By the end of January, there were quite a few club members suffering from withdrawal to mount a flying operation in the cold. We were helped by the rains that washed out most of the snow and subsequent deep freeze that made the runways rock solid.

It was -20C in the thermometer in the morning, but it was bright and sunny all day and temperatures climbed steadily, so it was not unbearably cold. I got to the flightline just in time to capture the Citabria landing from tow. We used one runway to land and the other to takeoff and utilized human power to put the glider in position for next launch.

Winter flight all carry two people to maximize the enjoyment and minimize the frostbite potential. I flew the take off and then relinquished controls to my partner and occupied myself by taking pictures and looking around. There was a bit of zero sink area and all flights that day caught a bit of that resulting in average time aloft just under 25 mins.

I had an opportunity to go for another flight shortly thereafter but my flozen toes suggested that instead of flying in the cold glider I get in the back of the warm tow plane and take some pictures of the glider after we release it. We briefed the glider pilots that we would follow then at the safe distance after release and I got some great pictures, although I wish I had my professional camera on me with better zoom lenses.

Happy New Year!

My gliding club has a New Year's tradition of gathering at the clubhouse on Jan 1, 2010, sharing food brought by members, trading flying stories and trying to fly if weather cooperates. January 1, 2010 started with low ceilings and blowing snow and did not look too promising for flying. But miracles do happen and by noon the ceiling lifted enough to allow some circuits. With windchill close to -20C, circuit flying was all we wanted to do anyways.

By the time I got to clubhouse on Jan 1, it was full of people and food. I counted two kinds of chili, three flavors of meatballs, five soups and numerous cookies and cakes. Talking to friends I have not seen for a while, I noticed the glider being towed to the take off position and decided to go to flight line. Thinking about bone chilling cold outside and possibility of standing on a Rwy for a while waiting for my turn, I put on my full downhill ski outfit. 

Walking to the flight line, I heard the sound of the engine, then noticed the towplane heading towards me with the white tail of propwash behind it. Looking at the snow whirl generated by propwash, I was surprised to see a red tip sticking out to the side."Hmm, I think there is a glider in there" I thought to myself just as glider emerged in the clear above the propwash. I heard about the first tow on a fresh snow, but never saw it before until then. It looked really neat, but I was glad I was not the first one up.

My turn to go up came in about half an hour. Ceilings started to drop, so we had a nice albeit short flight, but I had some time to snap pictures of the snow covered runways and facilities. Then it was back to clubhouse for some hot food and more talking - a good start of New Year!

Frosty Morning

Aerobatic training flights early in the morning on Thanksgiving weekend.

Running the Cloud Streets, Inverted

I did not fly much this fall. Between being sick and mourning the loss of my father to cancer, I did not have energy or desire to write or work on pictures either.  But interspersed with the periods of dark and gloom, were a few memorable moments that got stored in my memory and on my camera and were waiting for me to recover and write about them. Thanksgiving had couple of those moments.

Unlike the warm Thanksgiving weekend of 2008, the 2009 was cold to the point of frost. However it did warm up during the morning creating thick fog. Given the fog, the flights did not get started until later leaving the runway available for dogs as well as RC fliers.

October 11 started with the fog but the sun eventually rose higher and burned it out. I was going to fly acro in the FLBY that morning, but by the time we got it ready it was closer to noon and the reports started rolling in reporting good lift conditions. Listening to those reports, I was mulling my choices: to go up in the acro configuration as originally planned or go back to the trailer and put the long tips on and have a longer soaring flight.

 The desire to fly upside down proved irresistible and soon i was rolling down the runway attached to the towplane.  I released at cloud base height of 4,000 AGL and started my acro sequence. 59 has an amazing roll rate compared to any other glider in the club's fleet and I was mostly doing rolls and inverted flight that morning fully enjoying myself. Alas, inverted flying is a sure way to loose altitude in a hurry and soon i was as 2000 ft AGL, the minimum height for aerobatics. Normally, I would then spend the next 500 ft down doing wingovers and steep turns and start preparing for landing, but from my tow, I knew that the thermals were strong, so i decided to see if i could climb up in the acro configuration (acro configuration means short wings relative to glider weight, so it would only climb in the really strong thermals).

It did not take me long to find a strong core that catapulted me back up to the cloud base. As i was thermalling up, i decided to try and do one acro figure couple of times and then climb back up. Thermals were widely spaced and well marked by the clouds, so after climbing, i would fly out on a side in the quieter air, do a lookout then my desired figure and go right back to the same thermal. I did a few hammerheads that way, then half snap rolls, then a few full snap rolls and then I noticed something that was not there before.

The wind afloat was strong and clouds started forming the cloud streets. I needed a break from aerobatics, so I decided to follow a cloud street and see if I could gain height while flying straight and level. I followed that street for a while until I had to turn back to club to make sure I stayed within gliding distance. On a way back, flying under the same street, i rolled inverted and flew under the cloud street upside down. I did not climb in that configuration, but i did not loose much height either, so i repeated that for a while - climb away from club following the cloud street right side up turn around, roll upside down and go back towards the club.



I did this for a while and then took a note of total elapsed time - over 2 hrs! I was glad it was the end of the season as my aerobatic stamina was at its seasonal highest level. Even then, i was starting to feel queasy and hungry as it was way past my usual lunch time. I followed the cloud streets right side up to a bit more to figure out if lift was on one side or the middle and then reluctantly made my way down. I rolled to a stop on a side of the runway thinking that i just had the best flight on my life.

FLBY

My eyes got tired and watery as I searched the endless four letter combinations on Transport Canada database. Suddenly, the letters FLBY came up. Fly-by seemed to be such a fitting name for an aerobatic glider that I reserved it on a spot and just like that my future glider acquired its Canadian registration.

The glider I was buying (with my 50% partner) is called SZD 59 ACRO. What attracted me to it was the fact that it had two personalities. With the short wings (13.5m wingspan) it is capable of very serious aerobatics and with the wing extensions it is a capable cross country machine.

Winter and spring were spent waiting for our new glider to be built in Poland and dealing with some preliminary paperwork. The glider showed up on a field during Canadian Nationals, but paperwork to make it airworthy too another long six weeks. When it was finally ready for its maiden flight in August, the weather almost prevented us from going up.


It was the end of the Sunday and it rained on and off for most of the day, so there were very few people on the field. We stayed put waiting for a break in the weather. It finally came very late in the day and we rigged and towed the glider to the flight line.


My partner being more experienced than me was to do the first flight. He elected to go with the long wings configuration so we put the wingtips on. One of our aerobatic instructors was on a field and did the wing running, so that I could take pictures of the occasion. When my partner took off, the ceilings were still low, so he only got to 3,000 ft. He had a good flight and a picture perfect landing. And then it was my turn.



I decided to fly in the aerobatic configuration. As I got in the glider, I really did not know what to expect, but take off was not bad and ceiling got high enough that I managed to get to 5,000 ft. I released from tow and gingerly took the glider to the stall, spin and then did a few up and down lines to get the feeling for G-forces. It flew like nothing that I flew before, in a good way. I had a good landing and then my partner went off in again in the acro configuration.


And that was is for the day, although I did a lot more acro flights in it since. More on that later.

Ottawa trip

I recently had a chance to fly from Buttonville to Ottawa and back in a twin engine Piper Aztec with a bunch of friends. Out of 5 of us in that airplane, 4 were pilots, so I found myself in a back seat where I had slightly better photo opportunities compared to middle seat.

Departing from my "home" airport as a passenger free to shoot pictures was a very neat experience. As were were waiting in the holding bay, my namesake airplane (VLD) was landing -I took it as a good sign.


Not needing to worry about look outs or communications allowed me to capture this YKZ shot with Toronto in the background.



Having two engines allowed us to fly a more direct route over some very unlandable terrain interspersed with some occasional signs of human presence.



We were heading to Rockliffe airport and took a scenic route there over Ottawa river. This was my first ever time in Ottawa, and I most definitely appreciated the aerial tour.



Rockliffe is located right beside the Ottawa River so the views from the circuit were superb. Rockliffe is home to a very good aviation museum.