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US West Coast Motorglider Fly-in 2010 - Date Set printer friendly version
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jb92563
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Posted Thursday, January 14, 2010 @ 12:27 PM  

Touring Motor Glider Fly-In
2010

The Second Annual West Coast Fly-In will be held June 25 – 27 at Minden, Nevada. Activities will include flying, technical discussions, a show and tell, Friday night Basque dinner, Saturday night BBQ, and flying. SoaringNV at Minden will again be the on-site host. SoaringNV will just be finishing up a glider cross-country camp so there will be a lot of glider activity out there.

This year we are planning an optional fly-out after the main event to Cedar City/Parawon, Utah, where the Auxiliary Sailplane Association will be holding their annual Camp & Contest (June 28 though August 8). We plan on staging our group at the Cedar City airport. Everyone we’ve talked to says that the Utah area is spectacular to fly in.

Last year we had 10 ships and 20 pilot/spectators at the event. A great time was had by all, although the weather could have been more cooperative. Pilots came from north and south California, the southwest, and the northwest.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583

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Posted Monday, June 14, 2010 @ 03:50 PM  

Its 2 weeks away to this event so If you would like to drop in send me an email, we would be glad to have some more planes.

At last count we had 15 planes coming and about 20 people attending.

We also have about 5+ ships heading out to Parowan after Sunday at Minden, NV

Send the following info to me if you intend on comming so we can arrange a spot for you at the restaurants and tie downs.

_______________________________________________________________

Please let me know what your intentions are so we can plan accordingly. We don't want anyone left out of the fun.
The food is great and you will definately be getting more than you can eat....ask any one of last years attendees!

Please indicate the following:

1) Names of attendees:

Food:

2) Dinner - Friday night (JT's Basque Restaurant - $27/person incl tax and tip): How Many?

3) Dinner - Sat - BBQ at airport (host: SoaringNV - $20) : How Many?

Flight Planning:

4) Estimated Arrival date & time:

5) Estimated Departure date & time:



6) Attending Minden?:

7) Attending Parowan?:

8) Type (Aircraft Model or arriving by Car):

9) If by Car, can you offer diving support from hotel to airport?:




Reference Info:
In Minden it's the Holiday Inn Express: 1.775.782.7500. $89.99 standard king and $99.99 for two queen beds.

In Parowan it's the cedar city Hampton Inn: 1.435.586.5000. $85.00 per night

Both properties include full breakfasts.

(Ask for the Motorglider Flyin group Rate)

Right now it looks like we've got about 15 ships coming, plus another 10 "spectators." Remember: it's also never too late to sign up or just drop in and surprise us.

Tie down space is now controlled by the Airport management. Check in with them upon arrival and advise that you're with the MG Fly-In group.

Close-in space is now at a premium and they will do the best they can to accommodate us. Daily fee is about $8.50. Once we finalize the group, we'll try to negotiate a volume discount.

An option this year is the recently opened Holiday Inn Express, at $89 per night for a King single or $99 for two twin beds per room, The price comes with a full breakfast. It's on route 395, about four miles to the airport and about 0.5 miles to JT's. I've already worked them down from their standard pricing and they won't go any lower. There are lower price alternatives (for older properties) in Miden/ Garnerville, generally in the $65 range.

Cedar City - the Auxiliary Sailplane Association thinks it best if we don't overwhelm the Parowan Airport since they will be having their (sold-out) event at the same time. I'd rather not cause any controversy so I think it's probably best if we stage in Cedar City (about 20 miles away). There is a Hampton Inn property (Hilton Hotel chain) in Cedar City that we can get a $85 per night rate, including full breakfast. Again, there are cheaper accommodations ($10-$20 less per night).

In Cedar city, my thought is that we would group together and rent a car(s) so that we can go to/from the airport, and go out to Parowan for one or more of the group dinners there. I think they'll be enough local participants in Minden so we won't need a car for the few days we're there.


Touring Motor Glider Fly-In
2010

The Second Annual West Coast Fly-In will be held June 25 – 27 at Minden , Nevada . Activities will include flying, technical discussions, a show and tell, Friday night Basque dinner, Saturday night BBQ, and flying.
SoaringNV at Minden will again be the on-site host. SoaringNV will just be finishing up a glider cross-country camp so there will be a lot of glider activity out there.

This year we are planning an optional fly-out after the main event to Cedar City/Parowan, Utah, where the Auxiliary Sailplane Association will be holding their annual Camp & Contest (June 28 though August 8).
We plan on staging our group at the Cedar City airport.
Everyone we’ve talked to says that the Utah area is spectacular to fly in.

Last year we had 10 ships and 20 pilot/spectators at the event. A great time was had by all, although the weather could have been more cooperative.
Pilots came from north and south California , the southwest, and the northwest.
Some of the types predicted to attend this year: Grob 109, Taifun, Ximango, Fournier RF4D, Pipistral Sinus, Carat, Lambada, & ???

Contact Richard Pearl (pennyrich@aol.com) or Ray Buhr (jb92563@yahoo.com) for details, comments, and suggestions.
Updated information will be posted in the Yahoo group site: “Touring_Motor_Glider Fly-In”.
Join if you’re not already a member.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Touring_Motor_Glider_Fly-in

Everyone is of course responsible for their own tie down fees, hotel, and meal costs.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583

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Posted Tuesday, July 13, 2010 @ 11:32 AM  

Here is a post event summary:

We had a good turnout of motor gliders, about 15 plus another 10 guests who we interested in motor gliders and prospective future owners.

Types that came: Grob 109, Taifun, Ximango, Lambada, Carat, Pipistrel.

There were a series of seminars on various topics, weather briefings, Mountain flying pointers, Local flying tips, etc

We had a great group dinner on Friday and even better BBQ on Saturday Hosted by SoarNV.

SoarNV hosted our group and gave us a great spot to hang out in their hanger complete with couches, food, drink, tools, TV and internet.

Folks came from all over, SC, TN, GA, NM, WA, CA, BC Canada.

We had good weather and thermals in abundance along with spectacular panoramas.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/2010FlightToMindenNVUpAndDownTheOwensValley

I again broadened my own flying experience and learned a thing or two more about mountain flying.

On the flight up the Ground elevation increases to about 6,500 and there is a 9000' ridge that needs to be cleared to make it into the next valley.

Since the RF4D needed a few things done to make it flight ready for a long trip, I took the Grob 109.

The 109 does not climb very well and at 9,000' I get about 200 fpm. Well on this day the forcast was for some showers and it was becomming overcast with cloud base at 12k as I was approaching my 9000' ridge, on the final 50 mile leg of the 400 mile trip to Minden.

The thermals had died off and I was struggling to climb high enough to clear the ridge. Once I had 500' over I quickly drove over to the other side and no sooner than I did it started to drizzle. The visibility was still good at 5+ miles and I had dropped below the ridge in the now sinking air. I was commited to moving ahead down the gulley out into the valley with no airports for a good 20 miles.

I pushed ahead as expediently as possible and found myself sinking at 300 fpm at full throttle in climb pitch, in the drizzle, centered in a steep walled valley that eventually opened out to the open plains. I was quite relieved that there was no severe turbulence to contend with

I was able to maintain about 2000' AGL due to the rapidly dropping terrain, but it was I was quite nervous about the unrelenting sink.

The rain on the Grob's wings absolutely upsets the laminar flow and the wing becomes quite anemic at genterating lift.

In any case once I reached the open valley the sink subsidded and I was able to climb out from about 1500 AGL.

In retrospect it was a poor decision to press on into the drizzle with so little extra altitude given the conditions and performance degradation, plus the absence of airport landouts for that tricky stretch.

I think the sinking air and drizzle just carried me downwards until bottoming out in the valley and it was somewhat like ridding down a river of descending cold air.

I was looking for field landouts the entire stretch as I followed a road down. It was one of those cases of wishing I was on the ground, rather than having to deal with the uncomfortable situtation.

However, it was a good lesson learned and again a confidence builder as although uncomfortable, I handled the situation to a positive outcome.

Interestingly, after I crossed the ridge and became committed to the drizzle and sinking air I recalled reading that ~75% of GA aircraft accidents occur as a result of flying into degrading weather conditions. Fortunately I did not become a Darwin award winner this day and instead became a smarter survivor with some new stories of piloting adventures to tell.

Fortunately as forecast, the weather improved, and I did see that it was only drizzle, and I had at least 5-10 miles visibility even in the drizzle.

The flight home on sunday was another story with low saves, booming thermals, constant turbulence, battery failure, and a final 50 mile leg home in glass smooth conditions....to be continued...

[Edit by jb92563 on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 @ 11:45 AM]

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583

Click here to see the profile for jb92563 Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563 Send email to jb92563 Send private message to jb92563 Find more posts by jb92563 Edit or delete this message Reply w/Quote
Posted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 @ 05:47 PM  

...Continued...

During my staturday flight around the Minden area and enjoying the engine off soaring along the Pinenut mountains I discovered that my battery had become drained. Apparently the alternator was not charging anymore.

Fortunately I have Magneto ignition, and appreciated that no aircraft of any kind should rely on non-magneto ignition since so many things can go wrong electrically at any moment for no apparent reason.

I flew on without concern and had to do a no radio approach and landing, at the non-towered Minden-Tahoe airport. It just took some extra care to make sure the pattern and ground was clear and to be prepared to abort or alter my approach.

Now here I have to put in a recommendation for the Odessy dry cell technology battery as I ran it completely flat to about 6 volts and after a quick charge it performed as good as new. A regular lead acid wet, AGM or gel cell would be trash after draining it that low.

On Sunday for my flight home I proceeded on my way towards the dreaded high ridge again, but this time is was sunny with some thermal activity and the Grob was climbing slow but steadily.

I stopped a few times to motor thermal to get some extra height and soon I was 2 miles from the ridge at 11,000', a good 2000' higher.

But can you believe that as I got to within 1 mile of the ridge the sink started hammering me again......so I pushed the nose down to 100 kts determined to fly out of it and it just would not give up.....I cleared the damm ridge by 500' again on a bright sunny fairly calm day and had to work hard in the next valley to get all my altitude back for the next ridge about 15 miles further on route.

There must be some kind of black hole down in the gully by that ridge sucking everything into it....

I was glad to put it behind me, and decided that the next time I come this way I will route my course away from this area completely.

I worked the lift in the Bridgeport, CA valley for a good 20 minutes, while hearing my freinds from the flyin going to land at the airport for lunch.

Soon I had regained all my altitude with a vengence getting to 12,000' and putting on the oxygen.

Now I was cruising down the Owens valley again over Mono Lake, CA in mid day conditions that were getting active, so lots of lift everywhere.

...to be continued...

[Edit by jb92563 on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 @ 05:48 PM]

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

jb92563
Second Lieutenant

Gender: Male
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA, USA
Registered: Mar 2007
Status: Offline
Posts: 583

Click here to see the profile for jb92563 Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563 Send email to jb92563 Send private message to jb92563 Find more posts by jb92563 Edit or delete this message Reply w/Quote
Posted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 @ 05:49 PM  

... Continued...

I was getting tossed around a fair bit running at 90 kts and soon had my fuel stop in sight at Lone Pine, CA.

I set it down at Lone Pine after circling a few times to determine the wind direction.

I quickly fueled since I wanted to get back up to altitude quickly as it was 105 F on the ground and very uncomfortable.

So having run down the battery a fair bit after 3 hours of flying without the alternator charging, naturally the starter would not work.

I was half expecting it, but was hoping for the best since cranking on the prop by hand was not appealing in the 105 degree heat.

I gave it a bunch of swings but it was not cooperating, so I went inside the terminal building to cool off and inquire if they had a battery charger just in case.

Then the guy said he was closing up in a few minutes after the Hang glider mop up crew removed the wreckage. Apparently a hang glider pilot face planted his landing an hour earlier and his friends we returning for his glider remains after getting him to the hospital to fix his broken arm .

So I wandered out to the glider and gave it a good hard pull and thankfully it sputtered back to life. I was a happy camper as I would be on my way home again soon.

After a longer than ussual take off run, due to the heat and density altitude, I climbed to about 800' agl and that was all I could get, so once again I was working the thermals hard, gaining a bit of height, flying a bit farther, thermal, gain, go farther, trying to remain within glide of the airport as long as possible.

After working hard in thermals I was getting to the cooler altitudes and soon had 5000 agl and cruising on course at a good 80 kts again, and then another huge area of sink would intercept my route only to consume all my hard earned gains.

Its rather annoying to be cruising at full throttle and still loosing 500 fpm to 1,500 agl and have to struggle upwards again for the next 30 minutes .

It seems like the sinking air barrier was generally around 1000' agl. I wonder if there is a physics explanation for this phenonena?

In any case by the time I got to Mojave, CA I decided to give the airport with class D airspace a wide berth since my battery had run down and I had no transponder or radio communication any longer.

In doing so I flew over the Tehachapi foothills and followed the rising terrain and lift up to 13,000' and maintained most of that over the high desert area on the way to the Cajon Pass in San Bernardino.

Interestingly due to the battery voltage reducing since I needed a bit of battery for my electric guages, my fuel tank was reading lower than my anticipated fuel burn and my rpm started reading higher than it normally does, so instead of being distracted by the alarming readings I simply powered off the remaining instruments and trusted my calculations and the rpm of the engine by ear. (The Odessy battery was down to 5 volts when I shut it down and again it took a full charge at home with no ill effect...awesome, I'm putting Odessy batteries in all my stuff from now on)

Again basic non electrical instruments, a magneto, and a hand held radio to monitor traffic in busy areas was all that was required to fly safely and reliably home.

The Cajon pass was the final barrier ridge seperating the Ocean side airmass from the desert airmass and of course my altitude dwindled as I approached this ridge and sure enough I just cleared it by 500' and proceeded to hug the San Bernardino mountains below ridge height to avoid the airliners on approach to Ontario, CA airport.

A completely relaxing last 50 miles and a nice greaser landing at 6pm in Lake Elsinore, CA was my reward for all my hard work.

It was quite a rough trip with more than a few moments where I was actively searching for an airport or suitable field below me, but in the end my persistence had won the day and brought me to my destination.

I still find it odd that even with a motorglider I was working lift hard as if I had no motor at all, but the Grob 109 weighs about 1725lbs as flown and with the extreme heat at the lower altitudes it just could not achieve a climb rate more than 200 fpm.

Overall it was a good experience builder and although a landout would have been a pain in the rear, and might have broke a thing or two on the plane, I doubt that injury would have resulted.

The only place where I felt there was some serious risk was flying down the gulley in sinking air with only 2000' agl, in the drizzle and only the road at the bottom as a landout option for about 4 miles.

Next time I will take the Fournier RF4D and we will see how it does in those conditions, although routing around that black hole gulley is mandatory now.

--------------------
Ray
RF4D #4057 N-1771 Rectimo 1400cc
http://picasaweb.google.com/jb92563/FournierRF4D
http://www.touringmotorgliders.org

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