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Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights



 
 
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  #21  
Old April 6th 18, 01:55 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

Apps just need to figure out where the flight is going to end and order pizza that arrives at the field same time as the glider. Enter your task and toppings and go fly.
  #22  
Old April 6th 18, 02:01 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tom BravoMike
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

On Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 7:29:48 PM UTC-5, wrote:
IIRC, back more than a few years ago when we had no tracking systems or cell phones We had a fairly new pilot trying for a gold distance flight out of Turf, while the rest of us were flying a racing task of around 200 miles.. After landing everyone back except the newbie. we tied down and started the debriefing. Looking around we saw his wife sitting in the car waiting on him. It was very close to dark and we were getting worried, so the decision was made and straws drawn as to who was going to call flight service and report our missing pilot. The side of the conversation I heard went something like this. "Hi this Alan ------, Im calling to report a missing glider and pilot, what say again, yes yes thats the pilot, good, he is safe at Indian Hills, we will send his crew. Thank you very much" Turns out that as soon as he landed he switched to 121.5 and called a airliner passing overhead and they relayed back to Flight service his name and N number and location so that when we called to report him missing they had the info. Something I have never had to do, but ingenious just the same


That's exactly what we were taught to do years ago (basically before cellphone era), and we actually did take advantage of airliner pilots in relaying our messages after outlanding when necessary. Many of them were/are glider pilots themselves, after all.
  #23  
Old April 6th 18, 02:19 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

On Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 9:01:58 PM UTC-4, Tom BravoMike wrote:
On Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 7:29:48 PM UTC-5, wrote:
IIRC, back more than a few years ago when we had no tracking systems or cell phones We had a fairly new pilot trying for a gold distance flight out of Turf, while the rest of us were flying a racing task of around 200 miles. After landing everyone back except the newbie. we tied down and started the debriefing. Looking around we saw his wife sitting in the car waiting on him. It was very close to dark and we were getting worried, so the decision was made and straws drawn as to who was going to call flight service and report our missing pilot. The side of the conversation I heard went something like this. "Hi this Alan ------, Im calling to report a missing glider and pilot, what say again, yes yes thats the pilot, good, he is safe at Indian Hills, we will send his crew. Thank you very much" Turns out that as soon as he landed he switched to 121.5 and called a airliner passing overhead and they relayed back to Flight service his name and N number and location so that when we called to report him missing they had the info. Something I have never had to do, but ingenious just the same


That's exactly what we were taught to do years ago (basically before cellphone era), and we actually did take advantage of airliner pilots in relaying our messages after outlanding when necessary. Many of them were/are glider pilots themselves, after all.


And even now that's an option to keep in mind if you land where there is no cellphone coverage nor a friendly farmer's landline. Just because we have newer technologies does not mean the old ones no longer work.
  #24  
Old April 6th 18, 03:43 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

At Marfa Gliders in southwest Texas, every pilot has to bring a dedicated crew. (Watch "The Sun Ship Game" filmed at the 1969 contest at Marfa to see effective old school crewing.) A crew that is hooked up to the trailer ready to hit the road late in the day towards the last known quadrant. Poor cell coverage around here and very few suitable landout places. The ranch strips depicted on the El Paso aero chart are usually too narrow. The high mountains surrounding the Marfa plateau may block a radio call from a low sailplane working the rocks.

Some pilots land after sunset which is only permitted if you turn on your position lights at sunset. That's when you gotta have lights by the regs in the USA. No heartburn from me, just sayin'.
  #25  
Old April 6th 18, 09:25 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

On Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 9:42:00 AM UTC-4, Roy B. wrote:
Friends:
I am trying to learn more about how different clubs with active XC pilots flying privately owned gliders handle the problem of determining "Is everybody back safely?" - before everybody at the airport goes home.

In my club we frequently shut down training operations around 5:00 pm or so and the day's Duty Officer, the instructors and tow pilots will all leave, but we will often still have pilots out on course sometimes as late as 7:00 pm or later. Some pilots have landed back to find that they are the only ones at the airfield. It has happened to me several times.

It seems that there is a real risk of an accident happening on course and nobody realizing it until the next day, or a risk that somebody lands out safely but that fact is not communicated back to the airfield (with a lot of unnecessary worry and confusion).

I'm trying to come up with a procedure that makes sense for our club and so I was hoping people would share here how they try to solve this problem.

Thanks
Roy B.
GBSC Chief Pilot


Burt, most of the guys today do not remember the old ground crews of the past. Remember chasing the glider with the radio on trying to stay one stop ahead.
  #26  
Old April 6th 18, 01:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tony[_5_]
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

We use tow tickets at KSA, so if there's any question I just look through the tickets in the towplane to see who took a tow, and compare with visual observation of who's not back.

I really don't like leaving the field until everyone's accounted for.
  #27  
Old April 6th 18, 03:23 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas
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Default 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 . . .

  #28  
Old April 6th 18, 03:57 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Steve Leonard[_2_]
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

On Friday, April 6, 2018 at 7:29:13 AM UTC-5, Tony wrote:
We use tow tickets at KSA, so if there's any question I just look through the tickets in the towplane to see who took a tow, and compare with visual observation of who's not back.

I really don't like leaving the field until everyone's accounted for.


And like most places, there is a central place where all wing and tail dollies are deposited after launch. If there is something still there, someone is still out. If you put all your stuff back in your car, park your car where it will certainly be noticed by those that are still there.

And, thank you for sticking around for some of my late returns, Tony! I don't like to leave until everyone is back, either. I have been on a few sunset and after retrieves of others, too.

Steve Leonard
  #29  
Old April 6th 18, 06:27 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Jonathan St. Cloud
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

Ah, the drinking club that sounds like every Yacht Club I have ever visited or been a member of!
  #30  
Old April 6th 18, 10:32 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Tony[_5_]
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Default Club Procedures for Late Day XC Flights

That might be the only thing that ACA has in common with a Yacht Club...
 




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