Saturday 10/13/12 rides

Gave 4 rides on Saturday to 8 happy people!

Carroll & David

Notice the shadow of the yaw string on David's face, he's a marked man now!

Jessie & Yaser

Yaser's right cheek and shoulder strap display the sign!

Katrina & Scott

Again a marked passenger!  Check Scott's forehead and left shoulder:

Mona & Sanket

Now you can see the yaw string that casts the shadow:

That yaw string is my most important in-flight instrument!  It is a high-tech, heads-up display showing me the relative wind and allowing me to correct with rudder input from foot pedals in order to have us fly straight through the air for the most efficient aerodynamic presentation, the least drag created, the lowest sink rate and therefore the most time in the air!  The one pictured is for me when I take one passenger in the front seat, install a control stick and fly from  the rear seat(the rudder pedals are always there)!  For these two-passenger flights I use the yaw string attached to a small stalk on the nose cowl.  Single passenger get a chance to operate the controls too!

Making the best of a low-ceiling day!

We can schedule time but not the weather!  A father and daughter touring CA had only this morning for a glider ride and Charlie gave them the best he could with the weather they had.

Overhead in a "close-in" landing pattern:

turning base to final:

almost to a smooth touchdown:

No soaring today but still an exciting glider ride:

Mother, Robin, and daughter, Tara, flew with me to 3000' before the ceiling made us release from the towplane.  We did some easy turns, came back to the airport area and looked at the corn maze before landing.

They look very happy even though the visibility wasn't great!

Roman's 85th B-day Monterey Bay Adventure!

Roman accompanied by his wife and son arrived for his 85th birthday ride saying he really enjoyed his 80th birthday ride with our ride-pilot at the time, Ruth Cook.  He couldn't have picked a better day weather-wise as the pictures show.

On tow behind Cherokee 76W at 6000' over Prundale looking towards Santa Cruz Mtns.

After release at 8250' with Watsonville and its airport below and Santa Cruz in the distance:

We flew over and around some beautiful cloud formations on the way back to the Hollister airport:

Here's a good view of the Swank Farms Corn Maze adjacent to runway 24 where we landed after our hour in the sky.

Here's the crew:

Travel Zoo rides 10/6

After the Young Eagle rides I did two commercial rides.  Pat & Charles took a Silver Hawk ride to 4750' MSL over Fremont Peak.  They were local residents and enjoyed seeing their home area from a new and exciting perspective:

After returning to the airport and landing, new passengers, Bethann and Tom replaced Pat and Charles. Launching behind towplane 76W, we stayed on tow all the way to 8000' at the Monterey Bay shoreline.  They certainly chose the right day for their ride because the atmosphere had "refreshed" itself with the passage of a small cold front.

There is Santa Cruz in the distance under the right wingtip:

 Bethann and Tom in Schweizer 2-32 N87R:

The Monterey peninsula in the distance with Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough in the foreground from 8000': 

It was a very pleasant ride with good conversation for the 40 minutes of gliding back to the airport after leaving the shoreline.

Young Eagle rides Saturday 10/6

Every once in a while the EAA, Experimental Aviation Assn, local chapter at the Hollister airport sponsors a Young Eagles event where local member pilots offer to take young prospective aviators for rides!  I was lucky to do four rides, the first with two brothers from a local family:

Looks like the boys were enjoying the ride!

My next Young Eagle was already a student-pilot taking lessons from a woman who pilots big jets for a living and also gives instruction in a single-engine Cessna 152 she and her husband own and operate locally.  Kaitlin's first flight in a "engine-less" plane with a stick instead of the yoke showed her to have the "Right Stuff" as she adapted smoothly to the longer wings requiring more rudder control.  I hope she chooses to pursue glider/soaring flight after she gets her private pilot's license in power.
Here she is flying me "around the patch":

After landing, her friend, Holly got in the front seat to enjoy her initiation to glider flight:

It was a beautiful day for rides.  Here's what our airport looks like from the east looking west:

Carmelina and her brother Donatello enjoyed their flight:

I look a little foolish trying to get down to their size!

Birthday ride to Monterey Bay

Dennis arrived for his birthday ride with his wife and two big dogs.  We were gone for an hour. The dogs, Oh, and his wife were happy to see him return!

Just ready to release from the towplane at 8000' over Moss Landing looking at the Monterey peninsula:

During the return glider flight to Hollister, 30 miles to the east, there was plenty to view:

Panoche Gliderpalooza

We ran a satellite operation out of a dirt strip in the Panoche Valley 35 miles ESE of Hollister for a weekend event attended by BASA club members with 3 of their gliders(2-2 place and 1 single) together with 3 private pilots and their sailplanes.  I gave a ride in our 2-32 to Harmon, the father of a man whom I had given a ride to at a previous event and was now taking flying lessons.

Here's Harmon in the front seat:

 Looking down at the little dirt strip:

At the end of the day's flying, there was a Bar-B-Que at the Panoche Inn just a short walk to the main road.  This is a pic of the gliders tied down for the night under the full moon:

The next day everyone flew again.  Here's a launch as seen from the road to Mercy Hot Springs: