The January 2001 issue of Skylines opens with President Joe Parrish celebrating the club's ninth consecutive year without a reportable accident, tempered by two near-misses that reminded members the streak could end any day. The centerpiece is a vivid two-part account of a December wave-flying expedition to Petersburg, West Virginia, where pilots Shane Neitzey and Dave Weaver chased the “Great Monster Allegheny Mountain Wave,” battling rotor, a 4,500-foot ceiling, and a washed-out ridge before finally threading into the primary wave and climbing to 8,000 feet. The issue also features an enthusiastic review of Robert Whelan's “Exploring the Monster Mountain Lee Waves,” a proposal to form a member syndicate for a backup towplane, a humorous landout story involving a hat-snatching airport dog, and the arrival of the “M-ASA Challenge Chicken”—a rubber chicken that allegedly flew into Front Royal from a rival club, sparking an inter-club rivalry. Club business includes board elections, a mandatory safety meeting, dues collection, and updates on the aging Pawnee towplane.
Skyline Soaring Club kicks off the 2001 season with a new leadership team at the helm—Joe Parrish as President and David Weaver stepping into the newly created Operations Officer role—while celebrating a safe, accident-free 2000 season that produced first solos, FAA ratings, and SSA/FAI badge legs. The issue's most stirring story belongs to Greg Ellis, whose long-held dream of owning a personal glider came true on his birthday when Ernst Schneider of the Invermere Soaring Center in British Columbia drove three and a half days to deliver a brand-new PW5 and trailer, spending over twelve hours rigging, derigging, and coaching Ellis through every detail before heading back to the Rockies. The newsletter also announces a comprehensive four-session cross-country course taught by veteran instructor Jim Garrison covering soaring weather, lift sources, navigation, landouts, physiology, and FAI badge requirements; a new seniority-based hangar slot allocation policy for private owners; a mandatory safety meeting on February 17 featuring briefings from Dulles ATC staff and the club's new Emergency Response Plan; and the club's migration to a new website at skylinesoaring.org. A Rolladen-Schneider LS-4a (1981, 1,370 hours) is offered for sale within the club at $34,000, and members are reminded of the SSA Annual Convention in Indianapolis the first week of February.
Skyline Soaring Club's March 2001 issue opens with President Joe Parrish's impassioned call for members to volunteer their skills to club operations, followed by a delightful historical dig into the 1930 San Diego soaring days when Charles and Anne Lindbergh learned to fly gliders from Hawley Bowlus, with Anne becoming the first American woman to earn a First Class Glider license. The issue covers the February 17 Annual Safety Meeting, where a Dulles ATC controller's remark that stealth fighters are more visible to radar than gliders set the tone, and a spirited multi-part debate over short tow ropes and aerial retrieves from non-airport fields. Jim Garrison solicits interest in a four-session Cross-Country Course to begin after the Petersburg Wave Camp in mid-March, while Gary Nabler announces the inaugural Fun Meet and Racing Camp at Blue Ridge Soaring Society in New Castle, Virginia, May 4-6. The issue's standout narrative is Bob Collier's vivid account of a cross-country flight that ended with glider 289 touching down on the 7th fairway of a golf course south of Frederick, Maryland, where the course owner, his granddaughter, and a fellow pilot battled a gusty wind to derig the ship before dinner. Rounding out the issue: a 1939 Orville Wright quote explaining why he returned to gliders after 1903, a CAP tow-pilot's tribute to the club, and Piet Barber's update on the club's new website and Palm Pilot channel.
Skyline Soaring Club's April 2001 issue is dominated by two extraordinary flights from the Petersburg, Virginia wave camp. In the standout account, Shane Neitzey and student Frank Banas launched into a towering lenticular cloud at first light and climbed at 300 to 500 feet per minute into 50-knot winds, reaching FL210 (21,000 feet) in an L-23 before turning for home with 700 pounds of oxygen still in the tank and ice thick enough to scrape off the canopy with a credit card. Rookie Stan Pawlowski, meanwhile, soaked up every facet of camp operations—from recharging golf carts to watching frost creep across a glass ship's wing moments before an aborted launch—and called it one of the better learning experiences of his life. The issue also features Neitzey's 17-nautical-mile cross-country in a LAK-12 to Fairfield, West Virginia to claim the Boomerang trophy, a flight that left him stranded at 5,000 feet until 8 p.m. when Dave Weaver drove through four states to retrieve him, and a memorable precautionary landout by Bill Bentley in a Schweizer 2-33 with his daughter in the front seat. Rounding out the newsletter are a reflective essay on goose-flying formations as a metaphor for club camaraderie, a clip on NASA's 'Highway in the Sky' concept, and the usual mix of club housekeeping, humor, and member news from Front Royal.
Bill Vickland's gripping account of a six-hour cross-country flight dominates this issue. Aiming for New Castle, he instead found himself 20 miles short, clearing Purgatory Mountain at 4,000 feet and landing at the Springwood gliderport near Buchanan, Virginia, where the runway turned out to be upslope and his 1-26 rolled backward down the hill while he called for help one-handed. The newsletter also introduces a charming inter-club cross-country incentive game—passing along a teddy bear named Sam, a Boomerang Trophy, and an "ugly rubber chicken" between Skyline, Fairfield, New Castle, and Frederick—to coax members into their first XC flights. On the operational side, Operations Chief Dave Weaver issues pointed reminders about radio discipline on 123.3 MHz ahead of three upcoming contests and on runway incursion procedures. The Board formalizes a permanent Safety Committee and tightens the dues delinquency policy. In a lighter vein, President Jim Kellett reports breaking all five toes when a 200-pound Cirrus wing dropped on his foot, canceling Thursday dual instruction for the month. The issue also notes the U.S. general-aviation accident rate fell to an all-time low in 2000, celebrates new pilot achievements including Stan Pawlowski's first solo flights and a 21,000-foot wave-camp flight, and announces plans for a joint cookout at Front Royal on May 12 and a tenth-anniversary celebration of the club's first flight in November.
Skyline's June 2001 issue captures a month of hard-won lessons and clubhouse camaraderie. At the Region 4 North contest at M-ASA, Fairfield, Fred Mueller and Dave Weaver faced a field of 40 ships where only about 14 finished the course, and one pilot ended up 70 miles out in two-and-a-half feet of clover, requiring a three-hour retrieve. Back home, a student pilot's first off-field landing—triggered by a misread towplane wing-rock—became a vivid case study in vigilance, while the Pawnee's fuel-mixture problem grounded the tow plane and prompted a heartfelt president's note on member commitment. The issue also features a detailed fleet census (24 gliders for 63 members), practical advice on buying used Schweizer gliders, a humorous three-day weather lament from the Front Royal porch, badge congratulations for Fred Mueller (Gold) and Richard Freytag (Silver), and an open discussion about whether club funds should go toward parachutes or transponders.
This July 2001 issue of Skylines captures the Skyline Soaring Club at a moment of growing ambition, with several members pushing into cross-country and competition soaring. President Joe Parrish celebrates the club's expanding cadre of XC pilots while issuing a lighthearted warning about deer that keep jumping the fence at Front Royal and challenging tow planes on the runway. The issue's centerpiece is George Hazelrigg Jr.'s vivid account of a family Father's Day flight that spirals into a 2:30 a.m. retrieve to New Castle, Pennsylvania, when pilot Shane Neitzey is still battling 20-30 knot winds aloft. Richard Freytag recounts Fred Mueller's five-hour gold distance effort along the Shenandoah ridge, a flight that fell tantalizingly short of its goal at Signal Knob but delivered what Mueller called his most satisfying flying experience. Dave Weaver reports on his Region 4 North Championship at MASA in Fairfield, PA, including a 120-knot ridge run past 37 oncoming sailplanes and a thermal located by its unmistakable dairy-farm aroma. John Lewis contributes a tongue-in-cheek restaurant-style review of North Mountain Winery near Maurertown as a landout site, praising the '99 Cabernet and the staff's hospitality. Rounding out the issue are a reminder to duty officers about notifying Dulles TRACON, a new cross-country course at the Front Royal Public Library, and a note that tow pilot Dick Otis scouted the Paris Airshow for Pawnee replacements.
Skyline Soaring Club's August 2001 issue is anchored by Jim Garrison's gripping, hour-by-hour account of his successful 500-kilometre Diamond Distance badge flight on July 14, a 327-mile, 7-hour-20-minute cross-country in an Alpha Echo out of Eagles Nest, Virginia, completed entirely in thermals along the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley. The issue also carries two vivid reports from the 37th annual 1-26 Association Championships at Ionia, Michigan, where Bill Vickland won the speed trophy at 38 mph but finished 10th after a nerve-wracking final glide that ended in a cornfield, and Bill Bentley logged a series of memorable landouts including one on a Mennonite church lawn and another sideways in waist-high wheat that bent his glider's aft fuselage. The Safety Review Committee addresses the club's first NTSB-reportable incident, an off-airport landing by member Fred Mueller on July 5 that caused severe glider damage but no injury, and outlines new training and emergency-response measures. The newsletter also announces the club's 10th-anniversary gala at the Dulles Airport Marriott on November 10, tracks the Boomerang Trophy's return from the Blue Ridge Soaring Society, welcomes new member Gregory Phillips, and records the birth of twins James Anthony and Meredith Lee.
The September 2001 issue of Skylines is headlined by the Hazelrigg family's triumphant transition from the club's Schweizer 2-33 trainer to a German-registered LS-1f sailplane. George Jr., George III, and Geoff Hazelrigg recount their two-year odyssey: soloing in the 2-33 under instructor Bob Michaels, a memorable two-hour wave flight over Signal Knob, and the bureaucratic maze of importing a 1974 LS-1f from German registry—complete with a rudder-cable redesign and five months of paperwork at the Dulles FSDO. Their first LS-1 flights, including a 2:35 thermal climb and a 1:26 cross-valley sortie, mark the beginning of a new era for the family. Elsewhere, President Joe Parrish bids a fond farewell to the club's beloved N2743H "Miss Daisy," now transferred to M-ASA, and reports the Aircraft Acquisition Fund has reached $25,000 toward a replacement two-seater. The issue also announces the club's first formal gathering—a 10th Anniversary Gala on November 10th featuring speaker Bela Gogos, dancing, and a children's menu—alongside the M-ASA's 22nd Annual Oktoberfest at Fairfield, PA, Jim Kellett's vivid dispatch from a week of Civil Air Patrol glider instruction in Anchorage, Alaska, a safety reminder about high-density-altitude tailwind takeoffs, and the welcome of new member Stephen Peterson, a former U-2 driver with 4,000+ hours.
Published in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, this October 2001 issue of Skylines carries the weight of a nation in mourning while the club presses forward into its tenth year. President Joe Parrish urges members to hold fast to their diversity and their freedoms as general aviation faces uncertain new security restrictions, and notes that some Skyliners have already been called to military reserve duty. Against that somber backdrop, the newsletter brims with the club's enduring spirit: Fred Daams recounts a thrilling 260-mile cross-country in his LS8-18 through the Colorado Rockies, threading between 14,000-foot peaks and executing a nerve-wracking 60-mile final glide home over the Royal Gorge. The Board of Directors approved a dozen new full members, set a goal to acquire a new glider before January 2002, explored an affiliation with M-ASA, and began planning a Land's End club-logo apparel line. Byron Lowry relives his long-awaited Private Pilot checkride, complete with a 200-foot rope break that startled even the examiner, while Jim Kellett delivers his trademark curmudgeonly tirade on why the glider industry must stop blaming pilots and start investing in safety technology. The issue closes with a rousing invitation to the Skyline Soaring Club's Tenth Anniversary Extravaganza on November 10, headlined by legendary pilot Bela Gogos, who will share his remarkable life story of courage and perseverance in the air.
Marking its tenth anniversary, the Skyline Soaring Club issues a milestone newsletter anchored by President Joe Parrish's heartfelt reflection on a decade without a single member hospitalization, the intangible memories that outshine any badge or rating, and the club spirit that still prompts a fistfight over who gets to greet new prospects at the ops tent. The issue also sends readers to Warrenton, where Ken Hyde's volunteer team at The Wright Experience is painstakingly rebuilding a flyable 1903 Wright Flyer replica with period-correct materials, including ALCOA aluminum and hand-carved propellers, for a 2003 First Flight celebration. A thorough safety column urges pilots to think beyond the canonical 200-foot rope break and rehearse every conceivable premature tow termination, from a Pawnee that won't climb to a downwind launch on a high-density-altitude day. Fred Winter reports 103 miles in 2 hours 47 minutes at the M-ASA Octoberfest fun-fly, Eric Litt is named Assistant Deputy for Operations in the Virginia Civil Air Patrol Wing, and three new members—Sami Mina, Mark Ballinger, and Raul Fumagali—join the roster. Rounding out the issue: a Christmas potluck at Rob Mordhorst's Fairfax home, a Pawnee wing-recovery work party, annual-inspection services from Eric Litt, and a featured appearance by club soaring veteran Bela Gogos at the anniversary gala.
Skyline Soaring Club's tenth-anniversary season closes in a blaze of celebration and firsts. Members from California to Virginia flocked to the club's gala dinner, where Jim Kellett received the inaugural Skyline Service Award, Bela delivered an inspiring speech, and George's slide show took the room on a visual tour of a decade of soaring. Testimonials from Byron Lowry, Dick Otis, and President Joe Parrish all agree the evening was a "class act." The club's big-ticket news is the arrival of a G-103 glider at Gehrlein's for pre-purchase inspection, with delivery to FRR expected just after the new year. On the flight line, Carlos Roberts earned his first solo on November 15 after months of patient instruction from Jim Kellett and towing by Bill Bentley, while Dave Dawood made a textbook emergency landing after an unexplained PT3 release actuated at 100 feet in turbulent conditions. Greg Ellis recounts a passenger's tearful, awe-struck ride in the K-21 that left him with a renewed sense of purpose. The issue also covers a hard-won lesson in tool accountability after a tire-pressure gauge was discovered wedged in the Sprite's tail control linkages, a review of the My-Cast.com weather service, the December 15 potluck Christmas party at Rob Mordhorst's home, and a batch of personal news including a premature baby's safe arrival and a member's offer of a decade's worth of Soaring magazine for the club library.
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| 2001-11 Newsletter (November 2001) | 0 |
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| 2001-12 Newsletter (December 2001) | 0 |
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