SZD16
Dec 31, 2002, 01:00 AM
<p><big>First Annual Casa Last Aero-Tow</p></big>
<blockquote>The first annual CASA Last Aero-tow of the Season is history, and a very good piece of history at that! Leading up to the weekend Skip, Antonio, and myself emailed each other back and forth as to weather we were going to even have the event what with snipers, bad weather, and a lack of interest it was looking like we were going to punt and call the thing off. However, the snipers were caught, the weather pulled thru, and we had ten pilots show up with fourteen planes!</blockquote>
<blockquote>Friday, the 9th of November, turned out to be one of the best Saturday's we have had in a while here in central Virginia, with light to moderate winds, mid 60's temperatures, and lightly cloudy skies. Things were already rolling along at Frank Thompson's Horsefeathers Aerodrome in Hurleyville, Virginia, which is Southeast of Warrenton, when I showed up at 9:00 am. I had spent the past hour driving around Warrenton looking for some #64 rubber bands to use to hold the wings on the Pratt Reid.</blockquote>
<blockquote>I didn't find any, but on the way to the field, I came upon a van with Pennsylvania plates and a sailplane decal in the rear window. It was driving along slowly looking like it was lost. He pulled over, and we pulled along side, and we asked if he was looking for the Aerotow event. Sure enough, he was! We had him follow us, and we were at the field in no time. The gentleman in the van turned out to be Reece Baock who brought along his ASK-21. He also had a supply of #64 rubber bands, so we were able to assemble the Pratt Reid without a problem.</blockquote>
<blockquote>As soon as we pulled in, we had the pleasure of watching as Ben Diss from New York powered his Bird Dog tug skyward with a mighty roar. There was no doubt in my mind that he would be able to pull any plane there up to the limit of our sight. Our other tug pilot was Frank Stickle from Centerville, Virginia, who is the CASA official tug pilot! Frank, along with his trusty 1/3rd scale Extra 330 aerobatic tow plane, had more then enough power and skill to take all of us on as many rides as we wished. These two guys spent the day taking turns towing us aloft so we could search for those elusive thermals, and elusive they were.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Five guys signed up to participate in the EMS Gold Medal Contest, and only two of them made the 20-minute time for a bronze medal. Both Reece Baock and Antonio Quesada just made their times with a 20:09 and 20:03 respectively. This was after quite a few attempts at the task that always started with a "Honeymooners" tow ...i.e., "To the moon, Alice, to the moon!"</blockquote>
<blockquote>Antonio made his 20 minutes with his 1/4 scale Kestrel. He also had a 1/4 scale Reiher II and his Nats winning 1/3rd scale Grunau Baby. Ben Diss brought his Bird Dog tug along with a HKM ASW 27 that he got from John Derstine at EMM. Richard Behrends, who did the driving from New York for him and Ben to be here, brought along his ASW 27 and a real nice 1/5 scale DG 1000. Kerry Cochrell was flying his ASK 21, as was Skip Schow who had his own ASK 21. Both Doug Barry and Bernie Coleman drove up from Charlotte North Carolina to join in the fun. Bernie had his Mueller 1/3rd scale Discus and Doug had his scratch built 1/4 scale Olympia Meiser.</blockquote>
<blockquote>In a show of what a truly nice guy Doug is (don't tell anyone!), he let a friend of ours, Millard Scott, who came to the event but didn't bring his ASK21 because of radio problems, use his Olympia to get his first ever aerotow. Millard has only winch launched his ASK 21 to date, so he was planning to come to the event to learn how to aerotow, but receiver problems made him leave his plane at home on the bench. Doug once again proved that he is truly a OSB.... (Old Soaring Buddy), which is way better than a S.O...(You guess the rest)! We all know some of them! Daniel and I brought the Pratt Reid, TG-2, and the Sr. Telemaster tug along. The tug was sidelined with some funky radio problems, but we managed to put quite a few flights in on the TG-2 and Pratt Reid. Daniel had a good time even though he chickened out from the tow part of the flights. As soon as I got off the line, he was quick to take the radio from me and show me how it was done! Kids! </blockquote>
<blockquote>Skip, Antonio, and I got together at the end of the day and listened to the weather forecast for Sunday, and after rain and winds of 15-20 mph's were forecast, we decided that it was best to leave the event as a one day affair and called the first Annual CASA Last Aerotow of the Season over! We are looking at next April 2003 as the possible date for the first Annual CASA First Aerotow of the Season. We'll keep you all posted as we get closer to the event. In closing, remember that scale sailplane flyers not only strive to keep it up as long as possible, we also look good while we're doing it!</blockquote>
<blockquote>Tom</blockquote>
<p><big>Photo Album - First Annual Casa Last Aero-Tow</p></big>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/1.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/1_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/3.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/3_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/4.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/4_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog Navy tug and Tom Pack's Pratt Reid Navy trainer</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/5.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/5_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/8.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/8_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/9.jpg "><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/9_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Antoino Quesada's Rehier II</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Antonio Quesada's Nats winning Grunau Baby</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/10.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/10_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/11.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/11_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/12.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/12_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Benn Diss's HKM ASW 27</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Frank Stickle's Extra 330 tug</td>
<td width="33%" align="center"> Bernie Coleman's Discus</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/13.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/13_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/14.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/14_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/15.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/15_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Doug Barry's Olympia Meiser</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Richard Behrends's DG 1000</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">A look at the field</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/16.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/16_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/18.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/18_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/17.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/17_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Daniel Pack shows his smooth flying style</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Tom and Daniel Pack's TG-2, Prat Reid, and Sr. Telemaster tug</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Our host Frank Thompson at the wheel of his golf cart</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<blockquote>The first annual CASA Last Aero-tow of the Season is history, and a very good piece of history at that! Leading up to the weekend Skip, Antonio, and myself emailed each other back and forth as to weather we were going to even have the event what with snipers, bad weather, and a lack of interest it was looking like we were going to punt and call the thing off. However, the snipers were caught, the weather pulled thru, and we had ten pilots show up with fourteen planes!</blockquote>
<blockquote>Friday, the 9th of November, turned out to be one of the best Saturday's we have had in a while here in central Virginia, with light to moderate winds, mid 60's temperatures, and lightly cloudy skies. Things were already rolling along at Frank Thompson's Horsefeathers Aerodrome in Hurleyville, Virginia, which is Southeast of Warrenton, when I showed up at 9:00 am. I had spent the past hour driving around Warrenton looking for some #64 rubber bands to use to hold the wings on the Pratt Reid.</blockquote>
<blockquote>I didn't find any, but on the way to the field, I came upon a van with Pennsylvania plates and a sailplane decal in the rear window. It was driving along slowly looking like it was lost. He pulled over, and we pulled along side, and we asked if he was looking for the Aerotow event. Sure enough, he was! We had him follow us, and we were at the field in no time. The gentleman in the van turned out to be Reece Baock who brought along his ASK-21. He also had a supply of #64 rubber bands, so we were able to assemble the Pratt Reid without a problem.</blockquote>
<blockquote>As soon as we pulled in, we had the pleasure of watching as Ben Diss from New York powered his Bird Dog tug skyward with a mighty roar. There was no doubt in my mind that he would be able to pull any plane there up to the limit of our sight. Our other tug pilot was Frank Stickle from Centerville, Virginia, who is the CASA official tug pilot! Frank, along with his trusty 1/3rd scale Extra 330 aerobatic tow plane, had more then enough power and skill to take all of us on as many rides as we wished. These two guys spent the day taking turns towing us aloft so we could search for those elusive thermals, and elusive they were.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Five guys signed up to participate in the EMS Gold Medal Contest, and only two of them made the 20-minute time for a bronze medal. Both Reece Baock and Antonio Quesada just made their times with a 20:09 and 20:03 respectively. This was after quite a few attempts at the task that always started with a "Honeymooners" tow ...i.e., "To the moon, Alice, to the moon!"</blockquote>
<blockquote>Antonio made his 20 minutes with his 1/4 scale Kestrel. He also had a 1/4 scale Reiher II and his Nats winning 1/3rd scale Grunau Baby. Ben Diss brought his Bird Dog tug along with a HKM ASW 27 that he got from John Derstine at EMM. Richard Behrends, who did the driving from New York for him and Ben to be here, brought along his ASW 27 and a real nice 1/5 scale DG 1000. Kerry Cochrell was flying his ASK 21, as was Skip Schow who had his own ASK 21. Both Doug Barry and Bernie Coleman drove up from Charlotte North Carolina to join in the fun. Bernie had his Mueller 1/3rd scale Discus and Doug had his scratch built 1/4 scale Olympia Meiser.</blockquote>
<blockquote>In a show of what a truly nice guy Doug is (don't tell anyone!), he let a friend of ours, Millard Scott, who came to the event but didn't bring his ASK21 because of radio problems, use his Olympia to get his first ever aerotow. Millard has only winch launched his ASK 21 to date, so he was planning to come to the event to learn how to aerotow, but receiver problems made him leave his plane at home on the bench. Doug once again proved that he is truly a OSB.... (Old Soaring Buddy), which is way better than a S.O...(You guess the rest)! We all know some of them! Daniel and I brought the Pratt Reid, TG-2, and the Sr. Telemaster tug along. The tug was sidelined with some funky radio problems, but we managed to put quite a few flights in on the TG-2 and Pratt Reid. Daniel had a good time even though he chickened out from the tow part of the flights. As soon as I got off the line, he was quick to take the radio from me and show me how it was done! Kids! </blockquote>
<blockquote>Skip, Antonio, and I got together at the end of the day and listened to the weather forecast for Sunday, and after rain and winds of 15-20 mph's were forecast, we decided that it was best to leave the event as a one day affair and called the first Annual CASA Last Aerotow of the Season over! We are looking at next April 2003 as the possible date for the first Annual CASA First Aerotow of the Season. We'll keep you all posted as we get closer to the event. In closing, remember that scale sailplane flyers not only strive to keep it up as long as possible, we also look good while we're doing it!</blockquote>
<blockquote>Tom</blockquote>
<p><big>Photo Album - First Annual Casa Last Aero-Tow</p></big>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/1.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/1_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/3.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/3_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/4.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/4_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog Navy tug and Tom Pack's Pratt Reid Navy trainer</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/5.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/5_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/8.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/8_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/9.jpg "><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/9_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Ben Diss's Bird Dog</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Antoino Quesada's Rehier II</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Antonio Quesada's Nats winning Grunau Baby</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/10.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/10_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/11.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/11_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/12.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/12_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Benn Diss's HKM ASW 27</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Frank Stickle's Extra 330 tug</td>
<td width="33%" align="center"> Bernie Coleman's Discus</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/13.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/13_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/14.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/14_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/15.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/15_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Doug Barry's Olympia Meiser</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Richard Behrends's DG 1000</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">A look at the field</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br><br>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#E6E6E6">
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/16.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/16_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/18.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/18_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
<td width="33%" align="center"><a href="/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/17.jpg"><img src="http://static.rcgroups.com/articles/liftzone/2002/dec/tow/17_t.jpg" border="2"></a> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="33%" align="center">Daniel Pack shows his smooth flying style</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Tom and Daniel Pack's TG-2, Prat Reid, and Sr. Telemaster tug</td>
<td width="33%" align="center">Our host Frank Thompson at the wheel of his golf cart</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>