The Springfield schools reached out to NESA to participate in their Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program, and the club showed up in a big way! Bill set up the Carat, and he, Annie, Jerry and Andy spoke with the kids and their parents (or grandparents). It was great community outreach for the club, as a good number of parents see us flying and were interested in seeing a glider up close. Hopefully, some parents or older siblings will be interested in coming out on a weekend, or maybe even signing up for ACE camp.

Thank you to all that took part for NESA.

Next Saturday, April 29, at 10 a.m. is the first of the monthly member meetings. This meeting does not have a FreeConferenceCall option. Tentatively on the agenda is Alasdair briefing those present on the Open Glider Network (OGN) registration and tracking. The club received a ground station from the SSA that will allow us to monitor club member flights in real-time.

After that briefing, we will assemble the orange 2-33, weather permitting. Then, we’ll then fire up the grill for hamburgers and hot dogs, with coleslaw, potato salad, or similar with some type of dessert. (If anyone attending has a special diet such as vegetarian or vegan, let me know by Wednesday). Bring whatever you want to drink, if other than water.

Sign up for any currency flights you may need, or instruction you desire.

Hope to see you out there!

April showers might bring May flowers, but those same showers certainly are not conducive to soaring. No flying either Saturday or Sunday. However, on Friday we did seven tows. Alasdair, Andy, Bob, and Greg flew their ships, while Ben took two tows in the 2-33 to finish his currency requirements, then took up a passenger. Bill flew his Carat for the first time since he got back from Florida.

Hopefully next weekend will have better weather.

You can check CHUGs status at: Special Use Airspace & Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspace (faa.gov) Click on the Text List then filter by state.

Last fall the SSA distributed Open Glider Network tracking stations to clubs. We bench tested everything over the winter and the NESA glider tracking station is ready to install in the terminal building.

If you have a Flarm or OGN tracker device installed in your glider please register it in the OGN database. This will enable us to monitor club member flights real-time. To register your device use this link: http://ddb.glidernet.org/

To view tracker map use this link: https://glideandseek.com/?viewport=43.35814,-72.96570,9

A great weekend. Lots of soaring activity Friday with numerous NESA and PMSC ships flying and people getting good long soaring flights. Saturday, much more club activity – spring check rides, Flight Reviews and more. Sunday weather didn’t really cooperate, and we bagged the day rather than having everyone sit around for hours waiting for the ceiling to lift.

Looks like a nice Friday coming up, for the weekend regardless of weather, let’s get the other 2-33 and the 1-34 assembled and back on the line.

Lots of good flights today. Max altitude reported was over 11,000 (remember to check on CHUGS!). Welcome to the 2023 soaring season.

EDIT: I understand a number of members may have special diets (vegetarian, vegan, etc). If you want to attend the meeting and have such a diet, please RSVP to me no later than Wednesday, April 26. I will make sure we will have something for you.

The club member meetings are the last Saturday of the month from 10 to 11 am, April thru October.

This month immediately following the meeting there will be burgers or hot dogs or some other sort of grilled meat, with some sides. After that, there will be towing and flying!

Come on out, hear what the club is doing, chat with your fellow club members, then we can get in the air.

Hope to see you out there,

JiM

We had a great crew out today to assemble the yellow 2-33 and the 1-26. We also did a dozen flights!

Larry Perry, Andy Kozak, Alasdair Crawford, Bill Batesole, Jim Wells, Steve Hurd, Bob Iulaino, Bill Detrich, Colby von Kannewurff, Ben Berg, Paul Happ, Don Graber, Mark Farley, Greg Hunter, Charlie Freeman and I all made it to KVSF today.

Alasdair did three flights, and as Bill was current from his trip down south, he flew with both Jims for them to get current. Charlie flew with Greg, Bill flew with Ben, and one Post Millian came down for a tow in his ship. Mark and Charlie flew with CAP and got current in their ship.

Tomorrow there are no tow pilots or instructors on the schedule. Next weekend is fully staffed, and the forecast looks phenomenal!

Hope to see you out there!

JiM

Took a few runs @ Magic Mountain this morning. Got a nice airshow – several F35’s dogfighting – putting out chaff – the works.

Remember CHUGS is now a permanent MOA from 9k to 18k so include knowing if its Hot in your briefings – especially on wave days!