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FlyBC "Site of the Day August 2017 Archive Page"
Woodside after 11 am
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| 8-31-17 |
 Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. 800 metres I arrived at the Ranch at 3 pm and it was very windy and no one had flown. Good time for a ground school session for new students here for Paramotor Lessons. 8-30-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. 800 metres Oddly with the strong winds and nice CU the lift was not in the usual places. Derek flew off first joining Martin who had been in the air since 11 am. Derek almost sunk out a few times but found a nice thermal downwind of Harrison Highlands and was soon at 900 metres waiting for the rest of us to launch. Student Trevor had launched first and I was guiding him through lift but it was hard to track the thermals. He ended up in Riveside after 15 minutes. Andrei and Dennie launched next and they barely made the Ranch as they hit wind and sink. I launched last and we tried the South Knoll with Bentley on board, but it was not working. On to the clearcuts and we got up initially there, but the strong lift was above Harrison Highlands where we were parked but going up fast. When I did fly out to the Valley there was no sink to be found, Duncan's were haying and they stirred up some pretty strong thermals over their fields. Derek had landed at the HG LZ, so I planned for that same LZ. It took 15 minutes to get down and the lift was strong coming off the hiwghway and the hayfields upwind. Smooth hover in to landing as it was blowing +30 kms from the south. We tried again at 6 pm but it was way too strong on launch and we had the odd sun shower as the clouds precipitated. 8-29-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. 800 metres Derek, Martin and Norm flew after 6 pm and got to 1100 metres in typical Woodside Glassoff before heading to Harvest Market (they claimed they could have made it to Bridal or beyond but Bev was waiting at Harvest Market). 8-28-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High around 90F. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres We did not go up the mountain til noon, and the flights were short. I did one tandem at 4 pm hoping it would be better by then but it was just as lame with weid winds in the LZ making me opt for a ProCircle landing at the fire pit so I could pack in the shade. 8-27-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High around 90F. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Lots of pilots out flying today but no reports on big flights as it is pretty stable. 8-26-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Abundant sunshine. High 28C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Vihad came out for his second training day and had a perfect first flight landing in the circle! He also had a perfect launch and flight path. We tried to fly him later but his fears got the best of him as he kept sitting down instead of loading the glider and after 3 false starts we bagged his glider until later in the day. While Vihad was at launch I took Josh up for a tandem flight and he is super-excited to start lessons soon. Unfortunately the thermals got the best of Josh's stomach so we had to fly out to the Ranch. Later flights were nicely thermic for Jacek and others. 8-25-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 24C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres I did however fly at 9 am, bringing the Lil Buzzard airplane home to Eagle Ranch and the hangar. I flew in at 930 am, and Colleen did not hear me overfly the house so she missed the landing. John & Colleen came out and insisted I fly Lil Buzzard again so they could get video. The flight went well and the landing roll was very short as the grass is long. Grass now mowed. I took a group up and they all flew in mixed thermals, some staying up as long as an hour. Norm, Gary P and Mark T went up around 4 pm and they got over 2 hours getting as high as 1400 metres, just boating around Woodside. 8-24-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 22C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1500 metres I took Kyle up for his 24th flight this morning and he launched and climbed out immediately on the South Knoll as it was quite thermic by 1030 am. He soared for 20 minutes before heading to Harvest Market. Jon B was up on launch with his HG and setting it up when I drove down to get Kyle. Back on launch at 1130 am, Jon had not yet launched so we wired him off in some pretty strong gusts and he went straight up. We waited for some lulls but it was too strong for Kyle so we had to forgo his 25th and graduation flight til later. Derek, Martin, Dennie & Norm went up to launch after 630 pm and they were last seen at 1300 metres heading east, while we ate dinner. 8-23-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunshine and clouds mixed. High near 25C. Winds light and variable. 1000 metres Derek and Martin N went flying at 1030 am, and it was soarable and they both got above launch with ease. I came back from Abby at around 3 pm and we restarted flights with Derek, Kyle & Matin N flying out to Riverside as it was sinky. 8-22-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High 29C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. 900 metres We had four students today and they had 3 flights, with the last one heading them to Harvest Market LZ when it got windier. I did a tandem wth Rik B's daughter, Keely, and we got above launch in the inversion "dukin' it out" with Martin N for a bit.  We headed back up the mountain at 6:45 pm to do a couple of tandems for the guys that are mowing the Bridal LZ. Derek & Dennie were the tandem pilots and I was the wind dummy. Launch conditions were spicy and the Zeno is always fun to kite! I got off after a few inflations and was headed skyward to 1200 meters in nice smooth ridge lift with mixed thermals as it "glassed off". Derek took off next and was climbing too. Dennie took a long time to get a lull but he was off and climbing too. Dennie got this shot of the sunset as his passenger flew for him.  While we were soaring I got to 1300 meters over the South Knoll with zero forward speed, the higher I got the more wind from the SW. Derek headed out to Harvest first and he opened his trims and was moving forward wiwth good speed. I stayed at trim speed and it took til dusk to get down as it was buoyant over the Agassiz flats. Derek reported no wind on the LZ, which seemed weird as I was fighting a 20+ kph headwind to stay upwind of the LZ. Dennie got down after Derek and also had a fast landing. My landing was also very fast as I hit the wind gradient just before touchdown. Flight time for me 1:30 landing as the lights were coming on in town, otherwise I would have still been up there. 8-21-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres I went up with the students on the last flight and brushed out a trail to the glider in the trees so Scott could get to it easily. The new trail is just below launch to the south and it is a nice hike. 8-20-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres 8-19-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres 8-18-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 22C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Only Nelson & Josef were here to free fly but it was way too strong. I spent the morning working on paramotor engines and got the new 125Lite runnng very well. Later in the day Derek, Dennie, Linda and Martin N flew Woodside and got really high before out-running the rain on the way to Harvest Market. 8-17-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High near 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres It was already too thermic for first landings as the corn is getting high and the winds were switchable. Pierre was already thermalling above launch at 10 am, as I overheard Dennie coaching him on the radio. After 7 pm, it was deemed soarable and safe so Colleen, Derek, Martin N and I went up to Woodside and had a nice soaring flight getting to 1000 metres before flying to Peter Irwin's field near Hopyard Hill. We landed at sunset. 8-16-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High near 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres 8-15-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Sunny. High near 25C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 km/h. 1100 metres I had five students today, with two being brand new and the others with flights ranging from 10-15 so Colleen took the newbies to the training hill while I took the others to Launch. We got two pilots off and the last pilot to launch was Jim O on his new EONA. He rushed his launch in perfect conditions, jumped into the seat with too much brake and was headed for the trees to the right of launch. All the while I am saying :hadns up and lean left" but he decides to look at the trees and he went where he looked and was in the top of a 75 foot tree. He climbed down and we hired Scott's Tree Care to come retrieve it for $300. What an adventure! We went back up and put Jim on another glider and he had a successful flight this time landing in a field short of the Ranch. Martin N came out on this flight and got a good climb at South Knoll followed by Macej, Martin S and Brian. Everyone landed in different fields on this flight. To quote Martin N "5 pilots launched and landed in 6 different fields!" By now it was completely blown out and we did some weather briefing ground school stuff. 8-14-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: A mix of clouds and sun. High 21C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres There were a few other planes headed to Seattle waiting after a nice Alaskan trip (one was a highly modified Glastar taildragger and the other a NorthStar Piper SuperCub replica). Around 1 pm, the other planes took of in a rain shower. I did my flight plan online, and got into the air around 1:30 pm as a thunderstorm was sending out lightning strikes to the north . . . time to get out of here! Tight valleys all the way to Creston and a headwind (of course). On to Grand Forks where I needed 8500 feet to clear the rocks, thanks to some 750 ft/min thermals I did the climb pretty easily. I landed at Grand Forks to fuel up and walk around to get the feeling back in my legs. I had to dodge a few real buzzards thermalling over Grand Forks on my approach. Landing was fast as the density altitude was high, but not too long so I had a long taxi in. Most of these airports have self-serve fuel tanks which is convenient on a quiet afternoon. Note the CUs in the photo, good lift.  To get west of Grand Forks one must climb out to 5500 feet minimum from the 1700 foot airport level. Today was quite a fast climb, just get under the Cumies and start turning and I was getting 1200 ft/min sustained thermaling with another buzzard. Enroute direct to Midway, then Osoyoos which took another climb to get over Anarchist summit again with some thermal help under the CUs. Strong north winds aloft and on Osoyoos Lake as I jumped over to Mt Kobau and then on to Keremeos. Interesting flying past Hedley doing 75 knots and not worried about finding thermals or worrying about the winds blowing out like on a paraglider. I hit Princeton at 6500 feet and climbed to 8000 feet to go down to Hope. Good thing as I hit lots of sink down the Hope-Princeton route arriving at Hope at 4500 feet. There was north wind here too but if you hugged the windward slopes you could gain altitude at times. Straight over Hope and on to Agassiz over the Fraser River and I ridge-soared Cemetary Hill as I dropped into Peter Irwin's farm strip at the foot of Hopyard Hill. I have been landing on huge runways at high mountain strips and was not practicing short field techniques so I opted for this strip as it is longer than our east-west runway at the Ranch. Sorry to disappoint the Landing Crew waiting for me to drop in. Colleen came to get me as I tied the Lil Buzzard down.  Derek mentioned the lift was just as good at Bridal today, Norm said it was spring conditions with +6 m/s thermals similar to what I was hitting in Grand Forks. 8-13-17
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|  Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Light rain early. A mix of sun and clouds in the afternoon. High 19C. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 90%. 1100 metres Colleen was working in the garden after the rain passed through and she said the wind was howling through the trees all day and into the night. Today I was grounded in Cranbrook due to the same system with high winds and rain. Just enough rain to cause low ceilings but enough to wash away the smoke here. I was down checking out the tiedowns on the Lil Buzzard when I bumped into Don, a guy that came down to Savona for a two day Intro Paragliding Course 3 years ago. He decided to go on with another instructor near Invermere where he crash-landed on his first solo there and broke a few vertebrae so he is back to flying airplanes now. He is just finished rebuilding a J-3 Kitten Ultralight and was doing some run-up tests when I arrived. Small World.  You can see the sky behind us with some imbedded CUs and low cloudbase. 8-12-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 29. Humidex 35. UV index 7 or high. 1100 metres Degas was handling the students and there were some interesting moments (ie. corn husking, strong wind launching, etc.) but they got some flights in before it blew out mid-day. Norm flew later and got to 1600 metres flying straight out to the Ranch! Meanwhile I was flying the Lil Buzzard back from Regina to Cranbrook, starting at 6 am Central time and landing at Cranbrook around 4 pm MDT.  A fuel stop in Medicine Hat and another in Pincher Creek, as fuel in the tank is important if you need to turn around and find an alternate airport due to weather. The prairies were heating up as I went past Lethbridge at noon and was getting turbulated. The flight through the Rockies was amazing, down at 5500 feet to stay below any upper level winds, light thermals to help save gas. Frank Slide was tight and smooth, light tailwinds there. Dodging a CU Nim near Cranbrook and landing in 15 knot of crosswind was fun.  There are many firebombers stationed here so I got a little airshow while I was waiting for the weather to dissipate.  It never did clear til after dark so I bunked down in Cranbrook after a discussion with a Flight Service Specialist who noted there was lightning all around Cranbrook and tops to 41,000 feet. Tomorrow looks like 30% chance of showers so if cloudbase is good I am headed towards Princeton. 8-11-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 29. Humidex 35. UV index 7 or high. 1100 metres 8-10-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High 32C. Winds light and variable. 1100 metres Colleen & Dennie did a tandem at 3 pm, and I managed John W for his third flight. Here is Colleen trying to soar in the haze today.  I had to go to Chilliwack at 5 pm, and it was starting to clear a bit there with some inflow winds. Colleen did a later tandem too using her new Gin Osprey tandem. 8-9-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 30. Humidex 32. UV index 7 or high. 1100 metres It was smoky today but we could see the LZ through the haze.  Bianca, Jose and Jim O got 4 flights in before 5 pm, with some lift but mostly just buoyant conditions. Bianca now has 27 flights and is signed off P-2, Congrats! 8-8-17
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| Agassiz BC Agassiz Forecast: Mainly sunny. Widespread smoke. High 29. Humidex 32. UV index 8 or very high. 1100 metres The students were working hard as new Pilot Jim O from WA State got 5 flights and Bianca & Jose got 6 flights in the smoke. Bianca is a few flights short of a P-2 rating. 8-7-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Mainly sunny. Local smoke. High 29. UV index 8 or very high. 3100 metres Late comer Rob P arrived around noon but still got through all the Maneuvers by 6 pm on the last two flights. The drama happened on the last flight with Peyman & Bill coming over the lake together as Braden completed his set of maneuvers and was stting up to land. Peyman entered a heli and "pooched" the exit and had a huge surge which cravatted and sent him into an uncontrollable SAT with a twisted riser and had to throw his reserve. He had a Beamer 2 rogallo reserve but he could not reach the brakes to get it onto flight mode, and his main was acting like a drogue chute do he could not make it back to shore and ended up in the lake.  8-6-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Mainly sunny. Local smoke. High 29. UV index 8 or very high. 3100 metres Not much smoke all day. Fish & Cheryl were throwing it down hard as were the pros like Peyman & Bill. Rebecca did a base jump off one of the tandems today.  Last flight of the day launching after 6 pm had most pilots above 4000 metres. Derek took this shot of his vario as he was climbing thru 3606 metres and then higher over the peaks.  After the last flight a mini-cookout of tacos was started in the LZ as the sun set.  8-5-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud in the afternoon. Local smoke. High 31. UV index 6 or high. 3100 metres We decided to not go to the top til noon as it was showing NE again and by noon it went to SW. A large group went up and it took some time to launch as it went NE again on them. I waited out on the boat in the calm water.  It was not very smoky at all today, and even later there was just a thin layer of smoke near the water level. Lots of good maneuvers today from 7 SIVers. No water landings or drama. Derek launched around 4 pm after seeing some beginners off and climbed to 4100 metres and spent 2+ hours boating around the peaks and over town before landing at the RC Field. Reports of good flights at the Willi in Golden with Dan H going 150 kms to Canal Flats. Gary P had a great 100 km out and return that should score high. 8-4-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High 34. UV index 8 or very high. 3100 metres Winds were NE to N at 22 kph or more, pretty much over the back except in lulls. It was nice on the water, not as smoky as the Lower Mainland.  Only Jason got off the mountain in our group and it was a windy, rotory sled-ride to the LZ. Folks waited a long time and by noon they decided to come down. The Hangies went up at the same time and waited til 3 pm to fly and had "rock & roll" flights and a few of them decided to break down and drive down. 8-3-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High 34. UV index 8 or very high. 2500 metres Not so smoky today as I fired up the boat and had a heli with a water bucket come right over head as I warmed up on the lake. He said he was just picking up some weight to stabilize the bucket as he flew east to the Banff fires and I was not in the way.  Chris E was back in the air on Colleen's Leaf Light as he ripped a cell in yesterday's drama and he just had a nice thermal flight. We had a few wet gliders and harnesses as pilots misjudged the approach but just a bit damp. The maneuvers went very well and the second day participants can now full stall and spin without coaching and exit those maneuvers well. Three flight rounds for the keeners, and we kept Bianca & Monica on the ground for the mid-day flight as they had to wait so long on top yesterday for it to mellow out. It was Bill's birthdy so he threw in a death spiral near the shore but mossed his timing and splashed down 5 metres out! Another nice evening with Colleen in the square in town, as the smoke came in from the east. 8-2-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon. High 34. UV index 8 or very high. 2500 metres It started out quite smoky but cleared up mid-day. After an extensive ground briefing the 7 participants got in the shuttle truck to head to the tram station for the ride up. We started the basic maneuvers on flight #1 and everyone did very well with those maneuvers. Chris E arrived late and I did the maneuver briefing with him while the others were flying in. On the second round both Ky & Chris E forgot the most improtant part of a full stall exit: half release for a few seconds before going to a full release. Ky had her EONA almost hit her as she released completely from the full stall! Ot reinflated with a shock but no cravattes and she flew away. Chris E did the exact same thing but ended up in the glider, roman candle style, and it was good that we had lots of altitude so he could swim out of the glider and just get the reserve out. This is why we train over water. He was okay but it scared the hell out of me & Peyman who was in the boat helping me. Tip of the Day: Never release your brakes rapidly from any stall or spin maneuver! We flew until dark and the winds were perfect in the LZ all day. 8-1-17
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| Agassiz BC Revelstoke Forecast: Mainly sunny. Local smoke. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 this afternoon. High 29. UV index 8 or very high. 2500 metres Good reconn day for Jacek & Monica as they got their passes for the tram, kited for hours on the landing field with Peyman and Bill. Colleen also got to kite her new tandem, the Gin Osprey 34 metre rated for 100-210 kgs.  The forecast today was for winds up to 40 kph so we did not go up the mountain, but the winds stayed mellow most of the day.  2016 in Review - we had our busiest season every in 20 years! Thanks to all of you that supported us in 2016! We started out in January with our biggest Mexican Tour with many guests improving their skills at El Toro, Pelican Bay Soaring Site, Colima and Tapalpa. February brought us more Tour guests with me returning to Canada on March 1 to start lessons. March brought on some great spring conditions with some excellent XC flights in the Faser Valley. April brought out many new student pilots and we had up to 7 per day requiring some additional manpower to help out with Degas in Mission with newbies while I was sending students off Woodside. April enjoyed the first tree-landing of the season as an un-named P-2 pilot 360ed himself into a 200' tree just before dark. May brought out many pilots doing XC flights from Benny to Woodside. This site was improved in 2016 with WCSC & BCHPA funds so we are going to take advancing students there in 2017. We also ran our Annual FlyBC Instructor Course and had many new candidates working with our students. We had to go to Coyote & Mara many times to avoid the weather. June was an awesome month and we had many signed off P-2 students by now. Thanks to all who helped us get them through their courses! July was a productive month but also brought some sad news as a local Bellingham Pilot who had flown Blanchard hundreds of times had a fatal crash while paragliding on a mellow day. TJ had been flying since 2000 and had created a Weather Page that was very useful in predicting the conditions. August took us to Mara Lake for our Annual SIV Course and we had 25 participants over 10 days with only a few wet wings. Either we are getting better at guiding, or the gliders are getting safer, or the pilots are doing more studying prior to the Course . . . or all three but it is a pleasure to put pilots through the maneuvers and see them cain confidence in their gear. September was flyable most days but we did do the odd road trip to Merritt and Coyote. I think we are up to 200 flyable days now. We also had one weekend closed to students and pilots at Eagle Ranch while we married off Aaron & Christy! October turned out to be a complete bust as it rained everyday, as did November. Odd as this is usually our busiest training time. It was okay because we had planned a trip to Australia anyway, but I felt bad for the students that did not get finished in 2016. December was also bad weather-wise with record snow falls, so I went to Mexico to get our winter condo ready for the winter season, and Derek & Norm & I had some nice flights. Thanks again to the 40+ students we signed off in 2016. Thanks also to the pilots that bought a record number of gliders from Gin, Ozone & SupAir from us in 2016. Stay safe in 2017, and we will be here to support you in your flying endeavours. |
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