My granddaughter Avery's ride

Granddaughter Avery, 15, visiting from FL, got a ride in the BASA DG-505 yesterday.  Her older twin brothers had rides in a Grob 103 and the Schweizer 2-32.  We donned parachutes for some limited acro.  She liked the loop and wingovers.  Over the east hills we saw one eagle down low but we were a little too early for the thermals.  We could see the receding fog bank over the Monterey peninsula as well as the snow atop the Sierras.

 Ready to launch:

 Getting "high in the sky"!

   Who's giving whom a ride?

She liked the looks of a friends' Citabria:

 And she"supervised" a club member assembling a Pegasus:

 All under the watchfull eyes of our local burrowing owl!

6/25 rides

There was fog covering the coast but our airport was clear as usual.  First to fly were Lena and Derek for a Silver Hawk ride to 4500' over San Juan Bautista and the fog line over the San Andreas fault line.

Jessica took her father John on a Silver Hawk ride to the same area:

Later in the day a family of four arrived for their rides.  Luke and his mother Lisa rode first:

While waiting for the towplane to return after towing a private glider, Luke practiced flying using the seabreeze on the ground:

When the towplane arrived Luke and I switched places.  Sister Julia and father Rob enjoyed their flight too!

Father's Day rides 6/19/11

Demetri and Jen had a Silver Hawk ride to start the ride day:

Tegan and Daniel took the Monterey Bay ride to the coast where the fog was receding:

Wendell and Jason also went to the coast which was almost clear of the fog that is the normal summer weather pattern, "Mother-nature's air-conditioner"! 

Saturday 6/18 rides

April and Dan were first for a Hollister Hop on a beautiful day:

Nancy was next for a Mile High Mountain ride over Henrietta Peak in the Diablos just east of Hollister.  We found smooth air but no eagles were flying. Upon our return to the airport we did see a big bird checking out the area.

A whole family came over from Santa Cruz for four Hollister Hop rides.  Mom just wanted to take pics on the ground! 

Lance was first to fly:

followed by Luke:

then Kira:

and finally Logan, whose picture has mysteriously been lost, oops!


Last ride for the day was with Brian and son, Mike for a Mile High Mountain ride over Fremont Peak where they could look down and see where their wife/mother was visiting on Stage Rd. out of San Juan Bautista.

Final view of the day is of the retreating fog over the Salinas Valley with the Monterey peninsula in the distance:

Friday 6/17 rides

Dottie and Eric came down from the Sacramento area for their Monterey Bay ride and they witnessed the summer fog pattern.

 Here we are still on tow flying northwest from Fremont Peak toward the Santa Cruz mountains with the coastline under the fog and the Santa Clara Valley all clear:

Ryan's mother brought him down from the Bay Area along with his sister for a Mile High Mountain acro ride.  We donned the "chutes" and did a spin, loop, hammerhead, some wingovers and tight turns after which Ryan flew for a while.

Thur 6/16 ride in BASA DG-505

I had the opportunity to introduce Dan, a pilot with a Wichita, KS aviation company, to the performance of a modern composite sailplane, the DG-505.  He was a commercially rated glider pilot already but hadn't been in a "glass" ship.  He flew it as if he'd done it before!  And he could be hooked if we had found some lift and been able to do what the sailplane/glider was built for.

Tuesday 6/14/11 group rides

For the second day we provided rides for a vacationing group.  As we were preparing for their arrival I noticed a good omen!
Burrowing owl standing guard on the runway sign:

 My first couple was from the St Louis, MO area.
Sandra & Steve:

After installing a rear control stick, I put Eric in the front seat and we flew as a one passenger ride:

He said maybe his wife will believe that he actually did this if she sees the picture!

My last ride of the day was with Baljit:

I do enjoy meeting such friendly and interesting people.  When they are in the air, some for the first time or at least the first time in a small plane, they are on their "best" behavior  and we all have a great time!  

Monday 6/13 group rides

A vacationing group scheduled eight rides today so we provided 2 towplanes, 2 gliders and 2 commercial glider-ride pilots.  My first passengers were from Amarillo, TX.
Melanie & Chan in the back seat of Schweizer 2-32 N9864E:

Next to ride were Susan and Dallas from Kalispell, MT:

I didn't get a pic of my third couple while in the air but here they are on the ground after landing:

As an aside, I should say that as pilots, we have a duty to aviate, navigate and communicate all while maintaining situational awareness relative to other traffic in the air and on the airport.  Conversation and picture-taking are secondary as time and situation allow.

The couple on the left rode with Brett in our other Schweizer 2-32 N87R:

Brett just landed with another couple:

My last ride of the day was with Judith and Meyer from Colorado Springs, CO.  They were quite amazed when I told them that the other glider like ours had been to 37,000' over Pikes Peak with two guys in cold-weather clothing and an oxygen system!  We only went to 6000' over Fremont Peak with a nice view of the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley.

Sometimes the view of the Monterey peninsula is clear like this:

And other times especially on a summer morning the fog covers the coastline:

Saturday 6/11

John said he'd always wanted to fly in a glider and Sheryl satisfied that urge by buying a gift certificate for a Monterey Adventure Ride.  We dodged a few clouds to get to 8000' and enjoyed the glide back with constantly changing perspective.

Charlie and Herman took time from their studies to fly among the clouds and enjoy some exciting maneuvers.  After a tow to 8000' I showed them the San Andreas fault line, Fremont Peak and the northern end of the Monterey Bay that wasn't covered by fog.  Their native tongue chatter told me they were really excited and having a good time!

After returning to the airport area we watched from above as another glider was towed up:

Here the three of us are back on the ground:

For the last ride of the day Shahin and Sara went for a short Hollister Hop to 3000'.  Nice smiles:

Friday 6/10

Ken drove down from Sacramento with his father Wayne and friend Kay who had purchased a gift certificate online for Wayne's 90th birthday.  Wayne got in the front seat of our Schweizer 2-32 and we went for a ride to 6000' over the fog covering the Monterey Bay.  On return to the airport environment Wayne took some pictures:

Kay had a ride to 3000' in that same cockpit seat but I didn't get a picture of her as we were busy visiting and flying!  Here she is in our office with Ken next to photos of some of the pilots who received their licenses after training with us:

Candyss and Rich were the next passengers to enjoy the tow to 8000' followed by 40+ minutes of slow flight while gliding back to the airport on a beautiful day.  Seeing CA as the eagle sees it is truly inspiring.  It is so nice to see so much land not covered by housing developments and shopping malls!

After our landing Candyss tried out the front seat!