Friday, December 21, 2012

Scholarship Winner


Congratulations to Darren Council. He is the recipient of the 2013 CCSC Youth Scholarship. Darren has been training at Avenal for a couple of years when school and money allows. This $500 will hopefully enable him to complete his training an obtain his private pilot's license this year. Darren states:
"My love of aviation is driving me towards a career in instructing, and commercial flying, and my desire after meeting some of these goals are to do some humanitarian flying in third world countries for the red cross. In all, aviation is my future, and I cannot wait for the future."
Congratulations and we look forward to seeing you back on the field.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Facing the sun

As a soaring pilot you know how important it is to identify thermal sources and triggers.  Early or late in the day the sun is at a low angle and the difference in heating can be quite substantial from a surface angled towards the sun or away.

I was checking some ceiling temperatures, to test insulation in the new roof, with an infrared thermometer and looked out onto my roof and wondered what the temperature difference would be.

The first picture is the South side of the roof.  Angled nearly straight at the sun at high noon in December.  The second is the North side of the roof.  Angled maybe 40 degrees away from the sun.  The difference is nearly 60 degrees.

Think about that the next time it is late in the day and you're trying to find something to get yourself home.


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Sunday December 2, Engine Removal Party

WEATHER
Visibility: 10+ miles
Wind: SW
Altitudes: 780
Time Aloft: 0
Max Lift: 0 - but wave overhead
Temperature:  63
Comment:  No flying, towplane out for maintenance and engine removal.
Tow pilot:


The decision to overhaul the engine is done.  We are going with Lycon for a number of reasons.  They are close by and are one of the best engine builders in the country.  They aren't the cheapest, but they aren't the most expensive either.  We'll be without our own towplane for a few months.  It's the best time of year to suffer this fate, but it still sucks and I'm doing what I can to try to coordinate options.

Here is a small library of pictures from the engine removal today.  Looked like a good wave day aside from the moisture that came in with the rain.

Morgan