Convector
Newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association

This year's M-ASA Oktoberfest will be held Saturday, Sunday and Monday, October 11 through 13, at the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Center in Fairfield, PA. This event is open to everyone who loves soaring; all M-ASA members, their families and friends, and all of our many soaring friends outside of M-ASA. Our main activities this year will be task day flying, vintage glider rides, low stress local flying, and lots of good eating and socializing (so what else is new, right?). In addition, this year's Oktoberfest will be a great opportunity for pilots who attended Val Brain's cross country camp in September to try out their new cross country wings. We plan to organize a system of mentoring and tasks appropriate for beginning cross country pilots.

Feel free to come for the whole three days, one day, or just stop by for dinner. However, PLEASE let me know in advance if you're planning to attend any of the meals (pburch@hst.nasa.gov or 410-489-7063). This will be a big help with planning for this event. Cash in advance is always helpful, but you can also pay when you get there; just let me know.

Saturday evening will be a Bratwurst Potluck Dinner starting around 5:30 p.m. The cost is $5, and includes bratwurst, beer, soft drinks, table settings, and grills. Please bring other food items according to the first letter of your last name per the listing below. Feel free to change your assignment if you want. Sunny Ray's market in Fairfield is available if you wish to purchase after arrival.

• A-H: salad, vegetable, or fruit for 10 -15
• I-N: main dish or meat to grill for 8 (this is for those who don't want bratwurst)
• O-R: rolls or bread for 20
• S-Z: dessert for 10

Sunday we're planning to hold a family cookout near the gazebo/picnic table/flightline for lunch, from roughly 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. We'll have a couple of grills going for hamburgers, hot dogs, and whatever, plus lots of other food and drinks to go with it. The charge for this will be $5, but bringing dishes probably wouldn't be necessary unless you want to. We could use an enthusiastic organizer for the Sunday lunch (someone like Gary Baker's wife Carolyn, who did a super job last year down at Frederick at the Ten Day Weekend). Please let me know if you would like to take this on, or if you have any suggestions on someone I could coax into doing this.

Cathy Williams and I are putting together a real neat t-shirt and sweatshirt design that will commemorate this year's 100th anniversary of the Wright brother's first flight. We will be ordering a modest number so that we don't get stuck with leftovers. Both shirts will be long sleeve and will come in two choices of colors: maroon with white design/lettering, and tan with black design/lettering. If you want to ensure that you don't miss out, please send me your size, shirt type, and shirt color and we'll set yours aside in advance. Prices will be about $15 for t-shirts, and about $25 for sweatshirts.

Non M-ASA members should read this paragraph. If George W. Bush is in town and goes to Camp David during our Oktoberfest, we plan/hope to use our TFR waiver to fly (the waiver is almost in place). One condition imposed by the Secret Service is that ANY glider or tow pilot flying under the waiver must have previously submitted their name and social security number through M-ASA for review and approval by the Secret Service. Everyone that regularly flies at Fairfield and most of the active M-ASA pilots have previously done this. If you want to fly at Fairfield during Oktoberfest IF the TFR is in effect (assuming that our waiver gets granted), then you will need to have your name on the authorized pilots list. I will happily coordinate this for any pilot (M-ASA member or non-member) who has not yet gone through this procedure. Please provide me with your SSN by any means that you feel comfortable with (in order to assure protecting the number). I will ensure that your SSN is held in strictest confidence. I will compile the list and forward it to the Secret Service via Glenn Collins. It is necessary that the ODs know the names of all pilots on the approved list during Oktoberfest. The cut-off date for submitting names will be approximately three weeks prior to Oktoberfest (i.e., September 19). Please feel free to contact me directly if there is any aspect of this that you would like to discuss.

My best guess is that George W. will be out of town during the Oktoberfest doing some hot and heavy campaigning, or he'll be at his ranch in Texas, and we won't need the waiver. I'm also betting that given our soggy spring and other aspects of our meteorological history, we are overdue for some very fine Oktoberfest weather this year. If you have any thoughts on how to make this year's Oktoberfest a success, or if you'd like to volunteer to help out, please let me know. See you at Oktoberfest!

I held off as long as I could before writing this month's article. I was hoping to begin with a decree of success regarding the TFR waiver. The agent we are working with spent the week out of town so the agreement has yet to be closed. I spoke to him late last week and received from him an e-mail this week indicating it is still on track, but we really need to get it signed and behind us. Despite the hang-ups and constant delays, I continue to believe this will happen and our waiver will be granted.

I would also like to thank everyone for coming out on the night of August 8 for the Mid-Season Meeting. I hope all who attended enjoyed the discussions and walked away that night a little more aware of our operations and the need to stay on top of things and prevent some of the little incidents we have been having. A number of folks who were unable to make the original meeting have made it up. The makeup process involves discussion with a M-ASA officer so this is much more productive when a small group participates. I'll try to do another scheduled makeup session if it is still necessary by the time Convector hits the streets. I would also like to recognize all who helped put the evening together, particularly Tom Judkins for coordinating the use of the school's hangar and Jean Posbic for arranging for dinner.

About the time this issue arrives we will be well into our September ten day weekend. With luck the weather will be great and many of us will be able to enjoy some beautiful flights. After this ten day the next planned event is the annual Oktoberfest at Fairfield. Preston Burch has offered to take this on and organize the event. Cathy Williams is helping with some of the food coordination and Val Brain is also pitching in. If you have some time any of these three would probably accept any offered help. Regardless, mark your calendar for 11-13 October and plan on some great flying and socializing at Fairfield.

I addition to the meetings and parties, we have also been very busy working on gliders. The Twin Astir is back on the line after some touch up to a wing's leading edge. "Miss Daisy" is also sporting some recent modifications. After a lot of thought, three new instrument panels have been made for the SGS 2-33s. The first has been installed in this glider and the other two will occur shortly. The main changes include repositioning the air vent so more panel space can be used for instruments. New MicroAir radios are installed along with Borgelt electronic varios accompanying the mechanicals we already had. Boom microphones are also installed in both cockpits as well as push to talk switches on the stick grips. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Ray Watson, Gene Wilburn and Tom Jones, these installations have been completed.

In closing, I want to make an additional plug for the new M-ASA Mentor Program. Bill Whelan is putting together an outstanding program to get our new members started on the right foot. This will not only benefit them by teaching them the ins and outs of soaring at M-ASA, but will also be of countless help to M-ASA. Thanks to all who volunteered to help as official mentors on this program. Remember though that each of us plays an important role in making sure procedures are followed and people learn the proper methods. As a matter of fact, it would do each of us well to sit in and listen to Bill's presentation at some point. I know I have added it to my schedule.

Glenn

I shall remember the task flown on Sunday August 17 as among the most awful ever. The week before I had flown a modest task to Frederick and return, not much over 40 miles, but the cloud base was only 2,600' above ground, and the wonder was that I made it at all. So I was disappointed a week later when I was able to climb to only 2,500' AGL to attempt the task Fairfield-Kampel-Fairfield-York and return, a 105 mile MAT with a two-hour minimum time. The forecast was for thunderstorms to develop later in the day, and by noon some of the cu were building and beginning to spread out, so I decided to get going and head out in the hope of finishing before they wiped out soaring for the day.

It took quite awhile to even reach the 2,500' cloudbase, but once there I moved out to the edge of the five mile start circle and headed out toward Kampel 23 miles away. The clouds were quite close together, and from time to time I was able to find thermals at around 2,000' up to 2,500' and press on. They were weak, 100 fpm to 200 fpm max, but persistence paid off along with many detours of 30 degrees or so off course. With such a low cloudbase one can't afford to miss a nearby cloud more or less on course, so I found myself well to the east of the lake that is the best landmark on route to Kampel. I had expected cloud bases to rise after mid-day, but they were now getting lower - down to 2,200' - and finding any lift at all was difficult. I was quite pleased to get within gliding range of Kampel, which my Garmin now showed to be ten miles to the northwest. That direction had no good looking cu at all, but rather than continue off course just to stay up I headed directly for the little grass strip airport and was resigned to at least be able to make a safe landing there.

I passed up patches of zero sink and slowly sank lower, 1500', 1,200', and then some five miles on, the dim grass strip surrounded by other green fields. I would be able to just make a straight-in approach to the south end, when two miles away I felt a bump and noticed a vario reading just enough to make circling a risk worth taking. I gained a few feet, and continued to circle and explore the vicinity to find a core, but without much success, climbing maybe 50' per minute, with intervals of zero sink. But eventually I made 2,000', at which the lift quit and I turned back toward Kampel to reach the one mile circle around the turnpoint. I'd drifted back several miles and was down to 1,100' again before rounding the turnpoint, and decided not to head back to Fairfield before making a climb near the Kampel airstrip. This was almost as difficult as my earlier struggle, and this time I was able to make only 1,500' before the thermal died. But more or less on course were a couple of cu, so I decided to risk it and headed away from the airport toward them. They produced very little, but enough to glide to a cu to the southwest and on toward the lake. For the past hour I had been struggling under 2,000' and was now fighting to stay alive at around 1,200' with one eye on landable fields within gliding range. A little thermal carried me over the lake, which is about 3 miles long, and I was able to watch a motorboat towing a water skier across the surface 1,100' beneath. It made a sharp turn, and the skier didn't, and I felt at least I wasn't the only one with problems.

At 1,200' I turned to head to the end of the lake and there I joined a couple of buzzards who were enjoying a real thermal, not strong, but at least showing climb all the way around. At 1,500' I was joined by Baude Litt in his LS-8, and together we worked it up to a pretty good thermal that carried us up to cloudbase at 3,000'.

From this heady altitude I was able to set course for Fairfield at 70 knots, and saw ahead a number of good looking cu. Things were looking up. The next gave a climb to 3,500', from which altitude I could make a straight glide to Fairfield. However, I decided to detour to the west to check out another cloud before aiming for the FF turnpoint and then heading toward York 28 miles to the northeast. Soon I was down to 2,000' again and climbing in 200 fpm lift halfway to Lake Heritage near Gettysburg. That netted only 500', but over the lake was a good looking cloud near the quarry which is a good lift source, so I headed on and found lift under it. At 2,500' I was joined by Baude Litt again - a surprise, since his performance is better than my old PIK - and together we climbed to cloudbase and on toward York. The clouds led us nearer Hanover quarry and the hills to the north, and I found a thermal over the aluminum chicken sheds on the hillside. Soon I was high enough to make a straight glide to York, where a cloud was over the runway next to the quarry, and I arrived there over 2,000' and began a slow climb. Glancing up, I saw Baude circling a mile to the north 1,000' above, and quickly moved in under him in a good thermal which took me up to cloudbase at 3,500'. Now I needed only to climb another 2,000' to make it to Fairfield; two good clouds should do it. As often happens, the next cloud worked, but all the clouds ahead looked small and broken. I had twenty miles to go and 3,500' in the bank, with a ten knot crosswind. I had no alternative but to head back at 65 knots under each of the ratty looking clouds and hope for the best. None made circling worthwhile, and with 12 miles to go I was reading 2,000'. Landable fields end three miles before the runway at Fairfield, so it's a bad place to be low on final glide. Then, crossing Route 15, I flew into a real little thermal and climbed at 200 fpm to ease the anxiety. My flight had been so slow I had little at stake, and only wanted to make the airport with height to spare, so I took it to 2,500' and headed on at 80 knots. Soon it was apparent I would be high, and in fact finished 400' above the runway, pulled up, and made a normal pattern. I had taken almost four hours to fly a hundred miles, and those who started later must have avoided my low scratches. But one turned back and another landed near Kampel, so I was lucky not to have landed out myself.

The GPS trace looked like a 2-year-old's scratchy drawing, but it was complete, showing both start and finish (Garmins have a limited datalog capability). I didn't bother to calculate my speed. Survival was enough. What an awful task!

Are you interested in flying cross country? Don't own a glider? Believe it or not, you can fly club ships cross country. The operations manual lists the regulations you have to satisfy first. One of them is that you have to be familiar with assembly and disassembly of the glider. To that end, I'm organizing a class to familiarize interested club members in the details of assembly and disassembly of the club's 1-36. This would be appropriate for those who might want to take this ship cross country. If you are interested, please e-mail me at adessler@umd.edu.

As discussed at the recent "All Hands" August 8 general meeting, M-ASA is launching its New Member Mentor Program. The goal of this program is to ease and speed the integration of all new M-ASA members into the fabric of Club operations. It's hoped and expected that the Mentor Program will be of benefit to the club at large as well as obviously to each and every new member joining.

As noted this program has two parts: 1) an initial orientation meeting for each new member scheduled nominally on a once-per-month basis; 2) sustaining support by volunteer Mentors affiliated with each operating site. A Mentor might typically coach or help a new member with any questions or issues arising, as a new member becomes familiar with Club operations. As we start, Mentors stepping up to support Fairfield are Jay Dickhoff, Gigi Gere, and Bob Jackson; supporting Frederick are George Simms, Paul Rehm, and Bill Whelan. (Obviously all of us at some level are Mentors. All new member support by everyone in M-ASA continues to be welcomed and encouraged. The designated Mentors would be a new member's "go to" people on an "as needed" basis.)

The first orientation presentation for new members will be at the M-ASA Frederick Clubhouse on Saturday September 6, starting promptly at 9:00 a.m. All members who have joined this season are strongly encouraged to attend. The orientation session is being targeted to last approximately from 1 to about 1 1/2 hours.

Never happened. Pure BS. That's right.

Sarah's Mini-Meet tale was pure fiction. Four M-ASA members review the contents of Convector before it is published, and all of us fell for it. Sorry about that.

Now, I don't believe for one minute that this was the work of only one individual. For hints on who the co-conspirators might have been, re-read the articles.

We would have still run the stories, but with warning messages. No unauthorized cross country flights were made in club ships. Vintage sailplane are beautiful, on the ground and in the air. Relax, and go have fun.

Correction:

New member listed in Aug. issue should be Gerard (Gerry) Tighe

• Nicholas Bonilla

All members please consider your memories and personal history with M-ASA. Our current history found online and elsewhere ends twenty-five years ago, and we'd like to start filling in those years with your flights, frights, and thoughts about the people we've spent time with on the ground and in air. Launches to landouts and gaggle-bunches to lunches. The idea is simple: rather than having an "official" sounding history, the idea of multiple voices of M-ASA recounting events may be able to help us complete this. Ultimately, all will be melded together to give the official history. Search your logbooks and diaries and your photo albums and your checkbook registers. Get it in so we can get it together and complete our club's soaring history. Contact Gary Baker or George Constantin for further information.

Kristin Bargelski of Ski Liberty has invited M-ASA to participate in their Open House on Sunday, October 19. They invite their suppliers and local organizations and residents to a day-long event. We participated in 2001 and raffled a glider ride which raised about $250 for the Fairfield Fire and Emergency Service organization. If anyone wants to exhibit their glider and man a M-ASA booth, we can supply brochures and posters and raffle tickets once again. Dave Leizer exhibited his Libelle at that time, and a half dozen of us took turns manning the booth. Quite a lot of people stopped by, and some money was raised, but the person who won the free glider ride didn't show up and no one joined M-ASA as a result. I don't rate it important as a membership promotion event. If I don't get any positive offers within a week, I'll tell Ms. Bargelski we have other plans.

I will present a series of Cross-Country Seminars in the Club Room at Fairfield on three consecutive Sundays, September 7, 14, and 21. Lecture-discussions begin at 9:30 a.m. and run until 11:30 a.m.

Inaugurated in 1986, the program is designed to prepare solo pilots to fly cross-country safely with a view to gaining FAI badges and entering competitions. The syllabus includes:

• Sept. 7 Flight preparation and off-field landings
• Sept. 14 Climbing and cruising
• Sept. 21 Task strategy and GPS analysis

Thermal, ridge, and wave soaring will be included. The charge is $10 for each two-hour session. Those who attend all three sessions will receive the course manual, An Introduction to Cross-Country Soaring. This manual is also available separately at $10.

This seminar was recently presented at the Silver Creek Gliding Club Cross Country Camp. It now includes sections on GPS navigation and new tasks and contest rules.

Atlantic Soaring is a small club - trying to grow - with a clubhouse at Harford County Airport, (0W3) about 45 minutes NE of Baltimore on Aldino Road. They welcome visitors and offer a daily membership for $15 for those who might like to bring a glider and arrange for a tow. An additional $30 provides a visitor with an introductory ride. Gift certificates are available too, for a ride, or for whatever amount of instruction the donor wants to supply.

They tow with a Bellanca Scout; gliders are Schweizer 2-33 and 1-23, and Blanik L13. Normal days of operation are Sat. and Sun, noon until dark. In summer, members can make arrangements for Wednesday tows.

Atlantic Soaring is in the process of constructing a web site: www.atlanticsoaring.com.

Weekday phone contact is Walt Buranen at 410-557-4444. Gift certificates are available at the field, or contact Walt. On weekends, try 410-734-9170. Thanks to Pat Valdata for the above information.

Have you heard the news? George (The Red Baron) Constantin has finally gotten his Scarlet Pimpernel off the ground! It happened Saturday around 1 p.m. to the amazement of many!

Soon after launching several of the curious (I was one) began a systematic search of the skies over Frederick to see if we could join up with the Baron and take a few pictures to prove that this Trailer Queen of two years actually flew. Well, he must have applied vanishing cream, because George and his Scheibe L Spatz were not found. I guess red was too subtle a color for this beauty. He eventually made a beautiful landing two hours and ten minutes later despite terrible wooden seat induced pain in his nether regions. But there must be more Spartan blood than Athenian in this geek.....uh Greek pilot because he is planning to do it again next week. We are sure George will get to the bottom of his problem by then.

Due to unforeseen technical difficulties, we are unable to bring you Sarah's Racing News this month. With some luck, this popular column will be back next month!

	Frederick			Fairfield
Day	Operations Director	Tow Pilot	Assistant OD	Operations Director	Tow Pilot	Assistant OD
01	Mansoor Ahmed Steven Silverman	Gene Wilburn Tom Judkins	Tom Davidson	Jay Dickhoff	Mike Smith
06	Chris Scarlett *	Bob Jackson		Rick Fuller	Max Ullmann
07	Rob Myhre	Dee Torgerson		Frank Benson	Jim Chick
13	Bob Whitehead	Scott Petrasek		Christophe Blanchi	Pete Welles
14	Dan Meyer	Jane Robens		Bob Kryzstan	Mike Grinder
20	Dave Weber	Hans Jorgensen		Mark Segall	Don Robb	Aurel Trandafir
21	Nathan Butler	Robert Robins		Tom Jones	David Pixton
27	Jim Karcher	Sam Harry		Claude Blanchi	Rich Horigan
28	Bill Donahoe	Jan Steenblik		Gary Miller	Bill Savory

	Frederick			Fairfield
Day	Operations Director	Tow Pilot	Assistant OD	Operations Director	Tow Pilot	Assistant OD
04	Holland Ford	George Green	Mark Mercer	Luis Fernandez	Mike Smith
05	Mitch Lambros	Bob Andrew		Peter Kern	Max Ullmann
11	Tonas Kalil	Lance Nuckolls		George Simms Jr Wilmar Sick	Jim Chick David Schober
12	Arlie Long Jr	Bob Ball		Pete Zawadzki Gyorgy Fekete	Chuck Forrester Buddy Denham
13	Mehrdad Bayat	Ray Scarpulla		Baude Litt	Phil Burgess	Aurel Trandafir
18	Mario Piccagli	Craig Moen		Michael Hearn	John Hearn	Tom Davidson
19	Mansoor Ahmed	George Green		Chris Scarlett	Bob Jackson
25	Richard Wallis	Dee Torgerson		George Constantin	Poul Hansen
26	John Thornhill	William Judge		Robert Critchlow	Jim Trygg

	Frederick			Fairfield
Day	Operations Director	Tow Pilot	Assistant OD	Operations Director	Tow Pilot	Assistant OD
01	Peter English	Gene Wilburn	Nicholas Bonilla	Gary Goldberg	Pete Welles	Gerry Tighe
02	Roger Andes	Tom Judkins	Garry Calvalho	Roger Thompson	Mike Grinder
08	Harry Bates	Scott Petrasek		David MacVeigh	Don Robb
09	Michael Higgins	Jane Robens		Jean Compton	David Pixton
11	Jim Furlong	Hans Jorgensen		Scott Myers	Bill Savory
15	Robert Compton	Robert Robins		Ali Abrishami	Mike Smith
16	Ramon DeJesus	Jan Steenblik		Fred Bane	Max Ullmann
22	Harry LaBrie	Sam Harry		Aurel Trandafir	Rich Horigan	Mark Mercer
23	Tom Davidson	Bob Andrew		Steven Shelton	Jim Chick
29	Urs Thierstein	Lance Nuckolls		Chris O'Callaghan	George Green

M-ASA Duty Notes: Members assigned to operations duty must be on site in enough time to start operations by 10:00 a.m. and stay at the field until operations are concluded. Each person listed on the duty roster is responsible for that day's assignment. In the case of "no-shows," the person acting as OD should indicate this fact on the flight sheet. "No-shows" will be fined $100. M-ASA's training process requires all new members to serve as Apprentice OD (AOD) at both M-ASA operating locations. This is to familiarize new members with the operating practices at each field. Any member who joined the previous year and who was not scheduled for AOD duty at each field, will be scheduled for AOD duty at each field in the current year. Note that AOD scheduling is done independently of duty preference information submitted on the member's duty preference form. After the AOD cycles have been completed every effort will be made to accommodate the new member's stated duty preference whenever possible. M-ASA

Scheduler: Ray Watson 410-484-0333.