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Looking at SkySite Sunday 8/27 is looking OK. Lift at around 3.5 knots to 3500′ agl with cloud bases up to 4000′ agl. Winds out of the NE at 7 to 8 knots. And it isn’t going to be hot with high temps. forecast to be 72 or 73 degrees. The only fly in the ointment is the sea breeze which looks like it will arrive sometime between 3:30 to 4:30. Any interest in having an operation going Sunday? I know I would like to fly. John Lincoln
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Sunday is looking like a very nice day to fly gliders. Skysight is saying lift to 5500 around 2pm. Blue skies and light winds out of the east, northeast. We cancelled yesterdays scenic rides due to low clouds but they will be returning today, if we have a commercial pilot available to give rides. I believe we may have 4 or 5 people come out.
Saturday was spent mowing and general repair. A few pattern tows were given to DJ once the overcast skies broke up.
Don
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We had a great turnout of people out at the field on Sunday. Unfortunately, we ran into a magneto problem with the towplane. At first we thought it might have been a bad spark plug but after changing plugs we had the same problem. The right magneto was problematic so our A&P Gary pulled it off and Jimbob will bring it to Poplar Grove today. We had lots of disappointed members and guests as we didn’t get a single flight in. The towplane will be down for a few days.
Don
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Many thanks for Don, Gary, and others at the field that worked on this and Jimbob Slocum for working with Airmotive at Popular Grove.
I know that this is disappointing for everyone out on Sunday – a very nice day to be flying. The tow plane seemed to be running well. It would have been convenient to keep flying but stopping the operation was done for SAFETY reasons. It may help to understand why I say “Safety” if you know about the magneto and its importance for the ignition system of our tow plane.
In your car/truck there is a single ignition system. If it were to fail your only problem is finding a place to pull over and waiting for the tow truck (and maybe telling the boss that you will be late today). Inconvenient but you are safe.
You may not be aware that our tow plane – for safety – has two totally separate ignition systems with the magnetos being one of the critical components. Before the first flight of the day you might have seen the tow plane move over at the edge of the runway with its engine being run from idle to high throttle. During this event each magneto is tested both separately, and together, to ensure that the engine is running well.
As you can imagine the engine failing on a tow is an critical situation. This is why we all repeatedly practice during tows simulated Premature Termination of Tows (PTTs) via “wave offs” and rope breaks – not to mention slack rope recovery.
Many things we do during our operations are for safety. An example is quickly moving a landed glider off the Runway ASAP and not waiting for the golf cart to show up (for convenience). No glider in the air or in the pattern? STILL MOVE THAT GLIDER – so it becomes a habit.
Remember => Safety Not Convenience.
Thanks, John DeRosa
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Just a quick add to John DeRosa’s thread here. If one of the Magnetos is out on the Pawnee then it is running on just the second Magneto. That means no back-up. If the second fails then the motor stops and of course everyone will be landing soon and fairly close to where they are. It isn’t safe to takeoff with one Magneto not running and hence the wise decision not to tow on Sunday. John Lincoln
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Hi FolksI should be able to come around 11:30 til whenever. I just got my teaching schedule for this semester. and I’m free Wednesdays all day with some limited availability for weekends and dusk patrols (3PM or later start time)CheersTim
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I’m planning to be there on Sunday, Petr
From: SSI [mailto:webmaster@skysoaring.com]
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2023 10:35 AM
To: petrfolw@comcast.net
Subject: Flying Sunday 8/27, By John Lincoln, [Sky Soaring] -
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John (or anyone who knows the answer),
Is magneto repair typically an expensive proposition? Mike_________
Reply To: Flying Sunday 8/27 From John DeRosa, [General Discussion Forum]
Many thanks for Don, Gary, and others at the field that worked on this and Jimbob Slocum for working with Airmotive at Popular Grove.
I know that this is disappointing for everyone out on Sunday – a very nice day to be flying. The tow plane seemed to be running well. It would have been convenient to keep flying but stopping the operation was done for SAFETY reasons. It may help to understand why I say “Safety” if you know about the magneto and its importance for the ignition system of our tow plane.
In your car/truck there is a single ignition system. If it were to fail your only problem is finding a place to pull over and waiting for the tow truck (and maybe telling the boss that you will be late today). Inconvenient but you are safe.
You may not be aware that our tow plane – for safety – has two totally separate ignition systems with the magnetos being one of the critical components. Before the first flight of the day you might have seen the tow plane move over at the edge of the runway with its engine being run from idle to high throttle. During this event each magneto is tested both separately, and together, to ensure that the engine is running well.
As you can imagine the engine failing on a tow is an critical situation. This is why we all repeatedly practice during tows simulated Premature Termination of Tows (PTTs) via “wave offs” and rope breaks – not to mention slack rope recovery.
Many things we do during our operations are for safety. An example is quickly moving a landed glider off the Runway ASAP and not waiting for the golf cart to show up (for convenience). No glider in the air or in the pattern? STILL MOVE THAT GLIDER – so it becomes a habit.
Remember => Safety Not Convenience.
Thanks, John DeRosa
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Don – what’s the current club policy on the BookOurPlane online “reservations” tool you were promoting a couple of years ago?
_————-Sunday. We have twoscenic glider rides scheduled for Saturday morning as well, if oneof our commercial pilots would like to fly those.Come on out!!!Don
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