Colorado Fires ?

The drought that's fueling the fires is also making for excellent soaring in CO right now. Cloud bases are over 18K and very little overdevelopment in the afternoons. Last Saturday I did a 'fun flight' out of Canon City to a little south of Santa Fe and overshot the return to land at Kelly Airpark (new Black Forest) for a distance of around 750K at 82 mph.

The Hayman fire which is 'the big one' near Denver is now well over 100 square miles but that's only an area of 6 x 15 miles, so quite small compared to undamaged areas. The general winds are westerly, so most of the smoke is blowing out into the plains - and right over my house So in the mountains it's a bit hazy with visibility of 'only' 50-60 miles, but otherwise good soaring.

Do check notams for TFRs, but these are usually only a few thousand AGL so not really an issue to soaring. But beware that all of Pike National Forest property is now a 'no trespassing' zone with fines imposed on any unofficial person found on the property. I believe this is a response to the number of people that have been lighting illegal campfires.

See http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/fire/hayman/index.htm for some details on this fire.

Tom Serkowski ASH-26E (5Z)

Also Mack, I understand the Dunlop's soaring operation at Salida has, or soon will, shut down. The Soaring Society of Boulder had a farewell camp there last weekend because of this. I'm told they're moving to the Dakotas somewhere.

From the SSA website:

Mailing address is P.O. Box 565, Poncha Springs, CO 81242. Harriet Alexandria-Chaffe County Airport, out of Salida, CO Hwy 285, east on Cty Rd 140. Jim & Helen will be at the Salida airport until July 1, 2002. From July 1-10th they will be in Colorado Springs towing for the 1-26th competiion. From there they are moving to Grand Forks, ND, where James has accepted a position with the Universtiy of North Dakota at the Department of Aerospace. Report date is July 15, 2002. James is taking both tow planes to North Dakota with him. He has the month of June open in the summers, and will be available for towing where ever groups would like for him to tow. We welcome anyone who would like to fly with us in April, May, and June at the Salida airport. It is better to call first for arrangements (719-539-1895). We have enjoyed many of the glider pilots and their families that have visited us here in Salida and would like to continue keeping in touch with them.