SOSA NEWS is back in business. After an hiatus of some 20 plus years, modern technology is now making it easier to put out a regular newsletter. The main goal of SOSA NEWS is to keep the membership informed of what's happening at the club and what's coming up.
The logo/header of this newsletter goes back decades. I'm not sure who designed it but maybe somebody with a longer memory than mine can fill us in.
Please email me your stories/photos and they will find a home. h10cate@mac.com
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Left to right - Blake Hache, Henrik Gusarovas and Hannah Russwurm. Shortly after Henry's first solo.
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Solos and newly licensed Glider Pilots:
2019 has been an active year on the student front. There have been 14 solo flights and 4 license flight tests (some still have to write exams). That means 18 beer lists plus for 2019. Let’s hope that 2020 brings the same amount of happiness to the club house. Sorry...I don't have the full list of 2019 solos. That will be corrected in the next edition.
Henry Gusarovas is one of the students who soloed in 2019. Here are his thoughts on the process:
Although flying gliders is a modern activity, involving modern equipment, the community around it feels like a tribe. We all work together not because we expect something in return, but because we depend on each other. From the first day you get here, everyone around you is donating their time and knowledge so you can fulfill the right of passage: going solo.
Flying solo for the first time introduces two different feelings at the same time. It is humbling in one way, and in the other, builds your confidence as a person tenfold. This experience parallels the rights of passage seen in ancient tribal cultures. The community works together to build up the individual. When the time is right, the individual faces the task alone, and returns to celebrate. Or in our case, get wet.
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Hannah Russwurm is another 2019 solo.
Since joining SOSA in June I have met many interesting people, participated in events put on by numerous dedicated volunteers, and was encouraged throughout the summer to always do the best I could. I am proud to say at the end of the summer I went solo! Thank you to all those who supported me along the way. HR
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The SOSA dunk for new solos. Left image is Marc Whelan and on the right is Igor Sek.
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NEWS FROM THE SOSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
The Prez Dale Guenter:
SOSA. Fly, hang out, eat, tinker with planes, fly, teach, tell tales, fly. That's us. This fantastic new newsletter tells it all. Thank you Herrie. (Now maybe Pat will finally stop asking for a newsletter?) You can see many people have been very busy this year, many more than just your hard working board. Read on...
And on days when the field is frozen solid with no deep snow...there will be winching.
Bill Volmar Grounds:
The Grounds Equipment and Facilities operation is staffed by volunteers that ensure the SOSA property is safe and ready for members to enjoy the sport of soaring. These always busy volunteers maintain the club house, hangers, tractors, grass cutting equipment, retrieval vehicles, bus , tow ropes, campground, safe water equipment, parachutes, first aid equipment, top up the diesel and gasoline tanks and ensure the grass is cut regularly all season long.
We are always looking for volunteers to help out with specific projects. The students who receive bursaries from SOSA also volunteer time to help maintain the grounds during the summer.
From the perspective of aircraft maintenance, this season had a bit of a rough start, with two new gliders and some other changes from last year. Generally the year went fairly smoothly however, and our expenses were relatively low.
Aircraft Maintenance – Angelo Quattrociocchi:
We currently have completed annuals on all gliders, except for the Puchacz (which doesn't have a trailer so XU will come to SOSA to perform the inspection along with the youth Jantar), and DXX which is not due until July 2020. We had two insurance claims started, which are still in process. Most gliders have been derigged and stored for the winter.
I would like to thank all those involved in helping with any maintenance-related tasks, and special thanks to Greg for transporting so many of gliders to and from XU aviation when the annual inspections were being done. Thank you also to former maintenance directors Dave, Tom, Gary, and the rest of the board, for supporting me in my first time taking this position.
Thank you finally to all the members for your care when handling and using our aircraft. Having them not break in the first place makes my job much easier.
Bob Harvey – Membership:
Membership at SOSA has been relatively stable for the last few years. For 2019 SOSA has 136 members. Of these, 89 were licensed as of the beginning of 2019. A further 33 were pre-solo and 11 more were solo. The attached table shows numbers for the last four years.
Thanks to the electronic marketing programme set up by Mark McDermott, SOSA had approximately 500 email inquiries through our web site in 2019. About 70 percent were related to introductory flights and 30 percent for membership inquiries. These inquiries resulted in 14 of the 30 new members SOSA welcomed this year.
Also, the efforts that we all have made to maintain a friendly, welcoming environment where we encourage one another is an important contributor to member retention. Thank you and keep up the good work!
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Spot the heavy. There are three aircraft in this photo....
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SHIRLEY’S CORNER (ignore at your peril):
The mid-week intro Flight Co-ordinator, Ron Loxton, and I wish to thank all the intro and tow-pilots who were involved with the Mid Week Intro operation this year. All the intro passengers seemed to have enjoyed their flights.
The people involved in the mid-week intro operation were: Emil as tow pilot, Chris Begemann, Farid, Andy Gough, Logan, Herrie ten Cate, Angelo, Ron Loxton, Terry McElligott, Bill Vollmer, Bob Harvey, Dale Guenter and occasionally Dave Springford, Chris Wilson and Malcolm McLaren, as well as, Greg Pattinson helping with the flight line, on occasion. Great job done by all!
If I have left anyone out, I apologize for this oversight. Unfortunately, we have been unable, to date, to obtain the Intro statistics from Free Flight, otherwise, we would have impressed you with the numbers.
FreeFlight is in the process of changing the format of all the currency fields (money not flying) This is just to let you know that if any of your members say they are seeing UK £ signs instead of $ please ask them to log in and go to “My Stuff/My Details” and on the main tab, change their Locale to “Canadian”. (You will need to log out and back in again to see the changes)
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SOSA in the early 70s? Which SOSA members do you see in the image?
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SOSA’S poet laureate and club president Dale Guenter put together the following lines after this summer's Pan Am contest.
Tow to Win
Young and eager Logan
says time to get on in
strap down in the cockpit
let's see who's gonna win
Poul’s got us in formation
a line to draw the eye
we hope to entertain them
on ground and in the sky
Almost 50 pilots
hone gliders for their race
but some of us are lifting
these birds to perfect space
The race seems so important
wind and turns and lift
but race there would be none of
without the tow plane's gift
We speed into position
all five we take our turn
the expert ground crew signals
full throttle now, full burn
We haul them to release point
eyes peeled, so many planes
we drop them in a gaggle
then peel away our gains
The shortest fastest circuit
is what we need achieve
the contest here is ours
an hour, and then relieve
Dale has set the bar very high with this submission…who will be next? Is there a gliding limerick in the works? A winching haiku maybe? Please send to h10cate@mac.com for the next edition of SOSA News.
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TOW PILOT CORNER:
Logan Orosz is now working for Pacific Coastal flying Saab 340s out of Calgary. For some reason he still only turns left at altitude while reaching for the flap handle...
Emil is working gig to gig in Western Canada…and looking hard for that critical first flying job. He’s also searching for an insulated trailer. The tent is becoming an issue. His New Year's resolution is to abstain from Social Media.
Doug Scott is recovering from a heart attack. Doug has towed at many gliding clubs in Ontario. Drop him a line...he'll appreciate it.
Notes from Chief Towpilot
Dave Springford:
As we head into December the towing fleet is getting ready for a winter lay-off. KXJ is still undergoing an engine rebuild after a prop strike this fall and will need a break-in cycle before it will be able to tow in the spring. With the majority of an engine overhaul being covered by the insurance claim, it was decided to spend a few thousand more and replace other overhaul components located inside the engine case while it is already open. The end result will be an almost completely overhauled engine that should run for another 2000 hours before needing the next overhaul.
GDK has been advertised for sale at $43,000 and we have had a few inquiries about it, but no solid commitment for a purchase at this point. We’ll keep it advertised and hopefully be able to sell it before next season.
The three Pawnees will all have preserving oil installed in them before the middle of December and at that point will be grounded for the winter. For New Year’s day and the rest of the winter, the winch will have to be the preferred launch method.
For next season, towpilot currency requirements will change somewhat. All towpilots will be required to have completed a glider spring check-out by 30 June and they will also be required to maintain glider currency throughout the season by flying gliders regularly. As towpilots, we all need to remain familiar with what happens at both ends of the tow rope. Towpilots that do not meet these requirements will be removed from towing.
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THE THERMAL PODCAST:
Long-time SOSA member Herrie ten Cate is producing The Thermal Podcast on a monthly basis. After six months, the podcast is getting an average 1500 downloads per month and it’s growing. If you don’t know what a podcast is or how to listen to it, drop Herrie a line. H10cate@mac.com
The lead on Episode #7 is an interview with Mathew Scutter, the man behind the soaring weather app SkySight. Listen to Episode #8 in January to get a two-week free trial promo code.
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NEW FLIGHT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IS IN THE WORKS:
CloudStreet (see above) is a new flight management system developed as a non-profit, open source, usability-first application that runs in the cloud. Incubated at SOSA, CloudStreet is intended to be a long-term solution for (and supported by) the gliding community as a whole. Stay tuned for more information as this project matures and moves closer to achieving its aspirational goal of becoming a self-sustaining open source project.
Christopher Milne is the man behind the project. He’s put in a lot of work and it will in theory make the billing/payment and flight logging a user-friendly system. Make sure you thank Chris and his team for this huge effort.
Possible Replacement for Yahoo SOSA Group
With the demise of Yahoo Groups, one possible contender for a new platform is "Click and Glide". See link below for demo.
https://clicknglide.com/en/demo
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Hangar Talks – if we can’t fly we’ll talk about it
Joerg Stieber
We are planning to organize “Hangar Talk” seminars again during the winter months. Last year’s sessions were well attended. I believe just putting our pilot hats on and getting mentally back into the cockpit helps us to keep some of the winter-rust off.
A survey showed that there is a strong preference for Sundays over Saturdays. The dates are:
January 19
February 16
March 22
April 19
Location: Beverly Township Hall, downtown Rockton Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/G5yRwyeeoJQPAUDZ9 (not to be confused with the Beverly Community Center)
If it warms up enough, we may have the last or last two sessions in the clubhouse.
Start at 10:00, please arrive at 9:30 to help set up the room
Lunch: 12:00 – 12:30 Please bring your own lunch.
Finish around 2p
As topics we have so far:
- Sporting Code for Badges & Records for Pilots and current and future Official Observers
- Revisit thermalling basics we did last year & Speed to Fly & Final Glide
- Weather forecasting for the Soaring Pilot
- Preparation for the Bronze Badge (Rob Russell)
- Decision Making in Soaring (Willem Langelaan)
- Possibly: Pilot’s psychology & fear management (if I can find an expert)
Please feel free to forward suggestions for additional topics
These should not just be lectures we want to leave plenty of time for questions and discussions.
We are fortunate that SOSA is the home of the best pilots in the Americas. What an opportunity to learn directly from them!
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Ray Wood after finding the perfect field North of Guelph during the Pan Ams.
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SOSA AGM:
The SOSA AGM will be held February 29th (leap day) from 12-5 in the Waterloo Flight Centre 2nd floor meeting room. Mark the date and come early to have lunch with friends in the cafeteria.
Location: 3-4881 Fountain St N, Breslau, ON N0B 1M0
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/43.6775311,-79.4268625/Waterloo+Flight+Centre/@43.6202562,-80.4248206,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m1!4e1!1m5!1m1!1s0x882b8cf56b17ba1b:0x4f37b7600aebda15!2m2!1d-80.3875208!2d43.4559096
Every year, four SOSA directors step down and two new directors are elected. Serving on the BOD is a great experience and the club needs competent directors who know how to play well with others. If you're not sure, consider "shadowing" a director to see what it's all about. Questions - ask the President. dguenter@gmail.com
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Don't Miss 2020 One Weekend Ground School.
One of the key steps to fulfilling your dream of being a pilot is ground school. SOSA has announced its ground school dates for 2020:
Saturday April 4 & Sunday April 5, 2020
9am to 5 pm both days
The course satisfies Transport Canada's 15-hour of ground school instruction requirement.
Location: Waterloo-Wellington Flight Centre at the Region of Waterloo International Airport
4881 Fountain Street North, 2nd Floor, Breslau, ON N0B 1M0
Ground School and Student Kit: $400 includes $200 membership fee discount for new and returning members. |
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Limited space. We sell out every year. Don't be disappointed RESERVE YOUR SPOT TODAY
Chris Kamarianakis
chris@kamarianakis.com
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DATES TO NOTE:
January 1st – yearly New Year’s SOSA get together/potluck 12 PM onwards. Winch launches, weather permitting.
Februay 29th – SOSA AGM
January 19 – Hangar Talk seminar.
February 16 – Hangar Talk seminar.
March 22 – Hangar Talk seminar.
Saturday April 4 & Sunday April 5 – 9 am to 5 pm both days. Ground School.
April 19 – Hangar Talk seminar.
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Remembering Mark McDermott
As the year draws to a close, we take a moment to remember a friend and fellow pilot. Mark McDermott ended a long struggle with illness in 2019, and we have missed his presence ever since.
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