Greetings everyone,

We have had a busy two weekends in a row for NSA. This weekend I flew with Matt Lewis in the L-23 on Saturday practicing spot landings. We both had to leave early by 1:30 and forgo the beautiful lift that was forming. Jeremiah Seifert flew the 1-26 in nice thermals and landed just so I could  leave and not be late for my engagements. Yesterday  I flew an hour with Kaite Wiesmann in the L-23. It had been a solid 2 months since we flew together. She flew great and had minimal rust to knock off of her flying skills. She did all the flying and thermaling with very little issue. Jeremiah and I flew for an hour with 2 landings in prep for his glider addon checkride. Jeremiah has not flown the L-23 much but he is right there and ready for the exam. Charlie Thaeler and I flew for 1.5 hours in preparation for his CFI addon checkride. Charlie demonstrated to me his teaching skills in the aircraft and I did my usual inept student hijynx to see how he would teach me through it and/or take the controls at the correct times. The L-23 and I flew for a total of 3.5 hours on saturday. The heat and teaching wiped me out but I had so much fun doing it. Thank you to the three of you for making it so fun. Mat flew the 1-26 later in the day. We got to wave to him from the L-23 as he flew by us at altitude. Ciprian had an adventurous cross country thermal flight that left him scraping down low at Nervino in the ASW-19 (ZAP). The weather really wanted CP to visit the airport and arranged the ride all the way to the surface. Our fearless tow pilot Firebird (Gene Benson) launched towards the golden setting sun ( that was behind a bunch of rain clouds) to pick up our CP. There was a very helpful wing runner at Nervino that got CP launched. He was a long ago NSA member that helped set up Air sailing. I think it was Bill Richardson but my memory is foggy on the name CP gave us. On the tow back home, on the west side of the Perterson range, the turbulence made for a rough ride. At just the right time, Stead barely within final glide, the tow rope broke. CP was left scratching for lift to ensure he could make Stead. Firebird circled to watch and see that he was going to be ok. I thought maybe CP could position himself like air-to-air fueling and get the rope near the left air vent scoop. Once close enough he could grab hold the rope, out the little window, and hold on like a water skier back home. Glad it was those two that day and not Chukar and I, we would have tried it. ;0)  CP was able to get the final glide to air sailing and made it home like a true champion. It was good to see CP push for a long cross country and spread his soaring wings. He made all of the right decisions, landed safely, both times, and didn’t try my idea of grabbing the tow rope out the little window. (Some of you know how much I miss Chukar, as you remember him and miss him just the same.)

The L-23 is flying well. Curtis “Auk” Wheeler flew the ASW-19 (ZAP) last weekend and forgot how much fun it is to fly. We will probably be seeing him fly it more in the coming months. Coot came out and visited for the day and I got too busy to talk with him. Sorry I missed you Coot.

Charlie Thaeler has volunteered to take on more of our website mastering and design. He has just started, so keep an eye out for a more efficient layout and new content. Poor sucker… oh, I mean, Awesome that Charlie gets to help NSA with our website and become an NSA instructor.

Feel free to forward this email to your flying friends,

Sincerely, 

Skimmer

NSA President

NSA Chief Flight Instructor

News letter editor in chief and contributor

Remember, fast food is not good and good food is not fast. Eat well and live well.