John Mittel (BZ) and I have gotten in two good pair-flying tasks this week, but we are sitting on the ground today after an unsuccessful attempt to get a day in.  The airmass was just too active today, so each time the clouds started popping, they just went right on up until rain started coming out the bottom.  The day alternated between rainshowers and overcast, with brief periods of sunshine that cranked off the next set of showers.  At the moment (4pm), it looks pretty good outside, and I suspect you could get in some local flying between now and about 6pm, but we might yet have one more round of showers before the day is officially over.  Ken Sorenson (KM) and Tim Wells (W3) did give it a go, but both returned without ever getting away from the airport.  Tim reported that he started his engine twice for airborne relights, but finally wound up low and downwind and gave it up for the day.

 

Tomorrow’s weather doesn’t look all that good either, so we may be done with the unofficial practice week.  The XCSkies forecast is for completely dead at Perry at 11 am, then great at 2pm in a very narrow north-south band through Augusta Ga (with Perry just on its eastern edge), then completely dead again at 5pm – ouch.

Yesterday’s flight with BZ may well mark the end of our pair-flying experiment. The whole team flying (or as it is now being called – ‘Pilot-Pilot Communications’) thing seems to be up in the air at the moment, so the 2013 Seniors may well go down in history as the one and only SSA sanctioned contest in which pair flying was allowed.  I have to say that even if that happens, John and I had a great time learning to team fly together in Condor, and then being able to put it into practice for five days at SLGP.  Whether or not it ever becomes a part of U.S. racing, effective team flying is a real hoot, and a great way to become a better soaring pilot.  Although BZ started out as the ‘junior partner’ in the pairing, after several hundred hours of intensive training I consider it a real tossup as to who is the better pilot.

Frank (TA)