Flying Diary:

August 3, 2002. Mike and I just needed a break from the building so we took the Carbon Monarch out and took some photos.

	Mike doing the perfect landing, just at the edge of the bean field!
	landing the Monarch, doing an S turn on final looking down runway 6
	slip at 50 ft, note yaw string.
	self portrait while flying.
	I guess its time to land
	This is the view from the Monarch to the truck while being towed. Climb rate is somewhere about 1000 ft per min. At the beginging I have seen 1600 ft per min and at the end about 400 ft per min.
	about 40 ft up on the tow, note the truck and the rope.
	The ohio landscape, note the lack of hills!!!

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June 28, 2002. Mat took a much needed break to explore Bucyrus, Galion and upper sandusky.

	The airport at Bucyrus form the grob 102.
	Somewhere on the way to Upper sandusky.

June 15, 2002. A much needed break in the building for Mat and Mike! A shared 103 flight..

	Down the runway behind the tow plane!... nice looking clouds!
	Mike flying in a thermal... note the vario.
	Marion Airport from the North-west
	Mike flying ..... hard to see around that bushy hair?
	Mat at the controls
	At cloudbase over Marion

April 26, 2002. Ken barrow is visiting us and hoping to join us in our work. We went for a cross country in the grob 103...altitudes of 6500 msl and lotso f good lift.

	Ken flying at 6500 agl

Feb 23, 2002. While we work fevorishly on our projects we long for flying...so every once and a while we go over and do time in a club ship. Pictured below are photos from flying in the Grob 102... yes got an hour and a half... blue thermals to 3000 agl, 4000 msl.

	Getting ready to launch the 1-34
	Note the haze line on the horizon... and this is the limit of the thermal about 4000 msl
	Another view of the flat land below!
	Heading in for a landing from the north west. The airport is just off the nose.
	The town of Marion

Dec 02, 2001. Mike and Crew have been putting in a lot of hours on the Pioneer and every once and a while one needs to do some flying to make us realize that the goal is to fly! So we hauled out the Monarch with that new windscreen..... sure made a difference... we flew in 46 degree weather and loved it! Mat had one soaring flight to begin the afternoon and the rest where extended fun sled rides. when you do not have a fee for a tow its amazing how many flights you can do in a day.

	Mike flying on his downwind.
	Mike on final.....I'm not sure who won the spot landing but it was blades of grass inexactness..... but Mat won the soaring!(he always cheats)

August 29, 2001, Wednesday. Mike and I decided to go soaring, I took the grob 102... and Mike practiced his cross country in the 126. After a couple of hours of that we took out the Monarch and had a great time... we moved the cg back and the sink rate dropped noticably!

	Will he make it?
	Looking good......Hovering just before landing!
	The landing!... pretty good sink rate!!!
	Mat coming in for a landing.... he prefers the grass!

August 21, 2001, Tuesday. The day was light and variable with very small strong thermals. One had to be very aggressive to get some soaring. Mike won the day for the most spctacular flight..... entered a ragged thermal at about 550 ft agl and struggled with it to 1300 ft for 30 minutes! Mat got the truck keys tied to the truck for walking away too many times with the keys in his pocket! Launches where quite low... a no wind day yeilded only 7-800 ft of altitude.

	Mike tied the keys to the truck with a piece of our tow rope! Lets hope Mat learns his lesson soon! He keeps walking away with the keys!!
	A landing on runway 60 grass
	The intial run on the launch.
	Yes there is a truck 1500 ft down the runway~!
	Up and away!

August 14, 2001, Tuesday. We tried the Monarch in more turbulent conditions... still handles very well! I had just finished teaching in a 2-33 and felt very abused in the back seat with the turbulence.... the Monarch G presented no problems at all... what a joy to fly! We are still feeling out the flight characteristics before getting down to serious testing. Mat Soared for 10 minutes in a thermal 600 ft. above the ground for 10 minutes at 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 11, 2001, Saturday. Greg Olrich had his first high flights in the Monarch G! The last of this flights occurred in thermally conditions which he reported were no problem. He reports that the Monarch far superior to the Extasy he has been flying! Good news! Mat and Mike followed with 5 light soaring flights.

Aug. 10, 2001. Short hops for Greg Olrich as Pilot.

Aug. 5, 2001. Four more flights!..no wind conditions... make sure there is a very good acceleration with the tow vehicle... nd do not let the tension fall... which is hard for my old truck!

Saturday august 4, 2001. Mike and I took the late afternoon off to fly the Monarch G for the first time this season. What a great glider both Mike and I where very surprised! This glider is faster than the F model but very much more nimble! Indicated high sink approaching stall is about 31 knots. We will be adjusting the CG to see if we can get that lower. We did not do any measuring.. but just really enjoyed the flying. We did try the optional towing fairlead... worked well! We got altitudes of about 1000 ft in a cross-wind launch. What a wonderful experience... I know for most people a non-soaring flight must seem boring.... but my the smile on Mikes Face I doubt that he would agree!

	Mike coming in the the landing!
	Mike after landing just before the sun sets! Now does he have a smile on his face?
	The whole plane!

Wednesday July 02, 2001. Mike and I started at 4:30 in the afternoon. Mike soared and then took some GPS /airspeed runs which seemed to be just fine. We did a lot of test runs that proved that the control deflections add greatly to drag and that a moveable CG would help lessen the control deflections in the elevator. Mat took the last flight and just floated around admiring the setting sun and full moon coming up. A most enjoyable session with about 10 flights...... and one rope break. A rope break is a non-event!

Saturday June 30, 2001. Mike and I started early flying to get some more test results. Mike made a couple of test tuns and then it became thermally. We attempted to soar but with the club setting up and becoming quite busy we suspended operations.

Wednesday June 27, 2001. We got the old Monarch F out again and in my effort to install a new windshield I discovered a leak in the static line. I abandoned the windshield installation until later in the week but the now closed static line changed the reading on the airspeed. Mike and I did 6 flights. The air was boyant when we got there so I soared in weak lift. After landing we decided to continue our testing. We used the GPS for the altitude.. it seemed pretty consistent and avoided having to top the altimeter continually. Again too while soaring flights in mid-day are the object of our sport there is some very interesting flying to be had in the evening. The air is smooth and the beauty is superb.... couple that with a nice cool temperature and you have a very enjoyable flight. Not to be missed!

Sunday June 24, 2001. This was a long day of flying. Mike and I where up at the crack of dawn and did some better test runs. Our lowest sink rate was about 159 ft per minute. The airport got rather busy so we put the glider away flew heavy glass and then flew the Monarch again in the late evening. Both Mike and I feel that many pilots are really missing something rather special in the evening flying. There is no concentrated lift at these times but the air is very bouyant as the cool air comes in. Compared to the one hour flight I had in the 103 Grob the Monarch was by far the best flight... again Mike agreed. He flew the Grob 102 when things got too busy to autotow the Monarch.

	Jud Haines Ready for a flight!
	Jud Haines (14) in the front seat of the Grob 103 on his first flight lesson

For the Evening flying we used a 1500 ft rope with light east winds about 4 mph and reached altitudes of 1200-1300 ft. In the very light winds we where very surprised to do gain such altitude. The truck traveled at less than 15 mph! We had about 5000 ft of runway.

The sink rate was remarkably good but at the critical moment Mikes radio gave out so we did not get to record the sink rate. My high flight was spectacular I seemed to fly for a long time before I came down to 1000 ft. agl! Again I must say that most pilots that have never had a calm air tow in an open cockpit in the evening are really missing something!

Wed June 20, 2001 We started the test flying in rather adverse conditions just before a thunderstorm.

Wednesday June 13, 2001. Mike Couts took the afternoon off from work and wanted to fly the Grob 102... but alas there was no tow pilot..... so he phoned us at the shop and we got out the Monarch F. Conditions where light and variable leading to higher speed autotows (up to 35 mph)... and not so high altitude gains( 750 - 900ft). Both Mat and Mike soared but the conditions where such that it was a real struggle below 1000 ft. and fairly turbulent. The day was very hot so we packed up about 6:30pm and headed for the shop. What both Mike and Mat confirmed was that it was vital to keep that Yaw string straight on turbulent days. We are also realizing that a 1/8inch rope of say 1500 ft. would give us a higher tow for those days that the lift is above 1000 ft.

Getting ready for a tow!

Tuesday June 12, 2001. John Naubert did two last flights on the 1000 ft. rope. He was limited in altitude to 200ft. which he demonstrated excellent abilities at turning flight... and watching that Yaw String!.

Monday June 11, 2001.More flights for John Naubert to about 60 ft. He initially had trouble with turns but was solved once he found the yaw string! Because of his weight he also had to fly faster and once he found the correct speed to fly his glide was quite good! John attempted a high tow but what looked like 250 ft. was only about 80 ft. But it was successfully done to that point. One of the important things to think about on a long rope is that we are towing to the tension meter so you must pull back on the control stick otherwise there is no tension and the driver must just drive faster and will not get tension until you pull back on the stick! John has been a long time supporter of Marske Flying Wings and this was his first ever flight in a Marske Wing! This also was an excellent opportunity for John to go on a weight reduction plan in order to fly the Monarch. Congratulations John!

	John in Flight, photo from the truck in chase!
	John after his flights!

We had two rope breaks with Mike at the controls... but again no big deal... it was quickly repaired so the 3/16 hollow braid polypropylene still is the best bet for the cost.

Sunday June 10, 2001. WE started by getting John Naubert on a ground skims. The winds where quite light from the north. Later the day got thermally but the wind picked up . We flew about 4 flights each in sometimes very turbulent conditions. Later Mike made a soaring flight just as the wind was dying. From about 6 p.m. till 8:30 John Naubert had a number of ground skims to 70 ft.

Saturday June 9, 2001. Light and variable winds. monarch tension at 170 lbs.

The day was the first promising day for flying in a couple of weeks. It had rained straight for about a month. Winds where light and variable. Mike and I flew. The thermals where very broken up below 1000 feet. Luckily on one tow about 11:30 I snagged a thermal at about 650 ft. alg. and took it to 1700 agl. Mike had extended flights at 700 ft. Mike also said that it was about the most turbulent he has felt it in a long time. My flight to 1600 alg. was in good control but I did notice that down low it was turbulent.

Mike flew the Grob 102 later in the day for two hours at altitudes of about 6000- 7000 ft. He noted that the the thermals where very broken below 2000 ft. and felt it would have been difficult to recover below 2000 ft. .

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