You know things are looking up when you go out to the Areodrome and actually get to write a check for tows!  JD and Dave both took 2,000' tows in the 1-26 behind our 150-180 tug.  Easy take-offs with plenty of runway left in front of us, which is just where you want it!

Dave and Eric flew the tug to Petersburg where we'll get a high torque starter put in this week.  Look forward to its return, full of fuel and ready to pull us up!  Maybe next weekend, temps and weather permitting, we can get the Lark out and see how well it tows behind the tug. 

Greg and JD put a good clean on the Lark and the 1-26 while Eric ran for gas and Dave mowed the tie-down area.  Another good day of maintenance!

How many lucky rabbits feet does it take to make sure you don't get sucked up into the mower blades?  Evidently 16.  These little folks were nestled a bit below ground level in the tall grass around the Lark.  We put some grass up around them to keep them out of the sun and less visible to the birds of prey. Hopefully Momma has moved them to a safer location.

The new outrigger brackets are in place in both wings, we should have the skin sealed up an painted and the outriggers installed (hopefully) this week with assembly this coming weekend.  If not, should all be complete by the following week.  Can't wait to see our old friend back in the air!

This Saturday, Merlin folks went to visit with a couple of our VASA counterparts.  Eric and JD met up with Tidewater Soaring Society and enjoyed a day of their warm hospitality.  They were met later in the day by Vince.  Eric and JD were able to attend the TSS member meeting, where there was some great information on tow rope material and dangers of knots in poly line.  The soaring day was windy, with 10-13Kt pretty steady, but generally right down the runway.  It was great practice for JD and Vince to fly with Eric in such conditions.  JD provided the picture of the 'TSS Grid' - we enjoy our slow pace at Merin, but it is great to spend time with the well oiled machinery of TSS!

Dave and Pete met up at Shenandoah Valley Soaring.  Pete did some spin training in SVS's ASK-21.  He emailed the following report: "I did the weight and balance for Paul and myself to get the CG aft enough to spin the ASK-21, screwed the 9 steel plates to the tail and up we went to 6500 ft MSL.  The first spin is the most intense. The plane literally does a cartwheel as it drops a wing. This feels feels similar to cresting over the top of the first big drop on a rollercoaster. Once it settles into the spin it oscillates from nose up to nose down orientation.  I had to hold the spin for 3 full rotations before attempting to recover. Slow opposite rudder to get out of it (that takes about 3/4 turns to slow the rotation down) and then a little forward stick pressure and she recovers. We repeated the exercise 3 times and then did some spin entry as if we were turning base to final."  We definitely need to arrange an MSA field trip for some spin training at SVS!


We got good news on our 2-33, it looks like the wing outriggers are repairable and parts will be enroute this week.  We should have our 2-33 up in the air behind our new 150-180 within the next couple of weeks!  Weather permitting, we expect to be flying the 1-26 this weekend - a member ship too???  Who knows!

It seems natural enough: we share the sky and our thermals with our feathered friends, we should speak their language!  MSA has joined the twitterverse as @MerlinSoaring.  This is more of an experiment at this point, likely our ground ops folks will be tweeting the notable flights of the day.  Or maybe not.  We'll see how it goes.  Follow us @MerlinSoaring and make sure to let us know if you like the tweets so we know whether or not to keep 

Merlin (very) happily welcomed our new Cessna 150-180 tow plane to the Aerodrome yesterday!  Eric, Dave, Stephan, Greg, Pete and JD were on hand for the arrival of N19094.  Dave got the first tow in the 1-26, said it was a great ride up to 3,000.

In other news, the 1-26 tire was replaced with a new tube and tire.  The old tire was starting to show signs of wear noted during the glider annual this past May.  Dave field tested the tire during his 'first tow'.

The 2-33 is down for repair.  We had some ground vehicle contact with the glider (not related to MSA operations) that ended up damaging the wing tip and the outrigger.  Our A&P, Tom, was onsite yesterday working on accessing the inner parts of the wing to determine the repair process.  We're keeping our fingers crossed for fast and simple repair needs!