Leah and I arrived late last night for the Vintage Sailplane Association‘s rally here at Chilhowee Gliderport. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring a glider since we flew down on a Boeing 717 courtesy of Air Tran. However, we figured we would be able to rent some of the gliders here from Sarah and have a good time regardless. The winds were practically calm today so definitely no ridge soaring but the cu were popping before noon and pretty soon the takeoff line was starting to fill up.  Vintage ships attending include the Olympia and ASK-18 from Lawrenceville, IL. A partnership of three pilots (Dave Schuur, Jim Short, and Bill Jokerst) brought the Olympia and the ASK-18 (the only one in the U.S.) belongs to Lee and Mary Cowie.  The Lawrenceville gang has been here since Thursday since they didn’t want to hear the typical greetings of “you should’ve been here yesterday.” They do report that Thursday was a great soaring day and we all should’ve been here.

Also attending is Rusty Lowry with his daughter’s Ka-10 and John Hardy with his Ka-8. There was also a 1-26 that came up today to fly but unfortunately I didn’t catch his name. On top of this there was plenty of activity at Chilhowee with the 2-32 and 2-33 giving rides and instruction and a checkride and the 1-26 and Ka-7 going up for multiple hops. Other flights were made by a Jantar, ASW-20, Discus, ASW-15, and Apis 13.

Max altitudes today seemed to be reported in the 5-6,000 ft range. I did a short flight with Sarah in the Ka-7 at the beginning of the day before turning it over to Leah, who had a 2 hour flight with Sarah, maxing out at 5,600. Then Pete VonTresckow and I took it back up for an hour and 45 minutes until we got tired, hungry, and thirsty. We maxed out at about 5,300 feet but had a lower low point and one of us will leave the meet with a VSA Silver Coin for completing a 1,000 meter altitude gain.  We might have to wrestle to see who gets it.

Some cross country was attempted today with Rusty and John trying to get a 50 km leg in for their coins and John’s Silver Distance. It was not to be though so hopefully tomorrow. The Lawrenceville gang is headed back north tomorrow morning so the rest of us are sure that the soaring will be spectacular.