On first day of the Regatta, Friday, September 19, 1997, the local newspaper (Northern Virginia Daily) featured a full page spread on the Regatta!! By appearing on the first day of the event, we enjoyed the visits of several area pilots on Saturday and Sunday.

The weather forecasts throughout the weekend were, shall we say, inconsistent. It was inconsistent enough, however, to keep away several planes whose owners didn't want to risk getting caught in the rain with antique birds on open trailers. In fact, the turnout was even smaller than last year, in which we faced the aftermath of hurricane Fran!

Vintage sailplanes were represented by Jan Scott's fine Slingsby T-31b and Larry Burris' lovely Ka-6. Classic ships included Jim Kellett's Cirrus, Lisa Sergent's and Tim James' 1-26, and Shenandoah Valley Soaring Club's SGS 2-33. Modern ships included Tom Jones' DG-200, Fred Daams' two place Lark, Linn Buell's LS-4, SSC's Sprite and K-21, and Jim Garrison's ASW-19. We also had a wealth of towplanes, including a Super Cub from M-ASA flown by Dave Lizner, the Shenandoah Valley Soaring's Pawnee, and Skyline's Pawnee and Scout. We were ready for an onslaught!

What the Regatta lacked in planes was made up for in fun by those who were there! Sixty launches in three days, and on Saturday a totally unexpected wave flight to 14,800' by Jim Kellett in his Cirrus! More than a few people got to experience open cockpit flying in Jan's T-31, and several visitors got rides in Skyline's K-21, Fred's Lark, or Shenandoah Valley's 2-33.

Saturday night featured the famous Timberville Barbeque catered at the airport, followed by videotapes in the airport's training lounge.

No one took up the challenge to fly to Frederick on Sunday, and it was probably best. Jim Garrison declared a 500K flight, but was, like several others, surprised that the great looking day really didn't provide the kind of lift for a decent cross country flight.

All in all, those who came had, as usual, a great time with this fun loving bunch of soaring pilots. All made possible by the generous donation of time and energy of many Skyline people. Some who, because of their extraordinary contribution, deserve special mention including Fred Winter and Bill Vickland (both of whom spent four straight days making sure everything worked!), Tim James, and Lisa Sergent.

-Jim Kellett, Secretary

Birds and rodents have a knack for building their nests inside 1-26 wings that are left unguarded and undisturbed for long periods of time. Recently, I assisted Tom Bird, the current owner of 081, in preparing for annual inspection. When I examined the right wing to determine why the spoilers were a little sluggish in closing, I spotted a bird nest located about six feet from the wing root. This was not the first time I had been confronted with the problem of eliminating a well-constructed nest in a 1-26 wing, so I knew exactly what we needed to do.

The only access to the nest is through the wing root up through the lightening holes in the ribs. Our strategy was to break up the nest with an air jet from my compressor, but of course we had to lift the wing tip into the air to allow the debris to fall out of the wing root area. With a rope thrown over a tree limb 25 feet above my front lawn, we hoisted the wing into a near vertical attitude and began blasting the nest with 100 psi air from a six foot piece of aluminum tubing attached to the compressor air hose. This broke up the nest, and with high volume air from the output side of my shop vac, we were able complete the break up of the nest and blow the debris out of the wing root in about two hours. With the exception of one or two pieces of straw, the inside of Tom's wings are now essentially dust free. But I didn't write this story to tell you this.

As I mentioned, this is the second time that I faced this problem. The first time was about 15 years ago, as Bob Collier (289), Al Dresner (189) and I were preparing for one of the many Championships we attended together. In this instance, Bob's wing was hoisted up into the tree in a similar manner as Tom's. However, Bob's other wing was lying on the grass nearby and his fuselage was leaning precariously nearby supported by a broomstick inserted in the aft spar fitting receiver and resting on a step ladder. Al's ship was on his open trailer by the curb and my ship was disassembled in the driveway with wings and fuselage resting in separate dollies. If you can visualize this scene, you can appreciate the following.

Actually, it took much less time to clean out Bob's wing which contained a squirrel or rat nest. Most of the material was cotton padding which disintegrated quickly and readily fell through the wing root. We had anticipated a difficult job and therefore we were much relieved when we were able to complete the job so quickly. Having completed the first major task of what was to be a long day with many smaller tasks, we relaxed for a few moments on the front lawn with beer and sandwiches provided by Joan.

As we finished our lunch we were surprised by the arrival of an Arlington Police car with lights flashing, but no siren. The police officer got out of his car and walked toward us laughing at the wing in the tree and pieces of gliders that littered my front lawn. His first comment was. "I didn't really believe it was true, but you guys should know that someone has reported an airplane accident here."

The moral of this story is that in order to prevent erroneous accident reports you need to prevent nest building in your wings. This can be accomplished by two methods. First, you can cover the rib lightening holes with fabric so that birds and squirrels cannot get into the wing, or second, you can fly more frequently so the wing is not available to the birds and squirrels for nesting. If you can only do one of the two, I recommend the latter. Failing on both counts, you can still hoist your wing into the trees and blast the nest out. However, you might want to advise your local Police Department first.

-Bill Vickland

The Frontline film, "The Lost American" airs on October 14, 1997 on PBS. The film explores the extrordinary life and mysterious disappearance of Fred Cuny, disaster relief expert and glider pilot. The film covers Fred's experiences from the Biafran war in 1971 to his disappearance in Chechnya in 1995.

Although Fred was an avid soaring pilot, owned an ASW-19 and flew in both FAI and 1-26 competition, the film does not include his soaring experiences. Fred was recently honored by the 1-26 Association which renamed its Annual Championship Team Trophy the McNiel/Cuny Trophy. Bob McNiel and Fred flew as team pilots in several 1-26 Championships.

Fred will also be honored by the Bosnian Government later this year for the work that his company, Intertect Relief and Reconstruction Co., performed in Sarajevo from 1993 until 1995. An emergency water system developed and installed by Intertect provided 80% of the water to Sarajevo throughout the siege and in 1995, during the heaviest seige period, it provided the only water to the city of 300,000 people. Intertect also worked across the Bosnian and Serbian confrontation lines to ensure the continued supply of natural gas to the City of Sarajevo during the siege. Fred's disaster relief strategies focussed on their strategic impact rather than their humanitarian benefits. The maintenance of the water and gas supply in Sarajevo were instrumental in preventing the success of the Serbian seige of the City in defeating the Bosnian people. Fred was instrumental in defining American foreign policy in Bosnia during the conflict.

-Bill Vickland

I would appreciate if we would follow this policy for temporary memberships:
Anyone who is not a club member or the guest of a club member who wishes to fly in the club gliders must purchase a temporary membership. This provides both the temporary member and the club protection under our insurance policy through the SSA. For their $20 temporarymembership fee, they are entitled to use the club equipment at member rates for a period of 10 calendar days. They are also entitled to an SSA logbook.

One situation that arises often is a "hot" prospect who assures us that they intend to join the club. These individuals must still purchase a temporary membership until they submit their membership application form and fees to Stacy. If they join the club (by submitting the application and fees) during the 10 day period of their temporary membership, the $20 may be deducted from their payment to Stacy.

I know that some folks are reluctant to "scare off" a hot member prospect by requesting the temporary membership fee. I think that we are actually losing out on the subtle commitment that goes along with paying this small fee and getting a logbook in return. By the way, non-CFI demo flight pilots are welcome to sign the logbook-just make it clear that it is a demonstration flight and not an instructional flight.

If a member prospect can't "afford" the $20 temporary membership fee, then their prospects of being able to afford flight training are marginal at best. We aren't making gobs of money from temporary membership fees-it's the commitment thing.

-Joe Parrish

Particularly for those DO's and ADO's in the crowd, but also for everybody to note. Section 3.1.2.H of the Operations Manual states that a person gets only one 10 day trial membership per year. While rigid adherence may not be totally necessary, people should not be allowed to substitute a series of trial memberships for joining the club. When somebody asks about a trial membership, tactfully inquire if they have flown with us before. Remember, you have contributed to the capital of the club and they have not. The object is to encourage them to join SSC and not to just let them fly on our nickel.-Spencer Annear

While all of the tow pilots know that they are to notify me if they think something on the Pawnee needs fixing before the next flying day, not all of the membership are aware that they should let me know if they find something that needs fixing on any of the gliders. You should notify the DO who should enter it on the Log sheet and the DO should notify me of any discrepancies.

Entering the information on the log sheet does not get the information to me. Only because Stacy called me was I aware of a problem. With regard to the tow plane, our policy places the responsibility on both the DO and the Tow pilot because it is very important that I get timely information. Members who preflight the gliders should notify the DO and the DO should notify me. In this case the responsibility rests entirely on the DO to ensure that the information gets to me.

-Bill Vickland

   Accident occurred July-12-97 at Bethel, PA  
   Aircraft: Vickers-Slingsby T65A
   Registration: N111XX 
   Injuries: 1 Minor.

On July 12, 1997, about 1635 eastern daylight time, a Vickers-Slingsby T65A, N111XX, a glider, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Grimes Airport, Bethel, Pennsylvania. The certificated flight instructor received minor injuries. No flight plan was filed for the flight that departed the Pennridge Airport, Perkasie, Pennsylvania, at 1240. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot reported that he departed Perkasie, and he intended to over fly several airports, prior to returning to Perkasie. After about 4 hours of flight, the pilot elected to land at Bethel due to the lack of updrafts. The pilot was hot and tired and stated that he did not recall anything after turning final approach, other than the glider landed hard, and the fuselage was damaged. The pilot additionally reported that he did not experience any mechanical malfunctions with the glider.

Sounds like a classic case of dehydration. There is no good reason for this to occur.

Let's be hydrated out there...-Joe Parrish

On Sunday, September 14, 1997, Lisa Sergent slipped the surly bonds of the student pilot certificate, and is heretofore subject to the privileges and responsibilities of the Private Pilot--Glider (Aerotow).

Lisa took an unusual approach to her flight test. After the second flight (250' AGL rock-off by towplane), the DFE jumped out and exclaimed, "I'm not gonna fly with you anymore!" I guess that's one way to do it...

Please join me in congratulating Lisa. Well done! -Joe Parrish

The 1-26 at Hartwood has not been sold. I understand it's "pristine", although the trailer could use some work. Asking $8000; can be had for less, but not "over the phone". Needs to be looked at by serious purchaser(s).

Owned by Bob Dorminey, (540) 252-1969 (or 752-1969-can't read my own writing!)

-Jim Kellett

Joe Parrish received a very nice letter from Rob Shallenberger (former club member and towpilot), who is now in charge of the Midway Atoll! Rob is managing the island on behalf of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which took over the whole shooting match--hah, good pun!--last year from the US Navy.

Rob says: "Aloha from Paradise. It's great living on an airfield, but I miss my plane. I did get checked out in gliders at Dillingham on Oahu, so I'll keep in the soaring scene. Say hello to the Skyline crew."

Rob and Annarie's address is:

Shallenberger's
Midway Island Station
PO Box 660099
Lihue, HI 96766-0099

My current plan is to put the AS-K in the box following flying on Sunday the 28th, and head for Gherlein for an annual inspection (and repair of the brake). As Gherlein wants a week to do the work, the plane will not be available for 10/2, 4, & 5. It should be available starting 10/9. If this changes, I will post another note.

-Fred Winter

Editor's Note: Looks like some of you plastic-borne elitists are going to have to Drive Miss Daisey.

...speaking of that, on September the 7th, I had a 1 hour and a 1/2 hour flight in the old lady. On the second flight, I only came down because of a hydraulic problem (mine, not the 2-33's). Possibly the best thermal day I've ever experienced and Miss Daisey performed like a thoroughbred.

I hope that in the interval that the K is down, some of you will find, as I have, that this ragged little ole lady from Elmira has some neat thermaling habits.

There are at least 2 CFI's who think I've found the only woman who will have me. Not so, guys-just have to polish my come on technique!