Hobbs Soaring Memories
It’s four AM. I’m standing out here on this wide-open Hobbs ramp like an idiot in my regional airline pilot uniform because I have to fly a jet back to Houston at 5 AM. I couldn’t sleep on this overnight so I took an Uber out here to spend some time with my memories. The driver thought I was crazy as I got out at the old airbase and hopped the gate. Maybe I am, but I can’t come into town and not visit this ramp that has so many memories for me.
Charlie Spratt & Friends
Laughter. That’s what first comes to my mind as I stand out here in the middle of the ramp. Laughter with dear friends old and young. The shot of a rain day potato cannon. The laughter while eating a delicious steak cooked on a grill under the stars with a cold beer after a long day of flying my Discus B. The laughter as an underdog finisher doing a low approach as Charlie Spratt proclaims “Standby...Mark. Good finish.“ And the laughter of sitting in the shade of a wing, with your best friends in the world, waiting on a launch to commence so you can become fierce competitors for the next three hours, before returning to laugh about all of it. I can still hear it in the air here, even on a cold early morning in November.
The second thing I think about are the ghosts, and how they are tied in with the laughter. Spratt, of course, and sailing the seas of Hobbs, but also Charlie Lite racing his chair up and down the ramp laughing his butt off. Dick Johnson making some prophetic announcement on the grid and his wry smile as everyone slowly realizes it was a joke. Doug Stogner getting the old winch out and fussing with it. Making fun of Steven Coggins for the size of his nose, right before he manages to take out every waitress from the Chili’s in town on a silly bet. And, at this time of the morning, if you listen a little further back, you can hear young men preparing the morning flights, the flight crews rolling out of their bunks for breakfast, and their combined laughter as they make their way to their planes. They are training. War is still an abstract concept to them, but they know their future and take the opportunity to laugh while they can. I miss every one of these people fiercely, even the kids going to war who I only got to know through history books.
As I climbed back into the Uber, whom I had paid to wait as I didn’t reckon he had many other places to be at this time of the morning, he said: “I don’t think you’re supposed to go out there, it’s private property”.
I replied “I know, but I had to go visit a piece of my soul that I left here when I was 15, and like to revisit whenever I can. Besides, I belong here”.
New Newsletter Authors
I, along with a few other close friends, are taking over the Wings and Wheels newsletter, not because Garret got fired, but because he did an article every week since February 2016. He’s done a fantastic job. I can’t believe he had that much to write in him. I’m not Garret. I’m not an instructor, but soaring has been my main hobby for almost 30 years now. My articles will not be as technical as Garrets were. They will be more of a hangar flying experience, with some technical advice thrown in. However,
It’s not going to be just me doing the writing. In the new articles, you will hear from people like:
-Adam Woolley who is the current Australian National 20m 2 seat champion. Adam has multiple day wins at the WGC and a current IGC ranking of 67 in the world. He will be talking about racing, flying fast, and strategy.
-Hugh Grandstaff, who is an ATP rated airline pilot, CFII, active tow pilot, and just finished being CD of the Club Class nationals last summer. Hugh is also an accomplished sailboat racer and budding sailplane racer who we can expect to see in competition soon.
-Boyd Willat is a CFIG, has competed in two WGC events, one as a Junior, one in the Club Class. Boyd has had a hand as a CD for a national contest, experience running a glider port, and is an airborne firefighter for California Fire.
-Tony Condon has competed in multiple WGC events, is the driving force behind the Kansas Soaring Association. Tony holds multiple state records as well as a national level record. Tony is a CFIG and glider DPE as well.
-Andy Breyer is a Sports Class national champion and CFIG who has extensive experience in sailplane repair and refinishing. Andy is currently working his way up the “Ranks” to be an airline pilot and has, in my opinion, one of the funniest personalities in soaring.
-Surprise guest writers, who will be able to provide perspectives from a unique position in the soaring community.
The Wings and Wheels weekly is changing, but we hope you enjoy reading them. We can’t promise Garret, but we can promise the feeling of sitting around a fire, on the ramp at Hobbs talking about flying, and definitely learning something as we go.
Mitch Hudson has been avidly flying gliders since he was 14 years old. He is a retired Air Force Navigator who also has hobbies of exercising his ATP rating to fly regional jets around the country and using his A&P rating to keep all matter of flying machines in the air. Mitch has flown more regional and national soaring contests than he cares to count and has crewed at two World Gliding Championships. He and his wife live in Colorado, keep a hangar in Moriarty, New Mexico, and flies happily with whichever club will put up with him.