|
Latest Club News and Overview of Changes on this Site |
||
|
8 January 2012 |
Waikerie has just ended its Orange Week fun competition, won by Craig Vinall of Waikerie in his ASG29. Grant Hudson came in second, while Andrew tied with Greg Jackson for third place. The competition finished on 6 January as adverse weather on the 7th and 8th cancelled those days. |
|
|
31 December |
Day 3 of the Coaching Week. More tasks were set, of similar length to the previous day.
Jess managed to get her 5 hours in Keith Willis’s PW5! Well done Jess! |
|
|
29 December |
Day 2 of the Coaching Week. Slightly better weather forecast has allowed slightly longer tasks to be set. The short task is Waikerie – Notts Well – Woolpunda – Waikerie (95 km), and the long task is Waikerie – Notts Well – Loxton – Woolpunda – Waikerie. Everyone made it around the tasks or slightly shortened versions of same.
Dion Baker of Waikerie managed to get his winch endorsement, after some thorough training from John W.
But the biggest news of the day is that our own Jess was sent off in Keith Willis’s PW5, for her first-ever single-seater flight and first solo aerotow, and when she came back down (after nearly an hour and a half!) the grin on her face said it all! Many thanks for Keith for allowing her to fly his glider; it’ll be a talking-point for a long while to come! |
|
|
28 December |
Day 1 of the Coaching Week. The task for the less experienced pilots is Waikerie – Maggea – Woolpunda – Waikerie, for 83 km. The more experienced people will try Waikerie – Maggea – Loxton – Woolpunda for 134 km. The weather promises reasonable thermals to around 5000 ft.
The short task for the less experienced people allows two flights in succession, so that two people may fly with the one coach and still get experience at flying away from the home field. Colin, coaching one of the newer pilots, managed to land out in a sandy paddock which required the use of Andrew’s 4WD to get the trailer in and out! Even then, both car and trailer managed to get bogged; fortunately not too badly.
Meantime Jeff and John W had a good mutual flight, as a nice relaxation from driving the winch! Mark Collins had arrived for some flying too, and also enjoyed a good flight with John. |
|
|
27 December |
Club operations have been moved to Waikerie for the Coaching Week there, so this and subsequent reports will come from there. Well, we are now at Waikerie for the Coaching Week. Some people arrived the previous day, and the two 21s, the winch and the Mini and the Mozzie arrived today. The 21s were rigged, and both Dennis and Darcy Moloney had good flights. New member Shane Brooker had a good flight too, along with Tom. Jeff and John W were along to support the operation. |
|
|
20 December |
Final entry on JoeyGlide: We are home again, safe and sound. Due to many outlandings on Saturday, the final dinner and trophy award party and then the two-day journey home with a detour around flood-affected areas in NSW this and the previous report are a little overdue. As predicted the last task did shake up the final rankings on Soaring Spot. Unexpected overdevelopment across the task area caught out most of the pilots except the world comp experienced and locals. Only 4 made it back home. The rest outlanded including our Balaklava favourites. Sadly it cost Eric a place on the podium. He ended up 4th. Fellow South Australian team mate and JoeyGlide newcomer Michael Conway also deserves a mention for his outstanding performance for his consistent flying. He took home the Joey Cup (best score weighted by flying hours), the Pilots’ Award (voted for by all competitors) and the Southern Cross Trophy for highest placed pilot competing in his first Australian Junior National Gliding Championship. Despite all the things that didn’t go to plan we had loads of fun, made new friends and acquaintances, and have many stories to tell. Of course all this would not have happened without the great effort put in by the organisers and helpers. Although they shall remain nameless our heartfelt thanks go to all of them! |
|
|
17 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: The party at the Chinese Restaurant last night may have left a few pilots at a disadvantage for today’s task, the biggest and last in this competition. It could shake up the scores a bit. Cloud base is fairly low and the wind combined with the high humidity makes the thermals soft and broken, especially down low. There were a few relights today – the only ones in this competition – and we had an outlanding less than an hour after the start gate opened. Jess is out on task with Brian Hayhow in the Duo Discus |
|
|
16 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: A few rain drops and more clouds greeted us this morning. The weatherman didn’t raise our hopes for a task at the pilots’ briefing either. Nonetheless we gridded, having thoroughly inspected Dick Smith’s Citation who had flown in for some peanut farming promotion. The WIN / Nine TV news crew that came out to cover his arrival found that there was more action to be had on our side of the airfield. The Maddocks boys did a formation competition finish for the camera and various people, including Peter Conway as the youngest coachee, were interviewed. Apparently it will be aired on Monday as backdrop for the report on the results of the competition. Around 12:30 the fleet was launched to for a short task into a grey and partially rainy sky. Everyone managed to stay up in the weak lift under a low cloud base but a massive rain front blocked the turn points and the day was eventually cancelled. Since they were already in the air many of the pilots decided to have some fun. Colin had a camera mounted to his wing tip and ended up with about 2 hours of gaggle and formation flying footage. Maybe tomorrow...? |
|
|
15 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: Low, grey clouds greeted us in the morning and it was markedly cooler. By the time the pilot briefing ended the sky looked a little better but the weatherman had not sounded too promising. Still, we gridded and waited for conditions to improve. Sniffers were sent up and barely managed to hang in, including Jess and her coach for today, Garret Willat, in the Duo Discus. In the end the weather window proved too short and the day was cancelled. Colin and a few others joined Jess with GoPro cameras and were shooting formation videos for about an hour in the weak lift. The Roulettes are probably not in danger of being outdone but everyone seemed to have fun and the footage they ended up with is reasonable. The competition was then shifted to the local go-cart track where Eric took out 3rd place – again a Stauss on the podium. As another bit of trivia, the SA team currently leads by one point ahead of Queensland in the quest for the State of Origin trophy. With two more days to go can we hold on to it? Can Eric defend his place or will Nathan Johnson be able to get ahead of him? |
|
|
14 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: The weather today was even better than yesterday which prompted a 320km task, about half of which over the Darling Downs across the other side of the Bunya Mountains that had to be crossed twice. Soaring Spot has the boys in 3rd (Colin) and 5th (Eric). they had really good runs. Jess did a 2 1/2hour coaching task also across the Bunyas and the Darling Downs with Lisa Turner in the Duo Discus and had a good time although she found it a little hard to handle the Duo in the conditions. |
|
|
13 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: Today’s wakeup call came from a crop duster practicing in the paddock next to the camp ground and bunkhouse at 5:30 in the morning! However, it was worth it with the weather starting to paint the sky with beautiful CU’s very early. After the wet welcome the Queenslanders really turned the soaring weather on. It was a great day! Mixed news from the Balaklava boys: Eric came 4th today, Colin outlanded. This puts Eric in second overall whilst Colin dropped back to 7th. The results are on Soaring Spot. Andrew and Eric (to rub it in!) went out to retrieve Colin and the Mozzie is now back in its usual tie-down spot. Jess, again with Peter Trotter in the backseat, pushed the Kingaroy ’21 around the coaching task in an impressive time to pass the glider and coach on to Peter Conway to fly his lap while the conditions were still booming. Yesterday one of the local boys outlanded in a flood-irrigated cotton field. It took a huge crew to move the glider a few hundred meters towards the nearest access track before nightfall interrupted the operation. The problem was that the helpers sunk up to their knees into the mud even though the water level was only a few centimetres. The glider had to stay in the paddock overnight. The crew came back muddy and hungry but with an epic story to tell. Eric’s mum was not impressed at the sight of his totally shredded shorts… Another massive crew went out there this afternoon to move the glider the rest of the way and then lift it over the fence. It is now back and other than being as muddy as the retrieve crew no worse for wear and should be flying again tomorrow There are now a few photos from the competition in the Photo Album. |
|
|
12 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: Finally we had a flying day and what a hoot it was. The results are up on the scoring website Soaring Spot. Check there for the daily tasks and obviously the results from now on. For those interested you can follow the news from the airfield on Twitter and the live action with Spot Tracking – each pilot has a Spot satellite tracker on board (although there still seem to be a few teething problems). The boys did really well today, sitting in 1st and 2nd on the results screen in the club house until Andy Maddocks’ trace was uploaded and he scraped in 2km/h faster than Colin who in turn was 0.9km/h faster than Eric. A very good first day achievement! Jess had a great day flying the coaching task in Kingaroy’s ASK21 with Peter Trotter in the back seat, experiencing her first outlanding in the process. They ended up in the Wondai airstrip about 40km away and were retrieved by aerotow. After all gliders were launched Mama and Papa Stauss went up to the local lookout on Mt Wooroolin for lunch whilst listening in on the competition radio frequency, watch the gliders start and later pass by on their second leg down to the Bunya Mountains. Several outlandings and the relatively low speeds of the winners go to show that the task wasn’t exactly easy but all pilots agree on one thing – they had FUN! |
|
|
11 December |
Well, your friendly web editor has been offline for a bit recently, concentrating on getting the Mozzie through Form 2; now that that’s done I can get on with updating the website. I’ve added some of the earlier news for September and October below. Meantime Ulrich’s been doing a great job blogging from JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland and here is another entry from him: Today looked like we might get a task in before a thunderstorm front would move over us. We dutifully gridded but we could already see the storm clouds brewing and coming closer at considerable speed. You guessed it – the day was cancelled and we practiced accelerated glider return and tie-down. Colin as well as some other competitors did it behind the tug in the vertical dimension whilst everyone else used the conventional method behind the cars. Jess had a few aerotows in Kingaroy’s ’21 to get her aerotow endorsement sometime this week. Tomorrow is forecast to be the best day this week to get a task in so we’ll see… |
|
|
10 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: One thing that Queensland seems to have plenty of is LIQUID sunshine. We had about 25mm of it overnight and it still hasn’t stopped. The day was cancelled but the coaching and lecture program are underway. The comp is well organised. Every glider gets a DittoLog unit which logs the flights, including flight times etc. and as soon as the glider is in range of the base station in the clubhouse transmits the data to the server. The flight sheets, scoring and flight analysis are done automatically and ready by the time the pilot comes into the club house. The club here had the system for a while and apparently only good experiences with it. The unprecedented number of gliders for JoeyGlide will put the system to the test though… |
|
|
9 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: Several more competitors and coaches arrived during the day. We rigged the Mini and Colin, Andrew and Eric had an hour or so each. Joanne and Ulrich went for another drive. This time all the way to Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach where Ulrich got his AWD toy thoroughly bogged in the sand and had to be assisted by another 4WD to get mobile again. Nonetheless, everyone seemed to have fun and everything seems to be competition ready except the weather which is threatening with stable air and possibly showers again for the next few days… |
|
|
8 December |
From JoeyGlide at Kingaroy, Queensland: Today was almost a flying day. Colin and Andrew rigged the Mozzie just in time for a few showers to give it a wash and then cancelled the day. Joanne and Ulrich went for a drive through the mountains and went shopping afterwards. The rest stayed at the club catching up with the new arrivals, playing cards and the usual stories and banter. Tomorrow should be flyable but more showers are forecast. |
|
|
7 December |
Report from Andrew Horton and the Stauss family's soaring safari to JoeyGlide in Kingaroy, Queensland: With all 3 Stauss Juniors - Colin, Eric and Jessica - wanting to participate at JoeyGlide in 2000-odd km distant Kingaroy the idea was born to fly the gliders there if possible rather than trailer them all the way. The juniors would crew for Andrew and Ulrich on the way and they would then crew for the juniors at the competition. To simplify things for all involved, if flying wasn't possible or we outlanded somewhere we would trailer the gliders to the next destination anyway. We would be able to book ahead and therefore guaranteed a place to stay and a relaunch the next day. After a fair bit of planning the route was settled on Mildura-Temora-Lake Keepit-Kingaroy as that gave us reasonably similar flight distances and clubs with 7-day operations for the weekdays. Even in the worst case, i.e. if we couldn't fly any of the legs we would have a bit more time to check things out rather than an all-out trailer rally. We would also get to know the different clubs and people as well as gain some experience perhaps with the view of similar undertakings in the future. Many thanks are due to Balaklava club members for helping us in the lead-up getting the gliders and trailers ready in time. Tim Lacey in particular put a lot of effort in to bring FQB's trailer up to scratch.
Balaklava to Mildura, Saturday 3 December 2011 Due to various last minute organisational challenges we launched about an hour later than originally planned which proved to be 20 minutes or so too late. Nicely developed cumulus clouds beckoned all along our track to Mildura, promising the necessary lift to get us there in a few hours. However, the sea breeze arrived unusually early and abruptly cut any thermal activity off before we could achieve enough height to get established on task. The nearest lift was so close and yet too far. Sadly, we had to put the gliders into the trailers and set off on the road. Worse - and very frustrating at that - was that the entire trip we had to watch the cumulus-studded sky from the ground... We arrived at the Sunraysia Gliding Club a little later than expected. Everyone seemed to have gone home already and the gate was locked. A phone call and a short wait later Ian Benning brought us the keys and showed us around the facilities. After a quick trip to a local pizza bar and bottle shop we had dinner and then spread out our sleeping bags in the club house.
Mildura to Temora, Sunday 4 December 2011 A look at the weather in the morning dampened our enthusiasm to rig the gliders and get going. The outlook was for a nasty headwind and stable air behind the trough that had produced the good conditions the day before and had outrun us to the east overnight. Eventually even the most optimistic of us had accepted the decision to leave the gliders in the trailers. We helped the Sunraysia mob who had rocked up to give us a launch rig their LS3 and inspected their winch which uses Dyneema rope and also has ingenious cable cutters. They also gave us some food for thought regarding their durability tests and sourcing of Dyneema. Brian Rule gave Joanne, Jess and Colin joyrides in his Jabiru and we ended up chatting for way too long as we still had the road trip ahead of us. The forecast turned out to be spot on - fuel consumption was way up in the headwind with the glider trailer and we saw eagles just about walking. Nearer to Temora a bank of clouds out to the west told us that we had almost caught up with the trough but this did not bode well for the next day. We arrived in the dark. Colin and Andrew had sprinted ahead thanks to the long range tank of the Prado which required fewer pit stops. They had dropped off the trailer at the airfield and ordered pizzas in town that were ready just as we arrived. Our late arrival was no problem and it didn't take too long to set up the tents on the brand new camp ground.
Temora to Lake Keepit, Monday 5 December 2011 The Temora Air Park is an amazing setup - each house with a hangar and a taxiway out the back and normal road access at the front. Everything brand-new and there were some very nice aircraft including the latest gliders to make your eyes water. Similarly the Temora Aviation Museum, which is directly next door and occupies several new hangars. Run mostly by volunteers and financed by donations, all the aircraft on display are airworthy and are flown every so often. As it was volunteers’ day they had put a show on for all the helpers and several aircraft were flying. Again we got on the road a little late but the people we met and the museum were well worth it. The trip through Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo, Gilgandra, Coonabarabran to Gunnedah was quite enjoyable. Even the look of the sky made us glad to be on the ground. In places there we definite signs of the recent flooding and the moist ground together with a skyful of cirrostratus ensured that there was no thermal activity. At Parkes we saw "The Dish" with our own eyes rather than through the movie screen. The scenery around here is also one of the more beautiful this country has to offer. Colin and Andrew again charged ahead and despite - or perhaps more accurately because of - all the electronic gadgetry in the Prado our two experienced competition pilots got themselves hopelessly lost. They wanted to take a 4WD shortcut that the electronics said was there but proved to be a dead-end. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew found a truck workshop that had exactly the right signs that the Queensland bureaucrats demand glider trailers must be plastered with and that we had not been able to obtain in time before the trip. We all caught up in Gunnedah and as there would be no shops or eateries from here out to the gliding club we decided to have a bite here. Yet again we arrived in the dark. Ian Downs, the Lake Keepit Soaring Club's fulltime manager, kindly offered us a spot in one of the hangars where the boys could plonk their sleeping bags under the wing of the tug and the girls got a dorm room in the club house.
Lake Keepit to Kingaroy, Tuesday 6 December 2011 We woke up to an overcast sky. The weather forecast wasn't any better. In fact rain was predicted for most of the way and more flooding in Queensland. Some of the roads on our originally planned route west of the Great Dividing Range apparently were still flooded so after a quick breakfast, a tour of the lake and screwing the signs to the trailers we decided to detour to Tamworth and then up the New England highway. Lake Keepit is a long way out from the nearest towns in a National Park and directly on the shores of a dam. Kangaroos seem to own the place mornings and evenings, grazing all over the runways and around the hangars. A few birds ate breadcrumbs off our hands. An idyllic place and a glider pilot’s paradise. For a change we hit the road a little earlier for the longest leg of this trip. Despite the occasional rain it was an enjoyable drive up and down hills with lots to see in this magnificent part of the country. As usual we arrived in the dark but since Queensland does not have daylight saving there was time for a meal at one of the pubs in Kingaroy.
Kingaroy, Wedneday 7 December 2011 After an entire day of endless rain we are sitting in the Kingaroy clubhouse with more rain pelting down outside and the forecast promising another few days of the same... We spent the night in the club's bunkhouse to save us having to set up the tents at night and in the rain. During a short dry spell we managed to put the tents up. The rest of the day was spent shopping, checking out the town and cabling up the tents with electricity – we have an impressive array of battery chargers and car fridges etc. |
|
|
3 October |
Today was almost as good, with most people able to get away on the first flights. Meantime several others had rocked up, such as Alex who had a good flight with Andrew. Others who hadn’t got any flying on the other days had good flights today.
This was the last scheduled day of flying. Everyone packed up and left the following day. The Edens stayed a day longer, which could have been the cue for the weather to turn rotten, with about an inch of rain falling that evening and making their departure very interesting!
End of another successful Flinders trip, even if the weather didn’t quite co-operate... |
|
|
2 October |
This was the pick of the days, with everyone getting long flights. Grant and Andrew had taken along their gliders, and got around 3 hours each flying pretty well everywhere. Max height was around 8,000 ft, giving great views of pretty well everywhere. That night was spent around the Cheethams’ caravan, with a convenient barrel of beer on tap – notable about that event, though, was the fact that the gas ran out and we were reduced to pressurising the barrel with a bicycle pump in order to get beer! Says something about Aussie ingenuity... |
|
|
1 October |
Today the SE wind produced nasty conditions, and from that direction the wind more or less guarantees sink where we were operating. Only one long flight, Lindsay with Mike Brett; the rest were truncated circuits with the heavy sink catching most people out. We packed up before conditions got too tricky to continue. |
|
|
30 September |
We got to the Rawnsley site on 29 September, and set up OK. Today was the first flying day. With the weather forecast, thermals were going to be the only source of lift for the whole period – SE winds always put paid to any king of ridge lift from the Chace Range. Anyway, the first day saw some good flights by those who dared go up – Lindsay with Grant, Ulrich and Andrew, Gary Williams of Bordertown-Keith club (who was along for the ride) with Dene, and Mark Collins with Shucky. Then the wind picked up enough to stop any further flying. |
|
|
31 August |
The winter season has now finished, and this year there are a few contenders for the Winter Trophy. But if you had a great flight in winter and haven’t yet entered it into the cross-country book, do so and you may just beat those already entered! |
|
|
27 August |
The AGM has resulted in a few committee changes, most notably that Steve has stepped down as President after many years’ hard and very much appreciated work, and Roger has now been elected President. Steve is actually still on the committee however! Jess has now risen to the ranks of committee member, well done Jess! And Eric replaces Ulrich as one of the two SAGA representatives. |
|
|
16 August |
SAGA Winter Lecture #6: Motorgliders for Environmental Sensing (Andrew McGrath) video here: http://vimeo.com/27708924 |
|
|
2 August |
SAGA Winter Lecture #5: Basic Soaring Theory (Craig Vinall) video here: http://vimeo.com/27141318 |
|
|
1 August |
The disabled entry ramp outside the clubhouse has been poured and finished, and after that was flying. With not very many around, Jess managed several flights, and also managed to get her ‘A’ certificate Well done Jess!
Sunday was fantastic – well, for winter anyway. The good weather brought out quite a few people – Bernard, Andrew, Merv, the Moloneys, Alex, James, and quite a few more, for 13 people all up which hasn’t happened on a Sunday for some time. The thermals were available in a window of about 1½ hours, and Bernard managed about 80 minutes, with most others getting reasonable flights. |
|
|
29 July |
#4 Oxygen Use: Physiology & Hypoxia, by Graham Parker SAGA winter lecture video here: http://vimeo.com/27042345 |
|
|
29 July |
A great Saturday by all accounts, with a good NW wind producing WAVE from the Bumbunga Ranges and the Hummocks. Some pilots got to 6000 ft, with Bernard getting to 7500 in YBE. James also managed 3 hours in the Mini, which was the longest flight of the day. |
|
|
16 July |
Congratulations to James Francis on getting his PPL! It was awarded last Monday. And he also had a good flight in the Mini yesterday, 2 hours in glorious conditions. In fact it was the longest flight of the day. He went Balak – Halbury – Lochiel –Bowmans for around 100 k. Definitely a Winter Trophy contender! |
|
|
21 June |
Here are links to the SAGA winter lectures so far held: |
|
|
|
#3 Aircraft Structures presented by Redmond Quinn |
|
|
#2: Basic Gliding Aerodynamics presented by Anthony Smith |
||
|
#1 Lookout presented by Mandy Temple |
||
|
29 May |
Better weather for the weekend just finished saw some decent flights. And it also saw another pilot on first solo – Jess Stauss was sent solo by John Hudson, getting a nice 24-minute flight! She’s had about 66 flights which included a break in the middle, and now she’s got right back into the swing of things. Congratulations Jess! (Oh, and lots of nice flights before the real instruction started, too) |
|
|
22 May |
This weekend didn’t amount to much, courtesy of the weather; but Grant was awarded his Instructor Level 2 rating! Well done Grant! |
|
|
11 May |
The SA Gliding Association coaches’ group has put together a huge program of lectures and presentations for this winter and spring, in time for the next soaring season. Topics cover pretty well everything that can be covered! The program of talks is on the Events page. |
|
|
25 April |
The weather was slightly less conducive to great soaring. So an intriguing task was set – Freeling – Owen – Greenock – Freeling, with that triangle able to be completed as many times as desired before returning via Freeling to Gawler. Return could be effected at any time, and distance would be scored based on the last turnpoint rounded before Freeling. This time, Andrew got back, Roger started but outlanded later on, and three others also outlanded. |
|
|
24 April |
Similar weather saw a similar task set – Freeling – Blyth within 25 km – Kapunda within 15 km. Our pilots didn’t do so well this day, as Andrew was the only one who outlanded, 5 km east of Tarlee on the way back, and lousier conditions prevented Roger from even getting away at all. Colin retrieved Andrew in quick time and the Mozzie was re-rigged ready for the next day. |
|
|
23 April |
The weather was noticeably better at Gawler, and a task Freeling – Blyth – Peterborough within 30 km (all in 2 hours) was set. The first competitors were launched and it was obvious that the “noticeably” better weather didn’t quite live up to it, and the task was shortened so that within 30 km of Blyth was OK rather than all the way, and duration reduced by 15 minutes. Everyone got around; some, like Terry Cubley, faster than others.
Meantime, back at Balak, congratulations to Darcy Moloney who went solo today!! And that after about 50 flights. An article for the Whisper now, Darcy?? J |
|
|
22 April |
Gawler’s Easter Regatta is on again! Balaklava is represented by Andrew (Mozzie) and Roger (Mini-Nimbus).
Day 1 was a bit drizzly and very iffy, so a task was unlikely to be set, and that was how it turned out. Instead the comp director said that anyone who wanted to fly could invent their own tasks and fly those, and the results could be posted to the Online Soaring Contest and scored from there, although they wouldn’t be official. Andrew managed a short task Kapunda – Nuriootpa for 80 km, flying for an hour and 14 minutes including launch and landing. |
|
|
11 April |
Saturday 9th April looked a bit ominous for flying with showers coming through every 15 minutes or so before briefing. We had a visitor from NZ, Alex McCaw who comes from a large gliding family. He flies at the Canterbury & Omarama Gliding Clubs and is part of the University of Adelaide exchange program for those students whose studies were affected by the Christchurch earthquake. Last December he completed a 1000km flight in his club’s LS4.
From Grant: “After briefing a few jobs were done on the winches before Wheaty decided that the cloud had lifted enough to start. Towed the 2 ASK21's down to 31 and were greeted shortly thereafter by the strongest shower of the day (so far) but it was over fairly quickly and we launched for instructional flights with Chrisite, Mark & Darcy. On all flights we found significant areas of 0 sink that extended the circuits to 10 - 15 minutes due to the 2000' winch launches. Darcy and I found an area of lift just to the north of the club and beat back and forward in some weak wave to climb to about 2500'. Meanwhile Wheaty had launched with Alex who sniffed the wave out and quickly had BXC sitting above a ragged rotor cloud at 3500' in a line of lift that extended well to the north. They had about 1/2 an hour before pulling airbrakes to come back and give someone else a go. Peter Oldfield and I took the last launch in drizzly rain and ran south to Whitwarta where a significant shelf cloud had formed in front of a SW change. With light rain falling in front of and heavy rain falling from the base of the cloud street we tucked in against the cloud and were rewarded with 7 knots of lift that scooted us up to 2700'. We sped up to 80+ knots and stayed in the clear air in front of the cloud and watched BXC land on 34. Every time we needed a top up we just flew back to the front of the cloud and topped up. As the front slowly advanced I watched the socks swing around through the west and elected to use 16 for our circuit. Plenty of speed on through the gap and a nice touchdown after about 20 minutes for one of easily the most interesting and memorable flights of my flying career.” |
|
|
14 March |
A link to the SAGA website has been added for members to gain access to the “Soaring Crow”, the SAGA newsletter. It’s at the bottom of the Whisper page. Once there, click on the link “The Soaring Crow”. |
|
Archive of News and Changes in 2010
Last update 14/12/11