Hmmm.

Being involved in an organization - any organization, that has a lengthy history can sometimes be an education in human group dynamics and interaction. Like an onion, you can peel back many layers and think you are seeing the core but you're not. It's a good reminder that just because you see stuff a certain way it is probably best to just pay your monthly dues, shut up, and enjoy the flying.

With a whimper, not a bang.

Done. Over. Gone.

Bye-bye to the 2009 soaring season, which ended with rainy weekends and a fizzle. Ah well, I knew it would. The soaring gods were not as kind this year as in the past.

What did I accomplish this year? Well, actually I accomplished my soaring goals for the year. I learned how to fly high performance fiberglass ships and notched up my experience level one more notch. I'm really pleased that despite the scare of my landout mid season that I now officially feel pretty comfortable flying the ASK-21 and still love the 1-34.

I took several friends up for rides in the 21, which is a much nicer ship to take passengers in than the venerable 2-33. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the 2-33 and like that ship quite a bit. It's like a big forgiving teddy bear. And the ASK-21 isn't too far behind either. It's my new best friend.

I tried to mishandle the 21 the last time I was out and it's just darned difficult to do. I intentionally flew it right on the edge of a stall and fed in some rudder. It should have turned a half spin and stalled but it didn't. Just sort of mushed through the air and descended quicker. A really nice handling machine. The type that could lull you into trouble flying a super high performance ship. I'll have to keep on my toes with that as I move up.

Move up? Yes, there are two more ships on my 'next year' list. The Duo Discus and the single seat Discus. Luckily, the club owns two of these machines and they are suitable for serious cross country flying. Next year, I'll sign up for cross country training and depart the comfy confines of the Harris Hill ridge and Elmira valley. I'm excited and I'll spend the winter finding materials to read and study in preparation for the flights.

And maybe...just maybe...commercial rating? If I get a commercial rating, I can fly passengers for hire but more importantly, I don't pay for the flights. It's a good way to build time without paying for it.

Anyhow, one more event on the calendar this year but I won't be able to attend - the annual Snowbird contest takes place the weekend of Thanksgiving. The weather is usually bad but the contest is stuff like spot landing and so forth. Then...perhaps some flying on New Year's day and then the long march to April.

Can the Fall get any worse?

Good grief! The weather has been positively sub-optimal for weeks. And when it has been cooperative, I've been busy! Looks like this year's flying season will end with a whimper rather than a bang.

I did manage to get a beautiful flight in about a week and a half ago. It wasn't soaring weather but it was reasonably calm with about a 5 knot crosswind. I hadn't really flown in much of anything but dead calm or nearly direct headwinds all summer. Not to worry, all went well and the air was almost eerie smooth.

I managed to arrest my descent along the ridge and fell in behind one of our other club members as he went by and headed out over the valley. I flew minimum sink while he must have been flying best L/D (lift vs. drag). The fall trees were beautiful along the nearby hillsides with some stands of trees farther along than others, making the whole landscape look like a spattered paint canvas.

I worked my way down the ridge staying close to Harris Hill and then turned back around behind him as I was a little higher than he was. He made it look easy as he put it down in the first 1/3 of the field. I carried a bit more altitude for reasons that are obvious from my previous posts and landed beyond him, still stopping well before the pavement edge.

I've got one more opportunity to fly this weekend before we stop regular ops. Weather forecast is partly crummy with scattered crumminess changing to totally crummy later one.

The friends and family plan

As the flying season winds down, I've decided that I'm finally comfortable flying the ASK-21. I've achieved my flying goals for this year, which was to move up to higher performance aircraft and become comfortable flying them.

I know that because I've been recently flying a lot of friends and family members, giving them a taste of soaring in 15 and 20 minute chunks. I wouldn't do that unless I was comfortable and of course, a spate of dead calm, no thermal weather has made it perfect for passenger trips, if not for soaring itself.

One of my goals was to get better at thermal centering and flying in the higher performance aircraft. I haven't had as much time to practice this because there haven't been that many thermals when I've flown. I did manage 53 minutes recently on a day when thermals were in the 2-3 knot range. That was really good practice for circling in light lift conditions and while I was better at the end of it than when I started, I'm still not doing it efficiently. I'm letting the yaw string skid off too much when I circle, meaning the tail isn't following the nose.

Of course, circling at a constant bank it's not too tough to keep the yaw string straight back. But in a thermal, you often vary the angle of bank to center up the thermal. A little less bank on the strong side of the thermal, a little steeper bank on the soft side of the therm will alter the circle with the intent of moving you closer to the center of lift. Varying that angle skids the tail if you aren't good with the rudder.

The concept is simple, the execution not as easy. Rolling the ASK-21 into a bank, you add more rudder than aileron. As you roll in, you ease off on the rudder although not all the way. Then you may need to reduce aileron as you reach your roll angle. When you do that, you need to add a little rudder to get the tail to follow because one wing is flying faster than the other around the circle. (Just think of whirling a ball on a string around your head -the speed of the ball is quite a bit higher than the speed of a point on the string near y

our hand). That extra speed creates more drag and pulls the nose in one direction requiring correction with the rudder. The amount of correction varies with bank angle and since you are almost constantly changing the bank angle as you circle, you need to do it pretty much automatically. If you think about it, you'll be behind the aircraft.

So, I'm not satisfied with my technique and I'm also not satisfied with my awareness of the sky conditions. I need to read and think more about where lift is or might be under different conditions. I'll work on that this winter and try to apply it next spring.

Next year, I've got one more milestone aircraft to check out in - the Discus. Our club has both a Duo (two seat) Discus and a single seat Discus. They are mainly for cross-country flights but the single seater rarely gets flown as it is in a trailer and has to be assembled. Our other aircraft are in the hangar and easier to roll out.

I'm also going to consider getting my commercial rating so I can fly passengers at Harris Hill. As I said, I'm still not satisfied with my skills and a commercial rating requires more precision than the private pilot glider rating. I'm going to look through the requirements for commercial rating this winter and even if I don't go for the rating, I'm going to train for it. It can't hurt and there's no reason I can't get the rating.

In addition, I'm going to sign up for cross country flight training from our club pros next year. That will introduce me to the world of thinking on your feet and will make me a much better pilot.

I'll close with a shot I took yesterday from the ASK-21 that I landed out in earlier this year. The leaves here in upstate NY are changing and it's always lovely. There was no lift but the visibility was excellent and I hadn't flown since the leaves started to noticeably show. It was still and quiet and truly beautiful.

That's why I fly.

The giant sucking sound

If you listen closely, you can hear a very faint sucking sound as Summer begins to run out and we enter Fall -and inevitably, the end of the regular flying season at Harris Hill.

It's gone by fast and the weather hasn't been very kind to us this year but nevertheless I consider it a pivotal year in my glider experience. I achieved all of my flight goals this year - to move up to the high performance ships in our fleet and to become comfortable flying them.

There's still the Fall to fly, so another 10 weeks or so of good weekends and Wednesday night flying will help lessen the anguish of shutting it down until better weather. The weather is generally pretty good and watching the leaves change over the weeks from the air is a special site that not many get to share. I'm going to make the best of it before preparing for my flying next year.

What will my goals be? I'm giving consideration to adding the commercial glider pilot's license to my ratings. That way, I can be scheduled to fly passengers on weekends, introducing them to soaring and adding experience to my resume at no cost. You need to be able to fly to a higher standard for the commercial rating and I'm not yet certain that I qualify. We'll see what I think as I begin to fly next year.

I'm also thinking of starting some cross country training. I have *plenty* to learn about good thermalling and flight technique but one way you can gain that is to fly with experts and our cross country instructors are the ones who can teach you what to look for.

Until then, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the time left in the flying season and sharpen up those flight skills.

It does not get any better than this

A friend from work visited this weekend. Aside from turning me into a Decemberists fan at their concert in Buffalo, we got a little soaring in. Today, he sent me a link to a Youtube video of us flying. You can see how spectacular the day was!

It's all good now

I've been flying as much as I can, concentrating on learning how to put the ASK-21 on a spot that I want it to land on. One thing I've concentrated on is how to land from what is obviously 'too high'. This allows me to more easily control the glider when the risk of an undershoot is greater - like on a landing to the North.

I don't land all that close to the flight line, but I'm always touching down at the mid field taxiway, which is where I've been aiming. I've decided that I don't care if my landings require a lengthy push back to the flight line. What I care about is landing the glider where *I* want to land it and doing that consistently. Later on, I'll be able to gauge it more accurately and I can move that point back while still having plenty of room for error.

I've also been concentrating on holding my airspeed and turning in 30-35 degree circles. I've been doing some practice at steeper angles of 45 degrees as well. I'm getting the hang of it and am starting to be able to tell when the airspeed is increasing without having to look at the gauge. I'm still working on it, but I am improving.

I've done well in the last 8 or 10 takeoffs at keeping the wings level while compensating for crosswinds. No major bobbles or swerves recently and I'm pleased that I'm doing better at this. Gotta stay on top of it, though.

Awaiting takeoff at Harris Hill

I'm beginning to fly passengers with me. Bryan Riegal flew with me the other day on a pair of flights and took some pictures. No lift that day, so you couldn't stay up, but my oh my the view was nice and it was a perfect early evening set of cruises.

Behind the tow plane climbing to altitude

Your moment of Zen. Releasing from the tow plane to soar.