Friday 28th June

Tim the concreter arrived this morning and took all his machinery away because everything is too wet and muddy. it rained hard all last night.

Geoff Neely arrive to go to Armidale with me in my Brumby to fly the tug back. A call to Dave at Superair confirmed that conditions were good at Armidale, so we set off. bit of low scud but not too bad. Headwind going, crossing coming back. 

Got back at about midday to find John and Trish Wakefield at the club. John had repaired the broken glider trolley. We attempted some more glider maintenance, with mixed success, then I took John for a short flight in my Brumby. That warmed the oil up nicely for an oil change.

Although there were showers around, it didn't actually rain today at Keepit, so the runway has dried out a bit.

Thursday

More cold damp weather, low cloud and showers. Ian Downes and Tim Girot working on new workshop earthworks and holes for foundations.

Geoff Sim managed finally to fly back to Wollongong, in cloud (IFR) most of the way.  Said there is lots of water lying on the ground there, and rivers and creeks raging.

Simon Brown came out to install new TE multi-probe in IUO Discus 2c but it didn't fit - Schempp-Hirth sent the wrong one. Also explained instrument plumbing for when winter vario comes back.

Phil Anderton came out to fly me to Armidale to get the tug back - we took off and had a look, but too many showers, and cloud and scud down on top of the hills so we turned back. At least I got to have a fly in Phil's plane RV7 XPA. It is very fast and really light and manoeuvrable to fly. I must say I liked it! Not keen to repeat scud running excitement even without a glider in tow!!

Arrangements now modified. Weather permitting, I will fly Neely to Armidale in my plane to fetch the tug. The forecast does not look good at this stage, but may be an opportunity in the morning. MRP is ready to go when we can get there.

Ian has departed for Temora with Discus NSO to have the wheels up landing damage professionally repaired, a few nicks and chips touched up and a form 2. Not sure when it will be back yet. I have to say it has a great trailer, so easy to de-rig. If only they were all like that.

Allan Buttenshaw and a glider purchasing friend came to look at John McLeod's cirrus. Quite surprising how much coming and going there is on a wet day at Keepit.

Wednesday 26th June

Cold wet and miserable. Tim Girot came out to do a bit more work on the foundation for the new hangar. Can get in and out of the side door again now :-) Otherwise no-one about.

Went into Tamworth to get sliding door to Managers residence repaired, and get new light fittings. Can see to cook now! Also TV aerial but less luck there as the stupid thing hasn't got the right end to go on the TV.  Most important as Wimbledon is on!!

Spent the rest of the day laminating signs and instructions!! Hope everybody reads them!

Club activity since last Wednesday

Sorry no pics this time - just a lot of words!

Last Thursday was pretty grey all day and nobody flew. John Wakefield turned up to do a job on the Junior, and I persuaded him to look at the Duo Discus transponder which needed reprogramming with the correct Flight ID, and also the transition lights on the engine controller. He was able to reprogram the transponder OK, but the transition lights defeated us for the time being.

New members from WA Jason Kath and Shelly Heinrich arrived for a visit. They have bought a share in the new hangar that is being built. Both are hang glider pilots, Jason has a Speed Astir, and Shelly has an RV7A. Dr Death (Al Giles) also arrived by motorbike, spurred on by my reports of great soaring conditions last Tuesday. They swapped hang gliding stories all evening!

Thursday's forecast for Friday was pretty miserable, but on Friday, the forecast was revised and it turned out to be another good gliding day - cold, blue skies once the high cloud had passed through, and nice cu. Geoff Sim arrived in his Lancair at about 9.30 am. Al decided to fly our ASH26E. Trevor West arrived wanting to fly, so I quickly pulled the tug out, also urged Geoff to fly to keep Trevor company! Jason and Shelly couldn't bear to see the sky looking so good and not be in it, and were asking me about my hang gliding tow gear - that was all too hard to organise so they took Grob 103 GFP for a local flight.

Everyone flew for about an hour and a half, Trevor is the only one who put his flight on the OLC.  Not bad for the shortest day of the year, especially since we didn't get going till 1300.

At the weekend there was quite a bit of activity with winch launching of Matthew Minter's gang of Juniors, and Jay Anderson flying in with a plane load. The big excitement was Allan Buttenshaw's arrival with his brand new (to him) toy. A beautiful Nimbus 2, with a brand new Anschau trailer, and professionally built rigging aid, and a full set of covers.

Bryce Vidler from Tamworth arrived at the club and joined as a full member, and commenced gliding training with Nick Singer. He is already a power pilot, but described that as "boring holes in the sky"! They had an hour soaring.

Jason and Shelly flew together again in the Grob, John Stewart flew in the LS7, Garry Speight in the Discus 2b and Christian Linnet in the Cirrus, Peter Kemp in the Junior and Tim Carr in the Duo. Most people had soaring flights in excess of 2 hours, including Allan Buttenshaw - first flight in his Nimbus two and a half hours - See OLC!

Geoff and I flew to Moree - no not in a glider, in my plane - for a visit to the hot springs. They have been completely refurbished and are a great place to visit - only 3km walk from the Airport. As well as the hot pools, there is a 50m lap pool at 23 degrees C - I had it to myself! Blue skies, fantastic Cu (maybe we should have gone by glider) absolutely brilliant winter's day - topped off I'm told by another fantastic dinner cooked by Joy Downes.

On Sunday, another perfect winter day - Shelly commenced gliding training with Nick Singer, Steve Hedley flew with Julie in Nimbus 3 OZ, Allan Buttenshaw flew his Nimbus again, and Dominic Williams, who came up with Jay Anderson, did 40 min in the Junior, bringing it back for Peter Kemp to fly. Jay was anxious to get away due to terrible weather forecast on the coast, so that fitted in well.

In the evening, there was a mass gathering of club members at the Royal in Manilla to celebrate Garry Speight's  Birthday. I baked a cake for the occasion, but I think Garry ate less of it than Geoff Sim, whose birthday was the next day!!

On Monday, another brilliant cold sunny day, and I flew the tug to Armidale for its 100 hourly inspection. One of the few occasions when you could get into Armidale without scud running!! Geoff Sim brought me back in his Lancair, which was a lot faster than the trip to Armidale in the Tug. I was very glad of my freezer suit, as there is no cabin heat in the tug, and the temp at Armidale on the ground was 8 degrees! Much lower than that of course at cruising altitude.

Ian Barraclough self launched in the ASH25m and flew to Kaputar and back - the cumulus looked fantastic again (see OLC), but that was the only glider flight on the day.

The Tug should be back on Wednesday or Thursday.

Today, Tuesday, is very rainy and low cloud, so nothing doing flying wise. However it looks as if it will clear up this afternoon.

Jenny

Wednesay

Not as good a day as yesterday, but still soarable I believe, although we didn't.

Ben Newlands had a check and then another successful solo flight, then a dual flight from the back seat. Then he had to leave.

The blipmap forecast was very accurate.

Next week the tug will go to Armidale for its 100 hourly. There are four hours to go, so we need lots of launches at the weekend to use it up. Winch launching will be available while the tug is away.

Jenny

First Solo Ben Newlands

Monday dawned very foggy, and it didn't start to lift until after 10 o clock. Geoff Neely came out to tow, and Ben Newlands was the trainee. Ben was at the club on Anzac day when we had all the tyre problems, and  is a member of the club, despite working much of the time in the Middle East.

After the fog lifted we were left with puffy cumulus and good thermals, albeit not very high. Ben was able to soar for an hour on his second flight of the day. Meanwhile, Neely flew to Gunnedah to tow up Garry Speight, who ferried IUR back. Whilst the tug came straght back, the glider took advantage of the soaring conditions and stayed airborne for some time.

After a break for a fairly late lunch, Ben and I hit the circuit, and Ben was able to see how unreliable tugs can be - and how ropes can keep breaking!

Today (Tuesday) dawned sunny, but extremely cold. Charlie Szpitalak came over from Walcha again to tow.

It turned out to be an absolutely brilliant soaring day, with cumulus all over the sky, and lift everywhere. Ben was intent on doing circuits, but kept going inexorably up even after releasing as low as 1000ft. He could not resist doing some soaring, and there were a couple of helicopters around to help him practice his radio calls.

Look at this....

After a few more circuits, Ben had three solo flights with good landings. Well done Ben.

Weekend Ops

It has been a bit quiet for the last week, but I did one launch last Friday - Dave Shorter practicing for the Gunnedah airshow.

On Saturday morning early, I towed Ian Downs in IUR to Gunnedah, to operate with the winch before and after the airshow. One of my scariest ever flights as there was lots of low cloud, and at one point I thought it was going to sock in behind and that I wouldn't get back to Keepit. Turned back, still with glider in tow, but just past the Carrols saw there was a large blue area to the north, so we decided to go around the other side of the cloud to try to get in to Gunnedah. It is surprisingly difficult to find when it is covered in cloud! Found the road and followed it, Ian did a great job coping with descending on aerotow, and with my speed changes. Because it was so cold and humid I was very worried about carby ice when I had to throttle back to descend with the glider on behind. Every time you use the carby heat, black smoke emerges from the exhast. Called inbound to Gunnedah at 1300ft (500 AGL) and had to descend more than that to get under the cloud on the Aerodrome. Flew downwind along the runway, Ian released and immediately turned onto final and landed. Flying back to Keepit involved a fair bit of scud running too, and I was very happy to be back on the ground.

Later the cloud lifted a bit to about 2000ft AGL, but still solid overcast. At Gunnedah the clouds broke up and the airshow went ahead. Geoff Neely came out to do the rest of the towing. He towed Dave Shorter to Gunnedah to do a fly past just after the airshow, but the jet on the JS1 didn't start for some reason, and Dave ended up landing there. Undeterred,  he took a winch launch, started the motor and flew back to Keepit. West of the Carrols there was some soaring to be had, but it stayed overcast for most of the day at Keepit. I postponed an Air Experience flight that was booked in until the next day.

On Sunday Chris Carr and Charlie Szpitalak turned up for briefing but there were the only ones there. It was a much better day, old and sunny. The only flying to be done was to launch Dave Shorter to fly to Gunnedah again (the airshow happened again on Sunday) and the AEF flight. I said I would do the AEF if Chris wanted to go home, which he did, but he got the glider ready for me ready to take off, which was great.

The day turned out very soarable with plenty of cu, although not very high. While I was soaring with Lewis, the AEF person, Dave Shorter soared back from Gunnedah, so Lewis was able to soar with another glider. In the same flight, he was also able to soar with eagles and pelicans! His comment was "Cool!"

After landing with Lewis I pulled the ASH26E out and went for a small flight, but by that time most of the lift was gone.

Quite a good day of gliding for the time of year!

Wot 'as bin goin' on

Tuesday Bob Emery flew three launches in GFP - just to get comfortable in the air again. There was very little lift - just a little zero sink! Ian came out and we started to rig IUO - but we did not put the wingtips on, as Ian decided he wanted to fly it in 18m configuration and it won't fit in the hangar like that.

Tuesday and Wednesday, had a good clear out and filled up the rubbish skip - luckily they emptied it today (Thursday). You can see most of the office floor now!

On Wednesday John Wakefield and Trish came out and worked on the Jantar - last time he flew it the ASI didn't work properly. Ian came out too, and helped John, but also replaced the brake pads on the tug - which was greatly appreciated. The brakes are much better now! Greg Smith and Phil Anderton popped in Greg's Maule - and popped out again later!

Miro Mikus arrived and rigged his Nimbus 2 single-handedly!! He has built a one man rigging tool, and it works! Needs a few minor modifications for optimum performance, but Miro is very happy with the result.

Today (Thursday) was another overcast day, but it was quite warm. Phil Anderton popped in from Newcastle in his RV6 and reported very strong headwinds and turbulence at Murrurndi. Later he popped out again, back to Newcastle!

 I launched Miro in the Nimbus - he was expecting a sled ride, but actually managed to soar for about an hour and a half. Meanwhile Allan Buttenshaw turned up for lunch with a friend in a Lightning light sport aircraft. They also reported strong headwind and turbulence! There was some wavy looking cloud up high too.

The Lightening has a 6 cylinder Jabiru engine and the same propeller as my Brumby, and seems to have similar performance, although the Lightning looks much more slippery.

I filled up the quad bikes and went for a ride up to terminal 1, where I found the rubbish bin strewn all over the lawn. Must have been foxes I should think. Not good to leave the bin full of rubbish up there overnight! Cleared all that up, then the Avgas delivery arrived.

Miro managed to de-rig the Nimbus again almost single handedly, and left to go back to Coffs as light rain is forecast for tomorrow morning.

Greg Nelson arrived to endorse me on the big green tractor and the big slasher - but first we had to get even tyre pressures in the wheels. One of the back ones had 17 and the other 12, while the front ones had 25 and 12 respectively. The two tyres with 12 psi were on opposite corners! He also showed me the gazillions of grease nipples on the slasher that have to be greased after every 20 hours of use - it takes a while to do! Thanks Greg - will you sign off my logbook now please?

At the moment the grass isn't growing very much, so there isn't much mowing to do, but it would be good to get the emergency overruns done.

So that is what happens on quiet days at Lake Keepit!

After the rain the sun.....

After heaps of rain on Sunday, a lovely sunny day today. Life's good at Keepit!

Saturday 1 June - by Vic Hatfield

Vic (02.06.2013 19:40:00):

Yesterday (Saturday) had hi cirrus with a lower band approaching.

Mathew had his students there on the winch and completed about 6 launches. The first one was a ' cable break ' , we think that the cable may not have been secured properly in the release,however the recovery and landing was textbook.

Mark Russell called in and whilst we had a winch driver I introduced him to winching and completed 2 launches -- the last one achieved 1800'.

An AEF arrived ,a grandfather in his 80's who flew Tiger Moths in the 50's. Went well with the ailerons and elevator.

Geoff Neely was the tuggie and he helped me put the Grob away, thanks Geoff .

Had a cuppa after Geoff left and found myself the only person on the site along with the Roos -- it is a peaceful place . Drops of rain on the windscreen as I left around 1600. 

Vic.

Friday 31 May

Another fine day, with soaring conditions better than the day before. A front is approaching, and the high moving off to the east, and conditions becoming more unstable. Today we actually had cumulus close enough to the field to reach!

We thought we would have an air experience flight to do at about lunch time, but the person rang up and postponed it to the next day. So after towing everyone who needed a tow, I was able to get the ASH 26E out and go for a flight myself!

Tim Brooks did two more solos in the Junior without finding much lift. Then he was able to take advantage of the offer of a back seat ride in OZ with Steve Hedley. Geoff Sim flew in GSI - "beautiful smooth best of winter lift" - unfortunately he forgot to turn on his logger at the beginning of the flight, so we only see part of it on the OLC. Chris Bowman had another nice flight in the LS7 - this time I was able to tow him into a thermal much closer to the field than the day before.

Steve, Chris and Geoff all seem to have elected to fly in different directions so when I launched, I didn't know who to follow. There were 5kt climbs under the clouds and the cloudbase was just below 6000ft. Steve and Tim flew to Bingara and Narrabri, and almost made it home but had a technical outlanding just to the west of the Kelvins. Geoff went to Kaputar, then Narrabri and Mullaley and back. Chris went to Borah, out to the foothills of the Kaputars, then Boggabri, Gunnedah and back. He seems to like going to Boggabri! I went up toward Kaputar, but there was too much overclouding, then turned west along some good clouds but it all fell apart and I struggled to get home without starting the motor, but managed it!

I asked Tim Brooks about his flight with Steve in OZ and he said it was an amazing experience!! I think he's well and truly hooked!!

What an unexpectedly good day's soaring in Winter!!

Thursday 29th May

Another warm sunny day, with better soaring conditions than the previous days - at least if you could make it to the clouds which were some distance to the north.

Geoff Sim arrived in his Lancair at about 0930 - first visit to Keepit since his epic motorcycling trip in South America.

Steve Hedley flew OZ and motored across to the clouds (as you do with a self launcher) and had a good day thereafter, clocking up 270 km on the OLC. Chris Bowman courageously towed to 3000ft AGL away from the field, still short of the clouds, but was able to glide over to them and get up. He then went to Boggabri and back.

Meanwhile back at the field, after a check ride with Allan Buttenshaw, Tim Brooks had another solo flight in the Grob. Allan wanted to coach him in the skill of thermalling with other gliders, but there were no thermals and no other gliders close enough to the field to achieve that objective. After lunch, we sent him up in the Junior, and he had two flights in it. Another achievement for Tim.