Convector
Newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association

I started out as a gliding student at Brandywine Soaring Association while I was in college four years ago. During one of my first rides the instructor managed to find wave and climb to 9,000 feet MSL. That was my last wave experience up until this fall. Since then I got out of school, left Brandywine, moved from Philadelphia to Washington, got a job and decided I better get rid of this money I'm making real quick so I got a power ticket. After about a year of that I decided that gee whiz soaring was fun. So two years ago I joined M-ASA. I finally soloed in a glider by the hand (beard?) of Gene Wilburn and a year after that I finally got a glider ticket.

Now comes the blasphemy. Last winter I thought to myself: "you know, sailplanes are great but I really need some illusion of utility." There had been noise from a small group of tail wheel pilots in the club talking about buying a tail dragger. I had a few hours in a few tail draggers and was really interested. So after lots of email traffic and a few visits to look at a plane in West Virginia, Dave Churchill and I ended up buying a 1950 Cessna 170 that we keep at Frederick. Now then, in my eternal search for the "illusion of utility," I decided I better get an instrument rating. That will get me some utility for sure....

Per the FAA you can do 20 hours of an instrument rating without an instructor, all you need is a rated pilot to look out for traffic while you get lost in the panel - safety pilot they call it. So Saturday November 2, previous club member and bad boy Mike Riley sat safety pilot for me out to the Windwood, West Virginia private airfield and back. The wind was howling 40 knots or better at altitude and my attitude indicator was out of the plane getting serviced so it was a slow partial panel flight with occasional moderate turbulence... By the time I got there I had enough of the hood for the day. Mike and I had a burger at the local 5 star and just gazed at the lennies hanging over the mountains while the shadows grew. I guess the burger counts as utility, right?

We took off anemically from the 3,200 feet MSL field just before sunset. During our lumbering, turbulent, hayride of a climb we watched the sun disappear, and started back to Frederick. I let Mike fly the plane while I shuffled through some maps and admired the view. Just about then at 4,000 feet MSL Mike noticed that we were climbing at 15 knots. He pulled the throttle completely, slowed to about 40 KIAS and turned back into the wind. I zoomed the GPS in to show our track. From the tiny bit I know about wave flying, ground reference maneuvers are your best bet to stay in wave. I don't see any lights or ground below us to refer to, so the best bet we have for flying over the same place is the GPS bread crumb trail. All the while we were climbing at a smooth 10 knots and a ground speed of just 16 MPH on the GPS.

We passed through 8,000 feet and Mike doubled back to start another up wind climb. I watched the ground speed on the GPS swell to around 90 MPH or so while we went downwind. After turning upwind again we were still at 10 knots up until we passed through 12,000 feet where both Mike and I donned our portable oxygen masks per the FAA regulations after we had spent more than 30 minutes over 12,500 feet. Then the climb rate started to diminish to about 3 knots up. At idle my Continental engine is not burning much fuel, so I'm not spending much money, but it doesn't produce any heat while idling, either. With no sunshine and 52 year old door seals it's getting chilly quickly. From 12,000 we maxed out over Petersburg at 13,800. We hit some sink and ended up back at 12,000 MSL cruising along at 160 MPH back to Frederick, wondering what the Leesburg center controllers thought of that VFR target hanging nearly motionless at 13,800 and at night no less!

It would be really easy to dwell on some of the negatives we are currently confronted with. Instead, we should look forward to the upcoming events like the SSA convention and our own annual banquet. This year the SSA convention is almost a local event. Well, it's not quite in our back yard, but it is in the neighborhood. The convention is scheduled for January 23-25 in Dayton Ohio. Dayton is only a healthy day's drive and I suspect we will have a number of M-ASA members in attendance.

The upcoming annual banquet also sounds like it will be a great time. Jim Furlong has put together a fun packed evening which should allow us to enjoy each other's company and also learn more about the weather phenomena of polar waves. Einer Enevoldson is the guest speaker. Einer is the Director of Operations and copilot for the Perlan Project. This is Steve Fossett's attempt to fly a glider above 100,000 feet. The banquet is scheduled for Sunday afternoon on February 2, 2003. Don't forget to send in your banquet reservation form included in this Convector as soon as you get a chance.

I already stated I don't want to dwell on the current fluctuating TFR. Most of the club has e-mail access or has been to the airport during the last couple of weeks. It should come as no surprise to most to hear that we have had a few minor difficulties concerning operations from Fairfield. With the resurgence of fears regarding new attacks, and a changing of the guard at some government agencies, we have been handed an expanded TFR overlaying P-40. This is nothing to worry about though; it is only on the weekends. Oops, that is the only time we fly!

All kidding aside, this is not a workable solution for anyone concerned. AOPA and SSA have joined us in fighting this expansion. Both of these organizations, however, have perspectives which differ significantly from ours. SSA is far removed from the problem and really fails to fully grasp the national implications. AOPA is fighting to ensure it doesn't get bigger. Frankly though, they would gladly settle on 10 nm if it meant saving the rest of the region. The end result is that we will need to fight our own battle on this.

We have posted a sample letter on the web site and provided a link to the Roll Call web site to facilitate locating and e-mailing the local elected officials. We need to maintain level heads on this. We do not want to be perceived as obstructing security, but at the same time, we need to better educate and inform the powers to be that this does not solve their problem. Right now it appears we have at least a sympathetic ear within a number of agencies. In the next few weeks I hope to resolve this.

The 2-33 refinishing project is progressing nicely. A number of club members have already put in countless hours working on this project. M-ASA is extremely lucky to have a wonderful fleet of gliders. Most clubs in this country would kill to have half of what we have. But as is often the case, I plead with you, since these aircraft and the facilities do not take care of themselves. It is expected that club members will volunteer to take on these duties and projects. Last month we announced George Burns as taking the lead on maintaining Fairfield. George can not do this by himself. He could use a few folks to take on projects and lend a hand. Likewise, we need more volunteers for working on the 2-33. We need to begin removing the fabric and begin sanding down the tubing. This is time consuming and many hands will make it easier. Contact Dave Schober or myself if interested.

The equipment is in need of annual inspections. Godfathers will be taking gliders out of service this month and preparing them for inspection. We need a godfather for the Pilatus ASAP. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort but provides a monumental service to the club. I am sure any of the godfathers would appreciate some help. It would be a great way to learn some of the nuances of maintaining a glider and serve to improve the availability of the gliders for everyone.

The 2003 season will be upon us before we know it. Now is the time to prepare our equipment and facilities. Please make some time to pitch in and help. The old saying that many hands make light work is true. Contact a godfather, facilities manager or a board member and offer to lend a hand. All will be appreciative.

It's that time of year again for pilots of all abilities and sailplanes to dig out their longest flights of the year. The Green Trophy was endowed to encourage pilots to achieve cross country goals in high and low performance ships, as points are awarded on a ship handicap basis. If your flight originated from a MASA airfield, and you can provide reasonable evidence of the validity of your flight, which can be of any sort, e.g. triangle, O/R, or free distance, please submit details, including glider type to me, George Green

Go to www.womensoaring.org (women pilots only, sorry!) and click on Convention 2003. Follow the instructions given. Have fun!

Due to the wet weather, we have only had two tasks since the last Convector. One was on October 27, the other was on November 3. The line-up among the top three has not changed, though their points have. Jonathan Gere (34) still maintains first place with 13,473 points, followed by Val Brain (13) with 12,591 points. Michael Higgins rounds out the top 3 with 11,746 points.

Back in the pack, Baude Litt (LBL) and Bill Savory (9) trade places as Baude returns to racing. Also racing with us this month is CL (I'm not going to try to guess which one because I might be wrong) and Christophe Blanchi (A2). With season closing this weekend, I'm not sure whether these are final scores or not. Either way, stay tuned for the racing finale next month. After that, I'll see you again in March!

(Next month's issue will carry the complete task results table. -Editor)