April/May 2004

  NEWSLETTER AND ROSTER
APRIL/MAY 2004

             DATE            TOWPILOT              INSTRUCTOR                      DUTY PILOT
             April 4          Frew                        Cook                                    Feigler
                   11          McKay                     Tullett                                   Arden
                   18          Jones                      Cook                                      Manning
                   25          Atkinson                 Hardwick-Smith                    Coplestone
             May 2          Frew                        Tullett                                   Walker
                    9           McKay                     Hardwick-Smith                    Feigler
                  16          Jones                       Cook                                      Arden
                  23          Atkinson                  Tullett                                    Manning



Those rostered, please organise their replacement if they cannot be there on the day. Start time for ops is 11 am, so aim to be there earlier to get the aircraft out of the hangar, wash and DI them.

The months that have been:

Seems ages since I last wrote a newsletter and it has been ages since there has been anything much to put in it. The "women in action" gliding group all enjoyed themselves though at times it was difficult to co-ordinate everyone with enough fine weather on the day, but we got there.

It would be fair to say that this has been the worst summer for gliding that I can remember and the flying stats underline that all too well. My only recourse was to go to Benalla where the sun does shine all day long and all week long for that matter. (Read the attached narrative). However, it was a good day last Sunday and RWS is full of Avgas and raring to go. As well, we have four full twenty litre cans as a backup. Peter Williams and I were at Taupo last weekend at instructors' course and it went well enough in spite of me demonstrating the art of flying with two left feet. Thanks to Peter and Helen Cook for the use of their caravan. Taupo has a good setup, much of which we must emulate and the sight of room enough for more than three gliders, wingtip to wing tip made Stratford airfield look markedly cramped by comparison.

Hangar:

The building has progressed rapidly and is now at the stage where the concrete aprons at either end, followed by the floor and doors with end cladding will make the building secure and usable. The PW5 trailer is already ensconced giving a sense of scale. Tim and his tractor have spent quite some time digging dirt and shifting metal. This is a big building and is as firm an affirmation as anybody would want that we are based at Stratford and our business is gliding and soaring is our intention and practise. For too long the TGC has been somewhat of a homeless orphan existing on goodwill. Now, the wheels are slowly but surely being put back on the wagon. Maybe a surfeit of metaphors, but what the heck. All we want now is plenty of customary thermals.

The first occupant was the PW5 trailer.  The hangar size is indicated by the trailer. The beams are made up of laminated plywood. The floor has yet to be levelled and sealed, a concrete apron at both ends to be boxed up and poured, doors made up, installed and both ends then finished off. We are going to ask the Chairman of TET, to officially open the building and Tim is not going to fly the PW5 in one end and out the other. You cannot count on people these days to make sure both sets of doors are wide open at the same time. Pity, because it would be a supreme example of the effects of yaw.

YPUK K7:

Looks like a code word doesn't it? It is a code word for things taking a long time to happen though with the weather being what it is, it hasn't mattered a great deal.
What I do know is that the ailerons required rebuilding, a crack was found in the elevator and being an old, unknown glider, a careful look has been had at it. So, maybe next week!!

Benalla bravura:

Uncharacteristically prescient, I booked a gliding course at Benalla, northern Victoria starting Feb 2nd. The result being I got more flying done in six days than I would get in a year in Taranaki. I've written the story up for this newsletter, blow by blow, thermal by thermal. It’s rather too long, but read it in the spirit it was written, simply that I wanted to share what was for me a great experience and hopefully, encourage others to go there too and not wait as long as I did.

Taupo:

Peter Williams and I sallied off to Taupo last weekend for the instructors training course there, which was attended by about 18 participants and six instructor trainers.
It was very interesting and the lectures were well presented. Peter W. enjoyed himself. And the K13 with me scrunched in the rear seat displayed interesting flight performance, i.e., the two left feet part of the envelope.


Hawera:

We exhibited the PW5 at a motor show in Hawera during March (thanks Peter W.) and the next day, the Blanik was aerotowed down for a mix of trial flights and training. Richard and Tim had an interesting flight back with the remnants of a seabreeze front. The next Hawera trip will need more bods and more publicity.

Rangi in England:

Rangi de Abaffy has been trying out his new LS4 recently and found that it goes round 100km triangles very well indeed. See the attached story.

Social things:

Of course the hangar opening will be a major event and we will organise a BBQ around that especially including those who have been good and true friends of the TGC over the years. There are a couple of other events that I hope that we can get organised, but more on those later.

25 years back:

             - Margaret Smith made her first solo flight in March 1979 and in April, Peter Langley and Paul    
              Ellen.
             - A special meeting at the Bell Block school decided not to go ahead with the purchase of                          the German Hill airfield but opted for a 54 year lease. ( With hindsight, that may have been a
               pivotal moment which, added to by other events, has seen the club's relocation to Stratford
               Airfield).
             - In February, John Schicker and his Skylark 2 and Harry Smith with Bob Struthers sharing                  the Olympia 463-DJ, competed in the Central Districts Champs at Masterton.                  
               Also there were Pat Struthers, Ivan Chinnery-Brown, Lynn and Peter Miller as crew.

               Harry and John completed an 85km task and Bob got to 12000ft in wave.
             - At German Hill, heavy machinery at work on the E/W vector smoothing the runway.

Wednesday Flying:

Are there any interested in flying Wednesday afternoons so as to beat the clagged out weekends?? Please contact me, 75 26 824.

And that’s about enough from me.

PAPA MIKE.


Reminder:

Committee meeting, Stratford Aero-Club, 7.30pm, Tuesday 13th April