April 2005

                                                      NEWSLETTER AND ROSTER

June 2005

              Date       Towpilot              Instructor              Assistant                      Duty Pilot
              May 29  Atkinson              Tullett                                                          Drake
           June 4-6  Gibson                  Williams                 Hdw-Smith                    Barham
                     12  Frew                     Sharp                                                           Arden
                     19  Jones                    Hdw-Smith                                                  Walker
                     26  Atkinson               Cook                                                            Manning


THE PREZ SEZ:

We've had some more good news from The Taranaki Electricity Trust. They have allocated $16000 to us to so that we can concrete the hangar floor. Plans to co-ordinate this project are already in progress and hopefully we can get this done in spite of the approaching winter and the increasingly wet ground. Cover will need to be found for the aircraft and gear currently in the hangar once the job gets under way. Stay tuned, your help will be needed.

GERMAN HILL:

A special committee meeting was held at German Hill on May 14 to consider what to do with the clubhouse now that the Club has relocated to Stratford. It was decided to accept the landlord's offer to "tidy it all up", i.e. bury it. Nonetheless, it will be advertised for removal, there may just be someone out there that wants it. Several odds and ends were removed, including the windsock pole and post; Richard bought the stove for $50.

And so the final chapter is being written. I was there for the first site meeting in June 1968 and on Saturday May 2005, there for the last one. The German Hill airfield as a site, was an inspired choice and for more than 25 years served the club well. Paradoxically, it was probably best as an airfield during the first few years after the initial development. Towards the close, the effects of intense dairy farming meant the constant fouling of aircraft with cow dung and a soft easily pugged ground. It would have been far too wet to use last Saturday and most likely remained so until next November.

There are some grand memories to savour and many excellent flights were made from German Hill. The challenge for our club now is to consolidate and carry on from where the German Hill pilots left off. It will be a lot of fun.

ANNUAL DINNER AND PRIZEGIVING:

The firm date for this is June 25th at Mangamingi. A pot luck dinner it is. Road kill in transit not necessarily acceptable.

SUBSCRIPTIONS:

You will soon be hearing from the Treasurer regarding the Annual Sub and other things. I understand the GK sub stays the same but the GNZ affiliation fees go up to $78. How do I know? It says so in the GNZ financial statement that’s why.

GLIDING NEW ZEALAND AGM:

Several are going down to this meeting. It is always interesting and Terry Delore is guest speaker at the cocktail party/awards evening.

QGP LECTURES:

More to come. Stay tuned. Good value all round.

THIS AND THAT:

Some of you will no doubt be interested to learn that a Standard Astir glider, November Golf, formerly owned by this club, won the club class at the Omarama Nationals this year. It was a good glider for us. Bob Struthers did his Diamond Height in it from German Hill and Chris Griffin flew it to 28000 feet, also from GH.
Rod Smith used to average an hours flight time every time he flew it and that was often two flights or more each weekend. Good to see another young pilot doing well in it.

25 YEARS BACK:

The weather not all that good for flying. The Cirrus trailer being worked on. The Skylark CE back after its repair and with nearly 5kg of ballast in the nose to counter a trim problem.

Looking up 1968 newsletters I saw a request for pilots (and especially trainee pilots) to be at Stratford by 8.30am to make the best use of the available day. Haven't times changed?

Papa Mike.