Nigel Holmes needed an outlanding check in order to complete his C certificate, so after removing the tailwheel in the Puchatek, inflating it and replacing it, off we went. We used the Puchatek as it is lighter than the Grobs, and the strip at Gaineys is a bit short. Ian towed us over towards Gaineys, and we discussed various paddocks along the way. One of the ones Nigel selected was the one we used to use for outlanding practice, which I thought was a good sign. We landed safely at Gaineys, and were met by the owner who came out in a quad bike to tow us back to the end of the runway, where we were surrounded by children excited to see an aeroplane and a glider.
An uneventful tow back, and opportunity to practice cruising on aerotow.
Meanwhile Allan Buttenshaw was running a winch operation. He flew with Bob Emery, and sent him solo and then with Christian Linnet, and he went solo also. There was a light breeze, but the Twin ll was getting 1800 to 1900 feet on the winch. Communication again proved to be a problem, but this was solved by using UHF radios to do the launch instead of the airband ones.
After a break for a late lunch, we repeated the paddock landing exercise with John McLeod, and were welcomed back by all the children at Gaineys. John had done an outlanding exercise before, but thought it was cheating as that one had been in a huge paddock.
Ian and I did two winch launches together, with Allan Buttenshaw driving the winch under the supervision of Harry Medlicott. Nigel and John McLeod did the retrieving.
During the weekend, we had one GPC signed off, one C certificate achieved, and nine pilots revalidated on winch flying including several instructors, and six of us refamiliarised with winch driving - so a pretty successful result I think. The next four day weekend (July) will be more of the same.
Jenny
No comments:
Post a Comment