Anzac Day Flying 2007

Do you ever get one of those feelings that one should wait.  Well the dark clouds looked great, all lined up out to the east of Mt Egmont, and above the field.  GH was on the grid, ready, and Steve was going to go up in TE if I changed my mind.

Towed up over Midhurst to 1,700’agl with good lift over the main road on tow (I’ll remember that lift).  Bunged off just north of Midhurst and couldn’t find any lift.  Spotted a nice lonely black cloud out to the NE about a Km away.  That wasn’t working either.  Better turn for home, straight into 6 knots down following the main road south.  Knew I wasn’t going to make it back to Stratford so picked a nice looking paddock just south of Midhurst beside the main road.  Landed OK, but oh how wrong was I about the smooth paddock?  It was very pugged up, and not very flat.  After a lot of banging and crashing, I came to a halt, a bit peeved with myself.  No damage sustained.  Three farmers from next door came over and asked if I had permission to land (jokingly ).  They were a bit concerned as they saw me disappear behind some trees and thought I had crashed.  They nearly rang 111.  All was well.  I thanked them for their concern and headed out to the main road to be picked up by Samantha Hopkirk and the kids.  Had a bit of trouble trying to get over the three-wire electric fence to the main road.  My back was still sore from the previous week.

Richard Arden and Will Hopkirk helped me with the retrieve.  Access wasn’t too bad down a long race.  The Taranaki-farmer-type electric fence gates were a bit of a novelty with wires hanging in bundles.  Richard and Will thought it rather funny, especially when one has to reconnect a fence by holding a bare wire, and clipping it over a live wire.

Thinking about it, there are a lot of small paddocks around Stratford. Next time you’re flying over a particular area, try and pick out a suitable paddock. Then go and have a look at it, at ground level.  You might be surprised how rough it is.  Thanks for the help with the retrieve guys.

Happy Field Landings.
Peter Williams