by Rich Poland
Although there was very little lift, Wyre managed to keep his plane aloft for an hour. His Condor skills are paying off in great results. He brought some flavored chips for lunch and offered them to everyone. The flavor was cardboard, I think. Elaine, our most famous centerfold (See Soaring Magazine January 2026) managed a beautiful landing after a short flight. She also managed pretty much single handed to get the pop up, popped up. I helped by staying out of her way. Chris, a relatively new guy took a couple of flights. Phat took a traditional tow and brought the Krosno down like a pro. Tom P got back in the air, he’s been absent a couple of months and shook off any rust and seemed to do fine. It seems he’s given up on becoming the next Conrad Hilton and is no longer in the AirBandB business. Alex3 was dropped off and picked up by Eddie, but managed to solo while Eddie was doing whatever Eddie does. Although Alex3 hasn’t been around in a bit, he’s still flying power with his dad.
Don J gave Jose his flight review. Jose has been absent for a couple of months, but it appears he’s ready to resume instructing. I flew with Don, over his strenuous objection, but since I pay my dues, as unpleasant as he found it, he manned up and got into the back seat. We couldn’t find anything because Wyre used up all the lift. We landed on 04, but as often as Don told me that’s what we were going to do, I kept announcing that we were landing on 22. At least I had the right N number in my call and the right airport.
At the end of the day while we were putting the planes away, Don discovered that the fuselage tie down was put in backwards. After a lot of effort, he got things sorted out.
Although there was no lift to speak of, except for a very short time, the weather was perfect. Dan came in to keep us company, as did Woody. Robert pulled us all up and got fuel and got out of the way for us to land. I’m sorry to report that Dan’s famous USPS Cycling hat in the beautiful urine yellow color was not on his head. It appears that he’s lost it. (the hat that is) He’s not sure where or how, but it seems to be a great loss. There is the possibility that someone with a penchant for old, dilapidated, worn out, ugly items may have stolen it, or someone may be playing a prank on Dan. If so, in either event, please return the item of great significance to Dan.
Other than consistently calling the wrong runway, I felt that I took off and landed reasonably well. Don didn’t hit me on the flight which is unusual and appreciated. Don also took some time to go over flight profiles for those of us who hadn’t seen them or had forgotten how to do them. And as an added bonus, he found my one Michael Jackson glove which I need to protect a damaged left hand, and after finding it, he called to reprimand me for losing it and for littering our airfield.