Working Bee Pictures

Working Bee

We had a very successful working bee on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. At least twenty people turned up and it turned out to be a very social occasion.Tim Carr did a great job of organising everything, and Sam Clift cracked the whip and did not allow too much talking unless work was being performed at the same time!

Every thing was taken out of the club house, and a huge amount of cleaning, sanding and painting was done, and the freezer was defrosted.
Lots of stuff was taken to the tip both from the club house and from the Tug hangar. You can actually fit the aeroplanes in it now!

The same weekend we had an instructors panel meeting, and a committee meeting. It was also Garry Speight's birthday on Saturday and Geoff Sim's on Sunday. June must be a good month for glider pilots.

On Sunday Phil Anderton added another Tuggie to the ranks. Jay Anderson, who tows at Camden and keeps his glider at Lake Keepit, was aquainted with the local procedures and taught the black art of operating the fuel bowser. Jay has kindly agreed to fill one of the gaps in the July roster.

Thursday 21 June

Thanks to every who phoned or emailed to wish me a happy birthday!

who came out for a fix. I hadn'tThe day dawned cold but sunny, and to my surprise we had a few organised another tuggie, so I took a couple of aspirins and tried to climb in! To my surprise the back felt much better for moving about a bit. Just as I was trying to start the engine, Garry Speight turned up and offered to fly it for me so that I could fly a glider.

Garry launched Trevor West and Bob Emery but by the time I had the Mozzie ready, the sky was had overclouded and Trevor and Bob were back on the ground. Neverless I took a launch as the glider had to be test flown after its form 2. Only found one patch of reduced sink, but of course I would have soared all afternoon if I had remembered to put the wheel away!

Trevor had the longest flight on the shortest day - 22 minutes from a 2000 ft launch. He must have found something apart from mushrooms.

After flying we had another barbecue, which turned into a birthday party, complete with cake, presents and silly hats. Vic Hatfield, Geoff Sim and Sandra Mitchell also attended. Presents included Japanese beer coasters, Deep Heat (very useful), some choccies and a bottle of red wrapped in an ERC Low. Very original

NSWGA Meeting

After hurting my back on Thursday I have not been able to do any flying, so I couldn't fly home for the weekend. Instead I accompanied Vic Hatfield, Vice President (or do I mean president of vice?) to the NSW Gliding Association President's meeting.

The NSWGA is trying to become relevant again, and I am glad our club was represented. They can help us with promotion and getting grants! They are building a new website NSWgliding.org.au

After the meeting, our illustrious vice president had a go in the wright flyer replica. No he didn't actually fly it - just sat in the seat and made engine noises

Thursday 14 August

The day was sunny and the were cu's over the hills. We thought it might get soarable here, but there wasn't much. Trevor West, John Wakefield, Bob Emery Vic Hatfield, John Hoye and Craig Borchard came out to the club.

We rigged the Mosquito GKW, (1/3 mine) and it looks good after all the work Tom Gilbert has done on it. Unfortunately I wrenched my back in the process, so John Hoye stepped in to fly the tug today. Thanks John.

Trevor decided that mushrooming was a better bet than gliding, and he found heaps. We cooked some up with the sausages for lunch. In the end only Craig and Vic flew.

Craig is a new member from Kootingal, and had his first gliding lessons with Vic today. The poor chap had four instructors keeping an eye on him and overloading him with information. Those of us on the ground thought he must be doing really well, as he was on to modified circuits on only his second flight!

Sunday 10th June

Not sure what the weather was doing at LKSC today (Sunday) but Saturday was cold and wet to start with, though it looked as if it was clearing.

Went to Temora to collect our (Jenny & friends) Mosquito GKW which has been having its Form 2 done, and being repaired from an accident I had with the trailer.

There were Cus popping all over the sky - what could I do? Flew the Temora Club Janus for an hour or so. The glider had been sitting sadly in the hangar for three months and was covered in dust. Cloudbase was 5000ft and the best thermals were 6 kt. Not bad for June. Followed up with a few circuits in the club's Cessna172.

Most satisfactory aviation fix after not having flown since Wednesday!

Driving back to LKSC tomorrow, trailer in tow.

Thursday & Friday

We had no flying on Thursday and Friday due to poor weather. It has been very cold and wet the last couple of days.

Doug Knight and Michael Newnham have returned to Melbourne, but have promised to return. Doug's flying had greatly improved since the last time he came here - I had told him to practice by visualisation and he told me that he had been doing this. It must have worked!

This is an excellent technique for anyone who cannot fly as regularly as they would like to.

.

Wednesday's Flying

Wednesday dawned blue and sunny but gradually clouded over. There was next to no wind, and no thermals at all, although I think I detected a patch of 1 down rather than the usual 2 down at one stage!

We did 13 flights in the Puchatek. Michael Newnham did 5 solos after a brief check flight this morning and Doug Knight did 7 flights with me.

Thanks to Bruce Clark for towing.

The forecast is not brilliant for tomorrow, but the Thursday crowd are most welcome to come out and socialise, even if they don't want to fly. I still have some sausages left from last Thursday.

First Solo Michael Newnham

Tuesday was a cold and very stable day, foggy at first.

I started the day with Michael Newnham. In one flight we did take-off, rudder waggle, hook-up, boxing the slipstream, high tow, spins, stalls circuit and landing. Michael felt he had worked quite hard! After a cable break and a wave off, I thought he was ready to fly solo, so I phoned up Vic Hatfield to see he if would offer a second opinion.

Vic came out on his BMW and hopped into the back of the Puchatek, and gave poor Michael another work-out, and ran him out of height in the circuit. After yet another cable break (we really must get some more reliable tow ropes) Vic was happy to send Michael solo - but he wouldn't go!

They had another flight together, in which strangely enough nothing odd happened at all. As they were preparing for yet another, Vic said "you're going on your own this time, so get on with it" or words to that effect.

There was just enough daylight left for two solo flights, both of which went without a hitch. The day ended with a few beers.

Congratulations Michael

Thanks to Bruce Clark for 14 tows during the day, and Vic for coming out and making things happen.

Monday's Flying (4th June)

It was foggy at Lake Keepit till about 11 o' clock ( 0100 UTC to you), but it was really socked in at Cowra. Not even the bank plane got in. The fog did lift by about 10.00 am - to about 300 ft above ground level. I could not get away until just after midday, (in fact just after the bank plane left - it normally comes in and out at 7.00 am) when some holes in the low cloud opened up and I was able to fly up through one of them to go VFR over the top.

The cloud was much more broken and then scattered towards the north east, and I was able to get back to Lake Keepit without further incident. However it was very cold.

Doug Knight and Michael Newnham, my students for the week, along with Garry Speight had the tug and glider ready, so I did another running changeover this time from Jabiru to Puchatek. We managed five training flights in the afternoon but there was no soaring to be had. However it is ideal training weather as it is so smooth.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Don't forget to come out on Thursday.

Jenny

Saturday's flying

A few people came out to fly, but more maintenance work than flying was achieved. Sam fixed the hangar doors, Vic fixed the tractor and greased the winch, and Tim fixed the lawn mower and used it to good effect. Harry did some more runway work I think.

PIJ's battery was down a bit (my fault - I must have left the master switch on the day before) and I couldn't get it started. It don't think she likes the cold! With the help of Sam and Christian we jump started the aeroplane from Sams ute. All gliders were lined up ready to go, so I did four tows in quick succession without stopping the engine. Then I had to do a race to my Jabiru, which was packed and ready to go and took off for Cowra. I got there about five minutes after sunset, but it was still light enough to see fortunately. I had to get home to do some jobs for my Dad.

Sam test flew the Junior, Christian and Tim had brief flights, and Harry, the first to launch, was still airborne when I left...

Jenny

Friday's Flying

The day started out with a heavy frost, but warmed up a bit later.

Pilots today were Tim Carr and Harry Medlicott. Even Harry did not quite manage an hour this time so it was pretty ordinary. Would have been excellent for training flights though.

However the day was not wasted as Harry painted the tyres on the overshoot runway at the end of 14 (in Geoff Sim's paddock). It shows up well now. Tim and Harry went out after flying and painted new numbers on the bitumen runways. They also dismembered a lawnmower, and Tim will be getting new blades for it tomorrow.

Jenny

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Thursday Group

Today we had a small group of people who came out. Vic Hatfield, Trevor West, Bob Emery Harry Medlicott Geoff Sim and Sandra Mitchell. Phil Anderton came out to supervise me for towing, and John Wakefield came out to be sociable.

The soaring forecast was not fantastic, but there were a few cus to be seen.

I got the crew to move the old Puchatek wings so that we had room to put the Junior in the hangar. Then they rigged the Junior while I cooked lunch on the barbecue - I think they think rigging gliders is secret men's business. Funny because I thought cooking barbecues was secret men's business too.

The Junior looks very good after its comprehensive form 2 and facelift. Please look after it. We have signed off the daily inspection for the rerigging, but did not have chance to do the test flight.

We had a pleasant lunch in the sunshine before going flying.

Harry set an AAT task to Manilla 5km radius, Rangerai (20 km) and Mullaley (40 km). I'm not sure if anyone attempted it except Harry, however everyone stayed up for over an hour, but all landed before the night shift (kangaroos) came out.

Phil has now signed off my tow rating, so now I can tow current pilots midweek. If you need a check flight, you will have to give me notice as I have not yet devised a way of being in the glider and the tug at the same time! The answer is to stay current.

I have got the Grob seats back from the upholsterers and they have done a superb job on them. They really look good. They have also made up a selection of back cushions of different thicknesses so there should be a selection to suit pilots of all sizes.

See you later

Jenny