2-33 Getting Closer..

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.

Start to 2019 Season

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

Yellow 2-33 Refurbishment Update

This from B2:

Hello NESA,

The 2-33 is covered and through two coats of brushed silver. I’ll wait until spring weather to spray the final silver coat and then start with color.

Thanks to Walter Striedieck and Pieter Schwartzembach for their help in putting the initial fabric on the fuselage.

I installed a mini split heat pump at the shop. What a difference having real heat!

Bill

All stripped ready to begin:

Preparation for recovering:

Covered !!!

 

Ready for paint in the spring..

Annual Meeting & Holiday Dinner: January 12th

The annual dinner is scheduled for Saturday January 12th, 2019 at MacLaomainns in Chester.  5:30pm Happy hour, dinner 6:30. Everyone should have received an email invite, please RSVP as soon as possible.  The sooner we can give the pub numbers the easier for them, and the sooner we know we will have a solid quorum for the business meeting the better for us.  Hope to see everyone there in a little over a month :-).

 

Thanks to all who helped with Winter Put-Away

All the club gliders were disassembled ahead of the snow and are safely tucked away in hangars for the winter.  Thanks to all who came out to help including – Brian Xander, Bill Batesole, Andy Kozak, Greg Hunter, Dave Carton and anyone else I missed.

We let the 1-3 annual slip so that it can be done over the winter and hopefully therefore will have no interruption to it’s flying season next year.

Contest Cookout – Sunday 7/1

All – We are planning to hold a cookout on Sunday 7/1 at the end of the official practice day for the contest.

We would love to see lot’s of NESA members attend and are also looking for your help to bring a dish to share with the contest participants.

You should see a picnic sign-up email later today, so please sign up, bring a dish to share and help us welcome the Region 1 contestants to Springfield.  Thanks!

Instruction Sign-Up’s & Show-Ups’

All – a couple of quick reminders.  (i) Please use the Online instruction sign-up sheet to let us know when you want instruction, (ii) If you cannot make a day you previously signed up for, please remove your name from the list and if it’s the “day off” please call the duty instructor to let them know.  We have had a couple of no-show’s recently that kept the instructor grounded waiting for a student when they could have otherwise gone soaring.  Thanks.  An instructor contact tab has been added to the sign-up sheet.

Instruction Sign-Up Reminder

All – The instruction sign-up sheet seems pretty light at the moment. It’s time everyone got out and flew.  As a reminder please use the on-line instruction sign up sheet to tell us what days you want instruction: Instruction Sign-Up sheet

Tuesday evening instruction starts again for this season next Tuesday 5/29 so come out and fly all memorial weekend and keep going on Tuesday evening too!

Memorial Weekend

A reminder, this weekend is Memorial weekend so we’ll be flying Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  There will be a cookout after flying on Sunday.  Bring a dish to share and something to throw on the grill.

Fleet Update..

A new 1-26 has joined the fleet.  Bill tracked her down then Larry and Walter made the long trip to Marion Airport in Ohio (same place the Blue 2-33 was acquired from) to bring her home.

So Big Blue and little blue are both together and in their tie-downs ready to go.

The 1-34 is still in the Barn from its winter hibernation and needs to be put together for the season.  Let’s get some volunteers and get that done this coming weekend.

Work continues on the yellow 2-33 refurbishment which is getting closer to being ready for recovering