Silly Season Is Here

— By Martin Hellman

The silly season is the result of pilots who have not flown for several months attempting controlled flight early in the spring. You will have an opportunity to witness all kinds of silly errors that most of the time are not serious, just embarrassing.

Of course, more serious errors occur and someone gets hurt. Bottom line – take your time, be careful with preflight, assembly checks, pre-takeoff checks and do not fly in marginal conditions until you get some practice flying again.

Ridge Soaring Gliderport will offer a group of three tows at a reduced rate for those of you who want to become current. The intention is for these tows to 1,200 feet AGL to occur in the morning before we get busy, which also means before lift begins.

We had a silly incident occur the other day. A pilot made several radio calls with no response from anyone during his flight. After he landed, he discovered the volume was not turned up.

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Here is a link to a thought-provoking safety article by Martin Hellman:
www-ee.stanford.edu/~hellman/soaring/PASCO_2007_talk.html