Convector
Newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association

"So, Bill, what will you call your 'new' ship? You are still going to be 'Papa Sierra?' "

"No I don't think we are going to be 'Papa Sierra.' "

The name Papa Sierra came from the N number of our last glider, which we flew for a half dozen summers, a Schweizer 1-35C, N55PS. Or Five-Five Papa Sierra. "Papa Sierra" for short.

The "name" question always lurks around the fringes when a pilot acquires a new glider. And in truth, I too have pondered what to call it. It's now prominently marked with racing letters on its tail and under its wing - November 8.

Do we stick with that out of convenience, as out of convenience for the last six years we have been Papa Sierra? Do I want something else, something short and sweet, easily recognized for radio call safety reasons? Should the name reflect her new owners? Like maybe... Whiskey Two? (Whelan Two). Or... Juliet Whiskey? (Judy Whelan). Or... Juliet Bravo? (Judy/Bill) Or... Zero Mike Mike? (As in its N number: N20MM). There are many possibilities besides these for November Eight. Hmmm... I could even be... Sierra Papa.

I had my third flight yesterday in the "new" ship. The new ship is really an old PiK-20. Just learning the basics of climbing with the new ship after 800 hours in the old has taken some time. Sufficiently longer than anticipated that it's been both a bit frustrating and disappointing. My first 3 1/2 hour flight was on a "wave suppression" day - something I would have detected and adapted to in minutes with Papa Sierra, but which I didn't recognize in the new ship at all until after landing and talking to other pilots. Wave suppression generally features poorly organized, chopped up, challenging thermals. I landed feeling I'd missed cleanly "nailing" a single thermal. Amazing! Whether it was partly the day, the ship, the instrumentation, or me, it was totally frustrating. And with no one to fly with or against, how was I to gauge her real abilities? After flight number one there were a lot more questions than answers. "Does she climb adequately? Will she run okay? Do we have vario problems? Is it just me? Is there a problem here? What?"

But yesterday we had a nice flight. Finally after 11 hours, I've made some considerable progress sorting things out. November 8 and I did some serious bonding in weak lift yesterday.

Prior to that, on our second flight lasting about 4 1/2 hours a day earlier, we had the opportunity to fly extensively with Paul Rehm in Kilo Whiskey. Paul in his 1-35C Kilo Whiskey is an excellent benchmark. We've had dozens of hours flying together and I know Paul and Kilo Whiskey's capabilities very well. On this second flight, flying together in multiple thermals, I am able to use the visual cues from Kilo Whiskey's climb rate. Integrating that with the information provided by the instruments along with "the feel" of the new ship, I am constantly adjusting, correcting, refining. For the first time I get a glimmer of possibilities. November 8 seemed to be able to climb with or better than Kilo Whiskey in all circumstances. And, as she should, she does run better. We do a number of series of extended cruises and climbs. After several thermals combining the result of each cruise and climb November 8 is always noticeably higher. By contrast Papa Sierra and Kilo Whiskey could be expected to hang together closely under these circumstances. The air was thrashy that day, air least well suited to a 1-35. Results may be different in air more favorable to Kilo Whiskey. But still, it is an encouraging sign. We also flew some weak thermals together where November 8 nicely holds her own.

Again what to name the ship? My thoughts drift back to this question yesterday as we waft about in the merest puffs of lift. Here - on flight number three - for the first time I truly start the proper integration of air movement, stick "feel," instrumentation response rates, ship's momentum and inertia. I also feel the first stirrings of admiration for November 8's flying abilities.

Reflecting on her "character" as we climb in those weak thermals the thought occurs, "You know... compared to the lightness and delicacy of 'Papa Sierra,' she seems slow and clumsy, almost as 'heavy as a pig.' Yet undeniably 'November 8' does dance, not with the feathery grace of a ballerina but more with the powerful athleticism of an offensive lineman. Taken on her own merits, plain as she may be, I find myself reluctantly drawn to the fact that she actually flies pretty well! A flying Pig?!? If she's a pig - and that's probably most unfair, since I know so little of her character - she must be a Sky Pig! Now that I am successfully directing her steps to my lead she waltzes wonderfully well in this light lift.' 'Papa Sierra'... 'Sierra Papa'... Hmmm... 'S.P'... maybe she should be the 'Sky Piggy.' What's that old saw that goes... 'If pigs could fly....'?"

Recently I have been thinking of November 8 as "Sierra Papa" (a.k.a. "The 'Sky Piggy,' " a term used affectionately). Miss Piggy and I came to our first real understanding yesterday. It's an understanding based on mutual respect gained waffling about for 3 hours in the softest of lift. The highest we got was just over 4K msl. She spoke most directly then. "If you will respect me and give me a chance I will show you that I too am really a fine 'girl.' "

Miss Piggy may not be as pretty nor as young as Papa Sierra. Papa Sierra understood she was no glamour girl by today's standards. That never reduced her robust self-esteem. At heart she was always "Pretty Sweet," a lovely little aerial ballerina imbued with great lightness, delicacy, and balance. But Miss Piggy has already shown, in her own way, she too can dance.

Making a quick decision to buy a used sailplane, presuming all is acceptable when you finally see it, is fraught with unknowns. It's a bit like being cast up on a desert island with a strange woman. Your thoughts inevitably ponder the questions, "Can you get along satisfactorily with this person? In truth... can you learn to love this woman?"

Miss Piggy demonstrated resoundingly yesterday that indeed she has substance and character; that she too can be "loveable." That it took this long is neither bad nor unreasonable. Papa Sierra set very high expectations when she whispered, mere moments into our 2nd flight, what a sweet ship she was. It took Miss Piggy one more flight. But now we know. As with any relationship, there surely will be bumps along the way. But in the long run we should do just fine.?

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2003 and the emerging soaring season is prosperous for everyone. M-ASA sure needs a slight shift in our recent luck, but I think that is coming. Everyone is concerned with the recent Camp David TFR expansion and the effect it has on M-ASA operations. December has been a difficult month in this regard. Preparations for the holidays, work schedules and the reduced number of workdays available to schedule meetings have all combined to limit our ability to secure a solution to this problem. Having stated the worst of it, I believe we may see some very positive actions during January.

We are positioned for a series of important meetings during the month of January. Through the efforts of several M-ASA members we have two Congressmen and a Senator working with us to find a solution allowing the security folks a level of comfort while allowing M-ASA to operate from the M-ASC. Additionally, although I have been unable to receive a return call from the Secret Service, Larry Sanderson managed to catch the agent in charge at his desk. In truth, Larry succeeded twice and has now established an e-mail exchange he is copying me on. The commitment he has managed to obtain so far is to schedule a meeting in early January. The details of this meeting will be set on the 7th after everyone returns to work. SSA and M-ASA will represent the soaring community.

My immediate efforts are coordinating the three congressional actions so as not to appear to be piling on or wasting staff time. My discussions with Congressman Bartlett, an aide for Congressman Holden and a letter from Senator Mikulski all indicate agreement that the grounding of M-ASA gliders is excessive and wrong. That said, we now need to find a graceful way to allow the folks who enacted this ridiculous restriction to implement an alternative allowing us to safely operate our aircraft.

Here are a couple of tidbits regarding the club fleet. The Super Cub annual is just about done. It should return to active status by the beginning of the year. The Pawnees will be inspected over the next month or two. Last year's late annual of 09P and the acquisition of 58L out of cycle with the other annuals are helping us spread the inspections and keep a tow plane available. The gliders have all been inspected. All but the ASK-13 passed their inspections. The ASK-13 has some repair work needed but I have not looked at it close enough to state the magnitude. I believe there will be some wood repair needed in the areas of the aileron cutouts. I hope it isn't major.

In 2002, we flew 2,142 tows between the two fields. This is down about 20% from the previous year. The two 2-33s at Frederick continue to be the heaviest used ships in the fleet. The yellow SGS 2-33 is third followed by the Ka-7 and the ASK-13. Grob usage this year is way off since the Twin II was out of service from May until mid August and the Twin Astir did not enter service until September. The three single seat gliders combined did not equal the number of flights flown by the ASK-13.

We need to address ways to improve our club glider utilization. One option is to start selling. Another is to look for better ways to encourage glider use. The single seat gliders are all capable of cross-country flights. Rules exist about how to go about this but I can not recall a single attempt in the last five years. Maybe the rules need to be readdressed. I'm sure many of you have ideas on this. I do as well. Without taking away from the important issue of Camp David I will attempt to put my thoughts on paper. I would appreciate others sending me their inputs and I will present them to the board in February. Keep in mind though, regardless of the guidelines we implement, we must put together a means to ensure safe and efficient retrieves if someone lands out in one of these gliders.

I noted the Grob usage was stale this year. This raises a concern regarding the Twin Astir. When we bought it I stated my desire to rotate it with the Twin II on an annual basis. This makes sense using the M-ASA year of March to March. I am having second thoughts on this at least for the coming season. The Astir is a different aircraft than the Twin II. The insurance requires a checkout and sign off in it. Relatively few have done this since it has only been available for four months and many weekends were not flyable due to rain and snow. We do have a cadre of instructors at Frederick checked out and available. If we move the glider to Fairfield we do not have an abundance of instructors. Would such a move render it a hangar queen when the Twin II would have been used? A better idea might be to delay the rotation until March 2004 or even mid season this year. The other option is to get folks checked out at Frederick between now and March. No matter what is done someone will find fault with it, so let me have your inputs now so I can look you in the eye come March and tell you where to go... to fly the Twin Astir or the Twin II (grin).

Don't forget to send your banquet reservations to Jim Furlong. The presentation promises to be a winner. Einar Enevoldson is a long time civilian test pilot for NASA who has flow a wide variety of research aircraft through the years. Dr. Elizabeth Carter, the Chief Meteorologist for the Perlan Project, will join him. They will present a detailed description of the project, the phenomena making it possible and the technical hurdles to be overcome to accomplish the project goals. The discussion should be one that is remembered for years.?

The M-ASA Banquet this year will feature Perlan Project participants as speakers and Larry Sanderson, the President of SSA, as a guest. The M-ASA Annual Awards Banquet will be held on Sunday, February 2, 2003 at 4:00 p.m. at the Ceresville Mansion in Frederick. The principal speakers will be Einar Enevoldson and Dr. Elizabeth J. Carter. Their talk is titled "Soaring To One Hundred Thousand Feet; Background, Status and 2003 Plans." They will tell us about Steve Fossett's high altitude soaring project that is currently in its initial stages. Steve Fossett was the first person to successfully circle the globe in a balloon alone (www.spiritoffreedom.com).

Einar Enevoldson has been a NASA test pilot. He was involved in many research programs, including those with experimental wings, propulsion and digital computer flight control systems. Among the NASA aircraft that he flew were the F-111, F-14, F-8 DFBW and SCW, YF-12A, the oblique wing AD-1, Controlled Deep Stall Sailplane, sub-scale F-15 RPV spin research vehicle and the X-24B Lifting Body. He and Steve Fossett are the pilots for the Perlan project, an effort to study new methods of gaining extremely high altitudes in South Polar born weather phenomena using a specially designed high altitude sailplane.

Dr. Elizabeth J. Carter is president of Firsspiegel LLC (www.firnspiegel.com), a research and consulting company and is the Perlan project chief meteorologist. Some of her recent projects include:

• Establishing Real-Time Weather Forecasting for the Eritrean Meteorological Center,
• Pacific Jets Landfalling Experiments (PACJET),
• Wind Profiler Derived Snow Level Algorithm for NOAA and California Dept. of Transportation,
• Meteorological Support and Modeling for the X43-A Supersonic NASA Flight Project,
• Research on Stratospheric Mountain Waves for Flight with a Sailplane to 100,000 feet,
• Avalanche Hazard Assessments for Crystal Bay, and Incline Village at Lake Tahoe, Nevada,
• Snowmaking Analysis for Diamond Peak Ski Resort, Lake Tahoe.

You can hear these two experts talk on a subject dear to our hearts (soaring and weather), and get a chance to chat with Larry Sanderson about our airspace limitations and what SSA is doing about them. All this for a measly $28 bucks and we will even throw in dinner and dessert for free!

There will be a cash bar open at 4 p.m. with hors d'oeuvres being served followed by dinner which begins with romaine and leaf lettuces with julienne vegetables, Roma tomatoes and croutons or with butternut and acorn squash soup. The main course will be Carved N.Y. Strip Loin of Beef with Roasted Garlic and Dark Cabernet Sauce, or Roast Stuffed Chicken Galantine with Green Chilies, Goat Cheese, White Corn and Red Peppers.

Just send your check for $28 dollars per person, made out to M-ASA c/o Jim Furlong.

Please do it quickly so we know how many to expect!

No one would have thought it, but we were able to squeeze in one last task before the season closed. Baude Litt (LBL) won that race against CL and Val Brain (13), covering 152.7 miles at a speed of 50.41 mph on a difficult day! Congratulations, Baude.

Still, one more victory under Baude's belt did not topple Jonathan Gere (34) from first place. Finishing with 13,473 points, Jonathan becomes this year's task day champion! Second place goes to Val Brain with 12,591 points, and third place to Michael Higgins (X6) with 11,746 points.

This season has turned out to be a great one for pilots and scorekeeper alike. Though it had a late start with the rain early on in the season, and not such a great summer, it was a true test of the pilots' skill. If anything, this season proved we have a bunch of champion pilots who can all fly in the weakest weather. It was also the best year for me to discover just what the rules meant. I've enjoyed it and am looking forward to next year. See you all then!

The following are completing their provisional year with M-ASA and should send a photo and a note requesting permanent membership:

• Harry Bates
• Bob Critchlow
• David Schober

Remember to submit your 2003 duty preference form!

As you all may or may not know, the airport in Petersburg, W99, had a change of management this year. A few weeks ago I stopped-by to chat with the new owners and see what (if any) were the plans for this season's wave camp. First off, the new owners are quite keen to keep the camp going. They would like to expand the soaring opportunities further if they could. However, there is a hitch for the coming season. They have been unable so far to secure an insurance company who will cover all their needs and so have chosen to cover their contractual needs and to not secure towing coverage at this time.

Larry Stahl and his son Alan, the new managers, would love to see an encampment this spring and have requested that I check as to M-ASA's ability to co-host the event. I have spoken with Glenn Collins and here is what he laid out preliminarily for me.

• I would need to present a request to the Board with the particulars.
• The event would be considered in the light of interest within our club.
• Any event held away from the home field would need to be run exactly as at one of our home fields. I.e. OD, tow sheet, fuel receipts and the whole nine yards.
• Any folks outside of our club wishing to be towed by us would need to become limited members.
• Non-member towing in club aircraft would not be allowed.
• All persons not familiar with the wave or W99 would need a pilots briefing before being towed.

While this list is a start, it may well be added to or deleted from as the board deems necessary. This note is only the first and very roughest draft, only intended to try to determine what if any interest there may be within our club to this proposal. My own circumstances dictate that I will have a few days at best to spend at this camp. This is a request for volunteers to cover us for all the other duties while we host this event. Without an OD for each day, this event will not happen within M-ASA. The early responses have all been positive but so far there are not sufficient volunteers for either the towing or OD duties. Several OD volunteers have suggested that we split the OD duties to half days so that each person would still be able to fly. I see no problem with that sort of shared duty.

In reviewing my own logs, the two previous encampments have been held over the first three weeks of March. I have spoken with Larry Stahl to confirm that a nine day camp covering two of the first three weekends would work for him. Currently he is checking the status of their wave window but foresaw no problems there. If you are interested in participating this year, please get in touch with me (darthbaitr@aol.com).