Sept 29 saw the end of the 2019 OLC year and thus the end of the Willy Burhen Cup (WBC)  2019.  This annular informal competition – for the best west side XC flight by any pilot in the state of Washington in a given OLC year – has been run since 2004, the year Willy Burhen left us. It has done much to demonstrate the soaring potential west side of the state besides offering spectacular scenery from the glacier capped North Cascades to the shores of Puget Sound.  The winner of the WBC 2019 was once again Ron Clark with his LS-3 that does not show any signs of aging.

After a number of highly successful and popular Twisp encampments this year's encampment was moved 8 miles upriver to the Methow Valley airport - it has a long runway, lots of tie-down area and wide open surrounding fields for any eventualities.

It was the first glider event at this Washington State airport, which is also home of the Forest Service Fire Fighting/ Smoke Jumper base. Fortunately there was no firefighting activity, glider operations worked without a hitch, and I think we are welcome to return next year.

September 25 marked the end of the 2018 OLC year and thus also the end of the Willy Burhen Cup (WBC) 2018.  This is the 14^th annual competition for the best XC flight of any soaring pilot in Western Washington in memory of Willy Burhen who was one of the enthusiastic supporters of exploring the XC potential of the Cascades.

The Twisp OLC campis now an established event for the Washington State soaring scene.  And this year's evnt during the last week of June was another success story despite not having the best soaring conditions.  June 29 - the last day of the camp - was the best day and the three best flights on that day were also the best for the whole week.

     Ron Clark              512.9points

     Henry Rebbeck       469.4 poimts

     Movses Babayan     452.3 points

Here is a comprehensive report about the recent SSA convention - thanks  Heinz!

SSA Convention report

By Heinz Gehlhaar

My Highlights

• Got the fly the Perlan simulator two times.

• Got a nice glider model to fly and show off at meetings.

• Great presentations, some were better than others.

• The Awards banquets.

With the end of the soaring season for this year it is time again to review what happened in the world of XC soaring in the state of Washington (WS).  While the calendar year is not over yet, the OLC year 2018 started already on September 25.  This cutoff for the OLC 2017 may generally be enough to cover the thermalling season but wave flying is attracting some renewed interest lately and we have already some entries for the OLC 2018.

September 24 marked the end of the OLC 2017 year and thus the end of this year’s WBC competition.  This is the annual competition to prove that XC soaring is possible and actually quite competitive on the “wet” side of the mountains.

For most glider pilots in the USA Class G air space (uncontrolled air space) is something that is of no practical importance, except possibly for takeoff and landing.  Class G allows operations “clear of clouds” and with a minimum of 1 mile visibility”.  Over Arlington Class G extends to 700 ft above ground (AGL) and gliders don’t lend themselves to scud running.  We don’t operate unless the cloud base around Arlington is at least 2000 ft AGL for pattern flying and at least 3000 ft for extended local flying and then fly basically in Class E (500 ft below clouds, 1000 ft above

It has become now a tradition - the XC camp in the middle of the summer. From June 26 to July 1, 2017, it was the time to explore the spectacular scenery of the North Cascades in the best soaring conditions during the longest days of the year. Some 15 pilots from the Sawtooth Soaring Association, ES, SGC and PSSA took up the challenge of exploring the mountains.

In the world of General Aviation it has become a tradition to come to the Zeppelin city of Friedrichshafen every year in April to be dazzled by the latest offerings from the various manufacturers. 

Now that Thomas Van de Velde has shown convincingly (i. e.

The New Year 2017 celebrations are barely over but for the OLC year 2017 (which began in September) the most spectacular soaring may be already over. This is not to ignore the upcoming World Championships in Benalla or the upcoming soaring season in the northern hemisphere but is based on some outstanding long distance soaring in the southern hemisphere that captures the imagination and the admiration of soaring and non-soaring pilots alike.

Now that this soaring season in Washington is over, it is time again to take a look at what happened in the friendly skies over Washington. Evergreen Soaring (ES) pilots fly almost exclusively from three airfields - Arlington in western Washington, the ES home base, Twisp in the North Cascades, and Ephrata in Eastern Washington, the base for the Seattle Glider Council.

As usual, the XC season for Evergreen Soaring started in March; however it did not really start in earnest this year until the beginning of May. Actually, it was a very rainy early season followed by an unusually warm and stable period. As a consequence all the better flights were made on a few selected days in the first half of May. The total number of XC flights in 2016 on the west side was far below the usual. Nonetheless quite a few pilots made their personal best west side flights indicating a general rise in XC capability.

The 2016 Twisp OLC Camp is now in the history books, and it was a memorable experience for all involved.

The Tuesday morning plan was for an exciting day of installing hardie-plank siding on the west wall of my garage.  Motivation was low.  The normal internet procrastination was in full swing… email, news, weather etc…  Lately a new website has made its way into my morning routine, thanks to Noel Wade. 

Following is the story of another of Ron’s pioneering flights in the Cascades.  This is so far the best soaring flight in 2016 in Region 8; it is also by far the best soaring flight from the west side of the Cascades.  Btw, Tieton airfield at Rimrock Lake is the highest airfield in Washington State with close to 3000 ft elevation.                                      

Here is the story of a 12 year pursuit of a dream -
building your own powered glider. Tom Wolf - one of our new students -
describes his building of the ultralight powered glider
"Cumulus" (plus trailer) that is nearing completion.
Hats off for his perseverence and best wishes for the completion! 
And of course, will it get close to its hoped for 1-26 performance?

- Editor

by Tom Wolfe

Some impressions from the recent SSA convention in Greensville SC by Ed Walker.

While we have just started the calendar year 2016 and are still awaiting the first signs of usable lift (ridge, wave or thermals), it is hard to believe that the OLC year 2016 is already mostly over for the southern hemisphere (having started on September 20).  The conditions in southern Africa (i. e.

XC (cross-country) soaring – generally defined as getting out of gliding range and thus the comfort zone of the home airfield – has been the mission statement of the Evergreen Soaring Club for some time.  And the results of the Willy Burhen Cup bear out the attraction of this kind of soaring for a dedicated group of pilots.  Closer inspection of these results, however, shows that this relatively small group consists almost exclusively of private owners who were intrigued enough to invest the money to acquire their own sailplanes and have the time and drive to go XC.  There is

Anybody contemplating XC soaring has to be prepared for the possibility “that the wind dies” and that a return to the home base becomes impossible (even for a powered glider which may not start up).  Landing at another airfield is the preferred solution to this predicament but making an off-field landing may be the only option.  So far this year four Evergreen pilots had to make off-field landings while venturing from Arlington, showing that this is not a lost art.  All these landings were executed without any problems, demonstrating that off-field landings on the west side are not as chancy or risky as sometimes assumed.

The very successful Twisp encampment is now memory and it is time to relate some of the experiences and to sort out the relevant achievements.

First and foremost, it was successful because of Ron Clark thoroughly organizing this event, getting the Twisp community involved (including an article in the Methow Valley News), and getting a lot of local businesses to contribute prizes.

And the whole event would not have been possible without Duane Barr's tireless towing efforts (and having to wait until every pilot was back for a possible retrieve before having a beer).