First Wednesday Training Night at 60-Acres of 2010

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Written by Brian Keeffe

Thursday, 13 May 2010 21:25

Well it finally happened!!! The SASS Wednesday Night Fun Fly at 60 Acres is back in business. What a great evening!!!!!

Launch with new winch

We’d been given the go-ahead by LWYSA to use 60 Acres North for our Wednesday Night Fun Fly event and signage was provided by LWYSA stating exclusive use by SASS of the field from noon until dusk. And that’s exactly what happened. Folks started showing up about 1 pm and we determined that due to shifting wind directions it might be a good idea to park on the west side of the field (LWYSA has given us the gate lock combination) in the middle and just walk out far enough from the tree line and set up. The field is quite large this way (almost twice the size of 60 Acres South) and we ended up setting two winches back to back, one running north and one running south!!! Worked great until the breeze finally moderated from the north and we rotated the second winch around.

One of the new club winches was in operation and worked flawlessly (except for a control cable being kicked out!!). All that tried it were pleasantly surprised at the smoothness and consistent pull. Hats off to Mark Vance and team for such an amazing accomplishment. It really is an well executed piece of gear and we should be proud as a club to have them.

About 20 or so pilots showed up and the weather, although a bit chilly, was perfect for the event. Everyone flew well into the evening and it was getting dark by the time I hit the road. The boys were completely worn out from running around and interacting with everyone (thanks all that took the time to play with the boys). Doug B ended up working in the PRC so KFC was brought on line and it was finger lickin’ good!!

Parking on the west side of the field mid-way worked out very well. We weren’t bothered by traffic thru the main south parking lot, there were trees along the edge of the field providing shade, all cars could back right up to the low fence and it was a 50 yard walk out to the launch area. In addition to two winches, several high starts were set up and several electric assist gliders spent time in the air (in fact for all we know one might still be in the air!!). The turf is very nice, there were no obstructions to flying and to top it off, the NWEF club respected our field reservation. Thanks guys!

Parking
Frequency control was handled by the portable club board and several pilots were on 72 mhz without any problems reported.

All in all it was a really great evening of flying and club community. Since we were parked on the west side, several groups of people walked off the Burke Gilman Trail to check out our activities and ask questions. This is what it’s all about, right? Two folks said they will be back next week and would like to check out the trainer gliders.

For all of those that missed flying tonight-please come out next Wednesday and share the experience we had-it really was a classic SASS Wednesday Night Fun Fly. We will continue to fly on 60 Acres North thru May and into June until LWYSA gives us the go ahead to move to 60 Acres South. See you next week!!!

Gone Flyin'