Table of contents:
The original postscript version of the newsletter is available here.
New procedures: The Greater Boston Soaring Club has officially moved to Sterling. With MITSA and GBSC both flying out of Sterling, this could mean as many as twenty-five gliders in the air on a good day. This change will require a great deal of patience from club members as we work out the new procedures for rigging, launching, and landing so many gliders. A draft of the new procedures has been sent to club members via email, will soon be sent to club members via regular mail, and will also be available at the airport. Please read the new procedures and feel free to comment on them, but please make your comments at the appropriate meetings or venues. Heated discussions about the procedures on the field are not appropriate, since we will be experiencing enough delays and bottlenecks from the simple process of learning the new procedures.
New members: Yaoxin Song (ysong@ece.neu.edu) joined the club on April 5. He wrote a humorous message to me introducing himself to the club that I have shortened quite a bit for the newsletter. "I am from China, and I am in my second year of graduate school in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University. I have always dreamed of flying, but I never dreamed that this dream could really come true, until I found your web page, and until I convinced my wife that `90 cents a day isn't too much.' You will see my family around most weekends, including my wife, Diane, and my brand new son, William. My name is Yaoxin Song. `Yaoxin' gives Americans a lot of trouble when they try to pronounce it, until they learn that it sounds precisely like `Yeltsin,' the Russian president. My last name `Song' is inherited from the title of a dynasty which reigned China ten centuries ago. So don't feel funny when you see the strange combination of celebrities, be respectful instead. I don't have much flight experience, assuming I can't count flight simulators. By joining the club, I hope to gain some new friends and to have some new kinds of fun."
Good soaring: The soaring weather has finally arrived, and the weekends of March 28-29 and April 11-12 appear to have been the first spectacular weekends of the season.
On the first weekend, March 28-29, Sunday appears to have been the best day. Jim Tsillas (jtsilla@ccs.neu.edu) says, "Last Sunday proved to be a great soaring day with thermals over 6,000 feet. I flew an L-23 for 1.5 hours with Jan Zatloukal, a member of GBSC and a fellow PIK-20 owner, as a guest passenger. We covered some 20 miles from Wachusett to out past the reservoir. Strong winds kept us from venturing further. Hooray for the spring!!" Bill Brine (brine@tiac.com) says, "Harvey Howell, flying his brand new ASW-27, Mike Newman, flying his Ventus for the last time (he has an LS-8 at home), and I flew `cross country' on Sunday. Winds aloft were 270 at 20 knots or more, and cloud base was at 6,500 feet. We all stayed within 20 miles of the airport. A fun flying day. Some of the lakes still had ice in them! I did not feel this was a good day to tempt fate and land out in a soft farm field. The Gold/Kwasnik/Hollister 1-26 flew, as did the L-33 and L-23."
The next weekend, April 4-5, was rather overcast, but John Nordmann (jnordman@mitre.org) reported, "It was a pretty gray, chilly, overcast day on Saturday. While those were hardly ideal soaring conditions, Ian Clark and Karl Krueger managed a 38-minute flight in N117BB, climbing to 3,200 feet AGL from a 2,000-foot tow. Who said you need the sun for soaring flight?" What John did not report is that he has recently started power lessons, and I see him from time to time up at the Lawrence airport.
The following weekend, April 11-12, was a strong, blue weekend. I flew locally in my Grob 102 (US) for the first time this season on Saturday, and reached 6,800 feet in lift that was as strong as nine knots for several turns. Carl Johnson, Steve Glow, and Terry Wong purchased quarter shares in Errol Drew's LS-7 (204) over the winter, and Carl had his first flight in the glider on Saturday. Carl had a religious look on his face after the flight, and said, "So this is what cross-country is all about! And to think of all the time I've spent in club ships. I was at 6,000 feet over Gardner, I decided to do a final glide at 110 knots, and I still arrived over Sterling at 4,000 feet!" Doug Jacobs (DJ), Bob Fletcher (90), and Phil Gaisford (PG) all flew to North Adams and back. I have heard a fourth-hand rumor that Doug Jacobs flew again on Sunday and called it the best day ever at Sterling, saying that it was blue at Sterling itself, but that there was cloud street after cloud street up north. That same weekend, Steve Sovis was flying his PW-5 at Keystone Gliderport in Pennsylvania. He made two attempts at a 300K gold badge flight, and landed out next to a four-horse plow team on an Amish farm on Saturday.
See what you are missing? Come out and fly!
Parachutes: Please remember that there is parachute activity at Orange again. A jumper at Orange reported that several gliders were recently thermaling just north of the Orange airport. Unfortunately, this happened to be the jumpers' drop zone, and the gliders were not on the Orange frequency. Orange is a natural stepping stone for cross-country flights out of Sterling, so please remember potential for conflict at Orange.
Ed Foley: Ed Foley (ed_foley@notes.teradyne.com) is still in Chicago, but he wrote recently to say, "I am in the first steps towards acquiring a glass ship. I am looking at a Pegasus. [...] I graduated from the University of Chicago with my MBA last week. Pete came to the ceremony, but I think he would be more impressed if I had graduated with a CFII multi-engine!"
Fred Ernsting: Fred Ernsting (usaab2n9@juno.com) was an enthusiastic young member of the club many years ago, and John Wren forwarded a message from Fred with the comment, "If we had all of the people we have trained in the past ten years who went on to become instructors come back and instruct for us, we would probably have 20 or more instructors. Anyone remember little Fred Ernsting? He's not so little any more." Fred wrote, "I took my CFIG checkride yesterday and passed. I am now a bona fide flight instructor. I spent five days at Bermuda High doing my commercial and instructor training. We flew the ASK-21 for my commercial stuff and I found myself desperately wanting to fly gliders again on a serious basis. This motorglider we have is pretty cool. I was afraid it would fly like an airplane after it is shut down and cleaned up, but it actually does pretty well. We even had it in a thermal on Friday and did some soaring with it. I also got to see several PW-5's in action. It seems to be a decent little glider. I hope everything is going well and look forward to hearing from you."
Annual party: The club's annual party was held Sunday evening, March 15, at the Papa Razzi Restaurant in Wellesley. Carl Johnson organized the party, and, man, what a party. After a pleasant hour of cocktails and conversation, we were called to dinner. This was no cheese-covered, rubber-chicken banquet. This was a full, sit-down menu of bread, appetizers, salad, pasta, fish, meat, vegetables, and dessert.
One of the primary sources of amusement (not counting the kids racing around the room) was the paper glider contest that Carl organized. Poking fun at the PW-5, the winner of the World Class design contest, Carl provided us all with plans for Paper Class design, the PC-5. We had the option of following the plans given to us by Carl and competing in the Paper Class, or making up our own design and competing in the Open Paper Class. Carl held the contest after dinner, and the winners in the two classes were Ian Clark and Al Gold. For their prize, they each received copies of a PC-based soaring flight simulator that Carl had running during the cocktail party for us to play with.
The program for the evening consisted of Bob Fletcher showing and discussing a GPS trace of a spectacular flight he and Phil Gaisford had last season. He ran the GPS trace of the flight through a GPS mapping program that enabled us to follow the flight past the terrain features generating the lift and obstacles. The program also included Rick Sheppe giving a plug for the Region One contest being organized at Stowe, Vermont this year.
Awards: One of the highlights of the party is the presentation of the annual awards. The Nicki Velforth trophy is given to the "best student of the year," and this year it went to Jim Tsillas. The "paddle" is awarded to the "most enthusiastic new member," and Karl Kruger received this award. Bob Fletcher was awarded the Alan trophy given for the best triangle. The Tommy Thompson trophy is traditionally given to a person the club expects to give something back to soaring and is traditionally given to a person who seems to be working on an instructor certificate, but this year it was given to a current instructor, Mike Baxa, for the instruction and newsletter articles he has provided the club. The Draper trophy is given for best flight in a MITSA glider, and this year the award went to Steve Glow for his five hours in the 1-34. Finally, the Francis trophy is given for the best 100K triangle, and Mark Koepper received this award for his 100K state record.
New board of directors: Finally, at the party, the club introduced its new board of directors and thanked the outgoing board. Walter Hollister is replacing Rob Playter as secretary, but all other officers remain the same: Phil Gaisford (president), Carl Johnson (vice president), Steve Glow (treasurer), Joe Kwasnik (membership), Al Gold (operations), Jim Emken (maintenance), and Bruce Easom (logistics).
Symposium: The MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics is hosting a lecture by Paul MacCready and John Langford as part of the Symposium on Low-Speed and Human Powered Flight on April 26-27. More information is available on the symposium's web page at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/current/gardner.html.
The other day I heard my wife shouting in the bathroom. At first I thought one of the kids had been up to some mischief until I heard my name. She had just sprayed her hair with my deodorant, and for some reason it was my fault. Luckily, I remembered Arnold Palmer's response when asked the secret to his 50 years of marriage. He replied that it is pretty simple. It just takes those three little words, "Honey, you're right." Recently, I was doing my monthly check of the fluid levels in our vehicles with the kids fighting in the garage, the radio playing, and the dog barking at the UPS guy. The wife's car always takes a little brake fluid so I topped it off...with power steering fluid. Fortunately, I caught it and spent valuable weekend time draining and cleaning a brake reservoir, which pretty well pushed my mechanical abilities to the limit.
Private owners know their ships inside and out. They know every scratch and connection, and believe they could assemble them blindfolded. For the first flight of the season, you will see the private owner carefully assembling as they reacquaint themselves with the process. They will double-check everything and may even pull out their assembly check list. By midseason, the routine is well established: one pulls onto the field, goes into high speed, and assembly is a race with the clock to hit the prime launch time. During this process, pilots help each other or enlist others when needed. There are usually other people in the vicinity watching, asking questions, or wanting to be of help. In other words, there are many distractions.
The private owner views the assembly process as a "necessary evil" and is relieved to be done with it. Yes, there is usually a quick positive control check looking for the expected confirmation that everything is okay, as it always is (?). However, far more time and attention is spent on that perfect tape job to ensure that any .05 L/D improvement has been achieved. You all know where this is going, so let's get to the point. No one should ever take off with a control not connected, something ajar and jamming a control, or an assembly oversight resulting in an accident. I apologize up front for preaching to the choir, but accidents involving control hookups have happened to the very best and most experienced in this sport. This is one area where we can all minimize our risk with just a little extra effort.
You have been out thermaling on one of those great afternoons where a high pressure area has been moving through the region. Your electric vario is on the blink but your mechanical is working. Then you discover that your water bottle has been leaking all over. It is one of those days so you decide to descend for a left-hand pattern, maybe in your case this is an off-field landing. You enter your downwind. Something is not right. The ground is rushing below you and it is more turbulent than you expected. Meanwhile you hear a banging and suspect the spring on the undercarriage flap door came off and it is just the flap door banging. You check your airspeed and decide to slow things down a bit. By now you are slightly past the point for a base leg turn. Still trying to orient yourself to the conditions and being somewhat unsure, you make a shallow bank onto final with your eyes scanning the field and your position from it. Just as you figure out high surface winds accounted for your fast down wind, the left wing starts to drop as a gust hits the ship and you instinctively try to pick it up with right stick. The nose immediately drops and you complete a full left rotation before you even realize you are in a spin. You are not sure what to do, and you certainly do not have the time to figure out what caused it. You are now at 150 feet AGL and would need 200 feet to recover. It is over quickly.
A spin is defined as an aggravated stall that results in what is termed `autorotation' wherein the aircraft follows a corkscrew path in a downward direction. Only the Practical Test Standards for instructors require in-flight maneuvers for performing and recovering from spins. Spins are not required for the private or commercial ticket. Depending on how long you have been a licensed pilot, you may have had little, if any, actual spin experience and training. If you did, it may have been a long time ago. You may be a low time private or an accomplished "old timer." You may be a transition airline pilot with thousands of hours. The bottom line is that spinning for most of us conjures up strong negative feelings. We believe or feel it is disorienting, scary, and something to be avoided. We convince ourselves it will not and cannot happen to us, so we put it in the back of our minds. WE ARE WRONG.
FAR 91.303 defines aerobatic flight as an intentional maneuver involving an abrupt change in an aircraft's attitude, an abnormal attitude or abnormal acceleration, and not necessary for normal flight. The above FAR defines a spin as an aerobatic maneuver. Aerobatics must not be performed over a city or town, below 1,500 feet AGL, or when visibility is less than 3 miles. The SSA Soaring Manual recommends an altitude of 3,500 feet for spin training. However, our friends across the pond routinely practice spin recovery at lower altitudes and for good reasons. The SSA height recommendation may not be realistic for all situations including those at many clubs. Actual spinning requires parachutes, unless performed with an instructor (FAR 91.307). Aerobatics are not permitted with club equipment in most clubs.
Low-level unintentional spinning continues to take lives in our sport and there are many instructors who believe student training in just spin entry (also called imminent or incipient spins) alone is not sufficient. They would argue a pilot needs to know, understand, and be confident in full spins and spin recovery. There are also many instructors who believe that spin entry training is by itself enough. They might argue you don't need to slam on the brakes of your speeding car on an icy road to learn winter driving. They may say the learning process could be dangerous in and of itself. My personal view is that every pilot needs to be comfortable with spins and automatic in their spin recovery. And the only way you get "comfortable" or "automatic" with something is by practicing it safely. Regardless, let's review spins.
First, all sailplanes are liable to spin given the right circumstances, and every pilot needs some experience to see what is happening and have the presence of mind to take corrective action. Soaring pilots routinely thermal at speeds close to a stall, and at these low speeds we continually pick up a low wing with our ailerons and there is rarely a problem. When a wing drops unintentionally at the time of an actual stall, our immediate reaction, regardless of the amount of training, will be to use aileron to pick the wing up because we have not yet become AWARE that we are in a stall/spin situation. This aileron action will aggravate the situation. Once we are AWARE we are in a stall/spin situation, we need to quickly initiate recovery. There are two equally-effective techniques for doing so. American pilots are taught and trained to pick up the low wing by using opposite rudder. The reason opposite rudder is so effective is that the yawing motion increases the forward speed of the low wing and unstalls the dropped wing. European pilots are taught and trained to first put the stick forward to increase flying speed which unstalls the aircraft, then to use their aileron to bring the low wing up. The correct answer depends on whether you were brought up to enjoy a coffee break or a tea time. The later technique may make more sense as it is effective for both stalls and spins.
At low altitudes, gentle banking or flattened turns are very dangerous if excessive rudder is used. The inner wing will want to drop first. We know the stalling speed increases during a turn and more lift is required to accomplish the turn and support the weight of the glider. A turning stall will not necessarily exhibit signs of a normal straight stall: the change in noise level may not be present, control effectiveness may be present right up to the stall, and so on.
You cannot have a spin without first having a stall, and as we have discussed, it may not be a classic forward stall. In any case, we know that a stall is due to the angle of attack of the wings being exceeded. When this happens, the smooth airflow over the wing ceases as the smooth flow separates and becomes turbulent (little lift and extra drag). The nose down attitude of the stalled aircraft is "helped" by the horizontal stabilizer which has not stalled due to its lower angle of incidence. Thus, the tail is still generating lift and helps to push the nose down. The aircraft is stalled and the instinctive reaction of the pilot is to pull back the stick to keep the nose up which makes matters worse by keeping the aircraft in a stalled configuration. The flight controls have no affect because of the turbulent air flow. The autorotation by the wings is due to one of the wings being stalled and creating more drag which slows that wing down. The still-flying wing therefore flies around the stalled wing creating the corkscrew effect.
The recovery procedure that every pilot needs to memorize is:
We would not have stall/spin tragedies in the pattern if pilots would only do three simple things.
Twenty-five years ago, my instructor encouraged me to spin my rented 1-26 routinely "just for the fun of it." Eight years ago, I had to search to find an instructor who would take me up to practice spin recovery. Today, if you tell a friend you took your glider up to spin and practice spin recovery, he is likely to shake his head and ask why you would take such risks. I feel a bit like the young Ronald Reagan in his story at a 1984 YMCA conference. President Reagan relayed, "I was the drum major and my older brother, he played the bass horn. I had an incident when we were in a neighboring town on Decoration Day -- we were leading the parade. The marshal of the parade, on his horse, had ridden back to see how everything was coming. And he didn't quite get back up to the head of the parade in time. And there I was, waving that baton. I knew that the music was sounding further and further away. He had come in time to turn the band but not me. I was walking down the street all by myself, and the band had turned the corner."
Just days before the publication of this newsletter, I learned of the tragic death of Jerry Bramblett who died in a stall/spin accident. Jerry was a member of the Nutmeg Soaring Association flying out of Candlelight Farms in New Milford, Connecticut. I knew Jerry. He was a fine man and true gentleman. It appears that he was on Nutmeg's annual safari down south and was attempting to complete an off-field landing. He was a very good pilot. Although facts are few at this point, it appears he crashed April 9, 1998, and died at 3 am on April 10, 1998. My deepest condolences to Jerry's family and his many many friends at Nutmeg. Please go back and reread the spin section of this article, and please see an instructor if you need help on spin recovery. This article is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Bramblett.
The following members owe some or all of their dues for the current season:
| Name | Amount |
| Berard, Dan | 192.50 |
| Clark, Ian | 59.34 |
| Clayton, John | 131.67 |
| Cooke, Paul | 247.50 |
| Dershowitz, Adam | 220.00 |
| Eichhorn, Guenther | 200.00 |
| Evans, Mark | 200.00 |
| Friedman, Charlie | 220.00 |
| Gaisford, Phil | 202.00 |
| Hossfield, George | 137.50 |
| Kazan, Steve | 220.00 |
| Koepper, Mark | 180.00 |
| Kucan, Jakov | 330.00 |
| Kwasnik, Joe | 330.00 |
| Landsman, Jeff | 330.00 |
| Lofgren, Peter | 165.00 |
| Loraditch, Bernie | 330.00 |
| Marter, Uros | 330.00 |
| McKinney, Terence | 167.50 |
| Moysey, Steve | 133.33 |
| Playter, Rob | 330.00 |
| Poduje, Noel | 220.00 |
| Rosenberg, Ken | 220.00 |
| Ryan, Larry | 220.00 |
| Souvis, Matt | 115.00 |
| Souvis, Steve | 200.00 |
| Stewart, Fred | 116.67 |
| Timpson, Larry | 330.00 |
| Tuttle, Mark | 330.00 |
| Walton, Myles | 95.83 |
| Wells, Mike | 330.00 |
| Wong, Terry | 330.00 |
Payments should be made in the form a check made payable to MITSA. Payments should be sent to: Stephen Glow, 1 Lakeshore Drive, Sterling, MA 01564. Questions related to dues or account balances should be addressed to Steve Glow by phone (978) 368-1260 or email sag@world.std.com.
This story from Bill Davidsen (davidsen@prodigy.com) appeared on rec.humor.funny. An instructor and his student are holding on the runway for takeoff when a deer runs out of the woods, stops in the middle of the runway, and just stands there looking at them.
Tower: Cessna 123 cleared for take-off.
Std: What should I do? What should I do?
Ins: What do you think you should do?
(think-think-think)
Std: Maybe if I taxi toward him I'll scare him away.
Ins: That's a good idea.
(Taxis toward deer, but deer holds position.)
Tower: Cessna 123 cleared for take-off, runway 12.
Std: What should I do? What should I do?
Ins: What do you think you should do?
(think-think-think)
Std: Maybe I should tell the tower.
Ins: That's a good idea.
Std: Cessna 123, uh, there's a deer on the runway.
(long pause)
Tower: Roger 123, hold your position. Deer on runway 12 cleared for immediate departure.
(Two seconds, and then--I presume by coincidence--the deer bolts from the runway, and runs back into the woods.)
Tower: Cessna 123 cleared for departure, runway 12. Caution wake turbulence, departing deer.
| Date | DO | Instructor | AM Tow | PM Tow |
| 4/4 | Nordman | Baxa | Hollister | Friedman |
| 4/5 | Brine | Rosenberg | Gammon | Gassett |
| 4/11 | Sovis | Wren | Hollister | Kazan |
| 4/12 | Stewart | Bourgeois | Proops | Clark |
| 4/18 | Timpson | NA | Poduje | Dershowitz |
| 4/19 | Tsillas | Bourgeois | Eason | Friedman |
| 4/25 | Welles | NA | Gammon | Gassett |
| 4/26 | Brine | Rosenberg | Poduje | Kazan |
| 5/2 | Blieden | NA | Hollister | Proops |
| 5/3 | Wong | Baxa | Clark | Dershowitz |
| 5/9 | Watson | NA | Easom | Friedman |
| 5/10 | Emken | Rosenberg | Gammon | Gassett |
| 5/16 | Evans | Baxa | Hollister | Kazan |
| 5/17 | Gold | Wren | Poduje | Proops |
| 5/23 | Johnson | Moysey | Clark | Dershowitz |
| 5/24 | Koepper | Bourgeois | Easom | Friedman |
| 5/25 | Kucan | NA | Gamon | Gassett |
| 5/30 | Kwasnik | Bourgeois | Hollister | Kazan |
| 5/31 | Loraditch | NA | Poduje | Proops |
| 6/6 | MacMillan | Moysey | Clark | Dershowitz |
| 6/7 | Marter | Baxa | Easom | Friedman |
| 6/13 | Nordman | NA | Gammon | Gassett |
| 6/14 | Sovis | Rosenberg | Hollister | Kazan |
| 6/20 | Timpson | Bourgeois | Poduje | Proops |
| 6/21 | Tsillas | Rosenberg | Clark | Dershowitz |
| 6/27 | Stewart | Bourgeois | Easom | Friedman |
| 6/28 | Welles | Baxa | Gammon | Gassett |
| 7/3 | Watson | NA | Hollister | Kazan |
| 7/4 | Wong | Moyey | Friedman | Proops |
| 7/5 | Blieden | Baxa | Clark | Dershowitz |
These minutes have been edited for publication in the newsletter. --Editor
March 5, 1998
Directors present: Ian Clark, Bruce Easom, Jim Emken, Phil Gaisford, Al Gold, and John Wren.
Greater Boston Soaring Club: The Greater Boston Soaring Club has moved from Pepperell to Sterling. Representatives of GBSC and MITSA are currently working out the procedures for joint operations on the field. In his capacity as the Region One representative on the SSA board, John Good has played a significant role in making this transition a smooth one.
Incentives for instructors: The continued lack of instructors spurred a discussion of what the club can do to encourage people to become instructors. Ian Clark suggested tow credits for instructors. John Wren presented a written proposal for a package of instructor benefits and responsibilities. John's proposal was unanimously accepted with one small clarification. The revised and accepted proposal is reprinted at the end of these minutes.
Tow pilots: Adam Dershowitz will check that our tow pilots comply with the FAA's currency requirements.
Tow plane: We can get a little more power from the tow plane's engine by flattening the pitch of the propeller. Making this change would require the usual approval from the FAA, but this paperwork problem has not yet been solved. There was also a discussion about going to a four-bladed propeller, but this was thought to be too expensive. Ian Clark will check into these and other options for improving the tow plane's climb performance and suitability for operations on the grass.
Blue book: Bruce Easom has been working on a new version of the blue book, the club's rule book. His work needs to be reconciled with John Wren's work available at http://www.chelmsford.com/home/jwren/MITSA/mitsa.htm, and Bruce will look into this.
Next meeting: Thursday, April 9. Please make of note of the date. In view of the recent GBSC developments, this is likely to be an interesting meeting.
Instructors incur unusual expenses in order to volunteer their time to MITSA. All pilots face some expenses in order to continue flying, but there are several that are unique to instructors:
Because of these unique expenses I would like to purpose the following:
A MITSA instructor is an FAA CFIG who meets all requirements set by the Chief Instructor (CI) and is approved by the CI to instruct. An instructor:
These minutes have been edited for publication in the newsletter. --Editor
April 9, 1998
Directors present: All members of the board were present, plus Ian Clark, Bob Fletcher (via phone), and John Wren.
Sterling operations: Most of the meeting was dedicated to a discussion of the new operation plan for simultaneous glider operations on the part of MITSA and Greater Boston at Sterling Airport. Ground operations were discussed at some length. Issues debated included exactly where private owners would rig their gliders, as they require more level ground than had previously been proposed. Owners will be encouraged not to leave cars connected to trailers once their trailer is parked. Lime lines will be put down as guidelines until parking boundaries have been firmed. The new operations plan is to be mailed to the membership.
Tow planes: There was extensive discussion about the use of the MITSA Cessna 150 tow plane on the grass. On the one hand, it would greatly improve the efficiency of the operation to tow from the grass. On the other hand, several tow pilots are concerned that the propeller arc is too close to the ground for operations other than on the pavement. It was concluded that Bruce Easom and John Wren would conduct measurements and tests with the tow plane Friday evening to establish what risks, if any, exist with regard to towing from the grass with the Cessna. In order to ensure that the Citabria is available to tow again this year, it was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously that MITSA renew its agreement with the Citabria owners to pay certain fixed operating expenses in return for specified towing services under the same terms that were agreed upon during the 1997 season.
New equipment for club operations: John Wren explained the use of the new magnet board which will be used to monitor launch progress when the grid is in effect. Carl Johnson is planning to buy CB radios in cooperation with GBSC for ground-operation communications. Steve Glow raised the question of providing radios for all the club gliders. It was pointed out that such a move does not guarantee increased safety, and would require that once installed they would have to be maintained to meet FAA requirements. No further action was taken.
Public relations: Bob Fletcher has placed an article about MITSA in the Sterling Meeting House News in the interest of improved public relations.
New instructors: Carl Johnson and Phil Gaisford have taken their CFI written in the interest of adding more instructors to the roster.
Next meeting: Thursday, May 7.
The MITSA Board of Directors
Club email address: mitsa@crl.dec.com
Club web page: http://acro.harvard.edu/MITSA/mitsa_homepg.html
For more information about MITSA, you can contact the club by email, visit our web page, or contact Joe Kwasnik, our director of membership listed above.
The Leading Edge is the newsletter of the MIT Soaring Association, Inc. The newsletter is edited by Mark Tuttle, and published every other month (more frequently during the soaring season). The submission deadline is the first of each month. Please send any inquiries or material for publication to Mark Tuttle, 8 Melanie Lane, Arlington, MA 02174; tuttle@crl.dec.com.