Author	Thread
Tony Smolder	Reply: posted - 1 February 2010 7:43 Team weekend report at: http://tusc-xcteam.blogspot.com/ But here it is pasted also: Two 300K days in January? Yes it did happen this year, with today being an excellent soaring day for mid winter. A good turn-out with an 11:30 briefing on the days conditions and a task set: TAT - 3hr min El-Tiro / 5 miles I-19 Fields / 20 miles Pescadero / 15 miles Buenos Aires / 15 miles El-Tiro / 1 mile Grid time was 12:15 and by the 12:45 launch time we had 11 gliders gridded. Tows out to the west, under a few cu's got nearly everyone up and away. The task opened at 1:40 and 8 gliders went through the start before 2pm. On course it was dolphin flying under the cu lines, extracting maximum energy in straight ahead flight. The lead gaggle didn't turn until 20 miles south, working 4kt's to 8K for the valley transition to the Keystone's. 7B took a more eastern line and fell victim to the still soggy valley, landing at the RC field. Starting late AV8 just didn't accept anything less than 4 kts and pulled in below the gaggle just south of Ruby Star. FK and TZ were just entering the turn area when the front runners turned back north from the cylinder center. AV8 again pushed on south, turning the Nogales airport. It was a little softer now and with two choices (west of the Keystones, or east of Ruby Star) the pack split up. Now it was key to get a high climb before leaving the Keystones and the 2nd critical point was to only clip the Pescadero turn. Most decided to abort and head for home. This left TS1 alone in a quest for task completion. It was very good under the somewhat sparse cu line leading into the NW sector of Buenos Aires. Turning at 8.5K left 45 miles and a marginal glide, but the cu near Diamond Bell produced 6kts to 9K and it was fat city final glide for 61 mph task speed. Since everyone was going for OLC legs were stretched out the north and some beautiful competition finishes ended the day. Brews, chips and some yummy Green Chile salsa (thanks to Barton Clennon) pushed the evening into dark and most left very satisfied for a fine day of soaring and fellowship! TS1 reporting
Michael Stringfellow	Reply: posted - 31 January 2010 20:22 ....continued today in the wake of a cold front that produced cloud streets from Tucson south to the Mexican border - unusually good for late January. Mike the Strike Discus 2B WA
Tuno	Reply: posted - 25 January 2010 18:30 Riley logged 1000k in the back seat of a Gollywhomper IV on Saturday! (Inches, that is) http://tinyurl.com/yl9bjlf (Note the pilot's keen focus on the tow vehicle!) 2NO
Bob Thompson	Reply: posted - 25 January 2010 15:24 Sounds like southern AZ had the good stuff. Great flying guys! Turf looked good early, with nice cu above and snow on the Bradshaws. Then as the thermals got going, cloudbase started dropping rapidly, and a storm moved in from the Bradshaws. I never even took 19 out of the box. Oh, well, maybe in a few weeks, after SSA. By then, Turf ought to be dried out enough that I won't need a seaplane rating to land there.
Michael Stringfellow	Start of thread: posted - 25 January 2010 10:35 Saturday's departing storm system left a beautiful cumulus-laden sky in southern Arizona. Seasoned cross-country pilots and some newbies in training completed ten flights from El Tiro. 2A got distance bragging rights at 275 km and WA for speed (200km in 2 hours). It was really nice to see some of young new pilots giving it a go (with two land-outs). Some thermals were surprisingly strong (I saw one 7-knot average), but low cloud-base at 6,500 feet limited our distance. Mike the Strike Discus 2B WA