March 9th. 2010

Recent News
March 9th 2010

The weather seemed as though it was not going to be very kind to us during Taranaki Anniversary weekend but the three days proved better than expected. And so it was that Saturday turned out to be a boomer day for those smart enough to turn up and fly.

Richard and Tim started things off with 81 minutes in WZ getting to more than 5000ft east of Eltham. A t/f arrived in the form of Bjorn Lategan. Peter Cook, who had been away in TE for 40 minutes, took Bjorn away in WZ. He enjoyed 62 minutes of glider time. Tim launched in the Discus and travelled all over the place, gained more than 2000ft in one thermal and a best height of more than 5700ft. Not to be outdone, Richard went out over Dawson Falls and then north past Nth Egmont to between the mountain and the Pouakai peaks. He too, got to more than 5000ft. A SE wind of some 14 knots gave some reason to be thoughtful about the possibility of not getting back but all arrived home safely. The air mass having come from the east was dry and buoyant and strong thermals with, for Taranaki, high Benalla-type cloud bases.

On Monday prior to flying, we ran an orientation hour for two of our new members, Stephen Engelbrecht and Gene Campbell. Went off well and then they were straight into a DI session on the Blanik with Les Sharp, joined by Jamie Campbell. A different day was Monday and all the flights were less than 20 minutes as Will Hopkirk found out to his chagrin. But that’s gliding. Gene, Stephen and Jamie all had some circuits. Jim McKay was towing both days.

Statistics:

                    Sat:               Aircraft                   Time                       Flights
                                          WZ                          2hrs 33m               (2)
                                          TE                           1hr   40m               (2)
                                          XC                           3hrs 10m               (1)
                                          RWS                                38m               (5)

                    Mon.              JB                            1hr  14m                (6)
                                          TE                                   13m                (1)
                                          RWS                               40m                (7)

And so, the weekend was retrieved, some good soaring done then followed by the nitty gritty of circuit/instruction flights. Good stuff everyone.

Peter Miller
Club Captain.