Check the current roster in this issue for addys. Flying Field news for 2014 Note the new field location and parking area.

Transcription

1 West Wind Vol Issue 9 September Newsletter of the Portland Area Sailplane Society Inside this issue: Club/Flying Field news Pg. 1 F5B Aug. Events report Pg. 2 Rippin Thermals pictures Pg. 3 ALES Championship event Pg. 4 Aug. Aero-Tow report Pg. 5 PASS Roster, September Pg Contest V-f Sched. Pg. 7 ALES/Aerotow Schedules Pg. 8 PASS Meeting minutes Pg 9 PASS Club News Special note: See page 9 for the August club meeting minutes. A dues increase as of 2015 was proposed and approved by the members. A dues increase is up to and has to be approved by the Board per the bylaws. So your input is solicited before or at the next meeting. Check the current roster in this issue for addys. Flying Field news for 2014 Note the new field location and parking area. Thermalsearch Portland Pg 10 Rippin Thermals Eugene Pg 11 Aug./Sept. Events Pg 12 Club Officers & Officials President Bruce Rose Vice President Jim Gibson Treasurer Tom Culmsee Secretary Tom Fowler Director Kyle Kroker Director Sherrell Steinhauer Contest Coordinator Richard van Dijk LSF Coordinator David Portwood Librarian Don Lawson Web Page Editor Keith Ragsdale Newsletter Editor Roger Breedlove rogerzzzz@gmail.com We also use the A field in Salem at Kuenzi Turf. Again check your s each week. PASS Meeting Notice for September 9th. The next regular club meeting will be on Tuesday the 9th, at the Pizza place! Usual times... Gather at 7:00 and start at 7:30 PM. Round Table Pizza, SW Barbur Blvd., Portland, OR

2 P a g e 2 August F5B Events Report Jim Gibson, CD August 2, 2014 F5b Scores Four entrants, three people flew, two people completed all the rounds. Scores as follows: Terry Erickson 1908 Don Wilson 1847 Jim Gibson 914 Roger Breedlove 0 August 31, 2014: Cancelled as only two people showed(terry Erickson & Jim Gibson) 2014 has been dismal for F5b with a couple of weather cancellations and low turnout. Scheduling F5b, or any event, for holiday weekends---july 5 th and August 31 st has proven to be a mistake. We have seven scheduled seven F5b dates this year. For next year I propose that we reduce that to four dates at the most and schedule them for May July August September to maximize the opportunity for good weather. Also, I would like to entertain the idea of the club cutting down on the number of overall contests and perhaps insert two to three club fun fly s. The traditional T/D contests need to remain and those are not the ones I m referring to. I m really referring to the large number of hand launch, slope, aerotow, and ALES events. The contest interest has been steadily falling over the years and I believe we have to come up with some ideas to stimulate more interest in flying and participation in any of our events. Basically, it s all the same core group supporting our flying and that group is getting smaller, not larger!! If the consensus wants to keep all these dates great, but do we know that for sure? I don t believe the club can sustain this contest calendar given the current path that we are on. How about a discussion of the club calendar with the Board and membership to see what we can do to generate more flying interest? Enough rambling for one day, Jim Gibson, CD

3 W e s t W i n d Page 3 P o r t l a n d A r e a S a i l p l a n e S o c i e t y Rippin Thermals in Eugene Pilots meeting. Barefoot boys on launch. Keith sez I can t see. Jim Frahm and Anne Stimers... Out of towners! Tom Culmsee.. Nice landing. John Long and Jim Gibson.

4 P a g e 4 PASS 2014 ALES Championship Contest

5 Page 5 W e s t P o r t l a n d August 17 Aero-Tow A r e a W i n d S a i l p l a n e S o c i e t y by Jim Gibson, CD AUGUST 17, 2014 AEROTOW REPORT Our August aero-tow at Willamette Turf was held with the best weather we have had this year. There were a total of seven participants and we managed to keep our tow pilot extraordinaire, Bob Beardsley, pretty busy all day long. Sherrell Steinhaeuer flew his 40%(i.e., six meter wing span) electric powered K8. Sherrell hasn t quite figured how to ROG with the motor yet, and creative individual that he is, used an aero-tow assist to get it up the initial feet. The K8 flew just outstanding with no apparent ill tendencies. It certainly dwarfed the 25% Flair K8 s that were being flown. Fliers, we re coming down to the end of the flying season so I hope to see everyone at the final aero-tows for the season----september 21st & October 4th. Jim Gibson, CD

6 P a g e 6 PASS Roster as of September 2014

7 P a g e 7 Pass Contest Schedule 2014, V-final 01 Richard van Djik, Coordinator Field codes are ECE = Eugene Cracked Earth, MSP = Molalla State Park, WTF = Willamette Turf Farm, KSF = Kuenzi Sod Farm, SPF = St. Paul Field, TBD = location to be determined Special note on field assignments for events. The designated field for each event will be called by the CD prior to the event. So you will be notified either by newsletter or or both for each event for the designated field. Sherrell and his big K8 John Long with his new Eagle

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9 P a g e 9 Minutes for PASS meeting August 12th Jim Gibson, acting Prez, called the meeting to order at 7:30 ish. Guest Don Conklin, dmconkli@gmail.com, was introduced. Tom Culmsee gave the treasurer s report. Jim G. reviewed the previous month of contests with the CDs. Jim also reviewed the coming month of events. One note is Terry says we will be able to drive down a harvested field depending wind direction for the Aero-Tow event. Under old business Jim G. opened discussion on the status of our new field acquisition project!! The minimum land space seems to be about 100 x 1000 or roughly 3 acres with some fly-over privileges. After some discussion about costs in the thousands of dollars, unobtainuim dirt with grass on it, just takes multiple years for consideration, the discussion began to slide downhill quickly. A couple ol Fossils huffed and puffed and threatened to punch your lights out... well it seemed like that anyway... No fisticuffs ensued tho! Terry made a motion to increase dues by $5/month starting 2015, seconded and passed by present members. Lots more huffing and puffing here... Fossilmania or something! Actual dues increases have to be approved by the board of directors so you will hear from them. Your comments on dues increase will be welcome at the next meeting in Sept. and obviously you can speak directly to your board. John Long volunteered to attempt to find us a suitable field at a reasonable cost. Jim G. approved John s assignment and closed the meeting. Roger B., acting faux secretary for Tom Fowler, real Secretary in absentia frequently. Club meetings held on second Tuesday of every month from 7:30 to 9:30 P.M. at Round Table Pizza, SW Barbur Blvd. Visitors are welcome. Visit our web page at For current event information, call the PASS Voic : To change outgoing message or to listen to received messages: 1) Dial ) During the greeting dial 0PASS (*7277). Note this password is new for ) Listen for the recorded prompts (changing the greeting is under user options ) Please always begin the outgoing message with: This is the Portland Area Sailplane Society telephone message center, SPONSORED BY TAMMIES HOBBIES IN BEAVERTON, OREGON.

10 P a g e 10 Thermalsearch 2014 results Kevin Martin, CD Well, another ThermalSearch has come and gone. Turnout was quite good, with Jim and Sandie Pugh making the drive from Seattle, Jim Frahm and Anne Stimers from Spokane, Don Stewart from Richland, and the usual collection of local riff-raff. The flying conditions were not typical of what we usually see during summer in Portland it was windy. Summer breezes typically average 3-5 mph. Instead the winds were blowing both days which made for some challenging flying conditions, including a number of missed landings. The wind did make the 90 degree temperatures a bit more bearable and airplane carnage was held to a minimum.

11 P a g e 11 Rippin Thermals Eugene Report Tom Culmsee, CD Thermals Were Rippin Again in Eugene by Tom Culmsee Well the 2014 version of the thermal soaring contest in Eugene was again typical of the more than 44 some odd events that were held in years past. All typified by a word - thermals. Big thermals. Sometimes fast moving thermals. Other times thermals so strong you go up looking like the spiral on a barber pole, each circle some hundred feet higher than the last. Thermals which start right at ground level and can take a glider up to "Stupid Portwood High" in just a few minutes. Did I mention T H E R M A L S? We had a great turnout again this year and everyone enjoyed great weather (warm always) throughout the weekend. On Saturday there was a touch of wind (in Texas they would have called it a calm day), which did result in a few "walks of shame" for those adventurous enough to go for that downwind thermal. But overall a great day of strong, wind driven lift. We flew a pilots choice format of At the end of the day, everyone was more than ready for the signature Corn Feed and BBQ Chicken meal, this year in Jason Hood's back yard. Everything went well and the Bodacious Corn was super sweet and crisp. The chicken had that genuine "fire roasted" flavor that everyone seemed to enjoy including Sandie "do you know what you're doing?" Pugh. Early Sunday, the stillness of the cool morning air, was broken by the hollering and yelling of the flyers who were attempting to "hit the egg" and lay claim to the years EGG BUST Champion. Only one, the first to try, was successful... the ever modest Jason Hood. The winds calmed that day but the lift was still there in abundance. True, where there is lift, there is also sink and several did get caught up in those "big thumbs" of down, but overall most pilots managed to get their times. One unfortunate incident though, as Jim Pugh managed to lose sight of his trusty Ava Pro in the hazy slightly smoke enhanced sky. It rocketed down from stratospheric heights into the hard unforgiving ground of the next field over. Pretty much toast, but some pilots were still seen picking over the carcass, true barbarians those. We flew another four rounds and everyone was ready to call it a contest. RES 1 8,469 Van Dijk, Richard 2 8,320 Eaton, Ken 3 7,988 Hood, Jason 4 7,931 Fiedler, Dan 5 6,454 Martin, Kevin 6 6,224 Pugh, Jim (Sun Scratched) Expert 1 8,703 Brightbill, Tom 2 8,542 Culmsee, Tom 3 8,474 Johnson, Dave 4 8,363 Hood, Jason 5 7,803 Van Dijk, Richard 6 7,663 Eaton, Ken 7 6,462 Stewart, Don 8 4,594 Portwood, David (Sat Only) Competitor 1 7,930 Ragsdale, Keith 2 7,322 Fiedler, Dan 3 4,820 Fiedler, Daniel << TOP Novice! 4 3,099 Breedlove, Roger (Sun Only) Two Meter 1 8,295 Culmsee, Tom 2 8,125 Brightbill, Tom 3 7,938 Martin, Kevin 4 6,928 Ragsdale, Keith (Humble Pie Award) 5 4,624 Portwood, GD 6 2,335 Pugh, Sandie (Pilot scratched)

12 Upcoming Events: PASS Web Site- Check out our NEW Web Site at: PASS Event Line & Voic - (503) Sponsored by Tammie s Hobbies, Beaverton OR P.O. Box 805 Gresham, OR Mailing Address Line 1 Mailing Address Line 2 Mailing Address Line 3