Flying Friday 26 Aug

Nick Carter organized a flying day on Friday, and flew the club ASW-24 for an hour and a half; a group of private owners flew (OR - ASW-20; 2D - SZD-55; 64 - Std Libelle; 02 - PIK-20D; 55 - SZD-55) for nice late summer flights. There was a strongish North-West wind, and most tried to stay upwind.  There were nice cloudstreets that ran from the airport up past Thurso on the Quebec side of the Outaouais towards Lac Blanche. I ran the street past Thurso with 55 and 64.

This is a pic of 64, fighting the headwind with Lac Blanche in the top.

Andre, in 64, Std Libelle, pushing NW against the wind

It was a very nice day to fly, though it was easier if you could stay above 4,000' (we estimate cloudbase was about 6,500' north of the river), since the wind was chopping up the thermals lower, and there was a little mechanical turbulence down low too.  I eventually jumped to an adjacent cloudstreet, which ran from Saint-Andre-Avellin back to Alfred - it didn't take long to get there with a 25 kt tailwind!  After 2.5 hours of fun, I landed, and disassembled my glider to temporarily install an oxygen system for our upcoming mountain soaring camp at Lake Placid, NY, USA.   Thanks to Ryan MacNeil, our newly minted tow pilot, for the tows, the help of the other pilots in launching, and Jarek for the help putting 2D in its box.

We had a visitor from Montreal Soaring Council - DB in his very nice LAK17 - pass over on his way north, taking advantage of the lift from the Nations Golf Course. We could hear others (including Emmanuel in PE, just back from the Sailplane Grand Prix at Ionia MI, and the Canadian National Soaring Championship at Arthur, Ontario) enjoying the day.  

Those with trailers can appreciate this; then, Jarek and I worked at changing the trailer wiring for our used Junior trailer from Euro 7-wire round connector to the North American standard flat four; lots of fun. I didn't take pictures of that.  It works now - sorta!

Thursday 18 August - Day 4 - Instructor Course

Spin/Spiral Dive/Slideslip day; out with the parachutes!  We flew 13 flights, seven hours of flying time. Luc Savoie and Jarek Twardowski towed, and Greg B fixed a recurring snag on RM, then taught Dan how to use the tractor.  Dan then mowed 13/31, the takeoff area of 08, the paved area of 17/35, the mid-taxiway of 08/26 (enough to get a glider in), and touched up the staging area of 31.

First flight was at 14:39, last landing at 19:10; after class, giving a class, and getting the equipment out, flying, putting things away, and an hour of debriefing, it was another long day. The candidates are tired but coming along well. The weather is cooperating, and everyone is a bit tired but keen for tomorrow's two flights.  The soaring weather looks great tomorrow, for a change, and we expect to see a few private gliders out flying 300 km flights.

We'd like to thank the Course Directors for their time and expertise, giving back to the sport, and the candidates for giving up a week of vacation and footing the flying bill, in order to pass the sport on to a new generation of pilots (perhaps reading this blog) with enthusiasm, safety, and a sense of fun. Gatineau and Rideau Valley Soaring are getting a great bunch of instructors!

SAC Eastern Instructor Course 2016 - click to enlarge

Aug 17 - Instructor Course Day 3

Day 3 we caught up with the remaining flying from Day 2, and finished Day 3's flying too. The candidates are starting to really progress, and are hitting the books for the closed-book exam, as well as preparing for the next day's flights, and ground instruction lessons.  The looks are less glazed, and now, more tired.

All 3 of the club two-seat gliders are in use, though we will only use 2 today for spins and spiral dive instruction. Yesterday, a lot of stalls and approaches were flown.  3 private owners flew, totalling 4 flights and just under 8 hours flying, while the Pawnee had 25 flights totaling 3 hours 10 minutes. The club two-seaters had 7 and a half hours. All in all, a safe, very pleasant day.  A very light rain fell last night, and class begins at 9 this morning. The airfield has great drainage, yesterday, after at least 2" on Tuesday, you'd never know it had rained.

We were visited by two Air Cadet instructors from Quebec, who had seen that we were running a course, and came out to see us. Thanks for helping the private owners get their gliders out, and it was great to see you!

Thanks to Rick Sudeyko for the great tows!

Damp day... Eastern Ont Instructor Course Day 2

This is what "significant widespread rainfall" looks like

Morning academics were smoother, though most looked a little tired. The flight exercise started with 3,000' tows for slow flight/stall training.  This was easy at first, but the rain started at about 12:45, and steadily increased in intensity. We shut down just before 2, and put the aircraft to bed, wiping them down. We're going ahead with tomorrow morning's academics, as everyone dries out.  Tomorrow, we'll be probably doing an hour, then doing the remainder of today's flying (2 candidates must complete flight 3, 1 has done flight 4).  Overall, everyone is progressing well. Lots of hard work by all concerned.

We're near Montebello.

Eastern Ontario SAC Instructor Course - Day 1, Monday August 15, 2016.

On Monday, there were two private owners and one club member flying single seat gliders who launched in the late morning and had nice flights of 2, 3, and 4 hours.

After ground school in our wonderful clubhouse, the seven instructor candidates (two from Rideau Valley Soaring and five from Gatineau Gliding Club) came out to the airfield and got the 3 two-seat club gliders to the flight line, and began the first of ten instructional flights in the curriculum.  The course is conducted by the Chair of the SAC FTSC (see previous posting), Dan Cook is being assisted by senior instructors from RVSS and GGC and the Chief Flying Instructor of Gatineau.  Other GGC members are helping with logkeeping, launching, and returning landed gliders to the flight line.

Each of the candidates had two flights, and experienced many of the common events to junior instructors; concentrating on the lessson and not so much the location of the airport; words which didn't appear when needed; and sometimes getting ahead of themselves...  This will get better over the next eight flights.

After a quick dip in our Olympic size pool to cool off, the candidates started preparing for the Tuesday flights and ground lesson plans which they will give under the watchful eyes of the Class I instructors.

Thanks to John Kahn for his work as the tow pilot.   There were 16 flights, including the towplane test flight, last takeoff just after 6 pm, totaling 13 hours and a few minutes.

Tuesday morning, the forecast for a whole bunch of rain means that after morning groundschool, we are not likely to do a lot of flying, but will use the CONDOR Flight Simulator in the clubhouse to progress, and probably do a little of Wednesday's academics, so we can get back to the schedule.  The remaining week's weather looks great, and it is quite likely that we'll be able to finish up on time.

We thank the candidates for giving up a week of holidays to give back to the sport they love.

Sunday 14 August - Instructor upgrades

On Sunday, 14 August, the Chair of the Soaring Association of Canada (SAC) Flight Training and Safety Committee (FTSC) was in town to assess three of the senior club instructors for upgrading to higher classifications.

In Canada, Transport Canada awards the Instructor rating. SAC runs instructor courses, and recognizes 3 classes which recognize increasing experience and expertise. Instructors start with the TC rating, and are awarded Class III.

Class III: May instruct students up to and including solo stage. May recommend students for solo flight to a more senior instructor.

Class II: May instruct students up to and beyond solo stage. May send a student solo with second recommendation from another Class II or Class I instructor. May train pilots for passenger carrying and cross-country flight.


Class I:  As for Class II, plus may send students for first solo flights. May provide advanced training such as cross-country and, following additional training, may train pilots to become instructors.

Some instructors may also specialize in aerobatic instruction.

All three candidates were successful, and join several other members of the club as SAC Class I instructors:  In alphabetical order, congratulations to Greg Baumeister, Karl Boutin and Jeff Waters for their hard work, and recognized expertise. 

GGC is fortunate to have a skilled and hard-working cadre of instructors who enjoy teaching our new members how to fly.  Have you ever wanted to learn to fly?