Soaring News - August 2021
The club did 70 flights this month compared to 89 in July, total flights for the season is 357. The club is on target for at least 50 flights a month through November to break even financially for the year. Airport construction starting September 15 could affect the club revenue this soaring season, so get your flights in soon! Despite the interruptions, it’s a nice improvement to KADG as the entire hard surface runway and taxi ways will be torn out and replaced with a projected completion to middle of October.
A huge event took place September 1 which is included in this issue of Soaring News. Bob Kuehne took his Mom for a ride in the k21 and landed after a 45 minute flight, she really enjoyed the flight (didn’t need the dreaded bag) and the crew that helped on the launch. Without revealing her age, she is a little older than Shipp but with less flying experience. Refer to the inflight selfie of Mom’s big smile.
Some members are expanding their cross-country skills, this month, Bob Kuehne and Brandon Schultz completed a Proving Grounds flight in the K21 plus some additional distance to Chelsea. Brian Navarette also completed the Proving grounds triangle course in his Standard Cirrus glider. A key skill required for cross country flying is finding and staying in thermals which often requires a 45-degree bank at about best L/D, constant airspeed and bank angle. The glider nose on the horizon is best used to maintain constant airspeed.
Bob Kuehne also made news in the August Soaring Magazine by completing the A, B, and C badges. Congratulations Bob! Ludwik Lembryk completed 2 successful check-out flights in the ASW15 and made it look easy. More members are encouraged to check out in the ASW15, it’s an easy and fun glider to fly. And please get checked-out in a new glider that you haven’t flown yet, the club has a lot of gliders, all which are great to fly, each which opens up new skills and abilities. Also, we welcome new members Gerald Stabel and Rick Weitzel to the Adrian Soaring Club.
Look at the great video to whet your appetite on the fun of XC flying and badges from the Soaring Society of Boulder (SSB).
Please discuss XC plans with an instructor or experienced cross-country member before attempting. And please coordinate day of your flight with the ops manager of the day. And learn more about our club-defined tasks.
To continue a good safety record the club has maintained for many years, we are implementing some changes to our Operating Procedures:
When a glider lands, the retrieve ops cart driver should exit the runway at a 90 degree angle to clear the runway. Gliders should be retrieved from the runway as quickly as possible.
Once a runway is selected for operations, the tow plane and gliders will use that runway for all takeoffs and landings all in the direction of traffic. If a glider is on the main runway, the tow plane will either delay landing, go around or land on RW23-05 grass. Gliders pilots are encouraged to land on the parallel if the tow plane is reporting for landing or will land soon.
The tow plane will discontinue landing on the parallel runway to eliminate risk of the tow rope hitting the tent or runway lights.
The tow plane will park to the side or off the staging area after the first launch to make the parallel runway available for glider landings.
Wing tires should be stored near the tent when not in use.
Landings over the tent, people, gliders, or tow plane is not allowed.
When landing on RW11, do not land on an angle toward the helicopter landing area. Other airport users had complained about this practice, and all glider pilots should land aligned with the runway or on the parallel only.
Safe operations is a priority, and there’s always more to learn and to practice. SSB also has a great video challenging some notions about glider incidents and accidents and giving some great practical ideas about how to improve your personal safety. TLDR: soaring is 40x more dangerous than driving, experience may work against you, 90% of all accidents are avoidable, but as most mistakes have already been invented, we need to learn from experiences of others.
Reminder; for the handheld radios to charge, they must be installed in the charge cradle slots to make connection to the charge circuit.
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. Pay attention to speed, the SSA accident reporting shows most accidents are during the landing phase.
Tom Shipp/Bob Kuehne
Photo Credit: Bob Kuehne
