www.abqsoaring.org

A Note From Your President By: Bob Hudson

Volume 12, Issue 2

The 2012 Gala is in the

books and according to the

feedback I have received it

was a winner. (Our

attendance was 76 members.)

First of all our Mistress of

Ceremonies, Mary Hawkins,

did a top notch job. JD took

on the task of arranging for

and procuring the trophies

and he did this with no

historical assistance. (After

all none of us expected Pat

McKnight to fly west.) The

new trophies acquired by JD

are absolutely beautiful.

(Later in the Towlines there

is a report of the award

winners.) Also, Steve Hill

gave us a dynamite

presentation on our success

with the online contest, and

me, well I just sat there and

enjoyed the fellowship with

my fellow aviators. Lastly,

the Marriott did a super job.

All in all it was a great Gala.

In the near future you will

notice that our Club House

will be undergoing a face lift.

Club member Joe Martinez is

heading up the effort which

will consist of a new paint

job, new flooring and an

enhanced bathroom. You

will have to excuse the mess

but in the end we will have a

better environment that is

more conducive to learning

and fellowship…oh, and fun.

Also, when you come to the

Club House, wander out into

the hangar and study the

three topo maps hanging on

the doors. If you remember

these were gifts from John

Farris and they are a neat

visual aid for preparing for

soaring cross countries or for

just studying our state.

I just received my copy of

the February edition of the

German flying magazine

Aerokurier. What’s neat

about this is that there is an

article by our own Billy Hill

dealing with flying from

Moriarty. I didn’t know

Billy was so fluent in

Deutsch (he’s not). Anyway,

kudos to Billy for spreading

the word. I gave copies of

Billy’s article to the Moriarty

City Council. They were

very pleased to see their fair

city show cased.

Another event held recently,

was the SSA Convention

held in Reno, Nevada.

Several ASC members made

the trek to the convention

and I was able to receive

some interesting feedback

from them. Needless to say

the ASC is on several SSA

leaders minds, just ask

Mocho.

Albuquerque Soaring

Club Monthly Newsletter Inside this issue:

Note from El Prez 1

VFR Fuel Reserves

Back Seat Driver

2

2011 ASC Awards 3

Gala Photos 4

OPS Calendar 5

I’m told one of the highlights

of the convention was Renny

Rozzoni’s new glider, a LAK

17 with an electric engine. I

was fortunate to be able to

see it as it came out of the

“box”. It is pretty neat and I

can’t wait to see it in the air,

which should be soon, after

Renny gets the instruments

installed and hooked up.

Speaking of new gliders, I

got to watch Robert Mudd

flight test Cliff Goldman’s

new plane, a Pipistrel. The

plane is a beaut and it flew

with no bad habits. Look for

it in our sky soon.

Under the heading of good

TOWLINES news, at least to me, Colleen

Koenig and Mark Hawkins

are moving to the East

Mountains. I am excited to

have them as neighbors. And

the Club should be happy to

have them nearer to the

airport…Can you say see you

more often?

By the time you read this,

Howard Banks will have had

surgery to repair his hip.

Let’s hope he mends quickly

and is back “on the job” in a

short time.

Well, that brings us to the

end. Now come on out to

your Club and let see some

safe flying!!!

El Prez

Cliff Goldman’s new Pipistrel

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess

you were not expecting to see a subject of

this ilk in TOWLINES and yet here it is.

Perhaps you are asking yourself what VFR

fuel reserves have to do with glider

operations?

As tow pilots we are required to have a 30

minute reserve of fuel (see FAR 91.151)

each and every time we depart 0E0 with a

glider on tow. The question now must be

asked what circumstances might lead us as

tow pilots to compromise that minimum?

The answer; “yeah, I think I’ve got enough

for one more tow before refueling.”

I’m sure we have all been guilty of this sin

at one time or another…I know I have.

Keeping in mind that the fuel gauge on the

Pawnee is about as reliable as a politician’s

promise, fuel starvation while towing a

glider is of course the unacceptable

consequence of making a tow when one is

not sure if he has sufficient fuel to commit

said act. Has this happened recently at

0E0? Well not to my knowledge. Has

anyone come close to running out? I guess

that question could be answered by looking

at the gas receipts from club tows to see

how close a fill up has come to thirty-six

gallons. Of course we are not going to go

there. So, why bring this up?

The folks at ASA recently had just this sort

of thing happen while making a pattern

tow. To the tow pilot’s credit, he

recognized the problem - perhaps because

he told the towee that he thought he had

enough push water for one more tow -

wagged the glider off and dead sticked the

Pawnee back onto the airport.

One way to track fuel usage is by noting

the tach time at the beginning of each day

which of course presumes you are starting

with a full tank. Two hours of tach time

flown means it’s time to refuel.

During the course of discussing this

incident with Randy Acree I discovered yet

another way of keeping track of my fuel

burn. Their tow pilots base fuel burn

(along with tach time) at a rate of one

gallon per thousand feet. Of course this

will vary slightly depending on DA,

equipment being towed and the buoyancy

of the atmosphere, but it seems to work

well as a general rule.

Because we have a tow pilot log sheet

(used to back up the ops log sheet) we have

a means of tracking tows in terms of how

many thousand feet we have towed. The

cut off point of course is thirty-thousand

feet which in theory should leave six

gallons of fuel which in turn equates to

about thirty minutes of fuel remaining.

At least the first scenario is one with which

all our tow pilots are familiar and now they

have a second way of tracking fuel usage if

they choose to follow it.

What I hope all of you performing OPS

duty will take away from this little screed

is don’t press the tow pilot to make another

tow if he is not comfortable with the fuel

remaining. As a matter of fact, don’t even

ask him if he has enough left for another

tow. If you feel the club Pawnee has been

towing long enough for fuel to be an issue,

then ask him what his fuel status is. This

may prompt him to make a trip to the gas

pumps. This question becomes even more

important when there is a lull between

training flights and the launching of the

fleet when it becomes soarable.

While you are at it, ask the tow pilot if he

has sufficient drinking water, if he needs a

break or something to eat. The care and

feeding of the tow pilot should not always

be left to said tow pilot.

See You at the airport.

VFR Fuel Reserves By: W.G. Hill

Page 2 TOWLINES

Attitude. Shiny side up, pointy end

forward, right? No, not that kind of

attitude. MY attitude. YOUR attitude.

Everybody’s attitude. I don’t know about

you, but I’m usually excited as I drive to

the airport. Like most of us, I’m not

there to earn my living, I’m there to see

good friends and have some fun. That

said, I’m sure there have been days when

I wasn’t as “bright eyed and bushy

tailed” as I should have been. A few

years back I got a little (OK, more than a

little) short with a fellow member that

needed some information from me to

perform their club duties. Why did I do

that? I’m sure I was feeling the stress of

some unrelated event but that’s just an

excuse and a poor one at that. The folks

that provide services to our club are all

volunteers. They are giving the most

valuable resource, their time, so that

others may fly. They don’t need any

“stuff” from those of us who benefit

from their efforts. Let us assist them

with joy in our hearts. Or at least reduce

the level of scowl on our faces. For my

part, I realized I was being the south end

of a northbound horse and apologized for

my transgression the next time I saw my

victim. I was graciously forgiven. Then

I made a vow to myself to remember that

those who serve the club are worthy of

smiles and cooperation and also to

remember why I am at the airport.

Nobody likes a crabby sourpuss. And

that’s why you’ll usually see me smiling,

in the back seat.

BACK SEAT DRIVER By: Brian D. Morrison

At the recent Club Gala the following awards were given out for achievement

and contributions to the Club.

Our first award was the Aero-Tek Award for the longest flight out of Moriarty and it went to Billy Hill who flew 815 kilome-

ters (507 miles) on July 8, 2011.

Next we presented the Kim Harmon Cross Country Award, which is presented for the six longest OLC scored flights from

Moriarty, in the Gold Class. In third place was Jim Cumiford with Mark Mocho in second place. The winner was Billy Hill.

The top three contenders for the ASC Classic Cross Country Award (which is for the 3rd, 2nd, and first longest six OLC scored

flights from Moriarty in the silver class) went to: Brian Morrison (3rd place), Bob Hudson (2nd place) and the winner of the

ASC Classic Cross Country Award went to Pete Vredenburg.

The Award for the ASC member who registered the fastest speed on a flight over 300 kilometers from our home base was

Billy Hill who on the 5th of June flew 443 kilometers at a speed of 177.49 kilometers per hour (110.3 miles per hour.

The pilot who amassed the most points while scoring for the On Line Contest is Billy Hill who scored 25,921.52 points. The

number two pilot scored 14,181 points-which was Mark Mocho.

The “Ain’t Soaring Fun” Trophy goes to Jim Cumiford.

The ASC Safety Trophy was won this year by the pilot who undertook the task of designing a new mass launch procedure

that was used for the first time during the Region Nine Super Regional held here at Moriarty. It was this launch procedure

that allowed forty gliders to get airborne in under an hour with no incidents. The winner was Robert Mudd.

The Harland Ross Excellence Trophy went to the glider pilot who couldn’t be at the Gala because he is helping to insure we

all can sleep safely because our US Military is standing watch. It went to Captain Mitch Hudson.

The Advancement in Soaring Trophy went to the individual who was instrumental in talking Sundance Aviation in starting

our annual Club and Sports Class Super Regional and then dragging the Club into the fray…and that was Mike Carris.

Next we had the Trophy for Exceptional Service to the ASC. The winner of this award was an individual who can always be

counted on to provide that extra effort to get things done and move the Club Forward, in fact he spent a large amount of effort

providing us with protection from the elements, he built an Operations trailer that makes Susan Gregory’s Operation Teams

more efficient….of course we are talking about Stan Roeske.

The winner of the trophy for most Instructor Flights went to Stan Roeske

The winner of trophy for the Tow Pilot who performed the most Tows went to Mike Stogner.

The Award that went to the Club Member who through rain, snow, sleet, heat, screaming pilots, pouting tow pilots, and crazy

students managed to pull the most shifts of Operation Duty went to Susan Gregory.

The President’s Award is given for the Club Member who gives of herself or himself in order to get things done went to Mark

Mocho.

Each pilot that contributed (posted a flight) to the Clubs first place finish in the OLC League received a certificate of

Achievement. There were forty-six pilots who received one of these certificates.

Lastly, Suzie McKnight provided a trophy to be given to the Moriarty pilot who has shown the most improvement as a soar-

ing pilot in the last year. The first recipient of this trophy is Steve Hill.

To see all the gala photos please go to Facebook and search for Moriarty Soaring Pilots.

ASC 2011 ANNUAL AWARDS

ALBUQUERQUE SOARING CLUB, INC.

PO Box 11254

Albuquerque, NM 87192

(505) 281-9219

Bob Hudson, President

“Keep the shiny side up and the pointy end

forward…”

www.abqsoaring.org

Saturday March 3 Carl Ekdahl Robin Falconer Brian Morrison Bob Wright

Sunday March 4 Larry Brothers Waldemar Szadkowski Tim Hawkins

Saturday March 10 Jim Cumiford Steve Merlan Mark Moyer Billy Hill

Sunday March 11 Kimmine Pierce Cliff Goldman Robert Mudd

Saturday March 17 J.D. Huss Marshall Angell

Sunday March 18 Clay Phillips Diana Roberts

Saturday March 24 Mark Hawkins Colleen Koenig

Sunday March 25 Connie Buenafe Lem Hunter

Operations Schedule

Date OPS 1 OPS 2 Instructor Tow Pilot

Howard, Renny and Robert at the 2012 SSA Convention in Nevada. To

view the blog of their adventure written by Renny visit Facebook and

search for Moriarty Soaring Pilots.