Shenandoah Valley Soaring

A dark cloud of predicted rain again cut attendance and glider participation in The Richard C. duPont Memorial Regatta this year, but the weather turned out to be unexpectedly good and SVS members had lots of flights and good times.

A forecast of a rainy weekend caused vintage sailplane owners to decide against coming. Last year, the threat of Hurricane Floyd had a similar effect. But Saturday and Sunday turned out to be pleasant days after all, and a number of tows were made, many by Fred Bane of Petersburg, W.Va.’s Grant County Airport. He brought his Supercub to assist in towing.

Highlights of the weekend included a Friday evening barbecue in Bob Byron’s hangar, which he once again graciously allowed us to use, and the delightful debut of SVS’s own Lonesome Thermal Boys (actually, two guys and a gal).

The Lonesome Thermal Boys group consists of Bud Branch on the banjo and sometimes guitar, Dave Miller on guitar and spoons (“regular eatin’ spoons”) and Anne O’Brien, whose pure, captivating voice and guitar playing rounded out the group’s agreeable sounds.

In a banquet talk Saturday night, Karl Striedieck talked about soaring the Appalachian ridges from Pennsylvania to Tennessee – and beyond. In 1977, Striedieck set a 1,000-mile world soaring record by flying from Lock Haven, Pa. to Oak Ridge, Tenn. and back and he has since made similar flights along those ridges. A future goal, he said, is to fly from Pennsylvania to Pensacola, Fla.

In his introduction of Striedieck, SVS President Bud Klaser noted that the report on Richard duPont’s 1933 soaring expedition into Virginia mountains prophetically suggested that long record flights could be made using the Appalachians if sailplanes could be designed to fly faster than those existing at the time. Striedieck’s average speed during his 1977 flight was about 73 miles an hour, and his top speeds were nearly 150 miles an hour.

Striedieck noted an indirect connection with, and inspiration from, Richard duPont. In the late 1930s, duPont led a company called All-American Aviation that conducted a non-stop airmail pickup and delivery operation that served small cities and towns in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Striedieck’s mother was the postmistress in his hometown in Pennsylvania and was involved in retrieving the dropped airmail and setting up the outgoing bags that would be snatched by grappling hooks dangling from the planes as they flew by. Watching those airmail planes, Striedieck said, was probably the beginning of his interest in aviation. Watching soaring birds kindled his interest in flying sailplanes. 

He showed a video on the dynamic soaring techniques used by sea birds, such as albatrosses, to cover long distances over oceans. The technique takes advantage of wind gradients that exist up to about 300 feet.

 Thanks to Pete Bryce for his role in getting Karl as our banquet speaker, to Bud Klaser for all of his work on arrangements and his personal sacrifices, and to all of the SVS members who made the barbecue, the chairs and tables and the total event possible.   

Member News

Congratulations to Eva Tashjian-Brown on getting her glider private pilot’s license. Eva, who holds airplane and balloon licenses, completed her glider training at Bermuda High Soaring last month.

Congratulations, too, to Mike Moses, also an airplane and balloon pilot, who made his solo glider flight at Eagle’s Nest on September 23.

 In an e-mail report to SVS members, Walter Grooms says he’s still under “house arrest” but hopes his doctors will parole him early this month. He also notes that daytime TV is brain-rotting.