Highlights of Skyline Soaring Club Annual Membership Meeting On Saturday, January 31, 1998
Shane Neitzey hosted the Annual Membership Meeting at his shop in Manassas. Thanks, Shane, for making this meeting possible!! It was a L O N G meeting - lots of exciting things happening! The high points: -- President Rees presented special plaques recognizing outstanding service to the Club to members Fred Winter, Bill Vickland, and Jim McCulley. -- President Rees presented Certificates of Appreciation to Dave Weaver, Piet Barber, and Richard Freytag (for their development and maintenance of our excellent website); and to Lisa Sergent and Tim James (for their many sustained contributions as Roster Manager, Auto Maintenance Manager, and all around good guys). Congratulations to all! By the way, Tony Bigbee volunteered to serve as the new "Rosterführer"! Tony can be reached at (703) 352-9532. Please give him your full support!

Toward this end, Phil Jordan has prepared a uniform club logo system and related materials-like business cards-that anyone can use to spread the word consistently. Contact Phil for more info!

Mark your calendars now!
The Club will sponsor the Richard C. DuPont Vintage Sailplane Regatta on September 18-20, 1998! A Potentially Big Deal! There was a long discussion of the status of the sale of New Market Airport, which will almost certainly occur in 1998. Linda Raney had provided extensive cost and income data on the airport, and after lots of discussion the membership agreed that the Club should actively pursue some kind of participation in the ownership of the airport, through some separate Corporation either owned by the Club or in which the Club has an investment. President Rees named Spencer Annear to chair a Special Committee, including Jim Kellett and John Ayers, to explore all the options with potential investors and report to the Board regularly on developments. The members also elected as Board members for 1998, Joe Rees, John Ayers, Ralph Vawter, Jim Kellett, Kevin Fleet, and Joe Parrish.

In the open Board meeting that followed the Annual Membership meeting, Joe Rees was re-elected President; Jim Kellett re-elected Secretary; and Stacy Barber re-elected Treasurer.

Linda Needs Help

Dear Jim:
Could you please help me in spreading the word that I need support in my request for funding from the Virginia Department of Aviation for having a 5 year airport layout plan study done, plus removal of the current fuel tanks and installation of a new one? This is so important for the future of the airport. The support I request is phone calls, letters or faxes to Kenneth T. Carlson. He is the Virginia Aviation Board Member for our airport and makes the final decision. If pilots can let him know how important the airport is to them, that they want to see it continue to operate and that they ask him to support my funding request. Time is of the essence. The meeting where the decision will be made is at 9 am on February 25th in Richmond. Kenneth T. Carlson 2217 Brickhouse Road Trevillians, Virginia 23093 (202)296-4280 Fax:(703)967-3998 For pilots who write, it would also be helpful if they send a copy of their letter to Mr. Carlson to Vernon Carter and James L. Bland, Manager Airport Services with the Virginia Department of Aviation. Or they can call them directly and voice their support. Virginia Department of Aviation 5702 Gulfstream Road Richmond International Airport, Virginia 23250-2422 1-800-292-1034 Fax:(804)236-3635

Dear Skyline Members: I have written a "corporate" letter from the Club in support of Linda's request. It would help a lot if all of you could write or fax or call as individuals in addition to this. The goal is to secure 80% funding from the State to replace the leaking underground fuel tanks. If the State does fund it and the work is done, the property must remain an airport for 20 years; if the work is not done, the airport must cease selling fuel at the end of 1998!

Safety Corner
Many safety columns begin by analyzing an accident and then delineating ways that the accident could have been avoided. This column is the first of what will be monthly safety columns that we hope will prevent accidents from happening so we can devote Skylines to the more mundane activities of the club. We have over the years developed an ethic of safety in the club that has kept us accident free since our inception. An enviable record that we must all strive to maintain. To the extent that we can institutionalize safety, we have done so. Annual safety meetings, field checks and now the recently adopted policy of using a limited number of Duty Officers to ensure a continuity in how we approach safety on the field, are among the actions the club has instituted to promote safety. The idea behind this column is that each month we will look at one specific action or thought that each member should have in mind when at the field; whether sitting under the sun shade, on tow, soaring or in the pattern.

We are going to ask duty officers, tow pilots and instructors to write this column so we will have as many points of view represented as possible. When I was learning to fly, I had several instructors and I learned something from each one. Each instructor had a little different way of doing something or emphasized a different aspect of flying and I think it made me a better pilot. I hope this format will have the same effect on all of us and make each of us a little more safety conscious. And now, since I am the president, I will use my prerogative to take the first turn. As a duty officer my focus is on situational awareness that revolves around the gliders; those on the field as well as those in the air and in the pattern; staging, launching and recovering gliders; and, making the radio call for those in the pattern. What sometimes slips my vision is the potentially most dangerous-visitors and friends who wander onto the field.

On a busy day it is not unusual to have more than one glider in the pattern and it seems to me that this is when I look up and see 3 or 4 people walking in echelon diagonally across the field. This is where everyone needs to look out for visitors and friends in particular. If you are arranging for friends to meet you-meet them at the field office and bring them across. Be safety conscious-watch out for visitors and offer to bring them across at the appropriate time and place.
-Joe Rees

Wave camp
The 1998 SSC wave camp is scheduled for March 7-15 at Petersburg, W. Va. Fred Bane is the FBO and a member of the Cumberland soaring club. He has a Super Cub and a C-172 that was re-engined to 180hp with a constant speed prop for towing. He also has a Citabria that he might tow with. Preliminarily, it looks like the basic tow charge will be $20 to 3,000' with prorata at $5/1,000' above and below that. Also, preliminarily, it looks like the tie down fee will be $5/night, $10/week and, $20/month. It also looks like hangar space may be available in the big hangar at price? Oxygen availability is being looked into. Fred is interested in getting gliders based on the field long term so is very cooperative.
-Spencer Annear

Just in the nick of time...
Greetings, having assumed the responsibilities of Roster/Schedules coordinator, I write to you asking for your preferences (and days you cannot do). We're going to need approximately 8-10 days of your service this year. Some high level mathematics yields approximately 1 duty per month. Our first formal day of operations is Saturday 21 March, and it is from this day to 13 December that I need your input. According to Joe Rees, we will begin informal operations on Saturday 7 February. Additionally, we are supposed to begin flying on Thursdays and Fridays, but the weekends require formal scheduling. Joe Rees stated at our annual meeting on Saturday 31 January that the following 12 people will serve as DOs: Barber Bigbee Fleet Freytag Gardner Garrison Kans Popp Rees Vawter Weaver and Winter.

Everyone else who is not a towpilot or an instructor will serve as ADO. I'd like to have your input by as soon as possible. I will be contacting the 5 or so of the club who don't have email access via phone. If you have any questions, or want to submit your inputs via phone, my home number is 703-352-9532. Excelsior!
-Tony Bigbee

Download this...
The following club documents are available for download in .pdf format:

• Operations Manual
  http://www.ssl.umd.edu/skyline/docs/ops_manual.pdf
• Duty Officer Instructions
  http://www.ssl.umd.edu/skyline/docs/tow_manual.pdf
• Tow Pilot Manual
  http://www.ssl.umd.edu/skyline/docs/tow_manual.pdf
• By-Laws
  http://www.ssl.umd.edu/skyline/docs/by_laws.pdf

Painting Party
Saturday January 24th did not offer much in the way of soaring opportunities but it provided an ideal way to spend a rainy day, painting the metal skin parts of the Pawnee. These parts have been removed for the regular annual inspection which provides an ideal time to paint them. Shane Neitzey, Malcolm Gardner, Bob Michaels, Ken Zugel, Piet Barber and I spent the better part of the day in an impressive example of teamwork by Skyline Club members.

We all met at Shane's Signs at about 9:00 AM. Shane supervised the process of sanding, cleaning and vinegarizing (wiping with vinegar) by the other four while I mixed paints. Once a few pieces were prepared, Shane prepared them and tacked the surface, while the other produced and assembly line of prepared pieces. By noon we had prepared and primed all of the parts including the engine cowling, nose piece, the top of the hopper tank and about 24 other wing and body panels. After lunch, Shane mounted most of the pieces on rolling mounting boards which facilitated moving the pieces in and out of the paint booth while they accumulated three coats of beautiful white Imron. By 3:30 or 4:00 PM we had finished the whole works.

The Club owes a debt of gratitude to Shane for providing the use of his shop, and to the volunteers for the great teamwork. Without the shop and the great team effort the job would have taken at least two or three weeks. Phil Jordan is working up a paint scheme to decorate the Pawnee which will be done in the hangar sometime after the weather warms up. At that point we will need another volunteer team help set up and mask the paint scheme.

In addition, we will be looking for a team to disassemble the 2-33, strip the paint off the fuselage to prime and paint it. This will be a two day process because the 2-33 primer will have to dry for 24 hours. Being a part of the project was great fun because it produced some nice looking pieces that will greatly improve the appearance of the Pawnee. I am telling you this now so that you too can plan ahead to enjoy the great comraderie of these work projects. Volunteers will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. Don't delay. Volunteer now unless you want the same bunch of guys to have all of the fun. Thanks again to Shane, Ken, Bob, Malcolm and Piet.
-Bill Vickland

The Case for Kevlar Cockpit Seats
Vic Saudek* tells the story of an early glider contest in which one of the pilots spent quite a bit of time on a ridge in his Franklin PS-2. He rather enjoyed the attention of a group of boys who waved enthusiastically at him at each pass. Only the next day, when he was reassembling the glider after a late night recovery from an off-airport landing, did he discover the boys' enthusiasm had included some BB guns - from the several small holes he found in the fabric!

Back in the late seventies or early eighties, a towpilot at the Warrenton Soaring Center here in Virginia was startled to discover several small holes in the wing of the school's Super Cub. Most of the pilots were seriously upset at the prospect of some local kid taking pot shots at the planes they were flying &emdash; all but Chuck Beatley, owner of the airport and retired airline pilot. He coolly recollected flying mail planes over rural areas back in the thirties and forties; the frequency with which "revenooers" (who assumed the planes were Federal agents looking for their stills) punched holes in the planes, was to the pilots of the day, just one more annoyance.

Vic also described a potentially more serious incident, some time ago, at El Mirage, where a glider pilot on tow spotted a man on the ground firing a rifle at the towplane, a BT-13A owned by the renowned glider builder/pilot Gus Briegleb. The plinker put several holes in the engine compartment, but did no serious damage. After completing the tow, the towpilot returned to the area-this time without a glider in tow and with his .45 strapped to his waist. Circling low, he spotted the man near an adobe ruin-and proceeded to return fire! The outgunned plinker beat a hasty retreat. Score one for air power!
-Jim Kellett

*Vic Saudek, "Bungee Cord" Vol. 23, No. 4 (1998), page 17.

My first flight...
My very first airplane ride was a trip to Texas with my grandmother when I was 12 to visit relatives. I think I flew in a Convair and a Connie. Too bad I didn't pay attention to it at the time, but I didn't know then that I wanted to be a pilot! My first small plane ride was my first lesson in a Piper Cherokee, and my first flight instructor was Lee. That's how we met. But I think you've heard that story.
-Linn Buell

Log this...
Lisa Sergent writes: Our new address is: 1994 Wirily Lane, Cordova, TN 38018 Telephone 901-737-3992, alternate phone and fax 901-737-3993. Keep in touch! Lisa.

The club needs someone to take over the care and feeding of the GUV (that's the ground utility vehicle) AKA the red Plymouth, or is it a Dodge. Tim James has advised me that he will be unable to continue his excellent stewardship because he feels that a 24 hour commute is too much to expect. Lisa, since you no longer handle the scheduling, how about your taking over the car. I think I know the answer to that. Boy, what ever happened to volunteerism.
-Bill Vickland

New member info:
Kenneth Zugel, kenzugel@hiflight.com.

From the Prologue to The Glider Gang
by Milton Dank:

The song of the German Glider Pilots:
"The sun shines red. Comrades there is no turning back..."

The motto of the British Glider Pilot Regiment:
"Nothing is impossible."

The battle cry of the American Glider Pilots:
"Jesus Christ! More spoilers!"

What would happen if Fairchild and Honeywell merged? The new company would be called Farewell Honeychild, of course. Well, European regional car riders Virgin Express and EasyJet recently met to discuss the possibility of doing things together. Wags immediately labeled the proposed cooperation "Easy Virgin."

Editor's note: If I don't get your stories on your first flight and/or your member's biographies, I'm going to fill the space with drivel like the above...or worse!