Soaring Seminar in Elgin, Illinois

The Chicagoland Glider Council is hosting a Spring Soaring and Safety Seminar on February 18, 2006.

Don Taylor:

I'd like to go up for this, probably the night before. Could be a nice way to beat the winter blahs, without having to go to the Dallas SSA convention.

Registration is limted to the first 200 participants so register early.

Yes! We Have Tow Pilots And A CFIG

(See the original WWII poster here, another example here, and the whole collection here.)
We have two tow pilots and an instructor lined for for New Years Day flying, weather permitting, starting around noon. Watch this space for updates.
Update: Now the poster has a date on it.

Because If Global Warming Wasn't Just A Myth, We Might See Stuff Like...Uh...This:

BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM ZETA SPECIAL ADVISORY NUMBER 1
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1 PM AST FRI DEC 30 2005
...LATE SEASON TROPICAL STORM...THE 27TH OF THE YEAR...FORMS IN THE EASTERN ATLANTIC...
AT 1 PM AST...1700Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM ZETA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 25.0 NORTH... LONGITUDE 36.9 WEST OR ABOUT 1070 MILES...1720 KM... SOUTHWEST OF THE AZORES. ZETA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH ...13 KM/HR. A TURN TO THE WEST-NORTHWEST IS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 50 MPH... 85 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. ALTHOUGH SOME STRENGTHENING IS POSSIBLE LATER TODAY...A WEAKENING TREND IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TOMORROW.
TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 85 MILES ...140 KM FROM THE CENTER.
ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1003 MB...29.62 INCHES.
REPEATING THE 1 PM AST POSITION...25.0 N... 36.9 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...NORTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS... 50 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...1003 MB.
THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 5 PM AST.
FORECASTER FRANKLIN

If you need me, I'll be hiding under the bed.

Private "Enterprise"?

The FAA has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on human space flight. Rating baggers rejoice.
Update: here's their fact sheet on Commercial Human Space Flight.

New Years Day Flying A Distinct Possibility

We'll be watching the weather to see if we can fly on New Years Day. In past years we haven't let the cold stop us, but January sometimes has a lot worse in its bag of tricks than just cold!
Ron Clarke reports:

The club fleet is now all "in annual " with the Grob and Blanik 303BA ready to fly. The PW will be back from Ohio within the next few weeks (thanks George) and the Blanik 809S still needs to have the nose cone re-fitted after the new pitot line was installed and tested today (airspeeds should be 100% accurate now). The two Pawnees are both flyable , but we would prefer to use 87Z until the wet winter conditions are over as 898 has been really well cleaned up and we would like to keep it off the wet conditions if possible.
IF THE CONDITIONS ON NEW YEARS DAY ARE FLYABLE PLEASE BE CERTAIN TO DO A VERY THOROUGH INSPECTION OF THE EQUIPMENT (AND A POSITIVE CONTROL CHECK ON ALL GLIDERS TO BE FLOWN) AS THE EQUIPMENT HAS NOT BE FLOWN FOR SEVERAL MONTHS NOW.
Thanks to all who helped the Maintenance Crew this winter.
Happy landings 2006!

Southern Hemisphere Christmas Greetings

Former member Rick Millane sends holiday cheer from the land of the long white cloud, where today is the first day of summer (!):

TO ALL MY CISS FRIENDS:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May your thermals be strong and high!
Best wishes,
Rick Millane

NZ Nationals 2004.

My daughter and I.

Southern Alps from 8000 ft.

Wisdom of the Elders

One of the perks of being state record keeper is having access to the old soaring records. I've spent some time organizing these files lately (and entering them into the database on the SSA server) and I found this observation in a faded old document:

It is interesting to note that in this part of the country the high bases, strong winds, and good visibility occur in May and early June. Unfortunately a great many pilots are not mentally ready and physically equipped at this early stage of the soaring season to take advantage of the best weather. This results in fewer really good flights being made and a reduced number of record attempts.

CFIG Joseph N. Bearden Jr. wrote those words in a record application for a flight made on 4 May 1968. It was a Senior Class absolute altitude record flight to 10341'.

Hooray For GPS Visualizer

Thanks to Adam at GPS Visualizer, here are some awesomely cool toys serious tools for badge flight planning - to wit, circles around Alexandria Airport:
50 kilometer radius circle (silver distance)
150 kilometer radius circle (300km gold distance and diamond goal if a declared O/R flight is made)
300 kilometer radius circle (gold distance)
500 kilometer radius circle (diamond distance)
323.9 mile radius, the current Indiana free distance record

Tool for drawing range rings of any size here and in the sidebar.

For an interesting exercise, locate Sheridan Airport in relation to the 50km circle. Also - try editing the URL with different latitudes and longitudes for the center of the circle.
I should remind everyone that the measurements on these maps are not necessarily the same as the official distances for badge and record claims. The FAI official distance calculator is here.

2005 Indiana State Soaring Record Recap

1. April 10: Ron Clarke, open singleplace and sports class, free triangle distance, 156.99 mi / 135.80 hmi.
2. April 16: Ron Clarke, open singleplace, 15M and sports class, distance using up to 3 turnpoints, 103.50 mi / 91.60 hmi.
3. May 5: Ron Clarke, open class, 300km out and return speed, 74.57 mph.
4. May 29: Gerry Whitson, open singleplace, 15M, standard and sports class, distance using up to 3 turnpoints, 116.66 mi/116.66 hmi. The same day, Terry Wools reached an altitude of 9846 feet (from a previous low point of 1700 msl), exceeding several state records in categories that are no longer available as noted here.
5. July 8: John Earlywine and Lachlan Ohman, open multiplace class, 100km triangle speed, 50.46 mph, free triangle distance, 65.2 mi. John and Lachlan are from the Kendallville club and we can expect more record-setting with that DG-1000!
   
6. Also July 8: Scot Ortman, open singleplace, 15M, standard and sports class, free triangle distance, 195.75 mi / 183.81 hmi.
7. July 28: Ron Clarke, open singleplace and sports class, free triangle distance, 223.29 mi / 193.14 hmi.
8. August 23: Ron Clarke, open singleplace and sports class, distance using up to 3 turnpoints, 142.52 mi / 123.28 hmi.
9. September 3: Ron Clarke, open singleplace and sports class, free triangle distance, 226.93 mi / 196.30 hmi.
10. September 10: Ron Clarke, open singleplace class, distance using up to 3 turnpoints, 166.43 mi.
11. September 18: Ron Clarke, open singleplace and sports class, free triangle distance, 274.81 mi / 237.71 hmi. This flight was made from Springport.
    
12. October 16: Ron Clarke, 15M class, distance using up to 3 turnpoints, 122.6 mi.

I count 26 separate records. Also this year, CISS members claimed several Kentucky state records flying out of lovely Lee Bottom airport on May 7, as noted here, here and here.

Get Started On Next Year's Awards Now

It's that time of year - time to submit your flights for the World Distance Award. While we're on the topic, make a new year's resolution to participate in the OLC - the On Line Contest - next year.

Congratulations Are In Order

From: "Steven Thompson"
To: nyalwilliams
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005

I am in Orlando for business and I found time to take my commercial glider checkride with Knut over at Seminole-Lake. So, I am now an officially rated glider pilot.
If you could do something about the weather in Indiana so we could go flying...that would be great.

Stay Home Saturday!

Due to the forecast heavy snow and cold weather, the maintenance crew has called off work this Saturday, 12/10. Enjoy your snowbound weekend.

2006 CISS Annual Banquet

Saturday, January 14th

Once again the year has flown by as fast as Ron Clarke in a contest finish!
To celebrate the years accomplishments and brag on all our exceptional flights, our Annual banquet will be at the Marten House at 1801 West 86th Street (across from St. Vincent Hospital).
Please plan on mingling, eating some great food, and listening to our guest speaker's exploits. Who knows - you even receive an award.
More details coming shortly, but mark your calendars now.

To reserve a spot in advance, please email Ken Harry at:
or call him at home.

O Brave New World

If you'd like to see your flight traces overlaid on a very detailed photographic map of the Earth (and who wouldn't?), now you can. GPS Visualizer can now create Google Earth .kml files from .igc files. You will need to download and install Google Earth (free, but you'll need broadband to use it effectively) and then visit GPS Visualizer and use the free converter. Experiment with it. I just discovered this today and have barely scratched the surface of what can be done with it.

Today's Progress

Ron Clarke reports:

The maintenance projects on club equipment have gone very well this year thanks to a small but dedicated group of members who have shown up each weekend since the flying season ended.
This past Saturday the Pawnee 898 received the full attention of the group who showed up and it looks REALLY GOOD after a complete wash and wax job (in the heated hangar). When 87Z becomes due we'll do the same with it.
A big thank you to John Morrical, Nyal Williams, George Saunders, Mike Warren together with Chris and Ron from the maintenance crew.
Duane Knotts joined us all for lunch afterwards.
Come on out and join your colleagues at least one Saturday in the winter and by next flying season you will be proud to have helped get the equipment into top condition for the season.

Saturday Crew

Tomorrow morning, Saturday December 3, the maintenance crew needs your help again. It will be cold, so meet at the hangar at Alexandria around 10 am. The main tasks will be lubricating the Grob, and cleanup.

Long Range Planning Committee Survey

If you are a CISS member and get email, George Saunders has probably sent you a link to a membership survey by the Long Range Planning Committee. Please take the time to fill it out. If you didn't get the survey, here is the link. Survey over! Thanks!