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.

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.