Work made a bad mistake and sent me to the USofA for a week so I can help set
our processing strategy.
I travelled all day Saturday so that I'd have a day spare when I got to Mount
Olive. This allowed me to go for a drive towards the Pokonos mountains. Before I
got to the Pokonos, I took a detour to Blairstown and "accidentally" found
myself at the local airport which just happened to be a gliderport as well.
Surprise, surprise.
Bob Cook, one of the local instructors, was happy to talk to me for an hour or
so (exchanging verbal credentials) and then we took an SGS for a jaunt around
the skys. The pilot of the tug must have had a bit of a fright on the previous
flight, and decided an extra 10mph (75mph) wouldn't go astray on the tow. That,
along with the short rope, made the glider a bit of a handful on tow! Bob sat in
the back pointing out the scenic points of interest, while I flew old dear.
The aerotow took us to 2500', and we immediately contacted a thermal which took
us to just over 5000'. That was enough for us to try the "Task Of The Month",
which was on a "Banks" theme. We made turns at each of 4 local banks in towns
located less than 10 miles away. The 25 mile task was completed in an hour, with
plenty of sightseeing. A slow and enjoyable XC. Could have stayed up much
longer, but the two-seater was required for training.
The row of hills down the down wind leg made for a slightly higher base than I
had anticipated (down wind is only about 200' above the tree tops!!) and
required a heafty side-slip on final to get down.
Bob was gracious and gave me some good feedback on my flying (as well as a
slight reduction in the charge!) and made it known that any Aussie pilots should
avail themselves of the services at Blairstown.
So that now makes 1 flight from Hillston (south of San Francisco) at a cost of
$135USD, and 1 flight from Blairstown (west of New York) at $75USD.
Ahhh. I love the people I work for.
Safe flying,
Phill Glasson
"Don't worry. It's only 1's and 0's."
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