DG 505 to go to the Ridge

The 505 will be heading to Mifflin, Pa on either the weekend of 28-29 April or 5- 6 May.

The intent is to get a group of SOSA members to experience flying at a different site and learn about ridge soaring.

Anyone who is interested in making the trip, plesae email dave at sosaglidingclub dot com.

The exact date of the trip will be decided based on the weather forecast. Both Dave and Joerg will be designated ridge instructors for the trip.

Joerg plans to fly to Mifflin in his Piper Arrow and can take three passengers with him for the weekend, but the combined weight of the passengers can not exceed 480 lbs, everyone must be a Canadian Citizen and hold a valid Canadian passport.

A Great Start to the Season

The sun was out, the temperatures were perfect and the runway has dried nicely allowing us to kick-start the season this weekend. As of the end of flying on Sunday, we had launched 115 flights, flying from 10 am until 6 pm both Sat and Sun (and from noon till 5 pm on Fri).

Many completed their spring check flights and spin checks over the weekend, so we now have a good core of check instructors ready to get everyone else checked out.

The conditions were also superb with great soaring conditions - 5 kt average lift to 5000 ft. Luke flew the Jantar on Sat for 3 hours, confirming that the newly installed LX4000 is working well. On Sun both Luke and Sergei flew the LS4 again confirming the operation of the newly installed LX5000.

Tom Coulson and Chris Wilson also rigged and launched in W2 - likely making it the earliest soaring flights of the year in W2 history.

Let's Go!

It looks like the weather has finally cooperated and the runways should be OK for limited flying operations this weekend.

Let's Go Flying!

Spring Work Weekend

Another successful work weekend was held this past weekend with about 60 members helping out over the two days. Many thanks to those who chose to help the club prepare for the season.

Angelo Savoia and crew lay a new sidewalk from the Clubhouse to the office trailer, while Andrew Parker and crew built a skirt around the office trailer

Meanwhile, at the hangar, another crew was busy preparing the aircraft. Luke Szczepaniak and Sergei Morozov installed the LX4000 flight computer in the Jantar, while John Brennan installed the new LX5000 in the LS4.


Joerg Stieber and crew vacuumed, cleaned and waxed the Blaniks, Puchacz and Junior, as well as the three towplanes. Pat O'Donnell and the Jurgensen clan also added their talents to the towplane cleaning crew.

Dan Bush re-installed the LX5000 in the DG 505 after having been removed for winter storage.

The grass cutting crew under the tutelage of Scott McMaster were given a briefing on the operation of both the tractors and mowers.

During the lunch break on Saturday, Anthony Kawzowicz was presented with the SAC Instructor of the year award for his efforts not only instructing, but also mentoring and working around the club throughout the season. Congratulations Anthony!

There are still many jobs that need to be completed to get the operation going.

LS4 - needs t0 be cleaned, waxed then rigged

DG505 - needs t0 be cleaned, waxed then rigged

Junior ZCA - needs t0 be cleaned and waxed

Clubhouse needs to be swept out and furniture needs to be vacuumed

The runways need to be rolled

The sidewalk to the office trailer needs to be finished

Please contact Herrie Ten Cate or Andrea Kuciak about the clubhouse and grounds or Alan Grant for Aircraft.

Flight Line Efficiency

During both the Summer and Annual General meetings, improving flight line efficiency was discussed at length. Some of the key points regarding improving efficiency relate directly to member satisfaction and ultimately retention. Other benefits to improving our flight line are: less wasted fuel as tow planes idle, thus reducing cost and pollutants, more flights in a given day resulting in more revenue for the club – thus minimizing the need to increase fees.

Our goal should be to fly the maximum number of flights possible each day so that all members are given the opportunity to fly on a given day. There have been many days where we have launched 100 flights. We need to look at our field management on these days and adapt this success to every day operations.

This year we need to focus on four items to meet this goal.

1. Gliders will be placed on the runway in two lines at all times*.
2. Duty Instructors need to be pro-active in assigning student and Instructor pairings.
3. Field Managers need to manage the field – not run ropes.
4. The VIP role will change from that of flying all the Intros to managing the Intro/pilot pairing.

What does each of these points mean and how should they be implemented?

1. Gliders placed in two lines
1. Instead of placing gliders in a single line-astern row, gliders will be placed in two rows. This allows the Field Manager flexibility in launching, since there are two gliders at the front of the grid. For example if a single and two-place are both at the front and the Citabria is the next tow plane, the single should be launched first.
2. If a glider at the front of one row is not ready this also gives the Field Manager the ability to launch the other row, thus minimizing wait time and manpower to move the first glider from the runway.
3. * Both Runways 10 and 28 are two narrow for this type two-plane grid, so we will continue to use a single row on these runways. Typically, when using 10/28 the operation is fairly quiet.

2. Duty Instructors role in field management
1. The Field Manager job is the most important job on the flight line, yet it is typically held by our least experienced members since our more senior members move into the Duty Instructor role.
2. Duty Instructors must mentor the Field Managers to pass along knowledge.
3. The Field Manager does not know the students, whereas most instructors do so the Duty Instructors should be pro-actively working with the students and Instructors on the line to pair them up well before the flight. In an ideal world when there are lots of instructors on the line this allows pre-flight briefings to take place while waiting for a glider. Instead of at the front of the line with the tow plane waiting.

3. Field Managers need to manage the field
1. Field Managers must be aware of the big picture – this is not possible if they are running ropes and hooking up gliders. Delegate this task to other members who are waiting for a flight.
2. To improve efficiency, the Field Manager needs to focus on the gliders that are next to launch. By ensuring pilots in the second row are ready to launch, the first row will always be ready when the tow plane arrives. Depending on the number of tow planes in service, the Field Manager may need to focus on the second and third row in the grid.

4. The VIP role
1. On busy days, it is not feasible for the VIP to fly all the Intro flights, this is unsafe in terms of the fatigue the pilot will experience.
2. During the peak period, the VIP should focus on managing the Intro list and available pilots. By doing this we will again remove some load from the Field Managers and allow them to concentrate on launching gliders.
3. In the morning before the flight line is busy, and again at the end of the day, the VIP will likely be required to fly some of the Intros, but when things get busy they must assume a management role.
4. In recognition that the VIP is above and beyond the normal Flight line duties, the VIP's will have 1 less normal duty.
   

To implement these changes will take some effort on the part of all members and it will take some time to adapt to the new system, but the resulting improvements on the flight line will positively affect everyone’s opportunity to fly, and that is why we are all at SOSA.!