Cross-Country Contest
We are working on star cross-country course with
five turn points not more than 4 miles from the field. The course will be
flown in a sequence to form a star pattern starting and ending at the field.
The distance covered will be about 35 miles. I will put prize money of $50
and the cost of their tow for the first person to complete the course, $100
for the fastest time, $50 for the 2nd fastest time and $25 for the third
fastest time. This contest will go season long. Only one flight can be
submitted per pilot. Maximum tow height is 3000 ft and no motors allowed.
GPS verification requirement.August 29th After
extended bad weather conditions for today look excellent with light north
winds and good soaring. We will be flying all day.
September 5th Joe is inviting
all to a labor day weekend party at his airfield (called "Enjoy Field"). The
barbecue (with a top local chef! - Bill) will be on Sunday, September 5th
around 6pm. Overnight camping and an area for sleeping bags above his hanger
are available. There is running water and toilet facilities. There is a pond
for swimming and boating. There will be a great camp fire, bring a chair. In
case of inclement weather we will barbecue in one of the new hangers. Anyone
who is interested can call Joe for directions(219-746-1480;
or email:[email protected]). Please RSVP. Those coming could
bring something to drink, or a "side" dish. Joe is offering $50 to the first
hangglider pilot to do a cross country flight from Cushing Field to Enjoy
Field on Sept 5, 2004. Enjoy Field, is located about 10 miles south of
Kankakee at the Chebanse exit (#302), route 57. It is about 5 miles from
there. Pickups for those that don't make it are going to be available. Arlan will be conducting flight operations at Cushing Field all day,
Aug 21, 2004 All (John L, Jim, Gary, Lucas..)agreed it
wasn't a great day.
EXCEPT FOR KRIS GRZYB!
Kris went up got high and left town. He flew 100.4 miles! He flew to Joe's
new place, (about 50 miles) and for much of that was under 2000'! When he
got to Joe's he decided to keep going and ended up over 100 miles out. He's
hard on our egos.
August 15,2004 Woa dude, an excellant day! Saturday had
promise, but today we got the payoff. All who came out had nice flights.
Warren was up for hours. Dragan had an hour and 45 to 6400'. Dion was up for
2 hrs 14 and flew to Morris reaching a high of 7400'. Kris G only flew about
30 miles so we think he might be losing a step. Eric had the falcon to 6500'
and flew with abandon! Gary's long flight was 1 hr 30 to about 6k'. Others
were out, all had good days, sorry if I missed ya!
August 13, 2004 Lukasz Grzyb flys 11.5 miles to Morris
airport on a Falcon! Okay, so Dragan tows up, and Luca goes right after.
Dragan gets fairly high, and decides to set his GPS for Morris and head that
way. Luca has gotten over him to 6000' on the Falcon (in a T-Shirt) and
decides to follow! So Dragan goes on his 1st XC, which would be the story,
if Luca hadn't followed him and gone on his 1st XC while on his ?2nd? ever
thermal flight! Dion, in a, by now mundane performance, flew 14 miles S and
landed in some beans.
August 11, 2004 Cooler temperatures and lots of sun will
make for some excellent soaring conditions. We will be flying all day.
May 16, 2004 Another good day for flying top of the lift
was only 2700 ft and light choppy lift but at least it was warm and sunny.
May 15, 2004 A day everybody flys and everybody stays up and
its a weekend. Top of the lift was 4200 ft and 300 to 400 fpm up common. We
got to watch 3 and 4 gliders in the same thermal. To top the day off Brian
Eames soloed with an excellent flight and a stand up landing.
May 6, 2004 Eric Rys became our first solo of the year. "That
was cool." was his first comment and immediately did another flawless
flight. I expect that we will be seeing a lot of Eric this summer.
May 3, 2004 Dion and Mike came out and did a couple of short
flights. Dion hit the strongest thermal he had ever been in at 1400 fpm but
was not able to stay in it.
May 2, 2004 Ron Stanley, Ian Morris and Greg Wilhelm took
flights before things over developed and the rain started.
April 23, 2004 Dion and Ian came out and got 1 1/2 hour
flights topping out at 4000 ft.
April 19, 2004 The winds are expected to die
down this afternoon so should be good for training and and some sled runs in the late
afternoon.
April 17, 2004 Edwardo got a 1000 ft altitude gain on his 6th
solo. Gary Solomon and Raynor Gillette both got 5400 ft and had to fight to get down after
flying for an hour and half.
April 16, 2004 Ron Stanley came out for an hour flight and
reach altitude of 4500 ft. Bob Gorman flew for about 40 minutes in the 195 Falcon.
April 14. 2004 John Kruger had the flights of the day topping
out 6000 and 4900 ft in his Talon. Dragan did some expert thermaling down at 350 to 500ft
to lengthen his flight. Keith Smith took a thermal from 3000 to 4200ft in the 195
Falcon.Mike Vankuiken, Gary Salomon and Greg Wilhelm also took some flights.
April 10, 2004 Keith Nelson and Mike Vankuiken braved the cold
and took a couple flights. Arlan did 6 tandems with Stanley and Geri who both will be
ready to solo next weekend.
April 9, 2004 Dion, Tom, Greg, Gary, Raynor and Mike all
got some flights in. Theve were tremedous dust devils in the morning that tumbled a couple
of gliders however the thermals were lighter as the day went on because of high cirrus
that moved in. The guys were topped out at 2600 ft.
April 7, 2004 Brian got to 2500 ft in a thermal from
1700ft . Allen Gibson. Wes Schield, Dion Santi and Greg Wilhelm also all took flights.
April 5, 2004 Dale Mauss, Terry Kramer, Edwardo and
Dragan
took advantage of some warm weather and good lift. Dale had the flight of the day with
over 2 hours and top out at 4000 ft.
April 4 2004 Chris Gzryb flew to Rantoul for 84 mile flight. He
reach a highof 6500 ft and had climb rates over 1000 ft/min.
April 3, 2004 Dion, Mike and Keith all flew yesterday. Mike was
able to dophin fly lift to get 300ft and 500 ft altitude gains. The windy conditions made
a challenge to launch and the glider and plane looked like it was parked into the wind.
About 11:00 with gusty conditions to 30 mph. we called it a day.
April 1, 2004 Arlan, Mike, Gary and Angelo flew at Mt Baldy.
Angelo launch first and did a few passes before heading down then ridge. After Angelo flew
Arlan took a turn doing a number of passes on the ridge before heading down the
ridge. Gary flew next and being the good guy he was headed down the ridge to make room for
Mike. On Mike.s 3rd attempt he climbed up above the ridge for 30 minute soaring flight.
Gary ended his 20 minute flight with a 3/4 mile walk back to launch. Thanks to Gary for
buying dinner for helping him carry out his glider.
March 27, 2004 Keith Nelson
Mike Vankuiken, and Greg Wilhelmi were waiting for the weather to break. Around 12:30 PM
when Gary Solomon showed up there started to be a break in the clouds. (Some priased his
sunny presence) The weather was on and off all afternoon, but open enough so that all
could get in some flights. Yahoo! in the air again!
March 27, 2004 Opening for towing.As of
Friday night (Mar 26), the weather looks better for Saturday than Sunday, so come on out.
It looks a little windy Saturday evening, so we are moving the party back a week.
March 26, 2004 The skies are supose to open up by the afternoon will winds
around 10 mph out of the west. We will be flying in the afternoon.
