A premier, all volunteer, soaring club in eastern Pennsylvania, Tel: 215-822-9974 (Weekends Only)
It ain’t a Hemingway. Long sentences, repetition and the elevator becomes flippers. A former member had recommended this book. He was well on his way to the airlines and mentioned, that he still rereads this book. Hmmm. While geared towards power pilots, many of the topics apply equally to gliders. If nothing else, the author … Read more
Sunday through Tuesday all look like ridge days with Monday shaping up to be preferred for local ridges. Sunday wind angles are OK but not comfortable at 290 degree, strength is adequate. Sunday is also likely to see extensive SC development. Monday the NW flow veers to 310+, a better angle for local ridges. … Read more
Here is a link to “Tales of the Blue Fly”, the collection of writings by Bob Fitch – a Blairstown legend. Many great stories, among them a rather interesting “retrieve” described in “A walk in the woods”: https://soaringeconomist.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/bluefly-bob-fitch.pdf
We have had TWO incidences of Tow Plane kiting this year. Yes TWO! While both pilots landed safely, we must not be scaring our Tow Pilots. Remember, your glider has very large wings and tremendous lifting power, the tow plane has a tiny elevator. In a fight the tow plane is going to lose every … Read more
If you have not read this before, a good reminder to always use your own judgement: http://www.nadler.com/public/Nadler_On_Safety_Soaring_May_1987.pdf
And a good read of best practices for every soaring pilot: https://chessintheair.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SafetyinMountainFlying.pdf
See this interesting article from “Chess in the air” author Clemens Ceipek:
Pretty clear cut choice in favor of Sunday which will be post-frontal, dry and pleasant while Saturday will prolong the string of ghastly weather we have been enduring. Assuming no rain on Saturday about the best to be expected is 4,000 ft msl, probably with cu. Sunday looks blue and not particularly strong with the … Read more
Post frontal high pressure will give us a second soaring day on Saturday, albeit not as good as Friday. As the high slides East on Sunday, SW winds will pick up and the airmass will become more stable and may not support soaring. Saturday: It’s reasonable, but not guaranteed to expect cu at about … Read more
There are many good sites, blogs and YouTube channels. Here is one of them, with a focus on soaring safety: https://chessintheair.com/risks-and-risk-mitigation/