Singing In The Rain

Congratulate Jack Hensel, our newest private pilot! He passed his
checkride last Saturday in weather too gloomy for most sane pilots -
at least, ones who didn't have checkrides scheduled. Today he's giving
Rosie a ride, even as I blog this. Nice work, Jack!

Fwd: Club Contest finishes [NEW RULE]

A minor change to the club contest rules:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Don Taylor

As a matter of safety, we have been asked to finish above 1000 feet
instead of the 500 ft as specified in the current contest rules. We
will impose a 10% penalty to keep everyone focused. As much fun as it
is to scream over the field at warp speed, we DO have other gliders in
the area/pattern and a concerned airport owner who brought this
subject up to us. It would be a good idea to call in a couple miles
out that you are finishing and what your direction/altitude is so
others can scramble out of the way :-) Maybe we'll have a chance to
practice this new procedure this coming weekend if the wx turns out as
forecast. BCNU DT

Dear New Member to CISS

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter DeTore
Please let me welcome you to our little soaring club.

Who: There are twelve of you who have joined our club this
season. I have attached a fresh copy of our crew duty schedule. Please
check your crew dates and let me know if you have any conflicts.

What: I would like to arrange a group meeting that is convenient
for all of us. At this meeting you will receive your packet of club info.
A club operations manual, Articles of incorporation and club bylaws. I
have prepared a short safety seminar which will hopefully keep you safe
while practicing the sport of soaring. We will talk about club operations
and some please dos and please don'ts. We will have a cook out type
social get together immediately after the meeting. Hot dogs and baked
beans are the likely fair.

When: Would Saturday morning at 10:00 on the 14th of July be good
for everyone? We can set that date if half or more of you respond in the
affirmative. Please expect to spend about tow hours for the sit down
meeting. If you can't make that date, please let me know what would be a
good time for you. I will meet with you individually if need be.

Where: At the Alexandria Airport in the club hangar.
See You There
Pete Detore
CISS Operations Director

Latest Club Contest Scores

Here are the latest CISS Contest Scores.

Don Taylor wrote:

Last week produced some fine soaring! Just look at this Rutledge guy! I think he's got that LS-4 figured out, don't you?

There were some nice flights on June 15, but so far only Kurt has sent me a trace -- a nice 5 hour flight. If I get 2 more, his trace entry will not have been in vain -- what say Dan, Gerry, ZA, anyone else?

Anyone have an entry for June 2 besides Newill and Lazaga? One more would make that a contest also. As I write this it is raining for the first time in a while. That's good for my water bill but not necessarily for soaring. It's looking better for the weekend, however. Keep the faith.

Greetings to the CISS from a hot and humid NC

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: chris carpenter
Greetings to the CISS from a hot and humid NC,

After a stressful but uneventful move, the Carpenters have arrived safely in NC with toys in tow.

I have updated my member profile with our new address and phone number.

No chance to fly yet, but hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

Hope you all (y'all) are doing well. Give us a call, send an email or drop by and see us if you're down south.

The Carpenters

Saturday 6/16 Report, and Another Pitch For the OLC

Yesterday the soaring conditions here were outstanding. Several pilots flew to The Airport Formerly Known As Terry and points north. TW reported reaching 8500 feet. I got a late start and settled for a simple out and return.

If you aren't participating in the Online Contest, please consider signing up. Central Indiana Soaring Society is currently 833rd in the rankings and climbing . . .

Last year I found the OLC website hard to use. This year it has been streamlined and submitting flights is much easier. When you submit an IGC file this year, their server not only scores it and generates nice graphics automatically, but generates a downloadable Google Earth file. Here's a link to Todd Rutledge's flight from yesterday. Here's Ron Clarke's flight from last week.

Friday Flying

There will be flying today, Friday June 15th, starting around 12:30 p.m.

"Abnormally Dry Conditions Continue"

The dry conditions so far this year have contributed to some excellent soaring conditions, even as the corn fields shrivel and our lawns turn brown.

Club Contest Update

Thanks to DT, here are the latest standings in the club contest. It was an excellent day; Brad Hays turned in a handicapped speed of over 60 mph, and flew over 100 miles. Kurt Ristow also flew more than 100 miles and Ron Clarke made a 200 mile out and return flight.

Saturday 6/9/07 Report

Saturday, June 9, 2007 saw strong lift around Alexandria. Ron Clarke
flew to Bluffton, Ohio and back (a round trip over slightly over 200
miles) with his 15M wingtips. He reported that there were no lift
markers up that way, and for a while he was afraid he would have to land
at Portland, Indiana on the way back.

Closer to Alexandria, there were more lift markers (mostly haze domes
with an occasional short-lived cumulus cloud). Several pilots made club
contest flights.

Ask someone who was there about the excitement at the warbird fly-in.
I'm not saying another word about it here.

-------- From Mario Lazaga --------

Congratulations to Dan Dewitt for his Silver Badge!

Last Saturday, June 6th. Dan Dewitt completed the last leg of his Silver Badge by flying from Alexandria to Terry (Indianapolis Executive) and landing there. He already had his Silver Duration and Silver Altitude, and had flown from Alexandria to Terry AND BACK! But having been a couple of hundred feet short of the turning point denied him the Silver Distance that time. This time he simply landed at Terry just to make sure.
Gerry Whitson flew to Terry and towed Dan back to Alex.

Chris Hall has now added a third pin to his soaring hat: 3 seagulls.
He went up for a "routine" solo flight, and stayed up for almost 2 hours! (1:58). He has now boldly gone where few have gone before. Congrats Chris! Live long and prosper.

Vaguely Familiar

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ZASoars
Anyone recognize the beautiful glider in the JUNE picture in the SSA
Calendar ???

ZA.

Saturday 6/2 Report

The thunderstorms in the forecast held off until flying was done for the day. It looked like it would overdevelop early, but it never became overcast, and by mid-afternoon cloud cover was no more than 50%. We had many flights over 2 hours. Several pilots made respectable cross-country flights and reported strong lift and strong sink, pegging the variometers at both ends. One pilot had to make an unscheduled stop at Marion, but got an aero retrieve. By late afternoon cloudbase was close to 8000 feet. It began to rain as we were putting the last aircraft into the hangar.