I got my wonderful Ventus 2bx ‘TA’ from Tim Welles of the Harris Hill club back in 2006, when he moved up to a V2cxT.  Tim is well-known at Harris Hill as a perfectionist, so TA appeared to be in brand-new condition, even with 4 years and about 550 hours of service.

I have tried to keep TA up to ‘Tim-standard’ perfection levels, but since I have been averaging around 300 hours per year and flying every contest I can reach, by the end of each season I have generally collected more than a few minor nicks and dings that need fixing.  Each year I try to get her into a shop for some TLC, mostly at M&H (last year I attended the Central Indiana Soaring Society’s ‘Gelcoat Jamboree’ and did the TLC myself under Dave Nelson’s able supervision).

This year I only flew 280 hours (several contests were partially or fully washed out this year), but at age 10 and 2000 hours, TA was starting to develop some gel-coat crazing on the outboard sections of both wings, and I had also managed to collect a sizable burn mark on the fuselage just below the trailing edge of the right wing root (this occurred at Perry early one morning while or just before assembly on a completely clear and cool April day – its still a mystery).  So, I arranged with Heinz Weissenbuehler of M&H to drop my glider off at his shop near Elmira, NY (about 1 mile from the Harris Hill gliderport) immediately after the Fairfield, Pa. (Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association) contest in late October.

When I dropped the glider off, I of course had the requisite ‘punch-list’ of items that I knew needed attention, but since Heinz and his able assistant Andy Brayer already new the glider well from her HHSC days, and also knew of Tim’s perfectionism, we were able to agree on a much simpler work definition – “Please do everything you need to bring TA back up to Tim Welles standards” (hence the title of this post).  If you followed the ‘Concordia’ series on Soaring Cafe, you will know that Heinz and Andy are the magicians who did all the finishing work on DB’s wonder-ship, so I know they are every bit as perfection-oriented as Tim Welles ever was! ;-).

The first photo below shows Andy Brayer hard at work on TA’s left wing, repairing some minor ‘runway rash’ dings picked up this last season.  In the background you can see the ‘mystery’ burn mark on the fuselage just below the right wing root trailing edge (and slightly to the left of what looks suspiciously like a bottle of booze – yikes!).  The second photo shows TA’s right wing being prepared for new gap seals, and the mystery burn hole being repaired in the background.

Andy Brayer working on TA’s left wing dings

TA’s right wing being prepared for new gap seals, with the fuselage burn hole repair ongoing in the background

Assuming all goes well (“God willin and the creek don’t rise”), I hope to get TA back down here in Ohio in time for a scheduled Dec 10 talk for a local aviation group.  The talk is entitled “Glider Racing”, and we plan to have TA partially assembled (one wing on, one off) in front of the podium so the audience can get a feel for the actual racing hardware.  Thanks to Andy and Heinz, she will be in her best form to be displayed as a prime example of a modern racing sailplane.

Thanks to Heinz and Andy and M&H Soaring for putting up with me and providing the photos used here.  By the way, while I was dropping TA off, Heinz gave me a tour of the current projects underway, including a very interesting project on which Heinz swore me to secrecy on pain of never getting my beloved Ventus back (hint – it is peripherally connected to the Concordia project).  I’m hoping Heinz will let me write a future post about this project on Soaring Cafe, complete with photos.  Stay tuned!

Frank (TA).