Milestone!

That was quick - I barely signed up for the counter a month ago! Thanks to everyone who actually reads this weblog. There wouldn't be much point in writing it without an audience.

Another Saturday Morning

Work crew is ON for Saturday, January 28, around 9:30 am at Alexandria. I know Craig wants to get 87Z clean and shiny; I don't know what else is on the list.

Sunday Flying CANCELLED!

No one expressed interest in flying today but George and Dale, so it's off.

Ice Damage

Marty Hudson reports that ace tow pilot Dr. Charlie Epperson slipped and fell on the ice on Christmas.

He has cracked ribs and (later discovered) torn ligaments in his heels. He is now in TWO leg/foot casts for at least 6 weeks and was expected to go home from the hospital yesterday (Thursday).

Marty has his home phone and address for anyone who wants to correspond with him to cheer him up.

Saturday Work Crew

Recently re-elected Maintenance Director Craig Bixby flexes his mandate:

Saturday looks to be another day in the 40's though wet.
For those that are able, we invite you out to Alexandria to help:
Put the interior back in one of the Blaniks after replumbing of the
Pitot lines.
We will also try to get the operation of the Landing Gear on the
Blaniks checked out so they will be ready for Nyal's addition to the training program requiring that the gear be retracted and extended on all training flight.
In addition 87Z is in Duane's hangar being prepared for its annual inspection. We should take advantage while it is over there to give it a thorough wash and wax job.
I look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

It's January, And You Know What That Means

(No, I'm not talking about the Colts getting knocked out of the playoffs.)

Morrical photo!
Another January, and another successful CISS banquet. Thanks to our keynote speaker, Cole Frantz, who kindly shared with us an account and photographs of her experiences soaring in New Zealand. Thanks to Don Taylor for organizing, scoring and reporting the results of the 2005 club contest and for making the awards presentation. Thanks also to Ken Harry for organizing the banquet.

Let's have another look at that book Nyal Williams (above, left) is presenting to Cole Frantz (above, right):

Who wouldn't want this handsome volume, with the history of the Central Indiana Soaring Society? Personally, I have two. For your own copy, contact Ron Clarke.

Signing Off

Our annual meeting and formal board election is tonight, after which I will no longer be president, so this is a good time for an end-of-term report to the members.
Last fall I established a long range planning committee for the club. On Thursday the committee delivered recommendations to the board. The report was excellent, by the way, and well worth reading, but here is the very short version: If we want to own our own gliderport, we need to grow the club.
We reached several decisions on Thursday night:

1. The board approved another visit to Lee Bottom airport this year, the weekend of May 20 and 21. We'll take at least one tow plane and possibly one or more club sailplanes. We will also encourage the soaring club from Bardstown, Kentucky to join us there for the weekend.
   
2. The board voted to find and purchase another singleplace sailplane comparable in price, performance and user-friendliness to a Grob 102. After that, we will (probably) wait and see if people fly the PW-5 enough to justify keeping it in the club fleet.
   
3. CISS will start having regular membership meetings every other month, instead of every month as has been the practice. After the annual meeting and banquet tonight, we will have our next regular club meeting on March 16.
   
4. The safety meeting will be on March 18. Weather and time permitting, we will fly that day and probably Sunday the 19th. We ask anyone who will need a BFR this year to try to get it done that weekend or the next, and we encourage everyone to take their first flight of the season with a CFIG.
5. The regular crew schedule for 2006 will start the weekend of March 25 and 26 and end the weekend of October 28 and 29, so that every crew gets the same number of days.
   
6. Since we changed from Schweizer 2-33's to Blanik L-23's a few year ago, club practice has been not to retract the landing gear during instructional flights. There was some confusion over whether there was a formal club policy against the use of the retractable gear at all. In fact, there is no such policy; pilots can decide for themselves whether to retract the gear - as long as they remember to extend it for landing! Chief Instructor Nyal Williams recommended that we instruct all of our members, including student pilots, in the routine use of the retractable gear in the future. The board didn't take any formal action because we leave flight instruction to the instructors and flying to the pilots.

Now Hold Still While We Duct Tape You Into The Back Cockpits Of These Blaniks

Congratulate John Morrical and Mike Warren, who made the trip to Estrella last week and returned home with CFIG ratings!

Thursday Flying!

Ron Clarke says:

A few of us plan to fly on Thursday afternoon and you are invited. George Saunders has arranged with Dale to tow beginning around 2pm so we would like to get the equipment out about 1pm. Mostly it will be "getting current" as conditions will be pleasant but not summer!
If you can make it please let us know so we can decide how many to wait for to take the gliders out.
Hope to see you Thursday

The National Weather Service forecast for Thursday afternoon:

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high around 58. South southwest wind between 15 and 17 mph.

No Flying Today

We won't be flying today. Too much wind and not enough lift.

PW-5 Is Back

The PW-5 is back in the hangar at Alexandria, thanks to Nyal Williams, George Saunders and John Morrical who went to Bluffton, Ohio to get it, and to Dan Dewitt who helped rearrange the hangar to put it away. It's on the trailer. We'll put it together when we get a little closer to spring.

How To Start The New Year Right

We had at least 14 flights today. The crosswind was strong out of the southeast and fairly demanding for the pilots, but our members were up to the challenge.

Airports upwind of you are farther than they appear!
Above photos by Darren Bedwell
Me, about to launch. get towed out onto the runway. Thanks to John Morrical for this photo.

Update: Mario Lazaga sent these two photos with this observation:

Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 23:26:04 -0500
Subject: Naughty Boys
Some pilots are naughty and Santa will bring them coal next Xmas.