Dear Friends, It's a pleasure to be writing to you as the 2001 season unfolds. I'd like to revisit some points that we discussed at the annual meeting, as well as introducing some new items.

First, I'd like to thank outgoing directors Kevin Fleet, Fred Mueller, and Joe Rees for their service to the Club. Kevin has been a director for the past several years, and we have benefited greatly from his insight as a long-time airplane, hang-glider, and sailplane pilot, as well as from his `day-job' experience in surveying and construction. Fred Mueller finished out Ralph Vawter's term, and was missed for the few moments that elapsed before his re-election to a 2001-2003 term. Welcome aboard, again, Fred! And Joe Rees completed a one-year ex-officio term as the outgoing President. During the past year, Joe made a number of important contributions beyond simply dispensing wisdom at our board meetings, including handling several sensitive matters of diplomacy, and organizing and moderating our recent director's retreat. So, please join me in expressing our appreciation to these individuals.

And it's with great warmth that we welcome Glenn Baumgartner to the board. Glenn's experience with aircraft ownership, club operations, and system engineering will be applied frequently as we forge ahead. Welcome, Glenn! (By the way, have you noticed that the position of Battery Weenie seems to be a springboard to a position on the board?)

I'd also like to discuss an important recent appointment. For some time, we have recognized the benefit of a well-defined operational leadership cadre within the club. To realize those benefits, we have already established various Chiefs for the key operational segments of the club (instructors, towpilots, duty officers, etc.), but had not had the benefit of a single individual to integrate and coordinate these segments and to take overall responsibility for oversight of the club's operations. Obviously, it takes a special set of skills to perform such a function. After a long search for the right candidate, we are very fortunate that David Weaver has agreed to serve as the club's Operations Officer. Dave is still trying to figure out what he's gotten himself into, but look for much-improved organization and coordination both internally and with our various external interfaces.

During the annual meeting, I spoke of our club as a diverse group bound together by a love of the sport of soaring. That is a nice `motherhood' statement, but I think that we actually have several specific areas which uniquely characterize our club. These areas include an emphasis on training, a strong commitment to safety, and a level of camaraderie that is unusual in a sport which emphasizes solitary endeavors. If, as a member, these areas of emphasis are consistent with your needs and desires, great. We'll keep trying to improve our performance. If, on the other hand, there are other areas that are not receiving the amount of attention that you desire, then please make your wishes clear. Perhaps you want to get involved in competition soaring, or favor a greater commitment to community outreach. These are examples of valid pursuits, and if the desire of the membership is to move in new directions, we will also work to make that happen. Remember, it's our club.

Finally, I'd like to reflect back a bit and congratulate ourselves on a safe and successful 2000 season. We maintained our streak as an accident-free club. We had several first solos, FAA pilot ratings, and SSA and FAI badge legs and badge awards. A number of new members joined the club, and several existing members expanded their horizons by becoming private owners. It was a dynamic year. There are, however, some legacies from last year that we're not so proud of, including our loss of several logsheets and their associated revenue. We have also not come to consensus on appropriate use of the skyline-members mailing list for non-soaring-related topics. These areas, and others, will receive attention in the new year.

In the meantime, dust off your logbooks and get ready for the new season. I think I see the cu's popping already.

See you at the field
-- Joe Parrish

1. The Good News and the Bad News. (a) There is NO increase in tow or sailplane rental fees implemented with the beginning of this season! (b) Effective Immediately, no more Tow Tickets for Duty Officers.

2. The New Board of Directors, at its meeting on January 27, 2001 immediately following the Annual Meeting, elected Joe Parrish President, Bob Collier Treasurer, and Jim Kellett Secretary. Dave Weaver assumes his new post as Chief of Operations, and all the incumbent Chiefs were re-appointed (Chief Towpilot, Bentley; Chief Instructor, Kellett; Chief DO, Brunner; Member Relations Chief, John Lewis; Chief Roster Manager, Mueller.

3. The Board appointed two new ad hoc committees: (a) Bill Vickland, Glen Baumgartner, and Dave Weaver, to examine and develop revised specifications for whatever `mobile stations' that would support the Club's operational management needs. (b) George Hazelrigg, Jim Garrison, and Glen Baumgartner, to review again the Strategic Plan's recommendation(s) regarding airport acquisition and develop specific recommendations to the Board for steps to be taken in 2001 toward that goal.

4. The Board established a prioritization policy for allocating hangar slots to members wishing to sub-let space for their personal gliders. The policy is generally based on seniority of Club membership; details will be forthcoming in an invitation to members who wish to be considered for hangar space.

5. The Board authorized the purchase of 150 copies of `SOARING, The Sport of the New Millennium', a 15 minute promotional videotape developed by the International Gliding Council with support from major glider manufacturers. Each member will receive a copy for his/her own personal use (including recruiting new members!) and each new Temporary Member will receive one as part of his/her membership package.

6. The price of a Temporary Membership (30 days' privileges) was raised to $50
-- Jim Kellett

The Club's mandatory annual Safety Meeting will be held at 0900 on Saturday, February 17, 2001 in the Terminal Building at the airport. Bring your own chair! This will also be the first day of scheduled flight operations (reminder: you MUST have paid your 2001 dues in full in advance of that date to fly!). The session will be videotaped by Dick Otis (THANKS!) for those who cannot attend-remember, you MUST either attend or view the videotape before flying after February 17!

The Agenda will include a briefing from ATC staff from Dulles International Airport regarding their operations, and the procedures for notifying them of our times and areas of operations. Dave Brunner will brief the members on the new Emergency Response Plan, and Jim Kellett will provide a short briefing on the problems of the `aging pilot'.

Dues Ultimatum

On Sunday February 4th, I'm going to post in the DO's box a list of all members who have paid their 2001 club dues. If your name isn't on it, the acting DO will not permit you to fly in or behind club equipment. Please be prepared to pay your dues, if you expect to fly. By the way, about 80% of the members' dues have been paid.
-- Bob Collier

Our club is extremely fortunate to have so many diverse professionals willing to share their expertise for the benefit of us all. Jim Garrison, educator, teacher and multi-gifted pilot has offered his cross country course to several soaring clubs as well as Skyline over the last few years.

If you are ready for cross country soaring, you can't learn it from a better source.

Dates and times to follow. Skyline Soaring Club Cross Country Course Spring 2001

Session-1
SOARING WEATHER -- About 2 Hours

• Course Introduction
• Where Does Good Soaring Weather Come From
• Reading and Predicting the Weather
• Stability and Instability in the Atmosphere
• Anticipating Good Days
• Obtaining Weather Information on Your Computer
• The Eta 40 Model For Predicting the Weather
• The RAOB Sounding Plot
• Upper Air Analysis
• Meteogram Profiles
• Bad Weather

Session-2
USING VARIOUS LIFT SOURCES FOR CROSS-COUNTRY SOARING -- 2-3 Hours

• Your Attitude Toward Cross Country Flying
• Where to Find Thermals
• Timing of the Thermal Day
• Lift Bands
• Thermalling Techniques
• Cloud Streets and Where to Find Them
• Speed to Fly Between Thermals
• How to Use a Thermal Day Efficiently -- Making Good Decisions
• Cross Country Flights in Ridge and/or Wave Lift

Session-3
NAVIGATION -- 1.5 Hours

• Reading the Chart
• The Basics of Pilotage (for the luddites)
• Course Selection and Chart Preparation
• Computer Resources for Navigation
• Selection of Turnpoints
• Entering and Leaving Turnpoints
• Photographing Turnpoints
• Final Glides
• Practice Triangles
• GPS and Electronic Aids (for the techies)

SKILLS NEEDED FOR LANDING OUT -- 1.5 Hours

• Check List for Landouts
• Terrain and Field selection
• Circuit Planning
• Spot Landings
• Problems and Common Mistakes
• Pilot/Farmer Relations
• Land Out Kits
• Communications with your Crew
• Glider Assembly & Disassembly and Trailers
• Great Landout Stories

Session-4
SOARING PHYSIOLOGY -- 0.5 Hours

• Stress of Soaring
• UV Exposure
• Dehydration
• Hypoxia
• Food and Water
• Physical Conditioning
• Equipment for X-C Flying

FAI BADGE REQUIREMENTS -- 0.75 Hours

• How to Earn FAI Badges
• Silver Badge Requirements
• Types of Barographs
• Preparations for Silver Badge Flights
• The Official Observer's Duties
• Gold Badge Requirements
• FAI Rules (lots of them)
• FAI Badge Forms
• Where to Find More Information

The topic of hangar slot allocation for private owners was addressed at our recent board meeting. The board recognizes that several members desire slots for trailered and assembled ships, and that we currently have no objective procedure for allocating hangar slots as they become available. Therefore, we plan to implement a formal prioritized list of members requesting hangar slots for assembled and trailered ships.

In order to provide the initial population and prioritization of the list, we are requesting that members who desire a slot to identify themselves ASAP. The initial list will be prioritized on 2/17/01; after then, new entries will be added to the bottom of the list. The board discussed the issue of how to prioritize the initial listing, and considered a number of options. After much discussion, it was decided that the initial list prioritization would be based in time as an active member of the club.

So, here is the way in which the list will operate:

1) In order to request a slot, the member must either own a ship or have placed a deposit on one.

2) We will maintain two lists, corresponding to slots for trailered and assembled gliders, so please identify your desired configuration(s) in your message.

3) Upon availability of a new hangar slot, the member at the top of the list will be offered the slot. If that member declines, their name will go to the bottom of the list and the next member will be offered the slot, and so on.

4) If a member with a glider on order is offered a slot and their glider has not yet arrived, that member may accept the slot and begin paying rent on that slot. That member may sublet their slot to another member until their glider arrives.

5) Slots go with gliders, and are retained in case of a change in individual partners within a syndicate. However, a complete sale of a ship will place that slot back into the rotation. (E.g., if H3 or 3Y or RM is sold within the club, the slot occupied by that ship will become `open'.)

If you desire a hangar slot and meet the qualification criteria, please identify yourself ASAP to directors@skylinesoaring.org
-- Joe Parrish

What is the most fantastic soaring day you can have when there is no soaring? No tows, no flying at all? There are far fewer of these days than great soaring days. In fact you get fewer of this kind of day than your badge flight days. Any ideas?

It is the day you get your own glider. Your own first glider. For me, the realization of this lifetime dream occurred on Wed. Jan. 17. It also happened to be my birthday.

Ernst Schneider, director of the Invermere Soaring Center, located in British Colombia, Canada in the Rockies Mountains (soartherockies.com) drove 3 and a half days, about 15 hours a day, to deliver a brand new PW5 sailplane and trailer. Dave Brunner most graciously agreed to drive out FRR in the middle of the week to support the inspection and delivery acceptance of the newest glider in the club-a PW5. Than you very much Dave -- made a real difference. Glenn Baumgartner kindly let me share his hangar space with Judah Milgram, while the K-7 is temporarily located in the K-21 parking spot. Thank you Glenn. Nice not to have to leave baby out in the rain on her first day here.

In addition to being Invermere director, Ernst is a glider flight instructor. He is also the most supportive, and helpful, person you can ever deal with! He explained every detail of the trailer and the glider. He had me run through rigging and derigging with him as assistant, until I was satisfied that I could handle it. He patiently let me make mistakes, but didn't let me get into trouble. The instruction extended on into flying and towing characteristics of the PW-5, the importance of assembly management (don't get distracted, start over if you are distracted), and more. How to get the glider in & out of the trailer without scratching it. And more. He patiently answered every question I came up with -- and there were many. He must have given me over 12 hours of advice and instruction in one 24 hour period!

We were most fortunate to have Ernst as a house guest that evening. My family enjoyed a most fascinating conversation with him. Thursday morning he left to drive to Tim Mara's new place. From there to visit long lost east coast Canadian relatives, other business, and back to his mountain paradise. This made it an experience that my family will long remember. I most highly recommend Ernst and Invermere Soaring Center.

The glider looks spectacular, but I am completely biased on the issue. Come out and see for yourself. Can't wait to get the paper work done, and get her into the air! Dave has a series of photos of events at the airport which he may make available on the internet.

I owe a debt of gratitude to the entire club membership, instructors, tow pilots, duty officers, assistant DOs, treasurer, rosterfuher, news letter meister, and board members for making this day possible. And to Hillary, Jonathan, and to Miriam for supporting me in this. To my parents for making this possible. The realization of a lifetime dream. There are no words
-- Greg Ellis

• To go to the SSA Annual Convention in Indianapolis, IN, February 7-10, 2001. Visit at http://www.airsportexpo2001.com/

• UFO SPOOKS RUSSIAN FLIGHT CREWS: A flying object that no one could identify closed down a Russian airport for nearly two hours in the eastern Siberian town of Barnaul late last week. On the night of January 29th, the crew of a Ilyushin 76 cargo jet spotted a glowing object above the end of the runway as they were preparing for takeoff. The pilot refused to take off. Another aircraft preparing to land spotted the same phenomenon and landed at an alternate airport. According to reports, the mysterious object finally flew off and vanished about 90 minutes after it was first spotted. -- AVflash (Can anyone vouch for Joe on the night of January 29th?)

• I'm sure I'm one of the last pilots in the world to find the following excellent weather site http://www.aviationweather.com/
  -- Dick Otis

• At the annual meeting, several people asked about getting copies of certain basic Club documents. Because of the high cost of printing, members are requested to use the copies on the Club's server, where they can be either read online or downloaded and printed.

  We will soon have copies of the Emergency Response Plan available through the web. Our new web server is still under construction so be patient as our Web Pros Piet Barber and Richard Freytag complete the many details of our still ongoing change over of servers. The new location is progressing into a super site as our Dynamic Duo work to improve our most important communications platform. SSC's new website is being tested at http://www.skylinesoaring.org. Email lists have completed testing and have now moved, per Piet Barber's recent email, to:

  members@skylinesoaring.org < -- for soaring and club topics

  misc@skylinesoaring.org < -- for open topic posts After testing, SSC will retire the faithful http://www.ssc.umd.edu/skyline/ web server. Cutover will be accompanied by a clear notice and a redirect from the old server to the new.

  Happy new year
  -- Richard Freytag

• What kind of glider should I buy? If you've been in the club more than 20 minutes, you've heard (or been a party to) discussions on this subject -- and often passionate discussions. The number of glider owners in our Club is pushing half the membership now, with about 20 machines represented. Several are actively looking or at least beginning to think about ownership now.

  But it's a good topic to discuss because there's not a simple, pat answer. Derek Piggott, the world renowned gliding figurehead of the UK, has written a short article on the subject in the current web-magazine `Gliding and Motorgliding International'-you can find the magazine at http://www.glidingmagazine.com/default.asp and Derek's article at http://www.glidingmagazine.com/ListFeatureArticleDtl.asp?id=73

  Read and enjoy....and then debate some more!

• It may not to late to be the first on your block to own one -- Dave Weaver and I are offering our glider `3Y' for sale. It's a Rolladen-Schneider LS-4a, manufactured in 1981, Serial #4008, 1370 Hrs. TT, Experimental.

  We feel that the ship is fairly valued at $34,000. (i.e., that's a firm price.) We will offer it within the club for one week before expanding the offer to the general soaring community.

  Interested parties, please contact me and/or Dave by email or phone.
  -- Joe Parrish

• VIRGINIA IS FOR FLYING LOVERS: Some 300 Virginia pilots and aviation enthusiasts from around the commonwealth are trying to land approval to bolt the proposed new `Virginia Aviation' license plate to the back of their ground-based vehicles. Unfortunately, Virginia will not produce the new plate until at least 350 paid applications have been submitted. NOTE: AVweb's NewsWire http://avweb.com/n/?06a includes more details and a link to order the new plate.