Saturday 2/25/12 rides

Tom picked a beautiful visibility day for his Hollister Hop ride.  There was a chilly NW wind which helped us get into the air quicker off runway 31.

Here's the view of the Diablos to the east with the morning fog still in the Quien Sabe Valley:

Tom's smile and "thumb-up" tell the story:

Larry's family brought him in for a Hollister Hop to celebrate his birthday:

Here's a pic from a tow out towards Monterey Bay 200' behind our Piper Pawnee.  The gauges say we are flying at 75 mph with a climb rate of 400 fpm at 3450' above sea level.  That is San Juan Bautista down to the right and the Monterey peninsula just over the top of the hat brim!

LeeAnn and Kyle chose the Silver Hawk ride which got us up over San Juan Bautista and the San Andreas fault line.  It appears that are enjoying the ride:

After landing and taxi to parking area on the ramp:

Saturday 2/18/12 rides

The morning started off completely overcast but good enough for practice pattern tows for students and private owners.  Monica gifted Mitch, a power pilot, with a birthday Monterey Bay Adventure glider-ride so off we went when the sky began to clear.  We followed the towplane up through a "blue hole" to get on top to see the Monterey Bay:

(not from this flight but similar site pic!)

I got a nice pic of the happy couple but neglected to get a forward pic of the view which we had of the whole bay.  But it did look something like this one showing the Monterey peninsula in the distance:

On the way back to Hollister from the coast we did some maneuvering so they could experience the nice handling and viewing perspectives offered by glider flight compared to their experiences in a small powered airplane.  We might see both of them again as student glider pilots transitioning from power!

My next ride was with James who said he soloed an Aeronca, small two-place powered airplane, on Cape Cod, MA in 1963.  He got in the front seat and I put the control stick in the rear and off we went on a Mile High ride.  After release from the tow-plane, James took the controls and flew the glider very well for the next twenty minutes.  He told me of a ride he experienced in a military jet during a formation flight.  We did a wing-over and a couple of tight turns before landing.  Here are two nice pics of James with some family members:

James is ready in the front:

After landing we put Scott and his little one in the front seat for our taxi-tow to parking:

Sunday 2/12/12 ride

Shawn and Chris took the Silver Hawk ride on a day that opened up after morning overcast.  We had some weak thermals and watched a glider fly under us back to the airport.  The towplane and glider launched as we were flying back so we got to see them in the air as well.  Didn't see any birds!

One of the private cross-country sailplane pilots had this nice 4+hour flight before, during and after ours!

Lucky Wave Flight

Eugene, a professional photographer, picked the right day for taking interesting pics from the glider during our flight amid the beautiful cloud formations while the "huddled masses" were down below on the golf course at Pebble Beach being sprinkled upon! 

Birthday-present ride for Jim 2/4/12

Jim's wife got him a great birthday present, a Monterey Bay Adventure Ride.  We put parachutes on in case he wanted more than just the scenic ride with the opportunity to fly the glider.  After some exciting maneuvers, Jim enjoyed just flying the glider himself, appreciating the calm and grand perspective from the front seat, while slowly flying back from the coastline.

Soaring Society of America Convention in Reno

The site, Reno, was close by and a friend asked if I wanted to ride with him and share a hotel room.  Well of course!  A chance to see the newest stuff and meet old friends:

 The Bonus Jet self-launching two-place!

Buzz looks over the two-place DG-1001 self-launcher with the dealer Kris: