From the President Kathy Taylor

We will not have a regular club meeting in May but we will have a special event over the Memorial Day weekend. Check out the details elsewhere in this newsletter.

We had a successful work party on May 1 but a small turnout. Many thanks to those who did show up. We cleaned up the clubhouse and washed a couple of gliders. If you are regularly flying a club glider consider washing and waxing it some time. Remember, your mother doesn’t work here anymore!

On Sunday, May 2, we noted that one of the parachutes is missing. If you have the missing ‘chute, please return it to the club house as soon as possible.

We would like to change Article IV of the By-Laws to give the Treasurer and the Board a higher spending limit. The current limit is $500 for the Treasurer and we would like to raise it to $1000 to reflect inflation.

We’d like to change the Board limit from $6,000 to $8,000. The following proposed changes will be voted on at the June meeting.

4.4 The Treasurer may authorize purchases in the name of the club for amounts not to exceed $1000. The Board may authorize club expenditures not to exceed $8,000. Approval of two thirds of the voting members present at a club meeting is required for expenditures in excess of $8,000.

4.5 All checks in excess of $1000 will be signed by two authorized club officers, one of which shall be the Treasurer.

Don’t forget that one club towplane and the Grob 103 will be in Taos June 3-6 for the Jim Crisp Memorial Fly-In.

The event is heavily over-subscribed for private pilots. But you could still fly there using the club Grob. Contact Kim Buerhe to make a reservation: 776-8241 or 758-8241, or janaki@laplaza.org.

Club Notes

There will be a cookout at the end of flying on Memorial Day Saturday 29^th May. The plan is that there will be lots of flying, including a formal task. Pilots' meeting for the task will be in the clubhouse at 10.30 am.

The On-Line Contest: Albuquerque Soaring is in first place in the U.S. Club contest. We have our first 1,000 km (625 miles) flight by Chip Garner, who didn't land until 8 pm. There have been many flights over 500km and several over 750 km (details of all flights on the club website). Next is for ASC to move into the top 10 clubs on the world list!

Formal task flying has really taken off (sic) and there is now a crowd around the computer each evening as flights are replayed on the new club computer.

Fly often, fly far and file every flight,, even if it is not in the heroic class of Garner, Hill or Ekdahl. And if you need help, Brian Resor is proving to be a wonderful asset in fixing all things digital!

Two-seater competition

The club is encouraging a team entry for this two seater contest using the Twin Astir. It is the first contest of its type in the US, though it has become a popular event in Europe.The contest will be held Aug 23 through the 28th at Fredericksburg, Texas.

The idea is that there would be a club team entry, with one experienced cross country pilot as team leader and at least two pilots wanting to gain experience in both contest and cross country flying, with the less-experienced pilots switching between crewing and flying. The team will, of course, have to make sure that the glider and its trailer are in top-notch condition. They will also have to arrange for a gps logger that will download. Mitch Hudson has volunteered one.

The Competition Director is Bob Dittert and Contest Manager is Jo Ann Dittert at (281) 261-4001. Send application and deposit to Jo Ann Dittert, 1705 Patricia Lane, Missouri City, TX 77489. Email: bjdittert@aol.com.

Science Fair Students Win Free Flights in ASC Gliders

By Steve Schery

The 2004 Northwestern New Mexico Science Fair was held March 18 -20 at the University of New Mexico Campus. Over 800 exhibits were submitted for judging. On behalf of the ASC in the special awards category, I reviewed exhibits from almost 20 entries related to aeronautics and flight. Winners received a certificate for a free flight in an ASC glider.

First place in the junior division went to Simeon Bochev (8^th grade) for his project "The Measuring Of Aerodynamic Drag Of Different Sized Objects." Simeon has flown in his father's Beechcraft (which is hangared at Moriarty) but he has never flown in a glider.

First place in the senior division went to a team project entitled "The Relationship Between Our Aircraft Design And The Time It Takes A Model To Leave The Ground." Team members Adam Anderson and Jimmy Metz, who are in the 10th grade, must flip a coin to see who gets to take the glider ride. (Ops officers and instructors be warned: I hinted that if they both showed up there is always a chance a sympathetic ops person might get them both a ride, overriding otherwise strict ASC protocols.)

It was a pity that there was insufficient time allotted for in-depth review of all projects, which ranged from the effect of paperclip position on the flight path of a paper glider to powered flight tests of a home built ornithopter. Some of the "breakthrough" results reported by students seemed to defy the basic principles of aeronautical science. Have sympathy though. After thirty years of off and on professional study of fluid dynamics, I remain unable to prove to the satisfaction of my colleagues why the convex surface of a wing generates more lift.

FROM THE BACK SEAT

The Power of Positive Checking

By Jim Miller

Every year, some place, someone has an accident, in a glider, because the Pilot in Command did not hook the controls up correctly. The PIC was either in a hurry or was interrupted in the assembly procedure and forgot an important part of the assembly procedure, like forgetting to attach the horizontal tail properly. [See example below.] Such errors can be caught by properly positive control checks.

In order to prove my point, at least to myself, I used the passengers I was giving rides to assist me in performing the checks. None of them had any aviation experience of any kind. Once I explained the reasoning behind the control checks they were eager to assist.

My passengers/assistants were grandmother types to younger people. All told I used 9 people in my test and two types of gliders, a Grob103 and a Scheibe SF 34.

I showed each assistant what I wanted them to do, how to do it and what to look for. I had my willing assistants hold the control surfaces while I moved the stick. That way I controlled how much force was applied, so as not to bend or break anything. I watched them carefully as they went to each control surface and they all performed the tasks to my satisfaction and correctly.

It could be argued the test was not valid because not being pilots my assistants would not know what to look for if there was a problem. My retort is if I am the PIC and the one moving the control column and if I am watching the reaction of the controls then it is indeed a valid check.

The point is if the control stick moves, and I am checking the aileron, for example, and there is no resistance to moving the stick, then there is some sort of a problem that needs to be checked out.

You must really communicate with your assistant to make sure they are following your instructions and you are getting the desired response to the control inputs. (Does the aileron, elevator, whatever, go in the correct direction in relation to where you move the control?) Certainly it is much easier to use another pilot while conducting a positive control check, however if another pilot is not available use who is available. I would rather have a layman assist me than no one at all.

This is how I completed my control checks using someone who had no aviation background what ever. I started at the left aileron, moving to the spoiler, then to the tail and finally to the right spoiler and then to the right aileron. If you have flaps, they are added in sequence.

I had my assistant move the aileron to the full up position and hold it there while I moved the control stick against their resistance. I asked them if they could feel the aileron moving against their hands as I moved the control stick. I then had them move the aileron to the full down position and we repeated the process. While the assistant moved the aileron I put light pressure against control stick to feel the movement and to also feel for any binding or abnormal feelings in the stick.

We then checked the spoiler holding it in the closed position by putting both hands on it and leaning on it. I activated the spoiler control asking my assistant if they felt the spoiler moving against their hand. I then carefully opened the spoiler allowing the person to grasp the spoiler with both hands and tried to close it.

Care must be taken when doing this as you could catch your assistant’s fingers, screwing up their hand not to mention getting blood and fingers in the spoiler box. Cleaning up this mess takes time away from flying, besides if you keep slamming helper's fingers under the spoilers as you lock the control you will find yourself alone wondering where everyone went.

Moving to the tail I have my assistant move the elevator to the full up position and hold it. Again, I put light pressure on the stick as they move the control. While the assistant is holding the elevator in the up position I attempt to move the control stick forward. Again, communication is important. I then have the assistant move the elevator down and repeat the procedure.

I check the rudder and the remainder of the controls in the same manner. It took an average of five minutes to complete. This method works and has many years of experience around the gliding world. It is well worth the time and effort.

Some years ago an Air Force pilot friend of mine reminded me of something as I was hurrying through a preflight on a Beech King Air, “ Don’t let the reason for the flight become more important than the flight itself.” Sound advise that applies to King Airs and gliders.

Safe flying.

Fly the Glider!

By Billy Hill

[Here is what to do and how to think when something does go wrong, as it will. Editor.]

Not doing a positive control check begs the question, “are you feel’n lucky”? Do you feel the added insurance of a positive control check is just not worth the time and effort because everything is automatic? Or it is always assembled? I can preach till I’m blue in the face about proper control hook-ups but control failures can still happen, so let’s talk about what to do after the fact.

I was flying a friend’s Nimbus III while he was in his ASW-22. We had just left the Rifle airport and were headed out when he informed me that he could see my inboard left flap was not connected. I thought it felt a bit odd. I returned and landed, reconnected it and took off once again. I was lucky in this instance as the speeds I had flown the big ship had not become an issue. The question was, at what speed would that section of flap have begun to flutter?

It was during one of the Standard Nationals at Minden, (won by our own Chip Garner), that a pilot was killed by an unhooked control. In order to secure the full flying tail of the Genesis sailplane he was flying, two pins had to be locked in place. The pilot was interrupted during the assembly process and failed to do this. On takeoff, the glider rolled a few feet and the horizontal tail section fell off! People attempted to tell him this on the frequency, but to no avail. Even without any elevator, (which in reality is a trim tab as the Genesis is a flying wing), the glider became airborne and was held in position on tow by the load on the towrope. We will never know what the pilot might have been thinking as he flew the first one hundred and fifty feet of the tow, but at that point he released and the Genesis immediately pitched forward and struck the ground inverted.

Here is the lesson to be learned. If you know something is wrong, more often than not the best course of action is no action at all. Pilots, as JD Huss pointed out during our last club meeting, are impulsive. Impulsiveness may well have been the contributing factor in the demise of the Genesis pilot. Had he remained on tow and done nothing until he had reached a safe bailout altitude, he might still be with us.

If you find yourself in a situation where the safe outcome of the flight is seriously in question, do nothing unless the situation warrants immediate action. In reality, almost no situation requires immediate action. For example; during a six month check ride in the simulator, we had just reached Vr and were committed to fly the aircraft. The sim instructor failed an engine at this most critical phase of flight, and of course it was on fire. So, what do you do? You let it burn and you fly the airplane. You command your copilot to perform those checks required of the situation while you climb to an altitude where you can put the fire out, perform all the other checks and get it back on the ground. Above all, you fly the airplane. Never allow yourself to be distracted by what may or may not be an emergency. Fly the airplane. Under almost all circumstances you have more than enough time to evaluate the situation and perform the correct procedure while you……..fly the airplane. OK then, the glider.

We are taught what the critical altitude is for a course reversal when that pesky rope break happens, but what about a control failure? Depends on what’s failed. Of course if something feels wrong during the initial portion of the takeoff roll, release. If you are airborne, fly the glider and communicate with the towpilot and tell him what your needs are, (shallow bank, faster speed, etc.), while you fly the glider! Altitude, in this case is your friend. Get plenty of it under your belt while on tow and determine your course of action should the glider be unflyable after release. If you think you will need to bail out after release, review the procedures you will follow before you get off tow. Even if you don’t think you will need to jump, go over the procedures anyhow. If you have a control disconnect then fly the glider no faster that you did while on tow. This will reduce the likelihood of flutter problems which quite often accompany a disconnect.

If the problem you have encountered is because of a configuration change, that is flap usage, return to the previous flap setting and see if that solves the problem. Fly the glider. If one dive brake is stuck closed, fly the glider at as high an approach speed as will allow you to maintain directional control. In this situation you will run out of rudder if you get too slow. Trust me on this, I’ve done it. Above all….fly the glider.

When you find yourself in this situation, it’s easy to become scared. Go with it! Fear will motivate you to perform at your highest level of competency. On the other hand if you let your fear evolve into panic you will no longer be able to think clearly and things will go from worse to total disaster! Fly the glider.

I’ve had the following happen; an aileron disconnect, flutter, a dive brake stuck closed, total rudder failure along with a low frequency flutter, gear up landing, (it would not come down). I’ve had a total engine failure in a Super Cub at two hundred fifty feet off the departure end of the runway at Aspen CO. I’ve had precautionary engine shut-downs. Been struck by lightening and lost lots of systems in the aircraft. I’ve survived a mid-air. Some might say I’ve been unlucky. I think I’ve been very lucky as I’m still around to talk about it. I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned fear is good, panic is not. So, what’s the common thread in all this? I flew the airplane/glider.

Remember, it’s not so much the mistakes you make, it’s the recovery from the mistake that makes the difference. A good pre-flight minimizes mistakes.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you are interrupted during your pre-flight, start over. If the Genesis pilot had done that, he would most likely be alive today.