http://www.ssa.org • August 2019 • Soaring 17the weekend to winch launch our
club sailplanes. Getting our two club
gliders (Schweizer 2-22 & 1-19) dis-
assembled and loaded onto trailers
and then assembled again at the new
launch field was quite a task to pre-
cede our actual winching and instruc-
tion, but we were young and very curi-
ous and excited about exploring a new
ridge. I recall that this field worked
for us to get reasonably good altitudes
from our launches only after we avoid-
ed the one tree that made the field less
than a perfect launch field.
Well, as usual, our Sunday flying day
was too short to satiate the flying ap-
petites of the club members and we
used every bit of daylight trying to get
everyone up for the same number of
flights. Of course, after we conceded
that we couldn’t see well enough to
make even one more training launch,
we needed to disassemble the gliders
for the second time for that weekend,
load them on their respective trailers,
and return them to their hangars at
the old State College Airport. Since it
was cold and everyone was tired and
hungry, I was asked if I would fly the
2-22 back to the old State College
grass strip, thereby saving both the
effort and time to take it apart for its
return. Now it was pretty dark by the
time I nervously said that I would do
it, and getting darker by the minute!
Everyone hurried to get the glider
positioned for what was hoped to be
the highest launch of the day, because
it was not an absolute certainty that
the State College Airport was within
the 2-22’s glide range for the altitudes
we had been getting from most of the
launches during the day. The launch
turned out pretty well, but it still wasn’t
a certainty that I could make it to the
airport. I proceeded towards the State
College Airport anyway. However, I
was shocked by the unexpected degree
of increased darkness that existed this
particular moonless night (no, I didn’thave my sunglasses on). In fact, I was
having a very difficult time making
out the unlighted airport strip! The
irony of the situation was that the
airport did have runway lights, but of
course, one needed a radio to click to
turn them on, and our club trainer sure
didn’t have a radio. Well, I selected the
most likely spot for the grass runway
and landed, not totally convinced that
I was really on the runway until after I
stopped. However, as I slowed down to
my stop, I heard a noise that indicated
that maybe I had lightly hit some-
thing. I didn’t know where the noise
originated from on the glider or what
might have hit the glider. After getting
out of the glider, I crawled around the
skid on my hands and knees, feeling
the fabric near the skid, and was happy
to not feel anything but good fabric. I
then blindly felt along under the left
wing (the wing that ended resting on
the ground) and aileron to feel for any
damage in that location. Again, I was