The Soaring Diary

This Soaring Diary begins in April 2001
and ends in July 2001

The Soaring Diary was started in the mid-1990's  Click here to see a selection of  dates of previous volumes (they go back in time at least two years).  (The link will also tell you what this diary is all about).

Editor and publisher - Peter Kelly
(Click here to jump to the bottom of this page - to see links to other pages)

Reports are provided by soaring enthusiasts from all over the world
(In reverse chronological order)

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    Begin entry for Monday, Jul 23 2001

Dear Pilots, Sorry the server was having a problem for the past week or two.  It is back  up and is once again accessible.  A sincere thank you, to each of you, that wrote to tell me about  the problem.

Couple of things-
Minden Database  - I have done a draft of the new database for Minden, but am awaiting for some coordination.  It now has 190 or so points, and all in alphabetical order.  Hope fully I'll get it done soon.

Minden Soaring Club  - They sponsored the PASCO League at Minden the weekend of 14 July.  Andrew did a great job of calling tasks, organizing the gates, and scoring.  It all went very well.
The flying was excellent, you should have been there.  I don''t have any score sheet to share, sorry, I didn't receive any input.

Ely outing - there are a bunch of pilots out at Ely this week enjoying some fantastic conditions.  Hopefully we'll receive some stories.

Flying at Williams - we received a msg from Rick, I'll publish it here---

-------------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick and Kat" <rickandkathryn@netzero.net>
Subject: soaring report
Date: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 9:13 PM

Hey Milt and Peter!

Didn't have a chance to see the blipmap nor the mt Wil TIP this morning.  If I see clouds, I go!  A classic shearline day--probably like the one you (Milt) and Allison had.  Cloud base averaged around 9,500.  STRONG thermal lift under a few of them--10 kts plus!   I just saw the Mt Wil TIP.  It said a little over 10,000.  Just about right.  I soared to Yolla peak (my furthest North so far).  The cloud streets continued North as far as I could see.  I cruised back down south (and I mean CRUISED) past Goat and headed out to Clear Lake.  I turned at the Wall Mart (It really is a turn point!) and headed East toward the Capay Valley.  There, I was so high that I decided to do a final glide to I 5/505 junction then home to Williams...With 2,500 ft to spare.  (No lift in the valley.)  The flight isn't downloaded yet but I figure it was about 240 miles.  Glider: ASW-20.   Highest Altitude:10,500.  Duration 4.5 hrs.  No speed records were set but it sure was fun!

Rick Ogden
--------------------------------------------

End entry for Monday, Jul 23 2001
 
 
 

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    Begin entry for Thurs, Jul 12, 2001

Not much to report  - other than announce that I plan to fly out of Minden this weekend and out of Truckee the week of 25 to 28 July, but who cares.  Just thought I'd say that aloud.  More interesting is that the weather has changed.  Clouds are going away, flow from the south is letting  up, cool west flow aloft.  Ought to be good this weekend.

I'm working on revisions to the Minden Database.

Lots of flying going on - a group outing to Ely with High Country, contests at Siskiyou/ Montague, contest out at Tonopah, and lots of other things.

No flight debriefs to post, sorry.  Everyone is busy flying. We did receive a note from Ramy, expressing his enthusiasm for the flying from Hollister. I  share it with you, so you too can read about the flights:

----------------------------
From: <RamyYanetz@aol.com>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Hollister flights
Date: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 1:47 PM

Hi (Peter) Kelly,

Check out what is going on in Hollister this year. As someone said, Hollister
was reinvented, with milk run flights of 200K-300K almost everyday this
summer, with occasionaly much longer flights, such as 540km flat triangle by
yours truely last Saturday. I actually brought back my glider from Minden for
couple of weeks, since I can make almost the same distance in my backyard
now...
http://www.soarhollister.com/notableflights_frm.htm

Ramy Yanetz
-----------------------------

End entry for Thurs, Jul 12, 2001
 
 

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for Tue, Jun 26, 2001

A couple of items. Several of us had good flights out of Truckee last week.
We went from Truckee to Bishop and return - real fast.  It was a good day. Don't have any traces from any body other than my own - it seems it was hard to stay below 18000 ft with all of that strong lift, so no one is sharing their traces.  I was flying in 15 meter configuration.  My ground speed into the wind, over the 166 mile track from Mt Rose (at 13,000) to Mt Seigel, to Mt Patterson, to abeam Bishop at 15,000 on the Whites (that's called Schulman Grove Intersection) was 72 mph - the best for the day as far as I know.  Another pilot reported thinking seriously about jumping over to the Sierras and turning Mt Whitney, but he didn't, and another pilot reported a ground speed of 90 kts on the 170 sm trip back from Bishop to Truckee (final glide from Desert Pk).

I received a report that Paul DeMeester cart wheeled at Siskiyou during the Open Class US National Contest during a heavy crosswind landing last week.  Injured his foot, but otherwise ok.

I haven't seem them yet, but I was told that John K has posted a few photos of the Open Nationals at the following site:
http://www.geocities.com/junkyard_kahrs/soaring/open_nats.html

We received a report that the soaring is excellent as usual at Williams this time of year.  Here is a note from Kenny:

------------------------------------------------
From: "Williams Soaring" <soaring@colusanet.com>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Williams Soaring.
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2001 3:59 PM

Hi Peter,
Although the typical valley inversion is here, it has been an incredible late spring/early summer in the Mendocinos. We are towing toward Indian ranch area but releasing 1-2 miles before it in good lift fairly consistently. And then of course pushing out toward Goat Mt. and so on , it seems to be different this year in that we are not having to tow all the way to the Goat spine, we are usually 13 miles out or so when we hit the first soarable thermals, this has been the normality for the last 3 weeks or so.

Yesterday, tuesday, June 19, we topped out at 13,500 msl over Black Butte Mt. and the cu over Eagle Peak looked to be @ 15,000 +.

 Looks to be a great summer here at Williams.

 Kenny.
----------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jay Baker" <bakeraviation@home.com>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Tow Plane for Sale
Date: Monday, June 04, 2001 8:36 PM

Currently have a 1975 Piper Pawnee 260D for sale.  Pics and specs can be seen at http://www.bakeraviation.net
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    Begin entry for 9 PM Thurs, Jun 7, 2001

We received a comprehensive report from Gary about the Open Class Region 11 contest that was held at Montague this year. Here is Gary's report.
 

--------------------------------------------
From: "Gary Kemp" <gkemp@sunset.net>
To: "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: 2001 Region 11 Open Class Contest
Date: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 11:41 AM

Region 11 Open Contest
Siskiyou County Airport
Montague, CA
May 26-31, 2001

Because of the unique characteristics and landing requirements of the Open Class (long wings), it was decided to have a separate Open Class contest at Siskiyou County Airport, where the runway is 7500’ long and 150’ wide.  The County is very hospitable to gliders and the Mount Shasta Soaring Center is the sponsoring organization who have established a viable presence on the site.

This year, the winter rains have failed to materialize and the contest envelope is extremely dry.  Dry lake beds are much in evidence with many brown fields.    Eight competitors signed up to fly.  We were running competition with the Region 8 competition which had seven Open class competitors during the same time period.

May 26, 2001 - Practice Day

Four of 8 pilots show up to fly the practice task on Saturday.  Dick Pfiffner handles the CD chores as well as weather and sniffer.  Pat Sinclair did the gate and roll times, Nancy Kemp does landing times and Opens the task.

The task is for nearly 215 miles, to Quartz Valley, west of Montague, to Callahan, then across the valley to Three Sheds, out to Dry Lake, returning to Weed and home.

The task is pretty straight forward under good conditions and cu markers. The shear line works on the 3rd-fifth legs and Ray Gimmey, in his Nimbus 4, 7V wins with a speed of 81.38 mph.   John Sinclair and son right behind in the big ASH 25 at 81.08, a portent of things to come.

May 27, 2001 - Contest Day 1

Today doesn't look as good, so a Modified Assigned task of 3 hours is set with the first three turnpoints called,  Quartz Valley, Scott Valley and R-Ranch..  During the task a front appears to go through the contest area and those who haven't planned wisely (or been very lucky) are caught by it.  Ray Gimmey remarks that this is technically, the most demanding day he has ever flown and that he gave up soaring altogether four times throughout the days’ flight.

Lee Hallerber, flying very cautiously wins, flying a distance of 186.65 miles at 62.22 mph.  John Sinclair is second at 171.81 and 57.27 mph.  Showing how difficult this task was, Ray Gimmey is fifth at 42.58 mph and World Record Holders Jim and Tom Payne,  only get 17.86 mph.  Gary Kemp shows how devastating a land out is by getting the hardest 268 points he has ever gotten.

May 28, 2001 - Contest Day 2

Another challenging day greets us, with a low pulsing across the area with too much cirrus.  A 170.29 mile task is called to Callahan, Restaurant Exit, Etna, Weed and return.  Most finishers are within a few minutes of each other and victory was captured by following the correct route into Etna and out. Also, following the proper clouds into Restaurant.  Restaurant is a tricky turnpoint at the top of Siskiyou Pass, going into Oregon, and pilots there are often the victim of no lift and debilitating winds.  Ray Gimmey wins at 63.2 mph, but he remarks as to how low he was coming out of Etna and trying to get over the mountain range before going to Weed.  John Sinclair garners first place, overall, by finishing a close second to Ray and Mallory Lynch and Dale in the ASW 25 are close behind.  Three pilots, Jim Payne, Lee Hallerberg and Paul DeMeester take constructive landouts.

May 29, 2001 - No Contest Day

Cold air advection prevents early warming and the day doesn't start until too late to get people around a suitable task and so Dick Pfiffner scrubs the day.

May 30, 2001 - Contest Day 3

Today seems to be a little better and so a 192.84 mile task is called by Dick Pfiffner and his task committee of John Sinclair and Gary Kemp.  It turns into another very technical, soaing day and speeds aren’t very high, the winner is Ray Gimmey at 61.89.  John Sinclair maintains his first overall by finishing third at 55.98 mph.  Jim Payne figures it out and finishes second at 60.93.

The task is Callahan, the infamous Restaurant, then back to Callahan, R-Ranch and return.  Routes assume a great importance.  Gary Kemp spends twenty minutes on Cottonwood peak trying to get high enough to get to Restaurant and out.  Gary and Ray fly in together and all the way out, down to 4100 feet (probably less than 1000’ over terrain), before hooking into the same thermal that DLB is in, and climbing to 8500’.

This was a tough day, but if anything is going to work, the ridge we flew today, from Callahan to R-Ranch will.  It allowed us to get a fairly long task, with a good completion rate,  where otherwise we might have had problems.

May 31, 2001

It appears we will have another challenging day as cold air has pooled in the area and it is slow to heat.  Dick Pfiffner has a hard time getting above 6000’ and finally the pilots decide we are going to launch and help him out.  Just as the first launch begins (NK) the inversion breaks and NK is soon above 11,000 feet in strong lift.  The start gate altitude is again at 8000 feet requiring thoughtful planning to get a good start, while remaining under 8000 feet for two minutes.

As it turns out our task is too short at 153.67 miles,Callahan, Quartz Vallewy, R-Ranch, Scott Valley and Weed.  Conditions are fantastic with thermals up to 13 knots to 13,000 feet.  First in line was Gary Kemp in NK, marking the thermals and coming along 5 in a row were the other competitiors who gradually reeled him in.

For the last guy in line it was a fantastic sight with those big winged gliders, all in a row, pulling up into incredibly strong lift.

Jim and Tom Payne got it right and won the day at 93.45 mph, Lynch and Bush were second at 90.17, closely followed by the Sinclairs at 89.77, who won the contest.  Lynch/Bush were second overhall and Ray Gimmey third.
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    Begin entry for 9 PM Mon Jun 4, 2001

One soaring msg received.  Gary Kemp tells us about the open class regionals at Montague.  As for the Standard Class, 15 Meter Class, and Sports Class Regionals held at Crazy Creek, the contest ended on Monday May 28th.  There were not enough to make up a Standard Class so there was only a 15 Meter and a Sports Class.   The contest was dominated by a couple of American Airlines Pilots!  Rick Endebro took 15 Meter Class, and Peter Kelly (editor) took Sports Class.

Here is a partial extract from the SSA contest results page---

-------------------------------
Final Scores - Contest Day 5

Contest Results

2001 Region 11 Soaring Championship
Crazy Creek Gliderport, Middletown, California
Monday, May 28, 2001

Unofficial
15 Meter Class Day 5

Task: Assigned
    ID   Name                 Distance (Miles)   Radius
    42   42 StartCyl            0.00              5.0
     9   09 DiamndMRc     53.41
    11   11 FtsSprngs         70.04
     4   04 AldrSprng          91.55
    43   42 Finish               152.63

 Cumulative                                                Day                              Remarks
 Rank  Points  ID   Name                   Glider      Rank    Points  Speed   Distance
  --   ----                   ------      ----    ------  -----   --------  ----    -------- ------
    1   4374   99   Indrebo, Rick          ASW-27         1     1000    61.85  152.63
    2   4109   C2   Colacevich, Sergio     Discus A       5      856    52.93  152.63
    3   3991   SM   Findley, Joe           Ventus 1B        2      964    59.64  152.63
    4   3806   98   Alexander, Pete        ASW-27B       3      904    55.93  152.63
    5   3562   2T   Deane, Peter           LS-8a               4      859    53.13  152.63
    6   1353   21   Meiklejohn, James      ASW-20b      6        0              DNC
    7   1088  1EC   Carapetyan, Gene       ASW-27B   6        0              0.0
    8    527  14B   Roberts, Bruce         ASW-20         6        0              DNC

Unofficial
Sports Class Day 5

Task: Pilot Selected

 Minimum Time 02:45

 Cumulative                                                Day             Speed             Distance
 Rank  Points  ID   Name      Glider      Rank    Points  Hndcp   Actual    Hndcp   Actual     -----   --   ----                   ------      ----    ------  -----   ------    -----   ------    ----
1   4151   PK   Kelly, Peter    DG-800b   1      950    44.50   52.35    126.26  148.54
2   3280   PS   Dismukes, Key ASW-20   2      661    30.97   34.30     88.82   98.37
3   2900   LL   Hines, Karol      ASW-24  4      172                              47.80   51.13
4  1772  199   Griffen, Charles ASW-24  5        0                                DNC
5   1407   LU   Davis, Sumner    LS-6b     3      508    23.80   26.47     65.44   72.79
---------------------------------------

Here is the message for Gary about the Open Class---

---------------------------------------
From: "Gary Kemp" <gkemp@sunset.net>
Date: Saturday, June 02, 2001 9:00 AM

We have just, successfully, run an Open Class Regionals, we had 8 participants and JJ2 won the event (John Sinclair and John Sinclair Jr.).  The last day was fantastic, with thermals 11-13 kts to 13000 feet.  Jim Payne was almost 94 mph and I was 6 minutes back in 4th place at 87 mph.
----------------------------------------

End entry for 9 PM Mon Jun 4, 2001
 
 
 

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 11 AM Tue May 22, 2001

We received two flight reports.  I'll post them below, but first let me mention a few things.

Regionals at Crazy Creek--

I had a bad cold on Friday, May 18 and missed practice day, but I hear there were some good flights- reported lift was about 7,000 ft..

Saturday, EJ was filling in for Steve as CD.  Steve was out on a bike trip (more below).  There were five of us in Sports, and probably six flying in the 15 meter Class - we don't have any score sheets yet - computer problems.  It was hot (over 95 F), wind was from the north at 10 kts, lift was up to 8,000.  Task for 15 meter was Ukiah, Pope, Hwy 20-16 and home again for 141 miles.  Sports had a 2 hour modified-POST ( first turn at Rogers Delight, the remainder of the turnpoints were at the Option of the Pilot - that's what the PO stands for in POST - Pilot
Option. Of course, now they call  it PST rather than POST, but that politics.  I'll tell you about my flight.

I was carrying my engine and five gallons of fuel, so I put my wings all on (18 meters with winglets) to decrease the wing loading..  As I turned Ukiah, I saw small cu clouds forming over Gravelly, so leaving Ukiah at 7,000 I went to the Lake Pillsbury area, made it ok, turned Gravelly, went towards Snow Mtn, climbed to 11,500, turned Letts Lake, crossed Goat, made a poor decision to just go to 7M and cross the finish.  With that altitude I could have done a few triangles in the terminal area between Loran Station, Hoberg, etc, but hadn't trained myself to use my new Cambridge pocket nav system well enough to figure it all out. I went 58 mph over 126 miles, but my handicap probably put me out of first place.

Most of the 15 meter guys did ok - but I don't have any scores yet.

On Sunday, it was closer to 100 deg F, and wind was more NE and stronger. Lift was weaker - day more of a challenge.  Gate and CD had radio problems, but we got started eventually.  15 meter went to Ukiah, Calistoga, and then finish.  Sports had a 2 hour 30 minute POST with Lampson being the required first turn.

I got up to Lampson for the first turn ok, but then struggled the rest of the day.  Down to pattern altitude going south past Middletown, slow climb on the Palisades near Calistoga, turned Angwin, Pope, St. Helena, Loran Station, 7M and finished.  But, I could have flew smarter by choosing better routes, and if I knew how to use that Cambridge pocket nav, I could have done Hoberg as well with all the extra altitude I had at the end of the day.  I heard Jim D and others flying up in the mountains.  I'm looking forward to the last 3 days of the contest next weekend.

Here is the report from Ramy on his record flight from Hollister on Saturday.  Congrats to Ramy for a record flight.  Looks like he got the most out of the day that was available.

From: <RamyYanetz@aol.com>
Subject: First 500K O&R Diamond flight from Hollister
Date: Monday, May 21, 2001 1:53 AM

Saturday (5/19) was hazy and stable in Hollister as usual in high pressure
days, but with great lapse rate above the inversion, so I was optimistic that a high tow (6000 feet) to the mountains may yield a  long flight. Just before launching at noon I commented that today I'll try a diamond flight to New Cuyama and back. and so I did...

It was a great day, and easy for the most part, but It had it's share of  challenges, when I needed to dig myself out of holes twice. I hit the first lift as usual at Panoche which took me to 7000 feet. By this  time I could spot the first cu popping over hernandez. When I got there I was rewarded  with over 10 knots all the way to 11,000 feet. From there I followed the shear line to  Parkfield, but it started getting tough past Parkfield into California Valley, where I got twice close to 1000 AGL. I
slowly  pushed on low until I got under the next cloud street which started forming
over California Valley. By the time I got to cloudbase at 11,000 feet, I had a nice cloud street all the way  to New Cuyama. I turned around at 3:30PM over New Cuyama airport, 165 miles  from Hollister, into a 12 knots head wind.

Back under the cloud street all the way to near Avenal, where I met Drew on the 2-32 at 10,000 feet. From there things started slowing down, and I could find usable lift only under one-third of the clouds. The lift and the cloud started dying off, and the cloud street which was all the way to Panoche earlier started dissipating infront of my eyes. I got to about 8000 feet under the last cloud just west of Coalinga near Priest Valley, with more than 60 miles to go. Fortunately the lift was still there, but weaker. I climbed in the last thermal I could find to 8000 feet on the north end of Hernandez reservoir, and went on a long 45 miles final glide into increasing head wind from the sea breeze. It was a very tense final glide, which was just below glide slope for the most part,  with no chance for any lift due to the sea breeze. I arrived at pattern altitude and landed in Hollister at 6:30PM.

Total distance was 330 Miles (528KM), and 315 miles (504km) from release
point (quin Sabe valley), and 6.6 hours. This was a new Hollister O&R record
and the first diamond flight from Hollister, as well as my second longest
flight ever.

The next day (Sunday) was similar, but the lift started a little later with
blue thermals except only couple of cu's over Hernandez. I didn't want to spoil the
previous day by landing out somewhere today, and I didn't have a crew, so I decided not to  go too far south but to try different  spots. It was slow going at the beginning, but when I got to Hernandez things  got  much better as usual. South of Hernandez under the only cu, I hit one of the  strongest thermal I ever had, climbing at 15 knots to 11,700 feet! From there I flew to the towers  over Harris Ranch, back to Hernandez, back north to Mercy Hot Springs. I got  back  to 8700 feet over Panoche and tried twice to continue further north, but  couldn't find much
all the way to Pacheco Pass  near San Luis reservoir. Each time I returned to
Panoche to get back high I got back to 8700 feet at the Panoche "elevator". From
Pacheco pass  I flew back  to Hollister for a total distance of about  250+ km.

Ramy Yanetz
LS4 "TG"

From: "milt" <milt@webbnet.com>
To: "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: Flight Reports
Date: Monday, May 21, 2001 12:47 PM

Hi Peter,

I had a few flights out of Williams last week...

Wed - May 16th
Flew FNX (the ASH-25) for two flights in the mountains

Flt #1
Released near Goat, climbed to 7500, 8200 over Snow, 8300 over towers at St.
John's, one more thermal halfway to Alder springs, then flew north to Alder
Springs but found no lift, back to St. John's for 8000, Goat to 9,000 and
return to Williams to drop off Ray Poquette around 4:30pm.  Lift was cycling
rapidly on this flight - cu's appearing and disappearing within 3 minutes
earlier on, longer cycles later but still tricky.

Flt #2
Then launched at 5:30 or so with Rick Ogden and towed to Goat.  Rick climbed
about 1,000 feet over Goat to 7K or so, then we explored around to the west
a bit and didn't find much.  Flew down the ridgeline and sustained for 30
minutes, climbing about 500 feet with a hawk waiting for something better to
happen, then came home to clean the bugs off the wings, landing around 7pm.

Thurs - May 17th
Flt #1
Roland came out and we flew some patterns in the morning.  At 2pm we
had an hour before he had to leave for a meeting, so we towed to Goat,
climbed up the foothills till we hit 6 knots, took that to 10,000 feet by
2:50, then came back at 115knots most of the way (smooth over the valley).
Not bad for a 1hr flight.

Flt #2
I then launched again, released at 5,000 in the foothills below Goat,
finally connected with a good one and got to 9,000, then followed basically
the same path as the day before north to Alder Springs.  Climbed to 8,400 in
3 knots and went north, trying for a nice set of convergence cu's 15 miles
north at 12,000 plus.  Hit no lift so turned back and limped home using the
usual thermals, although very weak.  Last thermal was from 4,500 to 6,000 at
6pm averaging 4 knots about 4 miles East of Goat.  Tons of bugs on the
wings.

- Milt
 

Steve Smith missed being CD because he wanted to go for a bike ride on Saturday in that high 90's heat.

Started from Davis Calif before 6 AM and finished back at Davis 11 plus hours later.  I saw him drive into the glider port at Crazy Creek just after mid-night sometime.  He rode 200 miles in one day - it's called the double century bike ride.  They zig zagged towards across the sacramento valley, through Winters, around the south end of Lake Bereyessa, up through Pope Valley, past the south and east side of clear lake, back towards Davis.

Sounds like fun?  He's definitely hardcore.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 7 AM Tue May 15, 2001

No other soaring email received - flight reports or otherwise.

Changes seem to be resolving with the Montague Turnpoints.  Gary has issued a list to both John Leibacher and me and we have posted them on the web.  See the most recent list, as released by Gary yesterday.  You can get to it from my home page at http://www.community.net/~soaring/

End entry for 7 AM Tue May 15, 2001
 

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 11 AM Mon May 14, 2001

Important memo received from Jim Herd, regarding the memorial service for Pat Page....
It is a correction.  Here it is.....

--------------------------------------
From: "Jim Herd" <jlherd@home.com>
To: "Fer" <Ferware@home.com>
Subject: Fw: Pat Page Memorial Celebration - FINAL NOTICE!  -  CORRECTION!
Date: Monday, May 14, 2001 10:51 AM

Oops... Please note that the memorial celebration is on SUNDAY at 9 AM, not Saturday.  The BBQ is on Saturday.
--------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Herd
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2001 6:14 PM
Subject: Pat Page Memorial Celebration - FINAL NOTICE!
 

To Pat's Friends,

Here are the final details regarding our gathering to celebrate Pat's life.  For your convenience, I have also attached my previous note because the details in it are still relevant.

EVENTS AT MINDEN

Saturday, 5/19/01, 6 p.m. - BBQ at Minden airport.
We'll get the food and beer, but tell us if you will come. Just a bunch of flying enthusiasts having some fun.
(If you have picky tastes, BYO!)

Sunday, 5/20/01, 9 a.m. - Memorial Celebration Ceremony.  PLEASE BE PROMPT!
Carson Valley Inn
Dublin Room  (lowest level) (enter at rear)
1627 US Highway 395 N
Minden, NV  89423

Agenda will be roughly as noted below, and location is the Carson Valley Inn (directions below). "Missing Man Fly By" will be led by Andrew McFaull, with Aaron Wright and George Scheer. We will provide a continental breakfast, so don't bother to eat early, but please let us know if you plan to attend.

We met with Pat's Father the other day - he was relatively up-beat and had some surprising stories about Pat's earlier escapades! Hopefully he will share a few stories at the celebration. Also, we have some amazing photos to share! Again, we want this to be a FUN event! Duration depends on the participants, I would guess at about 2 hours total.

(By the way, if you would like a ride in a sailplane let me know - it can probably be arranged.)

MEMORIAL FUND(S)

The family is setting up a memorial fund at Pat's High School in Sunnyvale, Ca. As I write this the details are not available. If you want to contribute, just let me know and I will see that you get details as they are available.

We have set up a memorial fund for the flying part of Pat's life. A decision will be made later as to what to actually create as a memorial - depending on the money involved. But we plan a lasting tribute of some kind, and one that will benefit the soaring community. We have received a few suggestions, and certainly encourage more ideas.

Please send memorial contributions (in lieu of flowers) directly to the bank, or write a check to "Pat Page Memorial Fund" and we will deposit it for you. You can be anonymous, or not:
  Pat Page Memorial Fund  Account# 0049-6389-5183
  Bank of America
  1646 Highway 395
  Minden, NV  89423
  800-944-0404

YOUR ASSIGNMENTS! :-)

Let me just summarize what YOU need to do:
1. Let me know BY WEDNESDAY if you will attend the Memorial Celebration &/or BBQ at Minden.
2. Submit any special photos to go in the slide show BY WEDNESDAY. (Jennifer will scan them and get them right back to you.) (Don't mail to our house if arrival will be after Wednesday - we will be in Minden. Call Jennifer to arrange.)
3. Prepare to share a story about "the good old days" with Pat. If you can not attend next Sunday, please email your story and we will be sure it gets shared.
4. Consider a contribution to the Memorial Fund.
5. Suggest an appropriate and lasting memorial.
6. Pass this note to all those that may be interested.

Below is a map of the Minden area, it is a small town.
And again, give us a call or email if you have questions or comments.  Our cell phone will be on almost continuously to make it easy to contact us while we move about: 510-414-5036.

Best Regards,

Jim Herd
------------------------------------

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 11 PM Sun, May 13, 2001

No flight reports received.  Latest update on Memorial Celebration for Pat Page was received from Jim Herd.  I'll post it below for you to see.

Gary Kemp has updated the National Web pages - so you can see the people who are registered thus far in each Class - Open, 18 Meter, and Sports.  The Region 11 Open class will be at Montague this next week.  Looks like Gary has a good crowd attending that event.

Steve Smith, Ty White, EJ Endrebo, and Karol Hines are all involved with the Region 11 contest coming up at Crazy Creek.  Practice day is this next Friday (18th), day 1 and 2 follow, and day 3, 4, and 5 will be sat, sun, mon the memorial day weekend (26, 27, 28).

Here's the Message from Jim......

---------------------------------------------------
This msg was corrected see the correct version on Monday 15 May
---------------------------------------------

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 10 AM Thurs, May 10, 2001

I received some excellent suggestions from other pilots and made several changes to the web page that discusses positive Control Checks in gliders.  See the latest version at http://www.community.net/~soaring/ts-pc-ck.html.

One report received.  This is from Gary about the Avenal Contest.

-------------------------------------
From: "Gary Kemp" <gkemp@sunset.net>
To: "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Date: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 5:00 PM

Peter:  Thought I would drop a note and tell you a little bit about Avenal.  I was there on Tuesday and had a nice flight to the North to New Idria and saw the Salinas Valley and the ridge East of Monterey for the first time.  Wednesday it blew about 50 mph, and about 20 telephone poles out in the valley blew down.  Thursday calmed down and we could fly.

There were about 35 pilots in 4 classes, including 2 in Sports and 8 in Open Class.  I don't know too much about the 15 meter and Standard but they were about 10-12 miles less than the Open's each day.  Greg Chafee, won the 15 meter with Mario Crosina second, don't know who won Standard.  Peter Deane led 15 meter for two days then landed out, Joe Findley did well until he landed out on Day 3 about 2 miles from the field.  That same day John Sinclair and Al Leffler landed out.  Bob Green in a Kestrel won open, and Garret Calhoun was second, I was 9 points away and Harold Stephens, and Mark (can't remember his last name.) in the Nimbus 4D was 4th, about 12 points back (they missed two turnpoints and lost 200 points).

Thurs, May 3.
Day 1 we flew over to Visalia, down to Shafter and Return, about 160 miles, very good conditions in shear line unless you missed it, as I did on the last leg.

Fri, May 4.
Day 2, was Salyer, Shafter, Lost Hills, Harris Agro and Return, for around 170miles.  This is the one I mentioned above, that I blew.

Sat, May 5.
Day 3 we went to Leutholtz (15 meter and Standard went to Buena Vista and return), the distance was about 165 miles, good going, tough coming back, as there were many landouts, of course barbeque night.

Sun, May 6.
Day 4 was to Lost Hills, Coalinga and return.  Again the day started good, then we turned into the wind and about miles out (yet to get to Coalinga) I was down to 1000 feet and ridge soaring before I could pick one off the top of the ridge and keep going.

The highlight of the contest was the excellent barbeque provided by the Dempsky's each day, $5.00 for lunch and $10.00 for dinner, great food and plenty of it. The organization was great, Mario Crosina was CD, and I don't know how he can compartmentalize enough to fly it and do well too.  It was very dry and dusty this year and hard to keep the canopies clean.

You ought to take a look at the annual t-shirt designed by John Shelton, to give you a clue, they were advertised with a sign on the door, by saying "Put a Butt on your back, buy an Avenal Spring Contest T-shirt.:"  Don't think my wife will let me wear it.

Gary
--------------------------------------------

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Begin entry for 11 AM Mon May 7, 2001

Couple of items.  Haven't heard anything about Avenal Contest- I'm sure we'll get a report from someone.  I haven't heard the official decision on the Chico Distance, Peterson Trophy yet, nor have I heard who won the Williams' Doc Mayes Trophy.  Anyone have the winner's names?

There is a ceremony remembering Pat Page planned for May 20th here is a message I received from Jim....

------------------------------------------------
From: "Jim Herd" <jlherd@home.com>
To: "Jim Herd" <JLHerd@home.com>
Subject: Pat Page Memorial Ceremony
Date: Sunday, May 06, 2001 9:53 AM

To Pat's Friends,

Here are some details regarding plans to say our last farewell to Pat.

SURROUNDING CIRCUMSTANCES

Pat has been gone now for 3 weeks. As emotions begin to settle, practical realities set in. No more will Pat's happy smile nor his helpful hand be dropping by. For Jennifer and me, Pat was always right there, or calling, or dropping by later. It is time for us all to force ourselves past the sadness, celebrate his life, and get on with our own.

For those interested in the circumstances of the accident, let me add a little detail. Pat assembled his beautifully-refurbished sailplane on the morning of April 14, 2001 at Williams, Ca. I personally helped him conduct the customary "Positive Control Check" right before he launched - all seemed well. It turned out that the elevator (up/down) control was either not connected or immediately failed. The result was a stall and immediate dive to the ground from only about 70 feet as the tow launch just began. It was apparently totally instantaneous. The official FAA/NTSB inquiry is still open.

Pat's remains have been cremated in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his family are still dealing with their loss. It is hard to imagine their pain. Pat was "the perfect son" - a real success in his chosen career, and a thoroughly "nice person". I have never heard a harsh word about Pat - nor from Pat!
Pat is survived by his parents - Lou and Marlene - living in Sunnyvale, California. And his sister, Linda, who recently got married to Bruce Bonke, and is now pregnant with her first child, due in August.

In the spirit of "celebrating life", and with authorization from Pat's family, we offer the following to help us all "turn the corner".

MEMORIAL CELEBRATION

Date - Sunday May 20, 2001
Time - 9:00 a.m. gather for coffee & munchies, 9:30 a.m. start
Location - TBD at Minden, Nevada  (20 minutes east of South Lake Tahoe)
Dress - casual
Accommodations - airport camping through to Casino hotels, all are possible.  Please contact us if you would like guidance.

The plan is for an informal celebration of Pat's life. He had a very wide variety of "phases" to his life, and no-one was privvy to all of them. Therefore, we will all enjoy hearing some details about unknown corners of Pat's life. Pat's Father, Lou, and his brother-in-law, Bruce will attend, and I know they will be eager to hear from all of us. As I'm sure you know, Pat's family life was always very separate from his work and sport life. (We plan to record the memorial celebration for future memories for the rest of the family.)

The ceremony will be non-religious and we are thinking of the following proceedings:
1. "Missing Man" formation fly by - led by Andrew McFall (Soar Minden)
2. Introduction of attending family members
3. Slide show of Pat's life - led by Jennifer Ware
    We welcome any special photos you have, any format will do.  The fotos will
     be displayed on a TV.
4. A brief review of Pat's flying career - led by Jim Herd
5. Open request for shared stories from all attendees
6. Final words and a look around the airport (for anyone interested)
7. Scattering of ashes over the mountains - Tom Stowers (High Country Soaring)

For any out-of-towners who may be arriving the day before, we plan a small BBQ gathering right out at the airport - at what we call "The Love Shack" (courtesy of Jim Cooper). Bob and Barb Trumbly will lead this part. The talk will likely be tall stories of sailplaning and perhaps even Hang Gliding! And there is always aircraft activity to punctuate the BBQ. We'll start all this around 6:00 p.m. on Saturday May 19, 2001. Just bring your favourite brew.
 

MEMORIAL FUND

Pat's family have requested "no flowers". They have set up a Memorial Fund at Pat's High School.  Also, they have asked us to set up a Memorial Fund associated with the flying part of Pat's life.  Details to follow.

Since we have no idea how much money may be collected, there are no plans yet on how to deploy the money. Early thinking is something like a "Young Pilot Scholarship Fund", or a competition award, or maybe some kind of hard asset. Some lasting memorial to solve a need within the flying community seems appropriate. We encourage your ideas as well as your contributions.

NOTES OF CONDOLENCE

So far, we have been shielding Pat's family from direct contact with his very wide group of friends. This has hit his family extremely hard, and they have preferred to grieve privately. However, I have received many messages already and they have all been passed along to Pat's Father and Mother. I am confident that they provide immeasurable healing.

Many of you have also asked how to send condolences to the family. For now, we continue to suggest that you direct any messages to us and we will pass them along in a package. Please feel free to write to my email address. Should you especially want to contact the family directly, please let us know and we can probably arrange that.

Also, of course, the Memorial Ceremony will provide an opportunity to communicate with the family - either in person or by video tape.
 

CONTACT INFO

PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN BE A PART OF REMEMBERING PAT PAGE IN MINDEN.
Attend ceremony?
Contribute to Memorial Fund?
Attend the BBQ?
Contribute a special photograph for the slide presentation?
If you cannot attend, will you send us words to be read on your behalf (remember this should be upbeat as we are celebrating Pat's life)?

Email - JLHerd@home.com
Phone - 510 414 5036 (Jim Herd)
Alternate Phone - 925 825 0406 (Bob Trumbly)
Fax - 925 462 5441 (Jim Herd)

There will be one more broadcast email to detail the exact location of the Memorial Ceremony and the memorial fund info, but Minden is small, so you won't get lost!
Also, feel free to contact us if you have any questions, comments, or just want to talk.
 

Best Regards,

Jim Herd

P.S.  Our distribution list is by no means complete.  Please forward this to those who need to know.
----------------------------------------------------

End entry for 11 AM Mon May 7, 2001
 
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 9 AM Thurs May 3, 2001

As the soaring season gets underway, the participation/ contributions to the Soaring Diary by others historically decreases.  People have less time to write about their flights, because they are out enjoying the sport of soaring.  I encourage each and every one of you who even occasonally  read the Soaring Diary to make a contribution. Just a quick email every once in a while saying you took a flight, and how it went.  Such a selfless act would be appreciated by all the readers.  I'll post what you send me.  We had some record flights over the past month, but not too many reports received. Some personal bests, which were their first flight over 10 miles from the airport were accomplished but we didn't hear about them either.  I think I enjoy reading more about first time cross country flights than I do about the super long ones, just because I can identify with the writer more on those short flights.  But I enjoy both types of stories, as do many of you.  In any case, send in anything related to soaring. Others enjoy reading about activites in our soaring community.

I created a web page on how to do a positive control check.  I have asked a couple of respected authorities for a critical review and have received only favorable comments.  I now invite each of you to provide critical feed back to me (pjkelly@community.net), on any point on that web page that you think might be written better than it is.  You can review it at
http://www.community.net/~soaring/ts-pc-ck.html

I've been receiving more dialouge about the positive control check.  Here are two vastly differing opinions. It's like talking to Republicans and Democrats.  Some people think each person in our society must take responsibilty for their own actions, and are alone held accountable for the consequences of their own acts, while others want to "share" the responsibility.

Person A, had this to say, and I totally agree with this position.....

   Unless I am required to do so by FARs, I will never sign my initials on
   the gap tape, make a log book entry, sign a statement, swear on a bible
   or anything like that regarding the readiness of my aircraft for flight.
   I will verbally attest, if asked by the tow pilot, that a PCC has been
   completed. He is potentialy at risk and as flight leader entitled to
   inquire. However, more administrative burden is not the answer. If I
   can't accept full responsibility for preparing my aircraft for flight
   then I shouldn't be functioning as PIC. I am prepared to accept the
   penalty for failure to do so and I do not want to place any of that
   burden on anyone else.

I completely agree with your assessment of the positive control check.  I
use an analogy of  the helper being the same as holding  the "Dumb End" of
the tape measure.  Just hold it and do what the other guy tells you to do.

If the FBO required his line help to do PCCs on all newly
assembled gliders, we would save three or four pilots a year.

When the FAA originally gave the wavier for glider assembly to be excluded
from the requirement for A/P inspection and endorsement, they did not say
that the action does NOT require a log book entry.  I believe that if a log book
entry were a common practice, the entry itself would act as the checklist reminder
and may help to prevent some accidents.

As an aside, I did receive a couple of other suggestions, which included...

Everyone should try a PCC with the elevator deliberately
disconnected. I did this last weekend, and it was quite informative to
experience how it feels when it isn't hooked up. You can fool yourself if
you rush through it.

Never plug up the access hole (if you have one) until the PCC is complete. Someone will always notice that hole and ask you about it.

It's important to stress, as you do in your article on the PC Web page, to
check the controls at full deflection... a simple wiggle just isn't enough.
It's also important, as you again point out, not to have any distractions
while the control check is being done. At the first sign of any
distraction... start over from the beginning!

Many are getting ready for the nationals that will be held at Montague/ Siskiyou this summer.

The Region 11 Contest is quickly approaching - to be held at Crazy Creek   We have two of the best in the business organizing and running this contest.  Even if you aren't interested in competing, you should visit each day to watch these gentlemen in action.  The dynamics are often subtle, but the results are wonderful.  Everyone enjoys themselves when either of these two organize an event, and when they get together, it's The Dynamic Duo! Come and see Steve Smith and Ty White in action.....

Practice - Friday, May 18
Contest Day 1 and 2 - Sat and Sun, May 19 + 20
Contest Day 3, 4 and 5 - Sat, Sun and Mon, May 26 + 27 + 28
Party each Saturday night.

Here is an Email providing details, that Ty sent to all .....

-------------------------------------
From: "Tyler White" <tylerwhite@earthlink.net>
To: <tylerwhite@earthlink.net>
Subject: Region 11 Championships at Crazy Creek

The 2001 Region 11 Championships will be held at Crazy Creek
Gliderport, Middletown, California, on May 19, 20, 26, 27 and 28.
Practice Day is May 18. This contest will offer Standard Class,
15-Meter class, and Sports Class. A separate Open Class Regional
Championships is being held at Siskiyou County Airport.

The SSA Contest Rules for Sanctioned FAI and Sports Class Regional
Championships will apply.  In accordance with rule 10.5.1.2, Flight
Recorder-controlled starts will be used, and GPS Flight Recorders
will be the primary means of flight documentation. The standard 5-day
Regional entry fee of $280 will be charged.

Competition Director will be Steve Smith, (408) 996-2932 eves,
scsmith@arc.nasa.gov

Please let me (Ty White) know if you are planning to compete, so that
we can plan for the appropriate number of towplanes.

Ty White
41600 Marigold Drive
Fremont, CA  94539
(408) 616-8379 days, tylerwhite@earthlink.net
-----------------------------------------------

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 4 PM Mon 30 April

It's been a fantstic spring thus far.  Some really excellent conditions!  This past weekend was the contest at Williams.  It was the best day I have ever seen in the valley.  I launched at 11:30 and I was the last to launch!!!  By the time I got off tow at 2,000 ft over Williams, Jim Darke was already up at Eagle Peak.  Ray was out setting up a high speed course, so he could log some long mileage, JJ and Gary K were flying all over the place, criss-crossing the valley, going north south, as was everyone else.  I went south to Bessa Towers, over to 7M, back to Bessa towers, Arbuckle, Red Bluff, up into the foothills, almost to Ponderosa Airport (on the road to Chester),  down to Paradise, back up past Chico, then home again.  But Dean went to Yuba City - no one else did that!  I was about 4th or 5th in total mileage, with about 300 miles on my trip, and I flew for seven hours (7.0)  I think Gimmey had the most for the day (as needed for the Peterson Trophy).  It was a toss up on who had the most for the three day total (as used for the Doc Mayes Trophy).  It could be Ray or Jim or Gary, or JJ, or who knows.  There were a lot of miles flown on Saturday.  Most everyone flew for over six hours.  I'm sue One Bravo held the record for the longest flight time of the day -- probably close to 8 hrs.

If you don't yet get the Thermal Index Predictor (TIP) in your daily email , you ought to sign up for it.  Send me a note and I'll see that you are on the address list.  I don't have a subscribe address in front of me.  I just notify Milt.

Here is what the TIP said for saturday -  the day it was most excellent, April 28th.
 

Subject: WilTIP: am>6422,7551|10|605 (-1) pm>+1377 SUNam>5590,7200   SUNpm>-3277 MONam>4029,5250
Date: Saturday, April 28, 2001 8:38 AM

And, what that means  to me is...
 

Thermals (based on the morning sounding) would be topping out at 6,422 feet, and in the afternoon they would be 1,377 feet better than that, or 7,799 ft (6422+1377=7799).

And that was about the tops of the clouds.  the bases were generally about 5,000 and  I got up to 8,500 near Paskenta as I was going up to red bluff.  That TIP is proving to quite an accurate tool for predicting the lift here in the spring flying conditions.  We'll have to see how it does once the inversion sets up in the valley.  I think Jack is going to do a TIP for the mountains as well.  That will be really helpful in the summer time.

We received a coupleof flight reports.  Since the pilots took the time to write them, I'll post them here on the Soaring Diary.  I did receive them awhile ago, but havne't posted them until now.
One from Rick and one from Jim...
This one from Rick is a bit over 15 days old......

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Rick and Kat" <rickandkathryn@netzero.net>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: 13 Apr soaring report
Date: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:04 PM

It was indeed a Good Friday...
Rick Ogden

Hi Peter, I think the TIP is just about on the money.  Thermals today were up to the 5,500 ft cloud bases.  The PM reading would probably be true if it weren’t for the cloud bases.  A few of us were here at Williams to enjoy yet another great soaring day: Bob Trumbly (EP), Jim Herd (PW), Paul Demeester (27M), Ed Stein (Junior), and myself (ASW-20).  Bob, Jim and Paul kept their ships rigged for tomorrow.  Lift was about 6kt average and plenty of clouds to mark the way.   Wind was light all day--pretty much a fun and carefree soaring day.   With the exception of Paul, most of us stayed within 25 miles or so of the gliderport.  Paul flew to Orland and back.  Flight durations averaged about 4 hours.  Ed had the longest with 4.7.
---------------------------------------------

And we had a report from Jim - for the Saturday before last - about 10 days ago....

----------------------------------------------
From: <James_S_Darke@mw.com>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Pirep - 4/20
Date: Monday, April 23, 2001 9:27 AM

...a report from Saturday.

Early morning frontal passage left low crud hanging around WSC. Started to
clear around 11 and proceeded to clear out completely as in no clouds at
all in the valley by noon. Launched around 1PM and towed past 3Sisters. Got
off at 5K over the 2nd ridge found a little lift and crept over to Walker.
Lift on Walker was weak &spotty but went up to around 6K. Left the dam at
6.5 headed up the west side of Indian Valley Reservoir to try to get on the
Goat Mountain ridge, which was where the best looking clouds were. Didn't
work to well. Despite a NW wind, the best lift was well east of the ridge
and not on the upwind side of the clouds. Bumped along to Foust and finally
got a climb there after working my way down to 4.5. The SE side of St. John
worked and I headed north from there. The working band was fairly low to
start (7-8K) and the lift wasn't where it was supposed to be (need a good
wx person to explain why). But it wasn't too tough to just stumble along. I
got as far north as Eagle peak and the clouds weren't getting much better.
So after I dug myself out of a minor hole below 6K around (well actually
below) Eagle, I figured I had my quota of fun for the day and headed back
south. Met up with Key around Alder Springs and had the best climb of the
day to around 9K. From there it was an easy ride back down to Indian Dam &
home, landing a little after 5PM. I was feeling good about the flight until
Gary K got back and announced he had started at Crazy Creek and used a turn
point (don't remember which) about 3 miles north of Eagle. We agreed over
dinner with the gang at a Mexican Restaurant in Colusa that there was
nothing at all competitive involved.
--------------------------------------------

End entry for 4 PM Mon 30 April
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 9 PM Sun 22 April

We have all suffered an enormous loss.  Our prayers and condolences go out to all who were close to Pat.  This sort of thing is difficult for all of us to comprehend.

There have been no flight reports received during the past week.  Hopefuly we will have some in a few days.

Coming events-

The Chico Distance Camp - Peterson Trophy is up for grabs this next fri, sat, and sunday at Williams.  The longest single flight out of those three days wins that trophy.

The Doc Mayes Trophy is also up for grabs this next weekend.  The pilot who flies the greatest number of total miles on Fri, Sat, Sun wins the Doc Mayes Trophy.
Although I won both the Peterson Trophy and the Doc Mayes Trophy last year, I don't have much of a chance this year, since the schedule was only announced a week or so ago.  I can't be there on Friday, but I'll give it a shot on Sat and Sun.

The Avenal Contest is the first week in May.

There is a PASCO League contest in early May.

The Region 11 Contest is at Crazy Creek on both weekends the 19-20, and 27-28 or whatever sat and sunday is the last two weekends of May.  I have those days off, so I'll see you there.  More to follow.

End entry for 9 PM Sun 22 April
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 10 PM Sat 4/14/01

There was a fatal accident today at WSC at approximately 1 PM.

This was a terrrible tragedy.

I was not there.  I have had reports from two persons who were at the field.  The FAA was on the field approximately two hours after the accident.  I was told the NTSB had not yet been there.  The FAA has not released a preliminary report nor have they made any public statements. In an attempt to minimize rumors, I will tell you the information that I am know.

I have been told that just after lift off the glider appeared to pitch up excessively. The tow pilot was using full elevator in an unsuccessful attempt to counteract  the tail of the tow plane being pulled upwards.  The tow pilot was able to release/cut the tow rope, and the tow pilot was able to pull out before hitting the ground.  After pitching up, the glider subsequently pitched down and impacted the ground in a nose low attitude.  Glider Pilot Pat Page died instanteously on impact.

Pat was in his early thirties and has been an airman since he was 16.  His experience ranges from hangliding to commercial aviation.

We shared thermals less than two weeks ago on the first of April, flying a nice glide together from St. John's to Rumsey and return to Williams.  He was really enjoying the ASW 20.  Pat is survived by his father and mother, and sister living in Sunnyvale, Ca.

I will post additional information when it becomes available.

End entry for 10 PM Sat 4/14/01
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 10 AM Fri. 4/13/01

I hear several people will be at Williams this weekend.  I hope it is good.  I haven't received any more flight reports, but I did receive the Williams-TIP, and I have created a web page for Key to help people become aware that his ASW - 20 is for sale.

Here is the TIP that I received this morning.

-------------------------------------------------------
From: "John W. Glendening" <glendeni@nrlmry.navy.mil>
To: <williamstiplist@soaringnet.org>
Subject: WilTIP: am>5164,6741|8|546 (+2) pm>+1952 SATam>8888,10450   SATpm>-1127 SUNam>7437,8833
Date: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:49 AM
Dr. Jack's TIP (Thermal Index Prediction) for WILLIAMS on Apr13
-------------------------------------------------------------

I think that since this is an automated report, and we begin watching it, we will soon be able to use is as some measure of the lift we can expect.  Right now we seem to be establishing a reference point of information.

As for the Web Page I created for the sale of the ASW - 20 that Key has for sale, you will see the link from my home page to this new web page -

http://www.community.net/~pjkelly/keyasw20.html

Check it out. It includes photos.  I think this ship is a good deal for someone that wants to get some long cross country flights accomplished.

End entry for 10 AM Fri. 4/13/01
 
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 5 PM Thurs. 4/12/01

I put the graphics into the diary entry I made this morning.  Re-read the stories, and click on the links.

End entry for 5 PM Thurs. 4/12/01
 
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 8 AM Thurs. 4/12/01
Only have time for a quick entry.  "We" received a couple of reports.I'll came back and link the graphics to some of them maybe in a day or two.   Here are the messages..... (thanks to all for sharing your flights with us)........

First one from Carl ....

----------------------------------------------------
From: "Carl D. Herold" <cdherold@gbis.com>
Subject: A Charles Thaeler 3D rendering .....
Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 7:00 PM

Thought you would be interested in seeing a 3D image (click here) of Jim Payne's 1000K speed out and return in a wave (that he flew on 2 April).  He towed off of Rosamond A/P (click here to see top or plan view of flight), started near Holiday Have at Tehachapi, and turned with 2 miles of my house in Reno.  It took close to 4 hours to turn Reno and 3 hours to finish.  The total flight time was a few minutes over 8 hours.  He never exceeded 18,000 feet.  In addition, Jim lost time looking for the primary wave over Mammoth Mountain.  Bad decision, the secondary is most always better.  He flew within 4 kmph of the world Out and Return speed record.  Wait till next time.   He towed off at 7:30 a.m.  Great flight.
Regards, Carl Herold
------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------
From: "Gary Kemp" <gkemp@sunset.net>
To: "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: Re: Web page
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 6:59 AM

Peter, ....., by the way, 432 miles yesterday (Monday April 9), Hwy16/20, Mt St. Helena, to Trinity Center and return, then to Boat Dock, and landout, near Charters, couldn't even make 25 to 1 at the end.....8 hours.

Gary
------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------
From: <RamyYanetz@aol.com>
To: <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: Staright Out record from Hollister
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 12:16 AM

Hi Peter,

I did exactly as I promised, I set a new straight out record Sunday from
Hollister to Mojave - 226 miles.  Here is my flight report with a GPS layout (click here to see graphic):

I took an early tow around 11AM, although the cloudbase was only about 3000
feet, but I decided to go anyway, to prove to myself that it is possible. I
Released around 3000 feet near the airport, and spent the next hour between
1000-3000 AGL. Getting out of Hollister was tough. I Scratched my way between
2K-3K feet all the way to Bickle, then flew through the Panoche pass at 4-5K. The rain started developing behind me, luckily. From then on it was easy all the way
to Taft, staying between 6K to 7.5K the whole way. The lift occasionally was
10 knots! But once I got to the end of the valley I couldn't cross the mountains over the grapevine, since cloud base was below the peeks for the most part. I had to go around and glide through the pass to Tehachapi from 6500 feet with a marginal glide
to the gliderport. At some point I was thinking I will need to make a 20 knots downwind landing at Tehachapi, but managed to climb back from less than 1000 feet AGL. However cloud base at Tehachapi was only 3000 AGL (no surprise with
all the snow in the valley floor) and took me long time to get to it. It was again tough to glide low over the windmills into the Mojave desert from this altitude. The Mojave desert was all washed out with wind and no lift. I glided as far as I could all the way to the edge of the restricted zone, but couldn't go around it with 2000 AGL, no lift and 20 knots west wind... So I turned around and landed in the furthest strip I could get to - Pontious, which is between Mojave and Rosamond.

My GPS showed 226 miles from Hollister, which is a new Hollister record, and
according to Emil, this is the first flight to Mojave from any Bay Area site
(including Sky Sailing) that he knows of. I landed shortly after 6PM, after 7 hours flight. Mike Deleo and Emil arrived with my trailer 15 minutes later. What a crew!

Ramy Yanetz
LS4a "TG"
------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------
From: "Milton Hare" <milt@cpdevelopers.com>
To: "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: flights
Date: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 2:49 PM

Hi Peter,

I'm finally home from Williams after a great start to the season!  Sorry
about the long email - a lot of flights to cover!  This is based on memory
since I'm in a hurry - I'll send the flight logs and some photos soon (you
might have some already).

In the last 10 days, I've spent about 43 hours soaring with a total distance
of around 1600 miles.  April 3 and 4 alone totaled 17.5 hours and 973 miles.

We now know that it's possible to leave very early (possibly as early as
8:00am) from Goat at 7,000 feet and head north for some very long cross
country flights from Williams.  Rex has been making this point for years and
now his theory has been proven.  There is no doubt that a 1000K flight is
sitting there for the taking - it's only a question of time.  We stuck to
the 'Milk Run' (up the ridge to the Shasta area and back) on these flights,
but there are other options once you've arrived at Shasta before noon!  We
were within gliding range of big Sacramento Valley airports for most of
these flights - it seems like a really good environment for learning how to
fly cross country in the mountains while keeping the comfort level high.

The Williams TIP is working great - I haven't been surprised by a good day
yet.  Hopefully we can get more people on the list now that we know it's
doing a such a good job.  If anyone wants to be on the list, email me at
milt@soaringnet.com with your name and email address.

Many of these flights would not have happened without the Williams TIP - I
want to thank Dr. Jack again for a really effective tool for soaring pilots.
It's barely out of the box and it's already making a huge difference.  The
lift has been so good at Williams lately that he revised it to handle
heights up to 24,000 feet!  I've found it to be an excellent

Sat/Sun March 31/April 1 ------------------------
My fiancée Alison and I flew in FNX (ASH-25) for the first time together
over the safety seminar weekend for some 'local' flying at Williams.  Flying
that amazing ship with the other gliders (over a dozen) was special for both
of us.  Great fun with good lift, flying pretty much locally to the Alder
Springs area (you have to go pretty far in the ASH not to be local!).
Cloudbase was 10,000 plus, lift 6 knots or so.

Monday April 2 ------------------------
Flew out of Hayward with Martin Hellman in his Stemme S10-VT, launching
around 2pm, N to Santa Rosa area and return at 6.  Max alt was 6500 over
Santa Rosa.  Had some good climbs at 4-6 knot avg but conditions were
difficult and got low several times.  Inland looked much much better (we
went to Napa to meet up with another Stemme so didn't go for the better lift
in the valley).  North of Sonoma Mountain (which is just east of Petaluma)
the lift got really good with long streets heading northwest.  We did well
following them - getting pretty close to the ocean and still finding good
lift.  Pt. Reyes and the coast near Bodega Bay were quite spectacular.  It
was obvious that Tuesday was going to be big since the TIP said it would be
an even better day.

Tuesday April 3 ------------------------
Rex and I flew FNX for a long cross country flight attempt.  We were hoping
for Goat - Whiskeytown Dam (just south of Shasta Dam), a turnpoint south of
Panoche (that's a bit north of Avenal) and return for a 1000K.  (Click here to see pre-launch photo), Launched at 9:30am 7,000 feet at Goat, tip toed north along the mountain faces, got good lift (6 knots avg) around T-15 turned at Whiskeytown (north looked good though), came back south hoping for high speed run.  Overdevelopment with lots of snow on the mountains changed this plan - we struggled (and I missed two thermals in a row) and Rex ended up performing a really impressive low save ballet in 1knot lift somewhere around 5,000.  That took an eternity it seems - probably 15 minutes, but once we got back up life was pretty good - headed south to Vacaville.  (Click here to see a spy photo looking down at Travis Runway), Left Travis at 6,000 or so glided into the blue
going south.  Had to take 1-2 knot thermal at Rio Vista to stay alive, went
for a really nice looking cu over town of Byron (arriving at 2,000 feet or
so) - I didn't lose this one and we were back in business.  Delta crossing
was so tough we decided to bail on the 1000K and cross back over the Delta
while it was still possible.  Bases at Diablo were 6,000 or so, lift 4-6
knots.  Went north towards Sac (away from bay area airmass) and getting back
was easy!  Thermals nicely spaced, consistent smooth 4 - 6 knots.  As we
moved north it got better - ended up at Sutter Buttes around 5:30 with
plenty of lift around, went to Oroville, climbed to 7,000 or so in 8knots,
then glided towards Goat.  Awesome cloud backlit by sun promised great
things and delivered.  This thing was 10 miles long north to south and
probably 4 miles wide - massive snow shower in the middle, 10,500 feet high
and very very flat base.  Rex found a 10 knot core and we in very good
shape - with a nice rainbow to boot.  We headed for Goat - completely snowed
in, no chance to make it in safely.  We turned Century Ranch and headed home
at 100knots to burn off our excess altitude. (Click here to see GPS flight trace on  cambridge "flight display") - 9 hours, 501 miles and very very cold feet!

Wed April 4 -----------
TIP said it would be even better.  Called Gary Kemp and he was all for
another attempt.  We launched at 10:00, released 7,000 plus at Goat.  No
lift, Gary dived over the back side in big sink, ending up 1,000ft below
peak - he kept on driving back towards Gravelley (to my mounting horror)
until he contacted a 6 knot (average) thermal and hauled us out of prison.
We went north along the back side (!) of Goat and Snow mountain (pretty darn
low) committed to Gravelly Valley (I was still pretty much in shock).  I
demonstrated a few glaring examples of why I will never, ever do this on my
own (I would take anything resembling lift just to get higher) and then Gary
produced a climb that put us back in business.  We headed north, climbing in
wind shadow thermals just west of the ridge line and headed north.  Lift was
stronger than Tuesday - seem like 8 knot averages were pretty common.  We
were getting to 10,000 feet pretty easily (yes, it was COLD), and just kept
on cooking north.  We ended up turning near China Peak (about 13 miles south
of Weed) because it got blue and/or lower bases on the other side.  Coming
home, we were really hauling - not much thermalling and really good climbs,
maxing at 12,000 near Black Butte.  We ran south to Travis, with good climbs
all the way, stopping to thermal in only the 8knots or better (pretty much).
Turned Travis at 8,000 (I think) and came back in weakening conditions.  We
went East of Berryessa and made it back thermalling more carefully as the
day was dying.  Gary was able to get a climb high enough to reach Goat down
the ridge line from the tower, then work up it in weak lift to cross the
tower about 200 feet above it.  We landed at 6:30 (one more hour of daylight
left).  8.5 hours, 473 miles.

Thurs April 5 ---------------------
Even though the TIP said it would be better, it didn't look that good - more
haze, no cu's early, etc.  Should have believed!  I ended up flying
'locally' (Walker, Goat, Mt. Linn and return) with a passenger who needed to
come back a bit early.  The lift was even stronger on this day (at least in
this area).  Bases were 12,500.  We don't know how early it started because
no one tried it and there were no cu.  (we had seen cu at 7:45AM on the
previous days).  At around 4:30pm, it started dying from the north as a new
air mass came in.  I landed around 5pm with Cu's over Goat and south still
looking pretty good.  By 6:30 or so, strong Maxwell Shear (first of the
season) had formed over Williams - we guessed about 8,000 feet - and it
looked very strong.  I think another long flight would have been possible on
this day, possibly with a finish from Travis using the Maxwell Shear to get
home. Friday - Sun (I didn't fly - Sunday was good with lower bases).

Monday April 9 ----------------------
Flew in FNX with Carl Herold, who drove down from Reno that morning to try
for another long flight from Williams.  Gary flew his Nimbus 3.  FNX
launched at 9:20am, towed to 8,800 at Goat.  Very little happening - winds
22 knots from the north (18 on the ground) and very steady.  Low cu's coming
up the slope, we rode vortex/ridge/whatever trying to maintain - never more
than 2knots indicated, climbed 200 feet at one point but otherwise slowly
sank down the Goat ridge.  We finally contacted lift just northwest of three
sisters at 3,000 feet or so and ended up climbing to 5,500 or so in weak
lift.  It got better, and around noon we were able to head downwind (Gary
had released in that direction earlier and found lift).  We drifted along,
then climbed well at the Gold Mines, then Crazy Creek, as the thermals got
better.  Seems like we got 6 knots average around Crazy Creek, climbed
higher (7,000 I think) and things were looking a lot better.  We turned
somewhere around the town of Sonoma and headed back upwind.  Now we were
doing well - lift 6-8 knots average and not circling much.  Alexander
Valley, Mt. St. Helena, kind of low towards Lampson, around the North shore
of Clearlake racing the snow showers.  Climbed really well (I think it was
around 10 knots - have to look at trace) on the ridge north of Clearlake to
10,000 feet or something like that, headed north.  Wind was not as strong -
10 knots - and we were doing pretty well.  Got kind of low over Snow but
climbed high enough to move back into the wind shadow thermals on the West
side - they were really good and we climbed to 11,500 or so, then headed out
into the valley which was looking really good too just for a change.  We
found 8-10 knots to at least 10,000 (maybe higher, have to look at the
trace) in big fat thermals (much easier to handle) that were closer
together.  There were 3.5 hours of daylight left and lift all over, but Carl
thought 7 hours was long enough.  We flew over to Colusa to take some
pictures of the airport and then came back to Williams, which had a big Cu
with rain and mammatus about 5 miles north of the field.  There were Cu's
till almost dark over the mountains to the north.

I don't know how far we went - we guestimated 250 miles, and it felt like a
local flight much of the time.  We didn't go very fast, since Carl was
attempting to convert my flying style from ham-fisted blundering into
something slightly less offensive to the laws of nature (the ASH is NOT a
Pegasus!).  If you are interested in learning a whole lot about cross
country soaring in a hurry, I highly recommend taking a flight with Carl in
his Nimbus - I've read all of the books and thought I understood soaring
pretty well - wrong!  Carl has an awesome arsenal of soaring knowledge at
his disposal and is really enthusiastic about teaching - a tremendously
rewarding experience.

Gary went over 400 miles - 430 I think - getting North to Whiskeytown and
south to Berryessa - I assume he'll tell his story, which is a good one.
Really strong lift up north - solid 10 knots and circling needed only twice
on the way back downwind.

Tuesday April 10 ---------------------
Strange day - Cu moving down the mountains from the north during the day
with very high bases - probably 12 ,000- 13,000 ft.  No long flight attempts
were made today - just Carl trying to convert me from a Pegasus/Duo pilot
into an ASH pilot (a non-trivial process).  Carl and I launched around 1pm
and I convinced Carl we should get off at 2,000 and I would try to climb out
(didn't work - on ground very quickly proving Carl right for the 1000th
time).  On the second try (from 3,500) we climbed to 5,500 and flew around
Williams - nothing real special liftwise.  The conditions were very
interesting however - wind from the south east in the valley, and from the
north west towards the hills.  We were watching the dust devils and smoke to
figure the convergence out - seemed like cold air advection from the north
towards the hills, with warmer (70 degrees) air from the south, which caused
cu to build from the north.  We contacted this and were able to climb well
to 6000 later in the day - probably could have gone higher if we had tried.
It never set up into the classic Maxwell Shear, but was very interesting.
There were wave clouds all over starting around mid-day as well.  I suspect
that a high tow to the north would have allowed getting away and using
thermals and wave to make a long flight.  Brian Choate made it to 12,700 in
wave at Hollister and found 4-6 knot thermals east of Hollister on this day.

We flew about 4 hours, landing around 6pm although lift was still working
(some rain droplets too).

Sorry it took so long to get these flight reports in - I'll work on a better
way of doing it from Williams.
I've got photos and flight logs - I'll send those to you.  Carl sent the two
long flights to Charlie to be rendered into 3D - that will be really cool.
I've had the privilege of flying with Rex, Gary, Carl and Martin on some
long cross country flights and learning how they approach soaring - it's
been a fantastic experience.  After seeing what they can do in the air I
realize that becoming an accomplished soaring pilot is a huge challenge and
(as Carl says) will take more than a lifetime.  I'm definitely learning from
the best, and I feel like my ASH flying has improved radically in a very
short amount of time (at least Carl wasn't quite as dismayed with it after
about 20 hours of his basically continuous flying and lecturing - mostly
about soaring ;-) ).  Many thanks to all of them, and to Kenny for helping
with his weather knowledge and in many other ways, including towing on his
day off.  It was really fun spending so much time with other people who love
this sport.  Alison has been wonderfully supportive - among many other
things, I was sending hourly email updates from the air to her at work and
she didn't even flinch!

Note:  I've been using a Palm VII palmtop computer to send and receive
emails, get weather and other things from the cockpit (obviously a 2-seater
is highly recommended for this activity).  It's been very reliable from
Shasta south to Hollister.  Within the week I'll be able to send emails from
the air so the flight reports can be done live instead of with a big delay.
We're also working on a 'live' online discussion for pilot reports at
Williams so they show up instantly on the web and everyone knows what's
going on - and no more FTP!

Hoping for more of this great weather - see you at the gliderport!

Thanks,

Milt
------------------------------------------------------

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 10 PM Mon. 4/9/01

  From: "Charles Griffin" <asw24@earthlink.net>
To: "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: Re: long flight
Date: Monday, April 09, 2001 8:08 PM

I guess it really was a good day,  I'm anxious to hear from Milt.  Here is a reoprt from Chuck over in Crazy Creek.......

--------------------------------------------
TO:  "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
FROM "Charles Griffin" <asw24@earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 10:35 AM

Peter,

I have a flight report from today (Monday) 4/9/01.  I had worked all weekend so
I could not fly and I had the afternoon off today so I rented a 152 at San
Carlos and flew to CCS.  I was able to get rigged by 3 pm and had a nice 2 hour
flight to Ukia and return.  I declared it and I hope the file is ok as I hope to
fly the regional at CCS if time permits and so I need a valid silver flight.   Lift
averaged about 7 to 8 kts and there was a relatively strong north west wind making
the start of the outbound flight sort of slow.  I took just one climb on the way back
and could not get down even running all of the way at 90 to 100 kts.

Chuck
-------------------------------------

End entry for 10 PM Mon. 4/9/01
 
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 3 PM Mon. 4/9/01
Just had a pleasant surprise.  We received flight reports from two accomplished pilots.  Thanks to each of you from all of us who are reading these reports.

This first one is from Jim ...............

------------------------------------------------------
From: <James_S_Darke@mw.com>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>; "Peter Kelly" <kell797@dellepro.com>
Date: Monday, April 09, 2001 12:12 PM

Peter -
Here is a report from ....WSC yesterday

Bases started off low (3K @ 11 AM). 6K was the max @ 5 PM. Towed early (11 AM) to the hills. There was serious OD in the mountains almost immediately. Returned to the valley & headed north. Turned Redding, Chico & Oroville with a gaggle of about 6 others. It was a classic spring valley day - good predictable
lift (4-6knots) well organized (always found on the upwind side of the cloud) and there were plenty of rain/snow showers to dodge.

Jim
--------------------------------------------------

Here is Marc's report - and a very exciting one I might add.  Thank you again Marc, I enjoyed reading this.....

------------------------------------------------------
From: "Marc Ramsey" <marc@ranlog.com>
To: <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: Sunday 4/8 flight
Date: Monday, April 09, 2001 1:45 PM

Hi Peter,

I've attached an Excel task spreadsheet ( click here to see the attached file) with your latest set of Williams turnpoints for your use, or posting on your site.  Here's a report on my mountain fun yesterday:

I took a mountain tow at 11am, released over Bear Valley, scurried over to
Walker ridge, and quickly found some 4 knot lift that took me to the 6000
ft cloud base.  There was already stuff falling from clouds to the north and
south of Goat, but to the west I could see a lot of sun and some nice looking
cu's, so I headed off in that direction under a fairly solid cloud cover.
There was 2 or 3 knots of lift all over the place, so I was happily cruising
over Goat near the 7000 foot cloud base when it started snowing.  A 360 now
revealed solid clouds with rain and snow in all directions, except to the west,
so I kept going.  It was kind of spooky cruising past the south face of Snow Mt
in the midst of a snow shower, but there was no problem staying up near cloudbase
in wide areas of lift.  In short order I was in sunshine over Gravelly, and it
was quite obvious that going north on the mountains was out of the question.  I
turned south with the intent of going around the west side of Clear Lake.
Passing west of Upper Lake, I could see a solid band of overdevelopment extending from southwest of Crazy Creek across towards Walker ridge.  Getting cut off now
seemed like a real possibility, so I worked my way east along the ridge just to
the north of the lake.  I had to go through a bit more snow, but I was soon back
on the sunny side of world, and chasing after the cooler heads that had headed
north in the valley.

Conditions in the valley were great, with lots of good climbs to the 5000 foot
range.  Being a bit behind the pack, I had the advantage of higher cloudbases.
I turned Redding at 5600 feet, followed the foothills to Chico, and at 5 hours
into the flight, decided to head home.  Thanks Peter, for sending out the alert!

------------------------------------------------

Turnpoint     Latitude     Longitude        Elev.
Ident Name  degs mins   degs mins        feet
1 *WSC  -R1 39 9.800 122 7.900 68
2 *20GapSPk-U8 39 2.700 122 19.400 2300
3 *3Sister-E6 39 7.450 122 19.750 2000
4 *Caldwel-E3 39 8.940 122 10.240 70
5 *CalRice-E5 39 4.450 122 5.500 70
6 *Charter-E3 39 9.750 122 15.770 80
7 *Colusa-R1 39 10.880 121 59.610 47
8 *Cooks-E3   39 11.300 122 12.000 68
9 *Goat M14-U2 39 15.610 122 42.900 6121
10 *Ind Rnch-E8 39 16.500 122 28.500 1262
11 *Letz Lk-U4 39 18.200 122 42.400 4100
12 *MaxSilo-E5 39 15.250 122 11.410 100
13 *StJohn-U2 39 26.000 122 41.500 6746
14 *WlkrRdg-U1 39 5.930 122 29.310 3587
15 5/505-E8 38 50.400 121 56.350 100
16 5Ponds-U9 38 49.250 122 22.460 2500
17 7M Rnch-R2 38 43.100 122 34.200 1300
18 Acrewood-R3 39 40.240 121 53.140 190
19 AldrSprgs-U8 39 38.760 122 43.110 4550
20 AngwnVirg-R1 38 35.000 122 26.000 1848
21 AntnyM5-U9 39 51.100 122 57.500 6954
22 ArbMcCabe-R5 39 0.650 122 5.850 65
23 Beale ARSA 39 8.000 121 27.000 110
24 Bentn-R2 40 34.500 122 24.500 719
25 BesDam-U8 38 30.820 122 6.500 200
26 BesTwrs-U8 38 39.900 122 11.500 3060
27 BoatLnch-U9 38 30.300 122 12.850 460
28 Bowls-R4 39 17.150 121 41.630 75
29 BlkButtMt-U9 39 43.620 122 52.310 7448
30 Brownsvil-R8 39 27.500 121 17.900 2120
31 Calistoga-E8 38 34.900 122 34.000 350
32 CalWrthtn-E9 39 40.600 122 19.800 400
33 Chico-R2 39 47.720 121 51.500 238
34 Clovrdale-R2 38 46.500 122 59.500 272
35 Corng-R3  39 56.390 122 10.260 292
40 CrazyCrk-R1 38 46.100 122 34.000 1000
41 CrtPk-U7 40 41.850 121 37.200 8677
42 DeerCrk-R3 39 56.990 121 59.820 280
43 DimndM-R3 39 34.270 122 36.500 1296
44 Dnsmre-R5 40 29.500 123 35.700 2375
45 Doubl Crk-R3 40 26.740 121 52.930 2030
46 EagMill-U6 39 54.800 122 40.200 3600
47 Eag6663-U7 39 58.070 122 44.350 6663
48 EagM3-U8 39 56.100 122 46.800 6400
49 Esparto-E3 38 39.300 122 1.700 200
50 G3 Rnch-R8 38 43.000 122 8.500 360
51 Gnoss-R2  38 8.660 122 33.480 2
52 GoldMines-U9 38 51.660 122 26.740 2750
53 Graywood-R5 38 26.060 122 33.820 450
54 GrvlyVly-R4 39 27.100 122 57.000 1900
55 Grims-E2 39 4.780 121 54.910 40
56 GrmDstr-E6 39 2.710 121 57.000 160
57 Guinda-E8 38 47.900 122 10.700 200
58 Gunersfld-R4 39 21.500 122 5.500 62
59 H20/16Hwy-U2 39 0.850 122 21.360 1200
60 HamltnCty-E5 39 44.230 122 0.930 99
61 Healdsbrg-R2 38 39.200 122 53.900 278
62 Hobrg-R3 38 52.300 122 40.480 2080
63 HHWtr-R4 40 8.590 123 23.900 2493
64 Hyfrk-R3 40 33.000 123 10.500 2321
65 Hyf5448-U7 40 33.300 123 0.150 5448
66 Hyf6399-U7 40 28.250 122 59.470 6399
67 Hympm -R3 40 37.650 123 28.230 1250
68 HymPk5905-U9 40 37.000 123 33.600 5905
69 IVResDam-U7 39 4.850 122 32.180 1700
70 Jones-R5 39 27.570 121 41.760 109
71 KitsKrnrs-U8 38 55.800 122 44.820 1350
72 Knocti-U5 38 58.560 122 45.840 4300
73 LakeC-R3 40 21.670 122 12.950 615
74 LorAnt-U2 38 47.500 122 29.750 625
75 Lincln-R2  38 54.550 121 21.080 120
76 Lampson-R1 38 59.600 122 54.000 1378
80 M-6  5068-U9 39 46.800 122 40.900 5068
81 MaxMoller-R7 39 17.310 122 11.350 85
82 MCC ARSA  38 40.060 121 24.030 75
83 Moskowite-R9 38 27.480 122 12.300 900
84 MtStHelna-U8 38 40.300 122 38.040 4760
85 Mysterios-R9 38 45.000 122 22.100 1410
86 Napa Cnty-R2  38 12.790 122 16.840 33
87 Noltas-R4 39 34.900 122 12.000 145
88 NutTree-R1 38 22.400 121 58.000 110
89 OrlndHaig-R1 39 43.100 122 8.800 215
90 Orovlle-R2 39 29.260 121 37.320 192
91 Pearce-E8 38 56.100 122 37.000 1385
92 Petaluma-R2 38 16.000 122 36.500 87
93 PopeVly-R1 38 36.400 122 23.700 618
94 Prdise-R4 39 42.580 121 36.980 1300
95 Psknta-E8 39 53.300 122 32.100 1000
96 Richvale-R4 39 29.860 121 46.280 100
97 RedBluff-R2 40 9.300 122 15.000 349
98 RedngRDD-R1 40 30.540 122 17.600 502
99 Rnchro-R4 39 43.240 121 52.060 173
100 RnchoTeha-R6 40 1.000 122 23.500 550
101 RndVly-R2 39 47.800 123 16.000 1434
102 RumsyGp-U7 38 55.200 122 18.250 2500
103 Ruth -R3 40 13.000 123 17.900 2781
104 Sanbrn-R4 39 6.560 121 53.030 36
105 Silvr Crk-R3 40 19.050 123 15.230 2511
106 Sites-E7 39 18.400 122 20.000 299
107 SMF ARSA    38 41.000 121 36.000 80
108 Snow Mtn-U6 39 22.540 122 45.520 7056
109 SnomSky-R3 38 15.500 122 26.000 20
110 SnomVly-R2  38 13.410 122 26.980 10
111 SonmCty-R2 38 30.530 122 48.770 125
112 Storage-U8 38 53.380 122 36.270 1500
113 SutrButes-U6 39 12.310 121 49.500 999
114 T-16 6757-U8 40 8.150 122 49.020 6757
115 T-15 7755-U8 40 12.300 123 0.580 7755
116 Tews-R3  40 40.350 122 20.500 740
117 TrAlps-U8 41 0.100 123 3.900 8994
118 Travs-R9 38 15.760 121 55.640 60
119 TrCtr-R7 40 58.800 122 41.900 2390
120 Ukiah-R2  39 7.500 123 12.000 614
121 UkiQry-U8 39 10.180 123 9.390 730
122 UnivDavis-R1 38 32.000 121 47.000 70
123 VacaPnd-U7 38 21.720 122 4.520 2600
124 Vndrfrd-R5 39 5.740 121 42.980 40
125 Wagnr-E5 38 52.320 121 42.590 20
126 Wilits-R1 39 27.000 123 22.200 2054
127 WilowsGln-R2 39 31.000 122 13.200 139
128 WoodWatts-R1 38 40.500 121 52.200 130
129 WsktnDam-U9 40 35.630 122 32.460 1500
130 Wvrvl-R2 40 45.000 122 56.000 2350
131 Yolla8092-U8 40 2.350 122 51.640 8092
132 Yolo Cnty-R1 38 34.700 121 51.400 100

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 9 AM Mon. 4/9/01

I went soaring yesterday - it wasn't at all what I expected. Collectively, we probably flew over 2,000 miles, but considering there were more than 10 of us, that was about a 200 mile average per pilot, some a bit more, some a bit less. Most of us went from Williams to Redding, to Chico, to Orville, and back to WSC.  It was an excellent spring thermal day in the valley.  No reports were received from any one of the dozen pilots who flew at Williams. Here is a report from Hollister....

------------------------------------------
From: <RamyYanetz@aol.com>
To: <kell797@dellepro.com>
Subject: Re: Sawyer Award
Date: Saturday, April 07, 2001 9:05 PM

.... Today (Sat 4/7) also turned out nice late. I launch at 4PM and still managed
to make a 110 miles O&R to North of Mission Peak (Hayward) and back to
Hollister. The first leg was against 25-30 knots head wind! Tommorrow I'll
try for a new Hollister mad dash record, or maybe and out and return, will
see. Boy, what a season, Wish it was always like this (but then, I would
never get to work, so let it be).

Ramy
----------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: RamyYanetz@aol.com
  To: pjkelly@community.net
  Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 12:07 PM
  Subject: Sawyer Award

  Hi Peter,

  Please include in the soaring diary and your mailing list the following
  invitation to participate in the Pasco Sawyer Award:

  This is a call to every pilot belonging to the PASCO community, to
  participate to this year's Sawyer Award.  This is an honorable award, and fun
  to participate to. Many winners over the 42 years of its existence went on
  to become key persons in our sport in the Region, the Nation, and the world
  of soaring.

  The award encourages participation and competition in cross country soaring,
  provides a standard of measurement, and honors the winner. The name of each
  recipient is engraved on the trophy, and the presentation is made annually.
  The pilot wins the award by accumulating the greatest number of points which are awarded for  the number of flights, height gained, distance flown, duration of each   flight, field of origin of the flight.

  Send your Sawyer flights, even if you don't know how much and how far you
  can fly this year. The contest has already begun: just keep track of your
  flights in your log books. This year we made it even easier to participate.
  All you need to do is to go to the sawyer award page
  http://www.ranlog.com/pasco/sawyer.html
  or directly to the online submission form
  http://www.ranlog.com/pasco/sawyerform.html
  and submit all your flights once a month. The rules are very simple to
  follow, and it is solely based on the honor system, so no proof is required.
  That's correct. No flight recorders, barograph trace, photos, observers
  signature or lengthy forms. It can't get any easier than that. This makes it
  the easiest contest to participate in. And the beauty is that you can win the
  award without even going far, as long as you can fly often, get high and stay
  up all day.

  The scores of the competitors will be published in the West Wind magazine,
  and will appear in the PASCO web page. The best flights of the month will
  have a special mention. In addition to the honor involved in participating
  and winning this award, the 10 highest scoring participants will have a free
  PASCO membership next year, and the first 5 places will receive a total of
  $150 in money prizes.

  Ramy Yanetz
  Sawyer Award Administrator
-----------------------------------------------------

As for the soaring forecast?  If you are a subscriber to the "williamstiplist" <williamstiplist@soaringnet.org>, then you have received the following from Milt (he sent it out last night (at midnight on Sunday)).......

----------------------------------------------------
From: "Milton Hare" <milt@cpdevelopers.com>
To: "williamstiplist" <williamstiplist@soaringnet.org>
Subject: Monday weather
Date: Monday, April 09, 2001 12:09 AM

My best information is that it (Mon. 4/9) will be a strong day with much lower bases
than last week and likely overdevelopment problems later on.  Jim Darke
reported averaging 4-6 knots with bases at 6,000 at Williams Sunday with
hills completely obscured.  Tues is likely to be dryer.

One way to find out.  Carl Herold and I are flying FNX, and Gary Kemp is
flying his Nimbus 3.  Hopefully it'll dry out enough so we can put some
miles in.

I may be sending live updates from the air using my Palm VII - a few things
to set up before that works, could be working Monday.

- Milt
-------------------------------------------------

It was evident while flying yesterday that not all pilots use the same database.  I've refined the Williams database dozens of times (over the past four years), and it now is composed of less than 150 TP and landout sites.  Why we can't all use the same database is beyond my comprehension.  If you have a database that includes points that are not in the "current one", then please advise me, and we'll get those points into the common file.  Jim Darke has published a laminated wall chart measuring four feet by two feet, that displays all of the common points in the current database for Williams.  Please review it the next time you are at the field.

End entry for 9 AM Mon. 4/9/01
 
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 8 PM Sat 4/7/01

Boys, and Girls, Ladies and Gentlemen, and All Glider/ Soaring Pilots,
If you have seen the Soaring Diary in the past week, you know we had some special days this past week- days that never even happenned last year.  These kind of days happen in groups of  2 or 3 days in a row about once every three to five years, and much more rarely, happen two consecutive weekends in a row.  Well I've got news for YOU!  Tomorrow and monday are both going to be good days.  And that is just a five days after Milt flew nearly 1,000 miles in two days.  No Kidding, the weather is undescribable. If you plan on going out to the glider port to try to do some soaring maybe 10 times in the year 2001, don't bother, if you can't even adjust your schedule to take advantage of the fact that Sunday and Monday are going to be (to use a california word) "awesome".

I personally think that Sunday will be better than Moday, but the lift will good on both days.  Milt points out that the TIP says the lift will be over 13,000 ft in the valley on Monday. Again, in my humble opinion as an untrained meteorologist, I think Monday in the AM will be spectacular, but the afternoon will quit early, and it may be hard to finish that last 300 miles coming back towards home.  I base that opinion on the aviation models 48 and 60 hours forecast pressure charts that are linked to my home page.

I was going to reinstall my engine tomorrow, but that can wait.  I plan to be ready to launch with a full load of ballast water at 9 AM from Williams, and finish off my diamond badge- I need a 500 K flight to complete my third diamond leg!  That ought to be easy to do tomorrow.

End entry for 8 PM Sat 4/7/01
 

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 10 PM Fri 4/6/01

        Gary sent us this info about Milt's flights on Tuesday and Wednesday (Apr 3 and 4) of this last week - undoubtedly the best soaring days of the past several years.

-------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Gary Kemp" <gkemp@sunset.net>
To: "Peter Kelly" <pjkelly@community.net>
Subject: April 3,2001
Date: Friday, April 06, 2001 1:47 PM

Peter:

Milt had a great flight with Rex on Tuesday (3 April) -- 501 miles, Goat, Whiskytown Lake, Byron (tough crossing the Delta), Oroville, Century Ranch and return to Williams. (9 1/2 hr flight).

Milt called me and said it was going to be good again the next day (Wednesday, 4th  of April), and asked if I could fly with him, of course I said yes.  It's great to know after 33 years flying that I still get excited about something new.  Had a tough time sleeping, up at 5:30 and to the airport by about 7:45.  Got things ready to go, cu popping over Goat already.

We towed to 6800 feet over Goat....nothing, flew in 8 kt sink, down the valley to Indian Res, out the low end North to Bear Valley, then 6 knots of lift, then around the west side of Snow mountain, good lift encountered and we were rolling North, Butte Mountain, Mt. Linn (Yolla Bolly Peak), Trinity Center and up to China Mountain - on the edge of Shasta Valley by Weed, where the cu were much lower.....encountering 6-7 kts of lift on average, most of the time around 9500 feet.  Just South of Trinity Center got to 12,000.  The Sierras looked overdeveloped so we retraced our route South down over the Gold Mines, Vaca Ridge, to Travis Airbase, turned around, getting late now, made the top of Goat mountain and then back to Williams at about 6:30, for an 8 1/2 hour flight of about 476 miles.  We started later today, so were 25 miles shorter than Milt's flight on the previous day.  If we had done it right, I am sure 1000K could have been done.

Milt put in 17.5 hours and almost 1000 miles in these two days.

Gary Kemp
----------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Carl D. Herold" <cdherold@gbis.com>
Subject: An Obituary for Alex Burnette
Date: Friday, April 06, 2001 10:08 AM

The attachment is a copy..., with some italicized changes, of the
Obituary of Alex Burnette printed in this mornings 5 April 2001, Reno
Gazette Journal.

Norma is still doing fine. There will not be a funeral, and Alex's ashes
will be spread at Pond Peak in the future. Alex suffered little pain and
passed away in his sleep fighting cancer.

There will be an announcement by Norma of a memorial service at Air Sailing
in the next month or two.

Regards, Carl Herold
-----------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------
Allan Burnette (Obituary, RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL dated 5 April 2001)

FALLON - Alexander "Alex" Allan Burnette, 73, died April 3, 2001 at his residence.

A native of Carmel, California, he was born Feb. 6, 1928, to Julian and Helen (Allan) Burnette and had lived in Fallon for the past 45 years, coming from Los Altos, California.

Alex Burnette owned and operated Big Vac Sweeping and had owned The Honda Shop and Frontier Liquor Shop.  He was a partner in Burnette and Henning Construction Co. when he first moved to Fallon.  He was a volunteer for the Fallon Volunteer Fire Department for 25 years and was an ambulance volunteer for 18 years.  He was a member of the Lions Club and was an Army veteran.

Alex was a power pilot and a glider pilot, he was a member of the Soaring Society of America, Pacific Soaring Council, Air Sailing, Inc., a nonprofit glider facility, logging 1,779 hours in sailplanes and 329 hours in power airplanes.

He attended schools in Menlo Park, Calif., and attended Menlo Park junior College.   Brother Julian Jr., preceded him in death.  Surviving are wife, Norma and son, Keith, both of Fallon; daughter, Stacy Burnette of Reno; sisters, Helen Weiss of Ashland, Oregon,  and Lee Schink of Los Altos, Calif., and a grandchild.  Cremation is under the direction of The Gardens Funeral Home, Crematory and Cemetery, with a memorial service [at ASI to be announced by Norma Burnette] at a later date.

Tax Deductible Donations may be sent to AIR SAILING, INC., c/o Terry Duncan, ASI Treasurer.
--------------------------------------------------------

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 11 AM Wed, 4/4/01
Been  working on this soaring diary stuff all morning.  Just received a report about a flight by Ramy that he did yesterday.  Thanks for sending it to me Mike.  Here is the report.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 10:04:27 -0700
From: Michael Deleo <mike@seacoms.com>
To: RamyYanetz@aol.com
CC: info@soarhollister.com, rholtz@pacbell.net, glendening@nrlmry.navy.mil,
        pjkelly@community.net
Subject: Re: 230 miles (370Km) Out and return record flight from Hollister
 (4/3/01)

Congratulations Ramy and Tony and good call on the weather Russell!
If the worst day soaring is better than the best day working, what in the hell am I doing at work???!!!???
-----------------------------------------------
RamyYanetz@aol.com wrote:

Today (Tue, Apr 3) was the strongest day I ever had in Hollister, although it wasn't that strong in the vicinity  of the airport. I took a 2000 foot tow around noon, but spent almost an hour until I got over 4K near Henrieta.  From then on it was a real treat. 5K at East Ridge, 6K north  of Panoche, 7-8K south of Panoche and 9K
over Hernandez. I continued pass Parkfield (west of Avenal) but the lift was
deteriorating a little pass the 100 mile mark.  Got down to 4K (low for the day!) and decided to turn around at Camatta strip  (about 10 miles east of Atascadero)
115 miles from hollister. On the way back I had to struggle for a while due
to large cloud shadow, and got down to 3.5K  near Coalinga. But soon I was treated to 10 knots thermals which took me back  eventually to 10,000 feet over
Hernandez reservoir, from there Hollister was on a 50 miles final glide.
1A (Tony Gachter) also had a nice 160 miles flight to south of Coalinga and
back.

Ramy
------------------------------------------------------------

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Begin entry for 8 AM Wed, 4/4/01

    It was a very sad day yesterday to hear of the loss of Alex Burnette.  He will be missed by everyone.

    I had received other emails about flights, but didn't feel up to making any other diary entries.

    Milt called last night, and reports that the Williams TIP is accurate. All you have to do is read the subject line, no need to try to  understand the body of the message.  The first number tells you how high the thermals will be at Williams in the morning, and after "pm" - that number is the height of the thermals in the afternooon - just read the first number! It is height you ought to be able to climb up to in your glider, in feet above MSL (mean sea level).

    Milt also reports that he and Rex flew in the ASH-25 and flew up to Weaverville, or whiskeytown (somewhere near Lake Shasta),  then down to Byron and then up to Orville - they flew over 500 miles - I think  they  went well  over 750 kilometers. It did look like a spectacular soaring  day.  Congratulations Milt and Rex on a great flight.  That may be the PASCO distance  record for the 2001 year soaring season.  Be sure to write about it, and submit the article with the numbers to Cindy - and to West Wind, and to me, so we can all read about it here in the soaring diary.  I hope you took some photos before and after the flight.

Here are photos taken by Mark W.(<mweitkamp@home.com>) on  3-31-01, at Willaims:

• Photo of Mark H. in the Pawnee, with Guy in DDS and me in PK on Dual Tow
• Here's one of Ray (7V) and Paul (the original PK).
• Here's Jim pushing his DG800 into position.

    As I am sure you all know, these last few days have been amazing.  The best soaring conditions that I have seen in years.  Very cold air above, strong sunshine heating on the surface, naturally the convection is very strong!  Here is a report from Rick.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Peter,
Usually I’m pretty punctual about giving you input about soaring experiences.  This time however, I kind of dropped the ball.  Yesterday (Monday, Apr 2) was an exceptional soaring day in the valley and foothills!  Lift consistently averaged 5-6 kts to 7,000 ft.  cloud bases.  The mountains were obscured most of the day with clouds and snow showers.  My high for the day was 8,200 ft over 3 sisters. With the exception of Kenny and Steve taking a quick elevator ride on the ASK-21, I was the only one out of Williams taking advantage of the conditions.   This is truly a shame since I am limited on cross-country experience and still a little chicken to venture more than 20 miles alone.  Personally however, I had a benchmark day.  I easily accomplished two silver badge elements: altitude gain (I started the flight with a 900 ft AGL save over the glider port--not a great start), and duration—6 hours and 12 minutes.  Although I didn’t venture far, the flight was an immense learning experience for me.  I discovered several landing areas and learned about my abilities and limitations. (i.e. its difficult to land in a moderate crosswind with numb feet.)  The air above was indeed cold.  I spent many portions of the flight flying through snow and ice crystals.

I’m very anxious to see how Milt & Rex do today (Tuesday April 3).  If today was anything like yesterday, and they have an early start, I could see a 1000 k being accomplished.

At 6:30 PM yesterday, I was still encountering strong lift.  To land, I had to coerce the Duo Discus down out of the sky with full spoilers!

Rick Ogden
------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Milton Hare" <milt@cpdevelopers.com>
To: "williamstiplist" <williamstiplist@soaringnet.org>
Subject: Tues looks good
Date: Monday, April 02, 2001 11:45 PM

FYI - Tuesday looks like a good x-country day.  It should start early and
the lift is forecast to be 9,000 to 10,000 feet in the valley.  Airmass is
dry and very very cold.  Possible T-storms near Red Bluff.

- Milt

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-----------------------------------------------------------------

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