In case you haven't noticed yet, it's spring. Spring is a very special time of year for the Skyline Soaring Club. It's the time of year that we get most of our membership growth. And this year has been no exception as we've already acquired several new members. As in the past, our new members come from widely varied backgrounds, and disparate levels of flying expertise, from airline pilots to novices. Yet each new person brings a special set of talents that, perhaps in some way as yet unforeseen, may contribute to the success of the Club.

Let me first extend my welcome to every new member and encourage you to become active in the Club, to meet the other members, and to get out to the airport as much as possible. If you're an experienced glider pilot, you'll be joining us on the ridge or in thermals after a few short check rides. If you are a novice or transition pilot, you'll be enjoying a bit of instruction first. Enjoyment is what soaring is all about, and the enjoyment of soaring is the major goal of the Skyline Soaring Club.

The sport of soaring is unique. It is simultaneously highly competitive and highly cooperative. We see the competitive nature of the sport every flying day. Who gets flight of the day? Who gets highest, gains the most altitude, goes the farthest distance? Who outclimbs whom in a thermal? Need I mention landings? Every landing is critiqued by "vulture row" sitting under the tent, and it has happened on more than one occasion that scorecards have appeared after a particularly picturesque landing. A good razzing is considered fair game in this sport.

Yet the cooperative side of soaring is just as apparent. We help each other get planes out of their hangers, assemble private ships, drag planes off the runway, and even drive hundreds of miles to help in a retrieve. Members share their special talents in many ways: to help with radio or electrical repairs, to fix the tow car, perform annuals, share in clean-up chores, get equipment out and put it back, do preflight inspections, arrange social events, drive the tow plane and provide instruction. More than this, I have found the soaring community to be quite closely knit. On many occasions, Skyline members have gone out of their way to help each other in ways totally unrelated to soaring. So while we come from diverse backgrounds and while we have widely varied soaring and flying experience, soaring has brought us together on a common ground. You

new members will not be in the Club very long before you begin to feel the closeness of the entire membership.

I think of soaring as a sport that includes competition, excitement, action, split-second decision making with your own safety hanging in the balance, it is arduous and physically demanding, and it is performed mainly while lying on your back in the sun. But soaring would also appear, especially to newcomers, to be potentially boring. It can be boring to sit under the tent for 5 hours waiting for the chance to get some instruction. I encourage you not to get discouraged. First, you can get involved in all the activity that is going on around you. The more you get involved and the more you help, the more you learn about the sport and about flying in general, and the more you get to know other members. Second, it is not infrequent that other club members are in need of ballast, and welcome the thought of a passenger on a flight in the K-21 or Grob. Sometimes, as I get discouraged by a critique of my own flying, it helps me feel better to see that other pilots aren't perfect either.

Sometimes newcomers get discouraged with the lack of instructors or the presence of bad weather. Again, I encourage you not to get too discouraged. We have a whole new crop of soon-to-be instructors currently in training and, by fall, I expect that we will have adequate instruction on every flyable day. I would add that one of my best student days at the airport was a day with a low ceiling and threatening rain. We did 33 flights that day, the longest being 8 minutes. But wehad a spot landing contest with lots of pattern work. And then there is always the Mill after flying. The socialization of apres-flying dinner has done much to bond the Club together.

I can truly say that, although I have been flying for over 35 years, I discovered flying through soaring and through the Skyline Soaring Club. The Club has had a profound effect on my life, and I hope it will on your's as well.

So, once again, let's all welcome our new members. See'ya at FRR.
-- George Hazelrigg, Jr

This weekend I'll get up in the dark to welcome the Dawn Boy, then drive in the frosty morning through dew-twinkling fields past foggy, magic swamps, down country roads to our little grass-covered airstrip in Isle of Wight County. Garner Field sits among soybean and cotton fields, cattle and poultry farms. A bit to the west, miles of commercial forest stretch their sweet-smelling pines to the skies.

Riders walk their horses down the side of the taxiway, hunting dogs wag twitching tails through the fields, and passing bicyclists and bikers stop to gawk and marvel at our soaring club's elegantly elongated gliders.

Our farmer neighbors solemnly regard us, shake their heads, look up again.

On summer evenings, as the light grows dim, swifts turn, blur and chase their invisible meals knee-high above the runway. In the fall, rowdy geese use our airport for their own landing strip as they cross-country south.

The Sept. 11 attacks dramatically grounded U.S. airlines for three days, while the grounding of general aviation-all the rest of flying not done by the military or the airlines-lingered on for weeks for most operations. In critical areas, like Washington, it's still restricted.

Three weeks passed before I flew again, not that I much wanted to during that time. I was in mourning for lost lives and time turned bygone.

Behind the overwhelming horror of the graceful airliners slamming, flaming into the tall, slim towers and the realization of how many people died, how many families were broken and left in sorrow, pilots felt their own sense of violation.

Flying has always seemed to me somehow ennobling, somehow clean, free from the ugliest aspects of life.

Aviation is a well-ordered world of airways and traffic patterns, controlled airspace and controlled motions. And pilots are rule-obeyers: The laws of aerodynamics, the Federal Aviation Regulations, the Instrument Flight Rules, the law of gravity.

Then the terrorists came, breaching the heady trust people place in those who navigate the sky. They broke the bond that exists among pilots: I'll teach you the mysteries of flight, grunt and sweat with you while you learn and, with effort and practice and failure and eventual triumph, you will take your place-honorably-in the society of aviators.

Of course, people have used aircraft for hideous purposes since shortly after the Wright Brothers figured out how to make a plane stay airborne and go where they wanted. And even the simplest, most peaceful flight can-however rarely-end in twisted metal and tragedy.

Still, the world looks like a better, more orderly, more lovely place from the air.

Flight offers pilots vistas so stunning, so beautiful, experiences so transpontine in their power and depth that even straight-ahead aviators grope for words, shake their heads and stammer trying to tell groundlings about what they have heard and seen in that high and foreign sky.

On Sept. 30 I was scheduled as the duty tow pilot, tugging long-winged, sleek-bodied gliders into the sky.

That day I was flying our main tow plane, a tough ex-crop-duster called a Pawnee, robust, powerful and honest in flight.

I put Sept. 11 out of my mind and turned attention to the untimed rituals of flight, the preflight inspection, the cockpit checks, the takeoff-there's no such thing as a routine flight-and climbed, roaring into the fall morning sky.

Wheeling and soaring above the Virginia Tidewater, I made friends again with the plane, feeling the stick's heft in my hand, sensing the engine's rumble through the rudder pedals, checking the flight conditions for the day's operation.

Hampton Roads-all naval might and happy resort-lies over to the southeast, pearly under the thin autumn light, and porky Smithfield to the northeast, the James River wide and curving back toward Richmond's fall line, lost in distant haze.

Over to the northwest, the Blue Ridge vaguely shouldering their gentle, welcoming peaks above the horizon.

How simply breathtaking it was to fly, to fly up toward natural beauty and disciplined freedom, after the impossibly wretched experience of the attacks on America.

How astounding it was to be trusted again, to be able, in the bureaucratic words of the regulations, to exercise the privileges of my pilot's certificates and ratings.

Thanks, America.

Let's fly high again.

Peter Bacque is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a member of Tidewater Soaring, mult- rated CFI, tow pilot and an old friend from Warrenton Soaring days. This article originally ran on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2002 and is used with permission. Copyright (c) 2002, Richmond Newspapers, Inc. It also appeared in The Flypaper.
-- Peter Bacqué

Theories are like the tailfeathers of a rooster, highly ornamental but not much use in a high wind.-A.E. Holt

Wednesday, Feb. 20th, about 11:00 a.m.-I was traveling west on the Dulles Access Rd. when I was cut off by a tractor trailer. I had nowhere to go except the median. In this section of road there are no guard-rails. Instead, there are guard-wires. Small vertical I-Beams with wire-rope running thru them to anchors on each end. My truck hit the wires at about 60 mph and came to a stop in about 20 feet. (Somebody out there should be able to calculate the G-forces) My seat belt worked, but the shoulder restraints did not. Somehow I was able to get my arms and hands between my body and the steering wheel before I hit it. The impact with the steering wheel collapsed my lower left lung. When I came to a stop, I tried to get out of the truck, where I passed out. "They" found me 'dead' on the side of the road-no pulse, no respiration. Fortunately the "They" that found me was an ambulance and crew returning from an earlier call. They put me on board and took me to Reston Hospital where I remained in a coma until about 11:00 p.m. Saturday night. I was suffering from 'severe impact trauma'. They kept me until Tuesday, keeping an eye on my recovery.

I was told later, that it took 13 people in the emergency room to hold me down while they inserted the tracheotomy tube. They had never seen 145 lbs of anything that took 13 people to hold down-guess I really didn't want that tube stuck down my throat !!

When I came to Saturday night, I was covered in bruises all over my arms, chest and shoulders. No broken bones or any long lasting damage. Just sore all over, like being beat up by Mike (no biting jokes, please).

Well that's the my recollection of events on a day I little expected would be anything but routine, business as usual. I was going to write it up when John's simular day came.

John's experience and my latest unfortunate brush with early expiration has caused me to do a lot of thinking. The two of us have had our lives flashed up in front of us just recently. Some of the questions that come to my attention like "what could I (we) have done that would have had a more favorable outcome?"'or "'If I had done this, or that, what would have happened??" "When you have to react to a life or death situation, how do you arrive at the answer that resulted what finally occurred?'"

I know for a fact, that in my case, and I suspect in John's, there was no time for decision making, only for the one reaction that I made. "What else could we have done?" These questions and a dozen others go thru my mind as I think of the events we've been through.

As far as John's accident goes, I keep asking myself (I'm sure he does, too), what could he have done that would have had a more favorable outcome?-Maybe, nothing or maybe he made all of the best decisions and reactions and it was just fate. I would really like to know if there is anyone that knows just what they are talking about when it comes to wing-tip strikes. Is there a last second life-saving trick to know? Could one of our numerous Aeronautical Engineers brief us aerial laypersons on the physics, give us some numbers. Would a pilot's chances be better in a 1-26 or in a LAK-12? Or, like the wind preference of cows, a definitive answer doesn't truly exist-aside from querying the cows.
-- Kevin Fleet

On Sunday, April 14, I spent about an hour and a quarter with Jan Scott in his Scheibe SF-25C Motor Falke. We spent the time doing training in off field landings. Anyone who ever ventures away from the airport should seriously consider spending a morning with Jan.

Jan knew I was coming and had preflighted the Scheibe and had her waiting at the end of his strip when I got there. He started with a briefing of the Scheibe motorglider cockpit. We were in the air within about 20 minutes of my arrival at his strip. Once airborne, Jan took care of the power and, for the most part, I took care of the stick and rudder.

The procedure was as follows: Jan would give me a general direction to fly. We'd climb to 1500' or 2000'. Then Jan would announce that "Your last thermal has just died and you'll be landing very soon." I would then pick a field and alternates, then set up and execute an approach. We get down to within a few feet off the ground and Jan would put on the power and we'd climb out to repeat the process.

In the hour and a quarter we were up, Jan and I shot off field landing approaches into about seven southern Maryland farms. I'm sure more than a couple folks on the ground wondered what we were up to.

I was aware that my approach performance improved through the course of the day. I was also much more able to pick out patterns in my approaches that were less than ideal. It's hard to see patterns in one off field landing approach. But when you do half a dozen in a row, patterns become very apparent. Some of these I was able to improve on, some I will have to work on further.

Is this the same as a real landout? Not exactly. While the Scheibe trims up to fly like most of the gliders we fly, there are subtle differences. The sound was the biggest difference-I had to work harder at speed control because the auditory cues around speed we're more difficult to discern above the purr of the engine. And of course, you don't have a yaw string. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, you know that motor is up there, and that Jan is sitting next to you. However, that didn't detract from the anxiety that typically goes with an off field landing. After several of the climb outs, I found myself wiping sweat from my palms. So while it's not exactly the same, it's sure close enough.

The cost is a buck an hour. Very reasonable. The day cost me $75.

This is a very valuable training experience. If you have less than a dozen off field landings in your log book, I'd strongly encourage you to take a day at Jan's in the Scheibe.

Jan flies out of Fly Cow Farm, in Lovettsville, Virginia. This is about 15 minutes drive from Leesburg. If you're coming from the Northern Virginia area, its probably closer than FRR. Jan's home page is at http://www.flycow.com/ . He can be reached by email at flycow@aol.com .
-- John Lewis

Silver at Last ! After many years of just flying for fun, I have decided to begin my badge collection. Now that GPS logging makes the documentation much less complex than the barograph/photograph process, I have started "declaring" a task of some sort on almost all of my cross-country flights. Several attempts were invalid because of a mis-understanding on my part, caused in part by hanging around contest pilots instead of badge pilots. If any of you attempt a badge flight, remember to pass through the "observation zone" of the turnpoints.

My official height and duration legs for the Silver came on a booming Saturday, February 16th, that started out rather weak and just kept getting better. From a low of around 2,000 near the fish ponds, I got to over 9,000 somewhere around Woodstock. I had not planned to attempt a badge, so I did not declare a task that day. After bumming around for a while, I worked my way to New Market, then up the valley to Winchester, (where I missed the "observation zone"), then headed back toward FRR. About the time I left Winchester, I overheard several other gliders looking for the AS-K, which had landed out somewhere north of FRR. With a little luck and lots of radio chatter, I found the little lost lambs, and orbited in the area to guide the retrieve crew. About then, I realized I was getting near the magic 5 hours, so I started working the thermals a little more aggressively. It was getting into late afternoon by this time, and the thermals were getting soft. But there was enough reduced sink to let me get the duration into the GPS recorder. Analysis of the recording by Dave Weaver, who agreed to be my observer, showed that I could not claim the distance leg, even though there were enough miles. Not too shabby for the middle of February.

OK, now to get the distance leg. The following Thursday, clan Hazelrigg, Fred Mueller and I were out having an LS fest. This time I had declared for Signal Knob to Massanutten, which is a piece of German fiberglass cake on a ridge day. But Thursday the ridge wasn't working. So "FM" and I thermalled from Signal Knob to John Ayers' to Sky Bryce to Massanutten, where I turned north while Fred continued to Shenandoah Valley before turning for home. I made it back to FRR with only minor worries north of Luray, but apparently I used up most of the lift, since "FM" had some trouble about an hour behind me. Feeling great about my flight, I began the download of the recording. DRAT! Missed the "observation zone" again. A great flight, no badge !

That Sunday, I declared New Market to Winchester again, started toward Luray, planning to cross Gogos' gap, but things were much too weak to even get over the ridge. Ended up landing at Luray, from which tow-meister Bentley pulled me back to FRR. The only interesting part was seeing Pete Bryce's Lockheed 12 come into Luray for fuel. Radial engines still sound the best!

So one more Thursday looks to be the charm. Eric Litt had agreed to tow again, the morning looked like the ridge would be weak but useable, so I declared Signal Knob to Massanutten and back. Not enough ridge to work, but the thermals were great. Lots of sink in between, but I was able to get down there and back, with a detour to New Market on the way back, in less than 3 hours. This time, I made sure of the proper turns, you betcha ! The same day, Geoff Hazelrigg had the barograph on board, and got a good trace for his altitude and duration legs. East coast, in February, in 20 and 30 year old gliders.

Now to finish the applications and send them off to The Badge Lady, then start planning for the Gold distance flight. Having finished my Silver badge less than 2 weeks previous, I had no plans for moving along that road anytime soon. But 2 things happened to change my mind. First, Joe Parrish sent a "congrats" note, with the comment that his Gold distance had been done from Front Royal. I put his flight into the computer. H'mm, needs some pad. OK, let's add Winchester. Yep, that will work. So, let's make it Signal Knob, Harrisonburg, Strasburg quarry, Masannutten ski area, Winchester, Front Royal. 196.4 nm. Even landing at Winchester is enough. Start fairly early on a ridge day, with a forecast of thermals later, should be possible.

Second thing was Kolie's forecast for good ridge, possible wave, and thermals to 8,000 on Sunday, March 10. Sounds almost perfect.

Out to the field. Dave Weaver is sharing my LS-4, pending the arrival of his AS-W 27. He usually flies on Saturday and had hoped I was not going to show Sunday, since he had been unable to fly Saturday. Sorry, Dave.

Assemble and preflight. Load the flight into the GPS. Watch our newest towpilot pull John Lewis off. Wow, short ground roll with all that wind. Seems turbulent, but possible. Watched John get off well away from the ridge. "Hope he gets there, or back here" seems to be the consensus of those of us on the ground. Helped push the Grob with Dave and Kolie out to the line. Dave made sure Mark knew where to go. Off they go, here comes the tow plane. Gee, that landing looks better than the one before.

I'm next. Several helping hands get me on the line, Freytag hooks up the rope, and away we go. Slack rope a couple of times, out of position a few times, but never opposing knife edges, so the tow must be graded as Fair. "Thanks, Mark"-"Good flight" from Mark. Released in 8 knot lift, one turn to "notch" the GPS and I gain 500 feet. Start the task in the GPS and off to the ridge. Past Signal Knob, Harrisonburg next. Look down, see John Lewis on the ground near Strasburg. Call that in while running the ridge, maybe 80 knots at 4,000. Meet the Grob, heading back from Gogo's Gap already. Getting beat around some down here, let's take this 10 knot ridge/thermal up a thousand or so. Most of the trip was run between 70 and 90 knots, often with climbs approaching 4 or 5 knots for short periods. Off the ridge at Laird's Knob, just north of the ski area. Dolphin flying out to Harrisonburg, make the turn, being sure to get into the observation zone. Back toward the ridge, take one thermal for 2 or 3 turns for insurance. Back to "run" mode, with a slight tail wind, the ground speed is at or above 100 knots. I haven't turned enough for the GPS to "learn" the wind, but it looks like 270 at 25 or so. As I zip past Signal Knob enroute the quarry, I look down and see lots of folks gathered around Tweety Bird, which is still assembled. I don't know at this time what happened, just assume it's taking a while to de-rig in the wind.

Get down to 2500 or so getting to the quarry, but find good thermals which allow the turn and return to the ridge. Gee, John is still sitting there. With the thermaling into and out of the turnpoint at the quarry, the GPS can tell me that the wind is 290 at 32. Whoosh! That wind makes the ridge almost ideal, so the trip to and from Masanutten is time for lunch and sightseeing. From Woodstock north, I try for altitude rather than speed, since the portion from Signal Knob to Winchester and back to Front Royal is going to be thermal lift, and the thermals may be broken up by the wind. No clouds along the way, one or two out in the valley, lots over by the Alleghenies, bet the wave is good at Petersburg. (Turns out Petersburg had too much wind to launch).

One or two thermals get me to Winchester without incident, staying above 4,000 most or all the time. After Winchester, it gets more "interesting". Only one or two thermals, and MASSIVE sink- 8 to 10 knots down, especially after crossing I-66. When I left Winchester, the L-Nav said I was 1,500 feet above the height needed to make the pattern. By I-66, even with the thermals, the margin was less than 500 feet. Press on, best L/D plus some for the wind, plus some for the sink, and I get to Front Royal with enough altitude to join the pattern on base leg. Yikes, those were some tense minutes!

Geoff was there to greet me, everyone else having left or still out with John Lewis. Geoff tells me some of what happened to John, so after putting my well-run steed in the box, I head in that direction. Meet Kolie on the way, he says things are in hand, so I return to the field, stopping for a bunch of coffee on the way. I find the gang in the hanger, engaged in hanger talk with John Lewis. John has some minor cuts to the face, but is walking and talking. We look at the plane, everyone gives Schweizer another "you saved a pilot" comment, then off to the Mill.

(Fred's Gold has not been officially sanctioned as of yet. Accepted or not it is still a fine accomplishment and a great piece of flying.-editor)
-- Fred Winter

This time Memorial day falls on Monday, May 27th so its a perfect time to host the Sunday folks a picnic. RSVP if you would like to join a Memorial Day picnic after flying on May 26th. Important to know how many are coming so we don't get too much or too little. Please just reply to Richard Freytag rfreytag@skylinesoaring.org so I can easily find the RSVPs in my mail queue. The following form provides the information I need. 2002 SSC Memorial Day Picnic

Name: Number of guests: What food can I contribute OR I am willing to pay $5/person? I do not eat food containing (list them please):
-- Richard Freytag

April 6th was one of those 40 to 50 degree days with enough wind to keep you moving around to stay warm. I showed up at the field around 10:30ish to find that the glass brigade had already launched with crews on the road "Boomerang" bound. I thought about taking a shot at it in "Snowbird," but no ready spur-of-the-moment crew available at least to go that distance. Carlos who was ADOing offered to come get me, but at the end the day; so, I revised the plan so as not to get too far from home in case of a land out. Why not see if we can find the way around and become familiar with a 200Km triangle that might be used some day to try for a speed record. FRR, H-burg, P-burg and return.

On Thursday, two days earlier I had gone over to Petersburg just to see how rough the terrain really was, and to see if I could actually find my way with only a map and a compass. It had worked fine. There was Moorefield out in a fairly broad valley and then Petersburg tucked in a much smaller valley through a gap to the southwest. Another easily visible landmark about tem miles northwest of P-burg is the tall smoke stack at Mt. Storm. Anyway the trip to P-burg and back took about three hours... not what you'd say was burning up the course, but hey we made it with no bumps or bruises.

After thanking everyone for all the wonderful help putting the old bird together we were slipping down the runway at about a quarter to twelve. Kit, putting tension on the rope up front, got us into a good one at 1500' (Better to get off low in lift than high in sink.) Everything worked out all right, and the climb went up to about 6000'. At the top I looked up and saw "6E" about 500' above. Not sure who of the 'H-Team' was flying. I whispered a rhetorical "Watch this" and put the nose down toward Luray. Almost immediately big sink enveloped us. About half way to Luray there was only 2000' left. We veered back against the small hills of the Blue ridge in search of anything, even ridge lift. There it was small at first, but finally we stumbled into the core, and escaped back up to the safety of 6-7000'. It finally dawned on me that the line of lift was running down along the ridge, and that we ought to stay with it all the way past Elkton, and then try to proceed west from there.

Well, that worked just peachee keen, although we got quite a ways south of course on the second leg. We crossed I-81 just a few miles north of the airport with the four DC-3s. Tracy told me later that was Bridgewater. By then cloud base seemed to have lifted somewhat, and we were able to get to a little above 8000'(and still be legal of course).

Then the fun began. I took a heading which I thought would get us straight to P-burg. The large expanse of the GW National Forest ahead seemed like a piece of cake from 7-8000'. But about half way across the bottom fell out big time, 1500-2000'/min down! It took all kinds of talking to myself to hold that stick forward. What seemed like an hour couldn't have lasted more than 30 seconds, and as suddenly as it started the sink stopped with about 4000' left. Most likely my imagination, but along with lift there was a rainbow. Sort of nice to know Someone was looking out for us.

After the forest was safely crossed it appeared that we were about ten miles south along the ridges from P-burg. Over there ridges are spaced very close together, i.e. very narrow valleys. The big Cirrus probably wouldn't fit in some of those places. Anyway we ran parallel to one these valleys up to Petersburg, and arrived with about 3000'. Carlos wasn't going to appreciate this. A little east of town we ran into scratchy lift witch finally strengthened into pretty good stuff back up 7000'. Here we come, Carlos. Then back to the northwest there appeared to be a massive snow cloud sparkling in the sun, and it seemed to be growing and coming my way. To the east it had gotten very dark, not much sunlight left on the ground. I sure didn't want to get forced into IFR over those hills; so, we had to make a decision and get moving. Question was whether there still any lift left under it or would it be better to take a detour south around it. We went straight ahead and found almost zero sink almost all the way to the Shenandoah Valley.

Finally into the valley, which by then seemed like home, the sink increased but then so did the lift. One final thermal up to 7000' followed by a porpoising final glide back to wonderfully familiar territory. He was the only one out on the field to greet me. I sure was glad to see him, but I think he was gladder to see me. He had us down for four and a half hours flying time. Kind of slow, but now we know the way. Thanks, Carlos, for keeping the light on for us. Come to think about it, no TP photos or GPS trace, you all gotta decide whether or not this story is real or the '289' driver was just having another one of those pipe dreams.
-- Bob Collier

• Congratulations to Fred Mueller and Dave Weaver for enduring hours of near frost bite to return the Boomerang Trophy to Skyline Soaring, its rightful roost. This was a Diamond leg flight for Fred. In October, 2001, the Soaring Society of America recommended that each Club name an Airspace Chairman to represent the Club to appropriate officials and to work within the Society's management framework to coordinate airspace issues nationwide. The suggested duties and responsibilities for this position can be found at http://www.ssa.org/ListGovtNewsDetail.asp?Action=&id=2

• On behalf of the Skyline Soaring Club's Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Kolie Lombard to this position, effective immediately. Kolie is a contractor to the Federal Aviation Administration, and resides in Arlington, VA. A native of South Africa, he is an experienced glider, airplane, and helicopter pilot. Kolie will represent the interests of the Skyline Soaring Club.
  -- George Hazelrigg, Jr

• The Club's Honorary Colonial, Dave Brunner, is leaving us for his homeland, that dull and grey little island just off the coast of France, on May 14. A smashing party was held for Dave on April 27th. A big thank you to all those who turned out last weekend, I an deeply grateful to all those people in SSC that have been, and who will continue to be a big part of my life. Seems kind of sad now that I'm beginning to pack up my stuff.... ::sniff::

  OK, here is the deal... I purchased some stuff to ship back to the UK with me, now appears that although customs is not a problem, shipping is. The shipping agent makes no guarantee that it will still be in the car when it arrives! So rather than risk it, I'm going to cut my losses and sell.

  So I have the following items, both brand new and in the box:

  Epson Stylus C60 2880x720 Printer-I'll sell at $75. Cheapest on Pricewatch is $77 +$13 shipping, but I will let it go for whatever the lowest price you can find anywhere is.

  Teac DV 5000 Five Disc Carousel DVD/CD/MP3 Player-I'll sell for $145. Again, if you find it cheaper, you can have it for that.

  Also have a VHS video player in GWO $30

  Thanks
  -- Dave Brunner

• The Award Winning Curmudgeon has recently received the SSA's award for the "most active Club flight instructor in Region IV" for the second year in a row (2000 and 2001). It's awarded on the basis of the most ABC/Bronze badges awarded.

  In 1999, Bob Michael won that award--so for the last three years, Skyline's training program has been the home Club of the most active flight instructor(s) in Region IV.

• Reminder-Thanks to Piet's web-magic, I am now able to edit readily the "Events" page on the Club"s website. My goal is to make the page timely, and to focus on things of particular interest to Skyline Club members.

  See what's there by going to the website and finding "Events" on the left hand menu.

  If you have items you'd like to see posted there, give me the text-include date/time/place and SHORT description-and I'll put it up!
  -- Jim Kellett

• ADO/DO Training Program-We're developing a training program for the ADOs and the DOs. If any of you have input on what you'd like to see in this program, I'd like to hear from you. Things like how to use the Excel spreadsheet, how to run a wing, how to schedule a demo ride for a temporary member, how to safety load the Sprite on the dolly, etc.

  For those of you who are more new to the club, your input is particularly valuable. What things were confusing to you at the beginning? Is there anything that you're still uncertain about or uncomfortable doing?

  Also, what kind of training program would you like to see implemented? Web-based, CD-ROM based, paper-based (e.g. a manual), "on-the-job training".

  Let me know! Thanks in advance.
  -- Lisa Sergent

• Great program Lisa. As a tow pilot, I would like to know when the glider pilot behind me is a first time solo, or even a low time student pilot. Can we include a provision that the ADO/DO would inform the tow pilot when an inexperienced glider pilot is PIC in the glider. It is beneficial to both tow pilot and glider pilot. I would make gentle turns as well as be aware of the glider being out or position in the early stages of the launch.
  -- Bill Vickland

• I strongly concur. It would be nice for the tow pilot to always be aware of the skill level of the pilot under tow. And I would enthusiastically support yet another club procedure from theDO/ADO staff which ensured this knowledge was shared prior to departure.
  -- Dick Otis

• Thursday, 25 April- Since I am leaving the Country tomorrow to return to Germany, I would like to say good by to the Skyline Soaring Club and everybody I got to fly with during the last 3 Years.

  I will always miss the friendly atmosphere of the Club where I have made a lot of friendships. It was a great experience for me to fly with you and I will always remember it.

  I'll try to keep in touch.
  -- Gehrhard Braun

• I know I speak for the entire Club in saying we're going to some kind of miss both Gerhard and Dave. And we wish them many happy years "dancing the skies"-all be it "Euro-skies"!

• After surviving the previous two weeks in Southern California, your edit-person returned to 352 emails. Having deleted all the "enlarge your... (reader fill in appropriate gender specific anatomy), I settled down to read the myriad "Wind Directions and Cows" emails.

  After that the remaining 4 emails were a snap and I still don't know which directions cows face relative to the wind! (Nor do any of the rest of you.) So we're left with this question: "If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?"
  -- Editor

• One might also consider this timely question: If you are feeling out of whack today, just what is whack? and where does one procure a replacement? (END)