The forecast weather forced the cancellation of the member meeting and flying on Saturday, June 24. We will let you know about Sunday flying tomorrow evening.

I sure hope this weather improves sometime soon.

Hope to see you out there!

Congratulations to Ben Berg for passing his Private Airplane flight test with DPE Daryl Smith. Ben and Bill (his instructor) have been busy flying the Cessna 182 to meet all the requirements for the rating. This included night flying, instrument training, cross-country and solo cross-country flights plus all the maneuvers required. Ben taught himself flying skills using his home flight simulator, achieving a high level of proficiency before he started his actual flying in the 182. Ben learned to fly in sailplanes and he achieved his Private Glider Pilot rating, so he knew how to fly, adding the engine was easy.

Ben is another NESA success story, teaching junior members how to fly. The Honor Roll list of NESA juniors going on to aviation careers is long. ACE Camp and the CAP Glider programs with the dedication of skilled volunteers are are also making a big difference in introducing young people to the world of aviation and all this is happening at Hartness State Airport KVSF.

We have a lot to be proud of.

Good morning. Alasdair and I have decided to cancel operations for today. Last evening we thought it would be flyable, but the Terminal Area Forecast is much worse this morning than it was last night. So far tomorrow looks good, so keep your fingers crossed the forecast holds up.

Hope to see you out there.

The official start of Summer is upon us, and the weather forecast is promising! If you have not been out to the airport yet this season, it’s a great weekend to be there.

Friday, we will have a tow pilot available for soaring. Instruction is available Saturday and Sunday.

The member meeting is Saturday morning at 10. We will assemble the 1-34, have a brief discussion about situational awareness in the launch/landing areas, and cook hot dogs on the grill. The grill will be going late morning to not interfere with flying.

Hope to see you out there!

Holy cow! It finally looks like we will have a flyable weekend. I will be out to tow tomorrow (Friday), and the soaring forecast shows there may be some lift, unlike last year’s Sink-o de Mayo.

Saturday we will assemble the orange 2-33, starting by 10 am. Then we will fire up the grills for hot dogs and hamburgers, done early enough to give a full afternoon in the air. The forecast is very promising for both Saturday and Sunday. We have tow pilots and instructors – all we need is you! There are still a few slots available on the schedule, so sign up for your season checkout if you have not done that yet.

Hope to see you out there!

The weekend is a total washout, again. In the entire month of April, we only flew on two Saturdays, and not a single Sunday. That’s the bad news.

The good news is on the two Saturdays we flew we did 29 tows. The even-better news is that the Friday Flyers were out in force this month. Bill did five tows today, bringing our Friday total for the month to 20! That means the club did 49 tows for the month.

With any luck, this weather pattern will shift just a little bit, so we can have good flying on the weekends in May.

Remember, next Saturday, May 6, we will assemble the orange 2-33, weather permitting. If we can get some folks out, we can fire up the grill as we originally planned to do tomorrow.

Hope to see you out there!

The title of this post says it all. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is such that it makes no sense for us get people out to the airport just to sit around and talk about the crummy weather. It may still be flyable for some instruction – we will make that call closer to the weekend.

The new plan is to try to assemble the orange 2-33 next Saturday, weather permitting. If the weather is nice, we just might fire up the grill that day. Stay tuned for more info!

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.