Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

Those were good times as the crews had a wonderful social bond. Getting out ahead of your pilot or driving to the center of the day's triangle task to meet on a hill for better radio reception. The sought for ideal was a place on a hill to accommodate the crew trailers, with trees for shade, by a Dairy Queen! The spring-fed natural pool at Balmorhea Park north of Marfa and the Davis Mountains was a favorite crew & trailer rendezvous. Being at the landing site to catch our pilot's wingtip and hand him a cool beverage.

Serious crewing is an aspect of soaring that somehow faded away. We rarely stayed on the airport because restarts were permitted if you landed out early in the day. On a hot summer day it was cooler in the freon charged air-conditioned 1966 Plymouth station wagon when out on the road.

Listening for a radio call from your pilot using secret codes (and secret frequencies) as to his location and altitude. Speeding off to be there if he landed off-airport. Once I was on site to stand on the only tree stump in a distant field while 6 sailplanes landed, knowing that I was marking the stump.

Another important crew person duty was preparing the sailplane early in the day since many pilots preferred to de-rig into the trailer at night. The crew (often two) would be busy assembling and cleaning it, stocking it with water and apples, filling the oxygen tank, while your pilot rested alone in the quiet of the air-conditioned crew car, studying the task (on paper back then) along with the aero chart, marking it with course lines and final glide circles.

I got pretty good at being a professional crew person, getting paid for my work and accommodations. Learned so much while crewing, listening to the pilots discussing their flights around the hotel pool in the evening. The late great Johnny Byrd would volunteer to crew at the World's if he didn't qualify as a pilot on the US Team, so he could listen, watch and learn from the other world-class pilots.

Nothing is preventing a pilot from having a dedicated crew these days . . . a fellow club member, a partner in the sailplane, a youngster with a drivers license motivated to learn cross-country soaring . . .