September 2009

Date                 Tow Pilot             Instructor              Duty Pilot
September 5     Sharp                  Williams                    Barham
                 6     Sharp                  Tullett                       Barham
               12     Sharp                  Hdw-Smith               Arden
               13     Sharp                  Tullett                       Arden
               19     Sharp                 Williams                     Hopkirk
               20     Sharp                 Tullett                        Hopkirk
               26     Drummond         Williams                     Skene
               27     Drummond         Williams                     Skene


The month that was:

Three days flying for August. A mid-week to start things. Thursday the 6th to start things. Steve Barham once again in Tim’s HP14, VB, did 21m. Peter Williams in his K6E did 33m. Richard Arden away for 14m in TE. Tim and I somehow did 60m in the Twin and then Tim, using JTA, towed Ralph Gibson off in TE and he got 15m.

Saturday the 8th though, was the one. Tim treated Cody Simpson to a half-hour flight in the Twin and then took his son Ben off for 45m. Will Hopkirk had a couple of 15m flights in TE and then the fun started. John Tullett got away in DN for two hours and three minutes. Steve Barham tried the same thermal in the HP14, VB, but no luck. John must have creamed all the lift. Tim was off to the mountain in the Discus and was soon established under a cloud-street. Will followed in TE and then Steve and yours truly in the Twin. And what a time we had. Following one another along a great wall of cloud, swinging into the bays and round the headlands of white. The radio and position reports a comfort. Steve was busy with the camera and the field seemed a long way away. It was an exultant group of pilots gathered after the aircraft had been put away.

Saturday the 22nd was a bit nondescript, so I’m told, while Tim got 54m in the Discus, it was slim pickings for the others. Steve and Richard did 10 and 16m respectively in TE, Will did 15m in TE and 10m for John Tullett in the Discus.

Since then the weather has been at best, inclement. But it is getting better!




Sale of DN:

Though we had keen interest from an individual in the USA, it’s one of our own, who has prevailed. John Tullett has persuaded Judy that whilst a new lounge suite would be forthcoming, a K7 with him in it at 4000ft is equally becoming. The committee agreed to an offer by John to purchase the aircraft for $5000. The price recognises the financial help given by John when the aircraft was purchased from the Waipukurau Gliding Club.

RWS:

This aircraft is currently at Brown Road undergoing its ARA. Paul Muller was to have attended to areas of fuselage corrosion and areas where paint has flaked off, that have occurred since the aircraft was commissioned in 1996. Essentially, paint did not adhere to the metal framework in places. Paul has promised us that this task will be carried out “within the month”. We take this to mean during September. Hopefully, the job can be done within a five-day working week. Meanwhile, Les Sharp has been beavering away doing various bits and pieces, all aiding the inspection and ARA process. Some of the work on the aircraft involves replacing time expired parts such as fuel lines, oil lines to the brakes. The engine mounts were found to have some rust on them, so Les disconnected various cables and connections so the engine can be lifted out and the mounts taken out, sand blasted and repainted. Much of the work is “fair wear and tear” and is what a charge-out price should encompass. However it will be not be cheap. So come out and fly. Can you persuade friends, relatives and/or colleagues that they need to have a glider flight more than anything? Spread the word!

Hangar:

The hangar has seen another attempt at bird-proofing it. Les has affixed shaped pieces of tin at various assumed entry points. Hopefully our feathered friends will have to find another shed. Talking of sheds, a new helicopter hangar has appeared nearby and this has caused some head scratching as to future expansion of our own hangar. How ‘bout a two storey hangar? Reach for the sky and all that!

Ray Lynskey:

The death of Ray Lynskey, 1995 World Open Class Gliding Champion and World Out & Return record holder, occurred recently. His funeral was held in his hangar, Omaka airfield on Saturday, August 22nd. Ray might well have been champion at Rieti, Italy, in 1992, but had to land out on the last day, unable to get out of a mountain basin and complete the task. Ray was a glider pilot par excellence and a free 3 turn-point distance record of 1353km still stands in his name. He was the first pilot to exceed 2000km when he flew 2026km crossing Cook Strait twice and was 15 hours airborne.





Website:
http://glidingtaranaki.com/

It has been up and running for about a month now and is well up on the Google search list. A bit of work remains to edit some of the items on it. One of the advantages of a website such as this is that relevant parts of our club history can be displayed and more easily accessed. Also the recent news and newsletters can also be available both for club members and the wider public. The collection of newsletters that I have goes back to 1967 and makes fascinating reading as the club progressed and developed since then.

Subscriptions:

Two subs still to come in. Many thanks for the prompt response. The balance at the TSB looks healthier than it has been for some time. Maybe it is only a mirage for there is the RWS ARA to be paid for. Sigh.

Annual Meeting:

Set down for Tuesday, September 8th, Stratford Aeroclub rooms at 7.45pm. See you there.

25 years back:

Not much flying happening because the towplane, Auster BDW was undergoing substantial work. The starboard wing completed and the port wing had to be removed because the rear spar had cracks in the vicinity of an aileron hinge attachment.

Another NZGA raffle about to get underway.

Papa Mike.
  The photos below are of the towplanes we had. First was a J1b Auster, ZK-AXL, which got totalled in a t/o accident along with the Olympia 463 single seater glider. The hangar had just been finished and all of a sudden there was plenty of room.


It was quickly replaced by an Auster J5, ZK-BDW which had about 50 hours left on the motor. This was later sold to Brett Emeny.



Its replacement was a Piper Super Cub, ZK-BRY. Like it’s predecessors it was started by swinging the propeller but the metal blade was a bit hard and a starter motor was fitted much to everyone’s relief.


 1995, BRY was sold to a Hawera syndicate of Ralph Gibson, Mike Jones and John Frew and a Piper Pawnee 260 purchased from Dallas, Texas where it had been used for banner towing. Shown here in its original colours on the apron at Dallas.



RWS in its original paint scheme, on the apron at Dallas, Texas.

And, a bad day at the office at German Hill:

Not long after BRY was purchased, a landing on the N/S strip went a bit wrong. Wet grass and a crosswind. Thereafter, if a crosswind an issue, the rope was dropped near the launch point and the aircraft landed on the E/W strip.



Chris Griffin holding the tow rope.

But it all started for some of us with this:



The Taranaki Gliding Club winch, built by Ivan Chinnery-Brown and Hec Strampel. Used primarily at the Bell Block airfield and later Stratford. Banned from NP airport after we nearly draped the wire over the control tower.