Tullahoma, Tenn GTA Race – Day 3 http://soaringcafe.com/2014/07/tullahoma-tenn-gta-race-day-3/ by Frank Paynter • July 7, 2014 I’m writing this from the comfort of my home office back in Columbus, Ohio. I got home about 3am Ohio time this morning, after an uneventful drive back from the Tullahoma. We got in a 3rd day on Sunday – a 2hr TAT. Conditions were variable – OK to very good to the north of Tullahoma, not so much to the south with clouds that didn’t work very well, and some scary (for me) periods struggling over terrain with limited landing options. I flew with my good friend and team-flying partner John Mittell (BZ) quite a bit, and I have to admit that he kicked my tail soundly with his 15m ASW-27 vs my 18m V2cx – grrr!! All in all, the Tullahoma GTA race was a resounding success, with three successful racing days (more than some regionals this season). All this with basically no organizational overhead – no sanctioning fees, no extra insurance costs – no scorer, no contest manager, no separate CD. Just a bunch of guys coming together to race and have a good time. Tullahoma airport, although very busy with corporate/GA traffic and a very vibrant skydiving operation was very accommodating of the ‘glider crowd’ and we had no trouble at all blending in to the rest of the airport operations. On Day 3 we had to launch from the north end due to south winds, and this involved getting all the gliders to the other end of a 6000' runway. We accomplished this by back-taxiing all the gliders in a convoy along the active 18/36 runway, then bringing all the tow vehicles back (via taxiways) to the south end, then returning all the pilots back to the north end in my crew truck, then returning all the tow-out gear back to the south end in my truck after the launch so they would be there when we returned and rolled out to the south end of 18/36. This was accomplished with ‘no fuss, no muss’ and other Tullahoma ground and air traffic worked with us to make it happen. A big thanks to Ted Beckwith and the Eagleville crowd for volunteering to tow, and to Leo Benetti-Longhini for hosting the event. Frank (TA) PS: Beverly Beckwith emailed some corrections/additions, and I have added them here verbatim. I am *always* eager to get feedback, additions, and/or corrections on typos, name misspellings, factual errors or omissions – whatever. I do the very best job I can in the limited time I have available, and I try my darnedest to get names and facts right, but…. In this case I failed to mention Beverly’s contribution to the weekend – she was the launch director on all three days, and did a wonderful job. I also had my facts wrong regarding the Maule and Eagleville – bummer. My apologies Beverly! Good afternoon, Frank glad you got back home safely A couple of things… 1. the Maule belongs to some of the members of Eagleville Soaring Club. Ted has helped keep it flying for several years, but we have never owned a plane quite like that!! 2. there was no Eagleville crew. I am Ted’s wife of 50 years, have been glider crew since 1968, and was on the runway because the Maule has limited rear vision, and I have worked that plane, and this runway often…including the maiden flights of DBs Concordia. 3 the Maule was here because the CAP got their plane in for maintenance theMonday before, and, of course, it did not return on time. Ted drove to Eagleville on Thursday evening, left the truck, and the rest is history, except we still have to return it and get our truck home. 4. If the CAP had towed, Ted could have flown his Ventus, I probably would have still been on the hot asphalt for 2+ hours each day, but maybe not??? We did get his Silent off 2 days, after all the launches, and the Maule was secure. Sorry to be a grump, and I don’t expect praise or photos, but straigh facts are better…not our Maule, no Eagleville crew, and the Benetti-Longhinis were flying the CAP Blanik. Leo has two glass ships, but that is the CAP”s. Hope to see you at other events, maybe back at THA. We enjoy your articles, as Ted told you. Safe, and fun flying.. Beverly Beckwith Tullahoma GTA Tullahoma, TN Sunday, July 06, 2014 Official A Class Day 3 Task: Turn Area ID Name Distance (Miles) Radius 1 01 TULLAHOMA 0.00 3.0 33 33 Huntland 20.04 10.0 56 56 Shelbyvll 56.79 10.0 23 23 Fayettvll 91.99 10.0 1 01 TULLAHOMA 119.46 1.0 Minimum Time 02:00 Cumulative Day Speed Distance Remarks Rank Points ID Name Glider Rank Points Hndcp Actual Hndcp Actual Code Penalty Points ---- ----- -- ---- ------ ---- ------ ----- ------ ----- ------ ---- ------- ------ 1 1000 DT Benetti-Longhini, Leo JS-1 1 1000 56.90 67.34 115.67 136.89 2 978 FP Pin, Francois Silent 2 2 978 55.67 52.52 115.44 108.91 3 827 BZ Mittell, John ASW-27 3 827 47.08 53.50 97.90 111.26 4 791 TA Paynter, Frank Ventus 2cx-18 4 791 45.00 53.26 104.86 124.10 5 748 RHR Ruegger, Werner ASW-27 5 748 42.59 48.39 88.92 101.05 6 289 S4 Malouse, JJ LS-3A 6 289 48.22 51.29 AB 7 0 JM Murphy, John Discus b 7 0 0.0 F Codes: F No flight log. Created on Monday July 07, 2014 - 20:10 by Winscore Rev 0, http://www.gfbyars.com/winscore