Safety-risk, we all think about them, and we all like to think we are safe. For ten years, we managed to operate without seriously injuring an airplane. Then, unfortunately, we injured a few. Luckily, we have not seriously injured a pilot as yet. Does this mean we are safe? On July 27, Jim Kellett talked to us about safety. He reminded us that our student training has an excellent record, it's the experienced pilots who need to take heed. Jim showed an interesting series of accidents that involved highly qualified pilots, and then told us about the judgement errors that bite experienced pilots. Many people commented that this was the best safety meeting they had ever attended. Jim, we all thank you for this effort.

An interesting point that Jim made was that our Club has a safety culture that is unmatched by any other soaring operation that he has seen. We talked about how we can help each other to be safe. Jim plied us with the notion that flying is inherently unsafe, and that it is only through our knowledge and skills that we can survive. But we work to hone these, and normally we control our risks pretty well. We are in danger when we become complacent, and when we let our judgement skills slide. I am reminded of a line in a C&W song, "Know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em." When you leave the safety of gliding distance to the field, you have to be ready to land out, and you have to be ready to make the decision to land out.

What can I add? It was an excellent session.

Well, I want to talk a little bit about safety and risk themselves. These are not easy terms to understand. What's the difference between safety and luck? Who has the right formula for safety? We've all heard statements like, "I hope this is safe," or "Boy I was lucky." These statements show the difference between safety and luck. The key is that safety is something that is in the future, whereas luck is in the past. We all recognize that it is hopeless to try to change the past, our hope is to exert some little control over the future. We control our safety and our risk. Now, let's take a moment to try to define risk. In our context, we can define risk as the probability that something that we don't like will happen to us. Again, probabilities always apply to the future. Without going into the boring mathematical detail, we know the past-that coin we flipped came up heads or it came up tails-the notion of 50-50, heads/tails applies only to flips we make in the future.

The problem with controlling (or managing) risk is first in knowing how much risk you are exposing yourself to, and second in knowing whether your subsequent actions are increasing or decreasing risk. I had the privilege of consulting with the FAA on collision risk about 30 years ago. The FAA, I believe through NASA, chartered the creation of a collision risk data base that included near-miss data. Pilots would obtain amnesty if they reported their near-misses. So the database filled up quickly, and the FAA began to think about what they could do with all these data. But then they began to notice that the near misses seemed to have little or nothing to do with collisions. After all, a near miss is a miss, not a collision. And, in the limit, if all airplanes had near misses, none would collide, so the system would be perfectly safe from collision risk.

I'm also reminded of a WW II story. Each day, our bombers came back rather badly shot up. And too many didn't come back at all. So some bright folks got the idea to reinforce the airplanes in the areas where they were getting badly shot up. This had no effect whatever on their survival rate. Then someone suggested that they were looking at a biased sample-the badly shot up planes were the survivors. Try reinforcing the areas that are not shot up, as these are likely the areas where the non-survivors are being hit. This worked, and the survival rate went up.

I'm rambling, but I guess my point is that safety is an elusive thing. You cannot look at the past and say, "We have been and thus we are safe." All we can say is, "We have been lucky. I hope we are safe." But we can do more. We can continue to think safety, we can continue to train, and we can continue to help each other to be safe.

Thanks again to Jim for an inspirational session.
-- George Hazelrigg, Jr

We all have great empathy with Bela for, barring disaster, we'll all be facing the difficult decision Bela, with much regret, recently made.

But it isn't the the first time either Bela or Susan have had to turn their backs on something dear that was threatening to fade beyond their control. This time the decision isn't being driven by others who would rob their spirit of freedom. For with this decision they are not swimming for a distant surface and choking for relief from tyranny. This life altering choice is being driven not by oppressors, but by the natural desire to "go out on top"-an apt phrase for Bela's marvelous gift for soaring.

What a great inspiration for us all these two courageous friends have been. Bela the naturally gifted pilot whose determined spirit even a vengeful enemy could not grind down in ten long, dreary years of abuse. And Susan, the world-class athlete who, at great personal risk, chose freedom rather than return to a life that would petrify her spirit.

There is a part of all us who fly that belongs to all other pilots. So when Bela feels a loss of flying, that art held in reverence for 63 years, we each feel a little part of us going with him. St. ExupeŽry said: "Comrades of the air. I call on you to bear me witness. When have we felt ourselves happy men?"

The freely shared character, love and spirit we have all received from Bela and Susan will not end. We'll just not see Bela fly away at the start of the day only to reappear at the end-when some of us have been up and down multiple times. We will miss their cheerful, positive sharing but know they will continue to light the entire community as well as SSC on occasion.

So we wish Bela and Susan many happy and useful events to fill the void that flying will leave in their hearts and time.-Skyline Soaring Members Bela has decided to become "inactive" but the Board created a new membership category, "Member Emeritus" and has granted this status to Bela. So he will be out to the field to fly as a passenger and student, but not as PIC anymore.
-- George Hazelrigg, Jr

Your edit-person is an avid reader of AVflash newsletter and AVweb as I suspect most of you are. I missed this article and am delighted Richard Freytag forwarded it to Skylines. The following is Richard's excerpt from a must read safety page by Howard Fried who started flying with the Army Air Corps. Over 30,000 general aviation hours later, he is still instructing. (He's old, but he's not dead.) Sort of like the edit-person.

Title of the article: "It can happen to you!" "The United States Navy used to teach its pilots that when confronted with an emergency, to take a deep breath and wind the clock on the panel! Nothing is happening so fast that the pilot has to panic and this simple action forces one to pause and determine the correct course of action."

Only one of the gems at this link: http://www.avweb.com/articles/eyeofexp/eoe0013.html

Remaining teachable

Most, if not all, of us know that the secret to a satisfying quality of life is to remain teachable through our allotment of time. If we can retain that asset we can enjoy this constantly changing world. If we can learn from our experiences and from the observations of others-more objective observers than ourselves-then we can be reasonably assured of a healthy quality of life. To be otherwise is to atrophy.

We can all benefit from the safety culture practiced by our past and present military pilot members...that culture of looking out for each other and sharing mutual concerns objectively. Sometimes the only way to see ourselves clearly, and to learn, is through the eyes of another.-Phil It has been my experience that some conversations can make a real difference. In the right circumstances, making a "public" declaration about a good intention has a much more profound effect than keeping that intention bottled up in the mind as an unspoken thought. There is a more powerful effect on the speaker, an effect on those who are listening, and an effect on the relationships and conversations among and between all involved.

Also, the conversation that makes a difference is the doing of it, not the talking about it. So I said to the members present at the safety meeting something to the effect that: I will listen to any constructive criticism of my flying from any member regardless of whether (s)he has more or less experience than I have, I will not argue or give judgments of the members comments.

In fact I would appreciate and invite such comments. It is interesting that a person who makes a promise in this context will usually act as they have promised to act whether they "feel like it" or not, and can often shift how they feel about the issue by participating in this kind of conversation. When they don't act as they have promised, they will often later apologize. Relationships improve, things run smoother, etc.
-- Greg Ellis

This is a story for those of you who may aspire to own your own brand new sailplane or are just curious about the trials and tribulations involved in acquiring such a toy. My saga began almost two and one half years ago and concluded on 27 July 2002 when my new glider was finally ready to fly.

The first step toward new sailplane ownership is deciding which one to buy. I wanted to fly competitively and I've always like flapped gliders so I looked toward the 15-meter racing class. In the 15-meter class, you essentially have four to choose from: DG-800, LS-6 from Rolladen-Schneider, Ventus 2 from Schempp-Hirth and the ASW-27b from Alexander Schleicher. I didn't care for the design details of the DG and the LS-6 will soon be replaced by the LS-10 but not for at least another year. The Ventus 2 and the ASW-27b are the two front-runners. They cost about the same when comparably equipped and the delivery time was also about the same. I chose the ASW-27b because of the fit, finish, ergonomics and unique aerodynamic design features.

Next, you call up the dealer and place your order. The dealer, in this case, is John Murray in Waynesville, Ohio. Since the delivery date is so far in the future, John only requires a small deposit at the time the order is placed. You now have about a year to decide what options you want on the sailplane and trailer as well as which instruments you want to install and where in the instrument panel they will be located. The sailplane comes with a blank instrument panel but you can buy one from Murray well ahead of your delivery date so that it will be ready to go when your sailplane arrives.

Among other options, the factory will accomplish most of the wiring and plumbing for you. They will install such things as the radio electrical harness, which terminates in a single connector for speaker, boom mike, push-to-talk button and power. They also wire up the master switch, fuses and all of the battery compartments. Some of the other options to consider are the accent color, canopy tint, interior material (faux lambskin, cloth or leather) and relief system.

During the next year it's a good idea to reserve a registration number with the FAA and a contest ID with the SSA. When you have these numbers, you can pass them to the factory and they will paint them on the glider in the requested color. You can even pick the precise color from the RAL color pallet and pass the specified number for an exact match. You have the ability to pick the font as well.

When you are about a year out from the delivery date, you make another deposit of about 10% of the cost of the glider. Now all you have to do is wait. The glider spends about three months in the factory actually being built. When the glider is finished, you make the final payment. If you have elected to purchase a trailer with your glider, the manufacturer will ship it to the sailplane factory configured for your sailplane. Naturally, there is a small fee for the transportation of the trailer. The factory will load the sailplane into the trailer and move it to the port for shipment to the U.S. as soon as they receive the final payment. The payment must be made in Euro currency so you really do not know exactly how much this toy will cost you until the last minute. Sometimes you win and sometimes you loose.

Naturally, there is a fee for moving the glider and trailer to the German port.

Your sailplane will be on the water for nine to twelve days. Naturally, there is a substantial shipping fee. While your new sailplane is floating across the pond toward the Port of Baltimore, you will receive a package of important documents from Schleicher. I also received an e-mail with an electronic copy of the bill of lading. You will need these documents to register the sailplane using the 'N' number that you reserved.

Once the sailplane is en route, you should contact a port broker in Baltimore. I used the one recommended by John Murray. The broker handles all of the customs paper work and interfaces with the port agent, making the pick up of your new glider much easier.

The port agent acts as the representative for the shipping line in Baltimore. The agent in Germany will send your original bill of lading to the agent in Baltimore. You cannot do anything without that original bill of lading. Your port broker will chase this down for you and will notify you when your sailplane is ready for pick up. On the appointed day, you will proceed to the office of the port broker in Baltimore. You will need to bring one or two bank checks with you. The first is for the broker, which will include customs fees and their service charges. The second check is for the shipping line. In my case, I paid the shipping charges before the ship departed Germany so I only needed to bring one check.

The port broker will give you a stack of papers and point you toward a particular terminal at the port. Once you leave the broker's office you join the "Teamsters" and become a trucker for the day. You have to drive through a huge tollbooth affair obviously geared toward the eighteen-wheeler folks. You hand the man in the booth your papers and after a glance he directs you toward the proper loading dock. There is small office on the loading dock with a sign that reads, "Truckers begin at window A".

Due to the excellent work of the broker you will move smoothly through the sequence of windows until you are told where to actually pick up the glider. You will then proceed to a large parking lot to find your ship among a number of Volvo dump trucks, agricultural equipment and the like.

I feel certain that some of the port broker fee went to grease the palms of the local longshoremen because I didn't find any forklift holes in the side of my trailer.

Before you hook up your new trailer and drive off with it, you should do a quick inspection of the glider and trailer to check for obvious damage. All of the German trailers come wired for a European 7-pin electrical connector. If you have a European vehicle equipped with a 7-pin car side connector, you are all set. If not, you have some work to do. You will need to move some wires around inside the tail light lenses, rewire the trailer side plug and make up an adapter to connect your American flat 4-pin plug to a European 7-pin plug. You can make the adapter up in advance. You will also have to drill some new holes in your trailer tag because the mounting bolts on the trailer are spaced for a European style tag. In a letter accompanying the trailer, the manufacturer apologizes for the inconvenience but states "the trailer must move on its own wheels to the port in Germany".

Now you can take your new glider home and install the instruments. After that you will need to get an A&P mechanic with an inspection authorization to do an annual. When you have the registration certificate and the annual inspection you can contact the FSDO to come out and do an airworthiness inspection to issue the airworthiness certificate.

Finally, you can fly your new sailplane if only the weather and your schedule cooperates.
-- Dave Weaver

When we first heard about the M-ASA 10 day weekend flying event the idea sounded interesting. As the dates got closer we decided to at least go up to Frederick to check out their operation. Finally, we 'decided' (convinced the club president) that we really should get the full experience, so we pulled the LS-1 to Frederick.

July 5th was the day we decided to head to Frederick. When we got there, gliders were parked everywhere. We found a spot and parked our trailer. We then headed to the OPs tent and found out who to speak to. We went into M-ASA's main building and filled out the required paperwork. We then got a full briefing on the operation, the area, traffic pattern, and everything else we could think of (although many of these things made more sense once I was aloft). Then it was time to fly.

We got the LS-1 rigged up and got onto the tow list. There were maybe 7 gliders set up in front of us, but M-ASA keeps 2 towplanes in Frederick, so the wait for a tow wasn't even 15 minutes. Once in the air I took about 20 minutes to thermal and climb, while I became acclimated with the area. The weather provided solid thermals throughout the day up to 6K, which made exploring easy.

Both my brother George and I flew the LS-1, staying within a 10 mile radius. Because I was in an element that I was not used to, I found the whole experience not just fun, but also challenging. Everything about flying in Frederick was different. After taking off on grass, I was kept busy looking around for traffic. Frederick Municipal is a huge airport with a lot of power traffic. Add to that all the heavy-metal on Dulles approach (flying directly over the airport as low as 6K), and as many sailplanes as you'd see at a competition, and I didn't have any time or business to keep my head in the instruments. Landing at an unfamiliar airport proved to be the last challenge of the flight.

It was a great experience to fly at another airport, where I could gain some perspective on my skill as a pilot. At Front Royal we become accustomed to certain things: we know where to land, where to look for traffic, and generally what to expect in the area. We get used to seeing certain angles and cues when flying our traffic patterns. Dealing with the traffic and radio and landing in unfamiliar territory has boosted my confidence in my piloting skills. This was definitely a worthwhile experience.
-- Geoff Hazelrigg

It is all a blur at this point, ten days in all, with two practice days and two days cancelled because of winds and rain. The thermals were neither as strong nor as high as we had hoped since previous events in Colorado have produced thermals to 18,000 feet and thermals that pegged the varios. We did see 13,000 to 14,000 foot altitudes with an occasional 600 to 1000 fpm lift, but generally we were working 250 to 450 fpm lift to about 10,500 or 11,000 feet. Bullseye Field was at 6000 feet so the altitudes provided reasonably comfortable glides between thermals over otherwise intimidating terrain. Eastern Colorado is mostly prairie, sparsely populated with occasional ranches representing the only civilization, so when a pilot got low, below 2000 feet agl, it was advisable to look for a paved road or an occupied ranch house when considering a land out.

The first day was a moderate 43-mile task, kept short because of possible strong winds later in the day. The day was deceptive with only 19 of the 32 gliders finishing the task. The terrain intimidated me to fly fairly conservatively, staying between 3000 and 5000 AGL most of the time. My concern was verified by the land outs of Ron Schwartz and Irn Jousma who normally push the limits, and most often win. This time they both bombed. The second turn point was under serious overcast by the time I approached it at a position about 5 miles down wind at an altitude of 2000 agl. Thermals were weak and it seemed like I was drifting away faster than I was climbing. Finally, with 2500 agl, I decided to take the chance by charging into the turn point. I arrived with 1000 feet and turned back to pick up my earlier thermal. In mostly zero sink, I set a course for the mouse trails of my previous thermal on the GPS and finally began to climb. At 4000 agl and 12 miles out and a tailwind of about 25 knots I started my final glide. The GPS indicated a ground speed of 145 mph. I finished way to high, with 2000 feet to dump before landing.

The low save over the turn point and the land out of Schwartz and Jousma convinced me to fly a conservative contest, and in the remaining days I flew comfortably, but not especially fast, by getting high and staying high. The thermals were stronger, 400 fpm, at altitudes above 9500 feet as compared to 200 to 250 at lower altitudes. Also terror of landing out in the boonies away from any civilization was far less at 11,000 feet than at 8000 feet. The strategy looked like it was paying off as in the next four contest days, I gradually worked up from 10th position to 3rd.

In the intervening days, tasks ranged between 60 and 100 miles. My best was a 100-mile post task with a speed of about 41 miles per hour. The highest speed of the contest was about 47 mph. Using a conservative strategy, by the final day, I had gained within 120 points of Bob Von Hellens who was in first place and within 85 points of the second place pilot, Oliver Schmetzer, a Luftwaffe pilot on detail to the Air Force Academy and a first time 1-26 pilot. Both are excellent pilots and I would not have felt badly to accept a 3rd place behind them. If either were to make a mistake, I would overtake them. However, I would have to gain more points on the final day than on previous days in order to catch either one. Schwartz had flown outstanding flights since his land out and had now moved into 4th place about 120 points behind me. I decided to abandon my conservative strategy and go for broke. If Von Hellens and Schmeltzer continued to fly as well as they had, I would have to improve my speed and if I didn't^` Schwartz would push me into 4th position. It was a setting for an outstanding day of competition.

The task call was a 40-mile pilot option speed task. The task was short because an incoming cirrus cloud shelf that promised to kill the day early. We had a window of about 1 and a half hour from first thermals until the arrival of the cloud deck to complete the launch. Because of the rotation of the launch line, I was now near the end of the line and to make matters worse, one of the tow planes collapsed a gear, which caused a serious extension of the launch time by more than 30 minutes. When I launched, I could see the primary gaggles about 3 or 4 miles east of the airport and decided that I would turn out to them as soon as I released. I could still arrive with about 1000 feet to pick up the thermal under them. However, as we towed out, the tow pilot abruptly turned westward across the runway and continued in that direction, releasing me about 1 mile west of the runway. I was now four or five miles from the gaggle that had moved yet further east in order to stay in the sun. No other gliders were nearby to mark thermals, for obvious reasons. As I glided cautiously toward the west, I considered, for a moment, landing back and taking another tow closer into the sunshine. However, it was apparent that the cirrus shelf would have moved even further east and I would not gain anything. A few pilots were struggling in zero sink, but I decided to go for broke and head for the sunshine five miles away. I reached partial sunshine at about 400 feet above the ground and worked zero sink with two of the Air Force cadets for about 20 minutes before the ground cooled sufficiently to dump us all on the ground. I had flown about 8 miles from the airport, and about 3 miles outside of the start cylinder, which gave me a total of 5 miles.

The frustration will always surface in these kinds of incidents and this was no exception. However, it is the nature of flying the 1-26 that allows you to forget sooner than one would expect. Everyone experiences such situations at one time or other and all we must do is recall the frustrations of others to get beyond our own. At Ionia last year for example, Ron Schwartz was doing well when, in one task, he forgot to take a start photo which was required to prevent pilots from flying to the first turn point before the task even opens. Out on course, Ron realized his omission and turned around to go through the start a second time and then proceeded to fly an outstanding flight, possibly winning the day. However, on his second start he again forgot to take the start photo. Everything about racing this machine can be humiliating, but in spite of it all, it is great. The inherent humiliation attracts only the most laid-back pilots, which also makes for a great social gathering.

The Air Force Academy was outstanding and we cannot say enough great things about their organization of this event. These events and the continued participation of the cadets in our annual contest may tend to delay the planned retirement of the 1-26 fleet at the academy. We hope so.

Next year the Championships will be at Caesar Creek, Ohio. For those of you who want to get into cross-country flying and competition, there is no better way to start. Be there.-Bill Vickland Two days stand out in my memory of the 2002 1-26 Nationals. On the second day of the contest, I felt tired in the morning, little things annoyed me during the pilot's meeting and while getting the glider ready to fly. I had felt this way twice before in contests, once when I rolled my wing into a fire hydrant after a landout in Ohio and again when I chose a mature wheat field for landing in Michigan and bent the fuselage. On this day I took my prepaid tow and stayed over the airport to practice thermalling and just get more comfortable flying my glider after 11 months of repair work, and I landed on the airport WITHOUT DAMAGING MY GLIDER. I consider this a successful day (earning zero points) because I had realized that my glider was ready to compete, but I was not ready.

On the next to the last day, the Gods (or is it Therm, the God of lift?) smiled and put thermals in my path, allowing me to "Get High and Stay High" around the task, while some others took slightly different tracks and bit the dust. It is sweet to call "Two minutes from finish" after all those landouts.
-- Bill Vickland and Bill Bentley

As most of you know, we have a number of new members. They are being scheduled as ADOs fairly soon after joining and may have little or no experience running wings, handling gliders, etc. So please, when you're assigned as duty officer, KNOW YOUR ADO!

If you don't know your ADO, find out how much experience he or she has. If they've never served as ADO before or have little experience, please mentor them on the job. Under no circumstances allow an ADO on his/her first "day on the job" to work the line alone. Ask an experienced member to work with them.

Its our job as DOs to make sure operations run smoothly and safely. Plus, until we have a more formal training program developed, the DOs also have to help train the ADOs. We have a bunch of great new members and we need to safely integrate them into our operations. I know many of you are doing this already and I appreciate it.

Finally, please make sure that both you and the ADO both have a radio and are monitoring it at all times. The glider pilot should have his/her radio on 123.0 before launch (when staging) and after touch-down (during retrieval). If you see a glider coming in and not making radio calls, make the calls from the ground. Also keep in mind that with the Grob it's very easy to be overweight. Keep the following data for your Grob file.

Min Load Front Seat w/ 2 ballast wts 121 lbs
Min Load Front Seat w/ 1 ballast wt 138 lbs
Min Load Front Seat w/ 0 ballast 154 lbs
Max Load Front Seat 242 lbs
Max Load Rear Seat 242 lbs
Maximum Total Useful Load 386.5 lbs

-- Lisa Sergent

It appears that I'm one of a partnership of Club members that is nearing the consummation of the purchase of Bela's ASW-20. Assuming that that deal goes through as planned, it'll be contingent (on my part) on the sale of my Cirrus.

My Cirrus, S/N 67, N8169, is often referred to as an "Open Cirrus" (17.8 metre) to distinguish it from it's 15 metre cousin, the Standard Cirrus. It's currently hangared (assembled) at Scott Airport (The Flying Cow Farm) in Lovettsville, VA.. Equipped with standard instruments plus a mechanical vario (in a Solfahrtgeber) and an electric/audio, clock, Filser LX-400 GPS and DOS-based laptop (does NOT include a flight recorder approved for badge use), Terra radio, oxygen, parachute, narrow body trailer with electric brakes (car module included) and electric loading winch, one-man assembly rigs, camera mounts, battery and charger(s). MAY include Terra 250D transponder (see note on price) with dual battery system.

You can view the entire Cirrus fleet at http://classicsailplane.org/Cirrus/default.htm or this particular machine at http://classicsailplane.org/Cirrus/Individual%20Aircraft/cirrus67.htm Photo of this machine on the cover of SOARING magazine for April, 2001.

All ADs complied with, comes with current annual, better than average documentation for a ship of this age. Cg hook only, drag chute, top-and-bottom spoilers. Docile handling, suggested by Derek Piggott as an excellent "first glass glider". (Although Derek recommends the Cirrus as a great "first glass glider", I think the keyword here is "glass"-not "first"). In other words, I don't think the ship is appropriate as a glider for student pilots, or even pilots with fewer than, say, 100 flights or so minimum as PIC.

Best L/D per $ in sight, with advertised 44:1 glide ratio. Designed specifically for "northern Europe soaring conditions" makes it an excellent performer in eastern US weather. This was the first all-glass glider built by Schempp-Hirth, and was the winner of the 1970 Nationals flown by George Moffatt-it's featured in the film "Sunship Game", and is a design of considerable historical significance.

I'd like to see this ship stay in the area, so before I advertise it to the general public I'm offering it to Skyline or Flying Cow Farm pilots for $18,000 FIRM without transponder, $20,500 WITH transponder. If anyone's interested, let me know as I'll be advertising it broadly by late August, at a substantially higher price.
-- Jim Kellett

• Many, many thanks to Jim Kellett for giving up "family" time to prepare and conduct the Forgotten Student safety seminar. Many of Jim's points seemed painfully obvious after he mentioned them, several engendered deep thinking.

  As a victim, I can fully support Bill Vickland's comment about "^ the seduction of the ridge." I know I will now be more aware of that in my flying. Thanks, Jim.
  -- Fred Winter

• (and to Dave Weaver for Chairing the Safety Committee-Ed)

• Excerpts from an email to the Curmudgeon and the Editor-Life here has sort of settled into a routine, we only bitch at each other once or twice a day, the kids are good to be with and I even spent a couple of hours shooting pool with my eldest in the local pub-I'll have to send you a picture of my 'punk' son. Black and red hair, body piercings and an attitude to match kids^ .

  Sheesh, I get 10 days total holiday this year, that sucks, and I haven't been anywhere near a gliderport, I may have to pay a visit to Lasham just to go and touch a glider or two. I see Bela appears to be hanging up his wings^ maybe you could buy his ASW??? That is such a beautiful ship.

  I miss the States, gliding, open spaces and hey, I even miss you old farts^ so keep in touch and try and get over to the old sod, I'll even buy you lunch-if you like high fat food.-Regards,
  -- Dave (as in Brunner)

• Remember Jim Kellett's advise that flying is inherently dangerous, even for very experienced flyers with high flight time. Formation flying is dangerous as well. Only highly qualified and experienced flyers should fly in formation, and then only if you have a lead aviator you are willing to place your life in his/her/it's hands.

• (Better known as Captain Marvel-Ed.)

• 15 JULY 2002-MISHAP LOCATION: NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND MISHAP WEATHER: 3000 FOOT OVERCAST CONDITIONS 5 MILES VISIBILITY WITH OCCASIONAL LIGHT RAIN

  MISHAP EVENT TOOK PLACE ON SUNDAY 14 JULY 2002 APPROXIMATELY 1415 HOURS EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME. MISHAP WITNESS (MW) WAS WORKING IN BUILDING 2187 AND DESCRIBED WHAT HE HEARD WAS NUMEROUS RAPID CONCUSSIONS WHICH SHOOK OFFICE WINDOWS AND WALLS. LOOKING OUTSIDE THE WINDOW HE NOTICED OBJECTS FALLING FROM THE SKY. HIS FIRST THOUGHTS WERE COULD THIS BE THE START OF ANOTHER SEPTEMBER 11? OBSERVATION OUT OF THE OFFICE WINDOW REVEALED MISHAP SCENE IN FRONT OF BLDG 2187.

  MISHAP SCENE ARRIVAL AND INITIAL INVESTIGATION INDICATED A SQUADRON LEVEL(12) MK-1, MOD-0 CANADIAN (NORTHERN) GEESE LOCATED IN THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING AROUND THE WESTERN PORTAL. MISHAP GEESE (MG) WERE SCATTERED ON THE GROUND IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS AROUND THE PORTAL. INITIAL ON SCENE ARRIVAL INDICATED THAT FOUR MG WERE KILLED UPON IMPACT AND TWO MG WERE ALIVE BUT IN SERIOUS CONDITION. FIVE OTHER MG WERE WALKING AROUND THE PORTAL AND FLED THE SCENE ON FOOT ...

  MW PERFORMED A QUICK POST MISHAP ANALYSIS. FROM WITNESS MARKS (AND SOME MG FECAL MATTER) ON THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING, IT APPEARED THAT THE SQUADRON WAS IN A LOOSE ECHELON V FORMATION. LEAD MISHAP GOOSE (LMG)APPEARED TO HAVE LED THE SQUADRON FORMATION INTO THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING AND DUE TO THE SPEED AT IMPACT FIVE OTHER MG IMPACTED AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS WITHIN ONE SECOND OF THE LMG. APPARENTLY, REMAINING FIVE MG IN TRAIL V FORMATION OBSERVED LMG AND THEIR FIVE SQUADRON MEMBERS AT IMPACT AND HAD ENOUGH TIME TO EXECUTE EVASIVE MANEUVERING TO RECOVER TO AN UNEVENTFUL LAND BASED RECOVERY IN FRONT OF THE WESTERN PORTAL OF BUILDING 2187. FOUR OF THE MG INITIAL SIX MG WERE KILLED UPON IMPACT DUE TO BROKEN NECKS. ....

  WEATHER AND SKY WAS A "GRAY DAY" AS IS THE COLOR OF BLDG 2187. MISHAP INVESTIGATION TEAM SURMISED THAT LMG HAD OBSERVED A REFLECTION OF TREELINE AND SKY IN THE LARGE DARK WINDOWS AND ASSUMED FLIGHT PATH AHEAD WAS CLEAR ABOVE THE TREELINE. SKY REFLECTION IN THE WINDOW MATCHED CLOSELY WITH BUILDING COLOR WHICH MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO COGNITIVE FAILURE OF LMG.

  A SMALL RUN OFF POND IS LOCATED IN FRONT OF BLDG 2187 (ABOUT 150 YARDS) AND IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE MISHAP SQUADRON PERFORMED A NORMAL AMPHIBIOUS TAKEOFF AND ROUTINE CLIMB OUT ON A NORTHERLY HEADING TOWARDS BUILDING 2187 AND MISHAP LOCATION.

  REMAINING MK-1, MOD-0 NORTHERN CANADIAN GEESE WILL BE BRIEFED ON DETAILS OF THE MISHAP AND THIS PARTICULAR ROUTINE HAZARD TO LOW LEVEL NAVIGATION IN THE NAS PATUXENT RIVER COMPLEX.

  IN ORDER TO PREVENT FURTHER MISHAP, RECOMMEND PAINTING BUILDING 2187 BRIGHT PINK, COVERING ALL WINDOWS. NOTE THAT NAVY SHARES FAULT IN INCIDENT FOR BUILDING IN THE FLIGHT PATH.

• The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" and " Ooh Shit!"

  Except the last words of a West Virginia Pilot "Hey, watch this!!"
  -- Jim Kellett