Soaring News - August 2017

Another great month of August soaring, 129 flights compared to 134 last month. We still have about 3 months of soaring days left to exceed last year 610 flights. Several members are ready for Private Pilot ratings, so what’s the hold up?

The club had several really good soaring days this month with Steve Rusinowski doing most of the cross country in his ASW19. But this changed last Saturday, with Steve in the lead, took Cal Kemppainen and Neal Miller North about 30 miles to Chelsea. The longest flight for the club ASW15 and perhaps the longest flight for Neal, was great monitoring your radio chatter during tows. We had only 8 flights Saturday but 17 hours glider time including the 2 private gliders. The club ASW15 has been very popular with 10 members approved to fly it. Neal’s flight was 4 hours. Thanks Steve for being the cross country leader.

Maintenance on the gliders and Pawnee was done on off fly days so there was no loss of fly days. The Pawnee got new brake pads, a fuel primer tube repair, new seat belts for the K7 and ASW15 and new battery charger for the K7. Working on a quote to repair a defective display on a radio planned for the K7 and replacement of a broken glass on the rear seat vario for the K13.

Soaring tip:

When changing frequencies on the Becker Radio, use the large knob to set the first 3 numbers and the small knob to set the last 2 or 3 numbers. The frequency changes are made on the secondary or standby frequency located at the bottom of the display. For example we normally use 122.80 for airport communications and 118.375 for AWOS. To switch between those frequencies, press the up or down arrow button. When 122.80 is the primary frequency upper display and 118.375 is the secondary lower display and you want to change frequency to 123.30 (glider communications), rotate the large knob to change the lower 118.375 frequency to 123 and the small knob to .30 (123.30), use the up down arrow button to transfer the 123.30 frequency to the primary upper frequency display then communicate. To switch back to 122.80 push the arrow button. To change back to 118.375, use the same procedure as above with 123.30 at the lower display, the 5 in 375 is automatic when selecting

.37. The 5 in .375 is selected on the Pawnee radio by pulling the small knob out to select the 5.

FYI, Instructor support will be less this month, Rick will not be available for Saturday instruction in September until Saturday 9-30, Matt is not available Sunday September 3 but available the remaining Sunday’s in September. Tow pilots are covered for all fly days.

When turning from base to final, keep the nose down and speed up. A raw string to the right is OK, to the left is BAD.

Tom S