Gatineau Gliding Club
2211 Concession Road 7 K0B 1C0 Plantagenet, ON, Canada

Winter Solstice on Monday, December 21, 2020 Winter Solstice Time - 05:01 AM Winter Solstice Sunrise - 07:40 AM Winter Solstice Sunset - 04:23 PM Winter Solstice Day Duration - 8 Hours 42 Mins 55 Secs... Winter Solstice Previous Day - 8 Hours 42 Mins 56 Secs Winter Solstice Next Day - 8 Hours 42 Mins 59 Secs It's downhill to summer folks! Stay healthy out there! It has been pointed out that in the Southern Hemisphere, it's the longest day. True that.

Ground school organization for the Ottawa area alternates between our club and Rideau Vallley Soaring (instructors from both). In 2021, RVSS organizes it. The ground school will be delivered virtually using Zoom. Details can be found at: http://gatineauglidingclub.ca/Groundschool.html. This link was updated from RVSS's on December 22nd. It starts Tuesday January 5th 2021, and runs Tuesdays and Thursdays for 90 mins, for 10 weeks, ending March 11th, 2021. It meets Transport Canada's ground school requirement for a Glider Pilot Licence. Ground school runs once a year, so the following opportunity will be in winter 2022. It's likely you will be looking for interesting things to do this winter; why not start learning to fly gliders?

Socially distanced Hangar Pack 2020 was completed on Saturday November 7th, one of the nicest days I can remember in years. Our big Boudeault Hangar is full (see video), and the airplanes that will fly through the winter and two-seater glider (in case the weather holds for a while) moved to the smaller Lacasse Hangar. On Friday, there was a bunch of flying. The water is shut off, since the hard freezes of a couple of weeks ago. The mower is off the tractor, and the snow blow...er is to be put on next weekend. The A-frame was emptied of wood, and the Green woodshed is being used, with wood two seasons old and dry. Use the wood on the right - the wood on the left is only one winter old. Thanks to Dan Du's ("the mechanical beaver") cutting up deadwood fall all summer and fall, the A-frame now is half-full, after cutting into 16" lengths, and splitting using the club hydraulic splitter. I figure there is a cord and a half in the A-Frame so far. See more

Pictures of the refurbished front/rear plywood for our ASK-13, BQN. Nice shade of blue. We have kept it assembled in a hangar for a few years, due to trailer condition, and for a wood glider, that can be a problem (damp in the spring). Next weekend we'll put it into the trailer. In the background, the smaller of our two very nice hangars. Four flights yesterday, and a couple of over two and a half hours! With the forecast of very warm temperatures late next week, we'll be flying as much as we can.

Friday was the last of the 7 or 8 days we do annual inspections on the gliders. M7 was the club glider, it passed (thanks Don for the work). Next time will be June 2021. I removed the FLARM from RM, it will be calibrated for badges and reinstalled in the spring (along with BT and JU, and M7). I will pull the FLARMs after next weekend. Pictures: Steve doing Roger's annual; a lot of work happening at the workshop, you can see by the number of hatches (everyone has tools). BQN... will be stored in its trailer in the big hangar over the winter, and the trailer really needed work. Alex did some prep work, some rotten flooring and front needed replacement, and the usual suspects were involved (thanks Jarek, Mike, Martin, Alex, Allie (gopher), Lee). It is a lot of work, but it will be handy for storage and very handy if BQN were to land out. If you haven't seen BQN disassembled and trailered, it would be a good thing to see. Nice light (for a 2-seater) wings! Gord and Frank were working on OR's trailer lights (look like nice LEDs now). Martin worked on BQN trailer and is finishing his second refurb on the club utility trailer. Jarek's trailer is in the workshop for some glider work.

For those who wonder why "mass balancing" of controls when refinishing (or after damage) is important, a great demonstration.

Beautiful day at the club; three more annual inspections complete, some maintenance on a glider from previous inspection. Leaves are amazing. Another group of annuals next week. The Puchacz is now in its trailer for the winter. Thanks to Jarek, Martin, Alex for the help, as well as our AME Steve. As we arrived, a look south to Lake Placid; so close. And with wonderful lennies, probably that great wave was booming... .

Well, we're not going to Lake Placid NY this year, for obvious reasons, and we are already missing it; in particular, two of our members need the 5,000m height gain to finish their FAI Diamond Badge. We will miss the people, the great town, and the support of the FBO. I found this on the Cumulus Soaring FB page; it shows the complexity of the wave. Whiteface Mountain acts much the same as Mt Fuji. Beautiful and serene.