Monthly Newsletter of the Skyline Soaring Club, Inc. — January 2004
Readable archival transcription from the original eight-page SVG edition. Typography and page columns have been normalized; original wording has otherwise been retained.
George Hazelrigg
Happy New Year and great soaring in ’04. We’d all like to think that it’s got to be a better year than ’03. At least the weather couldn’t be much worse. Still, ’03 wasn’t a bad year for the Club. Our membership is up, our tow pilot and instructor counts are up and rising, and we are ready for the new year. Our tow plane is being annualled, and should soon be flyable. Our annual meeting is coming up in a few weeks-January 24 at Shane’s. Take careful note, the meeting is at Shane’s, not at FRR. Shane has provided driving instructions via e-mail. He is midway between DC and FRR, so it should be only modestly inconvenient for everyone.
We have a few volunteer candidates for the Board of Directors. They will make themselves known at the meeting, and we will vote for two new members of the Board. The Board then selects the President. Be sure to be represented through your vote.
Stan Palowski will be stepping down as the Club Safety Officer. Stan has done an outstanding job during a challenging period. We thank him for his efforts. And now is the time for us to find a new Safety Officer. I would appreciate volunteers stepping forward. Preferably, this would be a person with considerable experience and a commitment to safety.
As we get the ’04 season off to a start, remember to fly safely. I’ll see you at Shane’s
Skyline Soaring Clubs annual meeting will be held in my barn @ 10 am Saturday January 24. It’s a little rustic but well insulated with light and heat. BRING CHAIRS, you’ll need them. By the way, I need 3 volunteers Friday evening to help make room. And, may I see a show of hands for those who would stay for lunch after the meeting?
Shane Neitzey 17015 Gaines Rd Broad Run, VA 20137 home 703-753-3806 cell 571-259-0042 barn 703-753-5067
Directions from Interstate 66 take exit 40 (Rt15 south) Then go 500 feet to; Rt55 West. Go one mile to a Right onto; Antioch Rd. Then go 1.7 mile to a Left onto; Gaines Rd. Then go 1.7 mile to a left into driveway. 17015 Gaines Rd.
Note: Best not park in the grass if it is soft. Frozen is OK.
Kolie Lombard
So, it finally happened–my first landout. December 11, 2003 introduced me to the concept of “wave-induced ridge lift suppression”. It was my 207th glider flight, but my first encounter with this beast.
The forecast called for strong ridge and wave. I drummed up enthusiasm from early in the week, and by Thursday morning we had a tow pilot and a number of interested pilots. Rick Harris called me on the way to the field to wish me good luck, and promising lennies on the horizon on the drive to the airport made me think that it was going to be a good day. I looked west while staging for my launch. The lennies looked impressive. Wave lift was confirmed when Fred Winter, who launched first, reported seven knots lift somewhere north of the fish ponds.
The tow was not unusually bumpy for a ridge day. Eric turned due north after lift-off, and we climbed to 3,500 ft msl in less than four minutes (800 ft/min). From that altitude, and about one mile south of route 55, it all went down hill–literally. Eric turned west and headed straight for Signal Knob, speeding up to stay low… It took a full six minutes to get to Signal Knob in the 45 knot headwind. I worked out that our ground speed averaged just over 30 knots. Within a mile from Signal Knob we encountered seven knots sink for more than half a minute. We turned north for about two minutes to “get out of the bad stuff” and barely maintained altitude, now down to 3,100 ft msl. I called Eric and say that I’m going to hang on until I’m absolutely sure I am in ridge lift. He turned south along the front side of the ridge, flying for a full minute through severe sink that peaked at 13 knots! We were down to 2,500 ft msl and sort of maintaining altitude. I learned only afterwards that Eric was flying full throttle…
I released, feeling very confident that the ridge lift would be strong with the observed wind speeds. Flying south for a mile, I was able to maintain altitude in very turbulent air. I tried to move a little bit away from the ridge and turned back immediately because of the severe sink. That half turn cost me 400 ft. Another half turn into wind took me down another 450 ft. At 1,700 ft msl, I decided to call it a day. I identified a suitable field and wanted to fly out to a downwind entry point, but the strong sink quickly made me change my mind. I could see a pole on my end of the field that looked like a power line. It looked like I should avoid the first third of the field. I then flew two figure eight patterns on the base leg of the approach, always turning into wind only, switching my eye between the field and the ASI.
The touch-down was soft and my ground roll was only about a hundred feet in the soft grass. My unsuccessful flare was explained by the significant tail wind that I observed when I opened my canopy. Fred Winter was still airborne, but did not sound too confident over the radio. A neighboring farmer came running up to me–very proud that he successfully predicted my demise to his wife. He watched the whole thing from release to landing. The farmer whose field I landed in was proud that I chose his farm to “park my Cadillac”… Fred called soon afterwards on the mobile phone. He didn’t make it back to the field and promised to come and get me.
I had a lot of time to think about the ordeal while waiting for my retrieve. My theory is that the ridge lift was suppressed by the wave action. The trailing edge of the wave cloud ran along the windward side of the ridge. It felt like the air was spilling down the front of the ridge in a northwesterly direction. Note that I observed northwesterly wind speeds of 45 knots at ridge level.
What would I have done differently? I don’t know. The flight lasted only seven minutes after release. It felt like 30 seconds. I should have asked Eric about the power setting, or maybe the 12 knot sink should have alerted me to the severity of the conditions. I could have released in the strong lift Fred was in, but I would have made my way down to the ridge anyway. I’m very glad that I was able to execute a successful, no-damage landout in those conditions. I will focus on always having a backup plan in the future. My surprise at the lack of ridge lift consumed valuable time during my flight. The next time I go to sniff the ridge I will go there fully expecting to execute “plan B.”
Thanks to Eric Litt for being patient and for providing as smooth a tow as possible, Rob Burch, Jim Kellett, and Fred Winter for retrieving me.—
Greg Ellis
I released at 3700 AGL in strong rotor lift about 1/2 mile NE of Signal Knob. I rode the rotor up to about 6 or 7k where it weakened and quit. Then I moved a mile or so west (upwind) and encountered weak wave–2 KTS or so–that went up to about 8 or 9 K. Wind aloft was very strong, at an IAS of 40 kts I could not see any movement over the ground. After half an hour hunting around there I decided to try windward, reasoning that if I could get just upwind of the next rotor cloud there should be lift.
However there was nothing but sink behind and in front of the rotor. So I turned downwind and headed back toward the fi eld, hitting extreme sink, around 1500 fpm. Immediately after the sink I hit the up side and began a 6 knot climb in the rotor, this time to around 9k. From there I fl ew upwind NW, and the lift smoothed out at
around 2kt–but only in a very limited area–right about in the middle of the valley. I climbed in steady, smooth silence, adjusting position to stay in the lifting band while watching the world grow smaller and watching the altimeter slowly wind around. When it hit 12,500 I began to track the minutes so as not to exceed the half hour limit between 12.5 & 14.
I fi nally topped out at a spectacular 14,000. The view and the sensation were exquisite. I consider this experience to be an unforgettable privilege, and am grateful to Judah Milgram who both encouraged me that morning to make the attempt and served as Offi cial Observer, the SSC instructors, our tow pilots, and the entire club community that makes this possible.
Steve Wallace
Without a word or hint of dissatisfaction to the Sprite, Joe Rees and Piet Barber decide it is time to move on. To make the transition to glass. A sad but familiar story in modern glider relationships, avoided, it seems, only by the most devout 1-26ers. After seeing an ad for a very clean LS-4 at Ridge Soaring, Julian PA, (Knauf’s Place), they decide to go check it out. In a gesture of kindness to the glider less, they agree to let Steve Wallace in on the deal, and the three decide to head up to Ridge on Friday, December 5, 2003. Lucky for them, Dave Weaver volunteers to go along to give advice, even after his initial excuse for going—to get a tow/check-out at Ridge—gets blown away in a blizzard.
Each begins the day at home with a similar conversation. “Are you crazy! The whole Eastern seaboard is paralyzed by the worst snowstorm of the year and you are driving 200 miles into the mountains of Pennsylvania to look at a glider!” Anticipating such resistance, the intrepid four agree on a common response: “Actually dear, we are being very prudent. We were going to rent a plane and fly up there, but the weather is not favorable, and it would take us a long time to find the airplane in the snowdrifts anyway, so in an exercise of extreme caution, we have decided to drive.”
They agree to meet at 0730 in front of the Flight Service Station at Leesburg Airport, Joe and Steve arriving in Steve’s Accord, Piet and Dave in Dave’s Expedition. Inspired choice for a meeting place. Check the records for the day and you will see that Leesburg Airport had more snow than any place within 200 miles. The Flight Service Station is identifiable by the antennas sticking out of the snow, and the airplane parking area by all the Cessnas sitting on their tails under the weight of the snow.
Being an anti-SUV type, Steve days earlier had suggested making the long drive in his quiet, comfortable, low-emission, environmentally correct Accord. But no sooner does the plow pass through the FSS parking lot than he backs his Accord uphill into a parking space, and proceeds to grovel until Dave agrees to drive in his Expedition. Not only does Dave have 4WD, he has the nav system with sensuous female voice. And what a woman she is, never once questioning the wisdom of the whole affair, just coolly giving directions with total disregard for the prevailing road conditions and visibility, if any.
While an invaluable aid, the nav system is problematic for the passengers, who each in turn receive calls from wives still having trouble believing that 4 guys are driving in a blizzard to check out a glider. “You said you were going with three guys! Who is the woman I hear giving directions? She sounds like Jennifer Lopez!” “Honest honey, it’s the navigation system.”
Steve produces his electronic Easy Pass to pay the tolls, which is helpful since there is insufficient traction to stop at the tollbooths, so they just slide through as the light goes green. Dave notes that several other cars seem to slide through with them, and jokes about them all getting charged to Steve’s Easy Pass. Piet seems intrigued by the gadget and examines it closely, then produces from his parka pocket the latest James Bond Palm Pilot variant, and appears to carry out some kind of beaming procedure. What Piet is doing is a mystery, until Steve’s Easy Pass statement arrives with charges of $22,000. Subpoenas are issued against Piet’s bank accounts, and Piet’s FAA airman records are somehow altered to show several drug convictions, beyond the one he had already admitted to.
For survival supplies, Steve packs an exquisite crab meat quiche, which he offers to all, but only Joe accepts. Piet claims a food allergy. Dave declines with no explanation; but no explanation is necessary. U-2 pilots do not eat quiche. Nor do they ask for directions, they have nav systems.
A steady flow of 87-octane fuel goes through the vehicle, and a lesser flow of Diet Mountain Dew through the driver, approximating the fuel/oil ratio of a high-efficiency 2-stroke engine. Vehicle and driver function flawlessly.
Conditions along the way take a terrible toll on less surefooted vehicles and drivers. Imagine the scene on the road from Kuwait to Baghdad after Desert Storm, replace the sand with snow, and you have the idea. The four press on regardless.
The final stretch is too much even for the Expedition, and the group resorts first to skis, then ropes and ice axes. (See following photos) They rappel down the final ridge, and, with the jubilation of Everest conquerors, arrive at the gliderport. They immediately set about searching for their prize among the half-buried trailers. Just as they locate the one with the competition marks Juliet Sierra, the seller emerges miraculously from the white-out. Next, drawing on experience gained in preparing for hurricane Isabel at Front Royal, they set about re-arranging all the aircraft in the main hangar to gain enough space to wheel Juliet Sierra in and have a look. They even push aside the Ridge Soaring tow car, which appears to be a former Pontiac Minivan that was driven at high speed under a very low bridge, since there is no structure remaining above the door handles. The Skyliners view this cutesy tow vehicle with contempt, and immediately challenge Ridge Soaring to a tow car demolition derby, confident that the Skyline Terminator will make short work of the whole affair.
The glider is better than advertised and a down payment is made, with minor matters left for subsequent email negotiations. Knowing they may need all of the barely 24 hours remaining to get to the Chez Hazelrigg Christmas party, the group bolts back into the white and heads for home.
Subtitle: Claim to have been guided by voice of Siren. Epilogue: Juliet Sierra should arrive at FRR in early January.
Richard “Dick” Otis — Chief Tow Pilot, Flight Instructor, Member at Large
Skyline Members, Skyline’s founding fathers came up with an outstanding concept when they created our club. Specifi cally, they decided to concentrate day-to-day power in an elected Board of Directors balanced by the power of the membership to change board members on a regular basis. They also created club offi cers with specifi c duties.
As our club grows and matures we should periodically re-examined ourselves with the goal of identifying possible improvements in effi ciency and effectiveness of the club’s structure and decision making processes.
Towards this end, I am suggestion a few motions to be considered at the 2004 annual meeting, if there is suffi cient interest.
Very Respectfully, Richard “Dick” Otis Chief Tow Pilot Flight Instructor Member at Large
(1) A motion to eliminate term limits for board members. Reason: We have a limited number of qualifi ed people who are willing and able to devote their time to running the club. If the club is satisfi ed with leadership’s work then the only advantage of replacing someone who is doing an outstanding job is to prevent member burnout. However, it is the duty of members to serve his or her time to an occasional stint at the common good, so we should pass this responsibility around a bit by not leaving the incumbent as the ONLY nomination on any ballet.
(2) A motion to shorten the board of director’s term of offi ce to two years. Reason: Members need the ability of changing the direction of the club. This motion provides the potential to change up to half of the board members in any one year, while still providing consistency between years to allow new members to come “up to speed”. Some members may wish an opportunity to contribution with out such a long (3 year) commitment.
(3) A motion that the number of directors be set at six, plus the club President, who will only vote to break a tie. Reason: Seven is an optimum number of people to work in a group towards a common goal. The President should have broad powers and should provide leadership to the directors as a policy board, but at the same time should be free to exercise decision making in the event the board is unable to agree on a course of action for emergent issues.
(4) A motion that the President be given Executive Decision authority. Reason: In the event the directors are unable make a decision on a critical issue within a 30 day period then the President, if he or she desires, should be authorized to make an executive decision–her/his decision being subject to being over turned by a vote of at least four directors within the following 15 days.
(5) A motion that the membership at large elect the club president. Reason: Election of a club president by the members provides a balance to the board which otherwise has virtually unlimited power. The President Should be accountable to the members, not to the board of directors.
(6) A motion that directors be a member of the club for at least 2 years to be eligible for nomination / election.
(6) A motion that the president be a member of the club for at least 4 years to be eligible for nomination / election. Reason: Our club leadership should be composed of our peers, e.g. glider pilots who have acknowledge standing within the group. Having at least a private glider license and having spent suffi cient time in the club to establish “peer hood” should be essential qualifi cations for nomination. The President, by virtue of his/her greater authority (assuming adoption of the above motions) should have to demonstrate greater investment in the club.
Bill Vickland
M any new soaring pilots are at a loss to decide the direction they wish to take in continuing their soaring activities after completion of primary training. They may want to learn to fl y cross-country, or they may be content to fl y locally without venturing out of the glide range of their home base. Knowing what to do with regard to buying a personal glider is made more complex by the multitude of choices and the respective costs of personal gliders that one might buy. The sources of information for new pilots are often limited and most often come from either their instructors or the prominent soaring pilots of their club. The views of many of the key people a new pilot might look to for information are often biased regarding the versatility and usefulness of the 1-26 because of a the lack of awareness of the potential of this machine in meeting the needs of new pilots, with enhanced safety and signifi cantly less expense.
If you have soloed and your immediate soaring goals are not solidifi ed, you may want to consider buying a 1-26, and fl ying it for two or three years while you build time and experience. You can purchase an airworthy 1-26 for from $6000 to $11,000, mostly depending on the condition of the fabric, the instrumentation and whether it includes a trailer. That is less than half the cost of most other available gliders which you might purchase. Your only disadvantage, of course, is the glide range you can safely employ if you wish merely to accumulate time fl ying locally. With fi ve thousand feet above the ground, you can safely venture out about fi fteen miles from the fi eld with relative certainty that you can return. The actual glide ratio provides 4.4 miles per thousand feet. In eastern thermals with small cores, the 1-26 can often out-climb most of the high performance gliders. Its slow thermal speed and maneuverability permit the pilot to stay in the core of the thermal when many other higher performance gliders can only cruise around the perimeter of the thermal.
If your goals include learning to fl y cross-country, or to eventually get into competition, the 1-26 provides a safe vehicle to venture into cross-country fl ying. The off-fi eld landing options are greatly multiplied when fl ying a 1-26. It is a durable glider that can handle plowed fi elds without breaking the empennage, a common problem with fi berglass ships. It is possible to land a 1-26 in less than 150 feet after crossing over a three or four-foot fence, and the terrain does not have to be a glass smooth surface. Even if you intend to eventually buy a high performance glider, time spent in learning cross-country fl ying in a 1-26 makes for a much safer way to learn. Your tasks will be shorter, of course, but no less rewarding than proportionately greater tasks fl own in high performance gliders.
Much of the misunderstanding that most soaring pilots have about the 1-26 stems from the fact that fl ying a 1-26 in competition and for cross-country tasks is really an entirely different sport than fl ying similar tasks in high performance gliders. When one embarks on a cross-country fl ight in a 1-26, he has every reason to expect to land out. Because of the durability of the glider and its ability to land in a small fi eld, the prospect of a land-out is not anxiety producing. This is in contrast to the state
of mind of many new pilots of high performance gliders who are in a state of high anxiety whenever they are beyond the glide range of the nearest airport. If you fl y cross-country in a 1-26, you can expect to land out 50% of the time. It is a fact of life and is not anxiety producing. You will quickly learn that landing out is not a big deal, and that it is a source of great experiences and great memories. O
ne of the great misconceptions regarding the 1-26 is that it is not a competition machine. Indeed it is, and can be likened to formula V racing. It is the only onedesign class in soaring competition where only pilot skill and the usual factor of luck determine the winner. One does not win a 1-26 Championship by buying next years expensive model. Many competition pilots buy expensive high performance gliders thinking they are buying soaring skill. Competition racing in a 1-26 is a learned skill, and it does not come easily. Many competition 1-26 pilots will tell you that it took them several years to learn how to extract the maximum out of their 1-26. The competition is keen, but uniquely fun. You will not fi nd in 1-26 competition, the cutthroat tactics often seen in other glider competition. The family of 1-26 pilots and crews represented by the 1-26 Association are close friends before and after the race, but keen competitors during the race. Many of my closest personal friends are pilots and crews who live 3000 miles away whom I see for only two weeks every summer.
A s President of the 1-26 Association, I am aware of the denigration heaped upon the “lowly”1-26 by instructors and other senior glider pilots who have never fl own cross-country in a 1-26 or entered a glider competition with a 1-26. Within Skyline Soaring Club I have heard the comment by one pilot that he would want a glider in which he can see the landing spot over the nose of the glider. This implies that the 23:1 glide ratio is not suffi cient to see where the pilot is going. This kind of comment refl ects more on the inexperience of the pilot, than on the performance of the 1-26. So, what are the facts about the cross-country fl ying in a 1-26.
A pproximately 40 pilots have achieved the diamond distance fl ight in a 1-26. Almost 90 have achieved the diamond goal, and more than 30 have achieved all three diamonds in a 1-26. One of these distance fl ights was accomplished from Front Royal Airport. Each year the 1-26 Association awards the H. Marshall Claybourn trophy to the longest straight-line distance fl ight that year. Almost all of the fl ights are over 350 miles with the longest at 432 miles. Jim Hard, who formerly fl ew at Jan Scott’s and Warrenton SC, has made several fl ights of over 400 miles and numerous fl ights of over 300 miles. He has logged more than 28,000 miles in cross-country fl ights in his 1-26. Finally, the 1-26 Association is offi cially registered as an Online Contest Club, and at this time is ranked as the number 3 club in the world for OLC competition. This is worldwide competition for cross-country distance fl ying. 1-26 pilot Doug Levy, already a leader in the OLC competition, recently achieved his third diamond distance fl ight with an OLC fl ight at an average speed in excess of 60 miles per hour.
Continued in the February issue.
Carlos Roberts
I thought it might be useful for members to review recent accidents involving gliders, as reported to the NTSB. The purpose of this review is to help us all learn from the mistakes of others, and to increase the awareness of the importance of safety in our sport. Because of the delays in reports being published with the NTSB, the following accidents occurred approximately six months ago and are preliminary reports.
July 2003 was a bad month for gliding safety. While on average you can expect that two or three glider accidents will happen every month, it is rare to see a month like this with three accidents that all involved fatalities. Here’s the NTSB summaries, without any added commentary. (If anyone has any comments or observations on any of these, particularly what we can do to avoid a particular type of accident in our own club, I think it would be very helpful to discuss it in an open email to the members.)
July 2003 (3 Accidents) NTSB Identifi cation: SEA03LA157 Accident occurred: Monday, July 28, 2003 in Hood River, OR Aircraft: Schleicher ASW-24E, registration: N24YB Injuries: 1 Fatal... On July 28, 2003, at 1015 Pacifi c daylight time, an experimental Schleicher ASW-24E, N24YB, motorized glider, registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal fl ight, collided with the terrain shortly after takeoff from the Hood River Airport, Hood River, Oregon. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no fl ight plan was fi led. The glider was substantially damaged and the private pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured. Witnesses reported that the engine experienced a loss of power right after takeoff. The aircraft had attained an altitude of about 300 feet above ground level and was observed to make a turn when it appeared to stall. The aircraft descended into a pear orchard. Personnel at the airport reported that the pilot just purchased this glider and this was the beginning of the third fl ight over a two day period.
NTSB Identifi cation: NYC03FA162 Accident occurred: Saturday, July 19, 2003 in Rock Hill, NY Aircraft: Start & Flug H101, registration: N999JB Injuries: 1 Fatal This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the fi nal report has been completed. On July 19, 2003, about 1730 eastern daylight time, a Flug & Start, H101 glider, N999JB, was substantially damaged during an off-airport forced landing, in Rock Hill, New York. The certifi cated private pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal fl ight that departed from Wurtsboro-Sullivan County Airport (N82), Wurtsboro, New York. No fl ight plan had been fi led for the local fl ight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
According to witnesses, about 1500, the glider was towed aloft by an airplane, and released over the airport, at an altitude of 2,500 feet above ground level. The glider pilot then engaged in free-fl ight, while the tow plane returned to Wurtsboro, and landed. There was no record of any communications with the glider pilot, and the glider was not seen again until just before the accident, which occurred 6.5 nautical miles northwest of the airport. One witness, who was south of the accident site, reported that he saw the glider circling and then disappear toward the north. Another witness, who was also south of the accident site, saw a glider approach his position from the east. He thought there was something trailing behind the glider like a parachute. The glider then disappeared behind trees. A witness, driving south on Glen Wild Road, saw the glider traveling parallel to the road, in a southerly direction, about 200 feet above the ground. The glider made a left turn and reversed course, then disappeared below the trees. When the witness saw the glider again, it was in the middle of the road, inverted. Examination of the glider revealed that it was pointing in the direction that it came from. The debris trail was along a heading of 230 degrees magnetic. The ruddervators were bent outboard and had scrape marks on their surfaces. Similar scrape marks were found on the nose of the glider, forward of the cockpit, and the top surfaces of both wings. The control surface on the left ruddervator was detached. All fl ight controls were checked and found to be connected. Flight control continuity was confi rmed to ruddervators and ailerons, and their corresponding cockpit controls. The speedbrakes were extended on the left and right wings. The tail cone and drag chute were missing from the glider and not recovered. The canopy was shattered, and the canopy ring was in place. Broken tree branches were found about 19 feet left of the center of the roadway, and about 20 feet above the road. This was 212 feet from where the glider came to rest. Traveling in the direction of the glider, a ground scar was found 161 feet from the broken tree branches. The ground scar was located 8 feet to the left of the centerline of the road and measured 6 feet long. The cockpit of the glider was located an additional 51 feet further along the road.
According to the pilot’s glider logbook, prior to the accident fl ight, he had completed 376 glider fl ights , and logged 138 hours in gliders.
NTSB Identifi cation: DEN03LA128 Accident occurred: Monday, July 14, 2003 in Morgan, UT Aircraft: Grob G103 Twin Astir, registration: N27TA Injuries: 1 Fatal, 1 Serious... On July 14, 2003, at approximately 1650 mountain daylight time, a Grob Glider G103 Twin Astir, N27TA, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near Morgan, Utah. The commercial pilot was fatally injured and his commercial rated passenger was seriously injured. The aircraft was being operated under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this local fl ight, which originated approximately 2 hours and 35 minutes before the accident. The pilot had not fi led a fl ight plan. According to a witness, the glider was heading north over a hill when it made a left turn to the west and collided below a ridge. Subsequently, the aircraft was destroyed.
Jim Kellett
“Youth Lost in Red Hell”, by Bela Gogos. Ivy House Publishing Group, 5122 Bur Oak Circle, Raleigh, NC 27612 (2003) ISBN 1-571997-372-9 Man’s accomplishments in the twentieth century came tumbling one after another at a rate unprecedented in human history. But, while conquering many of nature’s ways of slaughtering humans, mankind displayed an amazing willingness to develop and use “improvements” in the deliberate destruction of his fellows. That same century brought the “war to end all wars”, shortly followed by an even more devastating world war, and several massive efforts at genocide on an unprecedented scale in Europe, Asia, and Africa. To a very real degree, violence against his fellows ranks as high in the twentieth century as the explosion of new knowledge.
But one of the catastrophes of that century, the rise and fall of communism, was by itself more devastating than all the others combined…and spread out over almost the entire century and several continents. Perhaps because of its diffusion over decades, it has failed to focus the collective attention of otherwise thoughtful men to the extent that others (e.g., WW II, the Holocaust) have. This is unfortunate because, as Johathan Rauch recently noted* “The fact remains: communism, not Nazism or racism or whatever other ism you please, is the deadliest fantasy in human history and even Americans, for all our struggles against it, have not yet looked it full in the face”.
As aviators, we are often privileged to peek into the lives of men and women whom we may view as peers through various “niche books”–small circulation books that provide starkly personal views into the detailed daily lives of those who survived. Examples of this valuable and often overlooked genre include Peter Riedel’s “German Air Attache” and Joe Volmer’s “I Learned to Fly for Hitler”***. Both these men were caught up in WW II as German aviators, albeit with very different stories. Both are thought provoking.
Now comes a truly shocking revelation of treachery, cruelty, deprivation, and survival of a victim of the communist fantasy. Written by “one of our own”, a well known US soaring pilot and philanthropist, it documents in painful detail a decade of suffering, and inspires by the revelation of how he survived. Not only survived, but went on to personal and professional success in every way. “Youth Lost in Red Hell” is much more than a fi rst person revelation of the horrors of what Rauch calls the “communist fantasy”, but a story of courage and determination that should be on the reading list of those would seek to understand the history of the twentieth century. With narrative and fl ashbacks, it tells in the fi rst person of how fl ying shaped his life from a very early age; of military fl ying in WW II; of imprisonment–twice–by the Russians; and of torture, solitary confi nement, a brush with suicide, and years of slave labor.
*Rauch, Johathan; The Atlantic Monthly, Nov., 2003 p 28. ** See review, SOARING Magazine, June 1998, page 8 *** See review, SOARING Magazine, March, 2000 page 8
Jim McCulley
I remember a day early in my soaring experience when Chuck towed me as I fl ew a 1-26. I don’t remember him towing very often, or at least I had never happened to be there when he was towing. The reason I recall that tow with him was because it was the fi rst time I had ever had a towpilot do something other than just fl y in a series of straight lines. Instead, he seemed to be constantly circling and changing bank angle, and suddenly I sensed I was in very signifi cant lift, with the vario doing things I had never seen before on tow. I released early for my fi rst time ever, before reaching the safety of a normal 3,000 foot altitude. It turned out to be my fi rst long fl ight up to that point in my soaring experience. I just stayed in that thermal that he found for me because I knew I would not fi nd another one by myself. “A bird in the hand” sort of thing!
My next wonderful memory of Chuck was a conversation we had at one of the parties at probably Christmas one year. He asked if I planned to eventually get a sailplane and mentioned that he knew of one that he had seen being built years earlier, but had been in storage for a long time and might be available if I could talk the builder into selling it. When I saw it and learned it was a Dick Schreder RS-15, I knew it was what I wanted because I already knew about Schreder. I was lucky enough to become the new owner and the rest is pleasant history!
I continued to occasionally see Chuck at the Warrenton Airpark over the years after we formed SSC and moved out of the Airpark. He was always there doing chores and building more new hangars and fi nishing the clubhouse that had been started long before but had only the foundation completed by the time soaring ceased there. The facility became an ultralight haven and he always had good advice and interesting stories to share with the owners. He was always ready to help anyone and seemed to love sharing his knowledge on a wide range of aviation activities.
I was aware he had been Mayor of Alexandria, but never knew the breadth of his accomplishments associated with that and other aspects of his life as described in the Washington Post. It was an honor to have known him.
Phil
Chuck was towing me on a beautiful Spring morning in 1983 when all of a sudden... “sprong”! Rope break—quick look, big 270 and big slip to a downwind landing...piece of cake for even a baby pilot like me. CFI said “ you should have released the remaining tow line...I stopped patting myself on the back. We sat around drinking cokes and Chuck told us about dramatic 3 pt. DC-3 night landings in South America. He said glad you brought the link back—they cost an obscene amount for a little metal ring. Four minute fl ight and a lot of lessons learned.— Phil