The Season is in Full Swing

On March 15th the damn broke and a herd of restless glider pilots flooded the field.

Many were able to get in their spring check flight...

... and some also did their spring tow checks.

The weather gods are smiling on us so far, take advantage of it. Come on out and enjoy some flying. The field is dry, the tow pilots willing and the instructors eager.

And as usual there are lots of people standing around to give you advice on your last landing.

Welcome FUYE and FUZH!

Our new ASK-21s are out of the box and itching to fly. Dave, Luke and John have been diligently working for weeks, in the chilly workshop installing the instruments.

Eddie Hollestelle and Chris Eaves spent the day at SOSA Feb 28th doing the final inspections required for the C of A.

A large crew of people arrived to help rig the new members of our fleet: FUYE and FUZH.

We may be able to fly FUYE and FUZH as early as April 1st if all the paperwork has arrived in the mail! Pencil it in your calendar.

Ultimately the K21's position in our fleet is for student training. With this in mind the first weekend or two will be focused heavily on instructor checkouts to facilitate a speedy transition to student training. But don't worry we won't turn eager members, interested in the new toys, away. You will all get a turn.

First Solo Flight Of the Year

After a perfect check flight on Feb 28th with instructor Joe Stubbs, James Stang had the first Solo-Student flight of the year.

The cold weather was certainly taking it's toll on the poor instrcutor who forgot to wear his long johns.

The SOSA AGM

The SOSA Annual General Meeting was held February 7th this year at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. 2008 was a successful year despite the damp weather.

Sadly this year two of our long standing and very hardworking board members stepped down, our President and Treasurer Dave Springford and CFI John Brennan. John also held the positions of President and Grounds director over his long service on the board. Our trusty Aircraft Maintenance director Al Grant also stepped down this year.

We should all make an effort to thank these three and all those on the board of directors. Many hours go into running our fine flying club.

The new board of directors are:

President and Treasurer - Andrea Kuciak
CFI - Tom Coulson
Secretary - Jack Leach
Aircraft Maintenance - Joe Stubbs
Grounds Equipment - Lorna Novosel
Grounds Facilities - Sergei Morozov
Membership Director - Terry McElligott
IT - Luke Szczepaniak


Dave Springford was awarded the SOSA Flight Achievement award for his 999 point day at the 2008 World Soaring.



Newly licenced pilots Vlada Dekina, Mark Karamis and Niel Wilson receiving their certificates of acheivement from the former CFI and new President.

Awards were also handed out to:

• Tom Coulson for Instructor of the Year (DR. WOLF DIETRICH LEERS AWARD),
• Shirley Dashper for a significant contribution to the non-flying operations at SOSA (THE REINHARD AWARD),
• Dave Simek for a significant contribution by a first year pilot (KEN LARMOUR AWARD),
• Paul Fish for the best flight by a Silver Badge Pilot (THE ROYAL CROWN COLA SOARING TROPHY),
• Wilfred Krueger for the fastest triangle (500 km) done out of SOSA (THE DOUG WINGER 500),
• Scott McMaster for a significant contribution by a Tow Pilot (DOUGLAS C. WINGER MEMORIAL TROPHY).
  
  
  

Winter.

Winter. Sometimes we can fly and sometimes we can't. These two pictures illustrate the extremes of the season. SOSA has been known to fly in every month of the year over its 60+ year history. It depends upon the members, the weather, and the fragility of the runways. Check in with the club's discussion group over the winter. Your 2009 flying season starts after spring thaw, as soon as the runways are dry enough to use. Don't wait!

K-21 Delivery and Unpacking

SOSA took delivery of our new K-21's on Wed 7 Jan. Many thanks to Andy Mazur who allowed us to use his loading bay and occupy his warehouse from 12:30 until 7:00 pm!


The gliders were secured in the container with steel frames that were screwed to the floor. Here Chris Wilson had to crawl under the glider to get to the one last screw.




The second fuselage is being rolled out of the container with Greg Finlay steadying the tail and Adam Zeiba and Dave Springford moving the dolly into place. Chris, now out from under the glider, watches the nose for clearance.




The fuselage dolly being put in place with Jerzy Szemplinski supporting the glider.

Adam, Chris, Greg and Dave (hidden) manouevre the glider to line it up with the trailer.

The two fuselages, one on a stand and the other being moved onto the trailer ramp by Adam and Tom Coulson (can you see him:)

Jerzy and John Burany removing the horizontal stabilizer from the container.

With the two fuselages and stabilizers out of the container, it is now time to move Jerzy's trailer and the rack holding the four wings. This was made easy by the 5 inch nylon rollers bolted to the frame under the trailer. The trailer axle had to be removed for shipping otherwise the rack was too tall for the container.

A short pause to gauge the progress.

Tom Coulson making his first visible appearance, but certainly not his first physical appearance on the job!

Adam, Greg, Jerzy and Dave add some safety straps to the rack while John Burany is caught in the lens like a deer in the headlights.

Dave and Chris remove the bolts holding the first wing to the rack, while one of our photographers, Steve and John Burany look on. Steve, of course, did more than just take pictures, adding his back to the lifting as well.

Dave, Chris and Tom hoist the wing root...

While Greg, Steve and John hoist the tip.

Our other photographer, Maria Szempliska caught in a rare moment on the other side of the camera, well done Steve! With Maria is Andy Mazur's spouse Jola.

Two pairs of feet, knees and hands setting up the trailer...

belonging to Greg and Chris.

Finally, a picture of the two fuselages in the workshop at SOSA. Thanks to Luke Szczepaniak who joined us at SOSA around 8:00 pm to offload the last glider.

For now, the gliders need to go through an import and conformity inspection before a C of A can be issued. The C of R paperwork is in the works. We also need to install some instruments and the radios before they are ready to go, probably some time in early April.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the unpacking and delivery to SOSA. It was a long hard day, but well worth it!

Flying in the snow on New Years Day 2009

January 1, 2009 at SOSA Gliding Club, Rockton. In the Blanik are Andrew Corrigan (rear) and John Brennan. Standing are Steve Benedek, Les Waller and Ryan Maloney. All agreed that it was was a wee bit brisk.



We got out two Blaniks and our Citabria tug - coincidentally, it's the towplane with cabin heat. Throughout the short daylight hours today several dozen arrived to fly and did so.

Here's a Blanik, rolling behind the Citabria, plowing through the cloud of snow sprayed up by the tug. By day's end a couple of dozen had rung in 2009 with a glider flight - surely a harbinger of great flights in the coming year. Thanks to everyone who showed up with goodies to share today. Quite literally, there was everything in the clubhouse from soup to nuts after the flying.
One of the top questions asked about soaring is, "Can you fly in the winter? It must be cold up there." Yes, it's a cold way to fly. It's also a little harder to push gliders around in the snow and yes, it's absolutely the best way we can think of to look forward to the coming soaring year. SOSA wouldn't be quite the same without its annual New Years Day version of the Polar Bear Club.