Convector Newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association

Transcription

1 Convector Newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association February 1995 Volume 44 Number 2 January's Convector came in the mail today, and as I scanned the front page's Notice of Elections I went by a parenthesis... "... Secretary (now Cheryl Lenox)" and did a double take. I turned to the box showing the Club's Officers and, sure enough, Hope Howard is no longer Secretary. Talk about underplaying the news: a major event like this in the Club's history might well have prompted a screaming heading, "HOWARD RESIGNS!". Hope was already on M-ASA's screen in the late forties, when the Club was started. She became active again (thanks, I believe, to Jack Perine) in the mid- or late fifties and has been Club Secretary ever since. A number of people in M-ASA's history have been noted for having rendered distinguished service to the Club and most of their names are on the Campbell Award trophy. Hope's name is there with them, but no one has come or likely will come near her level of contribution. I know it better than most: during my several cycles on the Board or as President, Hope has always been there to provide a masterful combination of diligence, forethought and continuity. Above all, she contributed self-effacing discreet wisdom and unassuming guidance (she is so good at this that one almost does not feel the gentle firm hand on his shoulder) as custodian of fairness and equanimity to all members. It is a shock and a surprise that she would not continue forever, and only on reflection does one realize what a tremendous load of work she has carried, and how much she deserves to have the burden lifted from her shoulders. Thank you, Hope, thank you for me and for everyone else in the Club. And may we long continue having the pleasure of finding you sitting on your station wagon's tailgate, keeping an eye on the operation at Frederick. (At the annual banquet on January 14, 1995, the Board presented Hope with a lifetime M-ASA membership. Please see Hope's subsequent letter to the Board on page 3.) NOTES FROM YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS Cheryl Lenox The M-ASA Board began 1995 by reviewing the Report to the M-ASA Board of Directors from The Planning Committee. Our first meeting to start reviewing and implementing the recommendations from the Committee was held on January 20. Copies of the full report have been placed at each flying location (Fairfield and Frederick) and can be picked up by members. Complete copies of the report will also be kept at each field for members to read should the copies available for distribution run out. Additional copies of the report will be available at the annual safety meeting for those who have not been able to obtain or read a copy before the meeting. We urge everyone to read it so that they will understand the facts and reasons behind many of the decisions the Board has made and will make in this year and coming years. Although the Board is not bound by this report, we will carefully consider it as a valuable reference for data and survey information about M-ASA as a club today and for the future. Any new policy changes will be monitored and reviewed by the Board as the year progresses. We feel that these changes are positive and correct steps to take our Association well into the future in a fiscally sound way.

2 The Pilatus will be moved to Frederick when the weather permits for use during wave camp. Dave Pixton has renewed the wave window (for flights from 18,000ft to 23,000ft) with the FAA through March 1997; Tom Judkins has worked with ATC to get the information on the electronic maps by February 2, 1995, so that the window can be used. The tow planes and the gliders will start being annualed this month so that they will be ready for the flying season and before the contest. If the need to bring a Pawnee to Fairfield from Frederick arises in the future the Board feels that it is up to the Operations Directors at both fields to contact each other and to work out a mutually acceptable arrangement. It is expected that club members will respect the decision made by the O.D.'s. Jack Beavers has agreed to be the new scheduler. The Board would like to remind everyone that if they are assigned an apprentice O.D. for the day it is their responsibility to train that person on how to be an efficient O.D. at that field. You should have your Operations Manual with you and be familiar with your duties as an O.D. in order to teach a new member. The new fee structure for M-ASA will be dues of $275 plus SSA dues of $55. This fee is to be applied equally to every adult member of the association. Family members are exempt from the initiation fee. Members under 21 years of age who are in school will pay $150 for dues. The initiation fee for new members is $500 split evenly between the first two years and dues are to be pro-rated monthly in the first year. The initiation fee for members under 21 is $250 split between the first two years. The new tow fee structure will be $3.00 more per tow. This is necessary to recover the cost of towing which we have NOT been doing. All of us can keep this cost down by running a more efficient tow operation. A $13.00 tow to 2,000 ft. is still a great deal, but let's all work to keep this cost down. Glider rentals will now be $2.50 per 15 minutes. The Planning Committee recommended a 24 hour work requirement for all members. It was also recommended that a fee of $10 per hour be charged to members who do not put in at least this amount. The Board would like to state that there is a minimum expectation that each club member will donate at least 24 hours of their time to work and provide services to the operations and maintenance of M-ASA. Carmen gave the treasurer's report. Copies are always posted at both fields for you to see. We then discussed the progress of our accounting system which is being fine tuned to the recommendations from the Planning Committee to have four components; fixed costs, variable costs, club facilities, and fleet enhancement. The Board will provide the treasurer with further information on what financial information we will need in the future so the records can continue to be adjusted. A system of saving and storing records, including a back-up system was implemented. Carmen will continue to need help with the large financial data base needed for a towing operation. We will be meeting again on February 3 to continue to look at and consider the Planning Committee's Recommendations. A special thanks to Dave Leizer for his years of service as the scheduler. The Board hopes he will have many complaint free hours of flying at M-ASA! February Meeting The February meeting will be held at 8 PM on February 10, 1995, at the M-ASA Frederick Club Room.

3 CONVECTOR DEADLINE February 26, Jan. 17, 1995 To the M-ASA Board, How can I say "thank you" enough?! I'm still finding no adequate words -- speechless three days after the great surprise at the annual banquet. But I do appreciate the honor and the freedom of being named M-ASA's first Lifetime member. (A whole new category, just for me! It takes a while to believe this. And when everyone stood, that was a real lump in the throat.) I don't deserve it because what I've done these last years has mostly come under the heading of fun. -- But I'll take it! with joy and with the hope and intention to continue to be of service, and have fun, keeping my job as Membership Chairman, etc. Sincerely, Hope Howard ex-secretary FREDERICK WAVE CAMP GOING FOR THE GOLD... OR DIAMOND! Tom Judkins We are indeed going to have an ad-hoc, informal wave camp at Frederick from February 11 through February 26, (This does NOT mean that we will be up at Frederick every day trying to fly -- see the section below on mechanics!) According to the FAA, as of February 2, 1995 the wave window has been included on the ATC electronic maps. This means that the wave window will be available during the wave camp. All we need now are the right conditions and people to fly. I have had several people volunteer to serve as tow pilots, but need still more to ensure adequate coverage. If you can help out, please let me know. I would like to have one Pawnee and one Super Cub pilot available each day that we fly. If your schedule will permit you to be available during this period and you are willing to tow, please let me know. I also need instructors -- it may be necessary to provide instruction to those who have not flown in wave before, or those who feel uncomfortable with rotor. If you can help out as an instructor, please let me know. On the days when wave is expected, we will meet at the Frederick hangar at or about 7am to get started by 8am. The best time for wave is generally early morning before any convective activity has a chance to start.

4 So the earlier the better. We will have two barographs on loan from Charlie Thurber, the club barograph, and one on loan from Elizabeth and myself. This should provide enough barographs to accommodate everyone. If you intend to fly and own a barograph, make sure you bring your own. This will allow those who do not own a barograph to use the ones we have been able to borrow. I hope that we will have weather conditions which will allow the formation of wave during the latter half of February so that we can have many people get their silver, gold or even diamond altitude gains. Dave Pixton has agreed to act as weather guru, attempting to predict wave at Frederick. If you want to help Dave with this -- or even act as a backup (he may be out of town one day during the first week), please let him know. His home phone number is (301) The problem of holding an ad-hoc wave camp -- having everyone show up when wave is expected and stay home when wave is not expected -- is clearly one of coordination. We will use our second phone line (with the Convector voice mailbox) to provide this coordination. Wave camp recording will start Wednesday evening, February 8. MECHANICS CALL (...) To find out when we next expect to have wave camp at Frederick, call (see printed Convector for phone number - webmaster). Wait for the answering machine. The initial message will tell you when we next expect to be at Frederick. If you want more details, or if you want to leave a message, select the Convector mailbox (choice 2). Don't ask us to call you when we expect wave! If you really want to talk to Tom or Elizabeth about it, call (see printed Convector). You can call any time of the day or night -- it will not disturb the household. The messages will be updated each evening around 9 or 9:30, after Dave has evaluated the weather. If Dave has called for flying at Frederick the next day, Tom and Elizabeth will work to get at least one tow pilot to commit to showing up at 7am. When the message says we will definitely be at Frederick, Elizabeth will be at the field by 7am (I hope) to act as OD, and will coordinate with ATC to open the wave window. Going Inactive? Let M-ASA Know Early If you intend to go inactive (not paying 1995 dues), please send a note to the Membership Chairman (Hope Howard) to let her know. It will help both YOU and M-ASA. Please do not send this notice to the treasurer. If you're among the majority who were assessed the $100 load last year, you will get it back when your note is received. The written notice will preserve your right to return without initiation fees and signatures at any future time. (No note on file, start over!) It will keep the Scheduler from continuing to schedule you, leaving you subject to the newly-enforced $50 fine for no-shows. It will save club officers the repeated billings, phone calls, certified letters sent in an effort to determine your intentions. If you're around and want to keep in touch, visit the field, come to meetings, and/or subscribe to Convector for a nominal fee.

5 CAMPBELL AWARD At the annual banquet, Bill Donahoe received the 1994 Campbell Award for his service to the club primarily in maintaining the Frederick facility. Congratulations, Bill! ELECTION NOTICE Nominations for M-ASA directors will be accepted from Friday, February 3, 1995 through Friday, February 17, 1995, as specified in our by-laws. Nominations may be presented in writing to a club officer (President, Vice President, Treasurer, or Secretary) or verbally at the February club meeting (Feb. 10, 1995). If you are not sure who the officers are, see the list located in this newsletter. No supporting statement need be given in either case. However, permission of the nominee must be obtained prior to nomination. Provisional members are not eligible. Terms are expiring for Charlie Thurber and Mike Smith. Members who are currently directors with expiring terms may be nominated for re-election, if they are willing. Secret ballots will be mailed to all regular members (provisional members are not eligible to vote) about February 21, These ballots must be filled out and returned to the Secretary (now Cheryl Lenox). The ballots will be counted by tellers at the March 10, 1995 annual Safety meeting and meeting of the corporation. In order to vote, your dues and fees must be paid by March 9, CHANGE IN SCHEDULER Dave Leizer has served as the club scheduler for several years. He was the guy who tried to accommodate everyone's schedule when scheduling members for tow pilot or operations director. All of M-ASA thanks you, Dave, for your years of service as scheduler and target of abuse. Jack Beavers has taken over the scheduling duties. We welcome you and appreciate your assistance in this very critical role for M-ASA. WELCOME, Jack! Board of Directors: MID-ATLANTIC SOARING ASSOCIATION John M. Dickhoff Cheryl Lenox James A. Meiklejohn Michael F. Smith Charles H. Thurber

6 Officers President-Jay Dickhoff Vice-Pres.-Mike Smith Secretary-Cheryl Lenox Treasurer-Carmen Waters CALIFORNIA SOARING Wes Lineberry Do you read soaring related material about California flying and imagine what it's really like? For several years, I had perused many magazines and books relating to "routine" mile flights, 10 knot thermals, 40,000 ft. wave flights and the fabulous California Sierras and deserts. A fortuitous convergence of job and its unusual travel requirements initiated a decade-long quest for the gold and diamonds of my imagination. In my past job, I was assigned to be a member of the retrieval crew for the world's worst glider. The Space Shuttle does have other attributes which compensate for its poor (3:1) glide ratio, such as its final glide distance, the envy of every glider pilot -- from over the Indian Ocean to California in 45 minutes. For varying reasons such as weather or payload considerations, we often found ourselves making a 3000 mile retrieval from Edwards Air Force Base to the Kennedy Space Center. Although the first 2 or 3 days after landing are hectic and the hours long, the operation settles into routine preparations for ferry. Finally the area is closed for a hazardous operation in a system other than mine. At that time, we're free to visit the local area. I quickly discovered that California City is only 15 miles from the Orbiter servicing area at Edwards. My first visit occurred in September I took a co-worker up for what was anticipated to be a sled ride. Fortunately, we had enough altitude to work into the hills and catch a thermal to 10,000 feet -- not bad for someone who gets excited over exceeding 6000 feet! I was smitten but I had to read about it for the next 5 years. I finally got to fly again in early October of 1988, only to learn there are a lot of days the desert air can be absolutely calm. Since the Cal City glider operation had changed hands, I had another checkout and decided to take some aerobatic lessons... but the instructor didn't brief me that the lesson would be almost entirely inverted! He firmly believed a pilot must fly inverted as easily as right side up before continuing in aerobatics. How can you fly inverted when you KNOW the only thing keeping you from falling out is a FIRM grip on the stick?! I had another trip to Edwards in November I arrived in Los Angeles about 11am and immediately departed for my hotel in Lancaster. As I was crossing the ridge coming into the Antelope Valley, there were standing lenticulars above Mojave. I had never seen a lenticular in my life! I decided to continue my drive to Cal City in hopes of getting a wave checkout. As I got closer to Cal City, the clouds grew from the beautiful lennies seen from a distance to massive, enormous, and obviously turbulent clouds at Cal City. As the clouds grew, I also noticed my elation and excitement settled into a lump in my throat and the lump in turn hatched into a flock of butterflies that immediately flew into my stomach. After arriving at Cal City, I coaxed the butterflies into flying formation long enough to ask for a wave checkout. The butterflies immediately dropped back out of formation when I found out my instructor had been forced down at Mojave prior to my arrival. However, within an hour of my arrival, we were in the glider ready to tackle my first wave and I'm still in street clothes! The takeoff was fairly routine, but on tow the tow rope behaved like a 200-foot long snake trying its best to escape from the tow pilot and me. We released when the tow pilot

7 decided to fly to the edge of the roll cloud but not under it. My instructor emphasized large pitch changes to correspond with the strong updrafts and downdrafts we encountered under the roll cloud. After getting past the roll cloud, the vario seemed to be working like a windshield wiper. We were starting to be concerned that we too would be forced down at the Mojave Airport. Then I noticed we would gain a little bit if I treated my turns like turns about a point -- very steep turns downwind and very shallow turns upwind. The vario oscillations slowly began to settle with the turbulence and suddenly the vario needle moved like a second hand until it hit the peg at +10 knots. We were in WAVE! In one of the most thrilling moments of my glider flying career, I felt like we were on a slow motion rocket. The earth seemed to be falling away! We could see the Pacific and the Channel Islands. We stopped at 15,000 feet and returned to land. My instructor wanted another wave flight to have a checkout. We scheduled for two days later as I was scheduled to report to work on that day in time to support a 4pm Shuttle landing. Luck prevailed and there was still wave. This flight was somewhat rougher on tow but once again was absolutely smooth once in the wave. We climbed to 16,500 feet and took an area familiarization tour to find alternate landing sites. After an hour and a half, we returned to Cal City and I was ready to go for my gold and diamond altitude. However, there was not enough time to make the flight and get to work. Surely, I hoped, the Shuttle wouldn't land in this wind! I called my office, "No, it's still scheduled to land at 4:00." I reported to work just as they decided to postpone the landing. There were no more wave days on this trip. Story Musgrave, one of the astronauts on this mission is an old friend who is a life member of the SSA. About 6 months after the mission, Story was on a goodwill visit to the Kennedy Space Center. As he was signing autographs in the cafeteria, I approached him and said, "Sometime, I'll have to tell you how you screwed me out of a diamond!" I then left him with a very shocked look. I've talked to him a couple of times since but we haven't had a chance to discuss THE DIAMOND. We had another Shuttle landing at Edwards the following May. Although wave is not normally encountered this time of year, I did find an excellent day for thermals and managed to release at 4500 feet (2000 AGL) and climbed to 15,300 to achieve Gold altitude. My next trip to Edwards occurred in January 1992 and the glider operation had once again changed ownership. (Yes, another checkout...) I must say the instructor, Marty Eiler, gave one of the best and most comprehensive checkouts I've ever had. We did landings with no speed brakes and landings from what I thought were impossible altitudes (1000 feet over the end of the runway). We also did slack tow rope procedures with the glider deliberately flown into a position where the tow rope was trailing behind us. I thought that was pretty doggone extreme. "I've never been out of sorts that bad and I'm sure I never will!" I wouldn't get a chance to fly for several days due to work. The only lenticular I saw developed shortly after Discovery had landed. I was standing under the Orbiter on the runway looking wistfully at the lennie when the KSC Deputy Director laughed at me and said, "I sure can tell where you'd rather be!" I couldn't argue. Finally, I did get some free time for wave checkout and there were standing lenticulars over Mojave. While prepping the glider, I noticed the lennies had begun to dissipate. We flew over the ridge and noticed Mojave's famous windmills on top of the ridge were stopping, one by one. No Diamonds this trip! Ultimately this was to be my last Shuttle retrieval as I took a voluntary lay-off to move to Virginia. This past November (1994), my wife had a business trip to Los Angeles and I volunteered to carry her baggage as long as I could go play while she worked. I had previously called Cindy Brickner at Caracole Soaring, told her what days I would be in L.A. and scheduled some time for a wave checkout. The weather looked very promising so I drove on up to Cal City. As soon as I reached Palmdale, I knew this was going to be THE DAY! The cloud formations over Mojave were absolutely gorgeous. Once again, I felt that feeling of elation, settling to the lump in my throat and

8 finally the butterflies! I met Cindy and Marty at the airport where Cindy gave me a briefing of the wave and what was to be expected of me before we suited up to prep the ASK21 and move it into position. The wind was blowing down the runway at 25 MPH, so it didn't take us long to become airborne on tow. We flew directly west to 7500 ft. (5000 AGL) released in wave, and once again got into that buttersmooth climb of 15 kt. (at least that was the estimated climb as the vario was pegged at 10 kt!). We stopped short of the class A airspace and took a grand tour of the Mojave, Cal City and Kelso areas while Cindy pointed out landmarks, restricted airspace, and potential landing sites. As we listened to Joshua Approach, it became apparent to Cindy that we might be able to get a window. Since they have a good rapport with Joshua Approach as well as having Mode C capability, Joshua gave us a transponder code and immediately cleared us to all altitudes within the Isabella MOA. We topped out at ft. and took a few pictures with my turnpoint camera I had taken along. Joshua called us out to a passing U-2 inbound to Edwards. Cindy hollered to take his picture, I protested saying it would only be a small dot. "Yeah, but we would know what that small dot was!" (Sorry Cindy, the film was old, it came back overexposed, and I couldn't even find the dot.) I saw some spectacular lennies "stacked like pancakes" north of our position and asked Cindy if we could fly to them. Nope, they're over 100 miles away. So much for my distance perception... After an hour and a half, we had enough and returned to Cal City. I thought I was flying a conservative close-in pattern, but we still drifted a little too far downwind turning downwind to final. In 25 mph ground-level winds, turning final almost over the intended touchdown point would be conservative! In these winds, Cindy got out of the glider and held a wing while I stayed at the controls with full spoilers deployed until Marty could come out to help us tie it down -- in six places! Wearing moon boots, electric socks, snowmobile suit, gloves and wool hat, I was still frozen. My feet felt like clubs! We retired to Caracole's hangar to thaw out while Cindy submitted a request to Joshua Approach for my wave window and prepared the barograph for my diamond attempt in their Club Grob 102. (Incidentally, another Grob identical to this one was used to establish the 49,600 world altitude record out of Cal City.) Finally, at 3:40, I commenced the flight anticipating mandatory landing at sunset, 5:00. The wind had gotten stronger causing an increase in turbulence. As we approached the bottom of the roll cloud, we got into turbulence that I had never experienced. There were three times that I had greater slack in the rope than the slack Marty had deliberately put in. Remember how I stated I would never get myself out of sorts like he did? Even without slack the rope was shaking like a line in a hurricane. I was grunting and groaning like a sumo wrestler trying to stay in position behind the tow plane. There was even one point that I was becoming concerned I was overtaking the towplane. As we reached the leading edge of the roll cloud the turbulence quickly subsided. The vario needle was rapidly moving up so I released at 7000 ft. in wave. To notch the barograph, I opened the dive brakes, increased my speed to 80 kts. and was only able to lose 200 ft. I was having difficulty controlling my hyperventilation, so I donned my oxygen mask and called Joshua Approach. To compound my problems, the transponder code selector was stuck! I think I finally got the right code as I was passing through ft. My climb continued until I topped out at I knew I had the DIAMOND! Cindy had cautioned me to watch my position relative to the ground. However, the sun was so low, the clouds were so brilliant, that the holes in the clouds were just that, black holes! I could have spent more time working the wave, but it was 4:30 and I wasn't excited about landing after 5:00, so I drifted downwind to ride the wave back down. The roll cloud had also moved downwind of the airport so that I had to fly under the cloud from three miles away and 4000 ft. AGL. As soon as I got out of the sunlight above the cloud, I took my sunglasses off, put them in my case on my lap and immediately put on my regular glasses. The sensation of descending into a black hole was amazing. Of course the turbulence I had fought earlier was still there. The only loose item in the cockpit was of course my glasses case. At one time the case was floating at eye level. Was I in the Space Shuttle, in orbit? This sensation

9 was reinforced as I flew a near Space Shuttle approach to the runway. I had no trouble getting back to the airport, but there was not enough altitude to fly a full pattern. Marty met me after I rolled out and we once again carefully moved the glider back to its tiedown. Finally, after 10 years of flying from Cal City, I really achieved Diamond Altitude! The next day I stayed at the hotel and did my best imitation of a vegetable, watching TV and re-reading the book Practical Wave Soaring. My wife and I drove back to the desert the following day to find dead calm, CAVU conditions; a perfect day for a drive in the desert. Getting the Diamond altitude was obviously something I'll never forget. Although I have the deepest respect for the awesome power of mountain wave, I believe the most frightening part of this adventure was the drive on the San Diego Freeway! If you are ever in Southern California, be sure to drop by Caracole Soaring in California City and give my regards to Marty and Cindy. Perhaps you too can set your imagination to flight! Want to be an FBO? Tehachapi, CA will be needing a new FBO. Larry Barrett, the current FBO, wants to retire. John Chapman (currently an inactive M-ASA member) and three other glider pilots, owners of the land, are now searching for a new FBO. If you are interested and would like more information, contact John in Albuquerque, NM: (h) (505) (w) (505) ADDRESSES NEEDED At the suggestion of Val Brain, Manfred Beutgen is planning on adding addresses to the roster. Please let Manfred know your address by calling him at home, or sending him an . [see printed Convector for details] Good Landing with Serious Damage (This is from a phone call with John Chapman -- any inaccuracies are mine! Ed.) In December 1994, an experienced pilot was ridge soaring out of Tehachapi, CA in a Grob 103. He ended up below treetop level, trapped in a canyon with no civilized landing place. In attempting to get out of the canyon into the valley beyond, the pilot hit a pine tree with his right wing, about 2 feet in from the tip. He was flying a sturdy Grob, with the spar stopping about 4 feet short of the wing tip. Damage report: lost outer 2 feet of wing, exploding when the wing hit the tree; lost part of right aileron; outer skin separated from the spar on the top of the wing, from the root to the (new) tip of the wing. The pilot kept flying the aircraft. He ended up flying into the valley. He then explored, before landing, the extent to which he had control of the aircraft, finding that he had elevator control, spoilers, and enough aileron control. He then proceeded back to Tehachapi, landing at the airport! The Grob spar appears not to be damaged. There is some surface cracking where the wing root attaches to the fuselage, but basically the only damage is to the right wing. A sturdy aircraft!

10 And a good pilot!??