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General Membership – 19 Sep 2015 SkyWerx
Club Phone Number
Club Phone – 402-804-3810. To update message, push # during the message and enter the security code and registered phone number, then follow the menu to settings/record greeting. Gate Entrance Code – #6693
Soaring Report
The club flew on only four days in August – weather again the limiting factor. Pat Greenwood had the longest flight of 50 minutes in the L-23.
Soaring Trip Salida
Four club members and a spouse made the 12 hour drive to Salida, Colorado. Jim Clark arrived early with the L-33 to do some fly fishing. Jay Buchanan, Mike and Marge Boska, and Bob Craig arrived a couple of days later. Jim had set up quite a camp in an area the Boulder Soaring Club usually used on the airport grounds – first come, first serve. The picnic table and Klondike chairs were already there, the rest was provided by Jim.
The first day we were there (Thursday) it was generally overcast with showers over the mountains so no one flew. A look at the satellite picture showed a steady stream of moisture from off the West coast of Mexico to Arizona/New Mexico then over Colorado. Jim did set up the L-33 and tied it down on the flight line with other gliders. That night, Jim, Jay, and Marge made a wonderful dinner followed by a campfire (it was cool enough that the fire felt good).
The next day was an improvement in the weather. Though the sky didn’t indicate much lift, Jim launched in the L-33 followed by Jay in the Russia. After Jay landed, I also went up in the Russia. Jay had the longest flight of 44 minutes. That night we all went to Salida for dinner and had pizza. Though the pizza prices were published on the menu, the drink prices weren’t and we found out the hard way each glass was $12. Though the pizza was good, the drinks were costly.
Saturday’s forecast again was an improvement over the previous day though not ideal (too much moisture over the mountains and strong west winds). The last of the Boulder club members arrived the night before, including their Super Cub towplane. Less than half of 24 gliders that planned to come showed up due to the weather. The airport manager, anticipating a big crowd, had a food truck park on the ramp providing gourmet sandwiches – very tasty.
Our plane was to fly and listen to the Huskers play if time permitted. Jim was first up in the L-33 and flew for 48 minutes. This was after a tow where the tow pilot over-heard one of the Boulder guys announce releasing from their tow plane and thought it was Jim and started to dive back to the airport. Jim released as the tow plane dived away. The tow pilot admitted his mistake and did not charge Jim for the tow. Jay launched next and was up for 1 hour, 18 minutes earning him his C Badge. He reached 12500 ft which was near cloud base and used spoilers not to be sucked in. Thermal strength was over 1000ft per minute under the clouds. Since the area over-developed early, I didn’t go up. And Mike elected not to go due to the strong winds. We finished the day listening to the Huskers lose – bummer. We also were hit by a strong thunderstorm that dumped at least .5 inches of rain on our camp in a short time. We had been invited to attend a party with the Boulder Soaring Club but since we were all suffering the Husker hangover, we elected to have a quiet meal in Salida by the river.
Sunday was the best day yet. The forecast was for thermals up to 16000ft and lighter west winds. The wind forecast was not correct however with strong winds out of the southwest requiring all the gliders to stage on the east end (downhill) portion of the runway. I was first up for our group – Mike Boska had to head back home so he didn’t fly. The takeoff went okay but considerable turbulence for the first 1000ft of tow kept the heart pumping. I got off in lift and climbed rapidly to 14000ft which was near cloud base and headed for the mountains. The highest I could get was 14700ft with the cloud base getting up to 15000ft (low for this area).
Jim launched next in the L-33 and flew for one hour and 11 minutes – enough for a C badge.
I was hoping to soar with him but a poor decision on where to fly next had me on the ground after flying for an hour. Since the tow pilot was still available, Jay was able to take the last tow of the trip. Over-development by this time limited available lift and Jay was down after about 40 minutes.
Though the weather didn’t cooperate on this trip with abundant moisture over the area most of the time, we were still able to get some good flights and had a great time camping and enjoying the area. The Boulder Club members were very helpful providing assistance with our gliders and lots of advice on how to deal with the Salida airport’s turbulent conditions. The gliders they did bring ranged from an old Schwiezer 1-34 to Jonkers jet powered super ship. We hope to do this again next year.
Hanger Roof
The roof is complete over all our aircraft. A lot of nails were left on the ground so watch out moving aircraft around the hangers. Thanks to all who helped move the aircraft several times during the month.
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