Prez-Sez

Joe Brauch

I hope this June day finds everyone in good health and spirits. I had a wonderful, though late day at the High Rock fly in. Work has kept me away from flying for a couple of key Saturday's. I ended up having to be at work during the Fly-in till 2PM on that Saturday. But a determination to get there and a need for some airtime got me flying at the pulpit by 7:30. I had a wonderful glass off flight. Although I did not fly to the High Rock LZ as I was hoping on Friday night, I did enjoy a nice long ridge run with Marc C. With a small miscalculation on my landing direction I did manage a safe high grass landing. I quickly packed up and headed to the High Rock LZ. Got there and Bruce was still cooking and Brian was still making Mint Juleps. Good music from Bob and a blazing fire to unwind next to. Good friends to share stories and a beautiful sky to sleep under.

All I can say is that I hope everyone had as good a day as I did.

Thanks to all involved and I am glad that we could help out Emma Jane while having so much fun!

As this column progresses I hope that it does not seem too preachy but, as the head of this club I feel this weird need to expel my insight about hang gliding in the hopes of sharing some tidbit of information that will help someone out during their flying career. What brought this thought to mind was what seemed to naturally kick in after I noticed that my landing was going long. Tom McGowan had shared with me his insights into the LZ at Fishers. One thing I thought was strange at the time, but have come to appreciate is the Foot Drag. If you need to slow while on a glide you can extend a foot to the ground, which will slow you down a bit. This is another good reason to wear boots. What I want to express is that all that time sitting on launch, checking out LZs or, chatting post-flying, is to listen to more experienced pilots and although you might not think you will ever get yourself into a "situation", you might hear something very helpful that seems to come from your own bag of knowledge when you really need it. Thanks again Tom. In addition to running long, I found myself looking at a strip of high grass to land in and again, Bob G. had shown me how to land in tall grass without wacking about a year ago. Listen to these more experienced pilots they know what they are talking about.

Finally, being new to the 2 meter band, I am not all that familiar with its protocols, but I have heard a couple of times this spring pilots getting annoyed with the traffic on specific bands. It would be nice for everyone to share one of the two "club" frequencies but with all the needs for different communications that is not going to happen. My suggestion is that if what you are talking about is not directly about flying and conditions please try to switch to another frequency. If doing retrievals, make contact then switch to another frequency or use a repeater that is local for quick but very efficient longer range communications. (They are on our website)
Note: keep it short on the repeaters. The ham clubs that operate them do incur operating expenses.

Enjoy the summer flying. I have videotape of some launches from The Pulpit and Woodstock (the following day) to show after the meeting. Please feel free to bring video or photos to share after the meeting.

See you there! ~Joe