Saturday 10/29/11 rides

Lovina brought Micheal, visiting from Texas, in for a Hollister Hop.  Just for fun she posed for a pic as if she were literally "giving him a ride"!

 The ride in the front seat for one is more comfortable and scenic than sharing the back seat.  And I give the passenger the opportunity to fly the aircraft while at altitude.

Nick and his father, Claudio demonstrate the best-case scenario for a rear-seat 2-person Silver Hawk ride:

Here is Nick trying out the front seat where he'll be sitting when he's big enough to start his training!

Vickie and Al split a Monterey Bay Ride for two into two individual shorter rides for one so each could enjoy more comfort and a better view.  Vickie is using her iPhone camera while on tow:

Al and I had such a relaxed ride together that I neglected to get a pic of him in flight.  Here he and Vickie are back together after our landing and roll-out to parking:

  

Kristoffer(with binoculars!) and his father Walt took the "big" ride to Monterey Bay.

 The hats tell me they are a long way from Florida where my kids and g-kids live!

Here's another potential student glider-pilot pose:

Peter's wife and three little ones gave him an hour in the air out to Monterey Bay and back, a nice "time-out" from the realities on the ground:

Julie brought her husband, Roland, down from Palo Alto for a scenic Monterey Bay ride two months after her father, Jim, had his "solo" ride(see Saturday 8/13).  The two men had intended to ride together in the rear seat as they met the weight limit but their statures became the limiting factor.  Jim enjoyed his ride at the time while Roland had to return for a higher and longer ride while enjoying the front seat comfort and visibility.

 
The last ride of the day was with sister and brother, Arianna and Austin over San Juan Bautista with a little fun maneuvering on the way back.

Friday 10/28/11 rides

Don was first today for a Hollister Hop.  He's in the front seat and ready for taxi to the runway:

 Many passengers like to record their flight like Don is doing here:

Wonna & Ciaran enjoyed a Monterey Bay Adventure Scenic Ride:

Brian surprised his wife Andrea with a Monterey Bay Adventure Acro Ride for a birthday present and then took the same ride for himself so he could fully share in the experience!

Andrea is on tow behind the Pawnee approaching 8000':

Here's the smile after a spin, loop, wingovers and tight turns.  Now it was her turn to operate the controls flying herself around for the next ten minutes:

Brian had the last flight of the day as the evening sun makes for a nice pic:

Saturday 10/22/11 rides

Nikki and John took a Hollister Hop to 3000' on a nice fall day:

Rick and I donned parachutes and went over Aromas for a Mile-High acro ride during which Rick pointed out his birth-place just south of Gilroy.  After our maneuvers, Rick flew the glider for the first time better than I had done on my tenth lesson!

Elizabeth and Daniel were all smiles on the Hollister Hop:

Josiah was a bit apprehensive during the take-off and tow to 4500' over Henrietta Peak in the Diablos 10 miles east of Hollister.  After release, we slowed to 55mph(don't want to get a speeding ticket) and everything  became more peaceful:

After we landed Josiah's father Bill got in the front seat and we duplicated his son's ride but this time we did some aggressive maneuvering with a beautiful wing-over.  Here's Bill taking in the view:

The owner of the Hollister Soaring Center and operator of Bay Area Glider Rides, Quest, gave a commercial ride to two happy women while I was giving "guy" rides:

My last ride of the day was to 6000' over the Diablos with Harold who wanted to record much of the ride using one of today's small video cameras:

While he was looking towards the Monterey Bay, 50 miles to the southwest, I looked out from my rear seat to the northeast to see the Pacheco wind farm and San Luis Reservoir. The San Joaquin Valley was covered with haze so the Sierras were not visible: 

In the winter after a nice storm "flushes the air" we have a magnificent view of snow-capped mountains over the Tule fog:  

Fall and winter rides provide us with some of the best visibility days!

Friday's "sunset" ride

Samantha wanted to expose her nephew, Michael, to a form of recreational aviation.  Her job as an air-traffic-controller has her in a room with no windows just "telling pilots where to go"!  Both of them enjoyed the beautiful light of the late afternoon:

"tourist" ride

Amira and Allen had stayed in Carmel and were traveling to Santa Barbara.  They wanted a nice ride over Monterey Bay but the fog ruled the day with the whole coastline socked-in!
This is what we would have liked to have seen:

BUT, here is a pic similar to what the day presented:

 Nevertheless we had a very enjoyable ride towards the Santa Cruz Mtns over the San Andreas fault line and the Santa Clara Valley.

After landing, Amira jumped in the front seat for our "taxi" to parking:

The three of us had a very good time!

Hollister rides 10/15/11

Tom and Johnny enjoyed their Silver Hawk Ride  4500' over the Gabilan Valley:

Looking southwest over the Hollister airport to Fremont Peak and the fog over Monterey Bay:

Ray liked the view from the front seat at 4500' and took some pictures of houses he had plumbed!

I didn't get a pic of Chris and Patricia while in the air but here they are on the ground after their Silver Hawk ride to 4750':

George had some rides in jets when he was a USN jet engine mechanic and wanted to do some aerobatics for his 70th birthday.  We towed to 8000' over Aromas as he told me of places he recognized below.  After our loop, hammerhead and wing-overs, he flew the glider around as if he'd done it many times!

Scott and his family had separate rides because they wanted their little one to go too!  I didn't get Scott's picture when he was in the front seat and I botched the following one.

This could have been a much better quality picture if I had checked the camera setting before the shot!  That is the cutest little pilot, complete with helmet and googles, who's been along with me and he even brought his mother.

Panoche Valley ride

Catalino was motorcycle-touring in the Panoche Valley 35 miles southeast of Hollister where the Hollister  Soaring Center and the BASA club were having their "Gliderpalooza".  While at the Panoche Valley Inn, Larry, the proprietor who had viewed his establishment from the air while in a glider with me last year, told Catalino that he could get just such a ride himself.  And here he is:

Two of Catalino's pics from his ride:

Panoche Valley looking north from the southern ridge   

 Panoche Valley Inn in the foreground with "Panoche Int'l Airport" and its dirt strip just to the north(you'd have to be a pilot to pick it out)!

This pic was taken early in the morning before any of the pilots arrived after the bar-b-que at Harry's, soaking in the hot tubs and sleeping at Mercy Hot Springs:

 

Irish gal's acro ride!

Sam from Australia brought in Gina from Ireland for an MBA acro ride, now that's a gift!  He asked me if I could demonstrate a stall/spin scenario and I assured him I could but that I wanted to make sure that was OK with Gina.  She was "game" and after we released from tow at 8000' on a beautiful fall day with excellent visibility, I did some clearing turns, pulled the glider up into a stall, kicked left rudder and off we went into a spin to the left.  Recovery into dive, then 120 mph 2.5-3g pull up and a loop.  A hammerhead and some wing-overs were followed by a rest period and then Gina flew the glider around as if she had done it before this!  She was all smiles and certainly enjoyed her flight:

Sister and clouds!

Debbie and Bernice picked a nice pre-frontal day for a Mile High ride over Fremont Peak with a clear view of the whole Monterey Bay while above the clouds.  Here we are still on tow at 6000' with the Monterey peninsula just under the left wing of the Pawnee towplane:

One can easily tell that these sisters are enjoying their ride while "Facebooking" their friends:

We cruised around the clouds enjoying the beauty of their creation and power.  Once underneath we found lift and were staying up just fine when Debbie announced that she needed to land!  We could have stayed up longer but it was a wonderful ride and our landing was smooth and efficient.

 The four of us enjoyed our ride: