Saturday, February 1, 2020

WEATHER
Visibility: Very good, almost unlimited. Some fog in the valley to the east early.
Wind: Very light all day
Altitudes: Release altitude -500 ft.
Time Aloft: .5
Max Lift: 1.5 kts.
Temperature: about 70 deg. F.
Comment: We got some very weak lift on a couple of flights and were able to gain about 300 ft. on one flight and hold altitude for a little while on the other.
Tow pilot: Nick Ferraro

Some funky fledgling ravens on our clubhouse roof a couple of years ago. Maybe title should be fledgling ravens doing the "funky chicken"!  Not shy, in fact very curious, but being closely watched by their parents in the adjacent palm tree.

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Steve Schery preflighting  "Big Bird", SGS 2-33 N3613F,  prior to completing his flight review. Steve currently flies a Carat motorglider, usually at nearby New Coalinga Airport. He has previously had both
 Discus and  Russia sailplanes , which he's flown here and in Moriarity, NM. He is working part time at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffet Federal Airfield in Mountain View, CA. He is a Professor emeritus, of physics, if I recall correctly,  from the University of New Mexico.  He is also a tow pilot with over 500 hours in Pawnees flying at Moriarity, and has also  towed  in our Cessna 150/150 for our club as well. He helped the club get our current tow plane set up to be legal to tow, which was no mean feat.  He also makes very good tow ropes and weak links.

Later, I flew with Alan Lewis and Lux Vadakan, both of whom made two flights and are progressing well. Sorry, I didn't take any more pictures. I saw Jim Rickey and I hope he may have gotten a few! Or maybe Richard Walker, who was also out at the field today. There was another couple there who's names I didn't get. I don't think they were flying.   We had some weak lift on some of those flights,  and were able to gain about 300 ft. one one flight.

Dan Gudgel came out and flew with Spencer Umney and Anthony Bellanti in 22S.  Thanks to Dan! He also finished the glider familiarization portion of the towing endorsement for Nick Ferraro.  I noticed everyone was pitching in helping to tie the gliders down at the end of the day, fueling and putting the tow plane away at the end of the day, securing the hangar, checking the water level in the golf cart batteries, cleaning the battery tops of dirt, and thecorrosion from the battery terminals, hooking up tow lines, running wings, retrieving and positioning gliders in the take off area, picking up trash, collecting tumbleweeds and other property maintenance chores. The operation seemed to go pretty smoothly with everyone helping out.  I'm not sure exactly how many tows we did, but it was at least 12, perhaps 14.

WEATHER
Visibility:       Very good under the cloud deck
Wind:             Stiff breeze / light north wind on the ground, more up a bit.
Altitudes:       Mostly whatever you released at.
Time Aloft:    Short.
Max Lift:        +1 knot, hard to find, short lived.
Temperature:  Cold for Central California.
Comment:      Not a soaring day, but good for training.
Tow pilot:      Kyle Jason

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January 11, 2020

Spring Training is just getting started.

Yes, this is out of order--the blog for January 18 ought to be above this one.

Note that in the pictures below the runways are refereed to as 30, 12, and 8.  Richard has accurately measured, and it has been determined that with the current 13° E variation, those are the correct descriptors.  No more "0-7," "1-3," or "3-1."

The cloud deck moved up and down a bit today.  This is about the lowest it got.

Chuck Jarabek, with a Commercial Airplane rating, has soloed in gliders before at other locations, and is now coming to Avenal to persue his rating! 

Charles ("Chuck") , from Santa Maria, gets ready for his first flight from Avenal.

Charles's daughters Charlotte and Lily move out of the way before dad takes off.

Our faithful towplane, today piloted by Kyle Jason, pulls a 2-33 up for the umpteenth thousands time.

Left wing low, (forward slip to counter the north wind), right rudder to keep it aligned with runway 08, 13F is on short final with Black Mountain obscured by clouds in the background.

Still keeping the left wing a little low, still keeping right rudder to counteract weather-vaning, and up elevator to keep skid off the ground.

Richard takes a tow in his 1-35.

Richard has released and Kyle is on his way to the next tow.

Because of the long distance for this shot, it may not look like Richard cleared the wires with little room to spare, but he had  plenty of clearance on his way to landing on Runway 12

Lily was the first daughter going up for a ride.

Away she goes!

Lux, Charlotte, Richard Walker and Chuck, the "retrieve / welcoming committee,"
go out to see how she enjoyed her first glider ride.

All was well, and she convinced Charlotte to take a ride, too!

Lux running the wing as Charlotte is on her way, too.

Richard helps Aleks get his glider lined up for takeoff on "3-0."

While all the fun is happening outside, Joe is faithfully getting the riding mower ready for the upcoming season.

Alex instructs Eric Wang during the takeoff roll.

Eric is practicing a full slip on his way to landing on "3-0."

Eric is straightened out and ready to land.

Spring Training Season Underway!

WEATHER
Visibility:       5-10 miles in the Avenal area, fantastic 100+ miles above the inversion layer.
Wind:             Light north wind
Altitudes:       Whatever you released at.
Time Aloft:    How high did you release?
Max Lift:       From the Towplane.
Temperature:  Low 50s.
Comment:      Terrible soaring day, good training day.
Tow pilot:      Julie and Morgan

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January 18, 2020

At about 10 minutes before 1:00, a group of F-18s returning from deployment overflew the field on their way to Lemoore N.A.S.

Aleks Radko has just landed.  Alex Caldwell is instructing Mark on takeoff.

Big sky - not very ominous - and little glider.

Kevin debriefs Braden after landing

Kevin instructs Eric as this flight is coming to its successful conclusion

Tops of the hills and the clouds silhouette Eric and Kevin in 22S just about to touchdown.

Wing runner is falling behind the accelerating 2-33, as student Mark supervised by Alex on the takeoff.

Eric & Kevin looking for traffic before launch.

Crunch the cameraman!

Martin and Karl chat while Julie is all smiles waiting for the towplane.

Eric is performing a good, full rudder slip!

Straighten it out to get ready for landing

Crosses the approach end at a good height for a short-field landing.

Spencer coaches student Conor how to work the trim on 22S prior to takeoff.

Conor is telling Kevin what he will do if the F18s attack

Wing runner Spencer, Karl watching, as Conor and Kevin begin the takeoff roll.

Unfortunately, I did not get the camera our earlier in the day to catch those flights.

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The CCSA Annual Members Meeting will be held at Avenal on February 15, 2020.  Please make plans to attend!

Last Day of DST for 2019

WEATHER
Visibility:  Far
Wind: Light
Altitudes:  Modest
Time Aloft:  A bit
Max Lift: Soft
Temperature: Perfect mid 70s
Comment:
Tow pilot:  Iron Man Karl Kunz

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We wrapped up Daylight Saving Time in fine fashion today at Avenal.  While gliderports elsewhere are closing for the season, we are looking forward to some good flying through winter at Avenal and New Coalinga.  We did about 20 tows today and had 5 ships in the air.

For several weeks, a number of members have worked long and hard to scrape our runways clear of tumbleweeds and goathead thorn bushes.  This shot looks across the parallel runways, which are as clear and smooth as they've ever been.

 The shot above looks SE from the clubhouse down to the arrival end of Runway 31. 

The shot above looks NW toward the departure end of Runway 31.

We've used several tractors in this process, and Morgan's mother was kind enough to let us use her tractor for the final phase of the runway clean-up project.  Thanks to good work by Richard, its running again and will be put to back into action in the coming days.

We are fortunate to have weather conditions that allow us to fly year-round.  Be sure to come out and maintain your currency and proficiency over the winter.  You'll be ready and sharp when the spring season arrives.