Visit with Iroquois Soaring at Hamilton

This was my first cross-country flight of the year. It was a beautiful warm day and perfect for a flight with the doors off to make a visit with my friends at Iroquois Soaring in Hamilton.

The club has been much more active in recent seasons with new members adding to the enthusiasm of the already great bunch that have been with the club for years.

Though it seemed there would be plenty of fuel for the flight and maybe a couple rides with friends I was visiting, I didn't want to fly the last leg staring at the fuel quantity on the panel display. So it was either bring 2-stroke oil and buy aviation fuel at close to $7.00 /gal at Hamilton, bring the 5 gallon gas can and walk to the gas station just off the airport property or, bring a my own non-ethanol fuel along for the flight. I chose to bring my own.

With 10 gallons in the airplane tank and 3 in my 5 gallon can securely belted into the rear seat I climbed to 3,000' and headed southeast to round the Syracuse Class C airspace before turning a little more easterly towards Hamilton.

Settling in to a leisurely 50 kt cruise at 4,700 rpm I relaxed and enjoyed the above normal temperatures that allowed me to remove the doors for clear view of Central New York below.

Crossing RT81 just north of Lafayette looking south

Once my wheels leave the ground, I am already where I want to be. I'm not in any hurry to arrive at my destination, however I needed to remind myself of that after seeing that my ground speed was only 41 knots due to a 10 kt SE wind at 3,000'. This meant almost an hour for the leg to Hamilton. Almost as long as by car, but way more fun.

Cruising along I  divide my time between watching the earth move slowly below, watching for other traffic and picking fields in the event of an engine failure. We are so fortunate here in CNY. From a reasonable cruising altitude there are many to choose from. So many, that I always say you could close your eyes and the odds are pretty good you will end up in a farmers field.

Airports of course would be the preferred place to glide into and there are quite a few around. Unfortunately many are not on the sectional.

This one just SW of Cazenovia

 Just NW of Hamilton

I arrive at Hamilton and time my entrance into the pattern to fit with traffic already there. I fly a pattern 500' above the field instead of usual 800-1,000' and much closer in. This keeps me out of the way of the faster aircraft, makes fitting in with fast moving planes easier, and places me along their line of sight as they look towards the runway on downwind.

Approaching Hamilton from the west

Looks like Phil walking the wing of ISAs 2-33

Arriving at Hamilton I found Phil working on his SHK, a beautiful wooden 17 (?) meter sailplane that is almost ready to fly. After visiting and catching up we took a short ride in the Challenger with Phil up front to get a feel for how my plane flies.

It does fly a little different from a Cessna. With its ailerons stretching the entire length of the wing they generate a lot of adverse yaw. Turns are made leading with the rudder. Try rolling in with just aileron and the plane will bank, but the drag of that large aileron hanging down into the wind will pull the wing back causing the plane to make a slipping turn.

After our flight I spent a little time watching the glider operations. Brett was towing, Greg running ground operations and Andrew giving rides in the 2-33.

Andrew gave his passenger a thorough briefing on how things work and what to expect on the flight. Greg helped get the passenger belted in.

Andrew piloting from the rear. The front seat, where both students and rides sit has a few that is...breathtaking!

Brett towing in 18L with Andrew and a ride in the 2-33. Greg running wing.

I had to include this shot. The smiles everyone wears says it all.

Turning base to final for the grass along RWY 17.

Soaring was good this afternoon, as I expected from my up and down ride over to Hamilton. I think I overheard Andrew say that after release they climbed in lift to 5,000'.

I miss flying with ISA. Someday when my schedule and time permits I will be back flying with the club.

Time to head out. I add fuel from the 3 gallons brought over with me it's off to Airlane Enterprise (1H1)  

The flight over was beautiful with great visibility I could see into the Adirondack Mountains with its peaks jutting up into the blue sky as well as Frenchman and Dunham Islands on Oneida that is just north of my turn-point.

Approaching Syracuse airspace I had to descend from my comfortable cruise of 3,000 to 1,600' to remain under the Class C airspace. Now I am only about 1,000 above ground and constantly keeping track of the land-able fields below. For the most part of this leg there was always somewhere to glide into. However, one stretch near the west end of Oneida wasn't so generous. But the engine was running smooth and temps were in the normal range. It was only a few minutes, but as always it seemed like forever.

Soon Airlane came into sight and I circled for a picture before landing to the east on the E-W runway. Ray, the owner, came driving out on his ATV as I turned to taxi up the N-S runway towards the hangar to warn me of an area ahead that was still quite soft. I just parked right where I was knowing nobody would be landing on that runway.

After a visit with Ray I headed back out under the Class C on a line just north of Onondaga Lake, over Camillus Airport to Marcellus. With a slight diversion to fly over my Camillus home, where I spotted my wife working in the garden.

Another great little adventure in my Challenger II. I flew for 2.9 hours and burned 6.9 gallons for a GPH of 2.38. 

Inspection Day and some flying

Dave Jones came up from Cortland to do annual inspections on both the club and private aircraft. We had a good turnout for the day with Jay, Joe, Brett, Mark, and Tim on hand. Having worked the previous night I arrived a little late with the club planes already being buttoned up, only Jay's ASW-15 and my Libelle 201B still needed to be checked.

It was a nice day for flying though a layer of cirrus weakened thermal activity considerably. There was lift, and both the rides given by Jay could be seen circling and climbing.

Some hangar talk after Dave finished some paperwork. (L-R) Dave, Brett, Joe, Jay, Tim,

Joe polishing the 2-33 canopy

Our newest member Andrew

Jay explaining effect of the flight controls

2-33 on tow above

Visitor, Joe and Brett

OUr towplane landing

Mark, Brett and Joe towing the L-33 to the staging area

Brett readying for flight

A Short Visit to ISA Sunday

Sunday was a warm sunny day with light and variable westerly winds. Cumulus clouds were building as Kate and I decided it was a good day to visit our friends in Hamilton. We turned 45U east, settled into an easy cruise and enjoyed the green mid-summer scenery below.

Arriving at Hamilton we could see from the upwind leg to RWY 17 that the days' soaring was about to get under way.

This was the first time I've managed to connect with the club this year and I was happy to find Jay, Brett, Kevin and Joe on the field.

I like the club's 4-wheeler. I've never been on one before but had the opportunity to drive it with the L-33 in tow and Brett walking the wing. Why does everything move at any speed except walking speed?

Brett was the first to go.

I ran as quick as I could to try for a shot of Kevin through the windscreen of 18L, but got to the tow plane about the time he began his takeoff roll.

While I was in the staging area Joe invited me along for a ride in 'Big Red'. It's been a couple years since sitting in a glider and quite a bit longer since sitting in the back of the 2-33. Yet, as soon as I was strapped in it felt as though no time had passed since then.

Off tow I pointed out a small cloud that was close. Joe headed towards it. As happens so often, the moment you turn towards a promising cloud it immediately begins fall apart. We never made it to the far windward side where lift might have been, as sink was already pushing us lower.

Looking for other options, Joe turned back east towards a nice bump we felt earlier in the tow but we only passed through a short area of zero sink.

Back over the hills northeast of the field and again a momentary teasing of zero sink as Joe called pattern entry. Approaching base leg we finally found some lift, however it was too late. We were in the pattern and committed to landing.

Thanks for the ride Joe! It felt great to fly in a sailplane again.

Kate flying us home

First Flight of Jeff's Schleicher ASK-14

Friday we gathered at Skaneateles Airport to help Jeff rig his ASK-14 for a first flight. This plane is a beauty and was on the cover of SSA's Soaring Magazine in 2006.




Assembly went quite well with no real problems. For the summer it will remain assembled and hangared.


Willie and Jeff connecting the ailerons.






Before towing out to the runway Jeff spent some time getting comfortable in the cockpit. Then after a little trial and error with choke/throttle combinations the engine was started. It has a 4 cylinder 2 stroke Hirth engine of 28 HP.


On the runway and ready to go!


Lift-off...


A good omen!


I flew our 150 over from Marcellus so we could do a little air-to-air. Circling outside the thermal as Jeff was in lift, he easily out-climbed my 150 turning in sink or even neutral air.


For Jeff's first flight I kept a good distance away or above. We'll get together again soon for some closer photo work.




Jeff's flight lasted about 40 minutes, rolling to a stop just a short distance from his hangar. This is one sweet little glider. His smile says it all!