Wednesday No Contest Day

Wednesday was a “clean kill”. It has been raining on-and-off since yesterday afternoon as “Fred” moves through the Northeast. Most of NY, PA and parts of OH, WV, and VA are under a flash flood watch. Hopefully, Fred will track further east than expected and spare Western NY the heaviest of rains.

As always, Uncle Hank is mentoring the younger pilots. Deirdre McMaster has helped on the line in the past, but this year she is flying her first contest with Hank in K21. Hank has high praise for her flying skills! Patrick Cernuto is flying OH. R3 is his second contest, on the tails of R2-Wurtsboro. On Sunday, Day 1, he had his first contest day completion! Although she has flown in contests in the past as part of a team, this season Michelle Conklin is going solo in the JRs Libelle, R2-Wurtsboro and now R3. On Day 1, when several pilots landed back at Dansville without trying for the last two turnpoints, Michelle gave it a go for Nunda, but had to land out at nearby Mt Morris. Her first landout and all went well, including handling the local law enforcement. Nice to get that milestone out of the way!

All are super cool young adults, take the contest flying seriously, learn from the experienced pilots, and are fun to be around. And you cannot say enough of the effort Hank puts in to guide them along. As I am typing Hank is holding a ground school for the juniors.

There will be a chicken dinner in the hangar this evening. In the meantime, many are visiting museums and wineries. There is so much to do in the Finger Lakes region: Soaring Museum, Warplane Museum, Curtiss Museum, Corning Glass, Rockwell Museum, Boating Museum, and too many wineries to count!

J9