MayFly 2009!

This past Victoria Day weekend GGC was a beehive of activity as the 2009 edition of the MayFly competition got underway. The four competition days ran Friday (15th) through Monday (18th). 10 pilots/teams in a mix of single and dual seat gliders took to the skies around Pendleton to challenge the weather, and each other.
The MayFly competition was started 11 years ago as a “learning” competition to introduce novice cross country pilots to competitive soaring. A blended handicapping system that combines pilot experience with glider performance has proven quite effective in leveling the playing field amongst pilots and aircraft.
Over 2300 km were flown by all pilots over the three contest days. 1500 km on the Monday the 18th alone! Doug provides an interesting insight to the launch activities on the second contest day.

"Initially with only the Pawnee launching the contest grid, a gopher came out of his hole in the third last L-33 on the grid, saw his shadow, jumped into the Citabria and began towing gliders to hasten the launch, After a few tows this intrepid groundhog was seen racing back to his trusty L33 mount to fuss around with parachutes and cushions etc., and after a few minutes joined the other MayFly pilots on course. Special thanks "Wiarton Martin" for his enthusiasm and persistence to keep the launch grid moving! "

Morning briefings focused around analyzing the pervious days’ flights and contest flying strategies/techniques. Evening barbeques and entertainment in the clubhouse rounded out the weekend. The 2009 contest results are posted under the MayFly tab of the GGC website.

Special thanks to all who helped to make this GGC signature event such a success for 2009.

Roger "(and Doug)"

Early May GGC Adventures

What a weekend! May 2-3 provided stellar conditions for soaring even with 24 kt SW winds at altitude. 7000 ft thermals with average thermal strengths of 4 kts made for a memorable 2 days of flying.

Saturday evening also provided good clear sky conditions for the first runway walk of 2009. Runway walks at GGC are a tradition that go back to the early years of club operations at Pendleton aerodrome. A group of members usually head out after dark to walk the triangular circuit of GGC runways, usually stopping at the far SW corner of the runways for star (and satellite) gazing. Norm, Andrew, Brenda, Lucile, Niall and yours truly bundled up to officially usher in the 2009 runway walk season.


Roger

Where Eagles Soar...

Last Saturday provided a very unusual sighting in the skies over Pendleton. While climbing in a 3kt thermal (thanks Nick) I saw what looked like a large hawk. However as I approached, I realized it was a bald eagle (white head, brown feathers and yellow beak/talons). This is the first time I have seen a bald eagle in Pendleton. Red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons and the occasional golden eagle are more typical raptor visitors. This was a majestic, humbling sight. After a few minutes, a red-tailed hawk joined the thermal below us. The eagle’s quickly scanning head movements froze and locked on the hawk. A few seconds later he tucked in his wings and rolled into a dive toward the hawk. The hawk, sensing that something was up, also tucked in his wings and rolled into a similar dive, away from the eagle. It was like watching a raptor version of “Top Gun”. That evening I searched for more information about bald eagles in Ontario and discovered that they are making a strong comeback and the number of sightings has increased dramatically over the last 6 years. 20 years of flying at Pendleton and every year there is something new to discover… (photo: John Michell)

Roger

Wind, Soaring & Stars

Friday evening (April 24th) saw GGC visited by an area astronomy club for some serious star gazing. Multiple telescopes of all sizes with all manner of tracking mechanisms set up on the runways to take advantage of the very dark nights we have at Pendleton (away from the light pollution of Ottawa & Montreal). Fun was had by all and our friends from the astronomy club will likely return throughout the 2009 season.

Saturday (April 25th) was one of those balmy, almost tropical days when winter bypasses spring in Canada, and almost leaps into summer. By contrast, and if to remind us that this is indeed Canada, Sunday was dull and overcast. However on Saturday we had recorded 24 flights at Pendleton, in windy conditions (gusting to over 20 knots), and more members had their Spring check rides. The Puchacz recorded 14 flights, and at one time the Blanik was brought out for a single flight, as was also one of the L-33s. Karl and Doug entered the "time-machine" and had short but very enjoyable flights in "Sparky" Smith's Schweizer 1-26, as also did Ron Smith. Nobody beat Alice's record the previous week of a little over an hour (guess, Alice "through the looking glass", has the magic touch, in the Pendleton "Wonderland").

In the private world of ships, Roger christened the season with a couple of flights in "AT", while Nick “ST”, unobtrusively soared around the skies in the windy conditions for four hours.

Many thanks to those TOW PILOTS and FIELD MANAGERS who helped to make it all happen. As an interlude in the day, Ron and Wolfgang and others walked a group of members through the de-rigging and rigging procedures for the sleek new ASW-24. (Photo: Andrew Kissman)

Doug & Roger

Our New ASW-24 - First Flight 2009

It's official! On Thursday April 2nd, M7 flew for the first time as the flagship of the GGC fleet.


After a thorough read of the flight manual and briefing by Ulli, Martin was off in M7. Karl caught the flight on the ground and later in the air from the Puchacz (yes that white stuff in the photo on the ground is snow!).




Throughout the afternoon Karl continued with spring checkouts in the Puchacz.


It was an amazing day with impressive spring soaring conditions! Martin will be grinning for weeks...

2009 Flying Season Underway @ GGC

Saturday turned out to be a picture perfect day to start the 2009 flying season at GGC.


The grins on the faces of Remi and Lee say it all! The temperature topped out at 15C and 2-3 kt. thermals were being generated by the campground forest. Doug got into the spirit with his customary shorts and t-shirt.


Although the runways were clear, there was still a significant amount of snow in the forest and campground. 24 spring checkout flights were flown by the end of the day.

10 Days of Non-Stop Flying - 2008 Wave & Mountain Flying Camp

Too much of a good thing.....is never enough....

By all accounts, the 2008 edition of the Lake Placid mountain & wave flying camp was a stunning success. A mix of thermal, ridge and wave conditions prevailed throughout the camp. On some days, a combination of all three where used by pilots. Where else but in the mountains can you still find 2 kt lift at 5:30 PM in October or climb to 11,000 ft on a day with solid overcast! A short summary of each day follows.

Sat. Oct. 4th

The Puchacz and L33 were trailered to Lake Placid on Friday so rigging proceeded quickly on Saturday morning. Martin and Tommy (in the Stinson) and Paul (in the Pawnee) arrived around 10:00 AM and by noon the flight line was in full swing. Nick and Tim also arrived later with their able aircraft and were quickly airborne. A combination of thermal cloud streets and ridge lift over the Sentinel Mts. kept everyone airborne. The Puchacz and L33 were tied down beside Andrew’s campsite, a true glider pilot haven…

Sunday Oct. 5th

Flight operations were underway by 11:00 with similar calm wind conditions and slightly more cloud. Ridge and thermal lift (go figure) kept folks up for the day. The Sentinel Mts. looked to kicking up a wave over the Keene valley but no one connected, even though the wave window was quite evident (as shown in the photo).

Monday Oct. 6^th

The temperature dropped quite radically on Monday as the clouds cleared out Sunday evening. Andrew captured the frosty morning scene best with a picture. Ridge, thermal and weak wave (over Heart Lake) where the order of the day. As the wind died later in the day, thermal lift over the Sentinel Mts. kept working until almost 6:00 PM.

Tuesday Oct. 7th

Our first real wave day! Although the winds

were weak and variable, wave to 8000 ft. was present in the vicinity of Algonquin Mountain. Flying continued until 17:30.

Wednesday Oct. 8^th

Another wave day! The calm winds of the morning changed by 13:00 to a WSW flow. Carl and George (RVSS) launched in their Twin Astir with Andrew D. and Wolfgang in hot pursuit with the Puchacz. Carl and George connected first over Heart Lake and rode the wave to over 11,000 while Wolfgang and Andrew in the Puchacz capped out at 9300 ft. Later team A2 (Andrew D. and Andrew K.) launched in the Puchacz at 17:00 and also connected with wave to 8500 ft landing with the runway lights at 18:30. On landing, the grins on the faces of all the pilots were priceless! As the photo shows, life of a tow pilot when the wave is working can be quite relaxing after the gliders are launched!

Thursday Oct. 9^th

The day started and remained sunny but with much stronger winds (10 kts with gusts to 20 kts). The only disappointing part was that the wind direction of 240 degrees was good only for wave off the smaller peaks. That being said we still had three flights all over an hour in a mix of wave and thermal conditions.

Friday Oct. 10^th

The first of the big three days of the long weekend. Another sunny day with light NW winds. 11 flights with the longest over 4 hours. Strong thermals (2 - 4 kts avg.) choked off any wave activity below 6000 ft. Flights durations and XC flying through the high peaks region was the activity of the day. Andre Pepin (MSC) took off on a short XC flight to Elizabethtown and Saranac Lake airport. Sunny, upwind, rocky sides and peaks of mountains generated thermals through to 18:00 hrs.

Saturday Oct. 11^th

A sixteen flight wave and thermal day! A few pilots went off and explored the MacKenzie mountain range NE of Lake Placid and were rewarded with strong thermals and wave. Ian grant connected with wave directly over the Lake moved over the Whiteface mountain and climbed to 11,000 ft. As the wind died down later in the day, pilots migrated to the Sentinel Mts. to take advantage of the prevailing winds kicking off late day thermals. High level wave activity was visible in the cirrus clouds near the end of the day. A boisterous campfire party at Andrew & Brenda’s campsite finished the day off with a bang!

Sunday Oct. 12^th

Another sunny day with a more stable air mass. Weak winds would not allow for wave conditions so pilots once again resorted to thermal flying throughout the high peaks region. 15 flights with flight operations closing down at 18:00 hrs.

Monday Oct. 13^th

The surprising last day. The day remained overcast (clouds at 13,000 ft) but the lack of thermal activity and calm but steady winds set up wave conditions at Whiteface Mt. Soon the skies over Whiteface were filled with gliders on what would be considered back at Pendleton a “sled ride” day. Martin (flying the L33) even managed to capture some beautiful video of the Puchacz in wave over Whiteface. After politely reminding everyone that the Puchacz and L33 needed to be derigged and the Pawnee flown home, flight operations ended at 14:00 and the glider trailers and Pawnee

So ended the 2008 Lake Placid wave/mountain flying camp. 10 straight days of thermal, ridge and wave flying.

By the last weekend there were 10 gliders on site along with the GGC Pawnee and MSC L-19 tow plane. The Pawnee helped out the L-19 with the launch backlog on Sat. and Sunday to get anyone who wanted to fly up in the air. The Puchacz and Twin Grob (RVSS) provided yeoman service in checking out new pilots and sharing learning experiences of flying in the mountains. At one point late in the week, a glider pilot was even heard to mutter one morning, “do we have to fly again”. The great weather provided little opportunity for hiking or playing ground based tourist activities for most pilots. That being said, Andrew D. still managed to hike to the top of Algonquin Mountain, Brendra and Andrew K. took a ride down the Olympic bobsled run at Mt. Van Hovenburg while Joan and Lucile climbed Cascade Mt.

Thanks to everyone who helped and participated in making this year’s camp such a success! Special thanks to the pilots and staff of Adirondack Flying Services at Lake Placid airport for their first rate hospitality.

Roger