Thrill-seeking rides for three women on vacation from Virginia!

    Three women on vacation from northern VA, saw our billboard sign advertising glider rides and thought, WOW, that's for us!

Arlene wanted a nice smooth ride so she took the Silver Hawk to 4500' and enjoyed the beautiful "birds-eye" view of San Juan Bautista and Fremont Peak.  Anita was looking for some thrills so she asked for and received the Mile High Acro ride to 6000'.  I pulled up to stall, kicked the rudder and we spun beautifully until I stopped the rotation, dove at 120 mph, pulled us into a 3g loop entry and finished the loop with some weightlessness.  She screamed with excitement like a girl on her first date in a roller-coaster and I was happy to be showing her a good time!

After some tight turns and wing-overs, we had an exciting landing approach, touched down smoothly and got a group pic:

Tina put on the parachute and we went a nautical mile high over Aromas. She could see the Santa Cruz pier where they had dinner the night before but the southern part of Monterey Bay was covered with the summer fog.  I asked her if she wanted to loop and she said yes.  Not as much screaming as Anita but I know she enjoyed it!

These women were so cheerful, animated and exciting that we had to have a nice portrait in front of our office before they drove off for their next event and eventual return to their lives "back East".

Tina, Anita, Haven and Arlene

family rides

Six family members participated in two Hollister Hop rides to 3000'

                        Mike and Katie flew first:

                             followed by Angie and Jake:

with help from the ground support crew:

Scott redeems a gift certificate for an acro ride

After a spin and loop, Scott flew us around as if this was not his first flight.  He had the "natural" touch that says, "Oh yea, you should be taking lessons in pursuit of a license"!  We did some tight turns and some wing-overs and I think he now knows "the best way to get high".

Birthday ride for Fred(81) from Joy!

Joy and her daughter Laurie brought Fred down from Pleasanton for a birthday ride.  Fred told me he used to fly a Cherokee 140 so I let him fly the glider after we got off tow and it all came back as he flew around quite nicely.  While preparing to land we caught a small thermal and I was able to let Fred experience Lift/Soaring for five minutes of circling over the field while not loosing altitude!

"Popping the Question" at 8000' over Monterey Bay!

Rod, a USN Hornet pilot at Lemoore, asked April, a pediatric IC Nurse from Fresno the "BIG" question while we were aviating.  He said it would have been difficult while parachuting or flying in his F-18!  She said yes and he put the ring on her finger:

While golf was being played at Pebble Beach off in the distance, these two were playing for keeps!

Before the flight, Andy takes their picture:

An hour later they are fiancés:

Parent and child rides

Although we had fog to the west over Monterey Bay, summer is here, we had three nice flights over, under and in the blue between clouds over Hollister for three sets of parent and child.

Here's an excited Bryn with her father Matt:

and here is their ground crew:

Theodora, Teddy, and her father Aaron were next to enjoy the beautiful day:

you can see who wants to do the flying next time:

Mother and son had their time together getting "high in the sky"!  Pam and John:

Aerial views of AirSailing Gliderport and Pyramid Lake

The private AirSailing Gliderport at 4300'MXL

The red rocks NE of the gliderport

Pyramid Lake and the red rocks.  The gliderport is a few miles to the right.

                                                         Pyramid Lake

Here we are at 9425' MSL thermaling at 500 fpm at less than 40 knots

Charlie gets his first lessons from great-uncle "Eagle"

In the calm of the morning, Eagle initiated a family "fledgling" with three flights in the basic training glider, the venerable Schweizer 2-33

towed by Blackhawk in the Pawnee, Blue Tow:

The lesson isn't over until the aircraft is secured:

Cross-Country Camp at AirSailing Gliderport north of Reno, NV

My club, BASA(BayAreaSoaringAssociates), trailered our six gliders to http://airsailing.org/
southwest of Pyramid Lake just north of Reno, NV for a week of cross-country camp.  I could only stay for a day but after the ships were put together I flew alone in a high-performance single-seat glider for three hours around the area getting as high as 12,500' and only came down because it was getting dark.  Some of the flights my club-member friends will be experiencing over the week will be for 6-7 hours and cover 300-400 miles!

Two of our ships and four crew stayed overnight at the Soar Truckee facility with a nice view of the snow-capped Sierras in the background in the morning pic

Putting the ships together and visiting is as much fun as the flying!

Our old Grob requires more time and attention from more members!

The morning meeting covered much territory including a nice explanation of weather:

Harry fills the oxygen tank in Pegasus 9JH:

Other ships are prepared for the day:

Saturday at Hollister

Shauna and Dan started the day with a ride to the Monterey Bay:

Alexandra was given a Mile High acro ride as a graduation gift:

After a stall, spin, loop, hammerhead, and some wingovers she flew the plane as if she'd already had a few lessons!  She has the "right stuff" and could be giving rides herself when she becomes 18.

Brian and a woman, whose name escapes me as I had lost the boarding pass in the wind, enjoyed their ride on a day with beautiful visibility:

Moss Landing and the Monterey peninsula from 8k' over Watsonville:

Santa Cruz beach, boardwalk and pier with a little fog over the north coast:

looking east over the Diablos and San Joaquin Valley to the snow-capped Sierras:

The "K" family arrived for two rides:

 Kristoff and Kristin flew with me in 64E and Quest flew with two other siblings in 87R.

Rides in the DG-505

Duane had his 91st birthday ride in the front seat of the high-performance state-of-the-art German carbon-fiber sailplane.

Gene, an 80 year-old pilot who soloed in 1946 flying all these years since but never in a glider, was brought in by his 93 year-old friend Sven who had taught glider flying in 1943-44 to the pilots who would fly the D-Day invasion Waco gliders.  Sven still flies with me once in a while and does a loop better than mine!
Here's Gene at the controls which he handled as if he'd always flown a glider:

Private gliders at Panoche

We had private gliders and some BASA club members at our encampment.
Ram and Harry ready to launch in 1CH, the club DG-1000:

Memorial Day at Panoche

Jessika and I flew over the Panoche Valley while six other private and BASA gliders explored the extended area.

The Hollister airport was closed for the airshow so we operated out of the little dirt strip at Panoche.  The previous night, Larry put on a nice bar-b-que at the Inn at "Panoche International Airport"!