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I hope everyone has marked Saturday, September 18 on their calendars for the Fall BBQ. As usual, the club is providing the hot dogs, hamburgers and drinks. We ask that members bring a side dish of their choosing. Please check with Matt Zimmer if you have any questions. The 2-33 made its triumphant return to service on Friday, August 6. As we didn’t get all the painting done yet, I would suggest sunglasses if you go look it over for the first time in bright sunlight. The general feedback is that it flies very nice. We have a new member, Ned Dolan. Ned is a recently retired commercial pilot with 28,000 hours TT, and about 100 glider hours. I had the pleasure of taking a sponsor flight with Ned in the Grob a couple of Sundays ago. We skirted a storm cell along Timber Lakes. Moved over to Castle Peak east of Kamas, and then ran over to Deer Valley before heading back for the 4 o’clock reservation, all the while listening to Kilo Lima and a couple of other associate members on 123.3 exploring farther reaches. Please introduce yourself to Ned at the Fall BBQ! We need a crew to work on patching up the holes in the Grob trailer roof. The project needs to be completed before the end of October. Stan Misiewicz is heading up this project. At least one, and maybe preferably only one, expert in fiberglass repair is needed for the team. For the rest of the crew, experience with fiberglass repair is desirable but not absolutely necessary. Please call Stan to help out on this project. The annual membership meeting is coming up in a couple of months (November). We will have general elections for President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The positions of Safety Officer and Maintenance Officer are appointed by the new board. Please consider filling one of these positions for next year, particularly if you have not served on the Board before. And lack of experience is not an excuse! Serving on the board is a great way to learn more about the club, the people in the club, sailplanes and soaring. Also, if you have a suggestion, regarding where to hold this years’ meeting, please give me a call or email me (parkito@aol.com). The September Board meeting is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 14. If anyone is aware of any issues that should be presented at the meeting, please bring it to the attention of one of the current Board members. I hope to see everyone at the BBQ! Parke Byron Inadequate Tie-downs People are again failing to adequately tie down club gliders. On numerous occasions I have had to re-tie the 1-34 and 2-33 due to loosening of the ropes. The Grob has generally been tied down well. A great deal of effort and money has gone into upgrading the club gliders. The use of slip knots and unsecured hitches is not adequate. At any one time most of the aircraft tied down at Heber and other airports I fly out of are inadequately secured. The vast majority of aircraft insurance claims are for damage done on the ground. At the very least the ropes should be passed through the tie-down rings twice and secured with at least one snug half-hitch to provide adequate friction to limit loosening (above). To view an example of proper tie-down take a look at my Pilatus, N65332. I have no loosening even over a period of a couple of weeks. Fred Wright, Flight Operations and Safety This year board members are: Parke Byron, President 582-7802 Duty Officer Schedule
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