November 30th 2011

Two days flying to report on this time.  Seven flights on Sunday.  Two instructional flights for Brendan Pittwood, his daughter, Alex, not to be outdone, also had a flight.
Andre van der Elst had two in the PW5, Tim was away in his Pik 30 for ninety minutes giving the motor a good work-out in the process.  Having an iron thermal was a good move, considering the type of day.  Peter Cook was the instructor and so had to put up with Peter Miller intent on having the shortest flight, though in his defence, it was at the end of the day. A steady cross-wind tested circuit technique onto 27.  Seven flights for the day.  Jim Mckay on towing duties.

A good looking RASP forecast got Glyn all excited and he then got everyone else excited so on Wednesday, we had ourselves a good flying day.  Not the forecast high cloud base, but we made do with 3000ft asl which meant 2000ft above ground at Stratford.  Tim flew all over the place for just over three hours.  Steve got an hour fifty minutes in the Nimbus and flew nearly all over the place.  Glyn had two flights having bombed out as did Peter Miller and Les Sharp in the Twin.  Glyn relaunched and had a good second flight as did the veteran pair in the Twin. The GPS trace shows a glide of 68.3km with no more than 180 degree turns.  Peter Miller now has a brand-new thermal hat.   Six flights for the day and Ralph Gibson expertly towing us all into lift – which was a sea breeze convergence drifting slowly north during the day.

Things to note – at the end of the day, please cover the outer section of the starboard wing of WZ.  Cement-like bird poo is hard to shift.  Advising NP Control at the start of the day and on the finish is appreciated by them.  The canopy cover for TE should accompany the aircraft and be used until the aircraft is required for flight.  Similarly, WZ needs a canopy cover so it can accompany the aircraft ….etc.  Any accomplished sewing people out there?

Glyn Jackson & Will Hopkirk had a good time up the Matamata X-country course.  Glyn having a thrash down the ridge to Thames and back, Will, a memorable trip in the Trevor Terry Duo Discus.   Meanwhile, over at Benalla, our neighbour club president, Clinton Steele made a valiant attempt at a 300k distance flight.  Having difficulty getting under way, he covered 211km in 3hr 35m but ran out of day and had to land at Shepparton. Clinton was there to take part in the “Going for Gold”             x-country course, run by Graham Garlick.  He was flying an LS4 in the 300k attempt.  Every club should have one.

Don’t forget, the Pot Luck dinner at Judy & John’s place on the 10th December.  The next QGP evening is Thursday December 8th.
                                          Steve Barham & Nimbus 2 working a thermal.

                                                  


                                 

                                 Wednesday as launching began.  Note the cloud street top left.
                                 Tim about to launch in the Discus.