Another terrible forecast, but this time it proved to be correct!
We inspected the Puchatek and the Tug. There was a problem with the PTT button in the back seat, which Harry Potts was able to fix. We were about to tow out the glider when the heavens opened and it rained and thundered. This continued pretty much all day.
In the afternoon we derigged the Grob 103 and put the fuselage in the trailer to take down to Temora to get the canopy fixed. We had to interrupt this job for a while waiting for the rain to ease off, but it went surprisingly smoothly.
In the morning, an autoelectrician came out to look at the E-tug, and later on Phil Anderton came out and did some taxi trials. Then he took off and did some flying in it. It seems to be working OK now, but needs a bit more testing. The rain stopped Phil doing as much as he would have liked.
So no flying today in gliders.
The plan is to ferry PPC back to Bathurst tomorrow morning before the storms get going.
Vic will be instructing at the club tomorrow, and Phil may be able to tow in CUR. Otherwise we will be winching.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday 29 November
A very grey day, with a very bad forecast. However I had an ex hang-glider and paraglider pilot aquaintance from England here, so we pulled the Puchatek out to do some training.
Harry Potts has also returned for three weeks, and needs a flight with an instructor to get rid of the cobwebs!
To our surprise, we were able to soar on the first Puchatek flight despite the day seeming completely grey and still. Peter Robinson was soon at home in the Puchatek, and was able to get orientated with the area. Despite only having done winch launching before in a K13 he handled the aerotow well, and made a passable attempt at the landing. He has not actually done any landings before, as his home aerodrome gets rather busy and the instructor has always had to take over to avoid obstacles of one sort or another.
We had two more circuits and then the showers moved in. We just got the glider away before getting soaked!
Later in the afternoon, we had another attempt at flying. This time we got one flight in before the storm just got too close. Boris thinks I am mad! He took this picture while towing us up!
Peter managed to double his accumulated air time in these four flights!
There has been some activity on the E-Tug, and some parts replaced. It seems to be running OK at the moment, but Phil Anderton is going to do some trials when the weather permits
Harry Potts has also returned for three weeks, and needs a flight with an instructor to get rid of the cobwebs!
To our surprise, we were able to soar on the first Puchatek flight despite the day seeming completely grey and still. Peter Robinson was soon at home in the Puchatek, and was able to get orientated with the area. Despite only having done winch launching before in a K13 he handled the aerotow well, and made a passable attempt at the landing. He has not actually done any landings before, as his home aerodrome gets rather busy and the instructor has always had to take over to avoid obstacles of one sort or another.
We had two more circuits and then the showers moved in. We just got the glider away before getting soaked!
Later in the afternoon, we had another attempt at flying. This time we got one flight in before the storm just got too close. Boris thinks I am mad! He took this picture while towing us up!
Peter managed to double his accumulated air time in these four flights!
There has been some activity on the E-Tug, and some parts replaced. It seems to be running OK at the moment, but Phil Anderton is going to do some trials when the weather permits
Wednesday 28 November
Another poor looking day, with a lot of cirrus cover. However there were cumulus under the cirrus and the day proved to be well soarable.
Alan Murdoch took off in the Jantar at 1330, the first launch of the day! 5 and a half hours later he landed having completed his duration flight for silver C. Gen attempted her sliver C distance flight, but the conditions were not quite good enough so she came back to the field.
Roy Worthington flew the LS7 for three hours, and Rod Loder had three and a half hours in the DG400.
I did not get my feet off the ground for once.
We were visited by Justin Wills and his wife Gillian during the day, visitors from New Zealand, and they went off to see Garry in Manilla.
After Alan's marathon effort we all went out for tea to the Royal in Manilla to celebrate, and met Garry and the Will's there!
A good day's flying.
Alan Murdoch took off in the Jantar at 1330, the first launch of the day! 5 and a half hours later he landed having completed his duration flight for silver C. Gen attempted her sliver C distance flight, but the conditions were not quite good enough so she came back to the field.
Roy Worthington flew the LS7 for three hours, and Rod Loder had three and a half hours in the DG400.
I did not get my feet off the ground for once.
We were visited by Justin Wills and his wife Gillian during the day, visitors from New Zealand, and they went off to see Garry in Manilla.
After Alan's marathon effort we all went out for tea to the Royal in Manilla to celebrate, and met Garry and the Will's there!
A good day's flying.
Tuesday 27 November
Another bad forecast followed by a pretty reasonable day, although there were areas of cirrus at times.
Alan and Gen were a bit slow getting their act together, so didn't launch until well after 1 o'clock.
Alan flew the Jantar, and we had to clean all the spider's webs out of it first, and get him comfortable in it. Yes you can get comfortable in a Jantar if you take the time and effort to do it!
A couple of AFRs to do for me, but spent the rest of the time on the ground.
John Wakefield and Trevor West spent ages working on the Puchatek, (the oleo was leaking) helped by Boris once he had finished towing. As a result it is now flying again thank goodness. John Wakefield spends about a day a week here working on aircraft for us - we would be lost without him. A very big thankyou John.
Alan and Gen were a bit slow getting their act together, so didn't launch until well after 1 o'clock.
Alan flew the Jantar, and we had to clean all the spider's webs out of it first, and get him comfortable in it. Yes you can get comfortable in a Jantar if you take the time and effort to do it!
A couple of AFRs to do for me, but spent the rest of the time on the ground.
John Wakefield and Trevor West spent ages working on the Puchatek, (the oleo was leaking) helped by Boris once he had finished towing. As a result it is now flying again thank goodness. John Wakefield spends about a day a week here working on aircraft for us - we would be lost without him. A very big thankyou John.
Monday 26 November
Gen Francis and Alan Murdoch visiting from the UK. John Hoye came out to say g'day as they are from his club in Kent. Despite a very ordinary forecast, the day turned out to be excellent, although there were showers around. Alan and Gen had check and orientation flights with myself and John in the Twin Astir, then they both flew the Junior for a bit.
After doing an AFR, I could not resist doing a hangar flight in the Twin. Boris towed me into a booming thermal over the rubbish dump. I got off at 1100 ft and took the average 9.5-10 kt thermal straight to cloudbase at about 8000ft.
As it was only supposed to be a hangar flight, I just flew off to Mt Borah and back and landed.
Alan and Gen were impressed with our conditions compared to what they are used to in the UK!
After doing an AFR, I could not resist doing a hangar flight in the Twin. Boris towed me into a booming thermal over the rubbish dump. I got off at 1100 ft and took the average 9.5-10 kt thermal straight to cloudbase at about 8000ft.
As it was only supposed to be a hangar flight, I just flew off to Mt Borah and back and landed.
Alan and Gen were impressed with our conditions compared to what they are used to in the UK!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
The weekend
A huge weekend of aviation for me this weekend.
Flew home to Cowra on Saturday morning despite a terrible forecast. Absolutely no problems but it did storm in Cowra in the afternoon.
Then did the books for the Cowra Aero Club - another aviation chore!
Next morning flew the Jabiru to Bathurst and swapped it for a Pawnee, and flew to Keepit, arriving at about midday. It looked like a great soaring day, and I had flown through heaps of thermals on the way in.
Trevor and Lachlan Knight flew in the Twin Astir and hooked into a 7 knotter straight of the tow. Peter Shiels flew QV and Geoff Neely self launched in the DG300. Couldn't resist it, I got the Mozzie out and got into the air just after 3 O'clock. Boris did the towing, although it was supposed to be his day off. Thanks Boris.
Flew Quirindi, Tambar Springs and back. Nice little trip that I wasn't really expecting.
Well back to work again tomorrow - its a hard life!
Jenny
Flew home to Cowra on Saturday morning despite a terrible forecast. Absolutely no problems but it did storm in Cowra in the afternoon.
Then did the books for the Cowra Aero Club - another aviation chore!
Next morning flew the Jabiru to Bathurst and swapped it for a Pawnee, and flew to Keepit, arriving at about midday. It looked like a great soaring day, and I had flown through heaps of thermals on the way in.
Trevor and Lachlan Knight flew in the Twin Astir and hooked into a 7 knotter straight of the tow. Peter Shiels flew QV and Geoff Neely self launched in the DG300. Couldn't resist it, I got the Mozzie out and got into the air just after 3 O'clock. Boris did the towing, although it was supposed to be his day off. Thanks Boris.
Flew Quirindi, Tambar Springs and back. Nice little trip that I wasn't really expecting.
Well back to work again tomorrow - its a hard life!
Jenny
Friday, November 23, 2007
An "exciting week"
We had a little bit too much excitement this week.
After a brilliant week of flying during the comp, the weather became more unstable and we had quite a bit of storm activity.
On Tuesday, after Jim Thompson had done a few circuits, one of which involved hooking into a 6 kt thermal after releasing from the two at 1200 ft, I had two TIFs to take up. The first flight found nothing but 2 kts down everywhere, but the second had a good soaring flight. I offered the first chap another flight as we had been unable to soar and he accepted.
At about 900 ft AGL, the tug disappeared below us and I quickly released the rope. I was very worried about the tuggie, but he managed to do an excellent dead stick landing on the side of the lake. While I was thinking about where to land the glider, Boris radioed to say that he was OK, and as luck would have it I flew into a good thermal. We were obviously not going to get another launch, so I took the thermal and climbed out. My passenger enjoyed the rest of the TIF and was able to practice flying the glider.
We did not fly on Wednesday or Thursday because of poor weather. I did start to get the glider out on Thursday, but it needed the tyre inflating and this took a while. Meanwhile storms developed so we put it away again.
On Friday I planned to fly to Kempsey in the Jabiru with Geoff Neely in the Callair to ferry it to maintenance. However the weather prevented us - even though we planned to leave at about 6 am, there was too much cloud on the coast.
Garry came out to drive the winch and teach Boris how to do it. Al Giles wanted to get winch current again. On our first launch Al hooked into a thermal over the rock wall and climbed to cloudbase. He did another couple of launches in the Grob, then I thought I'd do one myself in the front seat. Big Mistake. Didn't fasten the back canopy and it flew open on launch and smashed. So I am sorry to say that due to my stupidity, the Grob is out of action once again. Luckily there is another canopy in the country and it is on its way to Tom Gilbert's. With any luck, it should only be two or three weeks before it is flying again.
I am hoping to fly home this weekend with the Jabiru, and return with the Bathurst tug PPC, which we are hiring for a week. With any luck we will have one of the other tugs back after that.
However winch launching is a pretty good option - you don't often need more than one launch if it is a good day.
Jenny
After a brilliant week of flying during the comp, the weather became more unstable and we had quite a bit of storm activity.
On Tuesday, after Jim Thompson had done a few circuits, one of which involved hooking into a 6 kt thermal after releasing from the two at 1200 ft, I had two TIFs to take up. The first flight found nothing but 2 kts down everywhere, but the second had a good soaring flight. I offered the first chap another flight as we had been unable to soar and he accepted.
At about 900 ft AGL, the tug disappeared below us and I quickly released the rope. I was very worried about the tuggie, but he managed to do an excellent dead stick landing on the side of the lake. While I was thinking about where to land the glider, Boris radioed to say that he was OK, and as luck would have it I flew into a good thermal. We were obviously not going to get another launch, so I took the thermal and climbed out. My passenger enjoyed the rest of the TIF and was able to practice flying the glider.
We did not fly on Wednesday or Thursday because of poor weather. I did start to get the glider out on Thursday, but it needed the tyre inflating and this took a while. Meanwhile storms developed so we put it away again.
On Friday I planned to fly to Kempsey in the Jabiru with Geoff Neely in the Callair to ferry it to maintenance. However the weather prevented us - even though we planned to leave at about 6 am, there was too much cloud on the coast.
Garry came out to drive the winch and teach Boris how to do it. Al Giles wanted to get winch current again. On our first launch Al hooked into a thermal over the rock wall and climbed to cloudbase. He did another couple of launches in the Grob, then I thought I'd do one myself in the front seat. Big Mistake. Didn't fasten the back canopy and it flew open on launch and smashed. So I am sorry to say that due to my stupidity, the Grob is out of action once again. Luckily there is another canopy in the country and it is on its way to Tom Gilbert's. With any luck, it should only be two or three weeks before it is flying again.
I am hoping to fly home this weekend with the Jabiru, and return with the Bathurst tug PPC, which we are hiring for a week. With any luck we will have one of the other tugs back after that.
However winch launching is a pretty good option - you don't often need more than one launch if it is a good day.
Jenny
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Last couple of days at the comp
The last couple of days of the comp were some of the best! There were some rain showers about, but it was quite possible to avoid them. On Friday we did an AAT to Wamboyne Airfield, Baan Baa and Manilla silo and back. This was my fastest day at about 110 km/hr.
On Saturday we had a very similar AAT task from Spring Ridge to Narrabri and Manilla Silo. Not quite as good as the day before - the thermals were harder to work, but still an enjoyable flight.
On Sunday the conditions were again very good, but most people were too tired to fly again. As my job is to fly every day, I suppose I am conditioned for doing lots of gliding. Anyway I took a launch and completed a 500 km task. Probably about my second one.
On Monday and Tuesday it was back to the grindstone with yet more flying. What more could you ask for?
On Saturday we had a very similar AAT task from Spring Ridge to Narrabri and Manilla Silo. Not quite as good as the day before - the thermals were harder to work, but still an enjoyable flight.
On Sunday the conditions were again very good, but most people were too tired to fly again. As my job is to fly every day, I suppose I am conditioned for doing lots of gliding. Anyway I took a launch and completed a 500 km task. Probably about my second one.
On Monday and Tuesday it was back to the grindstone with yet more flying. What more could you ask for?
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Lake Keepit State Comps
I am officially on holiday this week, to fly in the comp! It will be the first time for about 10 years! As Boris still has not got his licence I asked him to be my crew - he is doing a great job. I could get used to this!
Saturday was the practice day, and we had an AAT task - can't even remember where it was to now! All I know is that I was within 800 ft of a paddock on the way home, but just managed to climb up enough to get back in to the field. Others outlanded at Gunnedah aerodrome. It was fantastic to fly for myself for a change, rather than talking in the back seat! It was actually the first time I have done a proper XC flight since working at LKSC, apart from a trip to Kaputar and back in the LS6.
On Sunday the weather really turned it on, and we had an excellent soaring day. The standard and 15m classes did an AAT Mullaley, Edgeroi, Manilla and back to LKSC. As per usual I came last except for someone who outlanded!
On Monday we did an AAT task Tambar Springs, Terri Hi Hi, Split Rock and back to LKSC. The conditions were variable, sometimes excellent, sometimes very worrying. I fell into a hole at Brigalow airfeild and it took me three attempts in 1/2 knot thermals to get high enough to get over the hills to get home. I was in the air for 6 hours and 45 minutes.
Tuesday was the 13th of the month, which is the unlucky day in Spain and also apparently in Argentina. However it was a lucky day for us as Boris finally got his licence through, and I mangaged to complete the task before last light! It was a fantastic day with speeds of over 150 km/hr recorded. I managed 105 kmph in the Mosquito which is good for me, but only good enough for 2nd last place! we flew a fixed task to Moree, Gunedah and back to Lake Keepit.
On Wednesday the task setters really went to town and gave us a huge fixed task of 490 km. I knew that as I am very slow, I needed an early start. Alas I was the last to launch. I left as soon as I could, but found the going very tough. When my GPS told me that my ETA was after six pm when I was gliding, and not even half way round, I had a pretty good idea that I wouldn't make it around! However I kept going and after taking my last climb to 7000 ft and about 7 pm, was forced to airbrake down to land safely at Barraba airfield just before last light! Boris and Ian Sawell came out with the trailer and we got home at about 11 pm. All part of the fun!
Thursday (today) was a difficult day with heavy cirrus cover most of the time. There were lots of outlandings and some simply did not fly. When the sun came out the thermals were strong punchy cores which went up to 9500 ft. The task was Edgeroi Boggabri for all classes - an AAT with big circles! After nearly bombing out at launch, I managed to sneak around and clip the circles and get back early.
There is a storm brewing now and we have been shuffling tugs around to get as many as possible in the hangars.
Saturday was the practice day, and we had an AAT task - can't even remember where it was to now! All I know is that I was within 800 ft of a paddock on the way home, but just managed to climb up enough to get back in to the field. Others outlanded at Gunnedah aerodrome. It was fantastic to fly for myself for a change, rather than talking in the back seat! It was actually the first time I have done a proper XC flight since working at LKSC, apart from a trip to Kaputar and back in the LS6.
On Sunday the weather really turned it on, and we had an excellent soaring day. The standard and 15m classes did an AAT Mullaley, Edgeroi, Manilla and back to LKSC. As per usual I came last except for someone who outlanded!
On Monday we did an AAT task Tambar Springs, Terri Hi Hi, Split Rock and back to LKSC. The conditions were variable, sometimes excellent, sometimes very worrying. I fell into a hole at Brigalow airfeild and it took me three attempts in 1/2 knot thermals to get high enough to get over the hills to get home. I was in the air for 6 hours and 45 minutes.
Tuesday was the 13th of the month, which is the unlucky day in Spain and also apparently in Argentina. However it was a lucky day for us as Boris finally got his licence through, and I mangaged to complete the task before last light! It was a fantastic day with speeds of over 150 km/hr recorded. I managed 105 kmph in the Mosquito which is good for me, but only good enough for 2nd last place! we flew a fixed task to Moree, Gunedah and back to Lake Keepit.
On Wednesday the task setters really went to town and gave us a huge fixed task of 490 km. I knew that as I am very slow, I needed an early start. Alas I was the last to launch. I left as soon as I could, but found the going very tough. When my GPS told me that my ETA was after six pm when I was gliding, and not even half way round, I had a pretty good idea that I wouldn't make it around! However I kept going and after taking my last climb to 7000 ft and about 7 pm, was forced to airbrake down to land safely at Barraba airfield just before last light! Boris and Ian Sawell came out with the trailer and we got home at about 11 pm. All part of the fun!
Thursday (today) was a difficult day with heavy cirrus cover most of the time. There were lots of outlandings and some simply did not fly. When the sun came out the thermals were strong punchy cores which went up to 9500 ft. The task was Edgeroi Boggabri for all classes - an AAT with big circles! After nearly bombing out at launch, I managed to sneak around and clip the circles and get back early.
There is a storm brewing now and we have been shuffling tugs around to get as many as possible in the hangars.
Precompetition Week
I've been a bit slack with publishing the news lately.
The precompetition week featured very ordinary weather, but this did mean that lots of competition preparation got done. On Monday Bernie, my student who didn't turn up on Friday came - but unfortunately I had to fly the tug. We managed three circuits with Garry flying the tug, but then he had to fly with our Japanese vistor Mr Iwata in the twin Astir.
I flew the Callair for the first time on Monday with a glider on the back! No problems - it is quite nice to fly even though it does not climb out as fast as the Pawnee. The tail wheel works properly which is a real bonus. The Callair was supposed to fly away for its 100 hourly on Monday afternoon, but the weather on the coast was no good, so it stayed.
TNE (Pawnee) was due to come up from Bathurst, and CUR (Pawnee with V8 car engine) was due to come back from Kingaroy, but both were held up by the weather. Naturally the weather at Lake Keepit was OK on Tuesday, so we used the Callair again on its last day of maintenance release.
TNE arrived on Tuesday afternoon so we had a tug for the rest of the week - however the weather was very poor.
Boris still had not got his licence from CASA and was getting quite worried about it.
During the week I managed to finish curtains in Room 12 in the Club house and make a canopy cover for my glider, and also install the flarm. At the last minute we even made the trailer usable!
Next installment - the competition!
The precompetition week featured very ordinary weather, but this did mean that lots of competition preparation got done. On Monday Bernie, my student who didn't turn up on Friday came - but unfortunately I had to fly the tug. We managed three circuits with Garry flying the tug, but then he had to fly with our Japanese vistor Mr Iwata in the twin Astir.
I flew the Callair for the first time on Monday with a glider on the back! No problems - it is quite nice to fly even though it does not climb out as fast as the Pawnee. The tail wheel works properly which is a real bonus. The Callair was supposed to fly away for its 100 hourly on Monday afternoon, but the weather on the coast was no good, so it stayed.
TNE (Pawnee) was due to come up from Bathurst, and CUR (Pawnee with V8 car engine) was due to come back from Kingaroy, but both were held up by the weather. Naturally the weather at Lake Keepit was OK on Tuesday, so we used the Callair again on its last day of maintenance release.
TNE arrived on Tuesday afternoon so we had a tug for the rest of the week - however the weather was very poor.
Boris still had not got his licence from CASA and was getting quite worried about it.
During the week I managed to finish curtains in Room 12 in the Club house and make a canopy cover for my glider, and also install the flarm. At the last minute we even made the trailer usable!
Next installment - the competition!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Friday 2 November - Saturday 3rd November
Lots of people around the club today - once again there was a terrible forecast. Once again, it failed to eventuate.
The wind was about 5 to 10 kts straight up runway 32, and although conditions were overcast, there was cumulus, and soaring flights were possible.
My student didn't show up today - maybe I worked him too hard yesterday! (9 flights). Steve Hedley flew with Tadashi Yoshida in the Nimbus, and they stayed up for about three hours I think. Not sure where they went. Garry had a couple of flights with Mr Iwata in the twin astir.
Chris Carr came out and took the side off the office computer to find out what sort of memory it had. It was full of cobwebs! We cleaned these out, took out and re-installed the memory, changed a setting or two in the bios and Hey Presto! the computer is now using all the installed memory, and is working much faster. I would like to get more memory for it, but will see how it goes for now.
Geoff Neely did the towing today - we have had another setback with CASA processing Boris's licence - just when we thought they were about to issue it. Despite his having been issued an ASIC, they do not believe he is who he says he is and say they must check with officials in Argentina. They must think that we are a hotbed of terrorism not a gliding club! Boris is very worried about it, but he is helping out at the club as much as he can.
My Jabiru is back in the air again, after an extensive service. Many thanks to John Wakefield. It is really running well now. I managed to fly home on Saturday morning, despite another terrible forecast. It wasn't as bad as they said. I was able to go around the showers, and over the top of the scattered low cloud. By the time I reached Cowra the cloudbase had lifted to 800 ft AGL - no problems getting in.
See you all next week for the preparation for the comps!
Jenny
The wind was about 5 to 10 kts straight up runway 32, and although conditions were overcast, there was cumulus, and soaring flights were possible.
My student didn't show up today - maybe I worked him too hard yesterday! (9 flights). Steve Hedley flew with Tadashi Yoshida in the Nimbus, and they stayed up for about three hours I think. Not sure where they went. Garry had a couple of flights with Mr Iwata in the twin astir.
Chris Carr came out and took the side off the office computer to find out what sort of memory it had. It was full of cobwebs! We cleaned these out, took out and re-installed the memory, changed a setting or two in the bios and Hey Presto! the computer is now using all the installed memory, and is working much faster. I would like to get more memory for it, but will see how it goes for now.
Geoff Neely did the towing today - we have had another setback with CASA processing Boris's licence - just when we thought they were about to issue it. Despite his having been issued an ASIC, they do not believe he is who he says he is and say they must check with officials in Argentina. They must think that we are a hotbed of terrorism not a gliding club! Boris is very worried about it, but he is helping out at the club as much as he can.
My Jabiru is back in the air again, after an extensive service. Many thanks to John Wakefield. It is really running well now. I managed to fly home on Saturday morning, despite another terrible forecast. It wasn't as bad as they said. I was able to go around the showers, and over the top of the scattered low cloud. By the time I reached Cowra the cloudbase had lifted to 800 ft AGL - no problems getting in.
See you all next week for the preparation for the comps!
Jenny
Thursday, November 1, 2007
News update
I have been a bit quiet on the blog lately - mostly because I have been busy!
Got back to Lake Keepit on Monday 22 October. Dad is now home from hospital and doing well, but still not quite back to where he was. No more swimming for another couple of weeks!
Had a problem with the brakes on the Callair on Tuesday. Ian Barraclough stepped in to tow in MIE before flying himself with Boris in the ASH. John Wakefield was at the club fixed the leaking brake, but it still felt spongy. Tim Wilson flew his LS6. Cirrus came over in the afternoon, but apparently the soaring conditions were good.
The next couple of days were rainy. Boris still has not got his licence from CASA but he has received his medical certificate and ASIC. In the meantime he has been very helpful around the place, and has been running wings and towing back gliders with the quad.
I have had a student Bernie Rea-Taylor this week, with occasional visits from his friends Floris and Mattijs. They are all staying at Godfrey Wenness' place and are at varying stages of learning paragliding. Bernie was hoping to start paragliding, but dislocated his knee, and opted for flying sailplanes instead. He has been progressing steadily during the week.
Floris and Mattijs came out one day when it was too windy for paragliding, or the wrong wind direction or something. As it often seems to be too windy for paragliding, we may see more of them!
Everyday this week we have had bad forecasts, but every day it has been quite good! Yesterday was excellent, and Bernie flew to the Borah launch and back in the Puchatek. The paragliders were unable to soar however - not sure if it was a problem with the wind direction, or strength, or just that the thermals were too far apart.
Today we were supposed to have continuous rain, but there hasn't been a drop. There was little or no wind either, so it was perfect for circuits. Todd Clark flew down toward Springridge, then back to Manilla and Split rock in his LS4 IID. Garry flew the Twin Astir solo, and after a late start had an hour and a half or so soaring flight.
Our Japanese member Tadashi Yoshida has arrived and visited the club today with Garry Speight, but did not fly. His friend Mr Iwata also came out. Tad will be flying the LS6 next week, and Mr Iwata will be flying with Garry in the Twin Astir.
Bye for now
Jenny
Got back to Lake Keepit on Monday 22 October. Dad is now home from hospital and doing well, but still not quite back to where he was. No more swimming for another couple of weeks!
Had a problem with the brakes on the Callair on Tuesday. Ian Barraclough stepped in to tow in MIE before flying himself with Boris in the ASH. John Wakefield was at the club fixed the leaking brake, but it still felt spongy. Tim Wilson flew his LS6. Cirrus came over in the afternoon, but apparently the soaring conditions were good.
The next couple of days were rainy. Boris still has not got his licence from CASA but he has received his medical certificate and ASIC. In the meantime he has been very helpful around the place, and has been running wings and towing back gliders with the quad.
I have had a student Bernie Rea-Taylor this week, with occasional visits from his friends Floris and Mattijs. They are all staying at Godfrey Wenness' place and are at varying stages of learning paragliding. Bernie was hoping to start paragliding, but dislocated his knee, and opted for flying sailplanes instead. He has been progressing steadily during the week.
Floris and Mattijs came out one day when it was too windy for paragliding, or the wrong wind direction or something. As it often seems to be too windy for paragliding, we may see more of them!
Everyday this week we have had bad forecasts, but every day it has been quite good! Yesterday was excellent, and Bernie flew to the Borah launch and back in the Puchatek. The paragliders were unable to soar however - not sure if it was a problem with the wind direction, or strength, or just that the thermals were too far apart.
Today we were supposed to have continuous rain, but there hasn't been a drop. There was little or no wind either, so it was perfect for circuits. Todd Clark flew down toward Springridge, then back to Manilla and Split rock in his LS4 IID. Garry flew the Twin Astir solo, and after a late start had an hour and a half or so soaring flight.
Our Japanese member Tadashi Yoshida has arrived and visited the club today with Garry Speight, but did not fly. His friend Mr Iwata also came out. Tad will be flying the LS6 next week, and Mr Iwata will be flying with Garry in the Twin Astir.
Bye for now
Jenny
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