Soaring News - May 2020

Photo Credit; Susumu Morito

Our club opening date May 23 was successful with face mask and sanitized wipes, unusual but necessary to keep our members safe from the virus. Thanks to Tom Neese for the wipes and face masks.

The 4 days we flew this month were great with a total of 45 flights. Sunday 5/31 was an exceptional blue day (no clouds) for Steve Rusinowski who flew his newly purchased 304CZ most of the afternoon to Chelsea, Miland and South near Ohio.

The FBO building is closed to the public to support the County Emergency Team during the stay at home orders that have not been lifted. A Portable Toilet with sanitizer is provider for club member use. Hand sanitizer and sanitized wipes are located on the ops cart, face masks are required when less than 6 feet from members and visitors.

A Garmin GDL-82 ADS-B out module was installed in the Pawnee during the annual inspection. Heinen Avionics ground tested the unit and certified it as meeting the FARS, in addition, a flight also verified compliance using the FAA Public Performance Report. You can see the Pawnee N4815Y performing its tow duties on fly days by accessing Flightaware.com and selecting KADG (Adrian Airport).

After not flying for 5 months, some members haven’t got their skill levels back to the 2019 level so you should fly with our club instructors until you feel safe to solo. Remember the rule of thumb that 5 knots extra speed will send you down the runway an extra 200 feet, if you don’t use spoilers correctly or too high, it could be further. Practice using an aim point and fly the glider to that point on the ground at the correct speed based on the wind and other conditions.

Also pay attention to the connectors when connecting the battery charger. Turn off the master switch and connect white tape battery charger connector to the white tape battery connection. I addition to not charging the battery, if the master switch is left on and the charger connected to the instrument panel, a reversed polarity will blow fuses.

When turning from base to final keep your aim point on target, nose down and speed up. Outside rudder is OK but inside rudder is a control position for spin training.

Tom Shipp.