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October 3rd 2010It was a rather gloomy treasurer that sighted the bank statement the other day and noted that it had hardly any headroom. What a difference a day makes and today’s flying at Stratford was the first club day since last autumn of any consequence. We were more than happy to see our new tow pilot, John McFadgen being put through his paces by Matt Connor. Not that he needed many paces to be put through really, what with nearly 12000 hours power time and much of that ag flying and glider tows some years back. The day continued to get better with thermal activity lasting most of the day. The best flight was by Peter Cook in his Libelle. From east of Toko, south of Stratford and then over to the Pouakai peaks for 2 hours, 20 minutes. Will Hopkirk got 90 minutes on TE, John Tullett 68 minutes in DN, Peter Williams & Glyn Jackson 75 minutes in WZ were the best flights. Best height was about 4500ft. Gene Campbell, Iain Finer and Peter Miller all had useful flights. Glyn even employed JLZ as a camera ship. Not as easy as you might think to get a good shot of another aircraft in flight. Clinton Steele dropped in on a x-country from Norfolk, shot down by the Stratford “blue hole” which thankfully, was short-lived. Steve Barham used his lunch break from the power station to good effect and got a half hour flight in TE. Stats: Aircraft Time Flights WZ 3hrs 12m (4) TE 2hrs 32m (3) DN 1hr 41m (4) IA 2hrs 20m (1) RWS 1hr 36m (16)* *includes Pawnee rating time.   Iain Finer’s photo of DN’s tailfin and the mountain as a backdrop.  Iain caught Glyn Jackson & Peter Williams about to touch down.  They were not as low as this photo suggests. Iain Finer & Peter Williams in WZ, working a thermal near Stratford. Papa Mike. |