Judging from the picture of gliders on a snowy runway - no!

The season never ends at SOSA.  As long as the field and weather conditions permit, there are flying operations.  The flying is not as free form as during the peak season and requires some organization, so watch the yahoo group email list for announcements and then sign up on the free flight daily flying planner. It can be a great opportunity to stay current, particularly for students whose new found skills can be lost quickly without regular instruction.

We have had soaring flights throughout the winter, the only thing that limits the duration is your tolerance to the cold.

Come out and enjoy soaring above the snow-covered country side.

Saturday June 23rd - 6:00 pm
at the Club House
 
Title: Flying for the Rest of Our Lives

If you are NOT getting older, you don't need to attend. But for everyone else, this session will review some of the ways our minds, bodies and flying experience change us over the years that both improve and diminish our flying skills. What gets better, what does not? Not easy to tell. This session will provide some tips for what to watch for in ourselves, how to optimize our skills as long as possible, and how we can keep flying forever, with open discussion about how the club can provide support for all of us to fly for the rest of our lives. 

The Session will be lead by Dr. Dale Guenter and Dr. Alan Daniels

This summer there will be Acro instruction on Wednesday evenings starting as early as June 13.
Once the programs gets established, we will look at doing instructing on the weekends.

If you are interested in participating in Acro this summer please contact Joe Stubbs directly, so he can add you to the email distribution list used to organize flying each week. 

All new and prospective SOSA members are invited to the New and Prospective member orientation session
SOSA Clubhouse 3-6pm, 9 Jun 2018

The clubhouse will be closed to all Sustaining Members from 3-5pm on Saturday.

New and prospective members will be introduced to the club and facilities with tours and discussions.  Discussion topics will include:  Signing up as a new member, How members are billed, Club structure and organization, How flying activities are planned, How members communicate, Duty Roster and Volunteering, Logging flights, Flight simulator, Parachutes, Sunscreen/hats, Beer.

Participants are welcome and encouraged to stay for the 6pm Safety Meeting (PowerFLARM and the club's new Automated External Defibrillators), which will be followed by a 7pm social BYO-BBQ.  We'll have our large charcoal pit and two propane BBQs running for whatever grillables you bring along.

Mo Attia, our Dean of Students, will be at the BBQ to hand out nametags to all new members and help everyone make some new friends.

To promote this event to your own social media audiences, please share via the following links:

• https://www.facebook.com/events/200896877405885/
• https://twitter.com/SOSAglidingclub/status/1004368901130637312

Cheers,
Rob Russell

To all club members,

Shirley is inviting all to join us on an informal BBQ on June 9th. 
Bring your own food/beverage and let's enjoy the good weather by the club house.

We'll start the BBQ by 6-7pm.

In May 2018, SOSA had a new glider joining its fleet. We have purchased a pristine Discus 2.
 
The Discus 2 is one of the top glider performers of the Standard class in the world. This one is already equipped with Flarm and an Oudie and being a Canadian registered glider, means we can start flying it right away.
 
The glider was brought by Herrie Ten Cate who made a 6000km return trip to pick it up from Saskatoon. Please join us on thanking him to volunteer for the retrieve.
 
After a quick inspection, weight and ballast, etc. it will be available to club members. The checkout requirements for the Discuss 2 will be the same as the LS4.

This is the first of the monthly summaries of our cross-country activity recorded on the OLC (on-line competition).  It is a fun way to compare our flying to previous years and to other clubs.  Source:  https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/clubRanking.html?st=olc&rt=olc&c=CA&sc=&sp=2018

As everyone has noticed 2018 has started late with our wet field conditions.  As of May 31st we have logged 3473 km in 26 flights by 18 members. The good news is that we are double the distance (1740 km) for last year at this time.  However, we are well below average as shown on the graph below.

Why record your flight? Logging our flights is a good way to demonstrate how active we are as a club. You do not need to have the best flight of the day. OLC counts every flight over 50km, so even if you are just going to Brantford and back, you can add to our club total.

Our average flights might not be as long as those by Canadian Rockies pilots, but with lots of SOSA pilots contributing, we can make a big total by the end of the season. Remember 2016, we had 51 members record 115,000 km on OLC? That gave us the biggest total in the country. Well, May 2018 finds us in 11th place among Canadian clubs, so the season has started faster out west and in Quebec. Let’s hope the weather cooperates as we look forward to another great year of cross-country flying.

To record your flight just go to OLC and tap on the Claim Flight tab: https://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-3.0/gliding/olc.html?_flowExecutionKey=_cB613C844-98DA-7726-486D-84EFF77C7F11_k7E5FA207-D936-42C9-F9FB-889A897951D6

​Select the file and upload. You can use XCSoar to record your flight on your smart phone or copy the file from the flarm in the glider. If it is your first time, you will need to register as a pilot (name and birth date) on OLC. Then join in the club challenge of seeing how far we can go in a season. Have fun! Fly safe!  
​

The Board and CFI Team has approved our Annual Cross Country Clinic. The clinic will commence on Monday July 9/18 and will run until Friday evening, July 13/18. This will be a fun and low key event, designed to convince newer members to expand their soaring horizons.

The clinic will commence at 09:00 with ground school, followed by a weather briefing, in the Club House. Assuming good flying weather, plan on spending the entire day at the field.  A registration fee is required to cover expenses. Any surplus will be donated to the Youth Team.

Who will benefit from this clinic? Ideally, members who have completed a minimum of two (2) two hour solo flights and/or their 50 km. Silver Distance. Members with less experience will be accepted but it is likely that your Instructor will actually do much of the flying. Members who are working on their Gold badge (300 km) and/or planning to enter the competition arena, will benefit greatly, from the clinic.

The following allocation of gliders will apply:

1. Members who have completed their Silver Distance will have top priority.
2. Members who have completed all requirements for the Bronze Badge will have next priority.
3. Members who are still working on their Bronze Badge will fly if instructors and gliders are available.
4. All members may attend the morning ground school no matter what their flying status.

The Puchacz will be assigned to basic thermalling training and will not engage in serious cross country tasks – no trailer.

The ASK 21 gliders, and Duo Discus will be used for cross country tasks. Depending on demand and member qualifications, a Junior and an LS 4 will be allocated for solo flights.

If Private owners wish to participate, they are most welcome.

Note that you must be registered to participate in the clinic – instructor resources are limited and instructors are sacrificing personal soaring and career time to help you become a more skilled soaring pilot.

Please contact John Brennan offline for further information.

It is that time of year where we would like to raise funds to cover the insurance premium for the youth Jantar that is based at SOSA for youth to fly for minimal cost.

We are looking for donations from SOSA members, and all donations are tax deductible.  No donation is too small, $20, $50, $100 whatever you are comfortable with.

How can you donate?
1. Debit your SOSA account - email Dave Springford with the amount you would like to donate and I can debit the donation from your SOSA account

2. Interac e-transfer - send an email transfer to Dave and the amount will be deposited directly into the Youth Flight Canada bank account. 

3.  Write a cheque payable to Youth Flight Canada Education Fund and mail it to 
Youth Flight Canada
663 Deer Run Dr
Waterloo, ON, N2K 3H2

4. Cash - on the up-coming work weekend, Martin Brassard will collect and record any cash (or cheque) donations that you would like to make.

This year, the Jantar will be competing in the Nationals with a Junior pilot at the controls and there is a group of about 5 young pilots that should be flying it this summer. The glider is available to all qualified youth pilots under the age of 26 and they pay $10 per day to fly the glider. The Jantar is kept in the trailer and rigged each day that it flies so that the pilots know how to rig and de-rig the glider should they land out. They are expected to wash and wax the glider and keep it clean and in good condition - just like any other privately owned glider.

Thanks in advance for your support of youth soaring at SOSA.
 
Dave

This is the effect of the snow accumulation and March rain does to our runaways on the weekend of March 4th. The good news is that we did some maintenance of the draining systems during the last season and the runaways should be dry earlier this year.
Thanks to Logan for the picture.

Update on March 10th. Most of the water was drained, however the ground remains soft and snow/ice is still at the runaway.