Ben Diss

My Feedback: (23)

The Sussex County Thermal Snifflers of Pine Island, NY invites you to attend our first annual Aerotow. Come fly your scale sailplane at our pristine sod farm located in southern upstate New York, just 1½ hours north of New York City on September 28th & 29th.

Located in the beautiful Black Dirt Region of New York, our field consists of 50 acres of perfectly manicured sod. Abundant lift is generated from the sunny skies and deep black soil found on the nearby cultivated sod and onion fields. On strong days, thermals can be seen to lift the dirt from the fields and carry it skyward in
massive dirt devils.

We will provide two strong towplanes capable of launching 20lb gliders. Veteran scale sailplane pilot Rich Behrends will be flying a Laser with a G-62 and a L-19 Birddog powered by a ZDZ?80 will be flown by Ben Diss.

This will be an informal gathering of scale sailplane enthusiasts, not a sanctioned AMA event. There is no charge for attendance or participation, however AMA membership is required. Lunch will be provided for a small fee. There is no camping on our field, but modest hotel arrangements are available. Activities will begin both days at 9:30AM with a brief pilot meeting. Frequency control, flight line protocol and local procedures will be discussed. First tow should take place around 10:00AM.

For directions to the field, navigate to Transport Lane, Pine Island, NY using your favorite on-line map or use this link for Yahoo Maps. Follow Transport Lane west and cross the bridge over the stream to the sod field.

For further details, please contact Ben Diss.

mailto:[email protected]
home: 845-735-6274
work: 212-494-1582
cell: 914-656-1840

Cadet

Would you also like to post this in the events calendar? You can follow the link at the top of the page and place the event so that everyone will see it.
Cheers,
Grant

Ben Diss

My Feedback: (23)

Thanks. Done.

Ben Diss

My Feedback: (23)

FYI. Our tugs are operating on ch 22 & 38.

Ben Diss

My Feedback: (23)

Rich and I went to the field last weekend and checked out all the equipment. Everything worked great! Rich wanted to get a little practice towing, but all I could find was lift with my ASW-27 and so only let him pull me once!

In case anyone is looking for hotels, here's a list from Mapquest:

Back Track Inn (5.3 miles)
92 Route 284
Unionville, NY
845-726-3956

Warwick Motel (6.4 miles)
1 Overlook Dr
Warwick, NY
845-986-4822

Great Gorge Village Hotel (6.8 miles)
Highway 94
Vernon, NJ
973-827-2222

Appalachian Motel (8.0 miles)
367 State Rt 94
Vernon, NJ
973-764-6070

Days Inn (8.4 miles)
Route 17M
New Hampton, NY
845-374-2411

Global Budget Inns of America (8.4 miles)
Route 17M
New Hampton, NY
845-374-3020

Mapquest's list of Motels

If you're thinking of coming, please send me a note so I can get an approximate head count. Click here to e-mail me.

-Ben

Ben Diss

My Feedback: (23)

Just got back from the field. What a day we had. About a dozen folks showed up and we flew all day. Tomorrow looks to be wonderful with very little wind and clear skies. Should make for boomer thermals. Check out Intellicast's wind forecast for Pine Island.

If you can make it on Sunday, I'd encourage you to come out and fly. Joe brought his 7M Nimbus today and will be returning on Sunday. John has several all molded beauties to drool over. We'll have three tugs available so we should have plenty of fun.

-Ben