Greetings, NESA folks!

It’s a week after the Annual Meeting, and I wanted to reach out to the club. If you were at the meeting, it was great to see you. If you weren’t, I hope to see you out at the field. Dinner was great. We had 17 members attend along with some friends and family, bringing the total to roughly 30 people. The meeting was held after dinner. We will post the official meeting minutes to the club website when they are approved at the next board meeting. Here are some of the highlights:

Larry gave both the President’s and Vice-President’s reports, and Jerry Smith presented the Treasurer’s report on.

The members who attended voted for the ballot of club officers in person, and Andy sent an email before the meeting for absentee ballots. These are the NESA officers and directors for the upcoming year:

President – Jim Malecha

Vice President – Larry Perry

Secretary – Andy Kozak

Treasurer – Jerry Smith

Directors – Second year of two-year term Bill Batesole and Dave Carton;

newly elected to two-year term Steve Hurd, John Watkins

Three awards were presented:

President’s Award – Colby Von Kannenwurff

XC Award – Eric Nelson

Uplift Award – Jim Malecha

An annual honorary membership was awarded to Walter Streideck

The other board members and I are looking forward to the upcoming season. We will keep you posted on efforts to grow the membership ranks, increase the number of soaring days, and cost-cutting and fundraising efforts.

Thanks, and hope to see you out there!

JiM

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