What do you write about when there is nothing to write about? How could there be nothing to write about when it comes to soaring? It's been an interesting month. We have had two members off at competitions, and I am sure they will both have a lot to talk (and write) about when they get back. We have several new faces among us, as always a mix of highly experienced pilots and novices-we welcome you all. We are flying everything we have. And safety is always in the fore. Life is good.

Like many of you, I was a bit slow to transition to the Grob. I did my check ride and then didn't fly it for a while. Finally, I started flying it because the K was busy with instruction. Well, it's not that hard to fly after all. Now I have about a dozen flights in the Grob, and I am just about indifferent about whether I take someone up in the K or the Grob. The good side of this is that the Grob has not eaten into the time that we put on the K. Yet, at the same time, the Grob is in the air about as much as the K. So, we don't have a hanger queen. That was the whole objective. And the bottom line is that pretty much anyone who comes out to fly can get up without too much delay. Does this begin to sound like it was planned?

Well there's more afoot. I am told that the airfield will undergo some transitions as well beginning next month. First, the taxiway will be paved. This should have a few beneficial effects for us. For one thing, it should enable planes to taxi back to 27 or to the ramp down the taxiway as opposed to back-taxi on the runway. This will enable us to get more launches off with less interference from power planes. And it will make a less muddy path for us to bring our gliders up to the launch area. But there is another side. We will have to take steps to assure that we keep the taxiway clear for powered craft. We will need to be extra vigilant to stay off the taxiway, and to keep gliders and cars clear of the taxiway. And, of course, we will have to cope with the transition from unpaved to paved, which no doubt will cause some difficulty and inconvenience, temporary as it may be.

Second, the ramp area will be paved all the way down to the fuel tank. This will disrupt the glider tie-down area. Reggie has suggested that, during the paving process, we will be tying the gliders down on the pavement. But this has its problems as the current tie-downs are not compatible with the gliders. Also, Reggie suggested that we might tie down the outdoor gliders on the ramp after it is paved. But again there is the issue of the tie-down points and lack of compatibility with the gliders. It's also possible that the gliders could be tied down along the new taxiway, but whatever happens, it will require some amount of transition.

Third, although not next month, it does seem that we have begun to move on getting hanger space. We have been asked to offer a proposal on erecting our own hanger, and we have a very capable committee hard at work coming up with some very interesting concepts.

So, as I say, life is good. Things will get better, albeit never as fast as we would like. Anyway, to quote Jim Kellett, "A day at the airport beats a day at the office anytime."
-- George Hazelrigg, Jr

Dear Skyline Soaring Members,

How does ten uninterrupted days of flying sound to you? If it sounds great, then come join us at Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association for our "Ten-Day Weekend."

This all happens at our Frederick, MD, site, Friday, June 28 through Sunday July 7, 2002. Trailer in your personal or club sailplanes, tie down at the field, and fly every day or as many days as you can come. Help us celebrate our Fiftieth Anniversary with flying, feasting, fellowship and fun.

Several mornings we'll have free classes for various experience levels, and several times we'll offer food and special events.

Arleen Coleson, SSA's Badge Lady, will speak at M-ASA's Ten-Day Weekend. She will arrive sometime Friday, will be featured at the kickoff pancake breakfast on Sat. June 29 and will be around thefield thru Sunday for Q&A, and soaring. Come, fly, any or all of the Ten-Days, or just come for Arleen if that's what works for you. Costs: Limited Membership $20; Tows - club rates (p.e. $19.50 for 3000 feet, $16.90 for 2500 feet, $14.60 for 2000 feet, increments between). Tentative events scheduled are:

Kickoff pancake breakfast, Sat. 6/29, (juice, coffee, pancakes) - TBA.

Lunch-supper at flight line, Sun., 6/30- $5 (franks, burgers, salads, cookies)

July 4th feast & see local fireworks, (deep-fried turkey, BBQ ribs, etc.) Cost TBA.

Sit-down awards-presentation dinner, Sat. July 6 (rotisserie chicken, corn, baked potato, salad, apple pie). The awards will be for achievements during the Ten-Day Weekend. Cost TBA.

Flying starts Friday for those who can come but the kickoff pancake breakfast is Sat. June 29 at the hangar. (Phil Scheel, manager). Members planning to fly the weekend at Fairfield are invited to stop for breakfast on the way.

Classes:

Firm-Sun. June 30-Reading the Sky. Will That Cloud Keep Me Up? 9 a.m. -Bernie Paiewonsky

Firm-July 4 (date may change)-Flying for Badges/State Records. You'll be surprised how attainable some of the records are! 9 a.m. -Cathy Williams.

Planned-Choosing a cross-country course/map reading. Planned-Basic thermalling, for beginners-(and for anyone who falls out when others stay up.)

Awards: Awards will be presented at a catered dinner, Sat., July 6th, at the hangar, based on flights made from Frederick between 6/28-7/6. All members are invited to attend, whether or not flying in the Ten-Day. Dinner is from 7 p.m. until...

Award categories will include:

• Longest Flight-time/distance
• Badge Legs-first three gold or silver legs achieved (claimed)
• State Record Set (claimed)
• First Solo (not transition pilot)
• Most Tows-tow pilot doing most tows
• Instruction Flights-CFI-G who does most instruction flights
• Other Awards-TBA

Food: In addition to the pancake breakfast & awards dinner, we will have a repeat of last year's flight-line picnic ($5) by Caroline Baker from noon to 6 on Sun. June 30.

Judy Whelan's traditional feast ($10) will be on July 4, and then we'll watch Frederic's fireworks. Price isn't yet firm for breakfast-around $5; or for Awards Dinner-around $10.

We're not requiring reservations for meals-but it would be very helpful to know how many are coming, especially for the July 6 catered dinner. There will be sign-up sheets in the Frederick clubroom. Those who won't be at that clubroom can send a message to Hope Howard, at Hyhope@AOL.com .

Plan to come to our annual ten days of flying and fellowship.
-- Glenn Collins, President, M-ASA

I kept hearing "you've got to go to Mifflin." Last year Karl and Iris Striedieck announced that they would organize a sports class regional contest to introduce more pilots to the sport of sailplane racing. The response was so overwhelming and the contest was so thoroughly oversubscribed that they put together an FAI class regional contest for the week following the sports class contest to siphon off some of the demand. Both contests flew with just a few competitors short of the 50 maximum.

I had a lot of questions about Mifflin because looking at the map I knew we would be flying among ridges and high ground with valleys quite narrow compared to what we find in our local flying area. The good news was that when I got there and had a chance to fly I discovered that throughout most of the task area even though some of the valleys were narrower, almost all of them were lined with wonderful fields. As one competitor remarked during the week, "I got low and was faced with the difficulty of choosing which one of these numerous excellent fields I might have to land in" if you end up low, that's the kind of problem you hope for. It's not that you can't get into trouble up there, you can, there is a reason that Paul Weeden of Ridge Soaring (Ridge Salvage?) is an expert on removing gliders from trees.

Perhaps the highlight of the contest was the opportunity to observe and fly with some excellent pilots flying in the standard class. Among them were Hank Nixon, winner of the 2000 15 meter nationals at Mifflin, Jae Walker, a member of the 1997 US soaring team that went to St. Aubans, and George Moffat, two time open class world champion and US national champion who even though he is now in his early seventies won the standard class contest in handy fashion. I have read George Moffat's book "Winning on the Wind" so many times that he is an icon for me as I am sure he is for many others. He is also the consummate gentleman. One of the joys of soaring and sailplane racing is that it does not heap all its rewards on the young (although starting young helps) and George Moffat and many others like Karl Striedieck and Ray Gimmey are proof positive that one can remain competitive or keep getting better and better where other sports would relegate you to "also rans."

The most remarkable experience occurred on contest day 1 during the second leg of the task when I am happily motoring along at about 85 knots when I see the famous XX (George Moffat's contest ID) pass below me with a hanger-on in tow. I figure this is my chance to watch the famous George Moffat make a few decisions while I observe from the catbird seat. At any rate, I plow into a 6 knotter and George Moffat or not, I decide to take a half dozen turns trying to keep my eye on XX as he presses forward without stopping. I leave the thermal with him still in sight and it appears that he is headed for a sunlit spot on the side of a hill so I do the same. He and the hanger-on reach the sunlit spot and I see the bright wing flashes as they pull up--hard. They are literally corkscrewing upwards. By the time I get there, I am well below them at 4500msl even though I had been cruising well above them initially. I pull up tight as I hit the lift and find myself in a genuine 11 knotter! Not just one turn at 11 knots but all of them, actually it only took 4 turns but I gained 600 feet PER TURN.

Sound like fun? Yeah, you betcha!

See you at the field.
-- Fred Mueller

The Grob paperwork has been completely reorganized and you will notice some minor changes when looking for stuff.

First in the aircraft. All required FAA documentation (AROW) has been consolidated in a clear plastic folder stored on the aft bulkhead and held in view by the oxygen bottle holder. The folder includes:

Airworthiness Certificate Registration Operators Manual which includes all operating limitations (aircraft is also well placarded) Weight and Balance (current) Laminated Approved Pre-Flight Inspection Checklist

This package satisfies "all FAA requirements" for documentation on board the aircraft and should always be on board. It is a pre-flight item for the PIC to check these items prior to flight. Please insure that you always return this aircraft documentation to it's proper location after every use.

Second in the hangar, a new Grob 103A Maintenance Binder has been created which includes the following tabbed information and documentation:

The Aircraft Logbook (where annual inspections are logged) Operators Manual/Weight and Balance Aerobatics Manual Maintenance Manual Repair Manual Repair Records/Invoices Airworthiness Directives/Service Bulletins/Type Certificate FAA Waivers Tost Release Log and Manual Oxygen System Log (system currently removed) Parachute Log (club does not currently provide-this tab is currently empty)

The club owns this aircraft and you are welcome to view this information about your aircraft at anytime. Do not remove this binder from the hangar under any circumstances as a lot of this information cannot be duplicated if it were to be misplaced. There is one authorized exception to this rule. If you are taking a FAA checkride and need the aircraft logbook to show it has a current annual, take the entire binder to the FBO to show your inspector. Do not take individual pieces of documentation from this binder as it increases the likelihood it could be misplaced.

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding paperwork on the Grob, please contact me directly.
-- Stan Pawlowski (The Grobmiester)

By far the best way to make this club attractive is to have people out to fly with us. If the club as isn't attractive to them after they've flown with us, then they aren't the true addicts such as us.

Bearing in mind that the most effective invitations come from personal contacts, can you invite interested parties out to the field? Let them touch and watch real planes.

Interested folks can fly as your guest, or you can get them onto our website. From there, we'll set him up with a temp membership, etc.

This goes for all members. If you know folks who would be great additions to the club, please offer the invitation.
-- John Lewis, Memberstuffemeister

Picture this hypothetical event. Four gliders are in the air. One, a training flight doing a pattern tow. The others recreational flights. Two of the rec flights are falling out of the sky. The training flight is ready to turn base, instructor talking to the student, and has called for the hard surface. One of the rec flights calls in downwind, "will take the grass." A second rec flight calls in shortly thereafter, "I'm following you in, and I would like the hard surface." On the training flight, only the second call is heard. Ah, got one behind us. The training flight lands, normal landing, nice rollout. Let's clear the hard surface for the glider behind us. Right turn onto the grass... right in front of the glider taking the grass. A collision is averted by ground looping the landing glider on the grass. Only minor damage. Could have been worse. A purely hypothetical case, of course. But possible nonetheless.

Turning off the runway during your rollout is a bad idea, a really bad idea. There are lots of options, and most are better.

1. If there is a glider behind you and you both need to use the hard surface, land long. Really long. Now, do it sensibly. Don't fly onto the grass at the end of 27. Get low, get in ground effect, close your spoilers, and cruise down to the midfield turnoff. Then pull the spoilers and land. This will give the glider behind you 2,000 feet plus of runway to land and stop. We don't have many members who cannot handle that safely.

2. Use the taxiway. We are authorized to use the taxiway when we need to for a situation such as this. Aside from the possibility of a collision, turning off the hard surface during rollout risks hitting a runway light, risks loosing control of the rollout, and risks damage because of the drop-off from the hard surface to the grass. If there is a powerplane on final behind you, land, get out and move off the runway expeditiously, but not stupidly. And if you don't clear in time, he/she can always go around. ALWAYS look for landing aircraft BEFORE you move off the hard surface.

Also, know the situation. Tune your radio to 123.0 well before entering the pattern. Get a mental picture of who is where. Know who is in front of you and who is behind you, where they are and what are their needs. Try to make life for others simple and safe, but not at the risk of your safety.

Most pilots can land safely if they know what to expect. If they see you rolling out on the hard surface ahead of them, they expect you to stop on the hard surface. Turning off suddenly is committing the unexpected. Do your best to make all your actions in the traffic pattern and on the ground exactly equal to what the other pilots expect, and make liberal use of the radio, particularly if you intend to do anything that is not exactly what others would expect.

I welcome comments on this.
-- George Hazelrigg, Jr

I was ADO on Sunday May 26th, and I have a couple of safety-related matters that came up that I'd like to bring to folks' attention.

First, unless I'm mistaken, we only have one club-owned hand-held aviation band radio. On Thursdays, Jim Kellett usually brings his personal radio out and we then have two, which is what I'm used to, since that's when I do most of my flying. Today, the club's single radio stayed with the D.O., which is the right place, but that left me (and others) running around in the tow car without any comms. While I try to always look for traffic in the pattern before I drive the car on the grass, without a radio it's possible that someone (particularly a relatively silent glider) could be in the pattern and not be seen or heard by the tow car driver. That is, the tow car can't hear the glider (or possible power traffic) announce they're entering the pattern, or any subsequent alerting or warning radio calls. So I was feeling sort of uncomfortable driving around today, particularly since we operated a good part of the day from runway 09, which presents a tight access situation if you are towing a glider back down to the turn-around loop. I mentioned this to Dick Otis, who was kind enough to lend us his personal hand-held, which resolved the situation for the rest of the day, but I think this needs a permanent solution. My thought is that we should either scrounge up another radio from somewhere, or spend the $100-$200 it might take to buy a new one. I think it would be money well spent, and could prevent some major safety problems down the road.

Second subject, there wasn't much lift today, so gliders were going up and coming down pretty frequently. (Add a bunch of pattern tows in there, and that just makes the situation busier.) After we switched to 09 we had a couple of instances where the tow plane was out on the runway, being hooked up to the glider, when another glider would announce it was entering downwind for the same runway. Now, if we had been operating from 27, this would not have been a problem, the airborne glider would just land on the grass. But, for some reason, that didn't seem to be desirable when operating from 09 today. The result was considerable pressure to get the glider on the ground launched ASAP, so the glider in the pattern could land on the hard surface. A couple of those launches were so rushed that I felt distinctly uncomfortable that someone (most likely the glider pilot, but maybe the wingrunner or even the towpilot) could be hurrying so much as to make a mistake. This seems to be the classic kind of situation you often read about in accident reports.

What I'd like to suggest is that when these situations happen the pilot in the pattern should go ahead and land the glider in the grass, just like he would if we were using 27. I know it's a long ways from the end of 09 to get up to where the grass is wide enough to land on, but it seems to me that even this 'long' retrieve might be preferable to hurrying our normal launch procedures.

I realize that I am on the short end of the experience curve as compared to most of our club members, so I may have missed some important reason why either of the above suggestions wouldn't make sense. On the other hand, I felt they were important enough points to at least post them and make folks aware of them. Any comment or discussion is welcome.-Carlos Roberts We've seen this exact scenario develop many times in past operations. When things get going like this, first, someone must notice and recognize what's happening. Second, someone, (anyone-that notices) must take the initiative to say, "Hey!! Let's slow down a bit. Things are getting crazy!!".

Chances are, that once someone says says something, others so engrossed in their activities will open their eyes and help out. IF not, yell real loud STOP! Stop ops, have a conference and resume. The most dangerous thing to do is nothing.
-- Carlos Roberts

Sounds like Carlos is moving further up the experience curve.
-- Kevin Fleet

As long as we're on the 09 subject, your editor must make a confession. I ran over a runway light while towing.

You all know how they'll jump in front of the car and... are they really runway lights? or just blue space aliens, silently and patiently waiting until...? Well there's one we don't have to worry about...that sucker is totalled...nothing but an ugly hole in the ground with its thin dual innards remaining.

Confession being good for the soul, I offered the remains up to Reggie. He took it stoically...on the surface. With certainty I know there will be retribution for my lapse in clearing my path.

This hazard is greatly increased with operations on 09. Nothing teaches like experience . So let's all be careful out there, particularly at the end of a hot day.
-- Phil Jordan

When I wrote the following Skylines solicitation it was out of frustration from seeing so many vital and useful pieces of information being shot off like a load of skeet shot rapidly spreading out while the target ducked. "...when we all get through with the 6'' AGL passes at Vne + 10 k and the pull ups to 400 AGL and the spiffy kinetic landings for masses filled with adoration...and...we scrape Kolie off the hangar wall...can we puleeeze put some of our energy into something meaningful to the entire membership and suitable for Skylines?...before it circulates to the entire electronic western world?" Question:Is there anything else you'd like to know about pitch and power? All these comments, circulated to the entire membership, were in response to one paragraph in an article Dick Otis was writing for Skylines

It is hard as hell getting items of interest for Skylines that have not been circulated to the entire membership by email. While often this is a wonderfully immediate way to discuss hot topics, often it comes in "word bytes" detached from the original issue-add-ons that some how take on a life of their own.

If you think everyone reads all their email, do you want a piece of my oceanside condo in Albuquerque? The reverse of that is equally appropriate. Twice I've asked The Board if they felt Skylines in its hard copy form was still useful. Each time the answer was yes. I have also asked the question by informal emails to selected members and have received very rewarding positive affirmation of the role Skylines provides the Club. I know for certain this positive affirmation isn't universal among members.

It has been suggested that we circulate Skylines by PDF to the membership to avoid mailing expenses. But it already appears on the web site often almost simultaneous to your receiving it by mail. Either way the same problem exists-much good stuff is being copied to the membership piecemeal before it can coagulate into a single meaningful entity.

I receive printed Newsletters from 3 other Virginia clubs and a few others. All have mentioned this issue. Your editor really would appreciate objective feedback. We have a large number of highly qualified pilots with a lot of knowledge to share about flying-safety, operations, instruction, weather, towing,-all aspects of vital interest to our membership-I urge you to share it through Skylines.

The newsletter is expertly tailored by Piet Barber for inclusion on the web site thus being both an archive of SSC activities and a repository of useful information. I urge you all to take advantage of this multi-use platform for your thoughts, suggestions, professional flying advice. Thanks,
-- Phil Jordan

• Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan and Deborah Kans (the former Deborah Jo Fogel), married Sunday, May 19th under the watchful eyes of numerous SSC members.

  http://skylinesoaring.org/SNAPSHOTS/

• Friends, Rachel Hill has consented to be my bride. In joy,
  -- Richard Freytag

• We're sure the entire membership extends its very best wishes to all the above for a long and happy life together.

• On May 16, Geoffrey Hazelrigg completed his Bronze Badge requirements with his third precision landing observed by a Club's SSAI-congratulations!!

• "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." The above item ran last month. While Dave and Fred's "snatch the trophy frigid flight" was a great accomplishment it was not a Badge Leg for Fred. Skylines regrets this egregious overstatement and would blame it on someone else but have deleted the erroneous email from which it was extracted. And this item is extracted from the June Tidewater Soaring Flypaper: "Where Is The Boomerang? The Boomerang has been kidnapped and carried away from its birthplace in New Castle to the Front Royal Airport. Anyone ready to rescue it?"

  They're coming...maybe our little blue aliens will jump 'em. And by the way, is The Flypaper a great name for a soaring newsletter or what?

• In case you missed Mark Ballinger's email: NTSB RECOMMENDS FIXES FOR RED HOT GLIDERS: The NTSB is recommending that the FAA require existing Stemme S10, S10-V, and S10-VT powered gliders be modified to reduce the risk of fires in the engine compartment. The recommended fixes include sealing the engine compartment, protecting fuel lines and fittings, and shielding exhaust components.

  Note AVweb's NewsWire http://avweb.com/n/?22b links to the full text of the NTSB's recommendation.
  -- AVFlash

• May 30 was highlighted by Stan Pawlowski's successful completion of the Commercial Glider rating, under the watchful eyes of Marvin Holland, DPE. Congratulations, Stan!

• YUP my Schleicher Ka-7 has finally got to go. Too many things going on in my life to do it all. First priority is going to my Jet glider project which one day I hope to have looking like a 1/3 scale U-2 recon bird, turbine, noise, black paint and all. Possibly even some "amateur radio E-lint package" to boot. Ham radio satellites are my other great passion... along with the THORP T-18.

  Glider Details: Schliecher Ka-7 two place glider, fresh annual in Feb 2002, only about 770 total hours and no wrecks or dings, two varios to choose from RICO audio type and a very sensitive (good) silent vario for both front and rear seats. Terra 720 radio, open trailer, new canopy and fabric three years ago. This is a composite design of steel tube, plywood, fiberglass, Dacron fabric and spruce. Very good shape. $9.0K to club members, with some cost flexibility. Might be able to help with transfer of the hanger also. No guarantee on the hanger deal. great fun soaring machine. I've loved it for the past two years. Many many enjoyable afternoons of 'free' flying and no one to call me down.
  -- Glenn Baumgartner

• Always a hot topic-Web site with a list of local riggers:

  http://www.skydiveorange.com/rigging.htm
  -- Judah Milgram

• Tim and I got the message below from Jim Hendrix in the Memphis Soaring Society. Its a handy list of soaring books and links.

  I've assembled an extensive reading list of Soaring books with my recommendations. It's on a publishing web site I'm building. The soaring page is http://www.owp.us/Soaring.asp. Every item links you directly to a source-Amazon.com, Knauff & Grove, SSA. There are also links to the major soaring vendors. It's a good place to start your search for Soaring literature.
  -- Lisa Sergent

• Mark Ballinger writes: As it has happened to so many of us this year, I figured why not join the crowd. Cox decided it could do the job better than the Roadrunner service, and so gave me a new email address just for being loyal to them. Hmmph.

• A gaggle of new members: Louis Garner Woodbridge, VA

  L. Jay Aceto, Centreville, VA

  Bill Lussier, Alexandria, VA

  Dave Jobes, Rockville, MD

• The Memorial Day Picnic was canceled due to rotten weather. It will be revived in another form. In the meantime Richard seems to have other things on his mind. I've attached a photo taken at FRR one day last Fall. I think D. Brunner instigated the "grading" of Kit's landings that day (David admitted doing so). Actually, it was a very windy day so landings were less than perfect and Kit says the "scores" were too high. What a bunch!

• Also below is a review from new book written by a former club member, Bill Jones. Sounds interesting.
  -- Kit Carson

• MURDER BY MEMORY by William M. Jones ISBN 1-40330-015-1 When a serial killer strikes again after a hiatus of 24 years, Detective Herbert Chalmers is returned to the police force. Along with his beautiful new partner, Detective Lizabeth Barcay, Chalmers sets out to finally bring the elusive murderer to justice. One problem lingers-Alvin Reinhold, who Chalmers believes was the killer, is also murdered. Who is the real serial killer? That's what Chalmers and Barcay are determined to discover in this intriguing murder mystery intertwined with numerous plot twists and surprises along the way in their effort to bring the true culprit to justice. To order call 1-888-280-7715.

• ...and finally this bit of wisdom relative to the Thursday Group was excerpted from an email: Dr. Jack says "If convective clouds are present, the actual B/S ratio will be larger than calculated", which is good. It is this writer's observation that the B/S Ratio is already sky-high on Thursdays!