James C. Garrison, 715 Lochridge Lane Earlysville, Virginia 22936. Please provide the following information-

    Name

    Address

    City, State, Zip

    Phone

    Student or Instructor ? -If Instructor, Special expertise ?

    Pilot Certificate         			Bronze Badge ?

    FAI Badges ?        			Glider Hours

    Cross Country Experience

    Other Information

A Good Sunday at the Airport Even Beats Church

It's really hard - no, it's impossible - to convey the real sensations of a moving event. No matter how graphic the description, or even how clear the video or photo, nothing really conveys the feel of a kiss! At best, all an artist can do is remind us of a wonder we've already experienced. We appropriately reward writers, artists, photographers, and filmmakers for their attempts to do that.

Now if you've done it, you can imagine/remember what it really feels like to skim in a wave alongside a blindingly white rotor cloud, four or five miles long and two thousand feet thick and two miles up, watching the roiling surface change shape before your eyes as it unfolds in front of you, chasing your own glory in a multicolored ring of fire shining up from the side of the cloud, and playing tag with sinuous towers of mist as they shoot up and out like magic fountains, curling and coiling around your wings. Another great day to be alive and in the air. - Jim Kellett

Jim Kellett's Diamond Goal flight has been approved and Joe Parrish has received his Silver Badge. Congratulations to both

Operational Note

The Saturday closing procedure should include removing the ASK battery from the left wing and connecting it to the charger which is on the shelf at the nose of the plane. The charger can be left on all night. The Sunday morning folks should include replacing the battery in the pre-flight. The battery for the ASK needs to be charged much more often than before the radio installation. As a starter, I suggest that the Saturday crew put the battery on charge, and the Sunday crew return it to the plane. To remove the battery, loosen the large screw at the front top of the battery, lift the front, and slide it toward you. Pull the plug straight out of the socket. When returning the battery to the plane, do NOT tighten the screw past snug, since it compresses rubber feet, the screw does not get real tight.-Fred Winter

There have been several changes made to the roster over the past month. Please look over the roster carefully to note the days you're scheduled to work. About Thursdays: We're trying to schedule Thursdays on a regular basis. As you can see below, there are many TBDs for Duty Officer, Tow Pilot and Instructor. If anyone is willing to volunteer to work any of the Thursdays or other TBD days on the roster, please call me (703) 379-4721 or e-mail LCSergent@aol.com. Thanks! We'll keep you posted as Thursday operations firm up.-Lisa Sergent

• If you want to fly on Thursday, instruction or anything else, you must alert the Thursday crew in advance!! If NO ONE calls before Wednesday evening, the crew will probably "abort". You CANNOT assume there will be people there "if it's a good day"!! This goes for those who have been planning in advance to come out, including DOs and ADOs... Please double check via voice line with each other the night before!.

  Who to call? Well, if I'm supposed to be there, call me. If you want instruction, for sure call me (unless there's another instructor on tap). Alternate is to call the towpilot, because unless someone alerts him/her, ain't gonna be no towing!! )

  I'll try to post a note early in the week as a reminder and with the "status" of the flight schedule as I know it - except when I'm not here!. There will be no posting from me in advance of the June 26 operation, because I'm out of town right up until that Wednesday night! If you want instruction, just leave an e-mail note in my box. To confirm that you want to FLY, be sure to call the towpilot and/or DO for that day in addition to leaving me a note! Don't forget to talk to each other!

  Also, emergencies excepting, because Thursdays are by design "light" days, try to be available to get out/put away stuff... don't just drop by, take a flight, and take off unless you just have to !!

  Gosh, this is fun. -Jim Kellett

• The 1997 DuPont Regatta will be held September 19-20-21. Now's the time to start the planning ball rolling. Call or e-mail Piet Barber if you wish to volunteer for service during the Regatta.

• Many of you have seen the "Soaring Turf Art" that Kevin Fleet, Bob Collier, and Jim Kellett laid out on the runway. If you haven't, better get your butts out and fly!! It's pretty dramatic.

  Jim writes: "The project cost me about $60 so far (for fertilizer). [That doesn't count Kevin's donation of his expertise and his $50,000 computer wizard to lay out the project!] And it's soon going to cost another $35 for the next installment (about 600 lbs. of lime to lock in the nitrogen), plus another $60-75 in late summer or early fall for a slow release fertilizer replenishment. If we do those things, the "art" should be visible well into 1998. I suspect that if we keep it, there'll be an annual expense of somewhere around $100-150. There's an option for reseeding that's under consideration, but not decided yet.

  Anyhow, there's room for at least $100 in member contributions if you'd like to participate in this project to Put Skyline Soaring On The Map. So, happy campers, if you're inclined, "show me the money"!

  I've already had a couple of volunteers who've said they'd help me with the labor - which is extensive (it takes about 4 hours to lay down something), so they (they know who they are) are exempt from this solicitation! Thanks in advance to them! Make your checks payable to me. If I'm honest, I'll keep the money separate from my personal investment in the Turf Art Fund. If I'm not honest, I'll use it to buy beer for the crew that shows up in the rain some Thursday."

  Editor's note-We need some good photographs of this Organic Mona Lisa, so take your camera along when you come to witness the great lengths grown men will go to express themselves.

• There are plans to install in the Club Hangar a Member Milestones bulletin board celebrating each member's major soaring events. So send us the dates you: soloed, earned A, B, C, Bronze Badges; received your Private/ Commercial license (or rating); received your CFIG rating; earned a Silver and/or Gold Duration, Distance, Altitude goal and Badge(s); added a Diamond for Duration, Distance, Altitude; earned a 1000 Km Diploma; earned a Lennie or two or three; and any other soaring achievements you've gathered such as a State record.

  Shane has loaned the Club a neat magnetic board and we're ready to go. Send your information to Jim Kellett.

• Notes to your address book: Bela Gogos' new address is 8566 Foal Court, Gainesville, VA 20155-2941-phone and e-mail remain the same. John Ayers' and Bob Collier's area code is 540.