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President's Message
Starting out with some good news, Richard Smith was released from
the Rehabilitation ward of LDS hospital in mid-July. He is now recuperating at home. I am
trying to get an update from Richard on how he is doing, and will pass that information
along to everyone.
The club barograph has been calibrated and is available in the club
cabinent along with charts and seals. It is available for anyone attempting badge flights.
Instructions for use are posted in the cabinent. I strongly recommend obtaining a copy of
the FAI sporting code from the SSA (it's free) before attempting any official flights.
The date of the Fall BBQ has been tentatively set for Saturday,
September 26. The preceeding week is the EAA Fly-in, so we should have a calm airport for
the BBQ. Please note that the club will provide the grilled items such as hamburgers
and hot dogs, and drinks. We are requesting that each member bring a side dish, or
dessert, etc. See you all up in Heber!
Parke Byron
Soar Minden Cross-Country Camp - Dale Hadley
About last March while going through my current issue of soaring
magazine I saw Soar Minden's ad for cross country camp and thought to myself - "Maybe
that is just what I need." I was getting bored flying around Cedar Valley every
flight and I wasn't learning anything new. I sent an e-mail to Antonio Sabino for some
information, sent in my deposit, and planned for a week in Minden the last of July.
I arrived on Friday afternoon and my first impression was "there
are gliders everywhere - this must be soaring paradise." I would guess there were
easily over a hundred gliders around the airport from 1-26s to very nice motorgliders and
just about every make and model in between and there are routinely 3 to 5 tow planes for
very little waiting.
The first morning was spent getting the Kestrel rigged and ready to fly
and then I was introduced to Andrew McFall and given a tour and briefing of Douglas County
Airport . Andrew had incredible knowledge and experience and he shared a lot of it with me
that whole week. We took off that afternoon. He in a Ventus and me in my Kestrel and I
followed him on a 200k+ flight south to Mono Lake. A 41/2 hour flight - close to the
longest flight I had ever had and that was the first afternoon.
Day 2 started with classroom activities - continued orientation with
charts and weather of the local area. Minden has many small airports and landing areas for
safe cross-country landouts. I met Dave Moseley (one of the local great high time pilots)
and he was my lead for that afternoon. I followed him south again and he showed me around
the area and oriented me again with all of the most dependable thermal areas and safe land
out spots.
Day 3 again started approximately 9 a.m. with classroom discussion and
then I followed n a 6+ hr, 300+k triangle flight.
Day 4 they asked me if I was ready to declare and fly my own 300k
flight! I was, but I ended up getting pushed down by a thunderstorm and landed out but had
a great first try.
Day 5 after a slight change in my triangle I wrote up my declaration,
got ready and took off again and this time completed my flight in 6 hours. I had also had
the altitude gain I needed to complete my gold badge. This flight also gave me my diamond
goal.
Day 6, 4 of us took off and flew trying to get down to the White
Mountains and possibly do a 500k but the Whites weren't working and we had to settle for a
4 hour flight.
I could have flown another two days but I had had nearly 30 hours of
flight and what I guess to be over 1000 miles in 6 days and I was mentally and emotionally
full. I had learned and accomplished more than I had ever dreamed of.
Thank you Tony, Andrew and Dave for answering all my questions, sharing
your knowledge and experience, for the great week and renewing my enthusiasm for soaring.
Editor's note: Dale is a long-time
association member who shares ownership of a Kestral with other members Rod Bridge and Del
Jensen. They fly primarily out of Cedar Valley.
Cloud Shadows
When nearing cloudbase it often becomes difficult to distinguish
individual clouds and relative distances. (see photo above) By studying cloud shadows the
distance between clouds becomes apparent as does their horizontal dimension and the
direction you need to fly to reach them.
Other valuable bits of information to be gained from watching cloud
shadow movement are wind direction and speed. These will often indicate how you are going
to escape from the ridge.
Much information can be gained before you are even in the air by
watching certain markers on the way to the gliderport.
Surface winds: In which direction and how strong is the flag waving at
the Lucas manufacturing plant near the 1-80 and Hwy. 40 intersection? Are the surface
winds blowing in the same direction at the airport?
Winds aloft: How are the clouds layed out? In which direction are the
cloud shadows moving? This is readily observed driving down the hill from Jordanelle Dam.
Which way are the shadows moving from the Pines? This will often be the direction you will
use to leave the ridge after gaining altitude. The view from the Jordanelle grade will
also show the extent of development over the Uintas and in the direction of Strawberry
Reservoir.
Duty Officer Schedule
Aug. 15. Pete Kintner
Aug. 22. Matt McNamara
Sept. 5 DeWensen
Sept. 12. Paul Eastman
Sept. 19. Carl Redlin
Sept. 26. Lynn Alley
Oct. 3 Doug Spencer
Mountain Weather Seminar
As part of the FAA's Aviation Safety Program NWS meteorologists will
make a presentation on mountain winds and clouds, weather radar and home page weather
infor-mation, (/ assume the later is about weather resources on the WWW). The presentation
will be from 7-9 PM Thursday, Aug. 20 in the Gore Auditorium at Westminster College, 1840
S. 1300 E. in Salt Lake City. For info call David Turner at 801-942-3514 or go to http://www.faa.gov./fsdo.sic.
Submit Pictures and Stories
I'm sure many of you have stories and photos that we could print in
the newsletter. If you want to send in a letter or article please follow the following
guidelines. 1. Include all text on a floppy disk or in the body of an email message.
Please run a spell checker on your article. Use carriage returns only at paragraph breaks.
2. You may send either the actual print or attach an image file to an email message. 3. If
you attach a photo to an email mes- sage send it as a grayscale (black and white) image in
jpeg format with a maximum dimen- sion of 900 pixels in any direction. 4. Include captions
for your photos so we can better understand what's going on. Send to: Fred Wright 2116 E.
Lambourne Ave. SILC, UT 84109 email: fred.wright@art.utah.edu
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