SSA Directors Report Regions 2 and 4 September, 2018 James C. Garrison

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1 SSA Directors Report Regions 2 and 4 September, 2018 James C. Garrison This report is my 10th report as Regional Director of the combined Regions 2 and 4. The report below centers mostly on Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, but includes some information on New Jersey and New York clubs. General Happenings in the Virginia Region There have not been any formal soaring events in the Virginia region that draw pilots from across the entire state this year. Unfortunately, the weather has served up a great deal of rain and there have been few days of good soaring to date. The rain has been constant enough that some clubs with grass fields have been unable to operate because the fields are too wet. Virginia and Maryland Clubs Virginia The five SSA member clubs in Virginia remain successful. At least one of them (Skyline Soaring) has a large enough instructional load that they are limiting new members who are not already certificated pilots. The other four (Tidewater, Shenandoah Valley, Blue Ridge and Merlin) are still accepting new members, but some could use additional instructors or tow pilots and/or more training aircraft. Blue Ridge Soaring Society Blue Ridge Soaring Society in New Castle, VA continues in excellent condition. They fly from their own grass field in New Castle, Virginia and have about 100 members. The lure of New Castle is strong; many of the members live outside Virginia. BRSS is the home of one of Virginia s two DPE s, John Molumphy. They have upgraded their club fleet to include 2 ASK- 21 s, a couple of LS 4 s and a LS 6 as well as 2 Blaniks. Many members operate their own private sailplanes. They continue to sponsor the well - loved Region 4 South Contest at New Castle in mid September. A young instructor at BRSS, JP Stewart is a member of the US Junior Team and remains heavily involved in promoting Junior Soaring. The club has some new students, but a major initiative this year has been getting a cadre of private pilots ready to take the Commercial Pilot exam. JP Stewart has been leading the ground school for this group. Merlin Soaring Association - Merlin Soaring Association flies from the Merlin Aerodrome, a private grass field / housing development near Amelia Court House, Virginia. Merlin boasts a 3400 x 100 foot grass strip and a large hanger with many facilities. Merlin Soaring is a relatvely small club which has grown in the past year to about 30 members. They operate a two place Lark, a SGS 1-26 and a SGS 2-33 with a Cessna 150 with a 180 hp engine for a tow plane. Their private ships include a DG-100, a DG-200, a LS-8, an ASW-19b and a Grob 103 SL. Their members have a growing interest in cross country soaring and are starting to participate in contests. Merlin has the most exciting soaring news in Virginia this year. The airport has been purchased by the President of the club, Eric Lambert. Eric has plans to further develop the property into a complete gliderport that will be an excellent aviation facility for all aspects of soaring. Skyline Soaring Club Skyline is a ~ 90 member club which operates out of Front Royal, Virginia. They operate a Grob 103, an ASK-21, a Discus CS and a SGS They have 2 tow planes, a 260 hp Pawnee and a Husky. Many club members own private sailplanes. Piet Barber, Virginia s newest DPE, organized the club s second annual week of training for Skyline students this year at Grant County airport in Petersburg, West Virginia. Because of the length of its runway, this site offers very efficient turnaround times for each launch and with the help of new instructor, Chris Zaboji, Pete and

2 Chris managed about 18 flights for each student over the 4.5 days in Petersburg. The group managed 2 first solos, the improvement of everyone s skills and lots of fun for all. Shenandoah Valley Soaring -- SVS has about 50 members and has been operating out of Grant County Airport in Petersburg, West Virginia on an interim basis for about 3 years. Petersburg has excellent facilities, is a wonderful soaring site and is very welcoming to glider pilots. Unfortunately the locale is far from where most SVS members live. In addition, this year s lousy weather and the distance has seriously decreased activity. The club has not found a suitable site in the Shenandoah Valley for a private gliderport and is now considering moving operations to the Merlin site in Amelia county near Richmond (see above). The many advantages of this move would help make Merlin a very impressive soaring operation Tidewater Soaring Society TSS is a strong, active club with about 80 members based near Suffolk in South Eastern Virginia. They have a new president, Tom Walsh. They have their own 2600 x 75 foot grass strip in Windsor, Virginia with two hangers and a club house for member s use. They have a 5 glider fleet that includes a SGS 2-33, a SGS 1-26, a PW-5 a PW-6 and a brand new ASK-21. They are very excited about their new ASK. They use a Piper Pawnee 235 and Bellanca Citabria as tow planes. Members operate a number of private ships and very actively participate in the OLC. Maryland Atlantic Soaring Atlantic Soaring bills itself as a small, friendly soaring club based at Harford County Airpark (0W3) near Churchville, Maryland. They provide glider flight time, glider flight instruction, and aerotow services to our members. The club aircraft fleet includes two Schweitzer SGS 2-33A trainers, a single seat Schweitzer SGS 1-26E, and a single seat Schweitzer SGS Their tow plane is a Belanca Scout. Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association (gleaned From their newsletter). MASA is a large club located northwest of Washington, D.C. which operates its own private airport in Farifield, Pennsylvania. MASA has members. They operate 3 tow planes, a SGS 2-33, a K7. Importantly, they replaced their 2 Grob 103 s with 2 identical ASK-21 s which arrived this spring. They run racing tasks each weekend the weather permits (though this year s poor weather has only resulted in 2 logged task days to date). MASA s terrain provides excellent wave, ridge and thermasl soaring. Experienced members regularly make flights across the Shenandoah Valley to run the ridges to the west of the vallley. MASA annually hosts the Region 4N Contest in October and is the home to current US Team pilot Erik Nelson. Erik flew in the 18 Meter class at the 35 th World Championships in the Czech Republic this past July and August. He flew well with a couple of 900 point days and placed 25 th Clubs in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York Regions The Information below about other clubs in Region 2 is limited and taken mostly from their websites. Many clubs have stopped assembling newletters, so current information is not easily available. Aero Club Albatross (Reported by Bill Thar, President). Aero Club Albatross is based at Blairstown airport (1N7) in New Jersey and is doing well. They fly a Grob G103 Twin Astir, a LS-4, a LS-3, a 1-26, a 1-34 and a They fly from an excellent cross country location and encourage their members to fly cross country on the ridges just west of the airport. They encourage cross country flying at all different levels, from tasks around the local area to those deep into the Appalachian mountains. ACA members have

3 become very adept at refinishing their glass ships in the winter. They have completely refinished their Twin Astir and an LS-4 over the past 2 years. Similar work is beginning on their LS-3. The club has ramped up the activity of their safety committee with mentoring, ridge guidelines and a new emphasis on safety education. They have been one major victim of President Trump s summer visits to his Bedminster, NJ Golf Course. The TFR s over northern New Jersey have stopped flying on the weekends much of the summer and relegated the club to flying on the weekdays. As the commercial operation at Blairstown only tows on the weekends, ACA has purchased a Cessna 182 to tow on the weekdays and move gliders to other areas. ACA hosted two well attended winter seminars on Wave and Ridge Soaring this past February. Daniel Sazhin is a member of this club and makes many excellent flights in the ridge and wave lift in post frontal conditions at Blairstown. This spring he made a 1000 km flight from Mifflin in a SGS 1-26 and Ron Schwarz make a 1000 km flight out of Blairstown in a Hard to top these flights. Brandywine Soaring Association Brandywine is back to operating at New Garden Flying Field (N57) in Toughkenamon, Pennsylvania west of Wilmington, Delaware. The club had to move operations to the Smyrna, DE airport (38N), while the runway at New Garden was improved during 2016 and Fortunately, the inconvenience did not greatly affect their membership. Brandywine currently has 62 members and operates a Pawnee and four gliders: an ASl-21, a Grob 103, a SGS 1-26 and a Blanik L23. They just took delivery of their new ASK-21 this past June and are definitely excited about flying their new trainer. About 8 members own their own ships. They currently have about eight tow pilots and five instructors. Brandywine has a number of youth members and runs training camps for them in the summer. Penn State Soaring Club (From their President Phil Chidekel) The Penn State club currently consists of 6 undergraduate students and 5 graduate students most of whom are pre-solo. They operate out of Ridge Soaring Gliderport using Ridge Soaring s tow planes and 3 leased ships; a K-13, a Russia and a Both of their two place ships, the K-13 and the 2-33 are under repair or renovation. Thus, their members who need primary instruction are not getting much flying time. Club members staff a vendor booth during the Penn State home football games to help pay expenses. Mike Robison, Mark Maughmer (well known names) and some other alumni provide volunteer help to the club. Dr. Maughmer and Ph.D. student, John Bird were at the OSTIV congress at the Worlds in Hosin presenting John and Daniel Sazhin s paper on thermal risk assessment, which was well received they won an OSTIV award for the presentation. CloudNiners Cloudniners Soaring has been in constant operation since They fly from Morgantown Airport (O03) in Morgantown, Pennsylvania a bit south of Reading. They are a nonprofit soaring club dedicated to furthering the sport of soaring. The club currently operate two sailplanes, a two place L23 Super Blanik trainer, and a single place Schweizer 1-26E. Cumberland Soaring Group The Cumberland Soaring group operates from the Greater Cumberland Regional Airport (CBE) in Wiley Ford, WV. They operate a Cessna 150 Towplane, a SGS 1-26, a SGS 1-34, a SGS 2-33, and an open Cirrus, Cumberland members operate an additional 8 private ships. Their airport is located in the heart of the Appalachian ridge system, which allows for year round soaring utilizing thermal, ridge, and wave soaring conditions.

4 Hawk Valley Soaring Hawk Valley Soaring bills itself as a friendly, family oriented club which flies from the Van Sant airport in Pennsylvania or Blairstown, New Jersey and is partnered with Bird of Paradise, the commercial glider operation at Van Sant Airport PA. They have 5-6 active members and own a SGS The poor flying weather this year combined with the TFR s due to Trump s summer visits to his Bedminster, NJ golf course has grounded the club for most of the weekends in July and August. The same problem is affecting numerous general aviation operations within the area of the Bedminster TFR s; apparently appeals to the Secret Service for relief have not been effective. As with Aero Club Albatross, flying during the week has been the only available option this summer. Long Island Soaring Association Long Island Soaring was incorporated in 1955 as a non-profit club to promote the sport of soaring. They are based at Brookhaven Airport in Shirley, Long Island. They operate a Cessna 172, a Piper Super Cub, a Pawnee, 2 SGS-2-33 s, a SGS 1-26 and a SGS They also offer power pilot training in their Cessna C-172. They have experienced some good flying this this year with one member making a 4 hour flight and two successful CFI-G check-rides. They are looking forward to getting their new CFI s actively teaching their students. Philadelphia Glider Council The Philadelphia Glider Council was founded in 1941 and operates from its own 138 acre turf airport, north of the Philadelphia metro area in Hilltown, Pennsylvania. They currently have about 90 members. Fitting for a larger club, they own many sailplanes. PGC operates a Duo Discus for certificated pilots, 4 Grob 103 s for training, a Grob Astir CS, a Discus and 3 tow planes, a Cessna L19, a Piper Pawnee-D model and another Pawnee just purchased last year. They also own a twodrum winch, hangers, a flight simulator for training and have a picnic and play area for members. The big news is that they are building a new 2000 sq. ft club house which will have a kitchen. It is expected to be finished this fall. Their old clubhouse will become a workshop. The poor weather this summer has decresed flying by 15-20% but they have not been affected by TFR s as have the New Jersey clubs. Valley Soaring Club Valley Soaring Club flys from Randall Airport in Middletown, N.Y., It bills itself as open to beginners, novices and experts alike. Their mission is to offer recreation, competition, and good fellowship in a social yet professional environment. They fly a 2-33 and an ASK-21. Regional Contests 20 Meter National Contest at Mifflin The 2018 contest at Mifflin was the first ever US 20 Meter Multi- Seat National contest. The event attracted 16 pilots, 5 of whom were guests. Some Guests were flying single place ships, presumably just so they could fly at Mifflin. In keeping with the theme of the summer, the weather was not favorable and they only managed 4 contest days out of the scheduled 9 days. One of the days was a backside ridge mission on Jack s mountain and one was a real Mifflin ridge day. The other two were tricky. The contest was won by Karl Streidick and Sara Arnold in Karl s Duo, 2 nd was Reiter / Barns in a Duo and 3 rd was Piet Barber / JP Stewart in Karl s old Duo. Janine Acee managed the contest again this year and John Seymour was the CD; both did an excellent job. Region 2 Contest at Wurtsboro The Wurtsboro Airport again hosting a two weekend contest; the weather was so bad for the first scheduled event on the first 2 weekends in June that it was

5 rescheduled for the second two weekends. The weather was still problematic, but 3 contest days were achieved for the Sports class which was won by Dean Williams and 4 days for the FAI handicapped class which was won by Ryszard Krolikowski. Region 4 South Contest at New Castle and Region 4 North Contest at MASA These contests will be held on September 15-22, 2018 and October 6-13, 2018, respectively. As of late August, the New Castle Contest has 23 entrants and the MASA contest has 6 entrants. US Team Pilots Two Junior pilots from the region, Daniel Sazhin from Brooklyn and J.P. Stewart from Roanoke flew in the Junior world championships in Lithuania last July. Daniel continues to make long and amazing flights out of the Aero Club Albatross home at Blairstown. He also made a 1000 km flight on the Mifflin ridges in a 1-26 and won the 2018 Sports Class Nationals at Nephi flying ACA s LS-3. Wow. Erik Nelson from MASA is on the US Team in the 18 meter class and flew at the 35 th World Championships in Hosin, Czech Republic July 25 - August 12, 2018 placing 25 th. Plans and Future Events FIRC There will be a SSF sponsored FIRC in the South East Virginia area in January or February, Respectfully