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It being New Year's Day and my birthday and all, I did something crazy today: went to Coney Island to join the Polar Bear Club in their annual New Year's swim in the Atlantic! Air temp was about 32F, water temp was... stupid crazy cold, I guess. Strode out with the second wave of what may be...

Congrats to South Side Soaring's youngest member, Cameron Bauer (age 14) who flew his first solo in our SGS 2-33 yesterday at 47N! Just a pattern hop from 1500 AGL, in light wind. Air was stable with a high overcast- perfect for a first glider solo. Did a great job, which was no surprise to...

Finally exercised the commercial rating today...a little too early for staying up very long without aggressive turning and the horizon was hazy, but the pax seemed to feel he got his money's worth. Older gent, lives locally, first light aircraft ride ever. He seemed to just get a kick out of...

Doing some review of my study materials, and looking at the stuff about polars, with wind or sink, I realize I don't quite understand something... Having not really done any xc (and without a McC ring), I haven't had the chance to really study the matter empirically.... but I totally get...

Flew today for the first time since late October... I feel like myself again. :D Conditions looked promising on paper, but with fairly strong winds aloft in the area, the lift was tricky. The strongest stuff I found was below 1500 AGL, and I tend to think of 1500 as my "hard deck" for slow...

The glider gods smiled on our little club today, bringing forth workable ceilings and light winds for two check rides: my commercial-glider and Pavel's private pilot-glider add-on (he's also a PPASEL, with a good amount of glider time from Europe, but no glider cert previously). I did OK...

Looking for some advice here about an impending court date... a silly matter, regarding a ticket for parking when street cleaning is in effect. The fine is $55. I'm fighting it on principle, partly because in the last 15 years I've never even seen evidence of street cleaning in front of my...

Passed my Commercial Glider written today, by a respectable margin (89). I was a little disappointed; thought I'd done better... but I passed... and my instructor told me of a heavy-duty DPE he knew, WWII bomber pilot, etc, etc, who once told him that 88-92 is a "gentleman's score", and that...

One walked away, other broke a leg, according to what I heard at the airport today. Local scuttlebutt so far (I repeat, scuttlebutt) hints at an intentional single-engine go-around gone awry (with resulting cartwheel). More scuttlebutt indicates low fuel in one tank and none in the other...

... and it ain't over yet. :) I'm hoping to do the commercial check ride this year, but haven't taken the written yet, and meanwhile some decent soaring days have been popping up. Couple weeks ago I did just over an hour solo in the 2-33, did some review dual after that (made some dumb...

I had a little time this morning to go to the waterfront in Hoboken for the re-scheduled flyby... only had my cheesy point'n'shoot with me, but it was great just to be there. They made two passes, both over the west bank, not the middle of the river. Messed up my photo plans, but it was still...

No work scheduled today, and conditions looked pretty good for at least one glider hop. One of the tow pilots said he might be around in the morning, so I threw my tools and a change of clothes (in case I got a service call) and headed down to 47N. As it turned out, when I arrived at around...

Today four of the club members gathered at 47N to pull the 1-26 out of its new winter home (a shipping container it shares with the 2-33), and we got it assembled without mishap. Nothing missing and nothing left over, LOL. We also finally addressed the wonky canopy frame, making it easier to...

Couldn't resist buying a chance to do this! Fundraiser for SAFE. And yes, they will let you fly it! http://www.safepilots.org/little-witch-p51-raffle/

C-140 engine failure... by-the-book procedure; perfect landing in an alfalfa field; no damage or injuries; friendly farmers; pilot's young daughter does a better job explaining what happened (see video) than most eyewitnesses, reporters, or media-hired "experts"... :)...

... by interrogating pax after their flight. A domestic flight. What? Really? http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2011/09/filght_home.php

A big day for the club today... 8 paying riders, including a group of girls (all sisters, I think) aged 7 through tween. First question Mom posed to me was "Is it safe?"(not a good sign when they lead with that, and difficult to answer when you are trying to sell rides). I think I said something...

... In the July AOPA magazine. Some very nice pictures- I saw that machine at Airventure '03, and it was the most beautiful aircraft I've ever seen (and one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen). Their goal had been to match the handiwork of Hughes' team, and I think they succeeded. I'll...

What a long, wet, miserable winter/early spring... but finally the grass was dry and firm enough, so after re-assembling the 2-33 (the wings were finally blasted and repainted recently), the club did some flying yesterday. Pretty good conditions, but not great, and a bit of a gusty xwind. I...

Interesting tie-in for me: I was driving west on Rt. 80 and passed the scene as they were putting it on a flatbed. I don't recall it looking like a Cessna (Flycatcher?), but I only caught a glimpse, and it looked like one o' them new plastic jobs. Saw no obvious damage; PIC chose well- a long...