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From: Kevin
Rodda
Date: Sun, Jul 1, 2012
Subject: SOFY Day at YCAB - Sunday 01-Jul-12
To: cgcmem list <members@glidingcaboolture.org.au>
First task this morning
was to check outside to see if the sky had fallen in ...
after all, it was a SOFY (Start Of Financial Year)
day and the Carbon Tax had started at midnight. Thankfully
the sky was still there and the world had not ended! Not
only that, it looked like a third rain-free day in a row
and that meant that we might have a chance of getting to
the flight line at YCAB.
So off to Caboolture
where the Duty Crew of Peter John (Duty Instructor), Mick
Moloney (Instructor), me (Air Experience Instructor -
filling in for Chris Weir) and Mike Grady (Tug Pilot) had
assembled ... the rostered duty pilots Graeme Manietta and
Simone Pfuhl have given up gliding for the immediate
future and have placed their memberships on hold.
We were joined by three
trainee pilots Justice Lockley, Stephen Wilson and Ellie
Hitchcock (with Mum, Dad and sister Mia) as well as Tony
Sorensen and (a little later in the day) Karl Bodi. Our
three AEF passengers also brought family with them ... so
it was a busy day at the Pie Cart!
We set up on 12 with
CQC but soon changed to 30 and brought out GQA to complete
a day that saw us tally 10 flights totalling 3:47
including three 3,500 ft Air Experience Flights ... the
longest of which at 0:57 was the longest flight of the day
followed by four flights of between 21 and 24 minutes
duration.
The morning flights
consisted of very smooth conditions in blue sky with the
only "lift" found being just to the south-east
of the airfield and even that providing only 20 minutes of
maintaining height at between 2,000 and 1,500 feet
before joining circuit.
By afternoon the clouds
that had suddenly popped around noon had quickly overdeveloped ...
providing little more than optimism ...
Ellie Hitchcock with
Peter John prepare for a training flight in QA ...
Mick Moloney kept the
Pie Cart ticking over after a couple of morning flights
...
Tony Sorensen with
Stephen Wilson ... and Karl Bodi ...
Meanwhile Lindsay
Mitchell and Bernard Gonsalves had been toiling all day in
the tie-down area on the annual inspection of Blanik GKY
... before enlisting all available hands at the end of the
day to move Blanik GXQ into its new "hangar" ...
After only a few minor
hand injuries, here is GXQ looking snug and dry in its new
temporary home (the aim until the Club has its new hangar
is to rotate GKY and GXQ so that we always have one Blanik
available at the flight line for training flights ...
Then
"all
hands on deck" to complete the tie-downs before dark
...
Just before being
treated to an excellent Caboolture sunset ...
Many thanks from the
Duty Crew to Stephen Wilson ... while he waited patiently
all day for his training flight in CQC withy Tony
Sorensen, Stephen retrieved gliders, ran wings and
generally helped around the pie-cart to keep the day
moving along efficiently. Well done Stephen, a great
effort and much appreciated!
Safe flying!
Kevin
Rodda
on
behalf of the SOFY Sunday Crew
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