Newsletters > October 2010
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October 2010
Newsletter and Roster October 3 McKay Williams 10 Drummond Hdw-Smith 16 Tullett I. Finer 17 Tullett I. Finer 23 Hdw-Smith Hopkirk 24 Hdw-Smith Engelbrecht 25 Cook Campbell 30 Williams van der Elst 31 Williams I. Finer Note: At present, the tow pilot roster is not possible to confirm. We have four currently available. Jim McKay will cover the gaps. As usual, if you cannot do your rostered day, arrange your replacement or swap duties with another. The month that was: Only two flying days possible in September and one of those was an ad hoc “there’s wave up there, let’s go!” sort of day, culminating in a ninety minute flight for Peter Williams and Tim Hardwick-Smith in WZ, topping out at 12500ft. I guess that kind of broke the ice, for some good flying was to follow in the first ten days of October. Stats: Aircraft Time Flights WZ 2hrs 30m 4 RWS 41m 4 Blanik GJB: Most will be aware of the A/D out on Blanik L23 gliders following the two fatalities when a Blanik wing failed during the latter part of a flight in Austria. At present there is no indication of any moves on inspection procedures or remedial action that might restore airworthy status to these aircraft. John Tullett has kindly made his K7 available should we need it. Qualified Glider Pilot (QGP: Three lectures have been held now, with an attentive audience. There has been an often free-wheeling and wide ranging discussion over various topics. One of last year’s alumnae, Will Hopkirk, had his QGP check flight yesterday (Oct. 10th) during the course of an hour-long soaring flight with Tim. Can’t go wrong with strong lift and the variometers off the clock at over 1000ft p/min. Welcome: To John McFadgen who has joined as a tow pilot and was put through his pace by Matthew Connor on October 3rd. John has retired from ag. flying but was well pleased at the chance to stay current. In last week’s Daily News there was a feature article about Ian Dingle who, at 70, has 22,500 hours ag. flying and still going strong. Ian was a tow pilot for the TGC in the early days at German Hill. Annual Meeting: An attentive group heard John Tullett report on an active year. Tim confirmed that, advising us of the increase in hours flown and the Treasurer happily reported on the good effect of that on the finances. The election of officers was rather Afghani, in that you could confidently predict the outcome! President: John Tullett
Vice-President: Steve Barham
Normona Cup: Richard Arden (post humously) BestJuniorFlight: WillHopkirk Most Improved: Steve Barham
Europe Calling: Well, it was mostly Glyn Jackson pointing out that he was flying and we weren’t. He was over in Holland, ostensibly for work training but found time to trek several km to a gliding club and had flights in a Duo Discus and a K21. The other day, I had a nice long email from Anna Klauser in Germany. She is now right into working her way through an aeronautical engineering degree in conjunction with Airbus. She now belongs to a gliding club near Hamburg and sends her love to all at TGC. 25 Years Back: September gave some good flying. 8 knot thermals and bases at 6000ft. A “C” flight for Peter Hull & a passenger rating for Jim Giovas. CFI notes about spin training & first thoughts about the Auster replacement. Papa Mike. Postscript: The committee was very sorry to receive advice from Les Sharp that he was giving up active flying, effective immediately. We respect his decision but will miss his devotion to promoting the well-being of our club. Les seems to have been there as long as I can remember. Committee man, newsletter editor, fund raiser, tow pilot, instructor, Chief Tow Pilot and was President for at least three terms. He would have to be the most experienced tow pilot in Taranaki and a very competent glider pilot with only the 50k distance to get for his Silver C. We hope that he will come back to flying and there is a standing invitation to come down on a good day for a good flight in the Twin. Our thanks also, to Sue for her contribution to the club and for supporting Les in his flying.  Les Sharp ready to launch at Te Wera.  Stratford from 12,000ft. (Peter Williams). |