No Flying Sunday

Mario Lazaga explains why:

The weather for Sunday looks very bad for flying. Strong crosswinds up to 19MPH starting very early in the morning and staying all day, about 65% chance of rain and low ceilings, all while most pilots are still rusty early in the year.
The tow pilot and the instructor of the day also prefer to play it safe and have expressed doubts about Sunday.
So, we have to bow before mother nature once again, and declare Sunday a no-fly day.
Use your Sunday to read the G102Astir flight manual and study for the pre-solo written test.

The National Weather Service isn't any more upbeat:

Sunday: Occasional rain. High near 60. Breezy, with a southeast wind around 22 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

The Astir Is Flying

The Astir CS 77 is now available to members. Don Taylor, Larry Pennington, Dave Newill, Bob Currie and Nyal Williams have all flown it. Ron Clarke climbed to to 7200 feet with it and flew a 45 mile task already.

The written test is here. Study materials (the manual, program letter and limitations documents) are available in the members section of the CISS web page.

Friday Flying

Ron Clarke is trying to round up some pilots to fly today. Lynn Joyce can tow starting around 12:30. Mike Nichols plans to be there too. The weather today looks better than the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, so fly while you can.

Bring Your Handheld

Per Don Taylor:

The radio has been removed from the Blanik 809S for repair [and] users should plan on bringing a handheld until the Microair is repaired and re-installed.

In The Matter Of The Blanik Seat Ballast

The Blanik seat ballasts used to be covered with badly frayed fabric in what may have once been a pungent hue of orange (or was it Harvest Gold? Avocado?), but over the winter we had them recovered with new fabric in a much more tasteful blue/gray shade. The point of this post is, look twice to see if the ballast weight is in the Blanik you are about to fly, and remember that the weights are no longer orange.

Natural Selection (By Cyclone Monica) Spares Darwin

Cyclone Monica, which yesterday was a near-record intensity storm, is coming ashore in Australia as a Category 4, but it looks like it will miss major population centers. Which is small consolation to the people in the not-so-populated areas where it will hit. The tropical cyclone season is usually over by late April down there, according to Dr. Jeff Masters' blog.

Sailplane for Sale

Ken Harry's KA6 is for sale. Contact Ken for details.

This is a real classic, and what with the handicap, people are still winning sports class competitions with these.

This Isn't Going To Stay Local For Long

Mario Lazaga reports:

Mario flew the LS4 for the first time 2 weeks ago. Dan flew the LS4 for the first time a week ago. Jerry Simpson flew the LS4 for the first time last Saturday. Only Jerry gets a picture!

Blanik Ground Handling Reminder

The Maintenance Crew would like to remind all members that when ground handling the Blaniks; that pushing them backwards on the grass may subject the tailwheel to stresses that can result in the damage to the tailwheel support structure. This is especially true when moving the glider from the hard surface to a soft, wet surface.
Therefore, always moving the glider forward is preferred. Though it may not always be the most expeditious. So, if the glider is moved backwards use care to ease the stress on the tailwheel support assembly.

Craig Bixby

The OLC

I hope every CISS member who is interested in flying cross-country will sign up and participate in the Online Contest, the OLC, this year. And don't forget to indicate that you are a member of CISS, so your flights count toward our club statistics.
There's a button in the sidebar now. Go sign up! You can download detailed instructions here (this is a PDF file).

Sunday Flying - April 9th

L to R: Paul Sprandel, Leandro Guimaraes, Dean Pfefferkorn, and John Earlywine, of the Kendallville Club, flew in for a visit.
The tired operations director reports:

Well, Daylight Saving Time has its advantages and disadvantages. From a pilots perspective, it's great to have that extra daylight and lift until late. From a crew's view - it's a long hard day (not that we'd give it up!). Crew 8 finally left the field at 7:30pm - Yes - 7:30! - (the new LS-4 trio were still grinning ear to ear as Jack and I drove off). Let's see - 11 hours - if only the crew was unionized we could collect overtime (Nyal will head off any attempt to do so).

I don't think I've stayed that late in a long time. We had 32 (or was it 33) flights for the day. Many BFR's accomplished and a number of guests out to see what the heck we crazy people were doing. So make note future good day crews - bring dinner too!!

Thanks to those that helped out keeping us running.

Next time it's MY turn to fly - Ken

Volunteer Ramp Maker Sought

A request from Don Taylor:

We have a new hangar dolly which works pretty well, but the ramp for it was not built to last and needs be replaced with a similar but more robust version. It could be constructed using 1" wooden wedge shaped laminations like the other ramps used on the old dollies. The glue should be a strong waterproof wood glue or expoxy. The two pins on the new dolly ramp work fine, but would need to be fastened to the new version more securely. One has already become detached from the ramp. No special tools are required other than a good table saw and some cabinet clamps, a few hand tools, paint, etc. If someone examined the present setup, the task becomes clear. And perhaps some other construction method could work also. Anyone feeling handy?
Of course a ramp could be made of metal if a design could be light weight and capable of holding 800 pounds or so. But that's another kettle of fish.

Sunday Forecast Looks Good

Tomorrow, Sunday April 9, should be very soarable, with a forecast overnight low of 31F and high of 58F. Calm wind becoming NW around 5 mph, per the National Weather Service website, forecast for Alexandria as of 11pm. Dr. Jack forecasts "Thermal Updraft Velocity" between 400-500 fpm and "Height of Critical Updraft Strength (Hcrit)" between 3000-4000 feet. I would not rule out the possibility of significantly higher altitude later in the afternoon, based on what I've seen in past years. April and May are altitude season in Indiana!

Delayed Start Tomorrow Due To Wind

Due to the forecast high winds for Saturday morning, Operations Director Kurt Ristow has delayed the start of flying tomorrow, 8 April.
The crew should show up at Alexandria at 11:00 AM. Flying will start thereafter, if and when the winds diminish to a safe and manageable level as determined by the duty instructor, tow pilot, director of operations and pilots.

Technically, Not A Tornado

Photo taken from the northwest. You can see daylight through the southwest corner of the building. Also notice the buckled windows lower on the north side of the building (to the right of the statute's waist).
After the crew chief, tow pilot and instructor decided to call off flying on Sunday, the weather made sure nobody second-guessed them. The storm system that moved through later that day and night caused massive damage, including what you see in the above photo.
Here's what the National Weather Service is saying today:

“The storm that impacted central Indiana Sunday night was a derecho.” said John Ogren, Meteorologist in Charge of the National Weather Service in Indianapolis. A derecho is a widespread and unusually fast-moving thunderstorm complex producing damaging straight-line winds over hundreds of miles. They can also produce small tornadoes within the high wind areas. “The difficulty in surveying damage after a derecho is that often times the tornado damage is masked by the larger area of high wind damage.”

Several tornados hit different parts of Indiana (and other states). Downtown Indianapolis was not hit by a tornado, but by winds of 100 MPH or more.

Window Of Opportunity

Super Mario reports on yesterday:

Today, Saturday, we had a good day of flying. Not of SOARING but of gliding.
The ceilings were low, and it was 100% overcast, but we had MANY flights, and a couple of firsts.
It was a chance for pilots to take their first flight of the year with an instructor, do your BFR, do your 3 flights/ 3 months etc.

More flying today, but be alert.NO FLYING SUNDAY! Some serious weather is headed this way for the afternoon and evening. There are already intense storms approaching the Indiana-Illinois border and it's only 9AM.