Sunday 23 March - Butts Bash Day 3

Another busy day at the club. Garry Speight yet again stepped into the breach and towed, and Jay Anderson took care of the trial instructional flights, before flying home in the afternoon in his Piper Saratoga. The shade sail was erected over the patio in front of the club house - the Carr brothers were instrumental in this, and it was done with the aid of a climbing harness. Missed this part - I should have got a photo!

The task was a 2 1/2 hour AAT Quirindi 30 km, Mullaley 30 km and SplitRock Dam 30 km. The dreaded blipmaps forecast a complete lack of thermals in the lake keepit area by about 4.00 pm, but fortunately they were wrong.

The themals were quite turbulent and difficult to work, and in the area to the south, the cloudbase was onlly about 5000 ft. There was quite a bit oveR over clouding.

I flew the Mozzie again, but had a quite leisurely day, not launching until about 1400. The conditions were interesting to the south, but there was some quite good streeting. I think the trick was to stay high and follow the lines of clouds. Once back in the Lake Keepit, Manilla area the cloudbase was much higher and conditions were better. I managed about 240 km but many made over 300 km in the time.

Ian Sawell flew the junior and did his silver C distance flight - Manilla Silo, Gunnedah a/d and back to Lake Keepit. Well done Ian.

Matthew Minter test flew the Jantar Standard and took a tow to 9000 feet!

Saturday 22 March

The forecast was gloomy, but the weather out of the window didn't look too bad. I did not feel very motivated this morning and thought about flying home to Cowra. There were problems with the tug, but fortunately John Wakefield saved the day, and bled the brakes. They are still not as they should be however. Garry once again agreed to fly it.

Because of the uncertaintly with the tug, the winch was brought out, and two launches were done. It was quite windy on the ground and I imagine they would have got good height - neither required a relight. After that the winch was put away and the remainder of the launches done by aerotow.

The task was Springridge 40km, Boggabri 33 km and Splitrock Dam 30 km, 2 hours AAT. Due to the poor forecast most of the gliders took off early. I flew the Mosquito launching at about 1445. There were a few showers about, but it wasn't as bad as had been feared. Went down the hills toward Quirindi, then back along a street to the Kelvins, across to Splitrock and back to Lake Keepit. Only did about 184 km in the two hours. The others were coming back as I was leaving. Allan Buttenshaw launched just after me, but went a different way, and ended up landing out somewhere north of Gunnedah. Sam flew the LS7 and had a low save near Gunnedah, but got up again and finished the task.

Dave Turner was duty instructor for the day, and did an AFR with Ian Sawell, and a couple more flights with Jim Thomson.

The day was better than expected but the thermals were rough and difficult to centre - unless it was just me! Although it was reasonably windy on the ground, paragliders were flying at Mt Borah so it couldn't have been all that windy there!

Friday 21 March - Butts Bash

First day of the Butts Bash regatta. The briefing room was crowded this morning. Present - Harry Medlicott RJ and Wendy Medlicott IKZ, Nick Singer MXP, Jim Thompson, Dave Shorter ZDS Tim and Chris Carr XJY and KYL, Rod Loder HDB, Allan Buttenshaw IUZ, Gerhard Stuck UKU, Ray Tilley WK, Don Woodward ??, Me GKW, Ian Sawell HNY, Sam Clift, Jay Anderson MT, John Hoye and Garry Speight. Apologies if I missed anyone.

Garry agreed to fly the tug for the day.

An AAT task was called Spring Ridge 40 km, Bogabri 40 km Manilla Silo 15 km and back to Lake Keepit. I flew in the Grob Twin ll with Sam Clift. Jim Thomson flew with Allan Buttenshaw in it for a few training flights in the morning. We were a bit late taking off, and the conditions were overdeveloping. We went off toward Spring Ridge, following the clouds, but they were a bit dissappointing. There was a big storm just about over Boggabri, and we wondered if we could get round the west side of it, but in the end kept going south just to try and stay up. Eventually we decided to try to get back to Keepit, and then reassess the situation. It was fun flying with Sam because he knows where all the airstrips are, and what is growing in all the paddocks, and who they belong to. And most importanty which ones are good landing paddocks and which not.

After a very long glide across the (unlandable) irrigation area, we had a faily low save near Middlebrook airstrip, and then managed to glide back to Keepit. Once there, we were unable to get up, but just as we were about to land, we hooked a good thermal and got up again. We then went west about 10 km which was enough to poke our noses into the Boggabri circle, and then east far enough to just get into the Manilla circle, and then back to Keepit. As always the best lift was on final glide. We only managed a speed of 50 kph, but at least we finished the task!

Ian Sawell in the junior gave us all a bit of a scare in the evening as a gust front came through the airfield while he was still airborn! All was well however, and everyone got back safely.

Harry Medlicott got the best speed for the day.

Thursday 20 March

More instructors than you could poke a stick at at briefing this morning. Allan Buttenshaw, Gerhard Stuck, Nick Singer, Garry Speight, Wendy Medlicott and me. It was like herding cats trying to organise them!

Garry kindly came along to be the intrepid test pilot for the E-tug - which hasn't flown for a while. We gave it a very thorough DI and removed several wasps nests. The phone rang hot with truckies trying to deliver stuff for the new hangar.

An AAT task was called - Barraba 40km, Narrabri 30km, Spring Ridge (40 km) and back to Lake Keepit - about 320 km nominal. 3 hours.

Ian Sawell want to do an AFR, but I persuaded him that we should do the task in the Grob in the process. Garry did a circuit in E-tug and it seemed to go OK, then he launched Harry Medlicott full of water. Then Nick self launched in the PIK, and then Wendy in her LS8. Allan Buttenshaw in the Cirrus and finally Ian and I in the Grob. Bob Emery kindly did the wing running for most of the gliders. Rod Loder was last in the DG 400, but he took off a long time after us as he had some problem with his vario. The tug appeared to be OK, it did five launches without incident.

Harry did over 300 km in three hours and would have had easily the best time round the course. Wendy turned back after Barraba. So I guess its one all now.

Ian and I climbed out sort of OK at Lake Keepit and set off for Mt Borah. Had a very long glide along the ridge, and encountered quite a few paragliders. None of them seemed to be in anything much, and in fact we saw a number of them landing. Eventually connected with a screamer at just over 8kts on the average back up to cloudbase at about 7500 ft. Off to Barraba, but just turned short of the airstrip as it looked a bit dead further north. It looked very dead toward Narrabri, so we went only to the southernmost extremity of the circle. Got up again near Boggabri, and headed off toward Gunnedah. It was looking tempting to head straight back to Keepit, but I thought we would be able to just nick the edge of the Springridge circle and then head back. This involved a long glide under a very grey area of cloud, but there was a fire which attracted gliders like a magnet. We found good lift under it, and also met up with Allan Buttenshaw. A quick sortie to the south to get in the circle then back to the fire to top up again. The glide computer said we had 2000ft above final glide when we left - but it just didn't quite look that good. In the end we got back at about 2000 above ground for a distance on 211 km.

We were happy that we had just made the task, especially as we were late leaving, and the sky overdeveloped later on.

Gerhard did the task, so did Allan. Rod and Nick had technical outlandings both having to start their engines.

A good day, followed by dinner and grocery shopping in Gunnedah. As it was Nick's birthday, we had birthday cake on our return to the club house.

Lots more people turned up this afternoon. We are hoping to do training and checks in the morning so that the instructors can go XC in the afternoon.

Wednesday 19 March

A strange day weather-wise - what we saw did not seem to fit very well with what the forecasts were saying. Some overcast in the morning, and relatively cool, but it heated up later. Easterly component to the wind. Decided the only way to find out was to fly.

Launching did not start till about 1400. We had a mere three winch launches as everyone got away first time. Wendy and Harry Medlicott flew their respective gliders and Gerhard Stuck flew his Jantar. Rod Loder self launched in the DG400.

Wendy came down after a couple of hours and over 100 km saying the conditions were excellent. I think the others flew to Manilla, Bingara, Narrabri and back.

A large roll of electrical cable has been delivered for the new hangars - I showed the truckie around and tried to interest him in gliding! An ultralight pilot dropped in for the night on his way to Narromine. Wendy and I immediately asked him where the tow hook was, but alas no luck.

Tuesday 18 March

It seems there is a glimmer of hope on the tug front - we may be able to use CUR, but not sure yet. Another day of phone calls and emails trying to sort something out.

Meanwhile we got the winch out, and were able to launch Harry in the Ventus and Wendy in her LS8. Wendy got away first time, but Harry ended up needing three launches. Rod self launched in the DG again. I am not sure where they went, but they stayed up until well after the night shift (kangaroos) had started coming out onto the strip.

Gerhard Stuck arrived in the afternoon and rigged his glider.

The Steel for the tracks for the new hangars arrived this afternoon too.

It seems that most of the people who signed up for the butts bash are coming up anyway even if we don't have a tug. It will be a good social event, and getting away from a winch launch will sort the men from the boys - or perhaps the men from the women! I am looking forward to it.

So check your belly hooks, and make sure you are winch current, or you won't be able to enjoy the fun.

Monday 17 March

Arrived back at Lake Keepit with only 8 litres of fuel remaining - not quite a 40 min reserve but close! Flew to Wollongong on Sunday to see a friend and filled up there, but no fuel at Cowra this weekend. Was going to land at Mudgee to get some, but calculated I could make it without, and luckily I can calculate!

Rod Loder , Harry Medlicott and Wendy Medlicott in residence at the club, but neither Harry nor Wendy were keen to launch - busy working. Rod Loder fixed the clutch in the buggy, so now it is a goer again. Then he went flying, and flew Barraba Mullaley and back at least.

Plenty of cu about - it looked a good day.

Rang North West Aviation to see how they were getting on with the tug, and you guessed it, it won't be back for Easter. Spent much of the rest of the day on the phone trying to sort out another one, without much success. At least it solves the Good Friday and Easter Monday tuggie problem.

Weekend Flying 15 & 16 March

Brad Edwards came to the club on Saturday with his Cessna 185 complete with tow hook. He came to use the release tester, but had agreed to do some towing on Saturday afternoon. About 6 launches were done after all the shade-sail pole erection had been finished.

Wendy Medlicott told me that she and Christian landed after short flights because the conditions were so rough.

Not many about on Sunday, but the winch was used to launch Harry Medlicott in his Ventus, and Stephen Ottner in the LS7. Both got away first launch and had some reasonable soaring I understand. In addition Ross Edwards flew the nimbus 3 XOZ and Rod Loder flew the DG400 HDB, both self launching.

Boris' Farewell

About 30 club members and partners turned up for Boris' farewell in Tamworth - too numerous to mention them all. We had a nice meal, and a few speeches, and presented Boris with an engraved pen set to remember us by.

Afterwards, a few of us with more energy went to a hotel for more festivities but arrived back at the club relatively early at 1.00 am. At that point it was decided that I would fly Boris to Tamworth in the morning to catch his 9.05 am flight to Airlie Beach via Sydney.

Despite lack of sleep, the flight was uneventful and we were given a straight in visual approach on runway 12 L (the big one) by the tower. It took 0.2 of an hour to get there according to my GPS, so we were a bit early. I am starting to get comfortable with this controlled airspace business! Departed Tamworth just before Boris' flight, so I was the "traffic" reported to the Dash 8.

On arrival back at Keepit, there was a hive of activity with the erection of the legendary shade sail in progress. I left them to it and flew home.

Friday 14 March

Boris' last day at the club. We will surely miss him. I think I will have to keep calling him to find out where he has tidied things away to! Not only has he been an excellent tuggie, but he has looked after the plane and kept the flight centre, club house and hangar exceptionally clean and tidy. Even more unusual is that he is a male who can do the paperwork!

Ian did the towing again in MIE. There was quite a crowd at briefing. Rod Loder, Geoff Neely, Olav, Stephen Ottner, Steve Hedley, Ross Edwards, Roy Worthington and Geoff Sim.

The aviation forecast was for CAVOK everywhere which didn't tell us much. However area 22 warned of occasional thermals and dust devils, otherwise fine! The blipmaps indicated that there would be no cloud in our area so we thought the day would be much the same as yesterday.

We called a task for Manilla, Barraba, Rangarai, Gunnedah and back to Lake Keepit. I was lucky enough to be invited to fly with Geoff Sim in the ASH 25 which was interesting - however it must be made for much larger people than I as I had difficulty reaching the rudders and trim! It certainly goes forever in a glide!

The day proved to be much better than forecast, and we did get cu, and climbs to about 8000ft. All who attempted the task succeeded, including Olav in the Grob. Stephen Ottner flew a slightly shorter task in the LS7.

Roy flew the tractor again!

Thursday 13 March

A few more takers for launches today. We were expecting a better soaring day than yesterday, but it didn't really turn out that way - at least as far as I was concerned. The dreaded blipmaps predicted cloud, but there wasn't much, and none near Lake Keepit.

Garry Speight came out to fly in the Twin Astir, Chris Carr came out with a couple of friends and flew the Grob. Olav didn't feel too good initially but then flew the Grob when Chris had finished. We set a task to Bingara, Kaputar and back, but Garry amended it to Bingara Edgeroi Kaputar and back - however I don't think anyone made it. Geoff Neely had agood flight by ignoring the blip maps and going out to Mullaley. Roy spent the day on the tractor - the airfield looks great now. We can't thank him enough for all the work he does.

Bob Emery flew his Cirrus.

Yours truly scived off work for the afternoon, and flew the Mosquito. Got a good thermal off the tow, and believing there would be others the same, went barrelling off on the task. A long glide along Mt Borah and didn't get any lift to speak of and ended up in a paddock in short order. Luckily it was a good one, and after getting permission from the land owner and with Garry relaying my co-ordinates back to the tug, I was able to have an aerotow retrieve. All part of the game!

My second flight (out of the paddock) was much better, and the thermals went much higher. Just went to Manilla and back. I thought about going to Gunnedah as well, but didn't really think it was too good an idea to risk a second outlanding!

Stephen Ottner from the UK turned up with Steve Hedley and Ross Edwards in the evening, and Robin Walker arrived also.

Wednesday 12 March

Ian Barraclough arrived with his Cessna 185 MIE prepared to tow. Olav arrived back at the club late last night. He decided to fly the Grob Twin ll as he is very tall, and does not really fit into any of the other gliders very well. While waiting for Ian to arrive he went into Tamworth and took the Jantar ASI in to Sigma at the airport. Could not persuade Roy to fly - he keeps working around the club. Moved my glider to a different (currently) unoccupied hangar.

I had to send a tost release to Scone to be installed on the tug's towbar and Sigma phoned to check on the speeds for the Jantar ASI and said it would be ready in the afternoon. Looking at the map I noticed that Scone is only 60 nm from Lake Keepit, and the weather was fine - I decided I'd fly down and take it rather than drive to Tamworth and back. Called in at Sigma on the way. Boris came for the trip, and did most of the flying and navigating, and even pressed the PTT button, but left the radio calls to me! Found I had a much better reception from the aviation service people by flying in! It was good to meet Neville Partridge of Neverpart in Scone, who has done a lot of work on our aircraft in the past.

In the evening we went to Manilla to the Royal for a meal to celebrate Geoff Neely's birthday and were invited to experience Garry's passive solar house - a very convivial evening.

Tuesday 11 March

Another beautiful sunny day, but no tug and no glider pilots about. Spent the day doing office work and finding out about how to get the ASI in the Jantar Serviced. Roy Worthington arrived and immediately started mowing and whipper snipping around the club house and hangars. It is looking good now. He has organised to get the Chamberlain tractor draw bar welded.

Knocked off at 5.30 pm and went to the lake for a swim. The water was fairly cold, but not too bad. Boris borrowed a surf ski that was in one of the hangars and put it on top of the statesman. He wanted me to take some pictures - which I did, but unfortunately he has them so I can't post them here!

Boris' Farewell

We will be having a farewell do for Boris on Friday at the Tamworth Hotel in Marion Street. 7.30 pm for 7.45. Please let Vic or I know if you are coming so that we can let them know the numbers.

Monday 10 March

A beautiful sunny day again at Lake Keepit. Today was the last day we have the tug before the 100 hourly. I was going to take a launch in the Mosquito to test the vario again, but as luck would have it a couple of visitors turned up.

Peter Atkinson from the UK popped in and then out again, and Olav Liebing from Germany, who learned to fly here, and tries to come back each year.

We got the Grob out and Olav flew it for an Annual Flight review which he passed OK. He was very quick releasing when Boris waggled the wings! I think Boris takes delight in doing this exercise, as he always come back grinning all over his face! After that Olav flew the Grob solo for 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Meanwhile Boris flew the tug to Inverell and dropped it off at North West Aviation, and I followed in the Jabiru to take him back to LKSC. Fortunately Olav was still there to clear the strip of Kangaroos when we got back. He will be spending some time flying here - good news for us.

The weather was blue around here and the day started late, but there was plenty of lift around. There were some cus in the distance.

The grass needs mowing again, but the countryside is browning off again fast - I guess that is why the soaring conditions have improved a bit. Hopefully the tractor will be fixed this week thanks to Roy - committee member in charge of organising runway maintenance. He is being helped by other club members.

The tug will be at least a week and a half, but has been promised to be back before Easter. Cross your fingers. Ian Barraclough will tow with MIE on Weds Thurs and Fri this week, but apart from that we will be using the winch. However everyone should learn to winch launch, and getting away from a winch launch is a valuable skill! Pays dividends when trying to avoid an outlanding. Some days you can get just as high as with an aerotow anyway.

Sunday 9 March

I was really looking forward to today - a real day of gliding for me! The forecast was good, and I needed a flight of about 400 km to better my score n the OLC. Moree Bingara was suggested, and I set out with that as my intention.

Boris wanted to use my phone account to ring his sister, and I was in a rush to get the glider out so I made a deal - wash the glider in exchange for the phone call! I think I got the better of the deal. Filled the mozzie up with water and took off at about 13.30. We had the usual which end of the strip will we go to dilemma, but ended up taking off on 32 downhill. Peter Shiels ran the wing for me - for which many thanks.

I should have taken off earlier, as the clouds were already well developed when I launched. I started pretty much straight away for Moree, and headed off more or less up the hills, and over the aerials at Kaputar. Was only getting to about 7000 ft. Once past the aerials, there was a good cloud street in the direction of Weewaa, so I went along that. Turned Weewaa and headed for Moree. More into wind that leg (it was east to south easterly) and seemed a bit slower. Got down to about 5000 ft at Moree, when the phone rang. It was president Ron Cameron calling me about the tug's 100 hourly. I told him I would ring back when I landed, and got back to the business of not landing!

After Moree, I thought I would still try for Bingara, as I need to head more upwind anyway, but then decided to head for home, as by 1700 the conditions were slowing down. Dumped half the water, and headed along a street more or less in the right direction. Able to climb to cloudbase at about 9000 ft and stay up there for a while, but then ran out of clouds. Final glide from 80 km out - the computer said I needed another 200 feet, but I had 1000ft safety programmed in.

Had to go really slowly at best glide all the way, but made it with 1500 feet about ground thank goodness. Quite crosswind for landing, and I don't like crosswinds in the Mosquito but this time no one must have been watching because I greased it on. Boris has a theory that when landing, the number of bounces you do equals the number of people watching the landing! 422 km.

Geoff Neely and Peter Shiels flew to Quirindi and Breeza - it sounded as if the conditions to the south were not as good as I experienced going north. The blipmaps indicated better thermals to the north so I suppose they were right. Not sure where Ray Tilley went. He did a check with Dave Turner in the Grob in the morning.

An excellent day - pity there were not more gliders out enjoying it.

We have to take the tug to Inverell for its 100 hourly tomorrow, but we may be able to do a few launches before it goes. It will probably be away for a week and a half. Ian Barraclough will tow with MIE on Wednesday Thursday and Friday this week, but apart from that it will be the winch. However if the conditions are like today there will be no problem getting away from a winch launch.

Sorry to go so about my flight today - but I did enjoy it!

Saturday 8 March

Flew to Narromine for the Interclub Comp. Not a large number of aeroplanes there. Dissapointed in the way I flew as I missed the forced landing! This is one event that I can usually nail. It was all going well until I hit a patch of sink on final, and landed short of the "fence". Oh well, at least I tried. Thermals are a nuisance in this kind of comp.

Flew back to Lake Keepit after lunch, and could here Christian Linnet, John Hoye, Chris Carr, and Vic Hatfield soaring as I flew back. Christian and John flew about 300 km - their flights are posted on the olc. Apparently the day started late. Boris did the towing. Dave Turner managed to fly his hornet after spending most of the day fixing a flat tailwheel.

Seemed like a good day, and pilots were getting to about 9000 ft.

A lot of work was done on the hangar foundations both before and after flying.

Ray Tilley was at the club, and we were able to fix the mass balance weight on the Puchatek by stealing the one from the wreck. They both weighed exactly the same, and they were able to be unscrewed - which was a relief because I had though we might need to take the elevator to a workshop. So the Puchatek is back in action, but only has 5 hours to run before another 50 hourly inspection.

Friday 7 March by Garry Speight

It was glorious weather at Lake Keepit today. Graham Holland and I in the Twin Astir were the only ones gliding.

Using the Blipmap my plan was quite ambitious, but we lost a lot of time. We started at 13:30 at 4600 ft and didn't get above 6500ft in the first hour. Then SW of Barraba the few Cu at 9000 ft were all dumpers. Finally we achieved only 220 km through Barraba and Mullaley at 60 km/hr. (Sorry about the boring excuses.)

The strong lift under Cu based at 10,000ft lasted only from 15:00 to 16:30, as forecast. We caught it at Boggabri, and had a ball! We had final glide on a 3 knot MacCready setting already at Mullaley, 64 km out. The last big Cu at Gunnedah had an enormous 11-knot thermal. We coasted straight through it, gaining 2000 ft on the final glide, and flew the 25 km home at 90 knots.

Garry Speight

Thursday 6 March

No flying again, although the weather was absolutely excellent. Probably the best day since the comps! Worked on the Jantar with Graham a bit. Seemed to spend a long time on the phone!
Chris Carr came and worked on the foundations for the new hangars.

Flew home to Cowra about 1700 just as Geoff Sim and Sandra were arriving the the lancair. The sky looked great, and there were plenty of thermals, and plenty of chat from other places on 122.7. I have to take my Dad to a Doctors appointment on Friday, but Garry Speight kindly agreed to stand in for me. Will go to the interclub comp at Narromine on Saturday (power flying) and then back to LKSC for Boris' farewell. My power flying is really getting a bit rusty as I have been full on gliding all summer!

Wednesday 5 March

Another really lovely day, but no flying. Went into Tamworth with Boris this morning to get the NExt G modem, and some bits and pieces from Bearfast that Graham needed. As no flying was happening, Boris came along - I only lost him a couple of times around the shops!

Phil Anderton came out to the club to help with the digging of the foundations for the new hangars. All the steel was delivered today.

The sky looked fantastic from the ground, but no one wanted to soar (except me) and I didn't have time.

This weekend will be Boris' last at the club, so we are hoping to have some sort of a farewell party on Saturday night. I hope as many members as possible will attend.

Tuesday 4 March

Very quiet again at the club today - only one trial instructional flight booked. Soaring conditions were very good. John Hoye came out and flew the LS6 and did over 300 km. His flight is posted on the OLC.

Graham Holland started on the Form 2 for the Jantar. Unfortunately we had an accident with the Puchatek while getting the Jantar out of the hangar - broke one of the mass balance weights on the elevator. We think we will be able to use the elevator from the wreck to keep it flying while we get the elevator repaired. The same day the Next G internet modem packed up, and of course it is just out of warranty, so this blog had to wait a day until I could get another one.

Some people from Gunnedah Shire Council came out to inspect the hangar site and I gave them some brochures to put in the town hall!

My TIF passenger Kevin Hancock had a very nice flight. It was a Christmas present, but he paid extra to stay up longer. We were able to climb to 6000 ft in the Grob, and explore the local area.
Too bad no one is here to share the beautiful weather!

Monday 3 March 2008

Another beautiful sunny day. Flew into LKSC by Jabiru this morning after an perfectly smooth and uneventful trip. Hardly anyone on the radio even. Did a practice forced landing on Runway 14 and got in right on the numbers though without full flap. You loose points for that.

A lady was booked in for a birthday TIF so we got the Grob out and Boris got the tug ready. Had to wash the bugs off the leading edge to improve the glide! A check of the blipmaps indicated there would be good thermals but no cloud.

Took off at about 1330 and had a beautiful smooth soaring flight. Climbed to 6000 ft under blue sky and cruised around admiring the view. Clouds were forming out to the west towards the Warrumbungles and over Mt Kaputar. There were also nice looking cus out to the East and in the Tamworth Control Zone. Pam Cork took lots of pictures but didn't want to handle the controls. Her husband had a flight afterwards, and did a little bit of flying himself, but was also happy just to admire the view. It was just perfect weather for doing these flights - you could cruise around in lift and climb without having to bank steeply and make the passenger feel sick. Its hard work but someone has to do it!

Thought I might go for a fly myself in the Mozzie after, but defrosted my fridge instead. Maybe tomorrow.

Can't understand why there are not hoards of people here gliding. It really was a nice day.

Sunday 2 March by Peter Shiels

Today was a beautiful autumn day. Forecast temp about 27 degrees.

I arrived to find only John Stewart at the Club wishing to fly. No students on site, no check flights and no joy flights booked in. It appeared that I could get the Cirrus out for myself. Boris was filling in as tug pilot for Charlie Zspitalek.

Paul Harrington (& Geisla) from Airlie Beach (Whitsundays) had arrived yesterday in their Zimango on their way home from a trip to SA, Victoria etc. They were content to rest and not fly today. They will leave on Monday for a visit to Macca at Tyagrah.

Being no haste to commit aviation, we decided to start the day with a leisurely morning tea. Geoff Neeley then arrived but only to do some maintenance on his DG400.

Then John Clark and Geraldine arrived. John was keen to fly the Junior.

Then Ray Tilley and Marga arrived. They are new members who are in the process of moving from Perth to Armidale and have an ASW27 already in a trailer on site here at Keepit (and ready to occupy a spot in the new hangars). Ray is keen to assist with form 2 type work when he settles in and I am sure we will welcome him with open arms. I showed him around the Club's fleet (although he has been here not lon

g ago.)

Paul Hunt (who had flown yesterday arrived but following some celebrating with the Hang Gliding people at their end of Comps night at Manilla last night, decided he would not fly again today.

With cumulus in the distance but blue sky overhead, no one was in a hurry to launch. We decided to launch after lunch.

First launch was not until well after 2pm. It was a little scratchy in the blue at first but the 3 of us stayed up with out any difficulty and by 3.15 PM the cumulus was forming near the Lake. We all ended up getting to cloud base at 7800' with patches of good to strong lift (<8kts)>

To sum up - a really nice autumn day - pity there weren't more people there to enjoy it!

Regards

Peter Sheils

Saturday 1 March by Vic Hatfield

he reason to be in Sydney on Saturday dissipated on Thursday so I was able to fulfil the rostered day on.

Lovely day , a little on the cool side with the wind coming from the S/E.

The only person to be found at the 'Office ' was Jenny and she was preparing to fly the Jabiru to Cowra .

Paul Hunt soon arrived followed by Garry S.Christian L and Bob Emery.

We gave the Jabiru a wash , Jenny departed and made Cowra around 13.30

30 minutes later , a Motor Grob arrived ,piloted by Paul Harrington and his wife/partner Geezel . They had left Temora in the early morning and had a good run at 9500' to LKSC.They were overnighting and then onto the Whitsundays , oh well !!.

Bob launched from 14 and when the others were ready to launch the wind had slowed to a zephyr and launched from 32 .

I believe Bob stayed local and the others went South and then to Gunnedah and across to Manilla , all blue sky .

Paul Hunt went to Mt Borah in the Jantar to see his H/gliding mates and found most of them on the 'bomb out' sites.

During all this we could here Bruce Taylor on the radio indicating 6-8 Kt climbs to 8,000' + up in the hills , Kentucky way . [he always gets those sort of climbs ! ].

I had a friend come out for a first flight , after releasing we climbed about 300 ' and then 8kts all the way down to the ground . 2nd flight found lift and went to 6,000' , phew!.

Thanks to Boris for his tugging and I suspect may be the last tow I will get from him. He leaves Friday , 14th for Argentina. [that went quick]. Plans are underway for a send off to him - Jenny may have details.

Thanks, Vic. H.