1999 Blanik Fun Meet
1999 Blanik Fun Meet
The 1999 Blanik Fun Meet was a lot of fun for those who came to Caesar Creek Soaring Club's gliderport near Dayton, Ohio for the Memorial Day Weekend! On Friday, May 28, the favorable weather gave pilots a chance to launch and scout the area. After practice flying, tents were pitched in the lush green park-like setting of the gliderport's camping area. Saturday was the first day of the three-day meet.
The Blanik Contest was run as an integrated class of the popular Wright Memorial Contest, in which twenty six pilots participated this year. Another twenty pilots joined in on Sunday for the Regional SSA six day contest. Saturday was a practice day for them.
The single-place L33 Solo pilots came from as far as Illinois and Virginia, and the young two-place L-13 Blanik pilots from Penn State in Pennsylvania.
Shown in the photos are Curt Lewis, L33 Solo contest number 95, Mike Robinson and Mark Maughmer II in front of the Penn State L-13 Blanik N99920, and Gary Naber, L33 Solo contest number S2. From Washington State came the sponsor of the Meet, Vitek Siroky of Blanik America, Inc.
Saturday started with unusually clear air for Ohio, promising great soaring. And it was! First, pilots met at nine for the safety briefing, explanation of airport rules, turnpoints, and contest procedures.
The weather forecast was for dry airmass with a good lapse rate, and thermals to 7,500'. Launch grid positions were assigned and pilots asked to stage their gliders at eleven. The task called for a minimum flight time of three hours, and turnpoints according to the sports class rules.
Launching was smooth and gliders quickly gained 5,000' or more before running the gate. For many, this day would bring their personal distance records. The L33 pilots flew around up to eleven turnpoints and the L13 pilots rounded four, with handicapped distances achieved ranging between 77 to 155 miles.
The weather developed even better than predicted, and one pilot reported reaching 10,000' MSL! This day alone was well worth coming for.
On the second day of the contest, the air was more typical for Ohio: a little hazy with cloud bases in the local area at about 5,000'. Also the wind picked up from the southwest. Launching was delayed until about two o'clock and the task time set to two hours minimum.
Getting away from the gliderport to better soaring conditions proved quite difficult for the L-13 pilots, who came back for several relights, and impossible for one of the Solos even after three tries. Drifting away from the airport into the murky haze was a challange also for the Fun Meet sponsor who coached one of the local club's members to cross-country in the L23 Super Blanik.
Several area newspapers reported on the Meet: Aimee Obidzinski interviewed the participants and published a nice picture in the Dayton Daily News, with the following caption: Gary Naber (left) and his daughter, Kelly Naber, 8, of Wytheville, Va., take shelter under Gary's Let L33 Solo glider at the Ceasar Creek Soaring Club on Sunday.
Cincinatti Enquirer printed on Monday a picture taken with a fish-eye lens of a pilot in the back seat of the L23 Super Blanik, during a pullup with the countryside in the background.
After every one got back including a few retrieves, participants gathered for the Ox Roast. Over 120 lbs of hind quarters were slowly simmered the whole day marinated with zesty Italian dressing. Samuel Adams was on tap. Everyone enjoyed the bonfire while rehashing the day's adventures.
The outlook for the third day was for rain showers. While they did not materialize until the day after, overcast skies prompted the organizers to scrub the day. Blanik Fun Meet trophies were given by the sponsor to the top scoring pilots (framed photos of eagles with an inspirational soaring message, LET factory caps, and gold pens).
The remaining time was spent touring the nearby largest military aviation museum in the world, and pondering the reasons why not more Blaniks showed up. Perhaps the timing was not ideal (during the most popular spring weekend Blanik clubs wouldn't allow their ship to leave the field). Also it is possible that the fledgling Blanik cross-country flyers felt a bit intimidated to compete along with the presumed "big boys", and finally there could have been a little more promotion given to the Meet.
The consensus, however, was that the Blanik Meets are a lot of fun and very well worth attending. Perhaps next year we'll get together again at New Castle, VA, and then again at Caesar Creek - or anywhere else where a willing and able team is ready to step up to the task of organizing it.
Thanks go to the organizers at Caesar Creek for welcoming the Blanik contingent and to Curt Lewis, L33 owner, for helping recruit participants.
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