Towlines
The Newsletter of the
From the President Bob Hudson
What a month (okay it was really six weeks)!!! First
we had a great time with the pilots and crews who came over from
Boy was that an education for me! I learned so much. First, Pete and Judy Vredenburg did an
excellent job doing the pre-work prior to the contest. As the contestants arrived they were greeted
by New Mexican hospitality that all the contestants said they weren’t used to
seeing in a contest. George Applebay opened up the museum for the daily briefings and
two social events. Al Santilli worked hard to provide a collection of tow ropes
and weak links. (It should be noted that
there were no rope breaks or tow mechanism malfunctions during the entire
contest.) Members from the Civil Air
Patrol, under the leadership of Captain Donna Bracken, were essential in the
extremely safe, efficient and timely contest launches as well as crowd control
for the Bob Carlton 4th of July air show. (I would add that they
were a fun bunch to be around.)
Mitch Hudson
gave up some valuable vacation time to assist with the leadership of the
Cadets, the competition committee, land out recovery and a myriad of other
duties that are required to keep a contest “flowing”. Jimmy Weir, Jimmy Miller, and Bob Carlton
teamed with Rick (and Sundance) to provide flawless tow/launches. There were others, like Mark Mocho, and
especially Angel Pala who has really come to the aid of the club in times of
need. Angel has a history of supplying the meat and buns for our bar-b-ques. He is always
ready to respond whenever a need is at hand.
As one who has partaken, and liberally I might add, I want to thank
Angel for being a patron saint. I also
want to acknowledge J.D. Huss and Dick Porter (from the Quiet Birds) who gave
up their 4th of July evening to cook for the club and the
1-26ers. Thanks to you three we had a
most enjoyable evening.
The key person I have to acknowledge is Carl Ekdahl, who did a phenomenal job as Contest director! Carl did his job so well,
the 1-26ers are already trying to talk him into directing their contest next
year. I personally enjoyed working near
Carl as I learned a lot about contests and soaring in general. Don’t think that the 1-26ers reaction is due
to Carl giving them easy tasks. That
couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Several participants told me that Carl’s tasks were some of the hardest
they have ever had and it forced them to experience some of the best flying
they have ever flown. I had guys tell they have flown for over thirty years but
that their best flights ever were during our contest. They went on to say that
Carl’s challenges brought the best out of them.
The bottom line is the Albuquerque Soaring Club was
challenged with six weeks of hard work and we met the challenge. Those who
contributed to this effort, I am proud to be associated with you. There was one
event that those of us that were there need to acknowledge but shouldn’t
detract from our effort. Norm Miller’s
(a contestant from
1-26s have a
blast By
Mitch Hudson
Average
speeds of 55 miles an hour (around a three hour race task), ground speeds of
over 120 miles per hour on selected legs, altitudes of eighteen thousand feet. These are experiences that some East coast
pilots strive for in $100,000 ships. Yet, the 1-26 pilots, at the recent
Championships, did it out of Moriarty in $5,000 ships.
The 1-26 championships were
held at Moriarty in a team effort between Sundance and ASC during the last week
of June - first week of July. Carl Ekdahl was the
contest director for this event and it went off without a hitch. There
were twenty-three 1-26s ‑ these might be $5,000 ships, but due to the
myriad of creative paint jobs, this made for a beautiful starting grid ‑
and twenty-seven pilots (some flew as a team). It was an interesting job
to have to be on the other side of a contest and be the one putting it on,
rather than being a contestant. It was a real education and I really
enjoyed being behind the scenes and seeing how things worked.
Special thanks to
Albuquerque Soaring Club members Earl Fain, Mark Mocho, JD Huss, Al Santilli, Bob and Laurie Carlton, Mike Stogner, Jimmy Weir,
Linda Hudson, Jimmy Miller and Carl Ekdahl who helped
out with this big event, we couldn't have done it without them! Thank you for your help, gentleman ‑ and ladies.
Special thanks also goes out to my mother, Marty
Hudson and Judy Vreedenburg, for running the retrieve
office. The Cadets from our local Civil Air Patrol were invaluable to
having safe and efficient launches. A great Albuquerque and Moriarty effort.
The 1-26 pilots are all
still talking about the great weather and how great a contest site we have here
in Moriarty. This is a real boost for our airport and advertising for our
club as well as Sundance. The 1-26 pilots do incredible things with those
little ships, and for those of you who missed out, you really missed out on
something special.
One last item, the 1-26ers
gave the ASC a plaque in appreciation for the effort that produced a most
successful contest. Wander by the club
housed and view this addition to our “I love me wall.”
Club Safety Down Day
By Bob Hudson
As some of you are aware we recently experienced an
unfortunate incident that left our beloved Grob
destroyed and one of out tow planes grounded until a complete engine teardown
is performed and a new propeller is mounted. The good news is that no one was
hurt in the incident.
It was interesting to watch the club come together
and assist the FAA and NTSB as they performed their investigative functions. As
of the time of this writing we don’t know where we stand as to replacement, or
repair, of the Grob or when the tow plane will be
back up, so please bear with us.
Now having said that, I want you to know that the
club is preparing for a Safety Down Day. The date is still being worked out, but when
I declare the Down Day (with the backing of your Club Board) all club members
will be administratively grounded until they participate in the Down Day or
they make it up by viewing or reading the notes from the meeting.
Now what is a Safety Down
Day? This is a concept the military uses
when they feel a need to “put the train back on the track.” When a military Safety Down
Day is declared, all flying ceases.
There is no instruction, no training, no pleasure flying and (in our
case) no towing. All club members will
stay grounded until they meet the intent of the grounding, which will be
positive in our approach to safety. The
agenda is being formed and we want to make it informative and, most
importantly, interactive. We will strive
to give each of you as much notice as possible so that you will have an
opportunity to participate.
How I Abandoned
My 500K Flight and (Almost) Flew to
By
Kathy Taylor
As usual, we got to the field kind of late on July 4th. The 1-26 Championship was still going strong and
they were all lined up on the runway when we arrived. We quickly prepared the glider and were about
to begin filling with water, when we heard Competition Director Carl Ekdahl announce on the radio that launch would begin at
1300. It was now 1145 so we abandoned
the idea of water and started pushing out to the grid. Lift was still a little weak so Carl was nice
enough to let me launch ahead of the field as long as I agreed to a contest tow
(close in). Releasing at 7500 ft just
off the end of the runway, I climbed slowly with a 1-35 to 9500 ft and then ran
west to the shearline.
I had declared Claunch, Lamy Junction, Lincoln Station, and it looked like an easy
task for the day. I headed out along the
shear line and worked my way down to Claunch. All the time I’d been thinking that it would
be a shame to fly only 500k on such a great soaring day. The dry line lay to the east of Claunch and I decided to add a few miles by flying down to Carizzozo. Passing Carizzozo over the mountains, the cloud street still
beckoned. OK, I’ll go on to Sierra
Blanca. This part of the flight was
really a delight. Charging along at 115
knots, it was occasionally necessary to slow down to 80 in order to climb back
to 17,000 ft. Soon I could see
Arriving back at Moriarty with 4 hours elapsed, it
seemed like there was still time to finish the original task. But the best
clouds had moved well to the east and the direct route to Lamy
was largely blue. I set out for a likely
looking cloud near Zorro and found lift here and there along the way. Turning Lamy I
coasted into the mountains at
SeeYou optimized the flight to 701
km but the OLC would not take the flight due to some glitch in the
recording. Brian Resor, our hero, came
to the rescue and was able to submit the flight by cutting out some records
which eliminated the entire leg from
The On-Line
Contest
First strike in the two-week northern hemisphere
special section of the OLC went to Chip Garner, with a flight of 1009.5
km. At this writing, he is in first
place in the
Bill Hill flew over 800 km, Jim Cumiford
770 km, Kathy Taylor 700 km (see above story) and Danny Sorenson and Bob
Leonard (Sundance) way over 600km. There
have been a lot of flights over 500 km, notably by Art Hale, Mark Mocho, with
Angel Pala and Brian Resor going over 400 km and Lee Goettsche
over 300 km.
Way to go guys!
Fly often (well, weather permitting) and file every flight. We need the miles!