Right now, we're in the depths of an Upstate New York winter season but even the snowfall yesterday hints at what is coming. Instead of the light fluffy stuff and below 20F temps, we had a wet, wintry mix followed by a 42F day today.
The soaring season officially begins at Harris Hill the first weekend of April, but if it looks good, we try to sneak in a little bit of flying early. I think we'll manage it early this year.
It's not like I haven't been BUSY with HHSC stuff, either. I'm the Facebook page administrator (look us up!), the webmaster, and the duty scheduler, among other things. In addition, I've organized our HHSC Flight Night, soaring with Condor flight simulator and flying online with several of our club members.
It's been fun and instructive to fly tasks when I would normally be grounded. I've learned two things that I think will transfer to my real life flying:
1. How to make a plan for a task, how to evaluate that task as I fly along, and strategies to fly in different environments than just HHSC.
2. How much a glider will really perform in sink and wind. Condor does a good job of letting you explore the flight envelope "just to see" how the glider performs. I've flown Mifflin ridge scenery, set the wind real high, and checked out how much altitude it takes to transition from one ridge to another.
The flight physics are really quite good and I try to fly it like I would in real life. There are times when I try something that I wouldn't in real life, but I always start by saying, "in real life, my plan would currently be to do the following...." That way, I make a conscious break from flying for real and trying something in the simulator. It's been fun and I hope that it will transfer to my cross country plans this year.
I've also been asked to help with our Junior's program. I think I'll do it. Having the kids fly is one of the greatest gifts our club can give to them and we have a world class Junior's program, thanks to Janelle Sullivan, our current Junior advisor. She's done such a great job, we're going to have to split it among several members rather than just one.
I think it's extremely important. Where else can a 16 year old kid be given responsibility for a $100,000 piece of machinery? It's a huge responsibility and our Juniors do a great job handling it. If I can help them, I really want to do that.
I'm looking forward to a great 2013 soaring season and can't wait for it to begin - in real life!
