Hi all
I have been severely ticked off by Marketa in the Czech Republic for not keeping my blog up to date, so here goes.
On Wednesday the 3rd September disaster struck. I was rushing to launch Ken Flower in the Puchatek for its test flight after form 2, and didnt connect the towbar on the tug to the bike securely enough. When I stopped the plane continued, and rolled into the back of the bike, damaging the elevator and trim. So everyone learn from my mistake - make sure tow bars are securely connected to towing vehicles.
The weather turned nasty on Thursday and Friday, so Richard and Lisa went home without missing much. I took the elevator to Scone to get it welded, and Harry Medlicott brought it back again next day. Then John Wakefield took over and did the fabric work and painting. The painting took a bit longer than expected as the dope wouldn't dry, but the result looks excellent.
John W and John Hoye replaced the elevator on Friday 11th just in time for the tuggies ball.
Meanwhile I had four low time pilots at the club for the week ending 11th Sept. Rob de Jarlais had come out to tow, but being multi-talented, he instructed on the winch instead. We got endorsed on Harry's new winch - but it rained all day on the Monday.
On Tuesday we started using Harry's winch but had starter motor problems, so changed over to the old winch. It was quite windy so we were getting good height on the launches. We even broke a weak link (using Harry's winch) which brought it home to us that we need to use the correct strength with the dyneema rope, as it is actually stronger than the weak link!
As we had low airtime pilots who needed circuits, winch training was quite a good thing. We had no problem getting away on the days with thermals, but it got quite stable toward the end of the week. Still four people was a lot to manage, and I was really tired by the end of the week. Ken Flower helped out on Wednesday, Rob left on Thursday and Geoff Neely drove the winch. He went from 10 am to dark without a break, and was frozen by the end of it. I had the Puchatek and the Grob out, and had to keep hopping from one to the other.
On Friday Steve Hedley drove the winch, and Garry Speight shared the instructing - still really busy. Jay Anderson winch launched is LS6 and managed to soar for some time but it was a struggle. Bob Dircks fixed the starter motor on the new winch, and it is going OK again now. We are getting good launches.
On Friday afternoon I sent Garth Patterson for his second solo flight - the first off the winch. And the rope broke! Fortunately we had practised this , and he handled it beautifully, doing a mdodified circuit and an excellent landing. Garth has now joined the club, so hopefully we will be seeing more of him.
On Saturday another new member joined the club - Lyndell W (oops sorry can't quite remember the name properly. He is 14. He did several flights on Saturday with Rob de Jarlais. Hope to see him back again soon.
The weekend was the annual tuggies gathering, where we were briefed by Ian Barraclough on towing two gliders at ones, and also about procedures to be followed in the case of a tug breakdown, and what maintenance we can do ourselves. This was followed by croquet chez Dircks, which I missed. Then a meal perfectly cooked and presented by Jan Dircks with some of the guests doing a turn. Jan can only cope with a limited number of people, so Tug Pilots get first refusal of tickets for this function.
Spent Sunday doing housework :-(
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