Saturday, August 1, 2015

WEATHER
Visibility: Unlimited
Wind: Slightly from the southeast most of the day.
Altitudes: Above 4000 msl.
Time Aloft: More than an hour.
Max Lift: 6 knots
Temperature: About 100+ most of the day.
Comment: Carrollann's demo flight.
Tow pilot: Jim Rickey.

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The weather was clear, hot, and lift could be found almost anywhere around the field but especially west-northwest of the IP. There was just one demo flight and a few private ships launched but the day was slow and the weather made pilots feel just a bit lazy.

First flight of the day belongs to Roman Franco whose last training flight was April 11th, this year. So with that long a layoff, the first flight was expected to be in less control than he has demonstrated in the past. It was a bit difficult both on tow and off, but his second flight was so much better, it surprised me. His skill set returned quickly and if he continues to come out on a regular basis you can be sure he'll solo in no time.

Roman Franco ready for his refresher flight after a four month layoff.

A quiet day at Avenal with very few launches or training flights.

Roman heading to the IP for his landing pattern for runway 13.

Mike Paoli and his son drove to Bend, Oregon, and purchased a Libelle. It looks to be in beautiful condition with all sorts of clever additions to the storage mechanisms inside the trailer. As best as I could see, the condition of the wings and the fuselage was excellent and Mike should have a lot of fun flying it. He had Martin Caskey look it over but Mike did not plan on flying it today. That's probably going to be next week sometime. We've had a number of Libelle's on the field over the years and all the owners have enjoyed flying that nice, docile but good performing glider.

Mike Paoli and Martin Caskey examine Mike's newly purchased Libelle.

Sergio Grajeda came out again this weekend for his third training flight. Sergio is one of the few Avenal residents who have taken an interest in soaring. The first was Matt Demsky who came out just to watch, then started helping, then began taking lessons, then soloed. In the interim we've had a few who showed some interest in soaring but had difficulty affording even the lowest cost to them. Perhaps now Sergio will take the training all the way to his license and represent Avenal well. Later on in the day, Sergio wanted to fly again so I arranged for him to fly with Alex. It's good for students to fly with different instructors once in awhile just to see how each explains and trains the student. It's really important for the student and the instructor to be "in sync" with one another and if the first instructor doesn't sync well with the student, he/she should try another instructor. Since we have three CFIG's on the field, the student has a reasonable choice.

A couple from Fresno, Joachim and Carrollann, arrived about 11:00 am and waited a bit before heading off into town for some lunch. They came back again, and were scheduled to fly at 1:00 pm with Alex. When he arrived they all headed towards the launch line and went through the necessary preparations for flight. While I wasn't present when they landed, my guess is that she really enjoyed the flight.

Carrollann waited patiently for Alex to arrive, then had fun flying a glider for the first time.

Joachim and Jim Rickey check something on the cell phone before Carrollann's flight.

Alex is giving Carrollann detailed instructions on how to fly the glider using stick and rudder.

The day probably ended early although Joe Anastasio was still flying when I left at 3:00 pm. He was in the air several hours by that time so he must have enjoyed the flight. If he sends me his notes I"ll include them in an update to this story.

Joe submitted his notes and here's what he said:

Saturday I flew for an hour, got to 4700 msl over the foothills.  For some reason the heat was really bugging me, so I came in.  It was rather warm at altitude, 75 to 80 deg.

See you next weekend.

Harold Gallagher

Saturday, July 25, 2015 - Supplement

WEATHER
Visibility: Unlimited
Wind: Light and variable
Altitudes: 8000+
Time Aloft: 3 hours+
Max Lift: 6 knots
Temperature: 100+
Comment: Dust devils everywhere.
Tow pilot: Julie Butler

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It looked to be a busy day, beginning with Skip Breidbach flying with Alex Caldwell at 10 am. But for some reason, Alex couldn't make it that early, and so, not wanting to waste the morning, Skip grabbed his high-tech camera equipment and began taking great photos, most of which are shown below.

Since Skip's flight was delayed, Harry Davies and I went aloft to get Harry back into the groove of good glider flight control. Of course, that didn't take long, and now Harry is dedicated to moving forward to get his commercial add-on rating. And that should be straightforward for him.

Harry Davies heading back to the IP after a good refresher flight.

 Tommy Smith came out today after joining the club some months ago and unfortunately hearing nothing about his membership. He brought his lovely lady, Robin, with him and it was her turn for a first time glider flight. She had fun, loved the bumps and the smooth, after-tow, flying. Maybe she'll do it again sometime.

Morgan Hall with Tommy Smith and his lady, Robin, waiting for Robin's turn to fly.

Richard Walker managed to squeeze in a short flight arriving back at Avenal about 1:30 pm.

Richard Walker turning final for runway 31 at Avenal.

 John Harbick, our great volunteer line manager, helps Robin buckle in for her first glider flight.

John Harbick helping Robin get buckled in for her first glider flight.

 It looks like Skip Breidbach will finally get his training flight done with Alex Caldwell. It was a bit hot waiting around for the Orange Crush but the air aloft was cooler so he didn't mind it too much.

Skip Breidbach chatting with Alex Caldwell while waiting for their turn with the Orange Crush.

Sergio Grajeda, an Avenal resident, taking his second glider training flight. In fact, it was only his second time in an airplane ever and he was amazed by how different everything looked like from above. Sergio did very well off tow, learning the necessary maneuvers each step of the way to his solo flight one day.

Sergio Grajeda about to launch on his second glider flight and second time aloft ever.

Jeff Richardson taking his daughter Amelie for a glider ride.

Jeff's wife and neighbor friend, Blair wait their turn to fly.

Andrew Ouellet launches into the lift and the heat, the heat being the most onerous.

Returning after a very nice, and long flight in good lift.

Richard Walker launching for about an hour long flight.

Now it's Blair's turn for his first glider flight with Jeff piloting.

Ethan Ronat waiting on the launch line for his turn aloft.

Julie Butler doing a great job of towing during a rather hot day and numerous tows.

Morgan Hall launching with Christian Heidgerd in the back seat.

Christian agreed that he really learned a lot flying with Morgan in the Duo.

Harold taking Robin for her first glider ride in bumpy, hot air that made her a bit uncomfortable.

Alex Caldwell on landing after a nice long demo flight.

Alex passenger enjoyed the flight and probably ended too soon.

And that ended the day of soaring where new people enjoyed the experience of first time glider passengers and our members enjoyed their own flights in private aircraft or club ships. It's always fun to fly at Avenal.

Harold Gallagher

August 1, 2015

WEATHER
Visibility:         Hazy with a little smoke from the wildfires.
Wind:             Light.  Most gusts recorded were in the 5-9 MPH range, one gust recorded at 16 MPH.
Altitudes:        6000' ± MSL
Time Aloft:     Nobody was up for a long time today.
Max Lift:        8 knots
Temperature:   Hot.
Comment:       A slow, low-key (and hot!) but good day.
Tow pilot:       Jim

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It was a hot day; 80°F before 8:00 AM. 90°F a few minutes after 10 AM, and 100°F or more from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.  Beat the forecasts by a considerable margin.  Dewpoints were in the 50s all day. 

No doubt the hot temperatures and the soaring forecast that the previous few days that did not look very good kept the turnout low.  But the lift was better than forecast, and everybody who did fly found lift.

Early in the day the lift was good just two fields to the west of the gliderport.  The ground had been recently plowed in a nice square pattern that one would almost swear focused the lift.  Later in the day it was not working as good, but by then there was lift all around.  For quite a while it was pretty common to see 6 dust devils at a time--with one or two of them being huge--in an arc about 2-3 miles away, starting just west of the prison and arcing clockwise to straight off the end of runway 31.

Granted, you had to be in the right place.  On the last tow of the day I went to the field again.  There were two small dust devils in it.  Saw a bigger one straight ahead about a mile and went for it.  Was a waste of time, because in between we were descending 200-300 feet per minute in tow.  Got reconnected with the lift back over the faithful field, and tried a straight line, which maintained 1100-1200 feet per minute climb until the glider released and I turned away.

The first activity of the day was Jan and Martin working on Big Bird.

Jan Zanutto and Martin Caskey sanding the nosebowl on Big Bird.

Roman Franco and Sergio Grajeda both had training flights with Harold in the morning.  Sergio went up with Harold in the morning, then Harold briefed Alex on what was next, and Alex went up with him in the afternoon to finish off the day.

Mike Paoli took his new-to him Libelle out of the trailer.  I did not get a chance to examine it closely, but those that did said he got a good one.

Joe Anastasio went up for a flight.  He came back quicker than I would have expected--he said he could have stayed up much longer, but he started not feeling well, so he came back.  Good decision making!

John Harbick went up for a brief flight in Orange Crush.  He, too, commented that conditions were such that he could have stayed up longer, but chose to keep it short.

Alex did a demo flight for Carrollann, which was a present from her husband.  There was talk of her being a future student, but I was not in on enough of it to tell whether it was her idea or the scheme of those around her.  She really had a great attitude!

Harold watches as Alex explains to Carrollann what to expect.

All smiles before the flight.

Great--still smiling and enthusiastic after the flight!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

WEATHER
Visibility: Unlimited
Wind: Northwest, variable, high altitude waves
Altitudes: 5000+
Time Aloft: A few hours
Max Lift: 6 knots
Temperature: Mid nineties
Comment: Soaring under the cloud deck.
Tow pilot: Peter Mersino and Jim Rickey

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Not a lot of activity today but watching the sky develop into high altitude waves was most interesting. Jim Rickey used his still camera to try and get a time lapse video of the rotor development but we haven't seen it yet. Maybe he'll edit this blog.

Rick Eason launching on one of his six or so flights this morning.

Rick likes to land on runway 7 making it easier to turn around and launch again.

Great position on short final, roll out right to the launch line.

No, he's not buried in the weeds, they're on either side of the landing path.

Now it's John Harbick's turn to launch and he had a fun flight with the clouds as markers.

The markers were high and mostly lenticular clouds from a coastal wave.

As the day progressed the lennies were more prominent and the sky started boiling.

These rotor clouds were twisting and turning quickly and violently.

The rotors moved off to the east and were replaced by multiple lenticulars.

Jim Rickey assisting John Harbick with another flight in interesting weather.

Tyler Bishop flew one flight this afternoon.

The day wasn't too busy, few pilots showed up. Jeff Richardson was here learning to fly the DG100 but otherwise too few pilots made it a day of soaring.

Harold Gallagher

July 25, 2015

WEATHER
Visibility:       Good
Wind:            Early from the southeast, mid-afternoon from the northeast.
Temperature:  90s.
Tow pilot:      Julie, 17 tows.

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The day started off warm.  It hit 80° F. at a quarter to 8:00, 91° F. at noon, and a peak of 97° at relatively early 2:35.  That is when the wind direction changed, and it went down a couple of degrees, but stayed in the 90s until 8:00 PM.

Work continued on Big Bird, with the nosebowl getting filler and later primer.

Julie was busy during the day, doing 17 tows.  Harry Davies, Jeff Richardson, Andrew Ouellet, Richard Walker, Ethan Ronet, Morgan Hall, Carl Engel, Dan Clark, Skip Breidbach, Sergio Grajeda, Jim Rickey, and a demo flight by Harold.

Carl Engel in the new-to-the-club DG-100 and Andrew Ouellet in his relatively new-to-him SZD-55 went out and had some fun together.

Carl Engel in the DG-100, photo taken by Andrew Ouellet in his SZD-55.

Underside of the DG.

Carl Engel snaps this picture of Andrew Ouellet in has SZD-55 over the hills.

On a less exciting side of Avenal operations, we had a number of demo flights, seven in all, that gave people the chance to experience what glider flight is all about.