Date: 2003-09-08 09:48:00
Tags: flying, sundry
Coincidences
Saturday was demo day at the glider club (first saturday of the month). There is no instruction on demo days, so I went just to hang out and help out. And brought a bunch of friends ( [info]decibel45 , [info]dopplertx , [info]moonwick , [info]ivo_janssen , and BSE). It was a full day, there were three gliders and two tow planes in use all day for demo flights.

Anyway, the first coincidence was that we saw [info]openmynd at Parmer and 1431 on his bike en route to Colorado and points beyond. For some reason I didn't have the presence of mind to get a picture, and didn't notice which way he went after we stopped for gas.

I went flying on sunday and got a short but very good lesson in. It was a bit late in the day when I got to go up, so we didn't find any lift, but the tow and landing both felt really good. The coincidence was that Peter (the instructor yesterday who I hadn't met before) is also Canadian.

Two pilots took the Grob up yesterday (the plane on the ground in dopplertx's great picture) and landed it smoothly a ways down the field. They towed it back with a truck, and when they went to release the tow rope the retractable landing gear collapsed. We had to lift the plane and get a dolly under the nose to roll it back into its hanger. Although the plane is sleek, it's pretty heavy at 800 pounds. Apparently it will take major repairs to fix the landing gear. Not really a coincidence, but fortuitous that the gear did not collapse on landing or on the next takeoff. The Grob did many demo flights the day before.

Coincidentally, it's monday, I'm back at work, and I'm writing on lj. Time to start making myself useful.
[info]openmynd
2003-09-08T13:06:14Z
"Anyway, the first coincidence was that we saw [info]openmynd at Parmer and 1431 on his bike en route to Colorado and points beyond. For some reason I didn't have the presence of mind to get a picture, and didn't notice which way he went after we stopped for gas."

I turned left and passed you at the station, headed west. I wish I would have known; I would have had pics taken, too. :-)

I'm home again. See my tour journal.
Greg Hewgill <greg@hewgill.com>