Fault Line Flyers

09/03/08

The Fault Line Flyers glider club, located in rural Texas, has approx. 70 members (active and inactive). It offers two 2-33 trainers, one 1-26, one Twin Astir, and three tugs: a Pawnee, a Cessna (180 hp), and a Chevy truck, while members own some 30 private gliders located on and off the premises.

Operations are scheduled every weekend and include frequent weekdays during the summer months.

The club's most popular activity is arguably a yearly carnage we refer to as Pumpkin Drop in which participants heave pumpkins from a glider overflying a target 1,000 feet below, with generally unpredictable results except for the assured pumpkin's demise. Another club activity which is gaining popularity is the hosting of the Region 10 Soaring Championships, which can be one of the largest glider races in the country.

Below are some videos and pictures of club activities. Picture gallery is at the bottom of the page. (Video alert: don't try this over a phone modem).

Fault Line Flyers - Link to official FLF website.

Fox 7 News clip - In Nov. 2005 a local news team visited our gliderport to put together a story about sailplanes. I did all the flying in the video. Pat came along for the rides and filmed inside the glider, and Andy shot some air-to-air from Rich's Grumman.

Jerry's Newport 11 Take Off - Clip of Jerry's cool little biplane taking off.

Boat drag races in Marble Falls - Taken during the 2006 boat races. Those things swim upwards of 100 mph.

Thermalling over Lake Buchanan - A 360-deg view of a very dry Lake Buchanan in 2006.

Thermalling near Llano - Circling between the lake and Llano.

ElDorado run, cruising - When conditions are good, we fly west. ElDorado is a favourite destination, an easy 500Km out-and-back. Usually there is not much need to circle; less than 20% of the flight is spent thermalling. Most of the flight, if lucky, is spent following cloud streets and not losing much altitude in the process, parked between 9,000 and 10,000 feet MSL.

ElDorado run, thermalling - When it becomes necessary to circle, it can look like this. Notice that during the 30-seconds that the video lasts, the altimeter changes by nearly 500 feet. This is quite normal in the summer, and is probably the only reason why I live where I do. [Evidently it is time to move].

Dave's first solo landing - Dave C. soloed recently. This captured his first solo landing.

Ground Launch #1 - In the right wind conditions we do ground launches at FLF. A CG-hook, although not required, makes the launch easier. Our white 2-33 has a CG-hook and is shown here, in Kelly's capable hands.