Maintenance 2/26

ZA sends this:

With the prospect of some reasonable weather this Saturday (Feb 26) feel free to come on out and lend a hand at Alex.
Projects to be completed include:

• Hard Waxing the GROB wings -- Kurt will take the lead and probably needs only another member or two to move that project forward.
  
• Moving the PAWNEE into the maintenance shop - "Many hands make light work."
  
• Completing the AD on the BLANIK elevators - Chris Carpenter will be in charge here.
  
• Rigging the PW 5 and maybe the BLANIK 303 BA (Will depend on how much space we still need to finish maintenance work).

All help will be gratefully accepted.
LUNCH AT THE CORNER CAFE AROUND NOON ,
The maintenance crew.

Lee Bottom

Has anyone noticed that hardly any state soaring records have been claimed in Kentucky?
Under the rules for SSA State Soaring Records, the start point of a state record flight must be in the state where the record is claimed. Under the F.A.I. Soaring Code, the start point can be either the point of tow release, the center of a predeclared start line, or a way point declared as a start point. One could take off from an airport in one state, fly across a state border, and make a start there. In fact, in 1988 D. Winkel took off from an airport in Illinois, towed across the Wabash River, and released from tow over Indiana to make a 323.9 mile Indiana state free distance soaring record flight that still stands.
Lee Bottom airport is 96.5 nautical miles from Alexandria. This is probably a little too far for an 'official CISS away weekend' but we've been invited to bring some gliders down and fly this spring!

No Fun To Be Had

It will be too cold tomorrow (Saturday 2/19) to apply wax to the Grob
wings, so there won't be a major work party. Neither Blanik is flyable
right now due to an airworthiness directive. We have the parts to fix
them, but they won't be ready tomorrow. Therefore the only flyable club
glider is the PW-5, which is disassembled and on the trailer.
The key maintenance tasks at the moment are:
Moving Pawnee 87Z into the other hangar for an annual inspection, and
Waxing the wings of the Grob.

It's Up To You, New York, New York

Earlier I posted about a pair of red-tailed hawks in New York City and their eviction from a high-priced apartment building (ledge). Now they are back, and spring is in the air!

Meeting 2/17

We're going to have an open discussion about the future of the club. 7PM at Leppert & Hensley.
We might get some decent weather this weekend!

Maintenance Progress!

Chris Carpenter writes:

Thanks to all who came out on Saturday to work on the Grob wings. We had a good turn-out, had fun and got lots of work done before dropping in to the Hi-Way Cafe for a nice artery hardening lunch.
We completed the sanding the wings with 1500 grit paper and polished the wings with rubbing compound.
Next step is to "swabble" the wings with a hard wax. Stay tuned for details.
Also, Thanks to Jeff and Todd for comming out last weekend when we were a little less productive.
See you next time, The Maintenance Crew