December 1960: Arizona Soaring Time for 1960

December 1980: Flying is like riding a bicycle, once you learn how, you never forget??

ARIZONA SOARING TIME FOR 1960 

Here are some of the sailplane flying hours for the first 960 eleven months of 1960, for most of our Arizona pilots. We'll have a complete report in the January AIR CURRENTS.
In the following report all 1aunchings were by air tow.

Still to be heard from are Ken Bawden, Bill Ordway, Pete Sinclair, Bob Sparling and Jim Turnbow.
Almost all hours were in aircraft listed. Part of the total hours in other aircraft were: 

Chuck Doty :30 in L-K; 
Marcel Godinat 3:30 in P-R; 
Ruth Petry :30 in 2-22; 
John Ryan 4:10 in Austria in Austria, Europe, (that second "in Austria" is not a slip in typing) also P-R, 2-22, L-K, Sisu I, and in Cologne, Germany, a KA-8.

The above are the hours and aircraft types to December, but to make a more complete picture here are some of the outstanding performances.
Marcel Godinat made his Diamond distance leg on June 26th, from Prescott to Albuquerque, a distance of 326 miles, at an average speed of 55 mph. on May 28th at Prescott he gained 12,800 feet of altitude to 18,950 feet ASL, and on the following day flew to a goal of Las Vegas, Nevada, 195 miles, but was .4 mile short of Diamond goal because his release altitude was too high. On April 11th, in the wave at Bishop in the P-R he made 27,650 feet ASL, a gain of 10,500 feet, in a flight of 3:30 hours.

Clay Hartman on May 29th at Prescott, reached 17,500 feet ASL, a gain of around 12,000'.

Joe Lincoln topped everyone's performance with the second longest flight ever made in the United States, on July 2nd from Prescott to Variadero, New Mexico, 455 miles. This is a new State Distance Record, and includes a new Duration Record of 8:45 hours after release.
John Ryan, in April at Bishop, flew his Diamond altitude in the P-R on 24,000 feet gained, to a height of 35,168 feet ASL. His total X-C miles this year stand at 1383, of which 1315 were made at Odessa.
>From the above report, if you want to get your Diamonds come on over to Arizona, if you can't make it at Bishop or Odessa.

DO YOU REMEMBER ? 
Five years ago -The ARIZONA SOARING ASSOCIATION was incorporated in October 1955, with the following persons signing the Articles of Incorporation: Don Barnard, Jerry Hopf, Roy Graves George Lauman, Fred Daams, Ken Bawden and Roy Smoots. The Articles of Incorporation were drawn up by Ted Riggins, designated statutory agent.
Twenty years ago -The Eleventh National Soaring Contest was held at Elmira, New York, from June 29th to July 13th. On July 2nd Richard Johnson of Los Altos, Calif., the youngest pilot entered in the contest, earned his "C" license. On July 13th, Bob Stanley with Ernest Schweizer in a 2-8 (TG-2) established a new American distance record for 2-place, of 216 miles. John Robinson also this day established a new American distance record for single place of 290 miles.

FLYING IS LIKE RIDING A BICYCLE, ONCE YOU LEARN HOW, 
YOU NEVER FORGET???

BY Tom Cooper, Lifted from Buzzard & Wind & Wings

In 1950 I stopped riding a bike after a bout with polio.
In 1960 I stopped flying, with about 200 hours power in my log, shortly after kids number 4 and 5 (twins) were born.
In 1973 I got on a bike again and had no trouble at all.
In 1973 I also started flying again, this time in gliders. I needed six hours of dual before I was ready to solo. My brain remembered a lot, but my coordination and reflexes had to start over.
Flying is not like riding a bike, at least for me. There are two big differences:
First, I could never accumulate flying time to match the bike time I built up as a youngster, so my flying skills will never be as deeply grooved:
And second, in a sailplane, you can hit the ground a lot harder. 
I think it's impossible to fly only a few times a year and do it safely--especially if you don't have several thousand hours of grooving behind those rusty reflexes. I think it's impossible to fly only when there's "good lift" at Hummingbird (or anywhere else) and do it safely (unless good lift gets a lot more common than it has been this past year.) The Feds say we need a minimum of 3 take-offs and landings in any 90-day period and a current biennial to be minimally safe. And we certainly want to be safer than the minimum.
So even if the day isn't a boomer, come out and take at least a couple of pattern tows. Make sure you can still handle a crosswind with precision, touch down exactly where planned and stop exactly where planned. Then take a high tow and run through a stall series, a spin or two if your ship is spin rated. Make sure you can still hold a constant airspeed into and out of coordinated turns, with varied spoiler and/or flap settings. And if you're still rusty, take another tow.
FLYING IS NOT LIKE RIDING A BICYCLE, THE STATISTICS ARE FULL OF.
PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT SO!
Your trusty editor (Judy Lincoln) would like to take this opportunity to expand on a couple of points raised in Tom's article. Certainly, I'd agree with his final conclusion that safety requires more than an occasional "routine" flight in good conditions, In addition, it's my own opinion that ANY pilot, regardless of his/her "several thousand hours", can have rusty enough reflexes to result in disaster, One main difference is that a relatively inexperienced pilot, one with say less than 100 hours in gliders, is more likely to admit to both himself and an instructor that he needs a little refresher. The guys (gals) with a total time that can be translated into YEARS of time aloft are sometimes not so candid. If you fall into the category of having forgotten more than the average fellow might ever hope to know about soaring, it just might be enlightening to find out what exactly you've forgotten!
We are uniquely blessed here in Arizona to have a plethora of two place gliders available for instruction & BFR's, ranging in performance from the classic (?) 2-33 right on through the Janus, with convenient stops at the Blanik, Lark, and 2-32. There simply is no excuse for not having at least one dual flight a year, complete with tow maneuvers, slow flight, stalls, slips, steep turns and a simulated short field landing.
Finally, it should be noted that the 3 flights in 90 days deal is required in order to take passengers; the BFR required in order to "exercise the privileges of (your) airman's certificate." Aren't YOU your most important passenger?? Isn't exercising your flying skill, and doing it safely, a privilege in itself??