August 2004

From the President

By Kathy Taylor

You may have noticed a new version of the “Operations and Policy Manual” in the clubhouse that includes all the recent changes to the By-Laws. Soon you will be able to find the manual on the club web site at: http://www.abqsoaring.org.

We’ve had a great soaring season so far and this brings out lots of pilots who are anxious to get into the air. However, let’s try to minimize the number of gliders on the grid that are forward of the Hold line [see Billy Hill's article below]. Also, remember that you should be ready to go when you roll your glider past the hold line. With the tow plane engine running is no time to be setting up your computer or running to the bathroom.

On the subject of maintenance, be sure to enter any malfunctions on the Squawk sheets in the clubhouse and follow up with a call to Bob Hudson if it is something that will ground the aircraft.

During the July 28 club meeting, Steve Hill, President of the Moriarty Airport Advisory Committee, brought us up to date on how the airport is maintained and how changes are made. He described actions still necessary before a new crosswind runway can become reality.

Towplane 10Z has been sidelined for several weeks due to engine repairs. We expect it will be back in action soon.

The next club meeting will be August 25. We hope to arrange a visit to Albuquerque Center. Stay tuned. Arrangements will be posted on the club web page and an email announcement will be made.

Club Notes

The Juniors Camp held at Moriarty July 11 to July 16 brought special praise to the Club and to members who made it such a success. Doug Jacobs, former world champion and chairman of the SSA's US Team committee, wrote to President Kathy Taylor: "Thanks for your generous support of the Juniors Camp. Your club and its members made this a spectacular success. In particular we want to mention the valuable services of Mitch Hudson, Mark Mocho, Billy Hill, and Chip Garner. Without their help it is hard to imagine how the camp would have been as successful as it was."

John Seaborn's full write up with pictures is on the club web site.

The On-Line Contest is to be a full FAI international event. Carl Ekdahl is looking into the implications. By early August, Albuquerque Soaring pilots had logged over 110,000 kms. We are still first in the US, and are around 7^th in the world rankings. Fly often, file every flight.

The Club's cross-country standings are based on the sum of the best 5 handicapped distances flown (Contest flights don't count). For the latest results see the club web page.

Convergences for long flights

By Chip Garner

Both my 1000km OLC flights were made possible by a convergence that formed late in the day near Moriarty. In both cases the convergence ran north/south. The first one was east of the field and the second west. On the second 1,000km flight, lift after 6 pm was very good, and I left the still working shear at close to 8 pm. The shear went from south of the Manzanos, along the Sandias, and continued along the river. It was still working for as far as I could see to the north from where I turned, about 10 miles south of Los Alamos. I think this convergence is a fairly common phenomena. It allowed me to fly for at least two hours late in the day mostly or entirely in gliding distance of Moriarty.

But what about Bambi?

By Mitch Hudson

It was a weak, midwest time day, with cloudbases only around 3,500 AGL in Hobbs, but we hadn't flown in five days and there is only so much in Hobbs, NM to keep yourself busy. I had my water all dumped out of the glider by the time I got 20 miles away from the airport, in anticipation of it being a slow struggle. Charlie Spratt had called a task out over "Indian country" which included some very unlandable terrain. As I made the first turn, and started my run down to the second turnpoint, the glider kept sinking lower and lower.

I picked out a nice gravel road, which ran perpendicular to a large highway. I noted that the powerlines were well offset from this road, and the scrub brush was low enough to clear my wings. As I was about to touch down, I noticed an antelope jumping the fence and dashing in my direction. As soon as I touched down and started making noise, he stopped and looked at me. Directly in my eyes as wild animals tend to do, trying to see what you will do next. What Mr. Antelope failed to realize was that I had seven and a half meters of antelope whackers sticking out to each side of me. The right wingtip contacted his left, front shoulder as I was slowing down through about 15-20 knots. This was still fast enough to send me careening sideways into the ditch and knock down my new friend. I figured at least a crunched landing gear, but both antelope and Discus were fine.

The moral of the story is that you should mentally be prepared for anything to happen during landing and take-off. Just when you think you've thought of everything, something new will crop up.

New Glider Shop at Moriarty

Robert Mudd, long time club member, is opening a repair and maintenance operation at Moriarty in Tom Brenza's former hangar. Robert has been a member since 1979, but since 1992 has lived in Ohio and overseas. Now it is back to Moriarty. He began doing annuals and repairs on gliders in 1983, having built a Vari-Eze and worked for George Applebay building Zunis. Later he helped design and build the Genesis in Slovenia. That connection has led to Robert becoming the dealer for the Apis and Pipistrel line of gliders and motor gliders, which are made in Lithuania.

Robert expects to open shop in mid-September. As an A&P mechanic and inspector he will offer annuals, repair and maintenance, mostly of composite aircraft and trailers but, he says, other materials too. And he will also support Rotax 912 and 914 engines. He is a commercial pilot, single-, multi-, a CFI in power and glider and can offer motor glider checkouts. Robert says, "I have been involved with gliding for over 40 years. I enjoy the sport and its participants. I look forward to working with old friends and making new ones."

Runway incursions

By Billy Hill

Runway incursions have long been a burr under the FAA’s saddle and a great deal of energy has been devoted to the reducing them. A runway incursion takes place when a person or thing, (vehicle or aircraft), enters what is known as a movement area as in a taxiway or runway without proper authorization. The FAA only formally recognizes those incursions that occur at “towered” airports. The FAA only takes note of incursions at “un-towered”, or as they prefer to call them, uncontrolled, airports when there an incident or accident.

We Moriarty airport users have been lucky because incidents at our "un-controlled airport go unreported to the FAA. It would be different if we were to apply the same standards as those outlined in the advisory circulars regarding hold lines. We have a technical incursion every time we stage a glider and towplane south of the hold lines on the taxiway from which we operate when other aircraft are arriving or departing. We mostly run a safe operation, but we have also been lucky. Recent case in point: A sailplane was staged for a west departure from taxiway Charlie. The towplane had started his takeoff roll while at the same time a high performance single place was landing on runway eight. Initially the runway eight traffic was not seen by either the towplane pilot or the pilot of the sailplane being towed. One of the Sundance aviation employees did see the traffic on final for runway eight and attempted to convey this to the tow in progress, but to no avail. The glider pilot on runway eight had announced his intentions to land but as he later said, he was on the wrong frequency.

During the departure roll, the towplane pilot noticed the sailplane on runway eight and aborted the takeoff. The glider pilot on tow also aborted and in the process, did some minor damage to one of his winglets that struck a taxiway sign. Apparently the ASC wing runner had not noticed either the sailplane landing on runway eight or the attempts by the Sundance employee to abort the tow.

Second incident: One of our newly minted private pilots was on a solo flight and his landing ended about three hundred feet shy of the glider turnoff. A club member drove his pickup onto the runway to pull the 2-33 clear. Both of our club pilots had been looking for any traffic in the pattern. As they were in the process of pulling the 2-33 down the runway the pilot of the glider looked over his shoulder and noticed an aircraft touching down on the approach end of runway two-six. They rapidly pushed the Schweizer to one side as the Lancair came zipping by at about eighty knots! Had they not done so, they would probably have been hit.

Although we have a good working relationship with most of those based at Moriarty, traffic is on the increase. We cannot assume that all those who land at 0E0 are aware of the glider operations even though that information is readily available. If we are in two-way communication with landing and departing traffic other than club and Sundance aircraft, we can quite often work out a sequence with all those involved and the operation is a safe one. What we must be very vigilant for is the unexpected. The wing runner is one of the last lines of defense for glider tows. He must make sure to do a careful search of the traffic pattern prior to lifting a glider wing. This also includes looking for possible aircraft landing on runway eight. We cannot assume that all those landing at Moriarty will have or use a radio for position announcements. Please take an extra moment to look around for others and help keep us out of the Federal Limelight!