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 . . .

Roy,

I run into this often here in Alaska. So when I'm soaring on Wednesday alone. I file an FAA VFR flight plan and make position reports on the RCO's. Kinda old school.

I know they are watching out for me when I get the phone call....Are you planning to close your flight plan? : )

Jeff

In recent years (5-10 years or so), I've taken up this habit when flying cross country away from my home field, Mountain Valley Airport, Tehachapi, CA. First I try to arrange a "back up crew" before take off. But, since I have a lot of friends on the airport I do this.

Fill out a 3x5 card with my name, aircraft N number, call sign, emergency contacts, backup crew and mobile numbers, flight intentions. For the last 10-15 years, I also carry a Satellite tracker (latest one is a Garmin InReach) with the shared web link that is also on the 3x5 card.

So if I don't come back and the inevitable "... what happened to "WX"..." comes up, people on the airport will find my car keys in the console (trailer hooked up) with a 3x6 card prominently displayed.

Walt Rogers WX

I belong to the same club as Roy (GBSC) and I think the issue is not so much what the policy should be (pretty obvious that one or two of the duty crew must stay until all are accounted for), but rather that the club just hasn't articulated the need for that. On any given day most of the duty crew are not x-country pilots, they are students, juniors, or entry-level pilots, with the exception of the duty field officer in charge. So, let the crew go home and make the rule simple, "the duty officer, or a qualified designee, stays until the last ship is accounted for."

I think Walts WX, procedure is a good one, and I think I'm going to start doing the same thing.
Simple, easy to do and all the info you need in one spot.
Remember to leave you vehicle with a full tank of full also helps.