Annual New Years Day Gathering at SOSA

Every New Years Day, SOSA members gather in the clubhouse to usher in the new year.

Please join us starting around 11 am for this pot-luck gathering. The wood stove will be glowing, the beer fridge will be well stocked and there might even be some nice hot soups.

While the recent snow storms have dumped lots of snow, hopefully the warming trend over the last week will be enough to melt the snow to the point where we can safely fly.

see you there

So you want to be a fighter pilot...

first you need to be a competition glider pilot.

A recent article in the British Sailplane & Gliding magazine was an interview with John Allison the former Commander in Chief of RAF Strike Command (and glider pilot). In the article he says:

"Based on my background as a fighter pilot and my understanding of the qualities that you need to be a good competition glider pilot, many of these qualities are the same as those needed by frontline aircrew in the RAF.

The ability to think lucidly under pressure while operating in a slightly uncomfortable environment.

The ability to make on-going tactical decisions over a period of time without fatigue or loosing concentration.

The strength of character to manage risk successfully.

The ability to overcome personal fear.

The willingness, at times, to put it on the edge to achieve success.

The ability to think laterally.

Gliding is quite a cerebral activity. Anyone who could be a successful competition glider pilot has in my opinion bucketloads of aircrew qualities as I recognize them in a military context."


Interesting...

Ridge Soaring in the 505 (Video)

This video was filmed on the 3 Nov weekend when Spencer Hunt and I went to Ridge Soaring in Pennsylvania to extend our season a little with some Ridge Soaring in the 505.

As you can hear from the radio chatter there was a lot of activity that day. Look closely and you can see the other gliders on the ridge, and if you listen closely you can hear my instructions to Spencer about ridge flying. Of course, I had no idea that he was recording at the time!

Workshop Upgrades

Over the last couple of weeks, the SOSA workshop has been a flurry of activity in preparation for the LS4 project scheduled for this winter.

The team consisting of Andrew Corrigan, Dennis Dyke, George Haeh, Scott Hube, Spencer Hunt, Al Grant, Ange Savoia, Dave Springford, Luke Szczepaniak, Ping Wu all led by John Brennan installed a ceiling in the shop to reduce heat loss through the roof.

Over the following week, the propane heaters were mounted to the ceiling, the propane tanks were delivered and Roy Auwaerter wired the electrical to the heaters before the gas fitter arrived to finalize the installation and hook up the gas.

We now have 90,000 BTU heating capacity in the shop to keep the workers toasty warm as we start on the LS4.

We were also able to sneak a little flying in between the work and before the snowfall covered the runway.