President's Prerogative
Well, having been eighty-sixed from New Market we are beginning our negotiations with the folks at Front Royal Airport to base the club there. The move will take place before January, and perhaps as early as the first week in December. The Airport Search Committee and your Board of Directors, with help from several members, looked at all reasonable options from as far north as Summit Point, WV to as far south as Waynesboro before settling on Front Royal. We looked at a bunch of factors such as soaring conditions, accessibility, hanger space and compatibility (one Ed Raney in a lifetime is enough) before we made the decision.

While Front Royal might not be the perfect site (if there is such a place) it is going to be a friendly field-they actively solicited our relocation-with ample hanger space and some pretty good soaring conditions. This will be familiar ground for many members as the club operated there during its transition from Warrenton to New Market. For new members, now a majority, it is going to be an opportunity to broaden your experience with a different field and different conditions. And for everyone, it will mean learning new traffic patterns and changes in our current operating procedures. I believe we have talked to all of the glider owners and know what their desires are in terms of storage. Hanger space is about two-and-a-half times as expensive as New Market; but, they have concrete floors and electric bi-fold doors and they are entered off a paved taxiway.

The down side is they are "T" hangers that will require us to remove some walls and support straps in order to fit everything in. We also have a long list of issues to work through with the FBO-everything from runway use to having a carbohydrate reload (that's a beer for you non-runners) in the hanger after ops. Look at your calendars from mid November to mid December and plan on spending some time in either preparing Front Royal, moving some equipment or both. It will take the efforts of everyone in the club to make this a successful transition. If you have any questions, suggestions, or a just-can't-live-without-at-the-new-field request, I hope you will call or e-mail me. I will be e-mailing regular reports on the progress of our negotiations and move. Let me know if you do not have e-mail and I will be sure to keep you up to date by snail mail or telephone.
-Joe Rees

Painting the 2-33
Painting of the 2-33 is going to be delayed until we shut down for the season. Aside from the limited time I have had available to do the job, there always seemed to be a glitch with either the weather, the availability of bodies to assist in the job or the reluctance to take the 2-33 out of operation for two or three weeks. Until now, I had not considered doing it during the off season because the weather would be too cold to permit a good paint job. However, Shane's offer to let us paint the 2-33 in his paint shop eliminates the weather problem and will allow us to do the job without removing it from operation.

So here is the drill. On the first weekend in December, following the end of the season, I would like to see a major work group at the field to accomplish several tasks. First we will disassemble the ship, removing the wings, the elevator and rudder. We will mount the wings on saw horses in the hangar and part of the work group will polish the wing surfaces. I hope we can find two or three power buffers among out members to tackle this task. The wings do not need painting except for the trim on the tips. Part of the group will strip the fuselage of old paint. At the end of the day, I would hope to have the wings ready to paint trim and the fuselage ready for priming. I will take the fuselage home to prime and hopefully take it to Shane's the following weekend. At that point, I will need four or five volunteers to handle the fuselage and wings in Shane's shop. Painting in Shane's shop may take two or three days in order to complete the base coat of white and three trim colors. However, we will have to remove it at the end of each day sothat it won't interfere with Shane's operation. The preparation work, masking and clean up will require a large team, so be prepared to come out and lend a hand.

Because we will not be flying at that point I hope to see lots of volunteers to help out. This is a great opportunity for new members to get involved in a fun project. In mid November, I will put out a call for volunteers and hope to see most of you out there at least one of the three or four days that will be required to finish the job.
See you then,
-Bill Vickland (Editor's note: written pre-Kosovo!)

Get me from the Church on time...
So, on your wedding day, how do you make it from the church to the reception? Perhaps you borrowed your father's Oldsmobile; maybe you got fancy and rented a limo. Boring, boring, boring.

Next time, try a glider.

That's what Skyline member Tom Brice did. On Sept. 12, Tom and new bride Linda made a grand entrance to their reception at the Sky Bryce airport. After aerotowing from 8W2 in the club's ASK-21, Tom released, made several orbits around a hot air balloon floating above the airport, then executed a beautiful pattern and landing on Runway 05, rolling right up to the reception tent and applause of the wedding party and guests.

Quite a bit of planning and practice went into making this operation a success. Tom first approached me with this idea in April. After long discussions with the Board of Directors, it was decided that Tom would need to execute a dry run into Sky Bryce with an instructor. Guess who was elected to be the Guy-in-Back?

Well, campers, let me tell you about Sky Bryce. It's a paved runway, about the same length and width as the runway at 8W2. The elevation and runway direction are fairly similar, too. And that's where the similarities end. Sky Bryce is actually set in a narrow valley, and the approach/departure from either end is not straight. Short trees and a large resort home are located directly off the departure end of Runway 05. At the departure end of Runway 23 is a golf course with a curving fairway to accommodate the profile of the ridgeline. Landing on 05 is straightforward. The strongly preferred direction for takeoff is 23, with a need for some low altitude maneuvering to follow the curve of the valley.

That's somewhat more challenging than 8W2, but I figured that Tom's experience at the field, along with a bit of coaching from me on the characteristics of the ASK-21, would prevail. (BTW, Tom is a corporate pilot flying business jets out of Washington National; he keeps a beautiful Luscombe taildragger at Sky Bryce and often uses it to commute between home and work. How many Luscombe's do you think are flown into DCA these days?) After two practice patterns in and out of Sky Bryce behind Paul Dawson in the Pawnee, I was convinced that the operation could be done safely.

On the wedding day, Tom and Linda high-tailed it from the church to Tom's waiting Luscombe and flew over to 8W2. The only part of the operation that we didn't practice beforehand was putting Linda and her wedding dress into the back of the ASK. Tony Bigbee reported that it was a tight fit. Given that Linda is only 5'0" and 100 lbs, that wasn't the cause of the problem. Anyway, Tom and Linda (and her dress) were launched behind Shane Neitzey in the Pawnee. Shane had already delivered me to Sky Bryce in a Cessna 172 in which he was giving instruction, so I was ready to assist when Tom landed. After rolling to a stop exactly on the mark, the bride and groom emerged to applause and photographs. Shane landed in the Pawnee, and Don Thompson, Pete Brice (father of the groom), and Tom's friend Lee helped me push the ASK back for takeoff. I respectfully declined Pete's offer to fly in the back so as to pick up Tom's plane at 8W2; Tom told me afterwards that Mrs. Brice would have lynched Pete for leaving the scene of the reception.

The launch and aerotow back from Sky Brice were uneventful, and I had a rare opportunity to make a solo pattern and landing. I forgot that there was no student in the plane, but still kept up the running criticism ofthe pilot-too fast, watch that yaw string, check your descent rate, etc., etc. I can see how I could get on a student's nerves. Tony Bigbee and Mike Cordova stayed late to help put everything away. We beat sunset by 20 minutes.

Congratulations to Tom and Linda, and I really enjoyed the challenge of doing something different. Who's next?
-Joe Parrish

To all of you at Skyline Soaring Club:
Our sincere thanks to all of you for making our "wedding grand entrance" so memorable! It was quite a surprise to our guests and a lot of fun for Tom & me. We really appreciate you letting Tom accomplish his dream of landing that way!
-Linda & Tom Brice

Skyline Soaring Club Anniversary
Skyline Soaring Club, Inc. began 7 years ago this fall. It was made of a charter group of 23 members who were customers and staff of the Warrenton Soaring Center, Inc., which went out of business. 7 years is important because that is the average time it takes a new business to go out of business. I was president during 4 1/2 of the first 5 of those 7 years. Our big problem then was putting together an organization that would survive. SSC is strong and growing with a membership that is quite active so apparently we have succeeded, so far. SSC is moving from its infancy into it's adolescence.

One of the first questions SSC had was what equipment to acquire and how to do that. The Pawnee was purchased from WSC in late November and the 2-33 in late December. With much arm twisting from Shane and others these purchases were financed by interest free loans from the charter members, $1,000 each from most and more from some. About $20,000 of those loans remain to be paid, even though a repayment plan was adopted several years ago.

Another question was the organizational structure. We have a Board of Directors who are elected by the membership at the annual meeting in late January. The Board makes policy decisions for the club in response to the needs of the membership. A suggested club calendar for the coming year is usually set up by the Board in January before the annual meeting. This has recently been in response to an early January planning meeting. A proposed budget has also been set up, some years, at this time. The Board's policy decisions often have to do with making the calendar and budget work, as well as fire fighting.

Now that SSC is entering its adolescence and has grown considerably in size a renewed planning effort should be made to assure well reasoned decisions that will not adversely impact the survival of SSC through its next 7 years.

Here's to a well planned next 7 years. -Spencer Annear I think we all owe an incredible debt to those charter members who established and guided the club through the first few years, and set a high standard for safety, fiscal responsibility, and commitment to serving the diverse needs of the membership. Success does not occur by accident.

In the meantime, we have graduated many students, made many long and high flights, issued lots of badges, slogged through mud to retrieve our friends in outlandings, and shared many stories and laughs around the field and at local eateries. It's ironic that much of the flying aspect of the sport is solitary; perhaps we make up for that with the team effort that is required for almost everything else associated with it.

Again, congratulations-and thanks.
--Joe Parrish

It CAN happen!
The other day, while Jan Scott was training a tow pilot to be for SSC, I was flying my LS-4 as the guinea pig (so to speak). Well, the turbulence was pretty bad on TO and Tow, and at about 200' I was struggling to maintain position. Then Jan banked sharply to the right and I remember thinking "why did he do that?" There was this huge thermal/turbulence area there and he has full opposite control input with no response. I found myself sharply climbing and way out of position to the left of the tow plane. I glanced at my altimeter, had 300' and released. I had a significant tailwind to deal with on a downwind landing, so I took my time setting up an approach. While doing this I gained 200'! I thought "this isgood". I gained another 100' abeam the downwind end of the runway and concluded that I could now fly a somewhat normal pattern and land into the wind, which I did. It's almost amazing to me how much I remembered to analyze in such a few seconds when I'm used to "doing" such simulated stuff to unsuspecting students. It CAN happen, so that's why we jump through these hoops.
-Linn Buell

Future Astronaut Goes Solo
Erin Haske of Gainesville, VA was recently asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. "An astronaut" she replied, setting in motion events which resulted in her learning to fly gliders in Minden, NV this summer. A fifteen year old student at Brentsville high school, Erin is the first recipient of the "Gogos Scholarships".

Erin's introduction to soaring took place in New Market sometime in June of this year. The introductory flight was given by Shane Neitzey. This flight reinforced her wish to become an astronaut.

During her training, Erin mastered many subjects including flight theory, federal regulations, airmanship, weather and safety considerations. She learned to safely operate a sailplane under a variety of conditions and make sound decisions. On several occasions she flew unaided to more than a mile above ground and over Lake Tahoe. Now that she has earned solo status her next flying goal is to earn a private glider license when she becomes eligible at the age of sixteen. One more step on the way to becoming an astronaut.

The "Gogos Scholarships" was established by Bela Gogos who is a retired Colonel of the Hungarian Air Force who immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution. Bela wants to share the benefits of his success in this country. "We should pass on something to the next generation...." Because of his glider training as a youth and continued enjoyment of this magnificent sport today, he knows the challenges and rewards of youth involvement in flight training. He also knows the difficulty of obtaining flight training when resources are limited.

The Gogos Scholarship program is administered by the Collegiate Soaring Association (CSA) and covers all on-site cost including flight training/instruction charges, training books and room and board. Several categories of training such as solo, license, advanced training are available. People between the ages of 14 trough 25 are encouraged to contact CSA. Details and application forms are available on the internet: (http://www.win.net/~greely/coll/gogos.htm.) or from Bela Gogos at (703) 754-2610.

PeeWee's Big Adventure...
(or how 5 seemingly normal adults get turned on)
Your editor ("Captain Incipient" to his wife) is one of 5 SSC members who may, by the time you read this, own Tom Bird's 1-26c. Why, you may ask, would 5 adults-2 perambulatory pilots, 2 retreads and a pro with 10,000 + hours buy a 34 year old kit-built glider that's damn near as old as two of us? Because it's going to be FUN flying! ("remember the Ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic by professionals"-D. Brunner.)

We received a lot of help from Richard Freytag, Bill Vickland, Bob Collier, Linn Buell and Tom Bird. Because we know there are others who will go down this road in the near future we offer the following information from several club members that were very helpful to us in making the decision and managing the process.
-Dave Brunner, Mike Cordova, Greg Ellis, Phil Jordan, Bill Malik.

First, Richard Freytag wrote a long and thorough review of the process of selecting a glider and setting up a legal format to manage the acquisition. Richard was a great help to us and his review of the process he and Fred Mueller went through in the purchase of their LS3 will be of great interest and a goodexample of just how to handle the chain of decisions necessary to insure a wise decision. Richard's outline is too long to include in the newsletter and too valuable to excerpt. You can find his most informative piece in its entirety on the Skyline web site. If you're in the market-or soon will be-this is a must read.

A note from Fred Mueller-I don't believe the club has a policy, per se, to grow the fleet as membership grows. This is handled on an ad hoc basis. Excepting the 2-33, the flying you do in club ships is a genuine gift from just three of our club members. My personal opinion is that partnerships and syndicates are the way to go. They are generally inexpensive, provide greater access to an airplane, and truly foster the growth of the sport. My ideal club would have a lot of syndicates with a regular turnover of shares. I would never minimize the financial demands that our lives place on us, but for most of us, owning a share in a sailplane might mean not buying quite such a fancy car or holding on to the old one for a couple more years, or in the case of Bird's 1-26, its the difference between riding to the airport on cloth seats instead of leather seats. Go ahead and rationalize, you won't regret it.

From Lisa Sergent and Tim James-Hi everyone-Tim and I have been reading the e-mail regarding Tom Bird's 1-26 with interest. As some of you know, Tim and I bought a 1-26 last summer just after we both got our glider ratings. At first, we were absolutely not interested in a 1-26. But, after lots of long talks with Bill Vickland and other folks, we came to realize that a 1-26 was the way to go. Bill has already provided the arguments so I won't repeat them.

Just to give our 2 cents worth, we both LOVE our 1-26. Its so much fun to fly, and you can land it just about anywhere. In addition to our 1-26, the Memphis Soaring Society has a club 1-26 that a couple of the members use for some awesome aerobatics shows. Its also a particular thrill when you can out thermal a glass ship-#580 left an LS4 in the dust earlier this summer and the LS4 had a much more experienced pilot than me on board.

Tim and I just bought an L33 Solo (and we kept the 1-26). The L33 is a great ship with much higher performance. But do we fight over flying it? Nope, we fight over flying the 1-26.

We're very happy that we listened to Bill about the advantages of the 1-26 (thanks Bill) and we both heartily concur with him. Buy it!! Best regards, we miss you guys!!
-Lisa [Sergent]

P.S. who's going to the SSA convention this year? We'll be there.

Lessons from a Novice's landout
As some of you may know, on October 15th, several of the club's members obtained invaluable experience breaking down and rebuilding the Sprite, courtesy of yours truly. For my part, I got a 12 minute flight, a bill for a 3 1/2 hour rental, and at least five valuable lessons. Now, a while past that lovely experience, I thought I'd sketch out those five lessons so that (1) I might actually remember them myself and (2) some other new pilot might avoid a mistake or two that I made.

The flight went like this. Seeing clouds billowing up along the ridge, I asked for and got a good tow to the ridge. Getting off tow just below the notch, I turned south in search of the lift that was producing the clouds. Surprise! The clouds were coming off well to the east. I did hit a spot or two of lift, so I continued heading south, secure in the knowledge that if I left the ridge above the trees, I could get back home... probably.

Did I mention that the wind, though very slight, was out of the South East? Do you recall what happens when you fly on the downwind side of ridge?

• Lesson #1: Never underestimate the power of even the slightest wind that's coming "the wrong way" over that ridge. Picture the vario pegged at down 8. I resolve to fly a bit further into the basket between the two ridges, hoping to find some lift.

  But the sink continues. Still down 8. Fly fast out of sink, right? So now I'm leaving the ridge at 80+ knots, hoping to find neutral air or even some lift off the ridge. Enter Lesson # 2.

• When there's a breeze over that ridge from the East, you can fly down off the ridge, but your flight path will accent the "down" part. Picture the vario pegged at down 8... still. The distance I hoped to get coming down off the ridge evaporates under me.

• Time for Lesson # 3. When you are going to land out, don't fight it. This was the one I did right. A sense of relief comes with admitting that there's no way in hell you're going to make it back. It's time to pick a field and set up your pattern.
• Enter Lesson # 4. Remember all that pounding about precision landing and not having too much energy on touchdown. Not 20 minutes before, I had a conversation with Kellett about speed in the pattern. Now, here I was, a couple hundred feet above some cow pasture (thankfully without cows), doing lots of knots and higher than I ever should have been. Thankfully, no one saw my landing. Or my second landing. Or, for that matter, what came next.
• Much faster than I cared to experience, here came Lesson # 5. Everyone knows to land going up hill. Well, it's hard to tell what's up hill and what's down when your setting up a landout for the first time. As Kellett later said "Even a little down hill will bite you in the ass." So now I'm (mostly) on the ground, moving on at a rapid clip towards the fence at the end of the field, just having heard Kellett tell a teaching story about some poor guy who cut his head off in a situation just like this, rolling into a fence at the end of a field. That's when I ground looped.

As the dust cleared, I uttered an expletive and popped the canopy. Alive and in an intact airplane, (though later inspection revealed that I bent the tail wheel bracket, from the ground loop). Five lessons at least. I hope to not make these again anytime soon. To the other novice pilots, hope you can avoid them too.
-John Lewis

John Lewis will appreciate this: "Experience is what you get only seconds after you need it."
-Joe Parrish

Let's be very careful out there
In memoriam-Oran Nicks died September 23 during an off-field landing attempt in his recently-completed PW-5. Oran was a beloved fixture in soaring, and particularly in Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region, for years when he was still working in Norfolk. He was a major actor in the long struggle to get a real world-class design implemented, and was a prolific technical innovator as well as an excellent pilot and generally wonderful fellow. You may have heard people refer to a particular kind of TE probe as a "Nicks Tube" which Oran designed years ago. This is a sad loss indeed to our community.

Oran Nicks was a great 1-26 enthusiast and participant in many of the 1-26 Championship contests. The following was received from the 1-26 web.

Oran was towed out from Coulter Field in Bryan, TX. Oran was apparently trying to go from Coulter to the big glider field in Hempstead. A ground observer where Oran was attempting to land in Grimes County (Navasota), said that Oran was nearly down when one tip rose sharply and the other caught the ground, causing the plane to cart-wheel, and resulting in a broken neck for Oran. Perhaps he suffered some medical emergency that made him decide to land. The plane is not suspected in the problems. Oran spent plenty of time at the A&M wind tunnel. He was an extremely well known aerodynamicist and soaring persona.-Jim Kellett & Bill Vickland

There was also a fatal sailplane accident in Sugarbush on October 5, 1998. The preliminary NTSB report is on the net at http://www.ntsb.gov/aviation/iad/99A004A.htm
-Bela Gogos

You won't want to miss the latest "Battery News"
I have changed the arrangements for charging the Sprite's battery. Please note: We no longer have to remove it from the aircraft!

To charge: (Battery needs to be charged on Saturday after flying only) * Open access panel, and unplug the black DIN plug that connects the avionics to the battery * Unwind the flying lead from the hooks on the wall and plug into the now vacant connector on the battery. * Plug the charger into the wall socket and check the lights on the charger indicate a charge.

To reconnect, remove charging cable from 1-36 and wind cable round the hooks. Insert Avionics plug back into the battery and secure the panel. (This step ensures that there is no possibility of damaging avionics during re-charge as they are physically disconnected from the battery-thanks Bob Michael for the advice and assistance)

To help with the process, I made a freehand sketch that Tony Bigbee (many thanks Tony) has scanned and put up on the web:

Its not a great drawing but should help until people get familiar with the system.

No more lost nuts in the Sprite!
-David Brunner

Once more, with feeling
I had my first ride in a plane over a one horse town about 70 miles NW of Elmira N.Y. and have wanted to be a pilot since that day. On October 3rd, I finally did something I've been dreaming about for thirty-two years... and after watching thousands of OV-10s, 0-2s, F-4s, and F-16s take off while I was on the flightline in the Air Force, I finally got to fly a real plane!

From an altitude of 3000 ft I had the most exciting 19 minutes I can remember (don't tell my wife I said that)!

Since joining the club on August 6th, I've seen a tremendous amount of hard work, camaraderie, and genuine interest that enables all members to experience what they have in common-the thrill of flying.

I want to thank instructors Spencer Annear, Jim Kellett, Bob Michael, Joe Parrish, and the tow pilots, and ground crew/SSC members for the outstanding instruction and encouragement which led me to this huge milestone. Looking forward to thousands of hours of soaring adventure!
-Bill Malick

Log this...

• One of our recently established tow pilots, Richard (Dick) Otis, officially became a Glider Pilot. On his second "solo" flight he managed to find some lift and qualify for the "B-Badge"... we insisted he return so others could also play with the K. He then jumped into the Pawnee and dragged Dave Brunner (also a "student" pilot) to an upwind 3k tow over Timberville.

• Dave became a bit frustrated with another apparent sled ride in the works, but was saved by a thermal just west of 8W2... He continued to work his way to New Market, then on the the ridge (in the Sprite) where he was able to achieve a high point of 7,400 msl. With a low point of 2,800 msl this gives him a documented 4,600 ft. altitude gain-on his way to earning the Silver badge. This flight also met the additional two hour required flight for the Bronze Badge. It's worth mentioning that he started flying with us on June 27, and performed his first solo flight on August 13 this year. Well done-for two half way decent pilots!!!
  -Bob Michael

• My email address once again has changed. The new address is: weaverd@cwix.com

  Please update your PalmPilots accordingly. Thanks!
  -Dave Weaver

  Welcome new members:

  • Sergius Kohudic- Serg is a retired US Airways Captain with more hours in the air than many of us have in this life. He will not only be soaring but towing as well. (Hallelujah: unsolicited editorial comment!) skohudic@summit.net
  • Phil Smiley is our newest honorary club Member and towpilot!
  • Bob and Jack Downin-Bob is a US Airways pilot and son Jack is on the way to becoming a soaring pilot. downin@erols.com

• Congratulations to Mike Cordova who got his CPL-G...
• ...and to our new solo pilot and "A" badge awardee, Gary Shepherd!
• ...and to Norm Crump who turned one alleged pattern flight (1500' tow) into a 40 minute soaring flight to 4300'!!
• Kosovo anyone??- Bill Vickland has left for a month long trip to Kosovo. His organization is looking for several footloose people to serve as NATO monitors. Anyone in the club interested in traveling to exotic places?
• Saturday October 31was a great day for aviation history fans. We watched the takeoff of a Cessna being flown by Scott Crossfield, the first person ever to break Mach 2. He was also the first person to break an X-15 on landing. (See http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/X-15/HTML/E-9543.html for details. This is the X-15 (since repaired) that's on display at the National Air and Space Museum.)

  We also had a visit from Frederick Williams, a WW-II glider pilot. He had met John Lewis the day before, and got misty eyed as John described gliding with Skyline Soaring. The L/D ratio has improved a bit since his day. He had some interesting stories, and got a demo ride from Joe Parrish. At age 77, he wants to get back into gliding. He was a cargo glider pilot, and they cancelled the program in 1943, so he never saw combat. He flew power for a number of years after the war, but gave it up after his daughter was born, because his insurance company did not look favorably upon private pilots. (The children of those people probably run HMOs today.) Someone two weeks ago put a positive light on our upcoming move to Front Royal, pointing out that we won't miss the turkeys at New Market.
  -Jonathan Kans

• Gren Seibels, noted soaring pilot and author, died October 12th.

• Satellite Images-I found New Market Airport at: http://terraserver.microsoft.com/GetPageByGridId.asp?GridId=78112954&a mp;SrcId=1&ImgDate=03/17/1989&DSize=0
  -Richard Freytag

• Bet you didn't even know it was lost-until the October Board Meeting.
• If helicopters are so safe, how come there are no vintage/classic helicopter fly-ins?
  -Jim Tavenner