The SGC Awards 2010

Fred Hermanspann

The annual SGC banquet took place on Nov. 6 at Ivar’s Salmon House – as usual.  47 members and friends of the SGC showed up to enjoy good food, and nice company.  This was a good opportunity to say hello to old soaring friends, catch up on the latest glider gossip and to find out about who got what awards for 2010.  The awards were presented in efficient and entertaining form by Ron Bellamy, the recipient of last year’s Honor Award.

So here are the 2010 winners:

The SGC Safety Award went to Neal Karman, Brian Hood and Bruce Bulloch in appreciation for their efforts, that succeeded in coming up with Arlington operating rules that the FAA accepted and that allows continuation of glider operations pretty much as currently used.  This was an effort that involved a lot of other soaring pilots and it showed also general acceptance of gliding as an integral part of the AWO aviation community.

The Student Achievement Award went to Chris Murray for getting his license after having put his personal interests so often behind just helping others to fly.

The Knight of the Open Field Award for the first off-field landing of a pilot on a cross-country flight was earned by Gary Paulin for an off-field landing  near Soap Lake.

The Triangle Speed Trophy (Roger Frank Memorial Trophy) for the best handicapped speed over a 300+ km FAI triangle was given to Stu Larimore, who made a 300 km triangle flight from Mackey/ ID on Aug. 4 with a speed of 76.28 mph (handicapped, may be updated).

The Columbia Basin Soaring Association Broken Leg Trophy (help!) for the longest flight in the Columbia Basin was won by Len Edvinson for a flight of 355.42 miles for his May 9 flight from Ephrata.

The Arnold Carson Memorial Award for the greatest distance of a flight originating in the Northwest went to Richard VanGrunsven for his May 8 flight of 470.99 miles from his Sunset OR airfield.

The Joe Robertson Altitude Trophy for the highest altitude reached went to Craig Funston and Keith Purvues together, both reaching 17, 987 ft in their gliders on July 4.

The Cross-Cascade Acknowledgements went to Dan Housler for his flight from AWO to Coeur d’Alene (also longest flight ever from AWO) and to Fred Hermanspann and Kathleen McCrary flying from AWO to Ephrata, both on May 9.

The Cloyd Artmann Memorial Trophy for outstanding or pioneering flight efforts went to Paul Adriance for his Out and Return flight From AWO to the south side of Mount Rainier on May 8.

The Towpilot of the Year Award went to Bill Birney, who made 148 tows and spent a lot of effort in connection with the evaluation and acquisition of the “new” SGC towplane.

The Unsung Hero Award went  to Michael Moore for his daring aero-retrieve of the Chinook from a country road.

The SGC Expression of Appreciation went to Jim Simmons. Steve Northcraft. Mike Newgard and Bruce Bulloch for their dedication and effort given to our sport.

And, last not least, the SGC Honor Award was bestowed on Heinz Gehlhaar for his outstanding service to the soaring community.

So next year it will be Heinz to preside over the awards presentation.  Don’t miss it.