As you know, the Club has asked me to begin a program that will safely introduce qualified pilots to the fun and challenges of Cross Country Flying. Over the past month or so I have been developing a syllabus for the Classroom Sessions. This syllabus has been approved by the Club's Officers and Board of Directors. We hope to begin the classroom sessions in early June. Included below is the syllabus and a tentative schedule. Four participants have already signed up and there is room for more. If you are interested, please complete the form included at the end of the message and return it to me.
The course will have two different ways of presenting the material needed for learning to fly Cross Country, "Classroom Sessions" and "Practical Flights" in the ASK-21 with an experienced pilot along as a guide. We will hold the lectures/discussions on Cross Country Flying in the classroom at the New Market Airport on Saturday mornings in June (see below for a schedule). I will serve as the primary instructor and other experienced pilots will attend some of the sessions to provide their expertise in the discussions. The classroom lectures will be oriented to the practical aspects of cross country flight. - Jim Garrison
The classroom sessions will be held rain or shine at the New Market Airport beginning at 9:00 AM on Saturdays. We will stop at 12:00 Noon so we can fly. I have tentatively scheduled two lectures (subjects) each day so that we only have to travel to New Market once each weekend. The days listed below fit pretty well with the schedule of known participants, but if there are major problems we can adjust it. There will be handouts and other materials used. I will try to include meaningful exercises to help illustrate the important points. The Club will charge about $15.00 to cover the costs of preparing handouts and the like. No text will be required as the material presented will come from many different books. However, I will recommend one or two books for reference.
After learning all the interesting material outlined above, the participants will plan and fly a 30-50 mile cross country flight in the ASK-21 with one of the class instructors in the ship to make sure everything goes smoothly. The expectation is that the cross country speeds would be low (~20 mph) so the task should be set to go far enough away from the airport to be realistic, but close enough to keep the flight times at ~2 hours and leave time for multiple flights on that day. An out and return flight of silver distance length would probably work well. Obviously, these flights will need to take place on a "good day", so they will be arranged and flown with the experienced pilots as the course progresses over the summer.
Information to Return to Jim Garrison I would like to get a firm idea of how many of Skyline's members will attend the course. If you have not done so, could you please fill out the form below and return it to me.
Send them by e-mail to : jcg8w@virginia.edu or via regular mail to
James C. Garrison, 715 Lochridge Lane Earlysville, Virginia 22936. Please provide the following information-
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Phone
Student or Instructor ? -If Instructor, Special expertise ?
Pilot Certificate Bronze Badge ?
FAI Badges ? Glider Hours
Cross Country Experience
Other Information
It's really hard - no, it's impossible - to convey the real sensations of a moving event. No matter how graphic the description, or even how clear the video or photo, nothing really conveys the feel of a kiss! At best, all an artist can do is remind us of a wonder we've already experienced. We appropriately reward writers, artists, photographers, and filmmakers for their attempts to do that.
Now if you've done it, you can imagine/remember what it really feels like to skim in a wave alongside a blindingly white rotor cloud, four or five miles long and two thousand feet thick and two miles up, watching the roiling surface change shape before your eyes as it unfolds in front of you, chasing your own glory in a multicolored ring of fire shining up from the side of the cloud, and playing tag with sinuous towers of mist as they shoot up and out like magic fountains, curling and coiling around your wings. Another great day to be alive and in the air. - Jim Kellett
Jim Kellett's Diamond Goal flight has been approved and Joe Parrish has received his Silver Badge. Congratulations to both
The Saturday closing procedure should include removing the ASK battery from the left wing and connecting it to the charger which is on the shelf at the nose of the plane. The charger can be left on all night. The Sunday morning folks should include replacing the battery in the pre-flight. The battery for the ASK needs to be charged much more often than before the radio installation. As a starter, I suggest that the Saturday crew put the battery on charge, and the Sunday crew return it to the plane. To remove the battery, loosen the large screw at the front top of the battery, lift the front, and slide it toward you. Pull the plug straight out of the socket. When returning the battery to the plane, do NOT tighten the screw past snug, since it compresses rubber feet, the screw does not get real tight.-Fred Winter
There have been several changes made to the roster over the past month. Please look over the roster carefully to note the days you're scheduled to work. About Thursdays: We're trying to schedule Thursdays on a regular basis. As you can see below, there are many TBDs for Duty Officer, Tow Pilot and Instructor. If anyone is willing to volunteer to work any of the Thursdays or other TBD days on the roster, please call me (703) 379-4721 or e-mail LCSergent@aol.com. Thanks! We'll keep you posted as Thursday operations firm up.-Lisa Sergent
Who to call? Well, if I'm supposed to be there, call me. If you want instruction, for sure call me (unless there's another instructor on tap). Alternate is to call the towpilot, because unless someone alerts him/her, ain't gonna be no towing!! )
I'll try to post a note early in the week as a reminder and with the "status" of the flight schedule as I know it - except when I'm not here!. There will be no posting from me in advance of the June 26 operation, because I'm out of town right up until that Wednesday night! If you want instruction, just leave an e-mail note in my box. To confirm that you want to FLY, be sure to call the towpilot and/or DO for that day in addition to leaving me a note! Don't forget to talk to each other!
Also, emergencies excepting, because Thursdays are by design "light" days, try to be available to get out/put away stuff... don't just drop by, take a flight, and take off unless you just have to !!
Gosh, this is fun. -Jim Kellett
Jim writes: "The project cost me about $60 so far (for fertilizer). [That doesn't count Kevin's donation of his expertise and his $50,000 computer wizard to lay out the project!] And it's soon going to cost another $35 for the next installment (about 600 lbs. of lime to lock in the nitrogen), plus another $60-75 in late summer or early fall for a slow release fertilizer replenishment. If we do those things, the "art" should be visible well into 1998. I suspect that if we keep it, there'll be an annual expense of somewhere around $100-150. There's an option for reseeding that's under consideration, but not decided yet.
Anyhow, there's room for at least $100 in member contributions if you'd like to participate in this project to Put Skyline Soaring On The Map. So, happy campers, if you're inclined, "show me the money"!
I've already had a couple of volunteers who've said they'd help me with the labor - which is extensive (it takes about 4 hours to lay down something), so they (they know who they are) are exempt from this solicitation! Thanks in advance to them! Make your checks payable to me. If I'm honest, I'll keep the money separate from my personal investment in the Turf Art Fund. If I'm not honest, I'll use it to buy beer for the crew that shows up in the rain some Thursday."
Editor's note-We need some good photographs of this Organic Mona Lisa, so take your camera along when you come to witness the great lengths grown men will go to express themselves.
Shane has loaned the Club a neat magnetic board and we're ready to go. Send your information to Jim Kellett.
And finally, on a sad note - our condolences to Joe Rees whose mother died recently.