine art of making towropes, then towed.
10. We flew again on Sunday, thanks to Peter Mersino who agreed to tow on a very short notice. The day was not nearly as good as Saturday, with lift up to 4000 MSL, but still perfectly flyable.
11. Andy opted to fly the Orange Crush instead of his Russia.
12. Richard worked on his hangar, then flew, then worked again.
13. I flew the 1-26 again and had a nice 2hr+ flight. I could not get anywhere, though.
14. Ravens! There were ravens everywhere, circling and marking thermals. They are good at finding lift, but must be very inefficient aerodynamically. With some effort, one can keep up with or even outclimb them in a 1-26. That's great, because they stay around for long enough to be useful.
Bart_______________________

B. Dan Gudgel reports:

Thanks, Bart. May I add an addendum:

 Cal-Poly Club Members Grant Glazebrook and Kevin Condron also flew early in the morning. Kevin took a recurrency flight with Club Instructor Dan Gudgel, and then personally went out and worked mid-morning weak local thermals. Grant took a couple of instructional tows, including one that briefly worked local lift with Dan, and showed good form in his aero-tow skills after a 4-month lay-off!
C. Alex Caldwell reports:

I will take the liberty of chiming in on the flying Saturday.

The weather was great for this time of year, with a fantastic convergence or "shearline" developing that was practically right over Avenal airport all day. It was just a mile or two N. of the field and very slightly East of the field and stayed in that same area all day. On the ground, there was a maybe 10-12kt wind out of slightly S. of due West, about out of maybe 240 degrees all day, that seemed to be feeding right into the convergence a few miles away to the north and east of the field. When you got up high, the wind was practically nil while running the shearline, so I think the wind we were feeling on the ground was feeding right into the cloudstreet and then going up. The convergence or "shearline" extended North as far as you could see and was marked by a beautiful cloudstreet that looked like it went all the way to the San Luis Reservoir or beyond, and had a cloudbase of just over 10,000 ft. There were some very large dust devils coming up at various times underneath the cloudstreet between Avenal and New  Coalinga.

Two gliders launched from Hollister and followed the cloudstreet South as far as Avenal, then turned home and landed back at Hollister. They were spotted by Karl Kunz who flew with them for a while. I had a doctor friend, Dr. Tom Unruh, that I work with at the Tulare District Hospital come out for an introductory ride, and we got up at about 2:45 and landed at 5:15. We had a great flight.

Tom is a general and vascular surgeon and was born in Germany. His family migrated to Canada when he was 5. Then he moved to the U.S. when he was in College. His uncle flew gliders in Germany, but Tom never got to try it, always being very busy with family and career, but he has had a lingering desire to soar.

We got up to 10,000ft during the flight shortly after Steve Schery towed us right into a great thermal that took us right up. We were able to follow the cloudstreet and got a little ways north of New Coalinga Airport with very little circling, then cruised back south to Hewitson. We got several thermals of 6 to 8 kts and one or two that were 10kts for a while. We flew with Pancho Herrera, and Bart in the 1-26 at times and also flew near John Harbick in the Big Bird. We also saw Richard Walker when we were near New Coalinga. He kept going north, but we had to turn back and headed back to Avenal. Tom got a lot of stick time and did very well. I hope he has now been infected with the bug, and will join the club. I shot a bit of video which you can see here if interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPu0r1NWjxc

The flight trace we posted on the OLC is here if interested. Bart also posted his flight for the day as well.

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2136558

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2136500

The IGC file for recording was done with a GPS enabled cellphone running a really nice free program called XCSoar. If you'd like to learn more about XCSoar and have a GPS enabled cellphone running Android or Windows Mobile, Bart, Morgan, or myself can help you get it running. Unfortunately, it doesn't run on the Iphone, but I think they are developing some similar apps for the Iphone as well. There are other options for running it on an automobile GPS as well. Mario Crosina will also help you install another popular program on an automobile GPS. Mario also knows all the apps for the Iphone.

Alex Caldwell  more info

1. Hi Members,

Sorry for not getting something out before the weekend to entice more people out. You missed a fun day.

The soaring wasn't anything spectacular. Soarable of course, but not really all that high.

Here are the highlights.

·         ~ Lift 3-4 knots at best

·         ~ 4100 typical top of lift, highest reported was just over 5k in the mountains

·         ~ No real convergence to be found

·         ~ Winds light out of the east to NE at 5 knots or so

·         ~ Duration: Many flights over an hour.

·         ~ Peter Sahlberg finally returns and soars for well over an hour in the 1-35

·         ~ Peter and Jennifer Mersino fly over in their Cherokee 140

·         ~ Jennifer cooked up an awesome lunchtime BBQ complete with cookies!

·         ~ Joe Anastasio flies for over an hour in his PW-5

·         ~ Jerry Smeltzer also soars in his PW-5

·         ~ John Harbick flies over an hour in Big Bird.

·         ~ Jim Reed finishes up pre-solo work with Alex and is turned loose Solo in Orange Crush. 20k hour pilot in everything but gliders, now a glider pilot as well.

·         ~ Del follows old-school principals and dumps a bucket of water on Jim. Watch out if you're going to get to solo this winter and Del is around.

·         ~ Morgan and Julie fly the Duo in the mountains and poke around west towards Coalinga

·         ~ Jamie Sahlberg takes her first ever glider flight with Morgan in the Duo. Ridge soars in the mountains for over an hour.

·        ~  Richard Walker continues to work on his hangar project mixing concrete and pouring footings by hand.

Special thanks for the following:

·         ~ Peter Mersino for coming out and towing for the day.

·         ~ Jennifer Mersino for making a run into town for burger fixings and grilling up some tasty burgers.

·        ~ Karl Kunz for replacing the brake rotors on Friday on the towplane. I'm sure all of the tow pilots appreciate being able to stop.

For next weekend, we are probably going to need fuel by the end of the day. I took a quick look in the fuel trailer and saw that it looked about half full. That's 20-30 gallons, or roughly 3 hours of towing time.

If anyone is able to make a fuel run to Coalinga with the cans and the trailer, that would be great.

Even on these "mediocre" days, the BBQ at lunch and just hanging out at the airport with happy people is a lot of fun. We are missing many of you out here, so get back on the schedule. The summer heat is fading away and we've got another month + of good fall soaring ahead of us. So come on out, fire up the BBQ and get your feet off the ground.

Morgan  more info

1. Congratulations to Garrett Gudgel on becoming a FAA Private Pilot with a glider rating. Most of you probably aren't much aware of Garrett's progress towards his license. He and his Dad, would fly either early in the morning on Saturday or during the week. And usually, after flying on Saturday, they'd head home rather than hang around too long. So most of our members aren't up on how long Garrett's been training. He was determined, however, and finally the day came, along with his Mom, and his Grandfather, Bob Gudgel. All enjoyed Garrett's checkride flights and had a nice celebration afterwards.

2. Here is a report from Julie Butler:

Here are my photos from last weekend. I was doing fairly well bumbling
in and out of the convergence. Then I got suckered to the east by a
bunch of ravens. That led to me circling in some light lift over the
microwave towers over Coalinga. I never could get high enough to head
back into the mountains to search for the convergence, so I loitered
over Coalinga for a while before giving up. Thankfully, I spoke with
Karl on the radio and he offered to rescue me after he landed GD.

Julie
3. Morgan sent this:

I'll see if I can at least get one screen grab from the video I took with Kathleen (Morse). We flew for a couple of hours (in the Duo Discus) up to Hernandez reservoir and back as Kathleen indicated.

 Morgan

4. John Harbick continues to thoroughly enjoy his solo flights in the 2-33. One of these days he'll hit the big thermals and wonder, not how to gain altitude, but how to come back down again. It will be interesting to see John in his quest for higher and higher altitudes as a preliminary to going cross-country.  more info

1. Highlights from August 27th and August 28th.

- Hot day, 104 deg in shade on patio, 112 in shade on runway.
- Steve Smith tows mid-day, flies home with PJ.
- Steve's friend's son, PJ, (from Milano), takes his first glider ride.
- John Soble and son, Charlie, take their first glider rides.
- Garrett Gudgel zeroing in on his checkride.
- Dan Gudgel trains, demos, and tows, all in a day's work.
- Mario Crosina attends meeting but says too hot to fly.
- John Harbick flies more solo flights.
- Bart Klusek flies the 1-26, again, 1.5 hrs, and 5000 msl.
- Jim Reed motorcycles in and helps out.
- Morgan and Julie go egg hunting ... for Truckee.
- Richard Walker flies with Bart on Sunday.
- Peter Mersino volunteers to tow for Bart and Richard.
- Dan G and Mario get fuel at Coalinga, all 110 gallons.

2. Yes, it was a bit hotter than usual. We've always measured the temperature on the patio in the shade because that's where we hung the thermometer. But today we decided to test the difference between the patio and the runway where we spend most of our ground time. After careful and scientific analysis we determined that it is about 7 to 8 degrees hotter in the shade on the runway than it is in the shade on the patio. And my guess is that the lower one places the thermometer near the runway surface the hotter the temperature will register. We're not complaining however. That heat on the surface of the ground is what we most often use to gain altitude when it turns into a nice strong thermal.

3. We had two new visitors here today. John Soble and his son, Charlie, came out from San Luis Obispo and said they wanted to start soaring lessons right away. John's son, Charlie, is just about the age that Jack Wiegand was when he started his training back on June 25, 2005. So if all goes well, Charlie and his Dad will be working towards their pilot's license together. That's a great way for father and son to bond together.

4. Steve Smith brought his friend's son, a young man named PJ, from Milano, Italy. PJ has been staying with Steve and his family in the bay area and came down to Avenal with Steve for Steve's towing duties. I'm sure that not only was PJ tempted by a glider ride, but couldn't help be tempted also by a ride in Steve's beautiful RV-3. I would be, but, alas, Steve didn't offer it to me.

5. Dan Gudgel worked hard all day today beginning early in in the morning training with his son, Garrett, then towing, then doing demo rides, then driving for fuel at Coalinga. That will keep him from the usual doldrums of a retired life.

6. Bart Klusek flew the 1-26 several times today, then stayed overnight and flew again Sunday with Richard Walker in their respective sailplanes with Peter Mersino volunteering to tow on his way back from San Diego. That happened to be the trip on which he and Jennifer took our lovely young student, Andrea, down to college in San Diego. She is determined to finish her training and go for her checkride during the Christmas vacation. She took and passed the written exam just before going to college. Unfortunately she got one question wrong. This from a girl who in all of her years of schooling has never had anything less than A's. So I guess she also got an A on this exam as well. Some things never change.

7. I may have missed other happenings but not too many. We did have a meeting early morning on an issue of easements across our property. If any of you have good experience with easements and how they are to be handled let one of us on the Board know about it. Thanks.  more info

1. Highlights from Saturday, August 20th, 2011

- Busy day, lots of pilots out here, much fun.
- Temps in the mid-90's with a light easterly breeze.
- Strong lift that got better as the day progressed, 5-7 knots avg.
- Heights to 7000+, most between 5000 and 7000 msl.
- 25 tows for the day, five by new tow pilot.
- Bart Klusek flew both the 1-26 and the Orange Crush.
- Karl Kunz flew GD for two hours.
- Jerry Smeltzer flew comfortably in his PW-5.
- Joe Anastasio also enjoyably flew his PW-5.
- Ethan Ronat flew his PIK 20B up and down the mountain range.
- Ron Ronat drove the golf cart until he tired out.
- Dan Gudgel and son, Garrett, practiced check rides.
- Richard Walker flew his 1-35 for several nice flights.
- Andy Reistetter is now a regular, flying every weekend.
- Pancho Herrera flew the Orange Crush and had fun.
- Alex Caldwell accomplished his BFR with three flights.
- Ben Haug, new tow pilot, flew his C-150 from Santa Barbara.
- Nathan and Gary visited and vowed to come back for rides.
- Del Blomquist spent the day and flew with Alex.
- Andrea Mersino flew two check flights in preparation.
- Jeremy Zawodny and Kathleen Morse flew from Pine Mountain Lake.
- Kathleen flew Big Bird several times chasing lift and finding it.
- I flew the ASW20 for two peaceful and easy hours.
- Steve Schery did his usual endurance towing and rope repair.

2. Great day for soaring and for a social gathering of CCSC members and visitors. By mid-afternoon the Avenal effect was underway and it took full dive brakes and a pitch over to lose altitude. After traveling around from Coalinga to 46/33, to I-5 to Black Mountain, and deciding to return to Avenal, I found myself gaining altitude in spite of full dive brakes. So, instead of landing, I started thermaling again, went up over 6000 msl, again, and did another tour of the area. Such was the fun for all who flew today.

3. Karl Kunz had the same experience but spent more time in the mountains following the convergence up and down range. Richard Walker mimicked us both and had the same fun time aloft in his Schweizer 1-35.

4. Joe Anastasio and Jerry Smeltzer took turns flying the PW-5, with both successfully reaching nice altitudes and going farther than they are used to going with the new L/D of the PW-5 being higher than the 1-26. It also looks like Jerry Smeltzer has his confidence back and came down after having an hours worth of fun. He hasn't enjoyed soaring like that for a long time.

5. Alex Caldwell not only had to accomplish his BFR but was also on duty for demo rides. Thankfully he's been out at Avenal far more often than in years past and that has helped the work load for the other instructors.

6.Dan Gudgel and son, Garrett, like to fly early morning with the cool air and smooth on tow. It gives them a better chance to teach and learn the skills of soaring. Garrett is getting close to his checkride. I would expect him to get there in a couple of weeks.

7. Andrea Mersino is also working on her license and getting close. She needs to take the written test but I doubt that will be a problem since in her entire school career she has never gotten anything but A's. Now that's a tough act to follow.

8. Bart Klusek flew the 1-26, then later on switched to the Orange Crush for more fun. In fact, we shared a nice thermal nearly over the top of the field for awhile until I decided to head for the mountains and sightseeing.

9. Ethan Ronat, Andy Reistetter, Pancho Herrera, Kathleen Morse, and others all had nice flights during the day, especially late afternoon.

10. A new pilot showed up and Dan Gudgel checked him out as a new addition to our cadre of tow pilots. He is Ben Haug and flies a Cessna 150 from Santa Barbara. Welcome, Ben.

11. Finally, Ron Ronat, Ethan's son, drove the golf cart all day, helped out whenever he could, waited for those landing short, was always attentive to everyone's needs and on top of that, he's just a very nice mannered young man who should make Ethan a very proud father. Thanks, Ron.  more info

1. Highlights from Saturday, August 13th

 - Warm day (101 degrees), and clear with a light breeze from the east.

 - Big Bird was repaired and returned to service.

 - Morgan Hall worked on GD, helped by Karl Kunz.

 - Alex Caldwell flew several demos in the Orange Crush.

 - Three new visitors, Jerome Hillaire from Paris, France.

 - Christian Hellwig from Perris Valley, California.

 - And Jim Reed from Madera, CA, came out on his touring motorcycle.

 - Harlow Voorhees and Karl did maintenance on the tow plane.

 - Karl Kunz drove from Monterey to be our tow pilot.

 - John Harbick flew another two solo flights.

 - Mario Crosina was the first aloft and headed into the mountains.

2. It was an easygoing, slow day for most pilots. Those who went aloft had enough lift to enjoy the afternoon and those who didn't, at least worked on their gliders and accomplished enough for self satisfaction.

3. We did have three new visitors including one from Paris, France. That was Jerome Hillaire and his buddy, Christian Hellwig from Perris Valley, CA. Both took glider flights with Alex for a nice afternoon. And Jim Reed also visited on his touring motorcycle and just enjoyed the lazy afternoon on the patio.

4. Karl and Morgan worked on the brakes for the ASW20, GD. Seems there was a bubble of air in the line at a kink point so it did not dissipate easily. In fact, for awhile there we couldn't figure out what was happening since we didn't see where the bubble might be residing. Anyway, it's gone now and the brakes work well, and safely.

5. John Harbick flew solo again and now it appears John is getting the hang of actually flying while at Avenal. He still finds necessary work to do, but at least now, he makes time for solo flights,

6. As some of you may know, Big Bird had its tail feathers punctured and needed to be repaired. Fortunately that got done just before the weekend so it wasn't grounded for another week.

7. Mario launched early and headed for the mountains. Knowing him, he was up there for hours. Actually he hadn't returned in late afternoon when I left for home. He did have a nice long flight and probably uploaded it to the OLC.  more info

Julie Butler's story for the day.

1. Morgan and I got a bit of a late start and arrived in my C150 around
1:30. John Harbick had already taken couple of flights. He stated "I'm
going to have my two best take offs and landings so far today." I saw
his third take off at about 2:15 and it was rock solid; the best I had
seen. Then he had (I believe) his best flight ever; up over an hour!
Way to go John!
When we arrived, Bart had just launched and Mario and Andy were in
line to go. They all flew over 3 hours.
Del B was prepping for a flight review with Alex and took a short
flight in the 2-33. Charlie B took some time reviewing charts with
Alex in prep for his check ride. Alex also took James from San Diego up
for a demo flight.
Morgan and I got a very late launch at 3:30, but still had good 2+
hour flights. There was a good convergence line just on the east side
of the Temblors. I took 5 thermals and Morgan only 3 for the long
flight. Definitely a record for me.
Thanks to everyone who is signed up on OLC and posting their flights.
We need Andy to add CCSC as his club, so we get credit for his
flights, but right now we are in 9th place for the region - pretty
awesome... check out the scores
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/clubRanking.html?sp=2011&rt=olc&st=olc&c=US&sc=11
Last thing - if the fridge is low at the end of the day, please feel
free to restock. I filled up the fridge before I left yesterday and
there is only one case of coke in the cupboards. I don't know that I
will make it out next weekend, so if anyone can pick up supplies let
me know and I can tell you what we need. If not, I'll try to bring
supplies in the next few weeks.
A big thank you Harlow for towing.
Julie

2.Morgan's response to Alex's chide about how little Morgan thermals while maintaining straight flight often for more than an hour:

Hi Alex,

I appreciate the offer and when I get the Duo back to Avenal, we can go flying and work on that so that my thermaling skills don't get rusty. :)

Actually, Saturday was my fastest average speed on a flight out of Avenal. OLC wise, I averaged 115kph (71.5mph) for the flight which was the fastest flight in the region. It was like one long final glide basically. Never mind that the guys out of Truckee and Minden did 600-800km.

Great way to spend the afternoon though. It is amazing how good Avenal can be in the late afternoon in the Summertime.

Morgan  more info

1. Highlights from yesterday, July 30th

- Hot, dry, and clear. 101 degrees, 3800 msl density altitude.

- Wind from the east 3-4 mph. Made the air rough and ragged.

- Lift averaged 3-5 knots, sink worse than that.

- Harlow Voorhees flew the 1-26 three times. Good flights.

- Andy Reistetter flew his Russia several times.

- Joe Anastasio had several flights in his PW-5.

- Bart Klusek had another great flight in the 1-26.

- Andrea Mersino flew three times preparing for her checkride.

- Alex and Del Blomquist flew in the Orange Crush.

- Dan Gudgel continues training his son, Garrett. Three flights.

- Steve Schery did all the towing. Thanks, Steve.

2. It has been awhile since Harlow Voorhees flew the 1-26 and lately he has been promising to check out in it again. So, finally today, he did just that. He had three flights, did very well on all of them, and then headed home a bit earlier than usual for some family obligations.

3. Andrea Mersino, always just a whisker away from getting her license, took to the skies to practice. All she needs now is a passing grade on the written exam and a well-flown checkride and she would finally, finally, finally get her license.

4. Bart Klusek keeps pushing the outer envelope of his flights in the 1-26. Expect him to really stretch it out and make a long cross country flight one of these days soon.

5. Dan and Garrett Gudgel were here nice and early, long before the heat hits and the rough air gets underway. Garrett tells me he is nearing his checkride and hopefully he'll finish before he has to go back to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo where he is an excellent student.

6. Alex Caldwell and Del Blomquist are now flying buddies once again. As you may have read from last week's report, they knew one another long ago and now that Del has joined the club, they'll be together in the skies once again. Del in his 1-26 will speed up to keep up with Alex in his Nimbus 3, or vice versa. Either way, they get to enjoy one another's company again.

7. Andy Reistetter was out again today. Andy has been flying a lot more lately than in the past. It's good to see him enjoying his Russia sailplane and with similar performance, he and Joe Anastasio, and maybe even Del Blomquist should go cross country together.  more info

1.Highlights from yesterday, July 23, 2011

- Hot day (101 deg), clear, with strong thermals.

- Density altitude nears 4000 msl.

- Morgan Hall attempts a flight to Reno.

- Morgan lands at Selma (not Alabama).

- Bart Klusek flies 3.5 hours and 7500 msl.

- Peter Mersino soars two flights, one hour each.

- Peter snags 10 knot thermals to 5500 msl.

- John Harbick solos again, twice.

- Julie Butler flies her DG100 over an hour.

- Alex Caldwell had numerous visitors and a demo flight.

- Harlow has co-pilot, Landon Beaudoin, on board.

- Charlie Beaudoin flies several solos.

- Ethan Ronat flies his PIK 20B again.

- Charlie flies practice flight with Alex.

- Julie and Morgan head for Minden, NV

2. Julie Butler was heading to Minden for a cross country camp and Morgan thought he'd try to fly there from Avenal. It didn't work out that way because the lift just wasn't there so he landed in Selma. They stayed overnight with the Gallaghers and then drove from there to Truckee for a day, then on to Minden where Julie intended to improve her skill level at cross-country soaring.

3. Bart Klusek records another excellent flight in the 1-26 on Saturday (3.5 hrs and 7500 msl) and flew again on Sunday.. Here are his comments:

Harold,
Here is the trace for my Saturday flight:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1644614036
Surprisingly, flying around one's home airport can still mean a decent OLC score. This is my second best!
Sadly, I was the only one to fly on Sunday. Fortunately, Peter did not mind it at all and still was willing to come and tow. (Thanks Peter!)
That being said, the place was far from deserted. First, a gentleman in a Taifun motorglider (Al Leffler) stopped at Avenal on his way to Coalinga.
The next visitor was Del. Del recently moved from San Diego to Tulare and is looking for a place to fly. He is an accomplished 1-26 pilot and former president of the 1-26 Association.
Then Peter and Jennifer arrived and it was time to fly!
I launched at 1:30 or so. Pretty soon, a pattern established itself. I would climb to almost 4000 MSL in a strong thermal, leave it and fly into absolutely dead air. No turbulence, no lift, no sink. Then, as soon as I descended below 3500 MSL, thermals were everywhere again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I expected that everyone would leave soon after I launched and this kept me from venturing too far from Avenal. Well, I was wrong. When I landed, two hours later, Del was still there, waiting for me to land and to help me tie the glider down. (Thanks Del!)
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1644705454
Bart

4. Peter Mersino has decided to resume work again on his glider rating. You may recall that some years ago, he soloed the same day as his son, Jacob. Well, that was when Jacob was in high school and now he's a senior at the Air Force Academy and a glider flight instructor as well. So you might surmise that it has been awhile since Peter was serious about gliders. Now let's hope that it sticks this time and that he completes his rating.

5. Charlie Beaudoin has hopes of taking his checkride soon and so was dedicated to practicing in the 2-33 most of the day. Waiting patiently was his son Landon, who helped Harlow as co-pilot. It isn't clear yet when Charlie will take his checkride but likely soon enough.

6. Julie Butler and Ethan Ronat each flew their high performance sailplanes for well over an hour each with Julie landing after only an hour mostly because she had to crew for Morgan who by then was waiting patiently over on the Selma airport.

7. John Harbick did two more solo flights in the 2-33. He's gaining solo experience and we're all happy to see him flying rather than waiting on the ground for others to finish.

8. Alex Caldwell flew a couple of demo flights and then turned his attention to Charlie Beaudoin for some practice checkrides.

9. Here is Alex Caldwell's description of Del Blomquist's life in gliders.

Hi Harold,

Del Blomquist joined the club on Saturday.  Del recently moved back from San Diego to Tulare, where he was born and raised.  I first met and flew with Del in about 1971 in San Diego at Torrey Pines and Lake Elsinore, flying with the AGCSC glider club. Del is a wonderful guy, and will be a treasure trove of knowledge and experience for the club. He has a beautiful1-26A,   No. 144 that he has owned since 1972.   He has over 1600 hours of flying time in gliders, and is also a power pilot. He has flown many hours of X-country and contest flying in his 1-26 at many of the well-known soaring sites across the country such as Hobbs, Moriarity, Parowan, El Mirage, Warner Hot Springs, Jean, Nevada and more.  He is a member of the wonderful 1-26 Association, and has team flown with many times national 1-26 champion, Harry Baldwin, from San Diego. Del also has time in other interesting gliders, such as the Ka-6, Ka-7, ASK-13,  Grob Twins and Grob single place, which he accumulated while working in Europe and flying with a large flying club on a military base in Belgium.  Much of this was launching using winch tows to altitudes of 2000ft AGL as what they called a "club instructor".  Del is a former member of the historic AGCSC glider club in San Diego, and has spent many hours soaring off of Torrey Pines, launching there by winch tow and aero tow off the beach and cliff top runway.

Del served in WWII in the South Pacific Theater of operation in the U.S. Navy on a modified Liberty ship.  In his later working life, he was a factory representative for Pratt and Whitney on their jet engines while working for the company with the Military in a number of areas around the U.S and the world.   One might imagine that accumulating all this flying and life experience would take a bit of time, and Del is 86 years old this year!  He's looking forward to flying his 1-26 at Avenal.  So if you get a chance, spend some time picking his brain, and absorbing some of the wisdom and experience he has to offer!

 Alex  more info

1. Highlights from July 16, 2011

- Rich Cap continues training with Dan Gudgel

- Ethan Ronat flies his newly purchased PIK 20

- Ethan's friend Pei, visits Avenal

- Richard Walker flies his SGS 1-35

- Jerry Smeltzer breaks his moratorium, flies his PW-5

- Joe Anastasio also flies their partnered PW-5

- Morgan and Harold soar 425 km and 4+ hours

- Bart Klusek up more than 3+ hours in the 1-26

- Karl Kunz soars with Morgan and Mario in 3-ship flight

- Garret Gudgel continues training with his Dad

- John Harbick once again flies solo in Orange Crush.

- Alex Caldwell and John go high (8200) and 3+ hrs

2. Ethan reported on his weekend flight as follows:

My flight was good, although I am still struggling with some issues in the PIK20B that need attention, like loud whistling noise at high speeds (sealing of the canopy?), bad varios, scratchy radio, and other minor issue. I knew this glider would need some work, when I bought it, and now I need to step up to the challenge. And one more major thing is getting the trailer in drivable condition, so I can join the gang, leaving the nest on X-country flights.

Flight itself was nice – tow to 2000’, disconnected into a weak thermal, and worked my way slowly up to 4000’ and then was able to go to the mountains and connect to the convergence lift, which was incredible. It seemed like the air was rising everywhere under that cloud street, and not only no circling was required, but it was hard to get down, even if you wanted to… Cloud base was between 8000’ and 9000’ and I flew up northwest of Coalinga and then south of the 41, trying hard to resist the temptation to go farther, so as not to risk a small chance of outlanding, without a trailer for retrieval. Then, had to fly over the valley, to get out of the lift, and lose altitude for landing. Few tests of the glide performance, before coming in to another exciting 90 degrees flaps, nose down, PIK20B landing. Gradually I am learning to master this very different landing attitude and technique. Hope for many more great soaring days like this, in the coming summer weeks.

Ethan

3. Morgan and I had a great flight in the Duo Discus. We flew 425 km at an average speed of 103 kmph and did very little thermaling. In fact we circled in lift only 11% of the flight. Our longest straight line flight without circling was about 138 miles from north of Panoche to near California Valley. I learned a lot from Morgan who knows so much more about cross country flying than I do. That of course is evident in his fabulous flight from Avenal to Bishop, CA. Anyone with aspirations to become a cross country pilot would do well to engage Morgan in conversation, pay him for his knowledge, and head on out perhaps following him as he works the convergence along the Temblor Range. Here is our trace on OLC:

We were flying with Karl Kunz and Mario Crosina most of the time. The three of us stayed together and it was fun working the convergence with them. I'm sure they had great flights since we all flew together for more than three hours.

While flying with Morgan in the Duo Discus, the sun was extremely bright and I had a very difficult time seeing the settings on my iPhone. I neglected to bring my camera to Avenal so all I had was the phone to take pictures. Up along the Temblors the setting on my phone somehow got changed from still pictures to video. But I kept thinking it was on still and continued to use it that way. So the four videos listed here are very short but I hated to throw them away figuring you might at least enjoy a few seconds of each.

Video 1

Video 2
Video 3

Video 4

4. As you can see from the highlights there was a lot going on at Avenal this weekend. Probably the nice surprise is that Jerry Smeltzer flew again after a long layoff. It was good to see him back in the air and flying a sailplane he knows a lot about, the PW-5. Now that he and Joe Anastasio are partners they will likely encourage one another to fly often and have fun with that nice little sailplane. Joe also flew the PW-5 and enjoyed every minute of the flight.

5. Garrett Gudgel continues along his path to a Glider License, working with his Dad on the finer points of flying sailplanes. I believe Garrett should be ready in about 2-3 weeks and we look forward to that celebration.

6. John Harbick flew solo again. Now that he's been set free he appears to enjoy taking advantage of it. It is nice to see him aloft instead of constantly working around the gliderport while others soar above him. Keep going at it, John.

7. Bart Klusek has been the 1-26 champ for sometime now. He keeps upping his time and distance and today was no exception. He flew more than three hours and I'm sure you can find his trace on the OLC.

8. Rich Cap continues his training with Dan Gudgel. Rich should be closing in on his solo day and we'll watch carefully for that celebration.

9. John Harbick and Alex Caldwell went aloft in the Orange Crush, reached 8200 msl and stayed there for more than three hours. They were circling in lift while we were flying straight line along the convergence. Here is what Alex had to say, tongue-in-cheek to Julie about that flight:

more info

1. Reported by Julie Butler with photos by various pilots.

In Harold's absence, I thought I would document the adventures of the day....
After a little bit of a late start, Karl Kunz launched in GD and Bart Klusek In the 1-26. Trigger temperature had not been reached yet, so they both returned before too long. They both took a second tow and had nice flights - both stated it was tough to stay in the tight little thermals.
Mario Crosina graced us with his presence for the third weekend in a row. He had a several hour flight reaching altitudes of about 9000 msl up and down the mountains.
Vern Pettit from Fresno came out for a demo flight with Alex Caldwell. Vern is a power pilot who has not flown since 1968. He and Alex floated around for about 30 minutes before landing.
Morgan helped me change my tube on my main wheel. It turned out like every house project... It should have taken 20 minutes, but ended up taking an hour and a half. Once that was taken care of, Ethan Ronat launched in his new (to him) PIK 20B, Morgan in GD, and I in JB. We found Mario up in the mountains and all had a 2+ hour flight.
John Harbick got to experience a 90 degree cross wind for take off when he went up with Alex in the late afternoon.
Jerry Badal came out to do a little more work on his Libelle. Hopefully he will be out next weekend to fly it.
Many thanks to Steve Schery for towing again this weekend.

Have a great weekend,

Julie Butler   more info

1. Highlights July 2-3-4, 2011

 - John Harbick solos and we all applaud him for it.

- Bart Klusek continues to fly the 1-26 for long flights.

- Ethan Ronat flies the PIK 20B for the first time.

- Joe Anastasio completed his BFR with Alex Caldwell.

- Morgan Hall flew 627km to Bishop, CA in 7 hours on Sunday.

- Then Morgan flew to Truckee on Monday. Next day to Columbia, CA.

2. We are all quite happy for John Harbick who soloed for the first time today. And he did a great job of it as well. John started training about a year ago and has been working hard almost every weekend. Trouble (and for the CCSC, thankfulness) is, John has done more work around the gliderport and the equipment than he has on his flight training. John has done so much for the Club than it is impossible to document all of it. Suffice it to say that we can't thank him enough for his selfless efforts, always allowing others to go aloft ahead of him even though he might have been scheduled earlier. And that also includes the days when he was scheduled to fly but couldn't because others took up his scheduled time and ultimately the day ended before John could go aloft. So, thanks to John for all his efforts since he has joined the club and CONGRATULATIONS, JOHN for a great effort on your solo flights.

3. Ethan Ronat flew his PIK 20B and was helped by Karl Kunz. Here is a brief comment by Ethan:

"Here is my small contribution, from July 2^nd.

After working hard with Jeff Byard for a few hours in a blazing 106F, reviving the PIK20B N76WM or YH from a few years of rest in it’s trailer, and getting it annualed, I tried to cool down, and get ready to test fly it. Karl (in the pictures) was very helpful with support, interest, and some missing items like a parachute, battery, etc. and Morgan was very helpful also, as always! Test flight was a little over an hour of uneventful flight, in marginal evening conditions, followed by a safe landing, and a final decision to purchase this special ship. Pictures (most thanks to Julie) are attached.   Ethan."

4. Here are comments by Julie Butler:

5. Morgan Hall and Matt Gillis made an epic flight on Sunday, July 3rd, by reaching Bishop, CA in the Owens Valley before the weather subsided and they ran out of time. The original goal of the flight was to reach Reno's Air Sailing gliderport and retrieve the PASCO Egg. But I'll let Morgan tell you about the flights and don't forget to click on the links he has set up to fully tell the story and show the graphics and path of the flight.

6. Here's Morgan's story:

7. Here is a note Alex Caldwell sent to Morgan in answer to Morgan's in-flight email about where he was:

 more info

1. Highlights June 25, 2011

 - Jeff Ploutz is getting closer to solo.

- Jerry Smeltzer’s new glider is a past favorite PW-5.

- Kathleen Morse brings her new ASW-19 to Avenal.

- Julie Butler flies to Avenal from SLO in her Cessna 150.

- Barbeque lunch on the patio with Pancho Herrera as Chef.

- Steve Schery finally proves he has a wife, Pat, and lovely at that.

- Peter Sahlberg had another great flight in his Schweizer 1-35.

- Joe Anastasio has the honor of flying Jerry’s new PW-5.

- Pancho Herrera takes a refresher flight in the 2-33.

- Morgan does several demo flights in his Duo Discus.

- Julie Butler has a nice flight in her DG100.

- The temperature managed to exceed 100 by one degree.

- Clear skies and lots of lift (8 knots) all quadrants.

- Harlow and Ethan flew out in the Cessna 170.

- Thanks to Harlow for all the towing today.

2. Jerry Smeltzer had a Nugget sailplane but didn't fly it much, probably didn't seem too comfortable in it. So today he brought his newly acquired sailplane, a PW-5 with which he has many hours of experience. CCSC used to have one of those nice little sailplanes that are easy to fly and have a moderate L/D. Jerry seems happy with his decision to forego the Nugget in favor of the PW-5. Anyone interested in owning a Nugget contact Jerry through CCSC. Joe Anastasio had the honor of test flying the PW-5 for Jerry and he came back remembering how nice the first one was.

3. Kathleen Morse used the day for assembling and test flying her newly acquired ASW-19. After a very thorough preflight, she opted to have Jeremy Zawodny do the first test flight. It went very well and I'm sure Kathleen will be flying it soon.

4. Pancho Herrera cooked a nice barbeque lunch on the patio and everyone was satisfied with the burgers and chips. Thanks Pancho and the CCSC.

5. Thanks to Harlow for doing all the towing today. Everyone got aloft and had lift enough to keep them there.

6. The temperature did get to 101 degrees in the shade on the patio. Hotter out on the runway, especially while standing next to a glider at the launch area waiting for the tow plane.  more info

1. Hard to imagine a more interesting story for a woman in aviation. By now you've all read in these pages about Julie Butler's achievements beginning with an innocuous demo flight that wasn't supposed to turn into anything other than just a flight. But that "just a flight" changed Julie's whole outlook on aviation and the pursuit of licenses and ratings. With both glider and power licenses, she's now working on her instrument rating in power and is considering a commercial rating in gliders in preparation for a Flight Instructor's certificate. She flies with Morgan on long cross-country flights, she attends wave and cross country camps, she's involved in the Women in Soaring group, and who knows what else. If there were such a thing, I'd be front and center nominating her as Aviatrix of the Year. And she'd deserve every bit of the notoriety that would come with it. Good going, Julie.

2. Jeff Ploutz continues his relentless march towards solo flight. He's getting better each week that he flies and I expect that given the progress so far, solo flight isn't far off.

3. Rich Cap did indeed decide to start work on his glider license. He came out today, joined the club, and began instruction with Dan Gudgel. He's a determined young man and one day soon he'll be up there with the rest of you pilots and having a great time doing it. Keep up the good work, Rich.

4. Andrew Ouellet, our Cal Poly student who decided to learn to fly gliders and did so rather quickly, has been flying solo for some time, making new gains in altitude and time aloft nearly every weekend he flies. This time, he brought his parents, Dan and Barbara, to Avenal so that Dan could fly with Morgan in the Duo. Dan apparently has had a lot of pilot time in the past and Andrew was hoping that maybe a flight in the Duo would trigger a long dormant interest in getting back into flying. Let's hope Dan gets hooked.

5. Bart Klusek and Alex Caldwell assembled the GAPA and Bart flew it rather well. I towed at 55 mph to 60 mph, a bit slow in turbulence because of the mushy control response and pitch changes due to going in and out of thermals. But we managed to get him aloft to about 2500 agl and he took it from there. He had fun.

6. Steve Schery really did bring his wife, Pat, to Avenal, a rare appearance. I think I met her once before during a contest or some such celebration but Steve has been at Avenal so often, both towing and soaring, and without Pat, that one might have gotten the impression that his "wife" was a figment of his imagination. But Pat is real, and lovely and a pilot as well which makes her even more interesting. Welcome again to Avenal, Pat.

7. Richard Walker was out flying the 1-35. Morgan and Julie went flying the Duo Discus after the demo flight with Dan Ouellet. They stayed overnight and flew on Sunday as did a few other pilots. More and more Avenal is becoming a weekend long soaring site. Even Friday has shown signs of activity and we might yet see a three-day event for the CCSC.

8. Garrett Gudgel came out with his dad, Dan, and flew a few refresher flights to and above pattern altitude. Garrett is now moving to Fresno State for the continuation of his college work and let's hope he continues to be involved in aviation and gliders.

9. Peter Sahlberg was around over the weekend helping prepare the gliders for their annual inspection. Peter is a tireless worker on behalf of the CCSC and while we don't see much of what he does, it is really important and the club couldn't continue operations without his valued input and effort. Thanks a whole bunch, Peter.  more info

1. Highlights:

2. The highlights and the 55 pictures shown here tell the stories more than any prose I might add. Nevertheless, the entire weekend was fun soaring with the most active members showing up and either flying club ships or flying their own private sailplanes. Bart Klusek and Kathleen/Jeremy came from the farthest away and thus are the long distance winners. We welcomed three new visitors and perhaps one or more will decide to begin glider flight training.

3. Thanks to Mel Council for his efforts in making sure the tow plane was available for the weekend. He drove out from Squaw Valley just to install the air box so the plane could fly. And fly it did with tows all day both days.

4. These are the days that you don't want to miss out here at Avenal. The soaring has been exceptional these past five months and will only get better through July, August, September, October and on into November. We've seen routine 8 knots of lift and Morgan reported experiencing 15 knots of lift on one of his recent flights. So if you enjoy beautiful scenery, easily found lift, cool altitudes, great camaraderie, and the quiet of a sailplane, simply head on out here for the most fun you'll have all summer.  more info

1. Highlights:

1. It was an interesting day. At first we thought the sky would overdevelop but it just kept producing lift all day and never did close up completely. In fact, Morgan proved that one could soar all up and down the range with few stops for thermaling. It's too bad not very many members showed up. They missed out on a good day to have fun aloft, or go cross-country or just try for personal records of height and endurance.

2. This was the weekend that Morgan and Julie were heading to Panoche for the Hollister soaring get together in the hills east of their airport. They do there every year and fly off a tiny unimproved strip in the middle of a hilly area where the lift usually is found all quadrants. So Morgan took off with Kevin Condron along, but instead of heading northwest to Panoche, they headed southeast towards California Valley. They just decided that since the lift was everywhere, they'd see how many kilometers they could soar before having to head northwest to Panoche. Off they went and were soaring for several hours before heading back northwest again and on to Panoche. During that flight they encountered thermals as strong as 1500 feet per minute!! As I recall, Morgan did give all of us a brief summary of his flight that day. Julie drove to Avenal, then left a bit later driving with the trailer to Panoche. The plan was for Kevin to drive the trailer back down to Avenal once they reached Panoche successfully. http://landseaandsky.blogspot.com/2011/05/gliderpalooza-day-1-may-28th-2011.html

3. Even more impressive is the flight Morgan and Julie had the next day. They took off from Panoche, crossed the Central Valley, flew just south of Fresno and headed to the Sierra foothills. Reaching there, they turned southeast following the foothills, passed Tehachapi, rounded the bottom of the Central Valley at the Grapevine south of Bakersfield, headed northwest over Taft, along the Temblor range and all the way back to Avenal. What a flight!! They flew over 500 kilometers making it the longest flight either of them had ever flown. Congratulations to Morgan and Julie for one of the great flights by a CCSC club member. Add that accomplishment to their (Avenal) record breaking altitude gain to 17,999 and they're proving once again that Avenal is a great place to soar especially for talented pilots. http://landseaandsky.blogspot.com/2011/06/gliderpalooza-day-2-may-29th-around.html

4. Martin Vargas has begun his flight training and we expect him to do very well with his prior knowledge of RC-soaring large scale gliders. You'll see his progress in training on these pages and we all wish him the best of accomplishments.

5. John Harbick actually did fly multiple flights with Alex Caldwell. That's unusual because John is so conscientious that when he visits Avenal he mostly works around the gliderport doing things most of us try to avoid doing. Keep up the good training, John, and we'll all welcome your coming solo day.  more info

1. Highlights:

- Beautiful day for soaring, strong lift everywhere, 88 deg.

- Bart Klusek reaches 8200 and several hours

- Morgan and Julie fly 4 hours and 385 km

- Kevin Condron wins his Glider Add-On Rating

- Kevin also checks out in the 1-26

- Ben Gleason rides for a Physics project at school

- Martin Vargas takes a demo, thinks of joining CCSC

- Matt Stelmas flies with Alex for fun and training

- Jeff Ploutz returns to CCSC after eight months away

- Steve Schery tows, Steve Smith helps all day with tasks..

- Jacob Cervantes helps out everywhere for school project.

- Bart reassembles the 1-26 after a landout.

2. Kevin Condron earned his Glider Add-On rating on Friday with Dan Gudgel as the Designated Pilot Examiner and Allen White towing. Kevin is the first of the Cal-Poly students to earn the rating. We have Andrew Ouellet and Michael Darling coming along in their training cycle. Kevin also showed up on Saturday and flew both the 2-33 and checked out in the 1-26.

3. On Saturday a lot of flying took place. Morgan and Julie set the distance record of the day with a great flight of 385 kilometers (240 miles) in 4 hours. Not much circling to attain that average straight line speed. Here is what Morgan had to report on his flight:

We had a nice flight and landed a little after 6:00pm.  Thankfully the world hadn't ended while we were up in the air.

Just under 4 hours and about 385km on the OLC.  Once established in the convergence it was easy to go pretty fast and not bother with turning much.  I think we did close to 100 miles on one yo-yo without turning.  Running from San Benito to Orchard peak and most of the way back just dolphin flying.

 It was just a series of laps up in the convergence though.  Kind of cheating on miles and speed, compared to going a 150 km out in one direction, but we didn't inconvenience anyone, so that was a success.

 I haven't pulled down the pictures from my camera.  I got a couple of nice shots up on the San Benito range before we turned New Idria.

4. Bart Klusek was up over 8000 msl and three hours. Here is his OLC trace:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=439348856

5. Ben Gleason needed a physics experiment for his senior high school project just prior to graduation. He chose aviation, and before flying was given a classroom discussion about aerodynamics and flight in general. We did two flights and he video taped them both including his eyeglasses floating as he achieved weightlessness for about 7 seconds.

6. Martin Vargas visited Avenal again and decided to join the club. He is now a full member and expects to begin his training in a week or two. He also flies model gliders but of very large scale. Maybe one of these days he'll bring his gliders to Avenal and we'll let you know in advance so that you can be there to see such large scale models.

7. Matt Stelmas recently moved to California from Florida where he was both a glider pilot and a tow pilot. Hopefully we can convince him to join the club because we can use both of his soaring talents.

8. Jeff Ploutz has returned to his training after being away for about eight months. We thought maybe we'd lost him for good but he says, NO, he had intended to return all along but other pressing issues prevented his immediate return to soaring training.

9. Fulfilling his community service requirements in eighth grade, Jacob Cervantes came out to Avenal and was most helpful all day long. He not only drove the golf cart and towed gliders to the launch area, but washed the cart as well and completed other tasks assigned to him during the day. He hooked up gliders and ran wings and didn't stop working until we were ready to leave for Fresno. Thanks for your help, Jacob.

10. Thanks to all the tow pilots, Allen White, Steve Smith, and Steve Schery for contributing their time for our students and members. Without their efforts we wouldn't be doing any soaring. Although we seem to have sufficient numbers of tow pilots, having them sign up well in advance is a bit difficult. We could use more experienced pilots agreeing to fly our tow plane. If you are interested contact Dan Gudgel and get checked out right away.  more info

1.It was a very interesting week with all sorts of good lift for the contestants. There are several write-ups by various people and I will reproduce them here or provide a link. So much was going on and so many photos were taken of the contest sailplanes that we haven't room to show them all here. What I am showing are samples of both the contest and those activities going on during the contest and after. There were the usual number of landouts among both contestants and members. The cold air produced good strong thermals most of the time but it also encouraged those outside to find a bit of warmth inside the clubhouse.

I had a lot of fun both towing during the contest and flying my ASW-20 on Sunday in very mixed and interesting conditions. Several times at about 5500 msl I was flying through snow. Other times I was getting great lift just on the side of several heavy rain squalls between Coalinga and Highways 41&33. A few photos reflect those conditions. Members flew during the week after the contest sailplanes had departed on course and that continued right up to the last day of the contest. In fact, Sunday might have been the most fun of all the four previous days.

2. Here is what Bart Klusek had to say about his experiences:

Harold,
My plan was to fly from Avenal to Dudley Ridge, then to Lost Hills and back to Avenal. Just for fun, I declared it as an area task with five mile diameter cylinders at each turn point.
I launched just before 1:00 pm. Allen White did very well on his 12,000th tow (!) and took me to a wonderful 11kt thermal over Avenal. Soon, I had to stop climbing to avoid getting too close to cloud base. For a short while I continued along a cloud street, cruising at 80mph and still climbing! Quite a feeling, I have to say.
Five miles away from Avenal I found another good cloud and repeated the performance. And again, ten miles away. Dodging occasional rain showers was not a big problem. All this initial success probably made me a bit too aggressive for my own good.
Approximately half an hour after launch, I entered the Dudley Ridge cylinder. I found a thermal there and circled for a while. However, I was climbing rather slowly and decided to look elsewhere for stronger lift. This was my first mistake. For someone at my level of experience in a 1-26 there is probably no such thing as too weak lift. I should have stayed there and climbed to the cloud base again.
I saw a couple of great looking clouds above sun-lit terrain, just a bit to the left of my course to Lost Hills. There were flooded fields below, which should have been a huge warning sign, but the clouds looked so good that I decided to try my luck there. Another mistake! Three not working clouds later I was much lower that I wanted to be, looking for safe spots to land. I did find some lift there, but I was just able to hold altitude and decided that I did not want to risk drifting away from a decent field I saw. So, I abandoned the thermal and set up a landing pattern.
I could not see any obstructions in the field and the vegetation seemed to be low. Right next to it I saw a dirt road. Aware of hazards of landing on roads, I looked very carefully for power lines or a fence but there were none. I picked the road as my primary landing spot, keeping the option of switching to the field if necessary until the last 50 feet or so.
By the way, all the training does pay off! Landing in an unfamiliar spot, without reference to altimeter (as I found out later, it was off by 500 feet) was pretty much automatic. I flew a normal  pattern, touched down and stopped on the road. It was certainly smoother than some parts of our runway... The field was fine, too.
Safely on the ground, I started considering my options. The road I landed on was reasonably flat over 1600 feet or so. Also, the upwind side was raised and smooth - basically, a built-in wing runner! Unfortunately, the Pawnee had left Avenal by then, and our Cessna had no chances of safely towing me out of there. I had to ask for a ground retrieve. I called the clubhouse and talked to Richard who took my GPS coordinates and promised to send someone... when the contestants came back, of course.
Faced with a long wait, I made myself comfortable in the cockpit. (It's amazing what one can do with a pillow, cushion and a parachute if legs can stick out of the glider! Pity we cannot fly like this.) I saw a gaggle of crows (or maybe ravens) thermaling just above me. I could swear that they were laughing at me...
An couple of hours later I heard a car approaching, so I got out of the glider. I met a nice gentleman, very concerned about my well-being. Apparently, what he saw was a glider in the middle of nowhere with body parts (i.e. my legs) sticking out. I assured him that I was perfectly fine, that we train for this, that I had water etc. The great thing was that he knew where we were (more or less) and how to get there from I-5. I passed the information to Julie and Charlie (thanks, guys!), who were on their way by then.
Another hour of waiting followed. I started disassembling the glider until no more could be done without tools. (This did not stop Julie from complaining that the wings had not been off when she and Charlie arrived.)
At one time Julie and Charlie were just a couple of hundred feet away from me, except on the wrong side of a canal. I could not help recalling some stories I had read on RAS of the "when my crew found me at 3 am..." kind.
Finally, they made it to where I was. We finished disassembling the glider and - not without some effort - put it on the 2-33 trailer. A short drive later we were back at the airport.
Here is my flight trace: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-105463591

 Bart Klusek

2. Since there isn't space to show all the photos, Scott Ellis, Larry Tuohino, and I uploaded some of our photos to the SSA website. Here is the link to some of the photos of the 2011 CCSC Annual Contest:

http://www.ssa.org/sport/PhotoGalleryMain.asp?Page=1&category=contest&id=2185

3. The first picture on this home page is of six sailplanes all working the same thermal. I did manage to take a picture with seven gliders in it but it didn't turn out as good as the one with six. There is also an interesting photo on the SSA site that shows an unusual cloud phenomenon (like waves on the ocean) called a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. This particular cloud form happens frequently enough but the folks who know about these things estimate the average time this cloud appears and then dissipates is only 80 seconds. It is formed at the boundary of two sliding air masses much like the flow of air over the wing of an aircraft. The thumb on the SSA site is labeled Thumb 7425. It's on the second page, at the bottom, second from the left. Click on it to see the large size.

4. By now most of our members have been sent the contest write-up from Morgan Hall who flew a superb contest himself. Pitting himself against some highly qualified contest pilots he placed no lower than fifth and several times was as high as second. He finished third overall and it was a great showing by our Duo Discus pilot. We're proud of his achievement among some of the best in the country.

5. We are pleased to announce two new CCSC members. Matt Stelmas and Martin Vargas. Matt is a licensed glider and power pilot and moved here recently. He was flying gliders in Florida, moved to the San Luis Obispo area and now we're happy to have him as a new member in the CCSC. And maybe as a new tow pilot in our fraternity. Martin Vargas is another new member who has been flying model RC gliders for years. But they aren't the usual small sort of glider you might be familiar with. The gliders he flies are huge, some having wingspans of 12 to 15 feet and valued at upwards of $10,000. So each in their own way brings an elevated level of experience to our club and to their future activities here at Avenal. Welcome aboard, gentlemen.

6. Finally, here is a short recap from Morgan who actually found time to write something. Amazing considering how many other things he had to do.

On May 16, 2011, at 8:08 PM, Morgan Hall wrote:

 Just a quick recap and a few Thank-You's.

 *Overview*:  5 days of soaring with some unpredictable weather, tough tasks and great pilot skills demonstrated. Most days tasks in excess of 300k were possible or called.  Saturday being the exception with a short window in the late afternoon.  Sunday was a boomer of a day with some mild overdevelopment to skirt, but generally wide open racing conditions with well-marked thermals and good lift. It was another huge learning opportunity for me and the chance to fly with such talented pilots is a real treat.  You get instant feedback on your decisions and see in real time how your choices impact your flight.  The other thing is the fact that all things being equal, we all make good and bad decisions and the margins between the top pilots are pretty slim making each of those decisions all the more crucial.

 The other great thing was seeing the outpouring of support from our club. There are a few people that really deserve a special callout for their actions and presence during the week.

 *John Harbick* -- He showed up every morning and did whatever he could to improve the grounds, help with the line, mow with the tractor, repair the tractor, the list goes on.

*Scott Ellis *-- Scott moved to Avenal for the event and took on any and everything asked.  Ground crew, printer supplier, contest photographer (I want to get those online somewhere, I saw some beautiful photos), ballast for me and a ground crew for  several downed pilots.

*Peter Sahlberg* -- Contestants will remember Peter as the guy running their wing and probably letting go about the same time they lifted off. Nobody runs a wing better.  Peter was our line crew lead and did a tremendous job on keeping the launches organized and flowing.  He also participated in numerous ground retrieves.

*Richard Walker* -- Line support, start/finish management, logs, maintenance lead, the list goes on.

*Bart Klusek* -- VP, sniffer, Golf Cart repair guru (got the old cart working again), and on Sunday he suffered HLFS (Horrible Landout Field Selection)  I expect a full report on what he was thinking and how he ended up 25 miles downwind in the 1-26 on the wrong side of an irrigation canal. I smell a new award.

*Julie Butler* -- Once again the food was fantastic for our feast.

*Dan Gudgel* -- Weatherman and tow pilot for what was not an easy weather week.

*Harold Gallagher*, *Harlow Voorhees and Allen White* for towing in Durval's tow plane.

*Stephen Smith* -- Contest Director extraordinaire

*Alex Caldwell *-- Contest Scoring

 I'm sure I'm forgetting to call out someone out that deserves it.  Our guests had a great time and will hopefully be back next year.

 Preliminary results are up on the SSA site

http://ssa.org/members/contestreports/ContestResultsFullDetail.asp?contestId=2185

&ContestDetailId=5372&ContestName=Central+California+Soaring+Club+Spring+Contest

 and it looks like Gary Ittner is our new champ. Congratulations Gary!

I'll hopefully have time to put together the pictures that I have over the next couple of days.  Hopefully we see some pictures and video from our guests as well.  If you've got pictures you want posted with the collective contest photos, feel free to send them to me and I'll host a single Picasa album for them.  You can also upload photos to the contest site at the SSA.

Thanks for a fun week.

Morgan  more info

1. Julie Butler and a group flew on Thursday, May 5th, then again on Saturday, May 7th. While that was going on, Morgan Hall graciously brought his Duo Discus to Fresno Chandler Executive Airport where we gave 16 rides, mostly to young people involved in the EAA Young Eagles program.

2. While the attendance wasn't overwhelming there were enough attendees to encourage another try at the Learn To Fly program next year. We had fun, we learned that giving glider rides at the Chandler airport is easy, fun, and a great way to expose soaring to a community of some 600,000 residents. Scenes from the day, and some very good ones of our soaring, were shown twice on TV Channel 24 in Fresno that evening at 6 pm and again at 10 pm. So we knew that some excellent video had been shown to those who watch that channel in the Central Valley, much beyond just the Fresno/Clovis city limits.

3. Two people deserve recognition for their help ALL DAY LONG. Jack Wiegand and Kevin Krauter spent all day not only manning our table where we provided sign-up sheets and marketing material on our club, but also drove the riders back and forth to the far side runway. We were using the closed Runway 30R at Chandler and we had it all to ourselves for the day. That made the operations much easier and a whole lot safer, thanks to the local airport manager, Rick Duncan, who arranged for us to have the east side free from power traffic. The whole operation was conducted safely, smoothly, and exciting for those who had their first glider ride. Now we are thinking about some sort of semi-annual event at Chandler to keep the idea of soaring before the more than half-million in the Central Valley who might consider flying gliders. It was fun for us and equally fun for everyone who either flew with us or saw their loved ones enjoy motorless flight.

4. Here is Julie Butler's short report for Thursday, May 5th and a longer report for Saturday, May 7th:

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Thank you to Karl for towing yesterday and allowing three of us to get up and join the 10 Hollister gliders that were up.  Roy Norman flew the 1-26. He and I didn't have the gumption to get too deep into the hills and neither of us were able to connect up into the convergence. But we both had good flights with some nice thermals topping out at about 4500msl. Steve Schery did manage to get up and out getting to altitudes of 10k. After heading North to at least Center Peak, he turned and flew south with the Hollister gang for a while. In his quest for lift, he made an ill fated turn into the valley and landed at Belridge.
It was a fun day for everyone, except maybe Karl. Although he did finally complete the annual on GD. Tomorrow looks to be decent; sign up on the schedule and come out to fly! If you can make it, I'll have a list of projects that need to be completed for the contest. All help is appreciated and you can tackle what you wish.
 

Julie

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Hi everyone,

 It was a quiet weekend out at Avenal. I'm hoping that is because most people are saving their time for the upcoming week of festivities. Despite not having very many people around, it was still very busy with training flights and contest preparations.

The highlights:

- Kevin Condron flew several flights in the 2-33 practicing maneuvers for his upcoming check ride.

- Sandy Michaud flew several flights in the 2-33 proving that you can actually stay up in that guppy for prolonged periods. He was up so long he ran out of time to transition into the 1-26... maybe next weekend.

- Scott Ellis continued his training with Dan Gudgel and hooked his first thermal gaining 1000+ feet of altitude! Way to go. I think that was his prize for the amazing cleaning job he did in the club house.

- Peter Deane came down from northern CA to get a practice flight in before the contest. He got up over the mountains and took off. I think he flew till almost dark.

- Bruce Patton flew his bird in prep for the upcoming contest. He landed after about an hour - saving his energy and keeping his skills under wraps until Thursday, I'm sure.

- We had a visitor from Fresno, Mariska, come out and take a demo flight on her birthday.

- Peter Mersino towed in between gardening tasks.

Unfortunately, there will be no pictures as my camera is MIA.

Harold and Morgan flew 16 demo flights in the Duo Discus at the young eagles event at Fresno Chandler airport. I'm sure Harold will send a report on that.

If you are not flying the contest, please come out to learn and help. There will be a BBQ on Saturday night. The details: Food will be served around 7 pm. Cost is $10 if you are not a contest entrant. It will be awesome.

If you can attend, please come and RSVP to me by Wednesday evening at 9 pm so I can make sure we have enough food. I hope everyone can make it out for at least one day

Julie

5. And now for Morgan's report from Fresno Chandler Executive Airport:

May 7, 2011  Chandler Airport    Young Eagles Flights in the Duo Discus

Thank you all for coming out in support of the Learn To Fly event at Chandler airport.  We hope everyone had a good time, learned something and hopefully will continue to pursue some form of aviation.  

Central California Soaring Club was proud to bring Soaring to downtown Fresno for the first time. We hope we'll be invited back for a future event and can continue to spread the joy of soaring flight to new pilots.

I've posted the pictures from Saturday, May 7th, to my Picasa account for everyone to get a look at and enjoy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/morhallCCSC/EAALearnToFlyChandler#   

If you would like a copy of the original file in order to make a print, please let me know.  I would love to ask for a donation (if you're able) if you would like 1 or more files to help offset the costs of bringing aircraft and flights to Chandler.  CCSC is a small volunteer club of individuals who love soaring and love sharing soaring.  Every little bit helps us spread the joy further. Thanks again for a special day,

Morgan

PS.  I didn't get email addresses for everyone, please share as appropriate.  more info

1. Alex arrived early to take the Boy Scouts for rides. He's done this for many years now and they still come out and enjoy camping overnight and flying the next morning. He's planted the bug in one or two of the scouts so maybe one day we'll see them show up for flight training.

2. Kevin Condron took his three pre-checkride flights with me and did well enough to have me sign him off for his ride with Dan on May 20th. We wish him luck and I expect he will do well.

3. John Harbick, usually working his butt off around the gliderport, finally flew with Alex for more than one flight. Yes, that's right. He actually did go aloft with Alex and we all knew the work would wait for his return. Nice going, John and we'll look forward to more flights and a soon-to-be solo flight.

4. Bart flew the 1-26 again today and plans on doing it again tomorrow. He is quickly becoming the local 1-26 expert so if you need tips on how to fly that nice little sailplane, contact Bart.

5. There was flying on Sunday and here is Bart's report:

Harold,
Sunday was a good flying day. Not as great as I thought it would be, but better than Saturday. 6-8 kts thermals to 6000 feet in the valley. Surprisingly, there was not too much difference between the valley and the mountains.
Andy Reistetter flew his Russia, Peter Sahlberg flew his 1-35 and Steve Schery flew his Discus. Art Sanders arrived just in time to run my wing. He was planning to fly a 2-33 and I assume he did. Alex flew once, but I do not know which glider. Peter Mersino did the towing.
I launched about 1pm, released in lift near the power lines and headed to the mountains. I loitered in the Black Mountain area for two hours and then decided to go somewhere. I followed the ridge northwest. Some ten miles later, getting lower and lower, I turned to the safety of Coalinga. (By the way... they built a cool solar plant north of Coalinga. One with a bunch of mirrors and a collector on top of a tower. It could trigger an enormous thermal!) I thought I would be landing at the airport there, but all the asphalt triggered a nice thermal. I climbed to 4000 and headed home. "Limped home" would probably be a better choice of words. I certainly was very grateful for the good choice of fields on the way.
Finally I entered the Avenal effect and flying became easy again. I stayed up for another hour and climbed to almost 5000. All our house thermals worked reliably. I spent 5.2 hours in the air. Obviously, I am trying to win our "Iron Butt" award this year!
Bart  more info

Highlights of the Day

- FAA Team inspects all experimental aircraft.

- Steve Schery lands out.

- Julie, Mario, Morgan, Karl, and Steve fly the high performance ships.

- Dan does a lot of flight instruction as he promised pre-retirement.

- Bill Campbell visits with his student flying the LSA Valor.

- Grant Glazebrook and Scott Ellis learn from Dan Gudgel.

- Joe Anastasio and Ethan Ronat fly the 1-26E.

- Andrew Ouellet flies Big Bird to 7200 msl and 3 hours.

- Ron Ronat does very well driving the cart for our members.

1. The day turned out quite well even though we thought it might overdevelop. But even one of my students, Andrew Ouellet, managed a three hour flight and reached 7200 msl. That was a very nice flight for him and I believe it is his best so far.

2. Steve Schery landed out but chose an excellent spot to do so. It was an easy retrieve and we got the glider in its box and back to Avenal in just over an hour. He made it easy by landing on a farm road between cow pastures.

3. The team FAA came on time, looked over the fleet, and determined that all was OK. We encouraged them to stick around and go flying but they had to get back to Fresno.

4. The rest of the story of the day can be gleaned from the highlights above and the captioned pictures. Enjoy them all.  more info

Highlights of the Day

more info

Highlights of the Day

- Beautiful, cool, sunny day, 70 degrees.

- Cumulus markers early 10:00 am

- Good turnout of members and visitors.

- At one point, 7 gliders waiting to launch.

- Altitudes above 7500 msl.

- Thermals in the 300-800 fpm range.

- Morgan/Julie soar 377 kilometers.

- Bart wins the Avenal OLC challenge.

- Bruce and Polly Patton present.

- Students making great progress.

- All club ships were aloft.

- Seven high-performance ships aloft.

- 5.3 hours best time aloft - Duo Discus

- Richard W. finishes kitchen - hot/cold water in sink.

- Steve Smith inducted into CCSC tow pilot club.

1. It was indeed a great weekend. Not only was the weather excellent and the cu markers everywhere, but we are slowly progressing towards permanent Sunday operations as well. It may be we will also begin flying more actively on Friday and become a weekend soaring club rather than our reputation as a once a week gathering. Commercial, for-profit operations can afford to be open longer, and in most cases nearly all week. But CCSC is a non-profit operation and, as such, depends on its members to be available to keep things going.

2. Two students, Michael Darling and Chris Harris, are progressing nicely towards solo flight. Today they completed most of the pre-solo requirements including simulated rope breaks at 200 feet agl. More boxing the wake, and a few more aerial maneuvers, then pattern tows until the landing sequence is consistently good, then they solo. We're all looking forward to it.

3. There was so much going on this weekend that we don't have enough room to tell it all. Since we have website visitors from around the world who will not likely ever visit Avenal and just enjoy following the activities, we apologize for the lack of narration. I hope the pictures and their captions tell enough of a story for you out there. In the past I haven't thanked all of you who visit our site for keeping us in your thoughts. We appreciate your interest in our site and will continue to try and make it worth your visit. In the past, we've had numerous first time visitors who come out and immediately know not only where everything is but know most of the names of those, like me, who are here quite often. At first I was puzzled just how they knew so much and then they confess that they've been watching the website for years before they show up.

4. We also heartily invite those around the world, especially the many folks on European continent, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and elsewhere who visit our site regularly to someday take a vacation, travel to the United States, and visit us here in person at Avenal. We guarantee our hospitality will be the best you've ever received anywhere. We have the great agricultural Central Valley of California to our east and the beautiful Central California Pacific coast to our west. Fly the mountains with us one day and swim in the Pacific ocean the next day. Visit San Francisco, a four-hour drive northwest, or head to Los Angeles, another four-hour drive southeast. Now how is that for being strategically located? But don't take our word for it. Come see for yourselves. But we also appreciate any email from site visitors around the world so just tell us how you like the site, in your own language and we'll do the translation. It's that easy. Better yet, tell us when you are coming to the US and we'll look forward to seeing you here in person. COME FLY WITH US.

5. Bart and others flew on Sunday. Here is Bart's note:

Harold,
Sunday was better than forecast. Cu's all over the mountains! Quite a bit of flying activity, too.
I was the first to launch at 12:50 or so. Peter took me straight to a great thermal over the ridge and I climbed to 5000 ft. Later, over the Black Mountain I got to 6000 ft and had to stop thermaling to avoid getting too close to the cloud base. Then I went four miles east and had to turn back to return the glider to Roy.
I had to land on the right side of runway 13, as the tow plane was taking off. Well, I knew that the grass was high, but had no idea it was THAT high. My left wing got caught and I became a passenger. Full opposite rudder did not help a bit - probably because I had slowed down a fair bit by then. We found no damage. I guess it was one of the rare cases when it was better to be in a 1-26 than in a T-tailed glass bird...
I spent 1:40 in the air. The flight trace is here: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1098530958    Bart  more info

Highlights of the Day

more info

Highlights of the Day

- Nice sunny day with mild lift.

- Brian Whelan and Jaclyn Levash Fly Intro Flights

- Peter Sahlberg flew his first High Perf Glider, 1.8 hours, 5800 msl.

- Andrew Ouellet flew 1 hour, only because he was limited to that time.

- Pat Panzera flew three, two with CFI, one very good solo.

- Andy Reistetter really did fly his Russia Sailplane, twice.

- Karl Kunz towed all day, maybe up to 20 times.

- Steve Schery, usually towing, flew his own glider for a change.

- Frank Owen and Rafael Schunemann flew over in the Cessna 150.

- Frank did two pattern flights in Big Bird.

- Rafael flew with Morgan in the Duo for more than 2 hours.

- Julie flew her DG and had one of the longest flights of the day.

- Julie also had time to barbeque hamburgers on the patio for lunch.

- Everyone had a great time either flying or relaxing on the patio.

- Frank's third flight was over an hour and would have been longer, but ...

1. Brian Whelan and Jaclyn Levash arrived to fly their first introductory flights. Brian went first and flew off tow doing very well for his first time. Later, Jaclyn went up and also took the controls for a short time and seemed to enjoy the experience. Perhaps one day we'll see them back at Avenal for additional flight lessons. And maybe they'll bring their fellow attorneys out to introduce them to our fun-filled airport. We'll be watching with interest.

2. Back on January 6, 2007, Peter Sahlberg took his first glider flight lesson toward an add-on rating. Because of his work schedule and other distractions, he finally achieved his license for gliders on July 17, 2010, just a short 3 years and 27 weeks later. Then he stopped flying for a short time while he decided whether to purchase a higher performance glider or just continue to fly club ships. Finally he bought into Richard Walker's nice Schweizer 1-35 and watched it lovingly sit at its tie down for a few more months. Well, the big day was today, and he did finally fly it. In fact, he REALLY flew it, staying up nearly two hours and roaming around 6000 foot altitudes. For a guy who wondered if he was competent enough to fly a higher performance sailplane, he sure put that doubt to rest. Nice going, Peter. BTW, his takeoff and landing were nearly picture perfect.

3. Andrew Ouellet flew a 2-33 and was probably a bit frustrated because others were waiting for the glider and so he was restricted to only an hour. Naturally he took the entire hour and had a difficult time making himself lose all that hard-earned altitude. But he respected the rule and more people got to fly today. Andrew is a natural thermaling pilot, I guess because of his past experiences in the sport of motorless flight.

4. As you can see from the highlights above, we had a great time today with lots of folks out here to both enjoy the sport and others to learn firsthand what we all enjoy about soaring. Not only is it peaceful and comforting, but one cannot argue with its contribution to green sports and care for the environment. Five hours in the air and not a drop of fuel consumed after the first 10 minutes on tow. No noise, lots of camaraderie, food on the patio for lunch thanks to Julie Butler, beautiful scenery, eye candy all around. What better way to spend a day being skillful yet restful, helpful and helped, proud and proud of others, happy for them and for yourselves. Sure is nice. Join us.   more info

Highlights of the Day

- Warm, sunny weather, in the 80's. Light winds.

- Not great lift, but great fun and camaraderie.

- Many people showed up, some we haven't seen in nearly a year.

- Almost everyone got a ride in something. Almost.

- All CCSC flyable gliders were aloft today.

- Three private fiberglass ships aloft.

- Three power planes carried members here.

- One new introduction to flight, Joanne loved it.

- Morgan unselfishly giving rides in the Duo.

- Four different tow pilots contributed their time.

- Ethan Ronat accepted into the fraternity of CCSC tow pilots.

- Three gliders in the same thermal. Two are students.

- Times aloft up to an hour for those who tried.

- Jack Wiegand and Darren Council showed up representing young people.

- Picnic table installed at launch end of runway.

- Busy from beginning to end.

- Finished the day with dinner at Harris Ranch

1. With all the photos shown here, and with the highlights already published some weeks ago, supplying any prose now would be a bit redundant. One item of note; Joanne Absher came out with Kevin Condron and took her first glider flight. She did very well and said that she is now hooked and will be back when time and finances allow. We look forward to her being part of our club as we have for the others who, like Joanne, are from Cal Poly University.

2. While the day didn't set any lift, distance, or altitude records, everyone had a great time and nearly everyone had a chance to fly in something. Jack Wiegand came out but had to leave before he had his flight. Perhaps now he'll be back sooner since the day was beautiful, the airport looked in superb shape and lots of members were there to engage with.

3. It was fun sharing a thermal with two other gliders, one of which was flown by another student, and the third was the Duo Discus flown by Harlow Voorhees and Morgan Hall. No, we didn't out-thermal them but it was fun trying. And it gave two students practice in maintaining the right position from the other gliders. A good confidence booster.

4. The green field, and the green mountains make the area look like Ireland. We've had our share of rain this year, breaking records in various categories. We expect more rain this month so the grass on the field might begin to look like the next movie set for the Jurassic Park sequel. We need to cut it often this time of year and if anyone out there has access to a large mower, large enough to cut grass on two runways, please let us know. Thanks.

5. Enjoy the photos and captions.   more info

1. It seemed like a day destined to overdevelop. So a few of our best pilots stayed home and missed a great day. The lift was strong, cloud streets were everywhere and heights were up to cloud tops at 6000 msl plus. Even early in the day it looked like it was going to be a perfect overdeveloped day and I can't blame others for not venturing out. But wouldn't you know it -- just when you think it will, it doesn't. And those of us fortunate to be here today loved every minute of it. Look at the pictures and you'll see why we were all excited by the day.

2. Part of the lift, even below an overcast, was the fact that the ambient temperature never got above 52 degrees on the field, and a whole lot colder aloft. It didn't take much heat coming off the earth to stir up a few good strong thermals. At first, those of us up early today simply couldn't believe we were experiencing good lift. The sky was mostly darkened, the overcast stayed there, yet we were finding lift almost everywhere. At first it seemed strange until the lift got even stronger and more prevalent, and lifted us up to cloud base at 6000 msl. It was indeed a fun day to be flying a glider. One could have flown in almost any direction for miles without much thermaling. Except of course for that strong thunderstorm cell that meandered between Paso Robles and Parkfield. Except for that, any direction would have been a long distance with ease.

3. Andrew Ouellet, our beginning student who has already soloed, took to the air and didn't return for 2 hours and 45 minutes. We could see him most of the time since he didn't venture too far away from Avenal. But he was high and did explore the area from all quadrants except WNW. What a great flight he had and I am particularly amazed at the capacity of his bladder. Andrew will turn out to be one of our excellent soaring pilots and he's already establishing himself as one of our best students. Nice going, Andrew.

4. Andrea Mersino is another of those excellent students who can soar almost at will even in weak conditions. Her solo flight was about 45 minutes but could have been hours in the air. It was late and she knew we were going to hit the road as early as possible. She has a bit of an edge over Andrew Ouellet because she has been working on her glider license since she was 10 yrs old. And she recently celebrated her 18th birthday. But the length of time in training is not correlated with her skill level. It only means she has so many outside activities in her high school that she has had little time to knuckle down and get the license. But I trust one day she will go all the way.

5. Jerry Badal and Mario Crosina came out together so Jerry could complete his BFR with Alex Caldwell. On their first flight, they just couldn't resist the lift and instead of getting the first two done quickly, and the last a long one, they quickly got addicted to the lift and the heights to remain aloft more than an hour, lots more, and finally did return to earth for the last two of the three needed for the BFR. But they had fun and one can hardly blame them for getting hooked on lift and height.

6. Peter Mersino drove Andrea and I to Avenal today, a welcome relief from my having to drive each weekend for the past 18 years. I could actually rest my eyes, and relax knowing someone else was going to get me there. The surprise of the day was when Peter decided to get current and so we went aloft for Peter's currency flight. He did really well and puts him so close to actually getting his add-on rating since he is a licensed power pilot and a member of our tow pilot's fraternity. Maybe one day ...

7. Steve Schery and I shared the towing for the day and gave Steve a chance to get on the road to the Bay area much earlier than he had anticipated. And it was also fun flying the Cessna 150 as I'm sure our other tow pilots feel the same way. How can you not have fun flying a 150.

8. The next day, Morgan Hall and Julie Butler decided that since Saturday was so good, maybe Sunday would be equally good or even better. Alas, it was not so Morgan decided to take down that tree next to the shed that has been the Leaning Tower of Avenal for months now and he felt it might just go all the way. As you can see from the photos it was not an easy takedown, especially since he had to climb the tree with the chainsaw in hand and start cutting limbs. Good thing his balance was in excellent shape and his arms strong enough to hold the force of the saw. Otherwise we would now have the Morgan Hall Memorial Stump to salute each time we go in and out of the clubhouse.   more info

Since I was unable to attend the gathering on Monday, February 21st, Bart Klusek took over the duties of both photographer and editor. Here is his story:

Hello Harold the Website Keeper!

RASP forecast for Monday was rather optimistic, and a couple of us wanted to make up for the lost Saturday. Allen was kind enough to agree to tow on a rather short notice and a fun-filled day of flying followed.

Mother Nature did not exactly cooperate. Cloud bases were lower that they were supposed to be, and a high cloud layer prevented sun from heating the surface. Still, there was SOME lift and the runway dried out enough for safe operations.

So, here is what happened:

1. Richard worked on his 1-35, then flew it (twice, I think). And then, as usual, worked on our new kitchen.

2. Morgan brought his friend, Charlie and took him up in the Duo. They went up and disappeared - as usual. (But, keep on reading...)

3. Andrew flew with Alex three times and then (twice?) solo. I do not have exact times, but the general consensus was that he "outsoared" everyone.

4. Alex flew IB, but could not find enough lift to go anywhere far.

5. I flew the 1-26 twice. I found lift over Avenal, but could not work it very well. It seemed to be a line (convergence?), not a thermal. Overall, my first flight lasted half an hour. Then, I took a high tow and practiced spins. I had a tiny camera on my wingtip - here is a link to a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiKs8SgEmZg

6. Finally, Morgan called and... asked for an aero retrieve from Paramount Farms. Allen was happy to help, and they were back in an hour or so.

Bart   more info

1. I arrived at Avenal late today because of flying some folks to Barstow for a meeting, waiting there, then flying them back to Fresno. As soon as the passengers deplaned, I headed out to Avenal getting there at about 2:30 pm so I missed most of the action. But since the lift wasn't spectacular there wasn't much to report on earlier. Still, it was a beautiful day to be out here with the sun shining from early to late. Our typical resort weather here except for the unusual lack of great lift.

2. The 1-26 was flown earlier and Morgan Hall was in the midst of taking his friends and other club members for a ride in the Duo Discus. As you can see from the photos, David Duke was in the process of going aloft with Morgan when I arrived. Morgan had encouraged David and Janet to fly their Trike, a motorized hang glider, out to Avenal for glider rides. While there, David took Julie Butler for a ride in the Trike but I don't think she's convinced to switch over to that sort of aerial vehicle. She recently was awarded her Private Pilot's License for power flying and came to Avenal this morning in her Cessna 150 in which she is a partner with, among others, Frank Owen, another CCSC member.

3. I came out to fly with Michael Darling, another Cal Poly student who was awarded the Julie Butler scholarship for learning to fly gliders, and immediately took advantage of it. We did two flights, the first where he actually was receiving flight instruction. His progress was quite impressive. With very little coaxing he did the entire two tows and was in position most of the time. Off tow, he was able to quickly get the feel of controlling flight including steep turns and stalls. It was one of the fastest learning sessions in recent months and I have no doubt he'll be soloing soon. He is another of the fine young people from Cal Poly who learn quickly, study intently, and perform exceptionally well. We are delighted to have these young people out at Avenal and we'll do what is possible to encourage more of them to come out and learn to fly.

4. Bart Klusek was on hand helping out wherever possible and then he took his turn in the Duo with Morgan for a nice, but shortened flight due to the weak lift found everywhere all day long.

5. Nearing the end of the flights Jerry and Lisa Badal visited Avenal. I didn't get the complete story but they must have been on their way to or from somewhere else because they visited for a short time and then left. It was nice to see Jerry again because he hasn't been at Avenal in awhile. Maybe as the Spring lift begins in earnest he'll resume his excellent flying.   more info

1. Bart Klusek brought his electric airplane to Avenal and decided to fly with the flock of birds hanging out. It was funny to see because in some cases the airplane actually led the flock around. You have to see it to appreciate it.

2. Bart also took advantage of the three free flights but he's also the kind of member who stays current and spends a lot of time out at the airfield even though the trip from Davis to Avenal borders on three hours. I flew with him and we just had fun landing on other runways. That is part of the purpose for the club's offer for these flights. We want our members to not only get current or accomplish their BFR's but also to just come out and have fun again.

3. Harlow Voorhees has been extremely busy this past year being the main FAA individual on the FAAST Team. He's been all over the country and really hasn't had time to even think about soaring much less do any. But last week he decided to get current again and instead of having to tow when at Avenal, today he flew three flights and felt good about once again feeling he is now safe to fly a glider after all these months of inactivity.

4. Alex Caldwell assembled his Nimbus 3 and even though he knew the lift wasn't much, he still managed to launch about four times. Each time he couldn't stay up more than a few minutes and a few turns in very weak lift, but he still had fun (the operative word of the day).

5. Andy Reistetter decided he wanted to see how the 2-33 was in spins. We took a high tow to 4800 msl and after a few tries got the glider to go into a one-half turn spin. We were going to do more but quickly realized that the winds aloft were much stronger than we anticipated. Steve Schery had taken us out to Tar Canyon and by the time we calculated our ground movement we were drifting southeast away from the field. For a moment there it looked like we might land out trying to get back but Andy did well pointing the nose down and heading directly back. We arrived there just at pattern altitude and landed without incident. With the light winds on the ground it was hard to estimate the winds aloft but we found out soon enough. Andy decided to try the spins another day. He went aloft solo and just had fun (there's that word again).

6. With some time to spare, Bart and I managed to install mirrors in both bathrooms as well as over the sink in the kitchen area. They look good and help to expand the feeling of roominess in each bathroom. Come see for yourself and while you're here just have fun.   more info

1. Again the fog. All due to the heavy rains we received in the latter months of 2010. But today the fog cleared enough for a few low level flights. In the meantime, all the members who showed up graciously pitched in and helped on a variety of projects. Most notably, Richard Walker brought a custom-made counter top for our new kitchen facilities. The kitchen area is not done yet, but it sure is going to be a great addition to the clubhouse. Come out and see what Richard has accomplished.

2. Other items include glider tire replacement, mirrors on the wall in each washroom, cleaning up around the area, and other lesser known projects. If you are sitting at home and don't think it would be flyable at Avenal, you can still come out and help. As you are aware, there are lots of projects to do here and since we can't afford paid workmen, it's up to our members to complete the tasks at hand. Please, use your non-flying time to help out.

3. Morgan Hall had his three BFR flights today and that renews him for another two years. In addition, Kevin Condron also flew but because of the threat of fog returning, he couldn't take a solo high tow and so was OK with the one flight today.

4. Norm Lambert, our wonderful magician from Fresno, visited today just to be involved once again in the ambience of the CCSC clubhouse and airfield. One of these days Norm will once again take to the skies but for now, he's OK with just being around and helping out as he did with Richard and the kitchen countertop.

5. Don't forget the Free Tows and the Free Flight Instruction offered for the month of February. Take advantage and get current again for the great Spring weather that is just around the corner. You'll be sorry if you don't.   more info

     2011 CCSC Annual Meeting

           January 22nd, 2011

Meeting Start:  11:10am
Meeting End: 12:50pm

Members Present:

Morgan Hall -- President
Mario Crosina -- Vice President
Dan Gudgel -- Director of Operations
Peter Mersino -- Treasurer
Patrick Panzera
David Martin
Don Van Wyk
Jerry Badal
John Harbick
Pancho Herrera
Joe Anastasio
Harold Gallagher
Alex Caldwell
 

Looking forward into 2011

·    Continue to support and grow our membership

o  Bring someone out and introduce them to soaring

o  Everyone bring a new member to soaring in 2011.

·    Increase member Activity (glider maintenance, facilities maintenance, club activities)

o  More work days to instill pride in our facilities

o  Glider care and maintenance parties.  Learn how to clean and maintain aircraft in prep for inspections

o  Special skills days.  Landing practice, Badge days,

·    Contest Committee (plan and execute on another successful May 11-15 Contest)

o  Need a Contest Manager (Manage the overall contest activities)

o  Need a Contest Director (More specifically manage tasks and launch details)

·    3035X Tow plane liquidation -- 

o  Sell or salvage the Porterville Tow plane

o  Committee formed to go out and clean and check on the plane

·    Blanik

o  No timeline known yet for inspection process

o  Will likely pull it from Insurance Policy in April

o  Need to mothball it to keep it in good shape in case an affordable inspection method is developed.

·    Meet financial obligations

o  Pay back (or at least start) 13F investors

o  Ensure a maintenance fund is set aside for aircraft

·    Pursue Non-Profit status and programs

o  Review non-profit options

o  Possibly create a separate Foundation

·    Facilities Improvements

o  Hangar work

o  Kitchen completion

·    Aircraft Maintenance

o  Club members need to be more involved and active. 

o  Maintenance days, learn about maintenance and care

o  Build appreciation for aircraft husbandry and what it takes to keep the fleet flying

·    Tow plane Maintenance

o  Need a tow plane ship captain

o  Better attention to squawks and minor issues

o  Better communication around fuel status

·    Alternate days of flying

o  Allen White is available on Friday and Sunday with a little notice.

o  Peter Mersino is also somewhat flexible for those booming days you just can't miss. 

 
Officer Elections

Vice President -- Bart Klusek, nominated by Morgan

Treasurer -- Peter Mersino runs unopposed

Secretary -- Julie Butler, nominated by Morgan

By unanimous vote of the members present and the proxy votes allocated, the three members were duly elected to the board of directors for a two year term.

2. No flying today due to early fog and runway condition. Besides it was a work day and so we discouraged flying. On another note, there was no tow plane available.   more info

1. It was foggy in Fresno when I left for Avenal. But the visible satellite over the Central Valley showed me that fog had blanketed all the way from the foothills of the High Sierra to the Temblor range just 6 miles west of Avenal. So we knew what to expect upon arriving. Still, there was a bit of hope that a hole would open up in mid-morning and we'd get to fly more than a few times. That wasn't to be the case.

2. Michael Darling, a Cal Poly student and the recent recipient of a Soaring Scholarship, arrived at Avenal ready to learn and fly. Because of the weather, we used the time to do ground school using the white board on the patio. Turned out that after two hours of ground material, and not having any idea when the fog would lift, I suggested to Michael he might consider going home now rather than waiting. Michael was scheduled to leave Avenal after his two flights and head to Riverside where his parents live. None of us could guarantee the fog would clear, so Michael wisely chose to head home for the holidays.

3. Andrew Ouellet hung around hoping to get a couple of flights in. While waiting we all decided that a hamburger at Debbie's would hasten the disappearance of the fog. Since Debbie's was more crowded than usual, it actually did turn out that by the time we were through with lunch, the sun peeked out just enough to warm the ground just enough to begin the clearing process. By about 1:30 pm the sun was mostly shining and there was a rather larger hole in the fog just above Avenal reaching down to south of the prison. So at 1:45 pm, Andrew and I launched on a 3000 agl tow. On the way up, we covered the altimeter and had Andrew guessing our altitude above ground. He did surprisingly well, getting it exactly at 800 agl, then within 100 feet at several more points during the tow. That should now convince him that looking out at the ground and comparing what he sees with what he thinks he is reading from the altimeter might be a clue to his actual height above ground. After we landed, we waited a bit for the sun to warm more of the earth so that Andrew could actually search for what little lift might be formed by the warm earth. Unfortunately, after waiting about 45 minutes, the fickle fog decided to return to Avenal and in just a short time had covered the city and the airfield. There was still blue sky to the southeast over the prison and the K-Hills beyond Avenal, but that was too dangerous for a new student to work and we had to cancel Andrew's only planned solo flight that day. There will be more time for him to solo, and safely.

4. Peter Sahlberg and Joe Anastasio both had an opportunity to fly the 1-26 but as with earlier flights, it was up and down, albeit smoothly and easily. The fog kept covering up more and more of the sky around us and about the time we all packed it in to leave, the ceiling had covered over and the visibility had deteriorated. So much for a nice soaring day.   more info

1. When Andrew Ouellet arrived at Avenal and took his first glider ride I thought he might be a bit more focused than some of the other young men from Cal Poly who attended on October 23rd. It turns out he was more determined to fly a glider and began regular training flights almost immediately after his demo flight. He stuck with it, learned quickly, and in spite of the weather threatening to ground us all, Andrew came out today and after a few training flights to pattern altitude, he earned the privilege of solo flight. His three takeoffs and landings were excellent, performed correctly and skillfully, and most importantly, safely. After the three flights, he decided to take a lunch break while I towed Karl Kunz aloft for his first time in the ASW-20. Not long after I returned to the field, Andrew said he'd like to take a 3000 agl tow and get the feel of the glider up high and solo. We launched and at about 2800 msl he released. That was a surprise because he indicated he was going to take a 3000 agl tow, and he got off at 2000 agl. Perhaps, I thought, he decided to save the extra $10, and besides, it was getting late and a bit darker than normal for that time of day.

Back on the ground, Morgan and I watched Andrew as he circled near the tanks. He was much lower than we expected and we wondered when he was going to move back toward the field and choose a runway to land on. As he circled lower, he actually flew away from the field at one point, increasing the nervousness we felt on the ground. Finally he started back toward the field and we expected him to land on runway 8 since he was already on a nice base leg, albeit a bit low at that time. But surprisingly, he passed up that chance and continued northwest past the final approach to runway 8. Now he worried us even more since we then expected him to turn base and then final for runway 13 at a dangerously low altitude. We watched as he sank lower and lower, and we hoped he wouldn't try to turn base and final for runway 13. He didn't, thankfully, and instead put it down nicely in the plowed field just to the northwest of the airport. Thanks to Morgan's four-wheel drive Ford truck, we were able to retrieve him from extra-soft and deep dirt and through the 10-foot gate with a 54-foot wide glider. We've had practice doing that in the past more than a few times but the way you do it is tricky and easily forgotten from one landout to the next. So, Andrew achieved both his first solo and his first landout, safely and skillfully. He admitted he had misread the altimeter and thought he was higher. We will need a subsequent flight to test his visual skill at estimating height above ground while the altimeter is covered.

2. Karl Kunz flew the ASW-20 for the first time and got into the wave. He rode it up to near cloud base at 7000 msl and finally returned with a big smile on his face. He loved the feel and performance of the ASW-20 as do most pilots when they have a chance to fly it. So, Morgan, Karl, and I all share in the fun of flying GD whether wave, thermal, ridge, or shear line.

3. It was indeed a fun day even though there were only four of us on the field. We shared towing, and launching, and retrieving on a day when the weather threatened all afternoon. As luck would have it, the rains began about 15 minutes after both Karl and the retrieved glider made it back to the tie-down area.   more info

1. Morgan's story:

With a reasonably strong front forecasted for Saturday and unpleasant weather in Los Osos in the morning, it wasn't looking too promising for thermal soaring. There was a decent chance at wave forming up though and Steve had already made the drive down from the Bay Area to tow for the day. Everyone else on the schedule dropped off, probably due to the rain in the forecast or just being out of town for the holiday.

Julie and I were headed out with the plan that at a minimum I could get some work done around the airport and she could go visit her grandmother in Fresno. As is usually the case, the best way to bring on good soaring is to set your mind on accomplishing other things. By Paso Robles, things had cleared slightly and there was just a scud layer at 6 or 7k. By Cholame, the scud was breaking up and two clearly identifiable wave bands were showing over the mountains west of Avenal. The base of the clouds looked to be about 6000 or 7000

With sunny conditions and clearly some wave action out there, we decided to set up the Duo and give it a go when we got to the airport. Worst case, we'd take a 5000ft tow to the mountains if that was what it took to see what was out there.

Arriving at the airport Steve was already there trying to get the gas cart hooked up to his car. Issues with an off-size hitch were holding things up. The plane was essentially empty, the jerry cans empty and the fuel cart was empty. Steve made a run with the jerry cans to Coalinga for fuel in order to get us into the air as soon as we were ready. We set up 5H and set about prepping for the flight.

The lenticulars formed and ebbed and shuffled around a bit. By 11:30 we were ready to go and had pulled 5H out to the launch area. Winds on the ground were still calm. Steve prepped the tow plane and pulled it out of the shade structure. He hopped in and went to fire it up. The prop turned ever so slowly. Not a good sign. A few more cranks and it's barely turning over and won't fire. Steve hopped out and hand propped it a few times with everything off while I held the brakes. We let it sit in the sun for a bit and called Dan for any suggestions. Nothing too much that he could help with from a distance, but we hoped that a little warmth and the hand priming might get us going. Otherwise we were looking at needing to work out a jumpstart or battery charger. Steve climbed back in and cranked it over a few more times. Nothing, it was struggling just to turn over let alone have the strength to fire. With that, we decided to go old school and hand prop it. I had Steve shut everything off so I could pull the engine through a few times and get a feel for the timing of the compression stroke and make sure I was moving away from the engine at the right time. It only took one pull and the engine fired and roared to life. We were in business.

Steve taxied out and I hooked up the towline to the plane, then ran back to the glider and hooked it up. Julie was already set and ready to go so I hopped in back and got situated. Julie took the takeoff and with the crisp air we were off the ground quick and climbing well. Steve orbited the field once to give us some altitude before heading north towards the nearest lenticular. We didn't see much turbulence. I think we towed north along the low portion of the wave band and missed all the rotor that might have been around. Climbing through 2000 agl our climb rate picked up. By 2500 agl I was thinking that we were probably in wave and around 3800 msl (3000 agl) we were pretty clearly climbing way too fast for a Cessna 150 and Steve came on the radio confirming our suspicion. We released and slowed down in the lift. It wasn't too strong, but 2-3 knots and steady. We worked north up past the gravel pit and found a bit more strength in the lift so we worked that.

Climbing through 5k we were nearly level with the base of the lennie. The climb picked up a bit more to 5knots or so and we edged around a bit to work out where the best lift was at. This climb rate held all the way through about 10k. At 12k or so there was a higher cap of cloud blowing over from upwind.

We opted to press forward and try to jump up a waveband towards the mountains. We pushed up towards Black Mountain, but didn't really connect with any decent lift.

There was a good lenticular forming to the south down towards Orchard Peak. Julie handed over the plane to me and we headed south. I wasn't able to find any significant lift, but not much sink either. As we neared the lennie, I pressed upwind and finally connected with a bit of 2-3knot lift. We poked around in this a bit and then moved a bit farther SE and found 5knots. This started to fill in and we were able to press a bit farther south and west feeling out the lift. The route back to Avenal was still clear. The Avenal valley was staying open and clear, but up north towards Coalinga and Center Peak it was dark and looking a lot like precip was falling. We were now climbing through 12,000 at nearly 8 knots and the winds were picking up. Pointing into the wind was now showing groundspeeds in the teens.

Below us, the Foehn gap was open, but to the west was a lot of moisture and with every turn we kept an eye out below us for our options. To the NE the clouds were building and it looked like a solid sheet of cloud all the way to Fresno. To the East it was very clear all the way to Tehachapi. I switched on the oxygen and hoped that we'd be able to top out at 18,000. The climb was consistent just downwind of Orchard Peak. We had clear air to the East as a worst case escape route. Back towards Avenal, the valley remained clear, though the clouds were building. Climbing through 17,000 the view was spectacular. The Sierra to the East were crystal clear and we could hear a sole other glider on the frequency out of Cal City. It was a strange turn of events to be hearing someone in the Sierra Wave at 14k and knowing we were several thousand feet above them out of little ole Avenal.

Pointing straight into the wind at 45 knots I could get our groundspeed down to just about zero. There appeared to have been a nearly perfect gradient for forming strong wave off of even a relatively small ridgeline like the Temblor range. At 17,750 I started to accelerate. We were still climbing at 4-5knots and I needed to get out of the strong lift before we broke any rules.

We topped out at about 17,900. Any higher and my transponder might have turned me in. It's a shame we couldn't have gone higher. I'd have pulled out the facemasks and taken it up a bit more, though the clouds were building below and with our dog in the car, we didn't need to find ourselves stuck on top with nowhere to go but east to Bakersfield. We were 5000 over pattern altitude at Tehachapi according to the flight computer and with the entire southern portion of the SJV clear we had plenty of options. We headed south for a ways. With so much altitude, it was a shame to not go a little bit farther. About 30 miles out from Avenal, we had a beautiful lenticular running the full length of the Temblor range. It looked like a milk run to go to Maricopa or Mt. Pinos. Looking back to the NW was a completely different story. Foehn gaps were filling in and our options to get back into Avenal appeared to be limited. I despite the allure of a long run at speed, I turned around and headed back upwind. Back near orchard peak it was clear that the Avenal valley was still open, but the overcast had filled in over Avenal.

It was time to come down unless we didn't want to land back at Avenal. We crossed over the primary wave bar and into the Avenal valley south of Hwy 41. From there, the whole valley was clear and although it was overcast at Avenal we were going to be able to get under it easily since the base was about 5k. We had to downsoar the backside of the cloud to get down. It was strange to be seeking out so much sink, but 14 miles out and 12k was a bit high for final glide.

We snuck down under the cloud deck and found the rotor set up right over the field which tossed a few things around the cockpit once or twice. Winds on the ground were SW, but not too strong so runway 13 was reasonable with a stiff right cross. We landed and rolled up to the trailer. A good way to end a great flight. That lenticular to the south will just have to wait for another day to let us explore it.

Absolutely couldn't have had this flight without Steve's support. Driving all the way down from the Bay Area and only getting a single tow in. No way to say thanks enough for that!   more info

1. Kevin Condron, a Cal Poly student, decided to add a glider rating to his Private Pilot's License in power flying. Coming over on October 16th, a week ahead of the student group who arrived on October 23rd, Kevin latched on quickly to flying the glider in comparison to flying a power plane. With just a few hours and a few flights Kevin showed that he had developed the skill set to safely solo a glider. And my confidence in him was reassured when he made three excellent takeoffs and landings today. I hope he continues to seek his official add-on rating over the next few months but for now, he's free to come back to Avenal and seek out the lift that is usually aloft here. Nice going, Kevin, and CONGRATULATIONS !

2. Norm Lambert returned to Avenal today. Norm has been dealing with some medical issues on his leg and things seem to be clearing up nicely. He didn't come to fly, just to watch and interact, getting back into the feel of Avenal glider flying and training. Perhaps as the weather clears a bit more, Norm will decide to resume his training. He was nearing solo when he had to postpone any more flying. He's a wonderful club member and we wish him well for the future.

3. Joe Anastasio and Pancho Herrera were here today, helping others launch or move gliders to the launch area. They then each flew the 1-26 but discovered that lift wasn't in abundance aloft. The flights were mostly sled rides but at least they stayed current. Joe already owns a Private Pilot's License while Pancho is getting close to having his. All he needs to do is study the ground material, and take the checkride. We'll push him harder.

4. Andrew Ouellet is working just as hard as Kevin, having put in four training flights today. He did very well and it wouldn't surprise me to see Andrew in solo flight after a few more training flights. If the weather holds, that could happen next week or the week following. He's a determined young man.   more info

1. An early CCSC Board meeting provided the wakeup necessary to get all of us going. It was a grey morning and didn't look much like a good lift day. But nearing noon, a weak wave appeared and gliders were able to fly nearly over the field back and forth from northwest of the airport to southwest near the prison. There wasn't much in the way of good, solid lift but with a little skill one could remain in the wave for over an hour or more. Later in the day the weather cleared and the lenticulars were more evident, the sunshine more prevalent, and a bit stronger lift available. Trouble is, not very many CCSC members showed up, other than a good turnout of Cal Poly students to begin serious training flights.

2. Michael Darling, Kevin Condron, and Andrew Ouellet showed up to continue their training. Each had an introductory flight on October 23rd when a whole Cal Poly group came out to spend the day at Avenal. We were hoping that the fun of soaring would catch on with many of them and to date, it looks like there are at least three of the students who have opted to continue their training. It seems a natural that an ongoing relationship should develop between that great engineering school and our glider operations. We'll look forward to that happening as the next few months pass.

3. Michael Darling was first up for his training flight. He did well, handled the controls confidently and took great interest in learning more about how to fly gliders. I expect that if he continues, he'll make a good pilot and welcome club member. Although the lift had not yet fully developed, Michael managed to find some lift and practice thermaling a bit.

4. Andrew Ouellet took the next flight. He also flew confidently, was a keen observer of the lift mechanisms and managed to learn thermaling by remaining aloft for over an hour. Yes, the lift had developed since Michael went up, but Andrew took advantage of it and learned quickly how to modify the flight path to stay in the lift regardless of its changing shape. Looks like Andrew will become a solo pilot along with Michael if they stick with it.

5. Kevin Condron was next in line. He is already a licensed power pilot and so his training will result in an add-on rating to his current license. With his more fully developed flight skills I expect him to solo before the other two but that in no way minimizes the quick learning of Michael and Andrew. All three are exceptional engineering students and now excellent flight students. We are especially pleased to welcome them to our club and to the wonders of motorless flight.

6. Morgan Hall flew the Duo up in the wave at the same time as the Big Bird. Someone on the ground took the photo shown here of both gliders in the wave. As you can see, they were practically right over the airport and could be observed as they maneuvered back and forth in the upside of the wave.

7. Alex Caldwell gave Andy Reistetter his Biennial Flight Review today. Andy flew well and earned his satisfactory rating, good for the next two years. I'll bet there are at least a half dozen of our members whose BFR is due either right now or in the immediate future. Please make an appointment with one of our instructors and get current again. We have had good conditions lately and this is the season for wave flying. If you haven't been in the wave, get out here each Saturday or even during the week. When you see frontal systems forecast to pass through California, watch for waves before, during, and after the frontal passage. If you have never flown in wave, get an instructor and find out how much fun and effortless wave flying can be.   more info

1. It was one of those unique days at Avenal when the lift was everywhere and marked by cumulus clouds but few showed up. The two who flew had fun and Andrew Ouellet's flight was excellent at 1.8 hours. Steve Schery  towed for us but that only accounted for three tows. It is tough for him to travel all the way from the Bay area to make just three tows. Standing there looking at the sky full of cumulus it was difficult to believe that other members decided to stay at home.

2. Andrew and I got off tow at 3800 msl and within no time, Andrew had us thermalled to 5200 msl. From that point we roamed the area, heading to the mountains, playing there for awhile, then back to I-5, then north over the Kettleman Hills, then back towards the mountains. As most of us know, when the lift is that good, staying up is easier than coming down. I must confess that had I not needed a pit stop, Andrew might have kept us up there for 4 hours instead of just nearly two. Andrew learned a lot, was excited by soaring around the cumulus as though we were in a canyon of clouds, then descending, finding lift and climbing up to cloud base once again. These markers are the kind of soaring enjoyed by those pilots back East since most soaring there is marked by clouds. But I'll take the California weather any day, makers or not.

3. Pat Panzera visited Avenal today. He hasn't been around for awhile but he's back and has joined the club. We expect that since he has a lot of soaring experience, he'll be a welcome active club member. Pat and I flew twice and next time out, he'll be solo for using the gliders here at Avenal.

4. As many of you already know and perhaps have contributed to the fund, Dave Johnson has organized a group to purchase a golf cart for the club that promises to be more dependable than our current cart. We have really appreciated what Jerry Smeltzer did for us when he donated our current cart. It has helped immensely not only moving gliders but transporting people back and forth from the clubhouse to the launch area, saving us all thousands of steps. But we've had problems lately with our cart burning holes in the top of several batteries and burning off several terminals. We haven't been able to figure out why this is happening and instead of throwing money at trying to understand and replace various elements, Dave thought it a good idea to just organize a group to buy an upgrade. That cart, I am told, will see its way onto the gliderport within the next several weeks depending on how much money is raised and how much an upgraded cart will cost. If you haven't already, please contact Dave Johnson with your offer to help. Thanks.   more info

1. Well, I guess there's nothing like arriving at the gliderport to find that the farmer who normally plows just the infield triangle and the narrow strip along route 33 had plowed up everything instead. The story is that the farm office that dispatches the tractor and driver, sent a new person to Avenal this time with little or no instructions on how and where to plow. So, being a faithful servant and loyal employee, he decided to plow as much as possible to maximize the crop harvest for this year. Trouble is, he ruined both the east/west runway and the north/south runway and left a narrow strip along runway 31 that previously had been 400 feet wide, and now was reduced to a mere 100 feet in width. Fortunately, the farm office recognized the mistake and vowed to return the runways to their previous condition ... with no set timetable in place. So we wait. In the meantime, the one lone strip is usable but it definitely impedes operations and changes the way we launch and land. It has cost us flights and revenue and will continue to cost us until the farmer fixes the damage. We're not holding our breath but they are honorable people and we believe they will do the right thing sooner than later.

2. It was a great day for the Central California Soaring Club because we invited Cal Poly engineering students here for glider rides and a chance to work with us on a concept developed in Germany called Akafleig. There were about a dozen students show up and all went for rides, some of which were long and gave the student a chance to actually fly the glider with only coaching from the back seat. They all flew well and any one of them could do well in our training program and get to solo in a short time. Perhaps that's what will happen, but today all had fun, were challenged, then relaxed on the patio, with lunch served, and finally home to San Luis Obispo and school. The Akafleig concept in Germany combines university faculty with engineering students to initiate projects involving aviation, such as building an aircraft from scratch, or working on a winch tow machine, or any other such projects that bring all together in a common endeavor It would be a win-win for all if we could make that happen here at Avenal. We have the facilities, the interest, the leadership, and the chance for the students to get actively involved in flight. We hope to see this come to fruition.

3. Alex Caldwell and I provided the instruction and gave each student at least one flight. Some took more but the process was smooth and went off without a hitch. These young people are our future in science and engineering and I am proud to say that they all show great promise as future engineers and scientists. They are the kind of young people we would love to have in our club, just as Jack Wiegand, Hanna Marlette, Jacob Mersino, Andrea Mersino, Conner Spears, Dylan Boone, Erin Parsons, Makynzee Balucas, Kevin Dexter, and Kenneth Serpa all at one time were our youth contingent. Most have since moved on and now we look again to the future and the students from Cal Poly are a great way to establish young people in the club once more.   more info

1. We had a nice group out here today and the weather cooperated. There was lift to be found and worked and most did that. It probably was one of the last of the summer-type days before the Fall weather begins to change the lift conditions.

2. Kevin Condron from Cal Poly began his glider add-on rating today. Based on how well he did, I suspect he may solo rather quickly. He's a quick learner and seems to enjoy the difference of glider flying compared to powered aircraft. So we look forward to his continued training and one day see him alone in the sky.

3. Kevin Dexter came out with his dad, David, and flew three flights. Kevin is also progressing nicely and will be one of those young men who begin flying at an early age and just keep getting better and better, He also is headed to solo flight with the way each lesson is a good improvement over the previous one.

4. Bart Klusek opted for a backseat checkout in the 2-33. He did very well and can easily command and control the glider from back there. It is nice to get checked out because most friends one takes for a glider ride would much rather fly in the front seat. Now Bart can do that easily.

5. Julie was the barbeque officer of the day and performed her tasks well. Thanks for the nice lunch, Julie.

6. Andrea Mersino and her dad, Peter, arrived in mid-afternoon and she flew the 2-33. Andrea has been ever so close to her Private Pilot's License for a long time now and we hope that the goal is now in sight. But Andrea is so busy with high school activities that it's hard for her to find time to fly gliders.

7. Alex Caldwell and Peter Grohe went flying together in Big Bird and as usual, Alex is a master at finding lift and staying up usually longer than most others.

8. Mid-afternoon, Morgan Hall and Kevin Condron went flying in the Duo Discus and enjoyed a nice long flight over the mountains. They probably could have stayed up another hour or two because the lift was good right up until that time.

9. Alex Caldwell flew again on Sunday and here is his report:

We flew at Avenal on Sunday. Thanks to Harlow for coming out to tow!  Dave Johnson came out with his friend Elke Schmadicke, who is a power pilot with 1500 hours. She is originally from Switzerland.  She works at University Medical Center in Fresno in the ER. Elke took a 3000 ft. tow demo ride in Big Bird. She seemed to like the glider, but also seemed to gravitate to the tow plane, and wanted to go along with Harlow while towing. Unfortunately with the two place ships that were flying, it would have diminished take off performance below the comfort zone.  But Elke could be a potential tow pilot?  Dave did a refresher flight with me, and then took a 3000 ft. tow on his own in Big Bird, practicing boxing the wake on his own. Allen White came out and made two tows in the Orange Crush. We had a little bit of zero sink on Elke's flight, and should have stayed in it, but instead we moved over the airport area, and got into a large area of 350 fpm sink.
The weather gradually deteriorated as the day progressed, with a couple of rain showers later in the afternoon, as some cells were moving in over the area from the S-SW. There was some lightening to the South and West, but the cloud base was quite high, the visibility remained good, and there were only very light winds. The Avenal Weather underground recorded about .1 in. of rain. But it was not enough to cause any problem with mud on the field.
Alex   more info

1. This was the weekend Julie Butler had been planning for some time now. She sent out several announcements and was hoping many of our members would show up and have fun. Quite a few members did show but not nearly as many as we had hoped. The weather was perfect, the soaring was excellent as you will read later on, the food was delicious. and the camaraderie was first class. So, with all of that, the disappointment was that more members did not show up. Perhaps they will next time. This day, however, we had a nice gathering of 28 members and their wives, or parents, and most stayed through the evening. After about 9 pm, visitors who weren't camping overnight began to drift off home. It was a day to be thankful for, and although there were tired eyes to be seen, energy levels stayed high until after the meal and the end of the awards ceremony. As we have said in the past, you missed a great day of soaring and an evening of fun, laughter, and friendship.

2. Here is a list of the attendees: Julie Butler, Morgan Hall, David Tyler, Bart Klusek, Jeff Lowe, Peter Sahlberg, David and Kevin Dexter, Peter, Jennifer and Andrea Mersino, Klaus Scheffler, Peter Grohe, Art MacCarley, Frank Owen, Ethan Ronat and his son, Ron, Karl and Annette Kunz, Paul Hanson, Alex Caldwell, his wife Diana and her sister, Rosa Davis, Al Leffler, Bill Campbell and friend Lori, Harold and Raphaela Gallagher.

3. Kevin Dexter continued his training with flights 3 and 4 and is making stellar progress. It helps that he practices on the flight simulator but it helps even more that he has a natural talent for controlling an aircraft in flight. If he can visit more often, he'll be soloing very soon. His Dad, David, promises they'll make the necessary plans to be here. We'll look forward to that.

4. Bart Klusek, Julie Butler and Morgan Hall all had excellent flights and have sent me stories to publish here. Here's Bart's account:

Harold,
Did I mention that you towed me to a great thermal? It took me to over 8000 MSL, and I had both varios pegged for a while. According to my GPS trace, I climbed about 1300 ft at a vertical speed of 23 knots. Then I toured the mountains and got to my top altitude of the day (8700 MSL) over the ridge. After returning to the valley I tried "dolphin flying" (yes, in a 1-26) in the direction of Coalinga. It worked out surprisingly well. I turned back before getting half way there, but I did not lose much altitude in the process.
Finally, I decided that I had enough fun for the day. To get rid of all the altitude I had, I flew over the Kettleman Hills and then southwest. Then I turned back and descended with full slip and spoilers. I landed at the far end of runway 13 (that's something we do not practice often enough, by the way). My total time in the air was one hour, fourteen minutes.
The OLC trace is here: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1870217700
Bart

5. Morgan flew two flights in the Duo Discus. On Saturday, he flew about 4 hours with David Tyler, arriving back just in time for dinner on the patio. Then on Sunday, Roy Norman arrived and he flew with Morgan for another long flight. Here is his story:

Hey Bart,
I've put up the first landout for the Tape Measure Award.   Roy and I ended up landing at Hewitson.  This was on the way home from 101 miles out, but technically that's the shortest flight resulting in a landout since handing out the trophy.  I'm not sure how we define the rules for this one, but technically I'm in the lead I think.
I'll write it up and pass it along to Harold.  Pretty good day though.  We ran out of clouds and lift with about 50 miles to go and around 7500.   I needed another 1000 ft and probably would have made it.  It was really blowing hard out of the west SW so it made for a tough run crossing the 46/41 passes.  Arrived at Hewitson about 1000 agl.  Scratched around, but between the wind, and the high clouds  it was shut down.  Landed on the runway on the East side of the road in 15-20 mph winds about 70 degrees crosswind.  No big deal, but probably the most cross I've had to land in before except at Minden. 
We got packed up pretty quick after Julie came and rescued me, again. 
The entire Avenal area and north was lit up with lenticulars in the evening.  I took a bunch of photos, but it was pretty spectacular.  Unfortunately I did not connect into the wave, which would have been a spectacular finish to the day.  Roy had fun though.  Good weekend.
Morgan

6. Julie Butler probably flew the most challenging flight of the weekend. Not because it was the longest, it wasn't; not because it was the highest, it wasn't; but because it was her first cross country flight long enough to be far beyond the safety of Avenal. CONGRATULATIONS, JULIE. Keep up the progress and you'll be chasing Morgan all over California. Or maybe he'll be chasing you!! Here's her story:

Harold-

I completed my first true XC flight on Sunday. I got a plan together in the morning and the clouds were forming by noon. I launched about 12:30 pm and got off at 2000 msl under a nice big black cloud and climbed up to 5000 msl or so. I then followed the clouds down to the west of Paramount stopping way too many times to thermal. After circling the Avenal VOR a few times I decided I was not willing to push any further south or west to chase Morgan, so I turned and headed back north. The lift was still really good - up to 10 knots at times. I ran up to Coalinga finding some 10 knots sink to even out the earlier lift. For a few minutes, I thought I was going to have my land out at Coalinga after all. But, I was able to find a good thermal back up to 6500 and headed home.
I was almost enticed to head out east over the valley. One of the Hollister pilots had gone that way and was talking about how well the clouds were working - no turning. But, I decided since I completed my task, I should call it good and get down to rescue Katie from the back of the truck. Good choice. About 15 minutes after landing, the wind kicked up to about a 10-15 knot crosswind. Great 2.6 hour flight with no landout - unlike Morgan. I'll let him share that with you though.
I'll send you pictures when I get home tonight. See you next weekend.
Julie

6. The Cal Poly guys were well represented and had much fun flying Big Bird. From one of the photos, it showed the variometer pegged at 1000 feet per minute up and who knows how much more the lift turned out to be over that amount. The connection between the CCSC and the gang at Cal Poly seems to be strengthening and we all look forward to a future of mutual cooperation and projects that enhance both our groups. Several of the men from Cal Poly are German nationals and have extensive experience in soaring. They also have a club over south of Munich called Akaflieg that is involved in both soaring and building aircraft and/or winch launching machines. All of that is of interest to us here at CCSC and we will do our part to keep the relationship going strong.

7. Paul Hanson spent a lot of time and energy setting up a movie platform to show videos in the evening after dinner. Unfortunately most of the visitors who hadn't planned on camping overnight were too tired to remain for the show. I'm sure it was worth the time spent but weariness overcame interest. Sorry, Paul, but hopefully next time when Pacific Standard Time arrives, the day will end earlier and more folks will be awake to hang around for the show.

8. It was nice to see Ethan Ronat out here. Ethan is an accomplished soaring pilot and flight instructor, and his flying for Skywest keeps him away from Avenal too often. Today he came out just to visit and help promote our social activities and brought his young son, Ron, with him. Maybe Ron will get the urge to fly gliders. We're glad they visited.

9. Finally Karl Kunz brought his lovely wife, Annette, to Avenal. We had not met her before and it was a pleasure seeing both of them here for the festivities. Karl has been getting more involved in soaring at Avenal and that's a good thing because he has much to offer us based on his experience and skills. Nice to see both of you, Karl and Annette. Come back soon.

10. The awards ceremony mentioned in the headlines refers to a clever set of trophies designed and built by Morgan Hall. They reflect some interesting and humorous episodes and talents within the club and its members. Morgan should describe them since he thought them up. I think that the reader should visit Avenal, if possible, to see firsthand what the awards are all about. They are mounted on the east wall inside the clubhouse. In the meantime, stay tuned and we'll have Morgan send an email around to everyone telling of his creativity and naming the award winners.

11. On Sunday, Morgan flew with Roy Norman. Roy wasn't expecting much because he didn't think the weather looked all that good. But he got a real surprise. Here is his story:

My First Cross-Country

by Roy Norman

Morgan asked me to write this story about our cross-county flight in the Duo Discus on Sunday, 10/3/10. Not a problem since I haven’t stopped thinking about it since that time.

 Looking at my logbook on the night before the flight, I was shocked to see that I hadn’t flown a glider in over three years. I finally returned to Avenal a few weeks ago and received my flight review with Harold followed by a very satisfying 60 minutes in the 126 finding several thermals, all well within view of the club. Appetite whetted, I was amazed that Morgan was offering me chance to fly cross country in his Duo Discus.

 As I drive out of the foothills of the Sierras near Coarsegold and towards Fresno, I see nothing but overcast everywhere but to the southwest, in the direction of Avenal. Where I live, this was going to be the second day of rain and about the fourth day of unseasonably colder weather. I am reminding myself that a short ride in the Duo Discus was going to be fun even if we didn’t leave the proximity of the clubhouse. I was thinking that the cold front had already come through and we were going to be left with nothing but cold, blue, stable air. I was so wrong!

 This was the day that I learned a little about maneuvering a cloud street. As I drove south of Fresno on 41, I could see the edge of the overcast and clear sky toward the silhouette of the coastal range. Upon arrival at about 11:30 a.m., the sky was a little hazy but wisps of clouds were beginning to form.  Morgan saw the same thing and by the time the plane was staged at Runway 13, he had used the term “cloud street” and a huge dust devil was over by the tanks. The air from the coast was pushing against the air from the valley forming a line, or street, of beautiful popcorns of clouds running right over Avenal and down the ranges.

 Morgan showed considerable patience as he allowed me to take the stick for some of the thermaling over the town and then he is off to the races. I’m used to taking any lift I can find and circling. The only reason to move around in the 126 on a local flight is because I lost the lift. Not today. He was knifing through the sky. It was interesting to watch him finesse his runs from one cloud to the next. I initially compared it to a chimpanzee swinging on vines through the forest but its more complicated than that. The chimpanzee gets to grab a vine. In the glider, you’re depending on columns of air under the clouds. Those columns have a core of rising air that spills out its perimeter. You can see this shape by pointing a garden hose straight up where the water cascades in a circle. As far as I could tell, the trick is to glide through still air to the next cloud, punch through the downward air as quick as possible, slow down once inside the rising core, speed through the downward on the exit and you’re off to the next cloud.

 I also learned that precision is very important. I can’t help but think that my sloppiness while attempting to swing from the clouds was responsible for the 300 feet below glide slope when Morgan decided to land out at a strip within sight of  Avenal. I never got the hang of it but maybe with a little practice…   more info

1. Austin Coovert does it again. In past weeks he has single-handedly brought out more people than anyone has for a long time. Based at Lemoore as an FA-18 pilot, Austin continues to entice folks to join the club and learn to fly. Today was no exception. He brought out family and friends from the Naval Base and had a wonderful time flying them and joining in with a picnic on the patio. It was all good fun, especially for the kids who kept cool running in and out of the lawn sprinkler. Since very few club members showed up today, Austin's contribution was all the more important. Thanks, Austin, and we hope the families all had a great time flying and fun with the picnic on the patio.

2. Morgan Hall and Julie Butler arrived and promptly began assembling the Duo Discus. When it looked like the thermals were beginning to form, they took to the air for what they hoped would be a fairly long flight. That didn't happen but they did manage to stay aloft an hour or so.

3. Alex Caldwell assembled the GAPA and had fun flying it. We encourage more of our members to come and fly that little glider. The folks from Hollister drove quite a distance to fly it and all had great fun. So we would assume our very own members would also have as much fun. The lift will soon begin to tame down and while that's good for the student pilots, it isn't great news for our accomplished members who have been flying for some years. We're looking toward a hot spell in the next few weeks so all is not lost yet. Come out and have fun with the GAPA.

4. Jerry Smeltzer visited Avenal just because. He hasn't returned to flying yet but the Nugget is ready and when Jerry chooses the day, he'll be back in the air.

5. Rich Miller is spending long weekends here working on his LP-49. He is filling and bonding the surfaces in preparation for a good coat of paint. He has a nice workplace in the southeast hangar where he spends long hours. He estimates the work will be done before December and he'll be ready to fly it once again.

6. Today I had the opportunity to fly with Morgan in the Duo Discus. It was quite an experience compared to almost any glider, including our ASW-20. It is big, comfortable, roomy inside, very well instrumented, and surprisingly easy to handle given it's big overall profile. I was mostly surprised at how easily it rolls into a thermal. I would have thought that with the long wings, it might take more time to get to a steep enough angle for thermaling. But it rolls right in there and stays put in a nice bank angle until you're ready to level the wings. The landing is docile and uneventful and seems just as agile a glider as our ASW-20 which is substantially smaller in scale. Nice ship to fly.    more info

1. Our inveterate cross country pilot and CCSC President, Morgan Hall, showed again why he has established himself as one of the club's best. Here is his account of the flight today.

Hi Harold,
Launched around 2:00 and got off tow near Tar Peak at about 3100 ft.  A little higher than I usually tow, but we'd hit a fair bit of sink as Durval headed SW with me and so I waited for a decent bump before releasing.   Off tow, gear up and I turned back into the thermal.  It was small and not too strong.  I was test flying the new Mandl air extractor that Paul Hanson made for the ASW-20.  It makes such a big difference in wind noise reduction that I found myself thermaling much faster than normal just because the audio feedback was so significantly reduced.  Once I settled in to the quiet, I was climbing a bit better.  I struggled around on the ridge for 5 minutes or so.  Maintaining or losing a little, but not making any progress.  After losing a few hundred feet, I resigned to trying the flats and started to head back out to the airport.  A 1/4 mile in front of the ridge I connected with a decent thermal and that turned into a nice 3 knot climb after a bit of searching for a better core.  It took about 15 minutes to climb to 6100 or so and then I knew I could easily reach the convergence near Black where the clouds looked to be at about 7000 or 7500.   That first "glide" took me about 28 miles in a slightly roundabout way up towards Center Peak to the NW of Coalinga.   Along the way I just ducked and weaved along the convergence heading right or left towards any wispies that I saw form.  This allowed me to cover the 28 mile glide without circling and I actually ended the glide almost 500 ft higher than I started.   I decided to tank up under a more sizeable cloud before crossing to the San Benito range.  Nearing EL5 I took a couple of turns of 5 knot lift and then over San Benito took 4 knots to cloud base at around 8000.  From there it was another 24 miles before turning with an average L/D of 99:1.   This put me to the north of Hernandez on the south side of the Panoche valley at around 6500.  I tanked up at a decent cloud and then headed north again along the cloud line.  25 miles and 379:1 glide ratio although that distance included my turn around.   I turned 70 miles out from Avenal at 3:30, a bit south of San Luis Reservoir, Katie dog was in the back of the truck and I didn't want anyone having to come get me if I pushed into the blue up towards San Luis and found bad air.

The run south was fairly similar to the northbound trek.  Just reading the wispies for clues on which way to head.  Cloud base was lowering though and breaking up a bit so it got a bit more exciting as I approached San Benito Mountain from the North.  I was over 6000, but it's a broad mountain without any good escape route to the south so I worked the north side until finding enough of a climb in a few circles to reduce the pucker heading across the mountain top.  That glide took me back across the range that Center Peak is on and towards a few wispies over hwy 198 west of Coalinga.  Around 5300 and 20 miles out I got a call from Durval, he was leaving Avenal and wanted to make sure I was in good shape to make it back.  Thanks Durval!  I let him know I was fine and continued on my way.  A nice thermal was offered and I took that to 7700 or so and decided that it was the last time that I'd circle for the day since Katie had been in the truck a couple of hours now.    I flew from there down to Hwy 41 near Orchard peak, then back to almost the same place, then down to nearly 41 again and back.  Not sure if anyone was still around I flew out towards the airport and saw a glint off of someone’s windshield.  I shifted in to full negative flaps and pushed the nose over at this point in the hopes of getting down before Bart or Art left and I'd lose a helper for pulling the wings.  Even with the high speed and inefficient finish that last glide was at nearly 70:1

Winds were light E/SE and all the club ships were tied down.  I decided to show my appreciation for the guys hanging out until I returned by performing a low pass before landing.   I approached from the north at about 150 mph and skimmed down the runway, crossing out away from the clubhouse and into the field before pulling up.  As I eased up into a climbing right turn to return to the pattern there was a sudden small white flash followed by a loud bang of a bird strike.  I believe it was a pigeon.   It hit the side of the cockpit around my left knee area and caused the little pop out vent to open.  So here I am at 140 mph, less than 100 ft and just had a bird strike and a sudden explosion of wind noise.  I'm climbing out and checking for the hole in the aircraft.  Nothing there, nothing on the wing.  I climbed back to 700 ft or so, dropped the gear and flew a normal right pattern for 13.  After getting out of the glider, there was a clear mark where the poor bird and I collided.

It was definitely an eye opening experience and a reminder of how you limit your options when you are low to the ground and moving fast.  Better than low and slow, but clearly a cracked canopy would be a major thing to deal with in such a situation.  It's a stark reminder of how many things aren't in your control.  Thanks to Joe, Art, Bart and Richard who were all still around when I landed.  Richard and Bart helped me put GD away and then headed home.

After reviewing the statistics of the flight in "See You", it was about 324 km for the OLC at 90 km/hr.   Only 19% of the 3:45 flight was spent circling and nearly half of that was just the first couple thermals of the day.  The ASW-20 should get around 40:1, but by following good energy lines and paying attention to the clouds, haze domes and indicators on the ground like ponds which show winds I was able to average over 80:1.  Even if you're just enjoying local flights around the airport in a 2-33 or 1-26, having a logger on board is a fun way of reviewing your flight and learning from it.  There are lots of options out there for not too much money.  If anyone is interested, please talk to me about it and I'll help hook you up with something.
Morgan

2. Bart Klusek did well today and here is his story:

Hi Harold,
Short version: 1:55, 7000+ MSL, 5 knots of lift on average.

I took a 2k tow and released in lift over the tanks. This thermal took me to approximately 4000 msl. Another thermal, north of the airfield, topped off at approximately the same altitude. I got bored and headed toward the mountains. Well, things got exciting pretty quickly. After passing some 10 kts sink over the foothills, I found myself rather low over the ridge. Fortunately, Mother Nature cooperated. I climbed to over 5000 and then tried thermaling over the Black Mountain. Wow. The lift was of the type that requires work, but it took me to over 7000 and a couple of times I had the vario pegged at 1000 ft per minute up.

I tried landing using sideslip only. This did not work as planned. Half way down the runway I gave up and opened spoilers. I guess I need to practice more.

We really need to practice derigging and trailering the 1-26. On a day like this one could go really far (OK, I count silver distance as "far") if landing out was not something to be avoided at all costs.

Bart

3. Richard Walker earned his BFR today and afterwards flew with Art Sanders. Art had been at Avenal sometime ago but we haven't seen him since. In the meantime, he earned his Private Pilot's License in the Antelope Valley east of Palmdale and says he is back to joining the club. So he and Richard went for a flight in Big Bird and here is what Richard had to say about that:

Art and I made our checkout flight.  we took off on 13 due to winds.  got off at 3800 near the dump.  Did some stalls and searched for thermals around there.  A few small thermals not very workable.  We headed toward the carrot field that had been harvested. There were some nice dust devils on Monday as they were harvesting so though it might work today.   Found only teasers so we proceeded farther west.  We got down to 2300 when Art found a thermal of about 2 knots.  He got centered in that and as we went up the strength increased. We got mostly 4 kts with one small portion of thermal at 6 to 8 kts.  We got back to 3800 before topping out.  Saw Bart in the 1-26 coming in for a landing below us.  We then got back to the airport and landed with a nice 40 minute flight.  Art was very capable with the 2-33.  Nice job on tow.  He flew better than I did.  Not that that takes a lot. 
 
Everyone tied down the gliders, and then Art finished up his paperwork and headed home on his long drive.  Joe and Bart worked on the golf cart while I did a little work on mounting the cabinets.  Morgan got back and we put his glider away.  Bart and Joe left about 5:30 I left at about 6:00 and Morgan was getting ready to leave. End of a nice day at Avenal.

4. Jeff Ploutz continued his training, and we've decided to work mostly on the solo flights to and from pattern altitude. His air work is good and what he needs now is good, solid takeoff and landing skills. It won't be long before I get out and let him do his thing.

5. Joe Anastasio was here today and flew the 1-26 but no report on how he did. He and Bart spent some time looking at the cart to determine what electrical glitch has caused two batteries in a row to melt holes in the top of each, one after the other. Maybe some sort of electrical resistance failed, or something? Anyone have any ideas on how to fix our important vehicle? We'll give you all the help you need if you have some electrical talent that would be valuable for us.

6. Chris Lincoln, a Hanford resident, arrived on his Honda motorcycle and thought seriously about joining the club and learning to fly. We may see him again because his interest was high and he spent some time out here today. He actually learned how to run a wing. Maybe that will hook him.    more info

1. We welcome back Frank Owen who has been a visiting professor in Munich, Germany, for the past two years. Even before that, he spent a year or more there, as a visiting professor, so he probably had to learn English all over again. But now he's back at Cal Poly, teaching Mechanical Engineering and vows to resume his soaring hobby. Glad to have you back, Frank.

2. Bart Klusek decided he couldn't look at the GAPA any longer without knowing what it was like to fly that little glider. This was a good day to find out because the lift was strong and available all around the field. He didn't have to go cross country to find any. Here is what Bart had to say about his first experience in the GAPA:

Harold,
Thanks for the photos! My wife was very relieved when I told her that the GAPA is a single-seater and there is no way I could possibly take her up in this glider ;-)
If I was to summarize my first flight in our GAPA in one sentence it would be "so that's what a thermal feels like!"

I found the tow to be a bit challenging - mainly because aileron-rudder coordination seems to be very different in the GAPA than in anything else I have flown so far. Of course the fact that this was my second flight after a two-month break may have been a factor as well.

I released at 2500 AGL, found a thermal and climbed to 5000 MSL in no time at all. (Note how mixing AGL and MSL makes my thermaling skills look better!) Then, I toured the Avenal area, sharing a thermal with Big Bird first and a big bird (species unknown) later. I landed after 55 minutes.

The GAPA may have become my favorite glider for days like last Saturday. It may be 104F on the ground, but at a 3000 feet and 40 knots it feels just great!

3. John Harbick keeps on training and is very consistent about it. He makes sure that he flies at least twice each time he arrives. With that dedication he will be soloing in a short time. I'm sure that's what he's looking forward to as a first big step toward his Pilot's License. We wish you success, John.

4. Julie Butler came out to Avenal, assembled her DG100, went flying, then landed, disassembled and went home. Wow, that was quick. We almost missed her except for one lone photograph. Otherwise we might not have known she was even on the premises. Shall we call her Stealth Julie?

5. Yes, it was a hot day and few members showed up. But because the lift was strong and one could thermal up to and above 5000 msl where the air is decidedly cooler, the heat on the ground seemed to offer no excuse for not showing up to fly. Where were all the members who I know enjoy thermaling in 800 feet per minute lift? Did the Labor Day Weekend have anything to do with it? Maybe, and we'll see in the coming weekends because the forecast is for clear, sunny days with cool ambient air aloft. That is just the formula for excellent soaring and strong thermals. Will we see you there????    more info

1. My good friend, Brad Gleason, decided to see what soaring is all about after listening to me espousing the joys of soaring during flights in his Cessna 182. It was also an opportunity for father and son to enjoy an outing together. Ben Gleason had gone soaring some years back at Warner Springs, and because of that, looked forward to our flight today. Brad agreed to let his son go first since he was already a "pro" at soaring. Ben watched how the tow went, then off tow took the controls and flew very well. The most noticeable part of his flying was how smooth he handled the controls. That contributed to his being able to gain enough altitude to reach nearly 4500 msl. It would be nice to see both Ben and Brad take up soaring and get their pilot's licenses. Maybe that will happen.

2. Next up was father Brad. This time, as with Ben, he was smooth on the controls and I simply sat back and watched him circle in a very strong thermal, going all the way up to 4800 msl and soaring for 45 minutes. I think Brad was as surprised and elated as I was over the performances of these two Gleasons. I can't imagine either one of them walking away from soaring after performances like they just turned in. I'll keep you informed.

3. Jeff Ploutz continued his quest for his solo license. He continues to improve each weekend and his determination is admirable. Art Pulley has been out for a few weekends busy with work but I expect him back soon. I'd like to see both of these guys solo together but so far, Jeff seems to be pulling away from Art because he has flown more often.

4. Jerry Smeltzer came out today to get his BFR from Alex Caldwell. Jerry and I talked about airspace on the white board and then Alex took over and both continued to discuss aviation rules and regs using the clubhouse computer as a teaching aid. Finally they went flying and Jerry got his required three flights completed. He should be current now and able to get his Nugget or the 1-26 back in the air.

5. Pancho Herrera drove up on his motorcycle attracting the attention of those present when he arrived. It is a nice looking bike and Pancho seems to like riding it. It is no small drive from SLO to Avenal on a motorcycle but Pancho even looked forward to the ride home. Pancho flew the 1-26 today and was slightly unhappy with finding only a little lift even though strong thermals were around the field all day.

6. Peter Mersino is really dedicated this time around. He came out today and flew twice, intent on earning his add-on rating. If he keeps up this pace he will indeed get there and in the not-too-distant future. Keep up the pace and the good work, Peter.

7. Thanks go to Mel Council who volunteered to tow today. He was right in there helping out, towing, and generally being a gracious club member. He's the kind of guy we really appreciate having in our club.    more info

1. Soaring all day in thermals around the area, no one noticed the possibility that a mountain wave was working. Late afternoon, Peter Mersino and I went up for a refresher flight planning on releasing at 3000agl. During the tow, we let Dan decide what area might be best and so he headed for the West Ridge. As we approached the Ridge, we noticed an increase in our normal climb rate on tow. After a minute or so, we decided to release and, viola, we landed right in the middle of a mountain wave. We were below the highest ridge line and expected some rotor development, but none was found. Instead we experienced lift of 2-3 kts parallel to the ridge. We moved northwest, then back southeast, reversing course every 10 minutes or so. The wave took us up to 7000 msl and likely would have gone higher but we needed to get back on the ground because it was getting late. The periodicity, or frequency of the wave was clearly not formed by our nearest ridge line. It had to be from the Coast Range and that was generally confirmed by the smoke from the San Luis Obispo fire which showed a low frequency by the time it reached the east side of the Temblors. Anyway, we had fun, Peter hardly moved the stick and we could have served wine and cheese the movement was so still. But that's laminar flow and should be experienced by all our club members.

2. Actually the thermal lift was excellent. The dust devil show began around 11:00 am and continued strong until about 3:00 pm. As the photos show, the lift was up to 900 feet per minute at times, most consistently at 500-600 feet per minute throughout the climb. Everyone who flew was satisfied with that strong lift and didn't think about the wave possibility.

3. Jeff Ploutz and Art Pulley continued their training. Jeff again showed he really understands thermaling, going from low release up to 4700 msl. Art did almost as well, but the lift weakened a bit by late afternoon when he went aloft so he topped out at 3100, still a good gain from release altitude. These two gentlemen are continuing in the right direction toward their Glider Pilot's License. First stop along the way is solo and we expect to see them up there alone soon.

4. Morgan was busy with the Duo Discus, first, flying solo, then taking Karl Kunz with him for a tour of the mountains to the northwest. Then taking Julie Butler along while they just had fun touring the mountains and the area to the southeast. If you get a chance, don't pass up the opportunity to fly with Morgan in the Duo Discus. Be careful, though, you might be spoiled then disappointed flying anything else the club has to offer.

5. Austin Coovert continues his introduction to soaring among the pilots and personnel of Lemoore Naval Air Station. He is trying really hard to get folks interested by taking them for rides these past many Saturdays. We appreciate his efforts and look forward to having some of them join the club and learn to fly with us.

6. Joe Anastasio and Peter Sahlberg both flew the 1-26, and each had a good flight in what they described as strong turbulence. That usually means good lift if you can stay in it.

7. Andrea Mersino continued her quest for the license by flying again with me, then going solo to practice her checkride maneuvers. Now all she has to do is pass the written exam and she's ready for the checkride.

8. For those interested, the first launch didn't take place until 1:00 pm. That's when the thermals were getting bigger and stronger. We launched from the far end, taking off on runway 13 because of the southeasterly flow. It's a bit more difficult launching from that end but into the wind and slightly downhill makes a safer launch.    more info

1. We're not sure why so many members chose not to show up. The lift has been consistently very good for weeks now. Practically every Saturday we've had strong thermals and good altitudes for even the training students. Those with higher performance ships heading into the mountains would have had altitudes above 8000 msl and could have gone cross country in almost any direction. The heat on the ground shouldn't have been what kept pilots away since getting aloft in a hurry to temps in the 80's was easy to do. Is this the summer when nearly everyone had something else more important to do? Is that possible? Something more important than soaring?? Hard to believe!

2. Jeff Ploutz has been very consistent in showing up for his training. Today we went aloft, Jeff did the tow, and off tow gained altitude in a very competent manner. His thermaling has been way ahead of his normal training cycle. That's good for the future when he solos and can begin heading out to areas other than around our gliderport. Today he gained 1400 feet on his own and that comes after just two previous training flights. Good going, Jeff.

3. Jeff Lowe was training, too, but he's closing in on the checkride for his Private Pilot's License. It should be scheduled soon since he appears to be ready now and is peaking at just the right time. Jeff, don't put it off much longer. We expect you to be our next, best, checkride participant. Jeff and I  flew twice, the first time we got off tow early and had little time to find the thermals we knew were around. The second flight was much better, 45 minutes and several thousand feet gained.

4. Austin Coovert was taking his friends for glider rides. Perhaps one or more of them will opt to begin taking lessons. Mike Thompson has already indicated his interest by asking me to work with him. We did one flight and I was impressed because we were up about 45 minutes and Mike gained several thousand feet in the process. He thermals very well and could move quickly toward his add-on rating.

5. Andrea Mersino has decided to give it one last push toward her license. She has been ever so close to getting it done these past two years but since she's very involved in high school activities and sports, it has been a bit low on the priority list. Now she has decided it is right up there at the top and she flew two flights today in preparation. Her skill set is excellent, but she needs to concentrate for just a short time and get it behind her. Maybe this time will be the right combination of dedication and time available. Our first flight lasted about an hour and topped out at about 4800 feet.

6. With summer not yet on the wane here in the Central Valley, we fully expect more good lift for at least 2-3 months ahead. For those of you who enjoy soaring but are not especially fond of the ground heat, come on out in the next few months. The ambient air is cooling but the thermals show no sign of tapering off. Remember, soaring is one of the best ways to put stress behind you, focus on an enjoyable task, view the earth from above that seems to detach you from any problems down below, and is just a nice, healthy pastime.    more info

1. I know we've said this before but this time it's really more applicable than other days in the past: "You should have been here". You could have experienced lift everywhere and strong, up to and exceeding 1000 feet per minute. There were so many dust devils around the area that you could point the glider in any direction and go up. In fact, Durval got very worried in mid-afternoon that one of the big ones would come through and pick up his Cessna 140, like it did to Allen White's Champ in the past. So he left for home rather than risk it. Wise move since a number of big thermals did move across the runway and launch area after he left.

2. The lift was strong and turbulent. We launched from the northwest end because of a strong southeasterly flow that changed to westerly, then back to southeasterly again. Julie reached 8200 msl, Richard Walker got to 7200, and others reached those ranges. Joe Anastasio came back down rather excited and a bit shaken by the fierceness of the lift up high. It was a small challenge but fun as well. As you can see from the photos, thermals were wide, and narrow, straight up and crooked, smooth and turbulent. It was a day of understanding these wonderful phenomena. No one complained about the lift except perhaps Peter Sahlberg who went up first, too early, and probably just before the trigger temperature hit and everything went wild.

3. Jeff Ploutz and Art Pulley arrived for their first day of formal training. It was quite a day for them to experience, especially on tow so I took control of the tow and let them fly after release. They both did well and having joined the club, they will be back next week for continued training. Here are two young men determined to win their pilot's licenses, and they will if they keep up the pace and enthusiasm they've shown so far.

4. Joe Anastasio worked on the Blanik canopy while he wasn't flying and that help is really appreciated. Joe isn't the maintenance officer any longer but he still has the inclination to help out whenever and wherever he can. Thanks, Joe.

5. Peter Sahlberg worked on the 2-33 seat belts. We bought new belts and they needed installation. He also washed the 1-26 early in the day. Peter missed out on the afternoon lift and being a conscientious soul, he got to work immediately rather than go up flying again. Thanks, Peter.

6. Jeff Lowe was also on hand and had his share of excitement aloft. Jeff is nearing his checkride and soon will be another of our great Licensed Pilots.

7. Julie Butler took the last seven pictures posted here. Thanks for submitting them, Julie. She also drove over to Hanford to pick up b and pack his glider away in the trailer for the return home. She's been crewing for him ever since he started flying hang gliders, and now she's there for him while he tries to fly ever increasing distances in his ASW-20. Morgan's quest is too complicated to post here but he, along with pilots from other bases, most noticeably Hollister, are trying to cross the Central Valley early enough in the day to reach the Sierra, cross that range, then head north to reach Reno, Nevada before sunset. Now that is one heckuva challenge and at least a half dozen pilots are engaged in discussions about the best way of accomplishing that task. I'll keep you posted, as will Morgan over the next few tries.    more info

1. The BASA pilots visited Avenal today for a chance to fly our little glider that could. Daniel Ruegeuner, Don Ingalls, Jim Britton, and Martin Michael. Working with Alex Caldwell, our resident GAPA expert, they learned assembly, and ground school prior to flight. Each had a chance to fly two flights, and upon returning to earth, they were all smiles. It is indeed a fun little glider to fly and we encourage all our members who haven't done so, to come out and fly it. It's not difficult and won't be too much of a challenge for even the lowest time pilots.

2. Several groups of prospective pilots came out to fly a demo flight. Tim Caffee brought his friends, Larry Beiderwell, and Jerry Scilagyi along for moral support but chose to remain earthbound. Jeff Ploutz and Art Pulley arrived from Santa Maria and both had demo flights. Tim Caffee did well off tow early in the day when the thermals weren't quite as good. But he said he enjoyed the flight and might consider getting his glider license.

3. Jeff Ploutz and Art Pulley both had good demo flights. Jeff did really well, thermaling smoothly on his first flight as though he had been doing that for months. Excellent flight and altitude gained. Art had as much fun, not getting quite as high as Jeff, but our flight was graced by a large raven who flew off our wing, then did a split-s away and as he left, he did a few more aerobatics. It was fun to watch and that sort of event happens fairly often at our gliderport. Jeff and Art both indicated they might join the club and work on their licenses. We hope they do and look forward to their being involved in our fun sport.

4. Peter Mersino and Roy Norman arrived in the Cherokee 140 from Fresno Chandler airport. Peter towed today and was excellent during all 16 tows. Roy and I flew together three times, talked soaring, and Roy was able to renew his BFR. Roy was President of the CCSC some years back, then drifted away from glider flying to concentrate on flying Light Sport Aircraft. His return today was welcomed and he said he'd rejoin the club full time and resume his soaring days. Just to show he hasn't lost his touch, he went up solo in Big Bird and was able to log a full hour in the air. Nice going, Roy.

5. Julie Butler drove all the way over from Los Osos just to provide everyone with a hot lunch from the barbeque. Hamburgers and all the fixings were welcomed by all. She didn't even stay to fly, instead left after lunch, back to the Coast. THANKS FOR THE NICE GESTURE AND LUNCH, JULIE!!

6. Morgan Hall also flew the GAPA and had a blast, but not as fulfilling as flying his Duo Discus. If he says differently, we'll give him the GAPA in exchange for the Duo Discus. He mounted a video camera on the GAPA and then posted it to YouTube. You can go directly there from this link.

7. We had a real problem with the golf cart but John Harbick worked on it and after buying a new battery and battery cables, got it working again. THANKS, JOHN, WE REALLY NEED THAT CART. John also went flying twice with Alex, continuing his quest for his Pilot's License which I expect him to get sooner than later.

8. Finally near the end of the day, Mike McClellan showed up. We haven't seen Mike for a very long time and it was good to see him back here. Mike has done huge amounts of work for the club including building all the wood  framework for the six huge blocks of cement that were destined to hold the hangar we were going to erect. As fate would have it, on January 4, 2008 a wind in excess of 70 mph totally destroyed the steel structure we had already erected on those six cement blocks. Mike said he plans to get current once again and resume flying here. Mike is sort of our resident ridge soaring specialist. When he arrives it is often late in the afternoon when the thermals are winding down. He launches in the Blanik and heads for the West Ridge where he soars back and forth for hours. It will be really great to see Mike back here again having fun and not working as hard for the club as he used to.    more info

1. It was just one of those days. No one else showed up to fly except Peter Mersino as tow pilot, my son, Harold, and my granddaughter, Sara. And because it was hot and a bit stuffy, we flew only once with Sara and not with my son who was originally planning on taking at least one flight.

2. Sometimes that happens right in the middle of the summer when vacations and keeping cool take precedence over flying a glider. But Sara had fun, not only flying, but probably more fun was had learning to drive the cart. She did well and later on that weekend could remember only the cart driving and little else, even though we launched over 2000 agl and flew for about half an hour.

3. I see more activity ahead next weekend. The schedule seems to be filling and I know that the BASA and Hollister pilots are planning to come to Avenal to learn to fly the little GAPA. That should be fun for all and I look forward to watching them as they understand both the fun and the limitations of that tiny glider. I'm not sure it can be called a real glider since it has a glider ratio similar to a pet rock. But it will bring smiles to the faces of those fortunate enough to fly it. The sad thing is that few of our members have ever flown it even though it can be handled as easily as a 2-33 or a 1-26. One day we need to devote the entire day to our members who haven't flown it, and get them checked out in it. It's really a kick to fly.    more info

1. Peter would be the first to admit that his add-on rating, achieved today, was a long time coming. I'm not sure how many months ago he began the quest but it wasn't recent. Regardless, he made it happen today and we heartily CONGRATULATE PETER ON HIS NEWEST RATING.

2. Dan Gudgel was the examiner and provided enough hoops for Peter to jump through to insure that Peter would know he didn't just slide through the examination. And just for reinforcement, Dan brought along his oldest son, Garrett, who is currently a student at West Hills College in Lemoore.

3. Pancho Herrera came out today to stay current in his solo flying and managed to fly the 1-26 comfortably both in altitude and in endurance. Unfortunately, Pancho was mostly alone today since very few members showed up to fly. Maybe they were scared off by the possibility of a typical hot day at Avenal.

4. Yes, it was hot today. At lunchtime, it had already heated up to 104 degrees. Later it hit a high of 106 and one cannot be blamed for staying away if the only flying intended is circling in thermals near the field. But cross country soaring should have enticed more of our highly experienced pilots, yet it didn't. Maybe that will change as the heat tops out and begins its steady decline for the Fall.    more info

1. Yes, I forgot my camera. Thankfully, Chris Dexter had hers and did an excellent job of photographing events on the field today. We can't blame her for taking so many pictures of her son, Kevin and husband, David.

2. The Dexter family had shown up at Avenal last week but too late for any demo rides. In fact, they arrived just as Morgan finished disassembling the Duo Discus. They might have had a real treat but for being there 30 minutes too late. The best result is that both father and son got to fly the 2-33 today, the ship in which I hope they continue their glider training. Kevin had two flights today and David had one. I am excited about Kevin since he is in the same class of young and talented student pilots like Jacob Mersino, Jack Wiegand, Hanna Marlette, Andrea Mersino, Makynzee Balucas, et. al. We'll see how that all shapes up.

3. Peter Sahlberg plans on taking his checkride next weekend, so he was out here today flying the 2-33 in preparation. Peter is ready, has been ready, will be ready, as long as he and Dan Gudgel can coordinate the right day and be able to stick with it. Fortunately Dan Gudgel will be retiring from the National Weather Service at the end of July, so regardless of any misconnections now, after that he's available 24/7, at least after we check with Tracy. Peter and I did one flight to see how things are going and as stated, he is ready.

4. Harlow Voorhees once again stepped up and volunteered to do the towing. That is appreciated by all, as is all the efforts put forth by our cadre of tow pilots, most of whom pay money to get to and from Avenal just to tow for free. Thanks all of you for those selfless contributions to the CCSC.    more info

1.Rather than tell you about the day from my perspective, here is what Morgan and Julie had to say:

Especially thank you to Julie for organizing a second event for the enjoyment of the club members and raising a few dollars for the club as well.  We've still got burgers and buns in the freezer, so we are primed for another BBQ any time someone is willing to fire up the grill and do a little planning and cooking.  

I had fun getting the chance to take some VIPs up in the Duo for a quick tour of the valley.  One paraglider/hang glider/power pilot friend of mine came over from the coast to give flying sailplanes a try.  He did well and we thermalled around for nearly an hour before I made us come down to take the next person up.  Maybe he'll join us some day.

Barbara Lambert went up with me next.  Norman and Barbara have been great supporters of the club, helping us acquire Big Bird last year and making it out for events on a regular basis.  It's great to be able to take a spouse up for a new experience.  We released and I climbed us up over 4000 and then took her on a tour into the mountains and north towards Coalinga before circling back to the Kettleman hills.  We finished with a few tight circles over a dust devil in the field to the NW of the airport so she could look down the center of a thermal.

Harold's wife Raphaela went up next with me.  What fun!  Every bump and thermal elicited a squeak of excitement during the tow.  Off tow we connected to the best thermal I had found all day.  A solid 6 knot climb that eventually took us to over 5500.  With that I showed her Black mountain, Castle peak and then after reaching the western reaches of the mountains we flew nearly to Pleasant Valley prison and returned to Avenal down the Kettleman hills.

Norman flew with me last and we launched a little after 4:00pm.  The winds were fairly strong from the North making for some choppy conditions.  I released at 2800 after hitting a strong thermal.  That disappeared and we were sinking like a stone as I ran us back towards the place that had been working all day, just a little NW of the cows.  We secured a thermal there and I had to bank it up on a tip pretty well in the narrow core.  I kept checking with Norm to make sure he was OK with the tight turns, which he seemed to be fine with.  We climbed out to about 4300 and Norm got our radio switched over to the proper frequency to talk with Julie.  She was a few miles to the north so I headed us her way and handed controls over to Norm.  He was worried about being a bit rusty, but had no problems keeping us on track to catch up with Julie.  We flew towards Coalinga about 6 miles or so before getting a bit low on a long line of sink.  We turned back towards the airport and found a thermal to work.  Nearing 3500 in that thermal Norm was ready to return to the airport so we sped back (hitting tons of lift along the way of course) and landed shortly after 5:00pm.  

Thank you to everyone that came out.  It's nice to be able to share gliding and a glider like the Duo with some of our VIP spouses.  They do so much to support us in our activities that giving them a taste of flying is a real treat.

After getting the Duo broken down some new members showed up.  David, his wife Chris, and their son Kevin stopped by on their way home to San Luis Obispo.  Kevin is scheduled to start taking lessons next Saturday with Harold.  We had a nice long chat with them, showed them the club aircraft and got Kevin and David fired up about their coming flights.

As Julie mentioned, the router seems to have died.  Alex alerted me to this, but unfortunately 8:00pm on a Saturday evening isn't a very good time to find a replacement router in Avenal.  So despite having the tools to fix the camera, I was hobbled by a broken router.  I'll order a new router next week and hopefully be able to get the cameras working next weekend before Julie and I are out of town for a couple of weeks.

Morgan

On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 7:18 AM, Julie Butler <juliebutlerpt@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks to everyone who came out to fly and share some food yesterday. Your support of the club is greatly appreciated. A big huge thanks to Pancho for manning the grill and to Bart for all the time he put into cleaning and maintaining the 1-26. Great job! Now that Dave Pilati is off to Airsailing for the rest of summer, I inherited the job of scheduling tow pilots. So far it's been difficult to find people for Saturdays for the rest of July. Thanks a million to Harlow who towed yesterday and is willing to come back out next Saturday, the 10th, to do it again. Please check the scheduler to confirm there is a tow pilot scheduled for days you wish to come out. And please use the scheduler to sign up for when you would like to fly. If there are many people signed up, tow pilots may be more willing to make the drive.

Lastly, Morgan attempted to fix the camera before we left last night. Unfortunately, the router is dead. He is planning on replacing that next weekend, but in the mean time, neither camera will be operational. It's just like old times, when we had to make the drive to see what the weather was like! I will say that Alex's RASP has been dead on the past 2 weeks. It's a great tool to use for your planning.

Happy 4th to you all. Have a great week and hopefully we will see you out next weekend.

Julie

2. My granddaughter, Sara, stayed with us all summer and wanted to visit Avenal for a glider ride. She did that and had a wonderful time all day, helping out by watering the grass and eating the barbeque lunch.

3. Russ Davis thought a glider ride would be a nice birthday present for his wife, Sammie. About a month before, we arranged it, and after nearing Avenal, Russ finally told Sammie what was in store for her. She is a real trooper and loved the ride. We hope they come back soon to enjoy our surroundings and perhaps this time Russ will take a ride.

4. Bill Campbell arrived early today in his Light Sport Aircraft, a Valor. Bill is the owner of an LSA operation at the Chandler Airport in Fresno. Anyone interested in flying a Valor should contact Bill at Memley Aviation, 559-233-5165. I owe that plug to Bill because he came out here today, stayed all day, helped out when needed, and it was so busy, he never got a chance to fly with me. And I've been after him for months to visit. Sorry about the day, Bill, and we hope you make a return trip for a nice glider ride.

5. John Harbick continues his training with Alex Caldwell. He is very determined and fortunately he is consistent by coming out each weekend and flying. That will help get him to solo sooner.

6. Jeff Lowe is practicing for his checkride by flying the 2-33 and staying away from the tempting flight in the 1-26. I expect Jeff will take that checkride sometime before the end of August. Good luck, Jeff, and hang in there.

7. Bart Klusek in the 1-26 and Julie Butler in the DG 100 flew good flights, staying up for long periods of time and running up and down the Temblor Range just to the west of Avenal.

8. Pancho Herrera completed enough solo flights in the 2-33 to qualify flying the 1-26. After the obligatory ground checkout, his takeoff was excellent as was his landing, witnessed and appreciated by Morgan Hall. Congrats, Pancho.

9. Thanks to our two tow pilots, Allen White and Harlow Voorhees, who stayed all day and between them amassed more than 25 tows. It was a good day for all who visited Avenal and we only wish others had come out to enjoy not only the great soaring conditions, but the wonderful camaraderie as well. That's what makes our club so enjoyable. Good soaring, good friends, and often good food.    more info

1. After a long wait, Julie finally brought her DG 100 to Avenal and had several excellent flights over the weekend. Here is her email to me:

Harold-

Hope you are feeling better today. You guys were taking off when I landed yesterday. After that horrible take off, I had my longest solo flight at 2.6 hours. I'm in love with my new plane.

Mel towed today and I had 2 flights, both with much better take offs than Saturday's. The first flight, I got out of position and didn't like where the rope was so I released at 1500 and made a bee line straight in on 13. Solid landing and was able to roll back to the launch area and get turned around to go up again. The second tow was much easier and I was able to find lift up to 5300. I finally made it out to Black Mountain, but didn't stay too long. I chickened out and had to return to the safety of the airport fields. Flew for just under 2 hours.

Morgan, Dave, and Andy are still up somewhere in the mountains. Alex just landed in the 1-26. Pretty good day with thermal tops about 5000 in the valley and what sounds like 8K in the mountains. I'm sure Morgan will send you a report tonight.

I'll be out next Sunday, so if I don't see you then, it will be 2 weeks.

Take care,

Julie

2. John Harbick joined the club and came out today for his first formal instructional flight with Alex Caldwell. He did very well, enjoyed the experience, and plans to go all the way to his Pilot's License. That's good news, John, and we look forward to pinning those wings on you when the time comes.

3. I flew Big Bird today, the first flight after some maintenance issues were resolved. New horizontal tail feathers, and some touch up paint improved the look and feel of our newest addition to the fleet. I suggest you fly it next chance you get. The trim is really excellent, the cushions are comfortable, and the cockpit baffles are a major improvement over the Orange Crush bare insides.

4. Peter Mersino volunteered to fly the tow plane today. He arrived in the Cherokee 140, and towed all day. We really appreciate his efforts and the efforts of all the power pilots who volunteer their time, (and money), to come out and take us all aloft.

5. James Beckman arrived today after being away for several weekends so we flew a refresher flight. Although a bit rusty, he hasn't lost the skills he has developed over his instructional time.

6. Allen White, Dave Pilati, Joe Anastasio, Andy Reistetter, Pancho Herrera, and Richard Walker all flew today, most enjoying the day with lift that kept us all aloft until late in the day.    more info

1. Peggy Harbick decided to give hubby, John, a birthday gift of a glider flight. This was the weekend and both Peggy and John, Peggy's parents, John and Van Reynolds arriving for the day. John was first aloft and afterwards said he was "hooked". He and Alex Caldwell had a great flight of nearly an hour, gaining altitude almost at will. Apparently John was at the controls much of the flight and it seems he is headed for a license in gliders. We hope so and wish him well if he does make that decision. He'd make a great club member.

2. Peggy's Dad, John Reynolds, was next and he, too, enjoyed a nice long demo flight. I doubt John Reynolds will take up soaring as a hobby but one never knows. It might be fun for both of them to do it together.

3. Bart Klusek had an interesting first flight, taking off on runway 31, staying low, and finally releasing and landing in the field just to the northwest of the airport. Seems the dive brakes were open on takeoff and prevented a rapid climb to an altitude from which he could either return to the gliderport or continue on soaring. We towed the glider back through the soft dirt, through a very NARROW fence gate, and back onto the field. Never one to quit, Bart immediately launched again and had a great second flight. I'm sure Bart will keep this landout in mind each and every time he launches in the future.

4. Morgan Hall and Julie Butler assembled the Duo Discus and launched on a multi-hour flight up and down the Temblor Range just to the west of the gliderport. Here is their summary:

We had a 4.5 hour or so flight. After a late start, we were able to get up to about 8K over Black Mountain and head west to the convergence. There were some nice cloud markers down California Valley which we followed all the way to Mt. Pinos. I hooked a thermal at the south end of CA Valley and took us up to 12,600.
We connected with Ramy who was on his way back from Mojave and flew with him back up the valley with a much harder time getting above 7K. Once we got back to 41/46 split Morgan got us back up to 8K or so in a thermal and we went back to Black Mountain for a little bit. Everything was shutting down over the mountains by then. We didn't find much out over the valley, so came back in to land and realized neither the Blanik nor the Orange Crush were on the ground. We finally spotted Pancho and Bart and flew back up to take some video of them. Morgan will have that available at some point. Pancho was looking pretty happy about his 2+ hour flight! Pretty awesome. It's too bad not more people came out. It was a really awesome day to get up high and stay up for a long time.   Julie

5. Pancho Herrera flew the Orange Crush for a nice long flight that just might have been his highest and longest to date. He's coming along nicely and will be taking his checkride this summer.

7. We finally got the tail feathers of Big Bird finished, having been recovered and painted. Now that glider is available and we're back to two Schweizers.

8 It was another very warm day with the density altitude reaching 3500 feet.

9. Thanks to Harlow Voorhees for his continued assistance as our busiest tow pilot.

10. The next day, Alex Caldwell had a LONG flight in the 2-33. Here is his story: I flew on Sunday in the Orange Crush for a butt crunching 6 hour flight. Ramy Yanetz had landed at Avenal on Saturday, and spent the night at the clubhouse after a very long flight from Hollister to Mojave and back.   Morgan arranged with Peter Mersino to tow him on Sunday so he could get back to Hollister (of course he went way south again from Avenal before going back to Hollister).  I decided to come out and take advantage of Peter being available to tow.  The RASP was predicting an even better day than Saturday (which was a good day), with a convergence line marked by cu's and altitudes of 10,000 ft near Avenal and 12,000+ to the south.   I had my flight recorder working this time and got 27th for the day in the U.S in the OLC. Not too bad for a 2-33.  Of course, the OLC classic rewards physical endurance and staying up as long as humanly possible, while making some kind of progress over the ground over everything else. Speed is really kind of secondary.  With the handicap, you can do well in any glider, as long as you can stand to stay up that long. We took off at 12:30.  There was a good convergence line that was displaying cu's before noon. But I never could connect to the clouds with the 2-33,  as they were way west of Avenal, over the ridge west of Parkfield by the time I got up. I wasted a lot of time at the beginning of the flight trying to get up on top of Black Mtn. thinking I might be able to get to the clouds. But later I found that I could make more distance because of a better altitude AGL, by staying over the valley along hwy 33 and was getting quite high, even though it was blue.  I got to just over 10,000ft over the Darcy Strip area at the high point.   My OLC strategy was to make as many "Yo-Yo" legs to the N and S as I could, centered on the house thermal over the Tank and Barn near Avenal. As the conditions got better, I went N. to Coalinga and S. to 33/41 two different times. As the lift got weaker near the end of the day, I made the legs shorter to make sure I got back to Avenal. With the glide computer, I could stretch the legs further than I would if I was just using my Mark I eyeballs, but still have a generous safety margin to get back to the field with certainty. 

The flight trace is here if anybody is interested:

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1311682    more info

1. Contest results can be found by clicking here. The team of Ginny Farnsworth and Rick Indrebo won the overall contest. Peter Deane, a perennial high finisher in our past annual contests, placed second. And Dave Greenhill placed third. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE COMPETITORS WHO TOOK PART AND WE HOPE TO SEE ALL OF YOU AGAIN NEXT YEAR. THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION.

2. It truly was a great week. The soaring was excellent every day of the contest and everyone enjoyed the competition. It's nice when the gliders all get high and the thermals are strong each day. It was indeed one of those Chamber of Commerce days for the Avenal Contest. Let's hope that next year is even better.

3. I don't have a lot to report about the contest since I didn't cover it in detail. I was busy with demo rides and instructional flights for Friday and Saturday. I didn't participate in Sunday's contest day but it went well for all. For more detail see the contest results.

4. George Powell, once an active member of our club, came out on Saturday and we flew together for the first time in a few years. When George was active, he had earned his commercial glider rating add-on and did well enough to earn his Bronze Badge. But other priorities and a more comfortable life in Baja California, Mexico, took him away from the soaring scene. He still spends most of the year in Baja and so his great flight today may not be enough to bring him back to soaring in a more active sense. But one never knows. Our flight lasted about one and a half hours, and topped 6200 msl. He agreed it was surely worth the effort to revisit Avenal again. And each time we snagged an 8 knot thermal, I could tell he was smiling as we gained altitude in a hurry.

5. My next flight was with Peter Sahlberg. Peter wasn't sure that there would be any lift since we were going to launch after 6:00 pm. But he didn't remember the Avenal effect and how the lift actually gets better in late afternoon and early evening. Sure enough, we snagged strong thermals and ultimately reached over 6200 msl nearly an hour after George and I reached the same height. In fact the only reason we came down is that my butt was getting sore and the dinner was getting cold. If we hadn't come down then we would have missed a nice barbeque dinner, where the main course was steak prepared deliciously by Pancho Herrera.

6. Without getting into details, the pilots of this year's contest were an exceptional group of great men and women. We enjoyed them all each evening after the day's task had been completed. Those are some of the best times one could spend with a fellow pilot after the tough competition ends. We really enjoy having our annual contest just because it brings out the best in glider pilots from all over the Western U.S. Maybe next year we'll have even more than this year. Thanks to everyone who made this Annual Contest such an enjoyable time for all. The camaraderie was overwhelming.  more info

1. CONGRATULATIONS TO CHRIS KARAPOSTOLES. He earned his Commercial Glider Rating today. For him that makes so many different aircraft and helicopter ratings that the FAA is probably going to have to issue him two separate plastic licenses just to list all the ratings he's amassed in his short flying career. Darn good pilot, too.

2. It was one of those unusual days when the soaring was excellent all up and down the Temblor range but few pilots showed up. Not sure why. They certainly would have enjoyed the soaring up in the cool air and probably higher than they are used to flying. Maybe they'll start coming out in the ensuing weekends. Hope so.

3. Mario and Bart were out today, both flying in the mountains and getting lift everywhere. Too bad they weren't joined by more club members. Steve Schery towed, then had time to fly his Discus.

4. Jeff Lowe also had a great flight, long and high and he was all smiles when he returned. Jerry Badal came out late in the day and hesitated about launching so late. But we convinced him and up he went in the 1-26. Yes, he had a great flight, too, and anyone who flew today had fun for hours.

5. Julie and Morgan assembled the Duo Discus and headed for the mountains. As usual they were still aloft when I left for home. Waiting for them is a long affair. They always seem to find lift, even where one would expect none to be found. But today, like others, they had no trouble remaining aloft for whatever time they chose. See the photos they took from the cockpit of the Duo Discus.  more info

1. Although not as many folks showed up as we would have liked, those who did attend had a great time, and good food. There were a few club members who donated their time and money. Julie Butler headed up the day, organizing the effort and putting in a lot of time to make everything enjoyable for the members who attended. Thanks Julie.

2. As you can see from the photos, there were quite a few sailplanes aloft including our regular members and a surprise visit by Al Leffler, a long time member of our club and one of the airport stockholders. Nice to see Al here again and he had a really good flight, up mostly between 8500 and 9000 msl.

3. The Snyder Family arrived about noon, set up a picnic table and celebrated John Snyder's birthday with a gift glider ride from his wife, Julie. John's father and mother were on hand, Jim and Mabel, as well as Julie's dad, Charles Meyer. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves on our patio and watching the glider operations. Unfortunately John's ride wasn't quite as long as I had hoped. The fickle nature of soaring weather made its presence known today. About an hour after John and I went up, another ride in the 2-33 produced about an hour flight. It's frustrating but something over which we have very little control.

4. James Beckman did very well during his training flights today. He managed to snag a whole series of good thermals, most of which were 4 knots and above. He's getting near to solo flight and I suspect it may come within the next two weekends. He's progressing nicely.

5. Chris Karapostoles is practicing for his upcoming checkride, now scheduled for May 8 in the morning. He's a talented young man who flies for the U.S. Navy, having recently returned from combat flying in Afghanistan. I know Chris will do well on his testing.

6. Just a note to all of you who couldn't make it to Avenal today. The steak, prepared and cooked by Pancho Herrera was absolutely delicious. I think I could have consumed much of what he cooked but I graciously allowed others to partake of that juicy, mouth-watering, repast.

7. Andrea Mersino put on a show for us this evening. She commandeered a pogo stick and did quite well, staying on, and going airborne each time, as you can see in the photo.

8. Paul Hanson brought his good friend, Juhani Smith, out to Avenal today. Later on they both went aloft in the Blanik for a nice flight to the mountains.

9. Lest you think that Pancho Herrera was just the chef for today, he flew the 2-33 solo and had one of his better flights, snagging and remaining in some pretty good thermals. Nice going, Pancho, and thanks for that great steak.

10. Alex Caldwell and I flew three flights early this morning for my Biennial Flight Review, a necessary two-year ritual that is required even of Flight Instructors who are teaching all year long. more info

Julie Butler says:  Club Day

Come out and bring some friends for a day of great flying. The weather has been beautiful and the days are getting longer. We will have a 50/50 drawing. Tickets are $1; $5 will get you 6 tickets. Half of the pot goes into the club coffers for expenses and the other half is cash to the winner. Drawing will happen at dinner and you do not need to be present to win. Demo flights will be available all day to introduce people to our sport. We will be having a spot landing contest running all day with the winner announced at dinner. There will be a BBQ dinner for $10 to conclude the day. Food will be ready around 5:30PM so please RSVP by April 28th with the number of guests so we can be sure to have enough food.

1. It was a busy day because the FAA is launching a nationwide program to inspect Experimental aircraft and the associated paperwork. We were pleased to have John Jensen and Bjorn Beijens out today looking at all the experimental gliders domiciled on the airport. As one looked around, it seemed like either we were having a parade of gliders or the weather was so fantastic that everyone showed up to fly. Neither of those was true, but since the gliders needed to be assembled for the FAA inspection, most of the pilots elected to fly. The day wasn't fantastic but those who wanted to remain aloft and tour the mountains were able to do so.

2. Alex Caldwell and the Boy Scouts were out again today. Alex started the day by auto launching, being pulled by the Scout Leader, Dr. Robert Bell, in his Suburban. It worked reasonably well with altitudes around the 400 agl mark. The boys seemed happy with the chance to take at least three flights each and were on the field most of the day. We are happy to have them as part of our group and hope to see them back again soon. Here's what Alex had to say:

Hi Harold,  Here are some pictures of the Scouts that went flying on Saturday. They are from Troop 235 in Tulare. This same troop has been coming almost every year since about 1983 when we were still flying at Sequoia Field in Visalia.   The first picture is Dr. Robert Bell, the Scout leader. He is an oral surgeon from Tulare. He is an ideal auto tow driver, since one of his favorite hobbies is drag racing, and some of the skill set needed for driving the auto tow vehicle seems to carry over from his drag racing skills.   He has a car he calls the "Grey Ghost" and he says he might let us try auto towing behind it one of these days. The boys had a great time. We did 10 auto tows. Most of them got 2 auto tows and each got one aero tow. Since we were able to fly in the afternoon, they all got to catch at least one thermal. Some of them have been back several times since they have been in the scouts, and have actually become pretty good at flying by now. Scott who is actually not in the scout troop officially yet, because he is only 10, is bugging his dad to let him join the club and start taking soaring lessons.    Alex

3. John Vander Schuur shocked us all by returning to Avenal for the first time in over five years. Jon soloed on July 20, 2002, then earned his Private Pilot's license on March 6, 2004. He last flew on January 29, 2005 then disappeared until today. We're happy to have him back and this time he brought his 13 yr old daughter, Kayla, along for her first glider ride. She seems really interested in learning to fly gliders and might just be the next young person to learn and solo a glider on her 14th birthday. Let's hope she keeps the dream alive and that any budget considerations are met with no difficulty.

4. Morgan Hall conducted a CCSC Board meeting covering some issues of great concern for the club. Remember that, as a CCSC member, you are encouraged to attend these Board meetings to keep in touch with what's going on in the club. For the items covered, contact Morgan or any other Board member.

5. Dan Gudgel was out here today checking out Mel Council as one of our new and valued tow pilots. Mel will have more time available than some of our other volunteers, especially when school ends in June and he has the summer off. Mel will definitely make a difference in tow pilot dependability for more than just Saturday and Sunday.

6. Joe Anastasio opted for his first ride in the Duo Discus. Morgan invited Joe and it didn't take long for Joe to accept. (A millisecond?). They had a nice long flight throughout the mountains and for a period about 3 hours plus. I hope Joe isn't spoiled because of that. I think he still likes the Blanik for his own flying.

7. I finally flew GD. more info

1. I wasn't sure a safety meeting was necessary based on the overall safety record here at Avenal. So when Morgan and Harlow suggested we have one I was not entirely convinced. But after hearing all the great input from the participants and the suggestions for safer operation, I now know that the meeting was valuable and timely and cleared the air on numerous issues on which there had been confusion developing over the years and among newer members. Thanks Morgan and Harlow for a valuable seminar. BTW, Julie Butler videotaped the seminar and will be making it available to our members who were unable to make it here this morning. Look for her announcement soon.

2. Bart Klusek went up early in the Blanik, caught some good strong thermals, and remained aloft for just over an hour. He was our good sniffer and all those who followed found lift fairly quickly.

3. Darren Council arrived with his Dad, Mel. After the safety meeting, we took the Orange Crush and headed aloft. The first flight was mostly maneuvers and he did very well on those. The second flight was exceptional. He had no real experience in thermaling but with just a little demonstration and some talking during his efforts, he thermalled very well, gaining altogether 2400 feet of altitude and we were aloft just about 45 minutes. That was quite a nice accomplishment for a student with only 7 flights in his logbook. And we gained rapidly, getting up to 4750 quickly. So we decided to abandon that thermal and do some sightseeing, heading to the mountains near Tar Canyon and giving Darren some time to enjoy the altitude he earned for himself.

4. Pancho Herrera had the Orange Crush after Darren and took advantage of the beautiful day to launch twice. The first flight was his initial unsupervised solo after first soloing two weeks ago and the highest solo tow ever. The first flight found him a bit rusty on tow, but the second not only smoothed out the towing but he gained a few hundred feet of altitude and was quite proud of his accomplishment, as he deserved to be.

5. James Beckman arrived here with Morgan and Julie prepared to follow on from his previous excellent flights. Last time out James "got" the tow and he was hoping that today, he hadn't lost it since then. The first flight might have discouraged another, but James was determined to regain that "key" to towing well. The second flight was his usually good skill at towing and from then on, he simply knew for sure that he had it down pat. On the third flight after a few necessary maneuvers, James snagged a good thermal and that was the beginning of a flight nearly one hour long. He really learned more during that process than in any other way. He had to "wear" the glider like a glove, feeling its inputs, reacting appropriately, and holding his controls steady and sure. He did all that and more, thermaling for nearly an hour under difficult conditions. He was "scratching", as we say, meaning that none of the lift he was using came easily. He really enjoyed the challenge and the learning process. He may very well solo within the next 2 or 3 flights.

6. We had a good turnout of the high performance glider pilots. Mario Crosina, Rich Miller, Steve Schery, Andy Reistetter, Dave Pilati, Morgan Hall, Julie Butler, and Bruce Patton. Most of them worked their way around the mountain including Black Mountain and Castle Peak. Some went down towards Paramount Farms and others went north of Coalinga. All had good flights with some as long as 4.5 hours. Altitudes were in the 5000 msl range.

7. Remember that this time of year is excellent soaring weather. Even though the predictions sometimes don't get it right, they are correct more often than not. Use Alex Caldwell's RASP forecast since it is the most accurate for the mountains north and south of Avenal. Don't miss out on the wonderful soaring weather we have here in Avenal. We also have great club members who enjoy the camaraderie of visiting everywhere on the gliderport, but especially on the patio. See you next time. more info

1. It might have been good up in the wave, but the strong and gusty winds on the ground made the tow pilots a bit skeptical about towing. So they chose not to. Probably a good decision but disappointing to those who would have had fun up there.

2. A lot of visiting and camaraderie went on during the day while most hunkered down inside the clubhouse to avoid the wind chill factor. With gusts to 21 knots and the temp initially in the low 50's, it was a very cold morning. The wind subsided as the day wore on but never stopped entirely. At least in the afternoon most of us got out of the clubhouse and began doing some outside work. Meanwhile, the guys who depend on the water heater and those who sympathize with them got to work on determining what went wrong with the water heater. They finally fixed it and we have Rich Miller, Bark Klusek, Joe Anastasio, and Steve Schery to thank for making hot water again.

3. Morgan went to work as soon as the wind slowed a bit, and using his weed whacker, trimmed all the high grass around the clubhouse area. Thanks, Morgan.

4. Richard Walker's family showed up thinking they were going to go for a glider ride today. I hope they didn't drive all the way down from Merced but if they did, ... ouch. I hope they try again when the weather is less windy and more liftable ( is that a word? My spell check doesn't think so .. neither does Merriam-Webster).

5. On Saturday, April 17, at 10:00 am, we're having a Safety Seminar put on by the FAA represented by Harlow Voorhees, our club member. It should be of interest to all our pilots so if you can arrange your schedule to be here, it will be worth your effort. Harlow is an exceptionally good public speaker and you'll enjoy his presentation and usually good anecdotes. more info

1. He made sure he was focused enough to get the job done in a short time. From the time he showed up at Avenal and began training until solo today the interval was remarkably short. Pancho Herrera definitely was a determined pilot. Although it was a choppy tow day, he managed to hang in there, keep it in line, and earned the solo release. CONGRATULATIONS, PANCHO !!

2. Chris Karapostoles was back again, finally, from combat flying in Afghanistan. He earned combat ribbons with several hundred flights over the fighting there. Nice going, Chris, and we're glad to have you back in one piece. Now for the hard part ... getting your glider add-on rating. That should make your tour of Afghanistan look like a child's sleepover night.

3. Austin Coovert brought another Lemoore pilot out to Avenal to introduce him to the joys of flying gliders. Tyler Moore and Austin are from the same squadron and we hope Austin keeps on bringing his fellow pilots out to Avenal until the entire squadron has been here and signed up. That includes the Squadron Commander and Exec. That may be a bit harder to accomplish but who knows how convincing Austin can be. So far, two out of two, and he's going for more.

4. Some of the fiberglass/aluminum racers went aloft. Most stayed up for several hours, near cloud base at 5000 msl. It wasn't exactly a Chamber of Commerce day at Avenal for soaring but those pilots made a day of it. Mario, Rich Miller, and Dave Pilati salvaged a nice afternoon out of a grey day.

5. It sure was nice to see Sherri Demsky again. More recent members might not remember that Sherri and husband, Jon, used to cook for us every Saturday on the patio. The lunches were delicious, and often were good enough to qualify for a restaurant dinner, except for the white table cloths. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have many of those lunches really miss that treat every time we note these Saturdays without them.

6. Morgan Hall was up a Minden, NV this week learning how to fly in the Sierra Wave. He managed a flight to 25,800 msl on one day. Here's his story:

 more info

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. more info

1. It turned out to be a very busy day, although the on-line scheduler showed just a few flights reserved. By time I got there, the Boy Scouts had already been there and were beginning to fly in the 2-33. They were trying to do an auto launch but the rope broke on the first attempt of the day and that closed out any chance to continue that way. They did keep on flying most of the day in between scheduled flights shown on the on-line scheduler. Alex Caldwell is the organizer of these Scout outings each year and does a huge favor to the boys for not only flying each of them, but also for seeking ways to keep the costs down for each tow.

2. Peter Sahlberg is nearing his checkride and needed a review of his progress in preparing for the ride. We went up twice and noted areas of improvement, none of which were ride busters. Peter worked harder than anyone the rest of the day in charge of the launch line, chasing ropes, hooking up gliders, directing traffic on a very busy day. Near the end of the day, Peter got his well-deserved ride in the Duo Discus. After that he again took the Orange Crush aloft for more practice. Thanks for all that launch line work you performed, Peter. Everyone out there was grateful for your input.

3. It was a busy day overall with more than 30 people present on the field during the day. It was great to see such a nice turnout of members and guests. And we had a goodly number of guests. Just ask Morgan who flew and flew and flew what must have seemed like everyone in the Central Valley that showed up for a demo ride in the Duo Discus.

4. Darren Council flew three training flights and gained skill on each flight. He took more of the tow each time and he will be a solo pilot sooner than even he realizes. At 14 years young, he'll join the ranks of others who soloed in their 14th year and go on to get their license and who knows after that. Two of ours are currently at the Air Force Academy after following a similar path. Keep up the good work, Darren. We're all proud of you.

5. Dad, Mel Council, flew two flights with Alex Caldwell in the Orange Crush in order to begin his application as a CCSC tow pilot. Alex reports that Mel did the entire tow unassisted and that was amazing because so few people actually get the idea of the tow on the first flight. We look forward to having Mel and son in our club. Mel is a very well rounded individual, holding a Flight Instructor license in power, an A&P rating, and a Teaching Certificate. He'll be most helpful as we grow our club and look to Mel and others for direction and good input.

6. Dave Pilati, Andy Reistetter, and Steve Schery all flew their fiberglass sailplanes today, keeping the tow planes busy.

7. Jeff Lowe is also nearing his checkride and flew the 1-26 twice with tows up to 4800 msl. On the second flight he did find some reasonable lift and had more fun than the first flight.

8. Joe Anastasio and Bart Klusek flew together in the Blanik, twice, and managed to remain in weak lift for a nice duration flight.

9. Julie Butler flew the 1-26 and continues to keep sharp in anticipation of taking delivery of her DG100 sometime next month. That should be fun for her. Maybe she'll paint the glider with flowers, or at the least a few nice appliqués for effect.

10. Jerry Badal and Mario Crosina were on hand, just helping everyone on the launch or assembly line, but neither flying their own sailplanes.

11. Scott Naumann arrived in his Cessna 180, flew with Morgan, then in the 1-26, and finally left for home in late afternoon.

12. By all accounts the day belonged to Morgan Hall. I think he flew everyone he could in the Duo Discus, and encouraged others to come out for demo rides. His friends from the Coast contributed to the nice crowd at Avenal today. But Morgan earned applause with his continuing performance in the Discus, hoping out only once for a Nature call. Here is his report:

"If you've ever wondered what a day in the life of an Instructor might be like, I hope I can add some insight.  On Saturday March 20th, I invited a number of friends out for a demo flight in the Duo Discus.  These were all "hot prospects" for joining us as members and I hoped a chance to experience soaring in the Duo might set the hook.