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Newsletter of the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association, Inc.
http://www.midatlanticsoaring.org
January, 2015
M-ASA’s Annual Banquet
In This Issue:
1… Annual Banquet, Sharon
Pixton
3… From the Board, Rick Fuller
5… Fairfield Wave and Ridge
Flying Seminar, Mike Higgins
7… Texas Auto Tows, Cathy
Williams
8… 2015 Duty Preferences,
Ricardo Cibotti
9… For Sale and Wanted
Banner Photo -- P6 explores the
wave in a misty December sky.
Photo by Erik Nelson.
Once again I extend an invitation to you all to attend this year’s M-ASA
banquet on January 24 at Ceresville Mansion in Frederick. To date I have
only received two replies! I know many of you intend to send in your
reservations but I ask that you do so right now! As you can certainly imagine,
it takes a bit of doing to plan for the lovely dinner we have when we gather
at the Mansion. So I really need to have your replies by January 16. Last year
a number of you waited beyond the deadline to reply and while I was able to
accommodate all those late
requests, it does put some stress on
staff at Ceresville trying to make
sure we have seats for one and all!
Just think…you would hate to make
the effort getting to the Mansion for
this lovely evening, and then be left
having to stand to eat your dinner!!
So take the minute or two required
to complete the coupon below,
make out your check and put it in an
envelope to mail to me RIGHT NOW!
I appreciate it!
Festivities will begin with drinks at 6:00 pm. Dinner will be served at 7:00
pm. One of our new members, Willy Hackett, will be this year’s speaker. Additionally there will be
coverage of the past year’s acknowledgements in the skies. If you’d like to learn more about our venue,
or need directions to Ceresville Mansion, please visit their web site, www.ceresville.com.
-- Sharon Pixton
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I, ______________________________________, plan to attend on January 24.
I plan to bring ___________________________________________as my guest(s).
The cost is $35 per person. My check, made out to MASA, for _______________, is here
enclosed.
Please mail the completed form and your check to: Sharon Pixton, 8206 Lookout Lane,
Frederick, MD, 21702.
Hardly recognizable without their bucket hats, M-ASA folks
enjoy the 2014 banquet. All photos by Tom Jones.
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January 2015
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From the Board
Rick Fuller
Annual Banquet
The M-ASA annual banquet will be held on Saturday, January 24, 2015. This is a good time to reestablish
M-ASA friendships, make new ones, and review the successes we have enjoyed during the year. Save
the date and see Sharon Pixton’s announcement above.
Duty Schedule Preferences
An important part of scheduling ODs, AODs and Tow Pilots is your schedule preferences. This is your
chance to let the M-ASA Scheduler, Ricardo Cibotti, know which dates are set aside for other activities
on your schedule for the year. If additional dates pop up on your calendar, don’t hesitate to let Ricardo
know at cibottir@verizon.com . See the 2015 Duty Schedule Preferences article later in this issue of the
Convector.
Honorary Member – Ray Watson
The Board approved honorary membership for Ray Watson for all the years of his dedicated support to
M-ASA. We hope to see Ray around the field in 2015.
Hangar and Camper Site Rent Invoices
Invoices for hangar rents and camper site rents were emailed during the last week in December and are
due upon receipt.
Volunteer Needed – Club Secretary
M-ASA is looking for a few good volunteers. In particular, we need a club Secretary who will agree to
serve at least two years in that position. The job of the Secretary is to maintain the club records, record
the minutes of the Board of Director meetings and arrange for their publication, assist with annual
elections as well as other tasks as directed by the Board of Directors. No special skills are required
except the desire to assist with the administration of M-ASA business. If you would like to volunteer for
this position, contact a Director or Rick Fuller, at rick.fuller@cox.net or 703-200-6029.
Volunteer Needed - Introductory Briefer
The club needs a volunteer to continue the Introductory Meetings that were given to new members in
the past. The informal meetings were held once a month as a “welcome aboard” and discussion of the
way M-ASA operates. The intent for these meetings is to quickly bring prospective, new, or returning
club members up to speed in club procedures, safety, flight operations, and related topics.
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The brief also needs to be updated after the retreat from Frederick. The volunteer will be excused from
OD/AOD duty except for one watch during the year. If you would like to volunteer for this position,
contact a Director or Rick Fuller, at rick.fuller@cox.net or 703-200-6029.
Annual Meeting Date
The mandatory Annual Safety Meeting and Business Meeting will be held on Saturday, March 28, 2015
at the Libertytown Volunteer Fire Department in Libertytown, Maryland. This date is a bit later than
usual and accommodates some events in late February and early March. See you there.
Worth Repeating…
Annual Dues, SSA Dues Invoices
Invoices for M-ASA membership dues and SSA dues have been emailed to all active members. The
invoices are for M-ASA’s 2015 fiscal year. Payments were due by 31 December. M-ASA uses member
email addresses in the member roster to send out invoices by email. Please ensure your profile
information is up to date on the M-ASA website. If you need to make changes, contact the Membership
Chairman, Steve Shelton. If you expect an invoice but haven’t received it by the end of November,
please contact the (acting) M-ASA Treasurer, Rick Fuller, at rick.fuller@cox.net or 703-200-6029.
Invoices for hangar rent and camper sites will be sent at a later date.
Michael Hern, Danny Brotto, and Dave
MacVeigh on the grid. Photo E. Nelson.
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Fairfield Wave and Ridge Flying Seminar
We've set the Fairfield wave/ridge seminar for Saturday morning, 17 January. About an equal
number of those interested had conflicts with the 17th vs 31st dates, so the decision was ultimately
driven by the preferred venue availability. We'll have the session at the Fairfield EMS/Fire
Hall. This is a very comfortable and modern facility, well suited for 25 - 35 people. Let's plan to
start by 9:30am and be wrapped up by 11:30am. I'll see that coffee is available. There are a
couple of good lunch places in Fairfield to continue discussions if desired. Directions to the Fire
Hall will be sent later.
The tentative agenda is listed below, but this can be adjusted to suit the interest of the group (email
me if you have other interests):
WX forecasting for Fairfield wave/ridge flights
Ridge and wave flying basics (safety guidelines and good practices)
Description of the local ridges: Tuscarora, Lewistown, Mahantango, High Rock/Blue Ridge, and
Massanutten
Ridge and wave routes out of and back to Fairfield (early starts and late returns)
Common ridge and wave tasks for 1000k type flights from Fairfield
Glider and personal preparation for long wave/ridge flights
Cold weather flying factors
As I've stated before, I'll prepare some material to present at the session, but I don't see this as a
lecture. It's meant to be a cooperative discussion with a chance for many people to ask questions
and talk about their experiences with Fairfield-based wave-ridge flying.
If anyone is interested in this session but can't make the meeting on the 17th, let me know and I'll
be pleased to repeat the core material someday in the Fairfield clubroom.
Mike Higgins
WM
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Mifflin Soaring Association Seminar
The Mifflin Soaring Association (MSA) will hold our fourth annual “Soaring the Appalachians” Seminar
this February. We are changing the format this year! The theme is "How To Accomplish The Flights You
Want To.” Instead of presenting one specific topic (e.g. preparation, weather, technology), each
speaker will present and analyze local cross country flights, including various Hilton flights flown locally.
They will share accomplishments and lessons learned, including flight safety, aviation technology,
tracking, local site features, weather and more.
Iris and the speakers are hard at work on a set of balanced, informative presentations. Speakers lined
up so far: Karl Striedieck, John Seymour, Roy McMaster, Richard Kellerman, Erik Mann. I’ll update this
notice once all the details are worked out.
Date: 7-8 February 2015
Location: MSA Clubhouse, Mifflin County Airport, Reedsville PA
Cost: $250 non-MSA members, $200 MSA
members (Reg and Assoc), $100 Junior (25
and younger). Price includes light lunch
Saturday and light breakfast Sunday.
-- Due to space constraints and the
interactive nature of the seminar, there is a
limit of 25 attendees.
-- Registrations are ordered by postmark
date.
-- The seminar will not be available via the
internet.
-- Please no audio or video recording of the
sessions.
Formation flying. Photo B. Laborde.
For more information, contact Janine Acee: julietniner@gmail.com
Petersburg Wave Camp 2015
Thanks to Larry Stahl at Grant County Airport in Petersburg, WV (W99) and the Shenandoah Valley
Soaring club, the 2015 Winter Wave Camp will be happening from February 20 to March 1. The emails
are already flying, with early interest from members of Skyline Soaring, the Tidewater Soaring Society,
and Cleveland. Shenandoah Valley Soaring has committed to provide all ground personnel and towing
for the entire camp period! Val Brain began organization efforts for a M-ASA contingent in last month’s
newsletter, and Paul Rehm is planning to fly with some M-ASA members in the club Twin Astir. The
Petersburg wave group can be found at: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wave99-info. To
post something to the group, send an email to: wave-99info@googlegroups.com
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Texas Auto Tows
Cathy Williams
The Sunday before Christmas, bored and missing flying friends, I decided to make the 3 hour drive
from San Angelo to Fault Line Flyers in Briggs, TX. The forecast was marginal and the sky looked
worse, but the OD had confirmed they would be flying. The 2-33 was being pushed in position for
takeoff as I arrived. The OD and instructor had decided to do auto tows since the ceiling was only
about 1000'.
The 2-33 has a CG hook. The runway is a 1 mile bumpy grass strip. They use 1600' of tow rope and
an old Ford truck. It helped that the wind was blowing down the runway at about 10mph. Radios
are used to communicate and confirm "take up slack", "GO GO GO", and "slow 5" or "faster 5". The
truck floors it to 45mph, slows to 40 when the glider leaves the ground, then to 35 when altitude
allows for glider to go full nose up. Drive nearly to the perimeter fence then stomp on the brakes
and make a quick right turn while the observer/ radio person calls the stop to the glider pilot.
In the glider- climb conservatively until about 200' then pull back gradually until maintaining a 5560mph climb with stick in belly and nose up about 45 degrees. Nose over to flying attitude when
speed slows and truck calls stop.
Eight pilots did 23 tows in 3 hours under a ceiling that only rose to about 1500'. Most achieved
about 950'. The highest was 1150'. Two students got 6 dual flights each. At $5 per launch it is
really economical landing practice! My last ground launch had been 1990 in Mississippi, so I
decided to leave the 1-26 tied down and took three dual flights. Each was 90 seconds of pure joy!
Flying was followed by dinner with fellow pilots and $1.95/gallon gas on the drive home. Life can
be good- even on overcast December Sundays.
Looking forward to being home
for good by midsummer. Missing
you all!
Cathy
Stranger in our thermal.
Thermaling pelicans disrupted by
an immature bald eagle, over the
reservoir at San Angelo, TX.
Photo by R. Lanty, courtesy C.
Williams.
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2015 Duty Schedule Preferences
Dear Tow Pilots, OD, AOD and new M-ASA provisional members,
Thank you so much to everyone for supporting M-ASA 2014 operations. The 2015 M-ASA soaring season
begins March 14. Please submit your 2015 duty schedule preferences before February 1st by using the
web address below (download PDF and click on the link, or copy address and paste it on your browser):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGhFYlRJazBJaXlZWkZ1MW9ZWTlrSnc6MQ#
gid=0
Alternatively, you may send your scheduling preferences directly to my e-mail address:
cibottir@verizon.net. Please include your name, age, duty, if (and why) you have been exempted of
duties during 2014, and your 2015 date restrictions (including weekends and federal holidays).
Best,
Ricardo Cibotti
2GB
M-ASA Duty Notes: Members assigned to operations duty must be on site in enough time to start operations
by 10:00 a.m. and stay at the field until operations are concluded. Each person listed on the duty roster is
responsible for that day’s assignment. In the case of “no-shows,” the person acting as OD should indicate this
fact on the flight sheet. “No-shows” will be fined $100. Every effort will be made to accommodate the new
member’s stated duty preference whenever possible. M-ASA Scheduler: Ricardo Cibotti (cibottir@verizon.net;
301-229-2407).
Whom to call…
M-ASA Club Officers and Directors:
President – Rick Fuller
Vice President – Mike Smith
Secretary – Open
Treasurer – Open
Director – Rick Fuller
Director – Holland Ford
Director – Mike Smith
Director – Bob Jackson
Director – Dave MacVeigh
M-ASA Convector Newsletter
January 2015
Safety Officers: Ed Breau
Paul Rehm
Membership Chair: Steve Shelton
Duty Scheduling: Ricardo Cibotti
Chief Instructor: Glenn Collins
Chief Tow Pilot: John Machamer
Convector Editor: Erik Nelson
For Godfathers and other support staff,
please visit www.midatlanticsoaring.org.
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For Sale,
and Wanted…
M-ASA and Region 4 North Contest Merchandise
Hats, short & long sleeve t-shirts, polo shirts, and sweatshirts in various colors
and sizes. Contact Mary Nelson at region4n@yahoo.com or 843-907-0738.
Hangar Syndicate I am willing to invest in a share of a new hangar, so as
to house my assembled Ka8, if a few others join me, so that together we can
build a hangar that meets our needs. Please let me know if you are interested
enough to figure out the math of how much it would take to build such a basic
hangar. Guy Pfeffermann, guy.pfefferman@gmail.com
Luscombe Tail Dragger club has openings. FDK Luscombe, a KFDK
based Luscombe club is looking for additional members. We keep the
membership to 6 members so that the aircraft is available when you want to
fly. Get your conventional gear time in a Luscombe 8E. Contact Wayne
Elseth 443-718-9359 luscombe@elseth.net
Janus (4S) – Silent Soarers Inc. has corporate shares available. Glider is
currently hangared at Fairfield. Low cost access to an excellent high
performance two-seat sailplane. 39:1 L/D with outstanding climb
characteristics. Completely refinished prior to the 2010 season. Basic
instruments, MicroAire radio,
oxygen, trailer. Intent is to maintain
corporate shares at 8 to ensure
sailplane availability. Contact
Glenn Collins
(pwrlessflt@msn.com) or Tom
Jones daedelus@mindspring.com)
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