July 2003

From the Acting President Steve Schery

By the time of this newsletter, I'm sure all members know about the untimely death of our president, Paul Chase. The ASC was well represented at Paul's memorial service and I'm sure Barbara Chase, and the rest of Paul's family, are well aware of the sympathy of the Club's members as well as our own feeling of loss.

A number of members have made suggestions on how best we might honor Paul's memory and contribution to the Club. The ASC board met 3 July 2003, and Peter Bilan agreed to act as temporary chair of a membership relations committee to explore ways in which we might best honor Paul. The Board suggests that members now take a little time to think about this issue and then coordinate their ideas through Peter. I'm sure this subject will eventually need to be discussed at a general membership meeting. Peter has also agreed to act as a coordinator for inquiries about John Sullivan, who is recovering from his accident. We want to be supportive of him and his family without being overly intrusive.

Part of Paul Chase’s legacy will be that he left our club in excellent operational and financial health. I have checked with appointed officers and found no urgent operational issues facing the club. These appointed officers carry the daily workload of the Club and the Board relies on them heavily. Please give them your continued cooperation and support.

In the not so-urgent-category are repeated complaints about the radios in our gliders, particularly the 1-26 and Grob 103. The board has authorized replacement of batteries as a start, and even the whole radios if necessary. If you have any clear-cut diagnostic information, please pass it along to Mark Mocho.

Under the bylaws, a vacancy on the Board must be filled by an election with vote of the general membership. The board member thus elected then serves the remainder of the term. The Board is calling for this election to take place at our next general membership meeting on Saturday, 16 August 2003. We have not set a time, but I think 9am might be a good guess. Note that a quorum (25% of members) must be present, so please make a special effort to be there.

Brian Resor, who has ruled himself out as a candidate, agreed to act as a coordinator for this election. Let him know of any nominations. You may nominate yourself or another Club member. Candidates must be regular members. If you nominate another Club member, please be sure he/she agrees to serve. My personal opinion is that the Club should try to find a person who can both complete this year's term as president and also run for president next year. The complexities of leading the Club are great enough that I think it is difficult to get up to speed in the job in even one year. On a personal note, if for no reason than I may not be residing full time in the state next year, I will not run for any elected office next year.

On happier matters, let me give thanks and kudos to Kathy Taylor and J. D. Huss. Despite less than full cooperation from the weather, the week-long women's soaring seminar (WSPA) that Kathy organized seemed to be a great success. J. D. Huss organized our annual clean up day. Judging by the indicator of new paint on my jeans, this function was a success as well. J. D. has further ideas about cleaning up Club property. (see “Thank You”-Ed.) Contact J.D. if you have other suggestions. Better yet, offer to help!

Thank you J.D. Huss

Saturday, June 21, was “CLEAN-UP DAY” for the club. Emails were sent, schedules were discussed, more announcements, etc. The faithful grunts started arriving before 9 dingy-dongys in the ayem. We swept, mopped, dusted, beat furniture like rugs, scraped, painted, sorted, tossed, etc.

Previously, Mitch Hudson & Pete Vredenburg had fixed the swamp cooler. (It is working well, and there will be some labeling on its switches soon.) Mark Mocho and the Carlton’s had recharged the O2, refilled the propane, and brought some paneling for the roof.

I stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get some “munchies’ [rule #1: If you don’t feed volunteers, they don’t do any work!]

We moved lots of stuff off the hanger floor to above the club room; scraped and painted the wooden parts of the door frames; installed a new lock on the restroom door; cleaned the clubroom; cleaned the toilet; threw out a dumpster-full of crap [and there is no other word to describe that stuff] and generally cleaned up the area.

Thanks to: Don Kawal, Steve Schery, Peter Bilan, Kathy Taylor, Bob Alkov, John Farris, Connie Buenafe, Brian Resor, Bob Woods, Bob Knight, Urio Bertell, Pete Vredenburg, and Kevin Ferguson. I could have not done all of this alone

There are now:

Trash cans and liners – OPS CREW please replace the liner when you empty the trash can on Sunday evening.

A pegboard with a place to hang stuff in the hanger. I’m taking measurements to put one in the van, as well.

Soap dispensers in the bathroom and kitchen – with some large bottles of soap in the kitchen to refill them when they get low on liquid.

Buckets [3] to store the towlines in – which will diminish some of the tangling – I hope.

Tow ropes [4] with a 2” ring [for the 1-26 & 2-33] on one end and chain links [for the tost hookups on the other.

Hoses and hose holders to fill water ballast, etc. Etc.

Before Paul passed we discussed my intentions to continue to clean up the area:

I will rid the club of the derelict bus on the east end of the hanger and the 4-wheel drive ATV that doesn’t run. If you want to buy either of them, I’m taking offers [899-9169] and passing them on to the board. The next thing is the Ford Tractor – it has not run for several years, and the club needs to make a decision to fix it, junk it, or sell it to a collector.

Of Micro Bursts and Mid-airs Billy Hill

Now that we are in the Monsoon season such as it is, we need to reflect on the consequences of flying around, or much worse flying through a micro-burst. You may recall the aviation industry as a whole was unaware of the existence of micro-bursts until one brought down a Delta L-1011 in Dallas.

So, what to do when such conditions exist in and around Moriarty? Remember that the afternoon micro-burst most likely began as a line of Cu’s s along the Monzano mountains. Once well developed, said line started it’s eastwardly exodus. Herein lies a partial solution to the problem. Such a storm will generally move out of the area given enough time. Of course the exception to that rule is one that develops in the immediate area and just stays there.

How do we discern a growing micro-burst from a well developed Cu with some virga? Look down! The cold outflow winds from a micro-burst will be traveling a high velocity and when they strike the ground, will produce a ring of dust that radiates outward from it’s center. This is know as a dry micro-burst and is to be avoided. If you see such a condition starting to approach the airport, don’t try to race it to the field, as it’s a race you could loose big time. Consider searching for lift and staying up until the storm passes. This may take awhile so be patient. Landing at another airport is also an option. Bottom line is don’t land where there is a micro-burst event in progress. It didn’t work for the L-1011 flight crew, and it may not work for you either.

Mid-Air Potential:

When flying in close proximity to another aircraft, don’ pull up from under them in order to enter the thermal. Once the other aircraft is behind either your nine or your three o’clock position you can no longer see them and if they are not aware of your presence, you have just put yourself as well as the other pilot in a very dangerous position. I watched Mike Adams and Karl Striedieck have a mid-air under just these circumstances. Mike’s vertical stab hit Karl’s right wing and left a four inch Vee shaped notch in the wing. Never assume the other pilot knows of your relative position, so make him/her aware of it……after all that’s why you spent all that money on a radio!

This Sunday, while enroute from the Crest to Claunch, I watched an American MD-90 to an evasive maneuver which I guessed was because his/her TCAS alerted him of my relative range, bearing and altitude. I then called ABQ Approach control and asked them if the MD-90 had done as I suspected. One of the flight crew members responded that he had. I informed him that I was in a sailplane and most likely he would never have seen me, (although I had been watching him for a while and did not consider him a threat.) That’s the second time I’ve seen an airliner perform an escape maneuver based on a TCAS alert. Sure glad I spent the bucks on the transponder and encoder!

Gone West Billy Hill

Since the inception of the ASC we have had members who have died while still on our active club roster. Paul Chase is the latest example. I think the time has come to create a “Gone West” plaque to be placed in the club house with the names of these individuals. Along with that, we need to have a brief history of that individual as well as his or her contributions to ASC and soaring. Ken Harper has been cajoled into acting as the club historian, but I need the collective

memories of all those long term members, (Ed Burnett are you listening?) in order to get this project started. As a straw man, I propose the following for said plaque:

GONE WEST – FINAL GLIDE

IN FOND REMEMBERANCE OF THOSE MEMBERS OF THE ALBUQUERQUE SOARING CLUB WHO HAVE WORKED THAT LAST THERMAL – WHO HAVE CLIMBED TOWARD THE SETTING SUN – WHO HAVE EMBARKED ON THEIR FINAL GLIDE