Towlines
The Newsletter of the
The 2006 Board
Congratulations to the new board for 2006, elected at the December club meeting.
President: Bob Hudson; Vice President: Pat McKnight; Secretary: Mark Mocho; Treasurer: Brian Morrison; Directors at Large: Bob Carlton and Billy Hill.
The following were appointed to club tasks: Chief Instructor: John Daffer; Chief Tow Pilot: John Farris: Chief Ops; (vacant); Bob Knight (Training), John Farris (Scheduler), Connie Buenafe Phone Caller); Safety Officer: Markus Graeber; A/C Maintenance: Ryan Thomas; Facilities Maintenance: J.D. Huss; Insurance: Don Kawal; Newsletter: Howard Banks; Parachute Maintenance: Pete Vredenburg.
From the President By Bob
Hudson
As you should know (Towlines and E-mail) we held a Club meeting at the Airport on Saturday the 10th of December. The big issue on the agenda was the election of the 2006 Board and the appointment of the non-elected positions. Due to the persuasion of the members present I will stay on as your president. There are days I feel I need to have my head examined, but as Forest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Pat Mcknight stays on as Vice President, Mark Mocho will be the secretary, Brian Morrison has agreed to take on the task of treasurer but only after a time in which Brian Resor can safely make the transfer and after we resolve our book keeper dilemma. Bob Carlton and Billy Hill will remain directors at large.
Billy Hill and your Prez
just returned from a step back in time to
The commissioning of Mitch was a real thrill for Billy and me. I had the honor of administering the oath of office to Mitch. Of course this meant that I had to “reblue” myself (put on the uniform again and that means the beard came off.) Following the swearing in ceremony, we watched Mitch’s Officer Training Class participate in a parade (Pass in Review) and the traditional tossing of their student flight caps and the donning of their new officer flight caps. The ceremony was completed with a fly-by of one of the few remaining operational C-141s. That was a good balance of the new and the old.
On to other items: I have delivered the trailer for our OPS use and replacement of the motor home. It needs to be “fixed up” so that it can be properly used, but we are one step closer to having a more efficient operation. Speaking of more efficient operation, we are putting together a comprehensive training syllabus for operations personnel. We are also reevaluating how we upgrade pilots to new equipment, going from fabric and metal to glass. The emphasis will be on landing out, taking the planes apart and properly trailering. We should have these efforts done before spring and the big soaring season.
Congratulations to Brian Morrison for becoming the clubs newest instructor. Also Geoff Aiken passed his private glider examination and is the club’s newest “licensed” pilot. Lastly, Ten Zulu is back in the air; however you wouldn’t know it because it has a new four bladed prop that is extremely quiet. The other day Ryan Thomas was sitting in the normal operations parking spot with the engine running. We were able to converse with him from the operations tent. That is quiet. Of course you would know this if you came out and flew with us.
Of course, we have the Year end Soaring Gala coming up. As always the RSVPs are lagging. I will be sending out an e-mail and post cards (to those who don’t have e-mail) reminding them to notify a board member or Howard Banks if you are attending (and with how many and what you plan to eat). Howard has done a great job putting this together again, so don’t miss out.
The Mishap
Board By
Bob Hudson
You will recall that your Club Board chartered a group of three members to look into an incident involved with a landout of a club aircraft. We gave these three members the title of Club Mishap Board and also asked them to evaluate our operating procedures and draft changes to our Club bylaws. This group has worked hard and has come up with some proposed changes to our operating procedures. I briefly outlined these recommendations to our members at the December Club meeting. In a nutshell, the group came up with the following suggested changes:
· A clear policy regarding operating controls of club aircraft by non-members.
· Clear policies on PIC (Pilot In Command) decisions prior to flight.
· Requirements to have an approved Daily Inspection and Pre-Flight Checklists
· Clearer identification of person responsible for damage to Club aircraft in the advent of a mishap.
· There were recommendations to change wording in the Policy Manual that describes who is insured and who is not.
· Other assorted changes that identify some responsibilities of pilots with regard to proper filling out of the Operations Flight Logs.
These changes will be formally presented at the January Gala and then voted on.
Updates to the
club webpage
By Brian
Resor
Since I’ve learned how to program in PHP for our internet webpage, I’ve been able to add many new features to the club website ‑ www.abqsoaring.org The latest feature is the ability to modify the Ops schedule right on the web. This is a feature that our Ops scheduling team has wanted for years. Any club officer who has been granted access to that feature (primarily Chief Ops, Chief Tow, and Chief Instructor) can go in and assign members to slots in the ops schedule. The Ops schedule in the Members’ section of the website will always reflects the most up-to-date information.
The viewed ops schedule will figure out the current date and then show you ops assignments starting two weekends earlier and ending about 2 months out in the future, the current maximum.
Once your name comes up on the schedule you have been firmly assigned to that day (just as when the schedule is posted in Towlines). At that point, it is up to you to talk to fellow club members to work out a trade for days that you find inconvenient. Once you have agreed upon a trade, let either me or the Chief Ops Officer (currently vacant) know about it and we’ll make the change online. Making the change only takes a few seconds, so there are no more excuses for an incorrect schedule if we take the time to keep it updated.
There are a few more features to mention. When you login to the Members section, it’ll tell you in the upper left of the page when you are scheduled for Ops. And in the schedule your ops days are highlighted yellow. Finally, if you looking at the schedule and thinking about calling someone about switching Ops days just click on their name in the schedule and you are taken to their contact information. It doesn’t get too much easier than that!
We now have two sources for ops information: the latest Towlines and the website. But obviously the webpage schedule is going to be the most up-to-date by including trades and updates. If you want to know the most accurate information, you’d better check the webpage.
Please email me if you don’t know your login and password to access the members’ section.
The New 750km
FAI Diplome
By Brian Resor, with input from Mike Abernathy and Judy Ruprecht, The
Badge Lady.
Recently we have received word that there will be a new level of soaring achievement available to glider pilots. This one is nice for many of us because the jump in difficulty from the 500km achievement to the 1000km is not trivial. The new FAI diplome is for a declared distance of 750km.
As with other FAI badges, the 750 km Diplome requires the course to be one of those defined in Sporting Code Section 3, Chapter 1 as acceptable for badges. (See 14.4, 14.5 and 14.6) In all cases, a pre-flight declaration is required and it may include a maximum of 3 turnpoints.
In terms of course shape, there can be a maximum of 4 legs: Start (or release) to turnpoint #1, turnpoint #1 to turnpoint #2, turnpoint #2 to turnpoint #3 and turnpoint #3 to the Finish (or landing). The most flexible type of course would be "Distance Using Up to 3 Turnpoints," which permits the pilot to declare up to 3 turnpoint options and use some, none or all of them in any order, and you do not have to indicate the order until you have landed.
It is important to distinguish that the diplome is a DECLARED task. The only FAI-recognized context in which a turnpoint need not be declared before flight is in record flying - specifically, in "Free" distance records. (Judy Ruprecht points out that, ironically, it is possible to set a 2,500-km World Record for Free Distance and not earn Silver Distance for the flight!). If you go out and fly 750km according to OLC rules, then you haven’t earned a diplome. There is an extra challenge in getting to predefined turning points.
One example of such a task from Moriarty: Moriarty, Carrizozo, Lamy Jct, Sierra Blanca Regional, and Moriarty (770km). On a day when the high ground up and down US285 is working well, this would be a very doable task.
With the addition of this award, I think there isn’t a single one of us not up to the challenge. Let’s play around with SeeYou this winter and dream up some tasks then get out there and fly more badges and records this summer!
[By the way, Brian took over from Art Hale this past summer as the NM
record keeper. If you have any questions
about flying records, he says don’t hesitate to ask.]
The First One
Hundred Feet
By Billy Hill
To be safety towed aloft by an airplane a number of considerations must be reviewed in order for both the tow pilot as well as the glider pilot to fly with impunity.
Let’s start with the glider pilot. Regardless of what type of checklist you use, (be it written or mnemonic), it should include a review of what you will do should the tow go awry. The first chance for a mishap is when a wing drops to the ground before you have enough aileron control to keep the wings level. During the first few feet of the takeoff roll the wings are level or nearly so because of the efforts of your wing runner. Should a wing drop, you must consider what will happen if you are unable to get them level again within the next few seconds. In a glider with a low wing loading, you can usually get them level in short order. In a higher performance ship with its associated higher wing loading, you should consider that after the first fifty or so feet of the takeoff roll, inertia is working against you. For example, if the right wing is dragging on the ground, inertia is pulling you to the right and as the tow plane accelerates, this force increases. On the other hand, the tow plane is attempting to pull your glider back in alignment with its self and the center of the runway.
What can you do to correct the situation? As you attempt to get the wing up off the ground, you can use rudder opposite the direction of turn to help get the glider back on centerline as well as the wing up. All the while you should be thinking how long should I wait to see if I can right the situation and what are my options?
Basically
you have four. First, release within the
first few seconds of the tow. Second,
stay on tow because you see that you can correct the situation. Third, and not so good, wait a little longer
because you think that skill, cunning and superior airmanship will win
out. Fourth, wait until it’s too late to
pull the release because now the right wing tip is off the runway and is
dragging in the weeds and dirt. Should
you choose to go with option four, there is a good likelihood the inertia which
is now clearly working against you will spin you around with such force that
you will snap the tail boom off your beloved flying machine. Been there, done that many, many mango
seasons ago in
Perhaps by now you have decided that should it look as though the wing tip doing the dragging has a good chance of leaving the runway onto the dirt, you will release and break heavily in order to minimize the possibility of a ground loop, (option one.) If you are looking for a rule of thumb regarding this issue, you might try the five second sanction. That is, if the wing tip is not off the ground within five seconds of the beginning of the takeoff roll, it’s time to release and try again. Now, what about the tow pilot?
Which way is the tail of the tow plane being pulled while the right wing tip of the glider is dragging on the ground? Why to the right. Now let’s factor in a crosswind from the South, (assuming a West departure from 0E0.) What is the maximum demonstrated cross-wind component of the Pawnee? There is not one in this country….never has been, but the folks down under call it twelve knots. By having the down wind tip of the glider on the ground, the relative crosswind component of the tow plane has just been increased by the glider. Think the tow pilot has his hands, (and feet), full? Do ya? Well of course he does. Does any of this make that five second sanction look any more viable?
Ok then, you got your wing tip up, compensated for the cross wind and have managed to wrench the glider into the air. You are airborne and working in three dimensions whereas the tow plane which is still on the ground is operating in only two dimensions.
Once airborne, you as the glider pilot can help the tow pilot by flying in a “slipped” configuration in order to keep your self from drifting down wind of the tow plane. Should you find your self already down wind of the tow plane, then align your self with the vertical stabilizer of the tow plane, (note I didn’t say rudder), and wait for him to get airborne.
I understand that some tow pilots are proponents of staying on the ground for as long as possible which may include speeds of up to eighty miles an hour. I disagree with this technique for the following reasons.
First, one of the more critical phases of flight is when the glider is airborne and the tow plane is not. The faster you run along the ground Mr. Tow pilot, the more difficult it is for the glider pilot to remain three to five feet above the ground while he waits for you to become airborne. If there is a cross wind, the more complicated it will get for the both of you. Yet another point is that the tow plane is not designed to run along the ground at a high rate of speed with it’s tail hiked up in the air, (which increases the risk of a prop strike), it’s designed to fly, so let it.
When I’m towing, I apply full aileron into the wind and then moderate that with as much as it takes to compensate for the conditions. I then apply enough up wind aileron to “fly” the down wind wing. Once the down wind wing is airborne and the down wind wheel is off the ground, the rest of the aircraft is ready to fly. If it becomes gusty under these circumstances, I might wait a second or so longer before committing aviation. Both tow plane and glider are better able to compensate for adverse conditions when they are both in the same environment, that is, either airborne or parked in the hangar.
What about a towing malfunction just after being airborne?
If you would not turn the glider at less than two hundred and fifty feet AGL after a rope break, why would you consider turning it when you are only fifty feet in the air? What if the tow plane looses power when you are airborne and it is not? You should consider slipping to the south side of the runway, (away from the taxi way signs), and landing in the dirt beside the runway. The tow plane should break aggressively and clear to the north side of the runway.
What if both of you are airborne and something happens? Consider slipping to the North side of the runway and landing on the taxiway. Of course there may be mitigating circumstances which will impact your decision. The important thing to remember is try to avoid making a low altitude turn where there is a good possibility of catching a wing tip and above all try not to hit anything stationary or moving at a slow speed while landing.
In a perfect world there would be a text book answer to any given situation. Flying exists in a very imperfect world so remember that between the black and the white there is quite a lot of grey. Doctors and lawyers “practice” their profession and perhaps we should consider doing the same with flying. We “practice” because we are always learning something new every time we slip the surly bonds.