Saturday Soaring

The soaring forecast predicted good lift early in the afternoon but moisture and upper level instability promised some over-development and afternoon showers. Cloud development looked great on the flight over from Skaneateles.

Arriving in Hamilton Don was already rigged and ready to fly his Russia.

Jeff and Phil launched in the Lambada right behind Don and followed him on climb. After about an hour of soaring they returned with the engine off and made a dead-stick landing on the grass. Brett flew with Jeff next.




Here, Don is talking about the advantages to flying with a flight computer.


Soooo cute... I understand Don has matching PJs (with feet)


Phil, Brett, Greg, Don, Jeff


Charging the L-33 gear strut with nitrogen


Mennonite farmer at work.


Dodging showers on the return. We managed to avoid the heaviest thanks to Jeff's Garmin 496 and XM Weather

"Big Red" landing

Landing Video from the weekend.

Assembly Day and Season Start

By early last week the weekend forecast was looking good and a work day was called for Sunday to ready our fleet for the season.

Seven current and one new member turned out. With plenty of hands both the 1-26, then the 2-33 were ready for flight in short order.

Welcome our newest member Jeff Kleinwaks who is a CFIG and tow pilot. Coming from the Triple City Soaring in Endicott. His knowledge, experience and enthusiasm is a welcome addition to our small group. Jeff is flying a Cirrus.


Jack, a CFI, glider pilot and also one of our tow pilots tightens pins on the 1-26


Kevin, our Sunday tow pilot, steadies the 2-33 until the wings were attached


Marc had the job of standing in the cockpit to connect pins and controls as the wings were placed


Randy, our CFIG, flew the test flight in "Big Red" the clubs 2-33


Greg readies himself in the 1-26 ahead of its first flight of the season


Brett landing 1-26 after making the longest flight of the day. With no batteries and thus no vario he demonstrated some great "seat of the pants" soaring as we watched him climbing in lift just west of the field


On Saturday, the Sunday forecast called for cloudy skies, chance of showers and a high of under 70. Under mostly sunny skies afternoon temperatures reached 80 with some well developed CU


I took a ride in the 1-26 at the end of the day. There was still plenty of lift and I managed to soar for a while without a vario. This shot is a 100% crop of our tie-down / assembly area from ~3,000'.

Lake Ontario

Central New York is starting to look like Spring is taking hold. The ice is retreating on the Finger Lakes and the snow is gone except for a few shaded places.


North winds were keeping our afternoon temperatures well below normal, but also gave us hope for some thermal activity. Leaving the first thermal encountered after take-off we pointed upwind in hope that there was some streeting. We found some lift from time to time though not enough to keep us going.

Circling over Auburn's parking lots and factories, we joined a group of seagulls and picked up some height before turning north to follow the creek leaving Owasco Lake.


We followed this creek north past Port Byron to where it joins the Seneca River just beyond an old mill.


We continued north over Howland Island then on to Lake Ontario just west of Fair Haven.


Following the coast westward we flew to near Sodus Bay, circling to make several photo passes at Chimney Bluff State Park.




Fair Haven State Park.


North winds created lift along the cliff face giving us some altitude.

Petersburg Wave Camp - Sunday

We all woke early and walked a few blocks to a small restaurant for breakfast. The sun hadn't risen yet but there was enough light for us to examine the cloud cover for signs of wave. We couldn't be sure, but there seemed to be a repeating pattern parallel to the ridge in the overcast. By the time we walked out it was certain, WAVE!

Preparing the Lambada for first flight of the day.


Phil and Jeff were first up. They had a fantastic flight encountering wave low and riding it up to 15,500.


Back inside Craig reviewed the forecasted winds and moisture aloft and gave us a very accurate prediction of what I would later encounter in my flight with Jeff.



Larry Stahl, Grant County Airport operator is a wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of aviation and wave soaring.


Others flew on Sunday also. Below the 1-26 is readied for flight. I missed photographing the Blanik L-23 on take off while helping rig the Discus, then again on landing while Jeff and I were up.



Warren attaching the tow rope to the Hawk XP tow plane.


Taking up slack on 1-26


After resting and warming up Jeff and I took to the air. Flying under and ahead of the rotor we had hoped to again catch the wave down low. Finding sink which at one point was close to 2,000 fpm we powered up and climbed closer to the leading edge of the secondary rotor cloud.


Just ahead of the rotor cloud we encountered choppy but strong lift that carried us up into the wave and a smooth climb to 13,500.


From the secondary wave we traded some altitude and advanced forward to the primary in hope of additional height but only climbed back to about 12,500'. As explained by Craig earlier the forecasts called for decreasing winds at this height which cut off wave development above.


Identifying landmarks below


Descending past clouds


Returning to W99 we played around with the ridge lift along Charlie's Knob before turning in towards the airport and this beautiful sight of clouds, snow and sunshine. We were up about 2.5 hours and used the engine only for take off and the initial climb into lift ahead of the rotor. The rest of the time it was left idling at zero thrust.




I would like to thank all the fine people I met at the W99 Wave Camp. You made me feel welcome. It was enjoyable listening to all the stories. I was impressed with the knowledge and helpful advice shared between all the sailplane pilots and our tow pilot who offered suggestions for the best way to get into the wave.

Next time I plan to bring both my Libelle and many questions. Wave soaring is a totally new experience for me.

Most of all, thank you to my good friend Jeff for inviting me down and making an unforgettable weekend possible.

Petersburg Wave Camp - Saturday

Lake effect snow carried in on strong NW winds prevented Jeff and Warren from flying down Friday. Phil and I drove and arrived at the Hermitage in Petersburg at midnight under starry skies. The better weather forecast for Saturday in NY blew in overnight and Jeff's Lambada made the flight in 2:45 landing here before 11:00.

Right away Warren, who volunteered to help during the week, was trained on procedures and safely issues by our towpilot.


Sunny skies and south winds gave us a beautiful day for sightseeing over the hills and valleys to the west. South winds blow parallel to the ridge and thus little ridge and no wave. However with the flexibility offered by a motor-glider we were able to explore through the hills. We found localized areas of lift on the windward faces. But more interestingly just southwest of Grant County airport downwind of the end of the ridge was an area of convergence where air divided to either side of the hills rejoined and pushed upward.

Phil flew out first with Jeff. Later Jeff and I flew up the Potomac river gorge then across the ridge to Seneca Rocks. Beautiful terrain and a place I am looking forward to exploring on foot sometime soon.

Over the Potomac River gorge.


Cliffs along the Potomac River gorge.


A room with a view.


Lower Hills Below Dolly Sod


Seneca Rocks


Petersburg, WV



Once flying was done for the day 7 of us drove back to the Hermitige Inn for dinner and flying talk.

Air to Air

Returning from a cruise around CNY where we visited Moravia, Cortland and Camillus, Jeff and I met up with one of his hangar-mates as he departed Skaneateles. Jeff established radio contact and we joined up for some photos.