Clubhouse Survey

We are conducting a quick survey of all who use the clubhouse at SOSA.
Click here to take survey

The survey results are needed to obtain some feedback for our $75,000 Trillium Foundation grant. We hope you will find just a few minutes for the questions. It is important



Yes, this is an old photo since Kathy has now produced a beautiful baby girl.

We look forward to your responses.

SOSA Board

SOSA publicity machine

Using the backdrop of the Canadian National Championships we have been approaching the various media to give us some (free) publicity. Behind the scenes the media committee (Terry McElligot, Herrie Ten Cate and your blog editor Paul Fish) has attracted the attention of a number of targets and will result in considerable publicity and hopefully visitors and members. Thanks to the committee and also to Dave Springford who did the interviews and flights

The Toronto Star sent both a reporter and a photographer on Wednesday morning and they took rides in the LK10 with Herrie Tencate as well as Dave in the DG505. The weather held up and we all enjoyed the event. The Star will publish a good article on Tuesday 27th.

The Cambridge Times also sent a reporter on Wednesday morning and so you should look for an article some time next week.

CTV from Kitchener sent their reporter Michael Melling to SOSA for the entire afternoon on Wednesday and he was treated to a number of flights to get the right shots. Although Melling has extensive camera experience, Herrie stepped in with some direction and advice even doing some of the camera work himself. Melling was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the afternoon. Look for a segment in the news at 6:00 pm and at 11:00pm

CBC radio will do a live interview on Saturday morning on their show “Fresh Air”. Jeff Goodes will interview Herrie on a cell phone whilst Dave flies the DG505 over the Fresh Air of the Rockton countryside

CHCH TV 11 out of Hamilton will be setting up live on Tuesday 27th at SOSA. They will be broadcasting the Noon time show including weather, news and any other local items and will obviously focus on the National Gliding competition at SOSA. Herrie will be interviewed.

On Tuesday 27th we are holding a general media day along with the 2nd day of competition practice. The day will begin at 10:00am and will include an opening ceremony, the competitor pilots briefing, an acknowledgement of Trillium Fund for the clubhouse, rigging and launch.

All members are welcome to drop by although flying will be limited during the practice day launch.

New Grass Cutter

Recognising the importance of the SOSA grass runways it is critical that these are maintained says our Grounds Director Andrea Kuciak.

The Yellow Peril has been in our service for more than 18 years we are am told and this is well beyond the service life. The SOSA Board elected to spring for new equipment and this was delivered to the airfield last weekend. Thanks to the committee of people headed by Andrea . To be recognized with this initiative in particular is Doug Bremner who started this whole discussion and even got the brochures and prices. Some others involved included Ray Wood, Dave Springford, Scott McMaster and Andrew Corrigan

We will use the existing 135 tractor for now to pull the cutting equipment. It's in good condition but ideally we will want a 60hp to 80hp tractor in the future. The extra horsepower will not only let us go faster but help keep the blades from bogging down when we have to cut thicker/taller grass. We will keep the Yellow Peril until we are comfortable with our new system and then sell it.

If you want to try your hand at this friendly machine just ask Andrea and she will arrange for you to be checked out

Future plans are to buy a 60hp to 80hp tractor to pull this new cutter and maybe next Spring. That way even once the Yellow Peril is dead or sold we'll have two systems so two people can mow at once:
1. The bigger tractor with the new cutter,
2. The existing tractor with the bush hog.
If for some reason the big tractor is down for maintenance our smaller existing tractor can pull the new cutter.

If anyone is interested the specs are on the website at http://www.woodsequipment.com/turf_grounds/commercial/turf_batwing/7144RD_9180RD_9204RD.asp


Model
9180RD
Overall Cutting width
15 feet
Wing deck cutting width
5 feet
Center deck cutting width
6 feet
Deck overlap
6 inches
Overall width
182 inches
Transport width
100 inches
Maximum overall length
176 inches
Transport height
90 inches
Minimum horsepower requirements
35
Cutting height range
1-5 inches
Splitter gearbox horsepower
100
Mower deck gearbox horsepower
50
Blade Tip Speed
16,950 FPM
Approximate weight
3,120 lbs.
Transport tongue weight
720 lbs
Operating tongue weight
330 lbs.
Ground pressure
9.7 lbs. per square inch

Clubhouse - painting the exterior

This week Jean-Marc , Virginia Thompson and Paul Fish are on a tear to paint the clubhouse exterior. Anyone else up 4 it?

Please let Paul know at 416-564-2855
or paul @sosaglidingclub.com

2006 Canadian National Championships at SOSA

Just a reminder that the "Nats" are going to be held June 28th to July 7th and you will see some excellent glider piloting skills. Members should take advantage of the activity at the field during this time and chat with the pilots. Watch what they do.

Martin Brassard is the Contest Director and he has requested any prizes that members may wish to give. Please contact him at martin@sosaglidingclub.com

Snacks, Water and Juice

Olga says that it is really important for all flyers stay well hydrated on these hot days. The SOSA fridge in the clubhouse is very kindly stocked by our volunteer, yes that is Olga and she has been doing this for many years. The fridge contains Juice Pop and Snack bars. The low cost is noted on the fridge door and is based on an "honour system" which means that

Please remember to thank Olga for pitching in again and congratulate her on becoming a grandmother.

Canada Day Barbeque in support of the Canadian Junior Soaring Team

The SOSA junior pilots are entertaining SOSA to a Canada Day celebration and BBQ in support of the Canadian Junior Soaring Team.

Bring your friends and family for an enjoyable night of food and fun on July 1st during the Canadian National Soaring Championships. The cost of the barbeque is $20/ person, with proceeds to the Canadian Junior Soaring Team.

Junior Team members will be cooking up a storm to deliver you, your family and friends a delicious array of food including burgers, dogs, and plenty of salad. We are in the process of establishing the number of attendees in order to purchase food for the event.



Please reply to jay@juniorpilots.ca with your name and the number of people in your party attending or sign up in the clubhouse. Please include in the subject line “Canada Day Barbeque”. See you on July 1st!

Member Profile - Neil Wilson

Neil has long been seen at the SOSA airfield, I am told since he was in diapers. He is now likely the best groomed and enthusiastic ground handling member at SOSA. He knows all the SOSA procedures and is a veritable font of gliding knowledge. This year Neil turned 14 and father Chris has encouraged Neil to emerge as a chrysalis to take flight with fellow instructor Tom Coulson on a course to become a pilot. This prompted my chat with Neil one evening to gather some notes for a SOSA blog.


Neil is now a 9th grader at high school in Woodstock and he has fond memories of SOSA especially summer weekends “camping out” at the family trailer home. At the field Neil has taken a keen interest in all of the ground operations under the watchful eye of his father Chris and enjoys everything from retrieving and launching gliders, driving the bus (and his Dad’s car I have noted), cleaning the gliders, time keeping, running ropes etc. His enthusiasm for this volunteer activity puts most of us to shame. Many, including your editor have learnt from Neil’s expert ground handling example. Notwithstanding his considerable experience Neil carries himself in a cautious, polite and understated manner; a real gentleman around the field.

Flight instruction started at the end of April and at the time of my chat with Neil a couple of weeks ago he had completed 8 flights in the Blanik L23 with Tom, tackling the initial control of flight, some gentle stalls, slow flying and turns, He was also starting to learn the tow and take off. Last weekend I noticed Neil landing just behind me. I’m sure like a duck to water Neil will handle glider flight as well as his ground handling. It is amazing how the younger people take to the idea of flying much more quickly.

Neil had some challenges in overcoming his diminutive stature in order to reach the controls. To assist, Chris and Tom got together and constructed some clever extensions to the rudder peddles and seat, including some weight to counter that of Tom in the back. The challenges with flying, Neil explains, are trying not to over control since he has been familiar with radio controlled gliders which require a soft deftness. The much larger and bulky gliders surprisingly also require a gentle squeeze on the controls rather than a large movement. Neil is really enjoying the instruction although he does not now have time to enjoy the view. His goal is to go solo this year and get his licence by the time he is 16 when he looks forward to taking his friends flying.

This is not the first time Neil has flown by far. Neil had carefully documented 34 flights with his Dad since he was about 2 or 3 years old. His first flight was in a Schleicher 2-33DXR on 24th August 1997 and he remembers being impressed with the amazing view. With Dad at the controls Neil recalls that he wasn’t nervous at all. Other memorable flights were taken in the Twin Astir on April 12th 1998 and May 17th 1998 sitting side by side with his sister Angie. That was cool Neil remarks.

Like most of us Neil is afraid of heights he explains although being in a glider is quite different from looking down from the top of the CN Tower. Somehow in a glider it is strange that there is no such fear because “you are not tied to the ground” Neil explains.

Neil has an ambition to become a teacher rather than follow a flying career. He will follow in his father’s footsteps and always take an interest in gliding. Neil likes the atmosphere at SOSA, the social events at Canada Day and the Halloween costume party, dinners at the brown barrel restaurant and at Tom and Shirleys home, as well as cooking dinner; hamburger and steak over the BBQ at SOSA. Other interests are gymnastics at school and soccer. However they take second place to gliding. Neil would like to encourage other young people to take up this unique and special sport.

This summer Neil hopes to spend a large amount of time at SOSA with his friend Dennis Dyke and will stay with their family if his own family are away. Take the time to chat with Neil at the field. He is a very mature young man and is keen to share his knowledge of the club and of gliding.

Kathy adds a new SOSA member

Olga reports the great news of a new addition to the Burany and the SOSA family. Kathryn and Carl would like to introduce the newest SOSA member..Lauren Elizabeth Burany Huntsman...a perfect little pilot..she soared right into the world on June 14th at 12:50 pm..weighting in at 6.12 oz and 21 inches long...Parents and grandparents are all doing very well!!!
We hope show off little Lauren at he Nats in a few weeks time!!"

Update fom Olga at June 18th
Kathryn is doing just wonderfully...she is very relaxed with the baby and still has her great sense of humour when I asked her how much sleep they actually got last night...not much but it will get better..was her reply...Carl is a big help...he diapers and burps and walks with Lauren...Kathryn is hoping to get to the field during the Nats. We went for a walk yesterday...baby was two days old...so she could get use to being outside...very cute.

DG 505 is Flying!

After months of paperwork our new bird is finally flying. On Thursday, 1 June 2006 our new DG 505 took to the air for its first flight at SOSA.

Mid-week Towpilot and Other Miscellaneous Notes

Once again, this year, SOSA will have a mid-week towpilot available Mon - Fri. Our new tow pilot is Gary Woolverton. Gary was prepared to start about three weeks ago in early May, but since the Citabria has been down for maintenance for the last 3 weeks we were unable to get him checked out. If the weather cooperates we will have him ready to tow next week.

Gary is currently attending Conestoga College in the Aviation program and has completed his commercial pilot licence. He is also a glider pilot and has instructed in the Cadet program during their summer training programs. Gary lives in Cambridge, about a 10 minute drive from the airport.

Other Notes

LS4 - is stored in the south end of the small hangar as will the DG 505. Ensure that the white wing covers and canopy cover is installed on the LS4 before you put it away. You should also wash the bugs from the wings before putting it away for the night. Use the Nu Finish Wax (orange bottle) avoid using water since it leaves large mineral deposits on the wings when it evaporates.

Small Hangar protocol - If you take the LS4 or DG out of the small hangar, return all other aircraft that you moved to the same spot from which you moved them. Once all aircraft are back inside the hangar, close the hangar doors. Do not leave the hangar doors open and aircraft outside.

Jantar - is stored in the large hangar with purple wing covers and canopy cover. As with the LS4 wash the bugs off before you put it away.

All gliders - if you are the last person to fly a glider, it is your responsibility to put it in the hangar. Do not leave it siting on the grass in front of the hangar for someone else to put away. Avoid using water to wash the bugs, use wax or pre-wax cleaner instead (see LS4 notes).

Parachutes - each parachute has a bag, they get lonely when separated. When you take a parachute in the glider, take the bag and stow it in the baggage compartment. When you land put the parachute in the bag and return it to the bus. Do not leave the parachute in the glider, especially do not leave it uncovered (ie out of the bag). The UV will destroy the parachutes in no time. How would you like top be left in a cockpit (on the ground) for two hours with the sun shining on you? Do not leave parachutes in the cockpit of the glider overnight in the hangar, return them to the bus. The club has over $20,000 invested in parachutes, help us preserve this investment.

Ballast Weights and Ballast seats - if you fly with ballast weight remove it after your flight. An unsafe condition may occur if a heavy person gets in the plane after you and does not notice your ballast weight. Return your weights to the bus after your flight, and again do not leave them in the glider overnight in the hangar.

When flying mid-week, there are several items that need to be attended to before and after flying since there is no duty crew.

Hangar unstacking - if you remove gliders and towplanes from the hangar to get to another glider at the back of the hangar, return all the gliders and towplanes you removed to the hangar before you fly. Do not leave them sitting outside for the day. This protects the planes from uneccessary UV damage, as well as the potential for wind damage. It also prevents visitors from accidentally damaging the gliders when everyone is up flying and the gliders are left unattended for hours.

Flight cards and Flight sheets - it is the responsibility of the pilot to fill in both the flight card and the flight sheet. Ensure that you transcribe the flight number from the flight sheet onto your flight card, this must be completed before take off. Keep track of your take-off and landing time and complete the duration portion of the card and sheet when you land. The sheet is used by Adam Zeiba and Patricia Olivier-Martin to fill in the journey logbooks, any incomplete information adds extra work for them.

Mid-week and weekends at the end of the day - collect all the white portions of the flight cards, place them in an envelope, label it "Flight Cards" and add the date. Place the envelope in the cash box in the clubhouse.

Flight sheets - all full flight sheets should be placed in the mail slot labelled flight sheets (currently in the hangar). Incomplete sheets should be left on the white flight board.

Junior Team Grass Cutting Service

Are you sick of coming to the club on Saturday only to find that you can barely find your trailer in the tall, thick grass? The Junior Team is starting a service that will help you help us while we provide a much-needed service for you. For a modest donation to the team, junior team members will maintain the lawn outside your beloved trailer. For more information, please contact Jay Allardyce at Jay@juniorpilots.ca, or feel free to speak with me at the club.

Jay Allardyce

Canadian Junior Soaring Team at SOSA

The Canadian Junior Team has been announced for the 2006 flying season at SOSA. Its members are:

Jay Allardyce (Captain)
Sean Cappleman
Sean Coulton
Josh Esser
Chris Gough
Keith Hartley
Kyle Nordman
Adam Oke
Mike Tryggvason

The mentors for the junior team are Jerzy Szemplinski and Dave Springford.

The mandate of the SOSA Junior Team is to support advancement in soaring past the licensing stage and to foster the development of cross-country flying in youth. The team is planning to compete in a few competitions this year; namely SOSA’s Mudbowl, the Ontario Provincials, and plans to help out with logistics at the Nationals.

The team is currently seeking sponsors for the 2006 season. Funds raised will be used to support the team’s endeavours and development through subsidized tows and competition registration fees in 2006. The team would also like to work towards having an entry in the 2009 World Junior Soaring Championships (A first for Canada). To accomplish all that the team can this year and in subsequent years, we need your help. If you have a business or know of a business that is willing to support such a venture, please contact Jay at Jay@juniorpilots.ca. All donations are tax deductible and will go towards supporting enthusiastic youth in the community.

If you have questions about the SOSA Junior Team and its goals, please do not hesitate to speak with any of the aforementioned members.

Jay Allardyce
Team Captain

Les Wallers artistry

Special thanks to Les Waller for applying his creative works of art for the clubhouse. See the illustrations below.

Les has been a professional illustrator since he was 18 but he laments the passing of this creative art form which has now been virtually replaced by computer imagery. However Les still keeps going and is currently undertaking an illustration of a major downtown Toronto building


Les sees the artistry of gliding as his recreation and flys his Libelle - NBE 22 (no bloody engine) as much as possible. Les has been gliding since 1980 when he joined the Erin Club and has been a member at SOSA since 1986. He has a trailer at the field and is often at the club overnight.

Les is rather coy about his artistic achievements but in a conversation I did manage to tease out the fact that he had on several occasions been selected to display his work at the Royal Academy in London's Piccadilly. This during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Les came to Canada in the 1960's and has worked his art with several merchandisers as well as building design firms. He was hoping to further his interest in portraits and has undertaken several well known figures including Donald Bell a former principal of McGill University. You may also find his townscapes and streetscapes of Montreal in various attics just waiting to become famous.

Les comes from London UK - a suburb called Tottenham (home of the Spurs for you soccer fans) - where as a small boy he vividly recalls seeing VI bombs cruising overhead. Les did his national service in the army but was upset at not being sent to some exotic overseas destination and instead was sent to Blackpool - somewhat akin to Niagara Falls some years ago. When you see Les at the field dont forget to remind him of this but be warned - he has a very dry sense of humour - typical Brit.

Work at the weekend

Unfortunately the weekend was pretty wet and non-flyable. However a number of members responded to Dave Springford's call for all hands on deck. These are some pics from Saturday (credits to Terry and Jean-Marc) and I am told that Sunday was another fun and work day.

On Saturday, a party of 7 or 8 managed to do many of the remaining never ending details in the clubhouse whilst Lorna Novosel and John Brennan along with help from Terry Macartney-Filgate waxed BWY, the yellow towplane. Dennis Dyke and Jay Allardyce did a good job cleaning the tile grout on the walls and floors in the new washrooms, Dave Ferguson and Dennis' Father (Malcolm) re-stained the back wall after 40 years.



Doug Bremner did the most amazing job of carpentry in the back room to complete the window trim and Dennis and Jay applied three coats of clear varathane. Meanwhile Jean-Marc was busy doing all sorts of jobs to finish the wall around the electrical panel and clean up little details. What a perfectionist !! Sergei and Roy were busy repairing the electrical panels. The master painter at work Peter Meszaros was seen finishing all manner of work in the washrooms and was planning to come back during the week to complete the painting - thanks Peter. Anthony Kawzowicz was keen to hang all sorts of things on the walls, Phil Hinton helped out with disposal of oil and the Facilities Director Herrie Ten Cate ferried all manner of material from Home Depot to SOSA. The Burany's are not to be forgotten of course and Steve was busy hanging a cabinet in the kitchen whilst Olga cleaned up after him and organized the kitchen. Dave Springford, well what can we say, as usual he was involved with everything and Virginia Thompson arranged the seating so that it doesnt look like a waiting room.

On Sunday, another group including Bob and Sean Coulton, Tom Coulson, George Haeh, Scott Hube, Steve Robinson, Chris and Neil Wilson, and Jay Allardyce continued work in the clubhouse while Keith Hartley, Spencer Hunt and Jerzy Szemplinski washed and waxed the LS4 and Junior trailers.

What a nice place we have. Thanks to all the helpers!

Cross Country Competition – handicap ranking

Terry McElligott comments on the blog editors new Discus and gives an interesting handicap ranking table for the SOSA fleet

Looking a these figures I can deduce that DG (Terry flies a DG200) build fabulous airplanes ... maybe you ought to trade up! ;-)

I was sent a handicap list a while back for various gliders. The BGA is really into this stuff because, I presume, they've got a pretty good contest scene. The higher the handicap the hotter the glider...

Here's a page:
http://www.aircross.co.uk/bgaladder/Handicap.asp

Here are some figures for ships at the SOSA:

DG 800 (Willem's ship and Wilfried's glider) 110 in 18 metre, 103 in the 15 metre span)
LS 8: 106 at 18 metres and 100 at 15 metres. Andy Gough, Joerg Stieber and Dave Springford fly these.
Kestrel 19 is 102 (Steve Burany)
AS W20 B and C, an even 100 (Lima Victor and Tango Whiskey might be these '20 types)
LS 6: 101 (we have two at the field... John/Martin's and Steve Newfield)
Mosquito, 98 (Tom Coulson and Chris Wilson's ship)
Discus is handicapped at 98;
DG-500 Orion at 20 metre span, 98 (unfortunately not our new DG-505)
SZD 55: 98. (Doug Bremner, Jerzy, Adam)
DG-200 in the 15 metre span is 97. (In the interests of full disclosure: I have a soft spot for this type!)
LS 4 at 96.
PiK 20, 96. There are a couple of different types around but the list does not differentiate.
Hornet H205, 90
Standard H201 Libelle is 89 (Les Waller/Phil Morton's and Dan Bush's gliders) There is a flapped version, the H301, h'capped at 96).
The SZD-51-1 Junior is 86.
Blanik is 65 - presumably this applies to the L-13 and L-23.


More observations. The 15 metre class sailplanes, which are older, are rated slightly higher than similar standard gliders for most configurations. The added flaps make a difference in higher speed handling and thermalling, but they add a level of complexity. Newfield has observed while flying Andy Gough's LS 8, in 15 metre configuration along with me in my 15 metre DG, that there wasn't too much difference and the numbers bear that out. They are 100 for the 1988 LS 8 and 97 for the 1978 DG. The real boost in performance comes with longer span. The DG 200 was redesigned with wingtip extensions to bring it up to 17 metres which handicaps it at 101, same as the LS 6. My old glider is before that time. the LS 8 in 18 metre configuration boost it to 106.

Terry

New SOSA member, Ping Wu

Ping is a private pilot with approximately 470 hrs total time. He has flown quite a few different types of aircraft including Cessna 177RG, 172, 150, Piper Cherokee, Warrior, Seminole, Aztec, Navajo, Beech Bonanza, Bombardier Challenger 604, Dimona h36 and more recently the SOSA Blanik L-23 (2 flights with SOSA instructor Pat O'Donnell).

Ping has always been interested in aviation but he has never thought about gliding because he likes to travel and visit different places. However in 2002, he was in Denmark visiting one of his best buddies, a glider pilot. He arranged a flight in a Dimona h36 motorglider with an impressive 16 meter wingspan.

Ping and his friend flew it from an airport near Billund (Billund is in the middle of the Jutland) to the west coast of Denmark. Ping was struck by the motorglider's capability and intrigued to learn more.

Fast forward to 2006 and Ping has just joined SOSA, working towards his glider pilot's licence. His ambition is to buy a motorglider and keep Wilfred Krueger company.

Ping graduated from the University of Guelph in 1988, and in order to pay for his flying he moved to Toronto to work as a process engineer for a food processing equipment manufacturer. The company then sent him to the US and Europe and then back to Toronto. Ping is now with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs in Guelph as the Food Safety Advisor, Engineering. He develops policy and standards for food safety and nutrient management legislations.

Welcome to SOSA, Ping