Soaring News - July 2019

Photo Credit; Susumu Morita

We have transitioned from a rainy Spring to hot hot days that some like and some don’t like but sunny days mean fly days. The club did 99 flights this month, the exact number as last month, a total of 293 flights for the 2019 season. Only 2 Ops days were canceled this month due to weather but 2 other days were closed early. We had a few really good soaring days that Steve Rusinowski, Brian Navarette, Neal Miller and Susumu Morita took advantage of. Susumu is starting to venture away from the airport on good soaring days, Steve went North 35 miles on a Wednesday fly day and Neal is just having fun in the ASW15 staying within 15 miles of the airport. Kerry Brown tested the UP Button in his G103 glider, it still works without a battery.

Thanks to Dino for some Wednesday instruction days, the Cook brothers have taken advantage of this during school vacation days for some student training. Two members, Nate Kemppainen and Mark Geudtner are in final practice for their Private Glider rating.

Brandon Schultz experienced a real adventure flying a J3 Cub to Oshkosh and back with strong head winds, the Cub is not very fast but head winds going to Oshkosh kept his ground speed to 46 Knots max (about stall speed for the Pawnee). During one landing to get fuel, the wind required wing walkers to get to and from the fuel pump, the Cub is just a heavy glider with an engine that doesn’t like much cross wind.

Our Coleman tent that shades us from the hot sun was repaired twice this season due to damage from gusty winds, apparently it doesn’t like gusts over 15 mph. A new Caravan Sports tent was ordered from Home Depot that has full truss rods that support each side, this tent should withstand higher wind gust without folding. The delivery date is 8-9-19, the existing tent can still be used if additional ropes are used to support the sides facing the wind.

The bottom wing tips of the K13 are showing signs of wear that I suspect are due to dropping a wing while still moving on landing or turning off the runway after landing and dragging a wing. Besides the additional wear on wing tips of all club gliders, the risk of a ground loop is increased if the down wing snags a weed or a cross wind lifts the upper wing. When turning off Runway 11 or 29 with a cross wind from the South West a ground loop risk is even higher because the up wing is into the wind plus you may also hit a runway cone, so on cross wind days you should not turn off the runway. Members scoring your landings will give you a higher score if you land straight and keep the wings level until stopped or near so. You will get an A Plus if you keep the wings level after fully stopped.

When turning from base to final keep your aim point on target, nose down and speed up. Outside rudder is OK but inside rudder is a control position for spin training.

Tom Shipp.