It is time for the annual Spring Safety Seminar. Mark you calendars for Saturday, May 11th at 10am in the FBO Building.
Weather permitting we will plan to see if the Grills still work and cook up some burgers for lunch after the meeting.
If you haven’t already been out and taken your Spring Club check ride, then plan to do so in the afternoon or on Sunday 12th.
It’s flying season and we haven’t seen enough of you out flying. Please spread the word. See you on the 11th if not before.
With Many thanks to Bill Dietrich, Larry Perry and Walter spring check-flights are now available for qualified 1-26 and 1-34 pilots using the PW-6 (i1).
The 1-26 is on the line. Greg Hunter had a nice 3-1/2 hour flight last weekend. The 1-34 annual is finishing up and should be on the line shortly also.
So come out, get your Spring check-ride and go-fly.
This from Larry Perry
I heard from Bill Batesole this morning, and due to an unanticipated improvement in the weather and a few hours of unexpected “free time” available from NESA’s favorite FedEx driver, the yellow 2-33 is another step closer to being back in service.
Although the wx forecast yesterday called for mostly overcast skies with showers, the forecasters changed their minds this morning to at least partly sunny skies and low winds.
At mid-late morning there was a fair amount of activity at VSF…Walter had (of course) arrived, and N60AB, the owner of the Beech Duke that commutes between ISP and VSF, was on final. The Upper Valley Flight Club’s C-172 was flying patterns. B2 arrived and towed Walter to 2500′ and by the time the Pawnee landed, Walter was climbing through 6000′
Bill did the work that required brains, I provided the brawn, or that amount I had available. Bill was hoping to get two more cross-coats of primer on both sides of the 2-33 tail feathers, and that went much smoother than expected. With the sun and weather holding up, Bill was able to get the final primer coats on the nose of the 2-33, as well.
As we finished packing the 2-33 fuselage back into Bill’s workshop around 3:30 pm, Walter called overhead, inbound to land. A pretty spectacular soaring day.
With a lot of help from Larry and Alasdair, we managed to put together the 1-26 and I then I had a three and one half hour flight. It is now tied down waiting to be used.
Dr Jack’s website predicted a very good day and from roll time to 6000 feet AGL, took me 14 minutes. So I knew Dr Jack was right. Being a cloudless sky made for a bit of a challenge to find the lift, but flying on the windward side of the high ground that got sun, made it an easy flight to stay up. I had 800 feet lift for half a circle numerous times, but I usually averaged 400 to 600 feet/minute. Despite the bright sun at 6,700 feet AGL, it was best to not touch the sides of the cockpit, not use the air vent, and I should have worn a long sleeve shirt. I flew to Ascutney, downtown Springfield, Gassetts, and back to Ascutney before I decided to land at 4 pm. Mark Farley was taking up CAP students in their Blanik and when he landed at 4:30, he said the day was still booming. Halfway through my flight at 5,500 feet, I noticed a glass ship about 2 miles south of the airport slightly above me drifting towards the direction of Keene, NH. They are so beautiful when the sun glistens off their wings. Other than that, the sky was my own.
Greg