This is how the glider looked when I bought it from Don Conroy. Don was the builder and put about 230 hours on the ship. By the way, in my thirty years of building and flying gliders I have not seen any better word done by any builder!!

Don and his wife putting the glider together with its' one man rigging tool. Don was an engineer and all of his work shows his talent.

Ready for my first flight in HP-16 N8DC. (Note the two piece canopy.) It was on this first flight that I decided that the stearable tail wheel would soon be a thing of the past!! After the flight I pinned it solid and put a larger 5" rubber wheel in its' place and have loved it every since. This picture was taken at Morgan Valley Soaring northeast of Salt Lake City, UT.

Installing Colling Winglets! I really love them.

While it was in the hangar getting winglets I also installed a new Microair radio with boom mike, a brand new Aeroox oxygen system, and a new Borgelt B-40 vario. I also insulated the cockpit area with gray Ford fabric with insulation backing. (Looks real neat!)

This picture shows the tail dolly that Don built and it also shows the new tail wheel and fiberglass fairing that I made that same winter.

The glider with its' winglets and the old canopy at Morgan Valley Soaring.

N8DC with new canopy and new white paint job on the trailer.

 

Here is a close up picture on the new Ray Poquette canopy that I installed this last winter. I used 3/4" by 3/4" 4130 square tube to make the canopy frame. It hinges to the right side so that your can take the rear turtle deck off to install the wings without having to remove the canopy. It works real slick!!

Next I will be installing a new Garmin GPS on the right canopy frame.

I will leave the glider down in Parowan, Utah for the rest of the summer flying as conditions are just fantastic! Last Saturday (May 26, 2002) I flew 156 statute miles in 2.5 hours and didn't go below 17,000 feet. What great soaring conditions!!!