Sunday 12/16/12 rides

Today started out beautiful and blue!  By the time my Silver Hawk ride couple and I got up in the air the overcast had appeared but the visibility was still great.  Greg pulled the release at 4750' while we were above the lower level of the growing clouds.

We flew around performing some pleasant maneuvers while slowly descending ~200fpm to a landing on runway 24 after which Yongyi tried out the front seat giving Greg more room in the rear!

After some lessons, testing and receiving a pilot's license, she could be giving the rides!

As I'll be moving to OR and this was my last day at Hollister Soaring Center, at least for this year, I wanted to have a "final" ride in my favorite sailplane, the Duo Discus, made famous to the movie-going public in the remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair"(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155267/).  My wife was vacationing in Hawaii with her four sisters so I flew with my "cousin" Lora Lee as you can see:

The shadows on the Flint Hills showed the lateness in the day of our flight:

 Looking west toward the obscured Santa Cruz Mtns:

Lora Lee was taking her own pics:

We landed on runway 6 just before sunset after a most pleasant 3/4 hour flight.
There is our runway just under that overcast above which we had stayed out to the west.

A very nice way to end a very good day!  

 "That's all for now folks"  H...

Laura & Haven "Employee Day"  1/1/05

Saturday 12/8/12 rides

Diana and Ray chose a Mile High Ride towards the ocean on a day with excellent visibility.  Here's the view from 5000' looking NW from Fremont Peak to Watsonville and the Santa Cruz shore/mountains:

When the camera is turned backwards we get this:

With a 180° turn this becomes the view, looking NE from the Gabilans:  San Justo reservoir, Hollister, the Diablo Range and way off in the distance the snow-capped Sierra

Astha and father, Abhinav enjoyed their Silver Hawk Ride to 4750'  Astha especially enjoyed the turns and maneuvering.

On tow for my third ride.  We are behind out Pawnee towplane at 3600' above sea level, climbing at 400'/min with a forward speed of 78mph headed for Pacheco Peak NE of Hollister.

After releasing at 4750', Carroll and Robert accompanied me on a leisurely glide back to the airport as no lift was found to extend our flight save for a few "bumps" directly over the airport but too low and weak to exploit unless we were a "true" bird!

Saturday 12/1/12

The weather was challenging but Jake's birthday needed to be celebrated so up we went behind Charlie in the Pawnee.  We got to 4750' cloud base over San Juan Bautista and released for a nice easy glide back to Hollister.  A few nice turns and wingovers allowed for just enough excitement.

Here are Jan and Jake in the rear seat of our Schweizer 2-32 N9864E:

After landing and "taxi" to the ramp Charlie gets a nice pic of the couple in the glider with Jan in the front seat and our Pawnee towplane in the background: