Q2, 5E, YZ, B9 rigging for some Father’s Day fun. All looking forward to a great day. One with no intention of landing back home.

A special fathers day for Greg Hunter. The plan – fly from VSF to Eagles nest where his daughter would meet him with his trailer for ground retrieve. All went to plan and a great little father/daughter adventure. Nice.

Junior member Ben Berg, who soloed last year at 14, snapped this photo from his solo afternoon flight today. Piloting the NESA 1-26 and releasing from tow about 3000′ MSL, Ben thermalled up to 8,700′ MSL and flew for 2-1/2 hours “…only cause I had to land. Took me a while to get down once I pulled full airbrakes at 6,000′ over the airport.”

Bill D and Colby v K flew today, as well.

Thanks to Alasdair for CFI-G’ing, and Bob Iuliano for towing.

If you haven’t already, logon to the club scheduling calendar and get back in the air!

Larry

Andy Kozak reports “Bob Iuliano, Greg Hunter and Andy Kozak flew up into wave lift over the airport. Picture is from approximately 9,000′. They then flew toward Okemo and the upwind wave. There Bob and Greg reached 11,000′.”

Clear skies, warming temperatures with a light to moderate winds greeted NESA members arriving at the airport Saturday morning. With the first instructional slot of the day not spoken for, things began a bit slower than normal, with the first flight not anticipated until around noon. CAP had arrived early with about two dozen cadets and senior members, and had already launched a couple of flights.

Bob Iuliano arrived, after surviving a blowout on his glider trailer enroute from Lake George. By late morning, Bill Detrich, Bill Batesole, Alasdair, Mark Farley, Phil Stoddard, Brian Xander, Colby von Kennewurff, and Andy Kozak had arrived, and the club 1-34 and several private ships had been towed to the staging area for RWY 23. CAP was already launching from RWY 23, so the cutout area was a busy place with all the CAP members, shade canopies, golf carts, and gliders. Brian Xander had parked the NESA Callair tow plane on the grass just south of the cutout, with the CAP tow plane parked just south of the Callair.

The CAP tow plane started up to take the runway and taxied into a runway edge light, striking it with the propeller. The debris from the strike sent shrapnel into the Callair, punching holes in the fabric on the right flap, the right empennage, and through the vertical stabilizer. Thankfully, considering how many people were nearby, there were no injuries.

NESA member, A&P, and fabric guru Bill Batesole looked the Callair over and said “Let’s get it over to my hangar, we can have it flying in an hour.”

With a group effort, the Callair fabric was patched, the winter cowl flaps got exchanged for the summer flaps, and gliders were launched by mid afternoon. A thunderstorm that was forecast to stay north of Springfield pushed south, and those in the air landed around 5 pm.

More NESA members and their families arrived during the afternoon, and the grills were fired up as we moved under the cover of the hangar door as a storm moved in over Hawks Mountain. The storm blew through in ten minutes or so, followed by a beautiful rainbow to the east.

Alasdair did a masterful job as chief chef and grillmeister, and there were plenty of burgers, dogs, brats, veggie/turkey burgers, salads, chips, dips, you-name-it, for everyone.

Summer is here. Life is returning to pre-pandemic “normal.” Come out and FLY!

Been a lot of flights recently getting to 9K or better, if these strong conditions continue please be aware that there is a T-MOA in effect this month for F-15 training between 9,000MSL and 18,000 MSL (bottom of class A) as depicted on the above.

Wx is looking more optimistic for this weekend than it turned out for Memorial weekend. So, let’s give it another shot!

Cookout “After Flying”, bring whatever you want. We will have some basics – burgers/dog’s etc. available.

Please check your email and RSVP using the link provided to give us an idea of who’s coming. For COIVD precautions – please bring your own chairs so that we can spread out a bit while eating and don’t crowd the serving table. Thanks!

Hope to see a good turn out.

“5:30 aloft 9,000 ft. Mostly Very smooth lift. Flew as far as New London to the East and Okemo to W. Close to LEB. And S near Bellows Falls.”

The weather looks good for the weekend, so login and reserve your flying slot, and join us for the DIY BBQ this Saturday, June 5 at 5:00 pm.