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.

Wednesday 29th May

Beautiful warm sunny day, with themals to about 4000 feet during the middle of the day. Vic Hatfield flew cirrus QV and Chris Bowman flew the club's LS7 and they had a good old chat to each other on the radio in the process.

Ray Ash, who will be 86 in a couple of weeks had the best soaring flight in the two seater, accompanied by Allan Buttenshaw. Ray said he hadn't flown an aerotow launch for about 20 years, but it was like riding a bike - you don't forget. He had  never flown a fibreglass glider before although he owns or part owns about 5 wooden ones! Plastic presented no problems for Ray, and Allan said he was just a passenger in the back seat!

Tim Brooks achieved his first solo flight in a glider, although it has to be said he has a lot of hours in Cessnas. We think he is hooked!! Congratulations Tim.

More of the same tomorrow with any luck.

Tuesday 28 May

Not as sunny, but a better soaring day today than yesterday. John K and Tim B continued their training with Allan Buttenshaw - the best soaring flight of the day was 43 minutes. I had fun flying the tug. Work proceeded on the foundations of the new hangar. Not much else to report.
Jenny

Club Activity 27th May

A sunny but rather stable day, very cold in the morning, but quite warm in the afternoon.

Present at the club were Harry and Wendy Medlicott, and visitors from Gulgong John Kingsland and Ray Ash, and Tim Brooks, an experienced power pilot who is trying gliding.

Geoff Neely flew the tug in the morning, while I flew with both Tim  and John - thanks Geoff - but in the afternoon, Allan Buttenshaw arrived to take over the instructing for the week, while I am relegated to the tug!

Harry and Wendy flew in their Arcus, mainly to test instruments.

Allan did a couple more flights with each of the trainees - they were able to delay their descent slightly but I think the longest flight was about 30 min.

A good day for practising take-offs and landings!

Anzac Day

Anzac day was a day of highs and lows. We got started early, and after three flights with me, Bill Keats re-soloed - he had only done one solo on a previous visit some months before.

Hi second solo flight was so successful, that we sent him off for another two!! Well done Bill.

Fellow trainee Ben Newlands assisted bill with glider retrieval and wing running, as you do, but then disaster struck, and the main wheel tyre in the G103 went flat. We attempted to pump it up and fill it with slime, but to no avail. The other grob was away at Bathurst, so we got the twin astir out and continued with it. Unfortunately after a couple of flights, the tailwheel tyre fell off the rim on the twin astir, so we had another tyre to fix.

This put paid to the training for the day, and unfortunately Ben Newlands missed out on several flights. He had to leave next day but has promised to return in a couple of months.






Hans and Simon Bleuler visited again, and Simon flew in the Junior, and is now well on the way to getting his C certificate.

Hans was able to transition into the Junior the next day.

Many thanks to Graham Heagney, our tug pilot with infinite patience and ability to fix things, we were able to patch the tube from the Grob IUR and get it going again the next day.

Both Simon and Hans had several soaring flights in the Grob and the Junior and both are progressing well.

22 and 23 April Club activity

Hi everyone, I am filling in while Ian is on holiday for a week, so I thought I
d let you all know what is happening here.

Flew in on Monday morning in my Brumby, going really well since the heads he just been done up. No more sticking valves.

At 9am as I descended, the thermals were just starting to happen, but only to 1500 ft. There was a brisk westerly blowing up high.

The weather forecast indicated good soaring conditions, starting by 11 am.

Two pilots elected to try to do their Silver C flights- new member Peter Krygger and Bruce Paulson. Terry Petherbridge flew the Junior (first single seater flight) after a check in the morning, and soared for an hour then had to go home. Gerhard flew his Jantar, was quiet about where he went, but the OLC reveals a nice FAI triangle. Arie Van Spronsson is visiting again,and also did a good flight.

Peter Krygger did the silver c task, and also soared for the required five hours on his first solo xc glider flight. (he does have a bit of experience in much larger aircraft) Bruce Paulson landed his Jantar in a paddock, first real outlanding. The wind was quite strong and the into wind leg from Manilla to Gunnedah was challenging. However we had good cu, and heights to 10000ft!

I also had a good soaring flight with Bill Keats - but we stopped early to retrieve Bruce. There was a locked gate, and some initial difficulty with access, but we managed it in the end before it got too late.


Today, Tuesday was not as good a day as yesterday - blue and only to about 5000ft, but still some good soaring to be had. Peter Krygger did Manilla, Rangari, Gunnedah and back, but was the only one to go cross country. We posted his flight on OLC this evening, and he was leading the world! There was still a brisk westerly, but not as strong as yesterday. Allan Monroe had some good soaring in the Junior, and Bill Keats had a good soaring flight in IUR with me. I tried to stay quiet in the back seat, and he did a good job of soaring. Then I flew with Ben Newlands, a student pilot who has done some previous training with Ian - another good soaring flight. 

Looks like good weather for the rest of the week.

Jenny Ganderton

Simon Bleuler - Fist Solo

Just before Easter, Hans and Simon Bleuler visited the club to learn gliding - a father and son team! They are paraglider pilots, Simon is currently training for his CPL and Hans had done some gliding in the past at Bathurst.

Both went solo over the Easter Break, but I only got a photo of Simon.

After some instruction by Tim Carr on Easter Sunday, Hans followed suit and soloed on the Monday - and had a couple of good soaring flights.

Both have joined the club as full members, and we welcome them warmly.

Jenny