Last two Practical Test successes at HSC for 2011!

[Quest@HSC]

Hi everybody,

December saw the successful completion of two end-of-the-year
Practical Tests at Hollister Soaring Center. French citizen David
Bastard accomplished the addition of a Glider Category Rating to his
Private Certificate/ASEL on December 11th. And Jim Katra was
successful in his Practical Test for an added Glider Category Rating
on December 20th. Congratulations to both David and Jim for jobs well
done!! Both applicants did their Practical Test with HSC's Designated
Pilot Examiner, Dave Morss.

David came to HSC as the result of some successful outreach to the
public and pilot communities during the 2011 Hollister Airshow. I
first talked to him during that airshow, and then we commenced flight
instruction during the following few weeks. David has a busy hi-tech
work schedule which also takes him on overseas sales meetings quite
frequently, so our training sessions were a bit bunched up or sparse
over the summer. Add to this the fact that he travels home to France
frequently and that resulted in his training taking a bit longer than
a typical add-on rating does. David is a certificated pilot in the US
and enjoys flying the Cessna 172 for San Francisco Bay Tours and other
local flights. But he also wanted to explore the challenge and variety
that is inherent in flying gliders and the sport of soaring. Now that
he has the rating in his hand he's expressed an interest in joining
BASA and pursuing the sport for the fun, challenge, and enjoyment that
all of us know exists in the world of unpowered flight.
Congratulations David, and welcome to the realm of glider-rated
aviators, and join all of us who experience flying in the realm of
hawks and the majestic eagle.

Jim Katra originally grew up and learned to fly in the S.F. Bay Area,
but now resides in a rural area of Maryland. He is a very experienced
aviator and owns several aircraft including a Pitts S2-B, a Mooney, a
Diamond Twin-Star, and is building a Europa motor-glider in his
garage! He still frequents the West Coast and was out in California in
late September to attend the Salinas Air Show, where he was a guest of
aerobatic performer Sean Tucker. Following the airshow Jim had to
decide whether he wanted to go to Sean's Tutima Academy of Aviation
Safety and fly with Sean (which he'd done before), or come to
Hollister and do some glider flying. Well, Jim decided that the
challenge of the day was flying gliders, so I spent a solid two days
getting him up to solo in the last days of Sept. He went back to
Maryland with the intention of coming back to CA in December to finish
his solos and the added rating, weather permitting. Well, things did
turn out as planned on this endeavor and Jim returned to Hollister to
fly with Charlie Hayes on Dec. 19th and 20th. In one of the very few
late-afternoon Practical Tests that we've had at Hollister, Jim passed
his test with flying colors just before the sun sank into the western
horizon on December 20th. Congratulations to Jim on the addition of a
Glider Category Rating to his existing Certificate! And also
congratulations to CFIG Charlie Hayes on a job well done to get Jim up
to speed and prepped for the Practical in record time!

Congratulations again to David, Jim and Charlie for their hard work,
and also for showing that glider flight-training can be done
year-'round in Hollister. These success stories show that the HSC
Winter Special does work in bringing aviation enthusiasts out to
pursue Certificates and Ratings during this usually "slow" time of
year.

We look forward to seeing David out again and hopefully getting
involved in BASA. And we'll be awaiting a success story from Jim when
he finishes his Europa and begins the process of getting his self-
launch endorsement.

Happy soaring in 2012 and beyond,
Quest