Another interesting day. The satellite picture showed the high cloud off further to the north west, and the wind was forecast to be easterly, and it was - more or less - straight across the strip!
Jim Staniforth was asked to explain the RASP blipmaps to us at briefing, and this got very complicated. I looked out of the window ( I am not a very technical pilot) and suggested Quirindi, Tambar Springs and back - about 250 km I think. I did not think the blipmap analysts had taken any notice but to my surprise, one or two attempted this task, or something fairly like it! Christian made it all the way round.
My intention for the day had been to mow the strip, and I spent much of the morning greasing the tractor. However Trevor West turned up and offered to do an hour or so's mowing, but he spent most of the day on it. Thanks Trevor - its heaps better now.
We found that the Jantar had a flat tail wheel and the tube was wrecked. Its really important to check the tyres an not run them when they are soft, as this rips the valve out. Changing a tyre when there are cus all over the sky can really spoil your day. Fortunately I had a spare tube, but it was the last one - I'll have to get some more!
Jim Staniforth and his friend Jim Dingess rigged the Nimbus, and then went for a flight in the Grob. When they came back, John Hoye and John Wakefield went for a cross country flight in it but they didn't start till fairly late. Greg Denis took a launch in the Jantar, but didn't stay up and decided he'd had enough. So I took it for a flight myself, but late in the day there wasn't much about - had about an hour though. I really must practice landing the Jantar in crosswinds!!! Both Jim and Jim had flights in Jim Staniforth's nimbus, and Bob Emery had a flight in his Cirrus.
The consensus was that it was another difficult day, especially low down.
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