The Arizona Soaring Association is a group of about 50 pilots who fly sailplanes at all levels of the sport; some pilots are
new to soaring and just learning to fly, while others compete in national and regional competitions, in addition to the ASA's
own well-known contest series that runs from March to September each year.
We fly from several locations. These include commercial operations
Northwest Sky Sports (formerly Turf) and
Estrella Sailport,
private clubs Tucson Soaring Club and
Prescott Soaring,
as well as airports in Sedona and Sun Valley. During our active race schedule, we also fly
from Willcox and Sampley's in Aguila.
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Board Adopts "Fun Fly!" philosophy for 2015 by Joe Silvasi
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After many e-mail's since last month's general membership meeting and discussion, the Board has decided to
adopt a "FUN FLY!" format for the 2015 soaring season. What does this mean? Well, in addition to the
standard racing tasks that have been held in the past using sports class handicaps, we will be promoting other modes of "racing"
such as OLC, FAI acheivment tasks, and a new set of "standardized" tasks centered around the many fabulous soaring sites that
are scattered around the great state of Arizona. Heck, if you want to just come out and bore holes in the sky, that's acceptable too!
This is designed to promote "FUN", increased interest, "FUN",
more social activities, "FUN", and interaction for and between ASA members and other soaring pilots
regardless of skill level or aircraft used.
Have we got it all figured out yet? Nope. (Hey, we're new to this to!) Will we nail it the first time out? Well, eh, probably not. But the bottom line is
that wether you fly a Slingsby (yes - I'm callin' you out Richard!) or some super slipery 100 to 1 LD carbon fiber work of art, we (the ASA Board that is) want
to challenge you to come out and enjoy the comaradery of your fellow soaring pilots, challenge yourself, grow in the sport of soaring aviation and above all, have
"FUN" !!
Tentatively, the first "FUN FLY!" event of the season is scheduled to take place at North West Sky Sports
the weekend of April 11 and 12 at Pleasant Valley Airport (P48). I've started a thread in the Discussion Forum as kind of an informal "sign-up" for the event
for those pilots who do not wish to fly a stanard racing task so that you can indicate what you will be flying and what type of activity that you'd like to do for
"FUN". This way we can try to accomodate everyones needs so that you can, well, have
"FUN"! If you want to fly a standard racing task as in the past, just use the normal sign-up under the
"ASA Contest" drop down above as you always have.
Click on the Racing Proposal and Futures link above for more information on the types of soaring activities which may be used at the
"FUN FLY!".
(I hope that you picked up on the emphasis on "FUN" above.)
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2014 General Membership Meeting and Awards by Bob Thompson
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A Power Point sequence of soaring photos in SW Colorado greeted people who were coming in before the meeting and dinner and socializing.
By 6:30 all were there, it was time for dinner, and as far as I know, everyone had a fine meal provided by the ASA treasury ...
Click here to read the full article and see more photos.
Steve Koerner (GW) shows the Top Gun award for the fastest flight during the contest 2014 season.
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During the meeting, Joe Silvasi made a two part presentation for A Proposal for Organized Soaring in Arizona and ASA Futures.
Click here to see a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation.
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2014 Sampley Shrimp Boil by Joe Silvasi
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His shirt says "Trust Me", but would you ??
If you like to mingle with friends old and new united by the
love of aviaiton, want to have a fabulously good time, eat loads of shrimp, sausage, potatos, corn on the
cob, hard boiled eggs all cooked with the finese of a the finest Louisianna Bayou chefs, partake in fun and
games, then by all means you should reply with an empahtic "YES !!"
The incomparable Cliff Hilty (CH) was once again a most gracious
host to this years annual event which has become an institution here in Arizona.
Click here to read the full article.
A HUGE THANK YOU !!! goes out to both you and Rose for providing a Super time for all of us who attended !!
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2014 Contest Season Wrap-up by Bob Thompson
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The 2014 ASA Contest Series has had its ups and downs, and the last weekend was no different. Saturday was pretty blue and challenging.
19 and DH headed out twice, getting up reasonably, but after heading east shifted into lawn dart mode and beat hasty retreats back,
landing early. DH at least nicked the first turnpoint. CH and GW persevered, survived episodes of severe rock polishing and close
up views of possible outlanding sites and completed most of the task.
Click here to read the full article.
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ASA Contingent travels to Nephi OLC/XC Camp to Soar The Great Basin
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An intrepid group of seven ASA members traveled some 600 miles to Nephi, Utah about 75 miles south of Salt Lake City to attend the 2nd iteration
of the Nephi OLC and cross country encampment in the shadow of Mt Nebo, a monolith towering some 11,800+ feet into the sky. See more photos and
read the full report by Bob Thompson here.
Clockwise from the left are: Bob Thompson(19), Nigel(48) and Lan Cripps, Joe Silvasi(QRP), Tom(OD2) and Jodi Dukerich,
and Paul Cordell(MM Co-Pilot). Missing from the photo are John Weber(MM) and Dennis Haley(DH).
Here is the view of the Nephi Valley with the airport just off the nose of QRP. Note the wide valleys with many landout options and beautiful Cu
extending to the horizon. It's easy to see why an adventure such as Nephi is the stuff that dreams are made of ! And, if the appropriate precautions
are not taken, dreams can and often do, come apart at the seams. Every morning at Nephi, there was a safety brief by one or more of the attendees.
Read about how one brief became a personal sideline adventure for Joe Silvasi (QRP) here.
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