Volume 6 Issue 1 June/July/August 2013 2013 PSSA Siskiyou Trip

PSSA Picnic August 18 by Marlene See Upcoming Events Page 6 for details: Nelson

Great conditions, friendly folks and a comfortable facility contributed to the success of the 2013 PSSA sojourn to Siskiyou County last week. Un- der the leadership of trip organizer, Wayne Ginther, we traveled south on I-5 for ten hours to the Montague Rohrer airport near Yreka, CA. Participating members included: Wayne, Stefan Perrin, Terry Crippen, Tim Heneghan, Dave Kremers and Curt Chenoweth and Marlene Nel- son. Three and a half to four hour flights were the norm and although conditions were not con- ducive to flights above Mt. Shasta, several flights Photo by Tim Heneghan across the base occurred. In past years we have operated at Siskiyou Country airport without the benefit of shade or facilities, this year the re- gional contest was held earlier this month at Montague so we decided to move our PSSA base to this much narrower and shorter facility. Everyone was grateful for the shade, green grass, restroom facilities and cold beer after flying. The landing lights were lowered each day to preclude interference with wings on landing or takeoff. It worked well for us—all takeoffs and landings were 33 with the exception of Tuesday when the gliders departed run- way 15 in 20 K winds. The resident Pawnee towplane pulled us to Gunsight Ridge which provided good access to

Soaring Society of America News

In This Issue In the August issue of Soaring, members tives are now sent by e-mail only! will learn The Thrill of Flying Out, in an In order to receive these essential AD's, July PSSA Siskiyou Trip ....1 New PSSA Members …… 2 essay by Greg Swiderski, embellishing in aircraft owners (individuals, clubs or cor- Guess That Sailplane …….4 the risks and rewards to be gained from porations) must update their -e mail with Maintenance Report …….. 4 venturing away from 'home' base and the FAA. To continue receiving ADs at Safety Corner …………….. 4 embarking on a cross-country adven- no cost, owners must subscribe to the Training Corner …..……… 4 Club Addresses …………. 6 ture. GovDelivery e-mail service by visiting the Board Members ……...…… 6 Regulatory and Guidance Library home Upcoming Events ……...… 6 Since March 2010, Airworthiness Direc- page http://rgl.faa.gov. Cont. Page 6 - PAGE 2 VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1

Scott Valley and the Marble Moun- tains on the west side of the valley. Many flights were made to Duzel rock, China Mountain and Mt. Ed- dy. Tim flew a distance over 400K one day in something more than six hours—he barely missed his gold badge distance working his way back from Dry Lake nearly 45 miles east of Montague. All but the first two days were totally blue sky days which made it a bit tougher to lo- cate lift. For the most part we had the airport to ourselves—very little power plane traffic. Start times were 1-2 PM and temperatures were in the mid 90’s except on our last day of flying when Don, who lives across the road from the air- port, reported his home thermom- eter was reading 108 degrees F in the shade. Conditions on Sunday were forecast to be similar so we packed up and headed home.

Photo’s of the Siskiyou trip by Tim Heneghan

New Members!

We have several new members that have joined the club in June. Photos of New Members by Roger I have always been interested in Schert and Jeff Gibbons flight, but it has only been recently that I’ve had the time to invest in Jason Caulkins: piloting. Gliders have always fasci- nated me, and ever since seeing I live and work in Issaquah, Wash- Balleka's YouTube channel of cliff ington in high tech, but enjoy all soaring in the UK, I’ve wanted to give things that fly in my free time. soaring a shot. I have a growing fleet of RC aircraft, After discovery flights in various including gliders, fixed wing, multi- fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, engine, gas, electric and single and I’ve decided that sailplanes are the multi-rotor craft. VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1 PAGE 3 most fun and accessible. Bergseth Field is about a 2.5-hour drive for me each way (I live in I have obtained the FAA student Port Townsend, on the Olympic pilot certification, passed the Pri- Peninsula), but so far I am loving vate written and have soloed on it, and find it completely worth July 7th. the effort every time I make it to Congratulations Jason! the field and get some flying. Jeff Gibbons: My wife Martine and my 11-year- old son Jack come with me some- I'm 57 years old, and got my pri- times too, and spread a blanket vate pilot's license about 25 years on the grass at the edge of the ago, but never got many flying "overrun" part of the runway to hours in after getting that license. spend a few hours; they say it's The practical and travel aspects of like being at the park, but nicer flying aren't too important to me, because they can watch the sail- the appeal of flying for me is planes! mainly in the flying itself: the physics and aerodynamics, all the Roger Schert: knowledge people have learned there's been one thing or another I have been around aviation all of which make it possible to build keeping me from learning to soar for my life. My Mom says that even and control a vehicle which can most of my 57 years now. But a few as a baby, I had AV fuel for blood travel through the air efficiently. months ago I saw that one of my Dad's old friends from NASA/Edwards, a test and that I would point to the sky For that reason, soaring has al- pilot named Einar Enevoldson, was and babble every time an air- ways appealed to me, and I've giving a talk at the Museum of Flight plane flew over head, my wife always wanted to learn to do it, about his project to build and fly a says I still babble when an air- but never took the time. I was al- glider higher than anyone has ever plane goes by. ways very aware of soaring, too, flown one. He is going to use an at- My dad had many airplanes, even when I was a little kid; I grew mospheric wave to climb up to the Howard DGA 15, Beech 18, sever- up in the north of polar vortex near the southern tip of al BT-13’s, two B-25’s, and a fixed Los Angeles, only a few miles from South America, and then ride that up base operation at Jane's Airfield a lot of really fantastic soaring to 90,000 feet! (This is the Perlan Pro- in Blaine Minnesota. sites: Tehachapi and Crystal Aire ject, www.perlanproject,org; they've and El Mirage dry lake, etc. already flown to more than 50,000 feet). I went that day, and along with My Father worked for NASA as an his talk, the museum had a lot of gor- aeronautical engineer at Edwards geous sailplanes on display too, and Air Force Base, on Rogers dry lake, the Puget Sound Soaring Club had a and they tested a lot of rocket table with information about them- planes there like the X-15 and var- selves -- and I realized that this was my ious lifting bodies which had to chance to finally learn soaring! So land without power after the rock- since then I've been coming as often et fuel was gone, so a lot of the as I can to Bergseth Field, learning test pilots got training in gliders at from Gary Ohlinger and all the other places like Tehachapi. So I knew extremely helpful people in the club, about it, and wanted to do it, but and hope to get my glider rating this didn't have the money when I was summer, maybe soon enough to take young -- and then I moved away my daughter Olivia soaring before she to college, and then a job, a fami- heads off to college in . ly, and real life got in the way; VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1 PAGE 4 July 17th was [email protected]. Owners Manual. The radio and my 48th anniversary of my first so- your fellow members will appreci- lo. August will see my 47th anniver- I hope to see you at Bergseth soon. ate it. A copy of the manual can be sary of my first solo in a glider. I found on the PSSA website under Maintenance Update: have flown gliders with the Minne- TRAINING. sota Soaring club in Stanton, MN, The 2-33 radio has been problem- Caesar Creek Soaring Club in Day- atic for some time. Since clear and Safety Corner: ton Ohio and the Associated Glider reliable radio communication is an Towing the Trailer Safely (originally Clubs in San Diego. I have towed important aspect of PSSA's daily ASA newsletter- March/April 2009) Sailplanes and flight instructed in operation and safety, the decision power. I intend to get my CFI-G was made to replace the radio and Any combination of tow vehicle sometime in the next year. I am microphones rather than continu- and trailer will be safe if you go currently building an Easy Eagle bi- ing to fight the gremlins that lurk slow enough. What people really plane and am a member of EAA within the old radio's circuitry. A mean when they say "it's unsta- Chapter 441 in Kent. new radio and two new micro- ble", is "it's unstable at the speeds I phones were installed in the 2-33 want to tow". I am volunteering to take on the last week. Good, clear radio com- Newsletter publication for PSSA. I The problem is we don't have a munication is once again onboard plan to publish on a bi-monthly good way of determining how safe the 2-33. I don't have the exact timeframe initially, but am consid- numbers but total cost to the club (stable) the combination is at a giv- ering going to monthly . is in the neighborhood of $825.00 en speed. By “good”, I mean a reli- able, simple way to determine the I will be contacting members for A word to pilots. As a pilot it is safety margin for you driving your input to make the Newsletter inter- your responsibility to become fa- vehicle while towing your trailer. As esting to the Membership miliar with functionality and prop- you know, people sometimes do If I have missed any new Members, er use of the equipment you oper- determine what is definitely too please send me a short bio and ate, that includes radios. Please fast by crashing, or, if they are photo to : take the time to read the radio lucky, just scaring themselves silly. Vehicle engineers can make meas- urements, calculations, and tests Guess that Sailplane: that would determine the safe- ty/speed tradeoffs, but we don't This Months Entry have access to that expertise. What we have in this section is some generic advice and specific owner experiences. Because there are so many variables, you should not automatically assume that what works well/poorly for one person will work just as well/poorly for you. For example, two cars of the same make, model, and year can come with different tires, wheels, and suspensions, depend- ing on the exact “package” of op- tions purchased with them. To Read More, Click Here

Training Corner: PAGE 5 VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1

If you are a student who would ap- preciate attending study sessions to help you prepare for your written and/or oral exam(s), con- tact Greg Bahnsen, PSSA Training Officer. I currently have a class nearly every Tuesday evening at my residence. Greg can be contacted at: [email protected] Photos from Bergseth A couple of photos from the past month of soaring at Bergseth. Photos by Roger Schert VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1 PAGE 6

PSSA 2013 Board of Directors: Upcoming Events:

President: Jack Cullen PSSA Picnic August 18 Email: jc@foster,com Secretary: Ronald Rogers PSSA Picnic is August 18th (Sunday) we will have a live band this Email: [email protected] year.... Treasurer: Michael Worrell Picnic is a potluck with PSSA providing burgers and brats and soft Email: [email protected] drinks. Operations: Marlene Nelson Looking for salads, vegetable dishes and desserts from members. Email: [email protected] Bring your own beer or drink of choice for post flying. Maintenance: Tim Henegham Email: [email protected] Experimental Soaring Association Western Workshop: Training: Gregory Bahnsen Email: [email protected] August 31—September 2 Mountain Valley Airport (L94) Website Tehachapi, California Web Manager: Stefan Perrin This year (2013) marks the 40th anniversary of the Maupin Woodstock http://www.pugetsoundsoaring.org sailplane. It provides an occasion to consider the concept, develop- Newsletter: ment, maturation, and ongoing developments of small span West Editor: Roger Schert Coast U.S. sailplanes, including static displays of the 1940 Culver Email: [email protected] Screaming Wiener (11 meter span), the Maupin Woodstock (12.5 me- ter span), and the Windward Performance SparrowHawk (11 meter span). We are encouraging Woodstock and SparrowHawk owners to SSA News Continued: bring their ships to this event to make it even greater. Specific instructions are at this FAA Invited Speakers include: link: Click Here Doug Fronius: The Culver Screaming Wiener and its Contest Record Barry McGarraugh: The Creation of the Maupin Woodstock New Additions to Sailplane Tracker: Dan Armstrong: The Design of the 13-Meter Wing for the Maupin Woodstock GlidePort Software and SSA are proud Gary Osoba: Record Flying in the Woodstock to announce the addition of mobility Matt Michael: Record Flying in the Bob Wander Woodstock to the Sailplane Tracker application. Greg Cole: The Creation of the Windward Performance SparrowHawk IPhone and IPad compatibility are now Jim Payne: Record Flying in the SparrowHawk available for use. For maximum Gary Osoba: Record Flying in the SparrowHawk screen size please add the application to your home screen. Additionally there is now a "notification" feature. By navigating directly to the GlidePort Puget Sound Soaring Association web site and registering you may des- ignate friends under your personal Bergseth Field Location: settings > notifications tab. You will 31500 Southeast 408th St now be notified by email when the Enumclaw, WA 98022 Sailplane Tracker recognizes the acti- Phone: 206-660-0019 after 9:30 am during operational vation of your friends SPOT or InReach months. tracker. Additionally the SSA encour- ages all members to add a picture to Mailing Address: your profile page. These profile pic- PSSA c/o Michael Worrell tures are now displayed in your track 12905 169th St Ct E info bubble. Our thanks to GlidePort Puyallup, WA 98374 for these new features.