Soaring Reports

The morning clouds cleared and it turned out to be a fine day for up and down flying. Jim Clark got there early and had the trailer and canopy up and ready. Bob Dyer got his Russia back and was assembling it. Mike B. took his Dad up in the L-23 for one last flight...

It looked like the day was going to be a bust with Mike B. cancelling out because his Dad  not feeling well. That only left Whit and Steve S. for such a beautiful day. I had a ride coming and a new member student so Steve and I began to get out the equipment as best...

Hi OSCI Members,   What a beautiful day form start to finish!  Soaring Forecast showed good possibilities if it warmed to expectations. After GS we proceeded to set up for 31 departures  with light winds allowing 13 land backs.   Well there was an initial...

Turned out to be a great day for gliding, not much soaring though even though it looked like the lift might develop, but then a high cirrus layer moved in and killed it and it also looked like we had a temperature inversion. Had 7 folks show up and first on the agenda...

It was  a beautiful Sat. morning for a 9:00 start. We need to do that more often. Got in the air by 10:00 and completed 6 flights and the equipment put away by 1:00. Started off with a couple of potential new members John Pineda and his son Chris. Both flew their...

Was a beautiful day with pleasant temps and moderate lift. Five of us showed up and we got the equipment out and set up for a 31 operation. Winds were pretty much calm so we landed back on 13. Pat greenwood was up first and managed a 45 minute flight after a 3000’...

Was a beautiful day but absolute zero lift. Got in 5 flights with Tom Schaap starting off in the L-23 solo,  followed by Pat Greenwood in the L-23 solo. We got the L-33 out and Steve Stevens launched in it next. We found out what a hazard the uncut tall grass can be...

A lot was accomplished today.  Pat Greenwood got in three pattern tows to start the flying with Dan Peterson towing.  Tom Schaap was next up in the L-23 for two solo flights.  Next it was checkride time for Paul Jelinek who flew with Bert Aagesen. They made three...

Hi all, It was a poor day for soaring, but a red-letter day for advancing students in the club. We had two first time solos, Tom Schapp and Bob Arant. We started early, arriving at 10 AM and getting the first tow off at 11. Tom took a pattern tow, a simulated weak...

Turned out to be a decent day with spotty lift. Nothing to write home about though. It looked better than it was, although Bob Craig made the best of it. He was still up when the gang left. First flight was Whit flying with Bob Craig for his safety flight. Jamie then...

After the ground school we moved to the hangers to discuss the possibility of flying even with the low ceilings. At that time, ceilings were being reported about 2000’ AGL. After some discussion we decided to fly since we had two instructors and two willing students....

Was  a day when there was no lift and plenty of liquids were consumed. But we managed to get in 7 flights operating on runway 13. Had some crosswinds to contend with but was good for the student training. Our priority was to fly with students to get some ready for...

The soundings were promising and a beautiful day developed. Folks showed up at noon and some skipped out of work to take advantage of a day squeezed in between many rainy days. Jamie launched with Steve Davis for a training flight using runway 31. Winds were rather...

index up to at least 9000ft and forecast cloud bases at 8500ft.  Well I decided I would work to 230pm then head out to the airport and hope for the best.  The rest of the crew had arrived much earlier and started flying at 1:15pm.  The first tow was Whit Bonifant and...

Hi OSCI Members   Ground School wrapped up about 11:30 and most went to the hangars to start preparations for flying.  Steve Davis and I cleverly delayed a bit to clean up the room and eat lunch.  By the time we joined the fray, the Pawnee had completed the...

I got to the field about 9:00 and built a shelf on the west side of the Pawnee hanger to get the small stuff off the floor. More room to walk around the Pawnee. Then went out and mowed a separation line between the two runways and put a good amount of chalk down for...

Another great soaring day with a twist.  Since I came out after working a half day, all the equipment was already out and Jaime and Donna were up in the L-23 on an instruction flight.  CUs were popping but they didn’t extend very far to the north of the airport. ...

The forecast for soaring was generally good with a high buoyancy to wind shear ratio ( 3rd chart on the Dr Jacks page).  And the thermal index that morning was very good with lift up to above 9000ft based on 78 degrees.  The high reached 80. I got out late from work...

This was one of the busiest days we have had in some time.  We had 5 gliders down at the north end of the runway.   Dan Peterson started the flying with a safety flight from Whitt followed by  two extra flights to get current.   Dan also took his first flight in the...

Had 7 flights for the day and a little lift at the end. Bob Dyer started things off in the L-23 for a safety flight with Daryl. We then launched Jim Clark in the L-33. Bob completed two more pattern tows to complete currency to take passengers. Daryl took the L-33 up...

Another nice day at the airport with 2 Russia’s and the L-23 taking to the air.  Whit, Paul, and Jaime did the towing with Whit, Jaime, and Daryl splitting the instructor duties.   Don Meyer was first up with Jaime on a safety flight followed by Jerry Adams with...

Was a great day to get safety flights and currency requirements met. Whit flew with Steve Stevens for his safety flight then Daryl flew with Pat Greenwod for his safety flight and recurrent training so his solo endorsement could be renewed. Pat would take another...

The first flying day of the year went off without a hitch. Jaime Alexander towed all but one flight and Whitt Bonifant did all the instructing since he was able to get current. Whitt took the first three flights to get current. He then went up with Jim Clark for a...

Hi all of OSCI,   We had a beautiful day of sled rides at BTA. No lift, but taking a ride in the skies was still worth the effort. We started pulling out the ships at about noon. First Daryl went up in his Schweizer 1-35 for its first flight since having the wing...

Hi All of OSCI, This is the last of the overdue soaring reports. The series of very nice days in October continued. Light winds allowed us to set up for 31 takeoffs and for the most part land on 13. I had called a noon start and when I arrived it was apparent that...

Hi All of OSCI, I’m catching up on Soaring Reports and now up to last week. I wasn’t there on Friday but inherited the flight sheet from the clip board on Saturday. This was another beautiful day apparently lacking lift. Tows varied from 2000 to 3000 AGL. Flight times...

Hi All of OSCI, This is being written now because my computer was in the shop for eleven days. We did twelve flights(ten in the L23 and two listed in “Russia”). 1) Kaelyn O’Rourke (Sally’s granddaughter) FAST 1 with Dan 2) Sean O’Rourke (Sally’s grandson) FAST 1 with...

I’ll attempt to provide the soaring report for Thursday. Steve Stevens had 7 tows and Don Meyer hogged the L23 with 3 flights! Don and Daryl, 15 min Pat and Daryl, 16 min Don and Daryl, 3 min simulated tow line break Pat and Daryl, 2 min simulated tow line break...

Hi All of OSCI, It was a light jacket pleasant day with a SE wind. We set up for 13 and got the first flight off a 12:49. All flights were in the L23 except for Mike in his Russia. 1) Pat G. / Daryl :25 dual 2) Jerome :14 solo 3) Donna / me :23 dual 4) Mike – Russia...

Hi All of OSCI, Saturday was a nice day to be at the field with nice temperature and just enough wind to pay attention and require a 13 operation. In another way it seemed to me to be very weird. There were no one needing dual instruction or even an intro ride! And we...