Amazing Conditions for MayFly 2016

Another MayFly has come and gone and this year provided no shortage of spectacular weather and cross-country/competitive learning experiences. This year saw pilots from MSC, York and GGC participate over three days of great soaring conditions. Distances flown ranged between 200 km and 330 km each day with thermals topping out at 8100 ft on Friday!

 In addition to covering traditional competition agenda items, the morning pilot meetings were structured as interactive lesson sharing sessions. Experienced cross-country and competition pilots shared their knowledge and experiences with those still new to competitive soaring.

If you have not heard about “pivotal altitude” or how James Reason’s “Swiss Cheese” model of hazards, defenses and losses can be applied to safe decision making in cross-country soaring, you should have come to MayFly.

 The top three MayFly pilots for 2016:

1/ Patrick McMahon (SOSA)
2/ Marc Briau (MSC)
3/ Karl Boutin (GGC)

Special thanks to everyone who volunteered to help make Mayfly so successful this year (launch line, tow pilots and Saturday dinner crew). It is because of this work that our GGC MayFly contest continues to be the premier novice contest meet in North America!

 

First Badge leg of the year

Congratulations to Roberto Figueroa, who flew M7, GGC's high performance ASW-24, for a height gain of 1615 metres (5,300') on Friday.  His low point at 1420 was 716 m, his high point 2,331 m.  The flight was recorded by the PowerFLARM system in M7.  Similar flight recorders are in the Junior, ASW-24, and Puchacz.

Barograph - Altitude vs time for Roberto's flight. You can see the thermals.

This satisfies the 1,000 m height gain requirement for the FAI Silver Badge altitude leg.  Two legs remain; the 5 hour duration (aka "the big sit") and the 50 km distance leg. Paperwork for the badge leg has been completed by the FAI Official Observer (me) and Roberto will shortly submit it to the Soaring Association of Canada Badge Chairman.

Two levels are above Silver Badge - Gold (3,000 m gain, 5 hours duration, 300 km distance) and Diamond (5,000 m gain, 300 km goal flight (closed course - Gold can be straight out), and 500 km distance leg.

After the Diamond Badge, FAI Diplomes are available in increments of 250 km (750 km, 1000 km, 1250 km, etc).

GGC has four single seat gliders which suitably qualified members may use for cross-country or altitude flights (M7 and the Puchacz have oxygen systems which are used at our mountain soaring camp at Lake Placid, NY each fall).

Hard-working Martin L. in the ASW-24 about to enjoy a cross-country flight

QIH Back in Action

After 38 year of demanding service, we decided in 2015 that it was time to recover our Citabria which GGC has owned since new. After a long and extensive “mid-life refit”, our Citabria tow plane is back in service. To give you an idea of how extensive the project was here is what was performed:

·         Strip and replace all fabric (wings, fuselage and control surfaces)

      ·         Strip and replace all interior upholstery
      ·         Replace control bearings and cables
      ·         Replace floorboards

You will not find a “cleaner” Citabria tow plane in Canada. The pictures below speak for themselves… 

 

A hearty thank-you goes out to everyone that stepped up to help with this project. Special thanks to Martin for leading the charge.

Staying Warm!

We have had an early start to our 2016 flying season with the early snow melt. That said, just because the snow left us didn’t mean we had warm temps.

Over the last few weeks, members have found many creative ways to stay warm on the flight line as shown in this picture of our billing officer (Don Henry), managing flight sheets a couple weeks ago on a blustery day!