Eight members attended the meeting this morning. We discussed the current scheduling system in an effort to ensure the instructor on duty can adequately cover the students signed up for the day. We also talked about the need for adequate ground ops personnel to run wings, etc. We grilled burgers at the end of the meeting, then club members took a dozen tows with Bill towing and Jerry instructing.

Tomorrow looks promising for flying. Hope to see you out there!

In one of the most reliable ways of ensuring rain next Saturday, NESA is planning to hold our monthly member meeting. The meeting will begin at 10 am. We will have a brief discussion, fire up the grill for burgers, then go fly.

Hope to see you out there!

Saturday we had some hot start issues with the Callair and ran the battery low. Putting it on charge did nothing. Sunday we finally figured out that the lightening on Friday fried the GFI sockets in the hangar and the issue was magically solved when we found and plugged the charger into the one socket that actually still worked! Duh. So, after a slightly delayed start Sunday proved to be a great soaring day and finally a lot of ships got out of their boxes..

FYI – Fridays lightening also took out the gas pump and the main gate. Hopefully both will be back in business for next weekend.

Here is a small sampling of photographs and a video from this weeks ACE camp. Thank you to all of the NESA folks who helped out – ACE Camp Wrap Up – 2023 | New England Soaring Association (flynesa.com)

Until next year..

This Sunday, between or after your flying please ask what help you can give to set up for ACE Camp (which starts Monday morning)… we need to get the classroom set-up in the terminal, clean the terminal, stock the refrigerator cut wood for the wing-rib workshops etc., etc.

Thanks!

After a great weekend of flying and instruction, here’s a reminder that the member meeting is this Saturday, July 29 at 10 a.m. This month we will not get the grill going – hopefully the weather will cooperate, and we will be able to start flying a little earlier in the day.

Hope to see you out there!

Springfield is hosting the Green Mountain Aerobatic Contest this weekend. There are several NOTAMs relating to that contest this weekend for KVSF. They include:

Aerobatic aircraft within an area 1 NM radius of KVSF from the surface to 4500 feet AGL

Runway 11 right traffic

Runway 23 right traffic

Please check NOTAMs prior to flight in case there are others. Thank you, Brian, for pointing these out!

Hope to see you out there!

The forecast weather forced the cancellation of the member meeting and flying on Saturday, June 24. We will let you know about Sunday flying tomorrow evening.

I sure hope this weather improves sometime soon.

Hope to see you out there!

Congratulations to Ben Berg for passing his Private Airplane flight test with DPE Daryl Smith. Ben and Bill (his instructor) have been busy flying the Cessna 182 to meet all the requirements for the rating. This included night flying, instrument training, cross-country and solo cross-country flights plus all the maneuvers required. Ben taught himself flying skills using his home flight simulator, achieving a high level of proficiency before he started his actual flying in the 182. Ben learned to fly in sailplanes and he achieved his Private Glider Pilot rating, so he knew how to fly, adding the engine was easy.

Ben is another NESA success story, teaching junior members how to fly. The Honor Roll list of NESA juniors going on to aviation careers is long. ACE Camp and the CAP Glider programs with the dedication of skilled volunteers are are also making a big difference in introducing young people to the world of aviation and all this is happening at Hartness State Airport KVSF.

We have a lot to be proud of.

Good morning. Alasdair and I have decided to cancel operations for today. Last evening we thought it would be flyable, but the Terminal Area Forecast is much worse this morning than it was last night. So far tomorrow looks good, so keep your fingers crossed the forecast holds up.

Hope to see you out there.