It's beginning to look like the old Club again with 22 glider flights on Saturday and 30 flights on Sunday, with great Summer weather both days.
Saturday, 23rd. August:
Our L-23 Super Blanik primary training glider did ten flights; The 'Bluebird'; (ASK-13) did five flights; the Puchacz did five flights; and 'Tango-Romeo"; (L-33) did one flight by Don Henry; and the sole private owner flight was by Jacques Asselin, who stayed up for an hour.
The day started with a lot of cumulus clouds with bases at between 2,500 and 3,000 feet, but which ascended as the day were on under the Summer sun. Student pilots included: Robert Pelley, Gado Sirota, Claude Poulin, Claude LePage, Taber Bucklin's son, and Ian Dudley's son. The latter two being a reminder, if we needed one that we are all aging and yet another generation of glider pilots have emerged at Pendleton. Wally Wilson, who is now addicted to the third dimension had an aerobatic flight and then did two passenger flights in the Puchacz. I flew with a blind friend who runs a 'Blind Fishing Program, and his wife Ann in the Puchacz, and we later celebrated together with their two children in thee pool.
Many thanks to Tim Tuck and Gord Jeremic who did the instructing, and Paul Goyette and Simon Dufour who did the towing.
Sunday, 24th. August:
This started out as a mostly cloudy, but sunny day, with a cumulus buildup during the day and thermals up to 5,000 feet or more. Sunday was a more subscribed day with thirty glider flights that included nine flights in our old faithful, and trusty 'Bluebird'; (ASK-13; seven flights in the L-23 (IFX); five flights in the Puchacz; and three flights in 'Tango-Romeo';. I had the pleasure of one Freedom's Wings Canada (FWC) flight with Jared who is afflicted with a rare congenital disease, Baller Gerold Syndrome (BGS), and who can only walk short distances with a 'walker';. However, Jared is in the second year of a four year Commerce degree at a Kingston university and exhibits a motivation that is an inspiration to us 'less-handicapped' mortals who take our gifts for granted. Besides enjoying the privileged view from above, I gave Jared a lesson on turning flight and onto headings, and not only did he perform well, but it gave him great pleasure to be able to experience control of a glider in flight.
I also had a couple of enjoyable flights with Henry Kugler, and besides enjoying his company in flight, we were at about 3,000 ft., halfway to Wendover (later at 5,000 ft, as were many private owner gliders that day), when, at about 1500 hours, an airliner passed overhead at about 7,000 ft., on its approach into Ottawa. There was no danger, and I only mention this to highlight the need for our Club to have a reasonable Agreement with NavCanada, and to warn members in general of this approach path.
My last flight of the day, in the 'Bluebird';, as ballast for Beth McCollum, who really didn't need me to be there, but is was again a very pleasant flight for us old fogeys to get together aloft for what may be decades since the last time.
Sunday, was also another great day for single-seat, high-performance gliders to go cross country, and the following flights were performed: The longest flight was by Jacques Asselin lasting 4:12, followed closely by Gord Jeremic, lasting 4:06. Then in order of endurance were: Martin Lacasse in the Club ASW-20 (3:31), Someone in the Club, ASW-24, 'Mike Seven' (3:18); and Roger in his SZD-55 for 2:57. Jarek, recently returned from Poland flew his SZD-55, but I didn't get the time.
Regards,
Douglas
Also, we got a picture of Lee Fasken in one of the club L-33 Solos, TR, over the airfield, heading for the Nations Golf Course, our neighbours to the immediate south, from Dan Duclos:
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| Lee Fasken in TR over Pendleton airfield. Not many gliders on the ground on a nice day! (photo Dan Duclos) |
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