SOSA's K-21's in Progress at the factory

After the contest in Luesse, I had the opportunity to tour the Schleicher factory in Poppenhausen Germany and see SOSA's K-21's in production. The picture above shows one of our K-21 fuselages just after the two halves were glued together. The gentleman in the picture with me is Ulrich Kremer one of the company owners and grandson of Alexander Schleicher, the founder of the company,

This pictures shows the second K-21 fuselage alongside the first.

and finally, the wings.

The gliders are on schedule for a November completion and will be ready to fly at the beginning of next season.

First solo, traditional ending

This is a great photo of the ending of Vlada Dekina's first gliding solo. Vlada, who recently came to SOSA, had prior experience as a power aerobatic pilot. She soloed on August 23rd, a little over a month after joining. Her first solo flight in the Blanik, her nineteenth on type, was uneventful ...
That is, until Andrea Kuciak showed up with the time honoured aviator's welcome to the ranks of pilot in command, involving a bucket of ice-cold water.
Congratulations Vlada, and may you enjoy many years of flying accomplishments at SOSA Gliding Club.

Rain? What rain? A couple of dedicated guys - part 2

The year's wet weather is not a barrier to two SOSA pilots accomplishing milestones: a return to solo flying, and a multi-hour flight.
On Monday August 5th, Dave Simek (bottom photo) flew solo, returning to flying after many years away from soaring. A few days earlier, Poul Hansen (top photo) did his first five hour flight. Poul's flight is the second successful five hour duration flight from SOSA this season. The flight, often called the "silver duration", is part of the requirements for the FAI silver badge.
Dave says, " With the continual help and quality training from the instructors I was up to speed in no time. I found that if I was able to dedicate the time, then someone at the club most certainly was willing to accommodate. After 18 years of not flying I was not sure what to expect but the enthusiasm at SOSA is contagious. I showed up in late October of last year and talked to Dan Bush who said, 'this week should have a nice day. E-mail me if you can make it.'
We were out on the Wednesday for five flights as easy as that! After some more training, the next thing I know "thumbs up" and nobody in the back seat! Just amazing! Thanks Guys! "

SOSA at the Worlds: Photo Page

Dave Springford, Jerzy Szemplinski and Joerg Stieber are at the Worlds in Germany at this writing. Maria Szemplinska has set up a photo page on the SAC website. View it here.

Aerobatics at SOSA

Joe Stubbs, star of YouTube, in the Salto! Click the picture to see the flight.

SOSA pilot arrives in Mennonite country

Sunday August 3rd, Herrie ten Cate departed on a cross-country flight. How did it work out? Herrie and his retrieve crew relate the story:
Nothing ventured nothing gained. The forecast looked promising and with Anthony Kawzowicz's coaching, I prepped the club's Jantar and took to the skies just after 11 on Sunday morning, for an attempted 500KM triangle. The task was Rockton - Flesherton - Thamesville - Rockton. I fought a strong headwind on my way north to Flesherton and then turned southwest towards Thamesville.
I was a little overconfident and was suckered into an aerial dance with a promising little thermic number that was all tease and no action. Needless to say, I was back down on the ground after three hours of airtime. I chose a cut barley field that was at least 4000-feet long ... so the outlanding was a piece of cake.
The highlight of the afternoon was meeting the curious on-lookers who stopped to gawk. I'd landed right beside a small county road. Three local Mennonite men parked up their bikes for a closer look. I showed them around and even let them sit in the cockpit. If circumstances were different for these guys, I'm sure, would love to learn how to glide.
I've promised to mail them a copy of the photo ... email and the Internet isn't part of their lexicon or lives. Needless to say, meeting these guys made landing out a great experience. My 500KM flight will have to wait for another day...
Les Waller and Rob Russell came up from SOSA to retrieve Herrie and the glider. Les said "Herrie picked what must be the biggest field in Ontario ----about 5000' long in my estimation----Whatever grew there had been harvested,
'could have easily put a Dak (DC-3) in it or something bigger even!