At the start of the day, there were two tow pilots, six instructors, and two students! It was a great day for crosswind landing practice; a strong tailwind on base leg caught more than a few by surprise.
A big dark cloud approached around 3pm. We shut down in the nick of
time, and an impressive display of teamwork by our members got all of
our equipment tied down, just as the rain began. Strong gusts came with
the rain and a few of us were surprised by yet another unmanned glider
flight. This time it was the Blanik as we were towing it to its
tie-down. Once
the unmanned Blanik landed safely, we had one man piloting it from
inside, one on each wing and the spoilers open. We made it to the
tie-down without any additional flights.
- Renee
I promised myself that I would not write any more non flying soaring reports, but what the hell, I lied.
Went up to Sugarbush Sunday, to see if I could lend a hand, at the regionals. After all Charlie Ryan is the contest Director, and when one of your own is leading the parade, you should at least think about marching along. Half a dozen Sterling folks are flying, without crew, and could use a hand rigging their birds, putting them away after, and god forbid maybe a pickup from some farmers field.
As luck would have it, Sunday was a washout. So all that was needed was some serious socializing, and that was not to hard to do. Spent a while talking to Arnd Wussing, yes there really is an Arnd, and he is back from Arizona. Drop on up and get to know the missing member.
As I will be crewing at the Canadian Nationals for the next two weeks, I decided to commute to this contest. This was not a good idea on Sunday, a 2 1/2 hour ride, turned into a 5 hour ordeal. It was bike week in New Hampshire, and I had not even thought about it until I was on the ramp onto 93 south. Took over 2 hours to get from Concord to the Hookset toll gate. While sitting in traffic, I was passed by at least a hundred thousand bikers, half in the right breakdown lane, the other half over in the left lane. Seen my attitude change from, "what the hell, I'm retired with no place to hurry off to" to, " I wish to hell I had taken route 3" and wound up at " if I wasn't stuck in the middle, I could knock at least a thousand of these line hopping SOB's off their damn motorcycles". I now have a complete different view of road rage.
Turns out the big hold up was caused by the rain. Each biker wearing some type of rain gear, had to stop at the gate, shift into neutral, stand up, undo all his gear to get at his or her change, pay the toll, and then reverse the whole procedure, before they could clear the gate. This made the last couple of hundred yards unbearable, considering that the bikers in front of me, were still up in Laconia knocking down their last beers while I have been waiting in this damn line. Wanted to put the truck in four wheel drive and start a new type of motorcycle climb.
Got up Monday, and with the low clouds and the bitter taste from Sundays commute, decided to stay at home. But Tuesday looks good so I think I'll give it another go, after all the bikers should all be home by now.
John Farrington
PS Good thing Bubba stayed ta home, thet ol boy, a take the shotgun offin the mount an bagged hem nough cycil riders ta cause a good road block in each lane.
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At the start of the day, there were two tow pilots, six instructors, and two students! It was a great day for crosswind landing practice; a strong tailwind on base leg caught more than a few by surprise.
A big dark cloud approached around 3pm. We shut down in the nick of time, and an impressive display of teamwork by our members got all of our equipment tied down, just as the rain began. Strong gusts came with the rain and a few of us were surprised by yet another unmanned glider flight. This time it was the blanik as we were towing it to its tie-down. Once the unmanned blanik landed safely, we had one man piloting it from inside, one on each wing and the spoilers open. We made it to the tie-down without any additional flights. - Renee
I promised myself that I would not write any more non flying soaring reports, but what the hell, I lied.
Went up to Sugarbush Sunday, to see if I could lend a hand, at the regionals. After all Charlie Ryan is the contest Director, and when one of your own is leading the parade, you should at least think about marching along. Half a dozen Sterling folks are flying, without crew, and could use a hand rigging their birds, putting them away after, and god forbid maybe a pickup from some farmers field.
As luck would have it, Sunday was a washout. So all that was needed was some serious socializing, and that was not to hard to do. Spent a while talking to Arnd Wussing, yes there really is an Arnd, and he is back from Arizona. Drop on up and get to know the missing member.
As I will be crewing at the Canadian Nationals for the next two weeks, I decided to commute to this contest. This was not a good idea on Sunday, a 2 1/2 hour ride, turned into a 5 hour ordeal. It was bike week in New Hampshire, and I had not even thought about it until I was on the ramp onto 93 south. Took over 2 hours to get from Concord to the Hookset toll gate. While sitting in traffic, I was passed by at least a hundred thousand bikers, half in the right breakdown lane, the other half over in the left lane. Seen my attitude change from, "what the hell, I'm retired with no place to hurry off to" to, "I wish to hell I had taken route 3" and wound up at "If I wasn't stuck in the middle, I could knock at least a thousand of these line hopping SOB's off their damn motorcycles". I now have a complete different view of road rage.
Turns out the big hold up was caused by the rain. Each biker wearing some type of rain gear, had to stop at the gate, shift into neutral, stand up, undo all his gear to get at his or her change, pay the toll, and then reverse the whole procedure, before they could clear the gate. This made the last couple of hundred yards unbearable, considering that the bikers in front of me, were still up in Laconia knocking down their last beers while I have been waiting in this damn line. Wanted to put the truck in four wheel drive and start a new type of motorcycle climb.
Got up Monday, and with the low clouds and the bitter taste from Sundays commute, decided to stay at home. But Tuesday looks good so I think I'll give it another go, after all the bikers should all be home by now.
John Farrington
P.S. Good thing Bubba stayed ta home, thet ol boy, a take the shotgun offin the mount an bagged hem nough cycil riders ta cause a good road block in each lane.