IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A GLASS SHIP TO BE HAPPY!

Saturday July, 29th, was expected to be a cold day and I dressed warm being the tow pilot on duty. well, that was the plan. It turned out to be completely different - besides the temperature.

We started as usual not before 10 am. the wind picked up to 10 Kt from West. Initially, it was sky clear and only a few flights. Around lunch time the first CU's came alive, still with increasing winds from the West. After lunch I towed 6 ships, three of them private gliders and also Marlon, who just got his license a month ago. The the thermals all of the sudden got very strong and the ceiling increased to 6000 ft MSL.

The Grob was taken, so the last plane left was 809S - well, I got the high score - i thought I pulled it out to the east end and even got a student, Jim Robertson, who didn't fly this year and was crew. But there was not much traffic and he asked if he could get a flight. No problem. Chris Murawski, who took over tow pilot duty in the afternoon, towed us up straight into the wind.

Well, we started slow with 1-2 knots. Then, we moved West and while doing that we hit a big one and got up to 8000 ft MSL! the visibility was about 80+ NM and it was perfect.

Meanwhile Marlon got the message to land after 1:45 h flight with BOB, the 1-34. Capt. Miller waited for him to take him home in Mark and his new Pitts to the Anderson Airport.

Meanwhile I landed safely and Jim experienced his first flight to 8000 ft MSL in a glider in Alexandria. The private ships were still out enjoying the 7 Kt updraft.

For October 29th 2011, this was a total unexpected day and provided great pleasure to Marlon, myself - and hopefully Jim Robertson.

Just a quick note to everybody who thinks end of October is not worthwhile to come out and enjoy soaring.

Thanks again Larry for giving Marlon the "ride of the year". Truly 809S was my high score since I got a perfect soaring experience!

Sincerely,

Olaf Tessarzyk

2011 Final Scheduled Weekend

Many members took advantage of the nice weather Friday, Saturday and Sunday for some late season flying activities.

Todd Rutledge, Brad Hayes, Gerry Simpson, and John Earlywine posted OLC flights which put CISS in first place in Region 6 going into the winter slowdown. Many other pilots made glider flights on Friday and Saturday.

Gerry Simpson hit a milestone of 500 hours of glider time with his Friday flight. 

Rick Hansen braved direct crosswinds of 12 gusting to 19 on Sunday in the Grob. Possibly this was because he was crew chief and wanted to have a flight on the log to show for the crew's efforts.

Rick Hansen also soloed in the J-5 on Friday and is shown below with his instructor Larry Miller. 

Gel Coat 2011 Article on Soaring Cafe

Frank Paynter has put a nice writeup and some pictures of the Gel Coat "Jamboree" on the Soaring Cafe.

The link to the article is:

http://soaringcafe.com/2011/10/gelcoat-2011-at-central-indiana-soaring-society/

Ron Clarke's Gel Coat Jamboree

The CISS hangar was turned into a glider repair shop the past few days as several members honed their skills under the watchful eye of expert David Nelson. David has a reputation as one of the best in the country, and has "tuned" the gliders of pilots representing the US in the world competitions. Todd Rutledge should be able to identify the folks working on their gliders from the photos and add a few points to their handicaps for the CISS contest next year. Some minor repairs were also made to the Grob rudder. Thanks to Ron for setting up the event and to all the members who participated. There is already talk of "next year" for another few days of fun and fixing the little nicks and dings that seem to accumulate over the flying season. 

Congratulations Tom Beckenbauer

On Sunday October 23, Tom Beckenbauer soloed in Blanik 303BA. 

Tom's primary instructor was Dave Stanley and his tow pilot for the flight was Larry Miller

Crew Duty Trades and Substitutes

Several members have reported challenges in finding replacements when they are unable to attend a scheduled crew date. 
One new proposal is to recruit a pool of members willing to fill in on a standby basis in exchange for flight credits. The member unable to make a crew day would be billed for the cost of the flight credits in the event they could not find a substitute.
The CISS Board is interested in everyone's ideas and opinions on the best way to address this challenge. 
If you have not already done so, please take a few minutes to complete a short survey and share your thoughts and opinions. 
The survey is available at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8BHNP9C

Evaluate your Soaring Knowledge

Thanks to Mike Meister who has provided the following tip.

"In looking for online Bronze Badge material, I came across the Soaring Safety Foundation online quiz.  http://www.soaringsafety.org/dl/bbstudyguide.html

It would also be an excellent oral prep for a commercial or perhaps an advanced private pilot preparing for a checkride."

This link goes to a group of very well done 20 question tests with capability to grade your answers and also an opportunity to see the correct answer and a reference to additional study material.

The ON LINE GLIDER CONTEST ( OLC ) 2011

For those Club Members who haven't looked through the results of the 2011 OLC Sailplane contest I'd recommend you spend a few enjoyable minutes checking these out .I only wish there had been such a system years ago to record and compare flights . It's really instructive. 

 

Our group of cross country fliers within the club really did an outstanding job compared to any of the other clubs in the four State region ( Ohio , Indiana, Michigan , Kentucky ). Thirteen pilots covered over 15000 kms of cross country flying posting 103 flights - right at 150 kms on average each flight .

 

Surprising to me the months in which we flew the most were July , August and October . April was a disaster ( only 1 flight ), May slow and September  was only average - you will no doubt remember the Contest in which we never managed to fly a task !

 

 

Flight Distances covered were:

• 500km +   -   1   flight
• 400km     -    0   flights
• 300km     -    9   flights
• 200km     -   14  flights
• 100km     -   36   flights

With 13 club pilots posting flights CISS and Alexandria airfield exceeded any other club in the region in flights claimed and cross country flight takeoffs  ( Ionia field in Michigan did have postings from 17 pilots but many were there for the Regional contest including some of us ) . Our total number of cross country flights posted totalled 103 flights - an excellent number .

 

Reviewing this data makes me think :

• More club members could be enjoying more cross country flying especially as we have the Schweizer 1- 34 ( and maybe the Grob ) for such use. I'd recommend more members log and post flights on OLC in future years . If you're not familiar with the process feel free to ask me or any of the cross country pilots, we'd love to have more members participating and the new season has just begun ! 

• 300 km flights are quite possible out of Alex.on many days in the season and should be the goal of many more members , especially those who are after their SSA Gold Badges 

• We should have a target of leading the Region in OLC points in 2012 . We finished a strong second to Caesar Creek in 2011 - How about it guys ?

• OLC is a possible vehicle to use for our "Club Contest"  - We could for example specify a task length and then use the OLC speeds for each pilot who exceeds the distance . Lets hear your views .

Happy landings ahead ,

Ron (ZA)

 

 

Ron Clarke wins 2011 Region 6 OLC Contest

CISS OLC leader, Ron Clarke, did all he could to help us win the Region 6 2010 OLC Team Contest. He finished in first place in Region 6. Congratulations Ron. 

Unfortunately, Caesar Creek beat us by about 4 average flights for the Region 6 team title. We finished 2nd and were ahead of 3rd place Ionia by about the same amount. It was very close. 

13 of the 43 pilots in the Region 6 results were from CISS. These pilots flew 9,355 miles with 107 flights. 


 
Thanks to Ron, for his efforts promoting this activity, and we can easily finish first next year with everyone's help. 

If you have not been participating and would like some assistance, ask anyone on the list above for some advice. It is free and really easy.

Congratulations Mike Meister

On October 8, 2011, Mike Meister successfully completed his practical test for the Commercial Glider rating. 

 Mike Rielage, DPE is shown congratulating Mike following the check ride.