02Aug15 - Speedy reincarnated Sunday

Speedy reincarnated Sunday

02-Aug-15

The Duty Crew today consisted of Barry McCarthy (Duty Instructor), Neil Muspratt (Air Experience Instructor), John Ashford (Tug Pilot) and me (filling in the blank Duty Pilot spot on the roster). Chris Weir was on hand early itching to get the Club Libelle out for a fly so we headed for RWY30 with Yankee Kilo (Blanik), Quebec Alpha (IS-30) and Juliet Yankee (Libelle).

While we were chewing the fat and waiting for the sky to look a little bit more soaring-friendly, Bernie Gonsalves (Speedy) arrived at the flight line with Lima Mike (Kookaburra) and friend Danny Vandermalle. Meanwhile Robert Bradley from DDSC (ex GFA RTO-Airworthiness) had called in at the pie-cart and mentioned that he hadn't flown a Kooka for 20 years ... so with Barry's blessing to cut in to the front of the queue (Robert was only passing through and couldn't stay long), it was Speedy and Robert in GLM for the first launch at 10:48am.

Neil Muspratt with Lynne and Warren Harding.

Neil Muspratt took care of our passenger flights in GQA with an Air Experience Flight for Warren Harding as well as two flights for Garrett Russell's friend Brendan Williams ... the resulting 17 mins, 47 mins and 55 mins showed just how much the lift had improved as we moved into the afternoon (all three flights were from 3500 feet). Garrett Russell and Barry McCarthy scored 32 mins from 2800 feet in GQA's only other flight today.

Brendan Williams with Neil Muspratt.

The afternoon saw lift under some clouds but not under others ... there were however many unexpected patches of good lift in the blue to compensate for that! It was also pleasing to see up to three gliders sharing the same thermal on several occasions.

Mid afternoon view to the west from above the runway intersection

After a run of uncharacteristically short flights in GLM (since she returned to the air recently ... after refurbishment of the cockpit and seating and her annual inspection), Speedy was keen to arrest that unfamiliar trend today. It wasn't looking good after his first three flights scored only 16 mins, 29 mins and 23 mins. He and friend Danny Vandermalle were doubting whether it was worth taking the old girl up again and were eventually so pleased that they did. The result was a 1 hr 27 mins flight from a 3500 feet launch at 1.25 pm. Speedy's three digit gesture in the hangar at the end of the day related to his comment early where he said he was aiming to score a "three figure flight" (as in hours plus minutes) ... he was starting to worry that he may have lost his tail feathers!

Speedy's three digit gesture and drought-breaking smile

The afternoon flights were pleasing all round ... Chris Weir with 2 hrs 19 mins in GJY (longest flight of the day in a club aircraft and longest aero-tow flight of the day) and Bert Persson with 3hrs 20 mins in his self-launched Atlas (longest flight of the day). After seeing Bert launch, Barry had commented to me that it was a good sign of things to come and suggested that I should also get my Atlas out ... I followed Bert back in with a 2 hrs 7 mins flight. Garrett Russell also scored a 20 min flight in GYK from 2500 feet (last flight of the day to return GYK to the tie-down area).

Back in the hangar Garrett and I seriously struggled to get the total flight times for the respective Club gliders to balance with they Day Total from the Flight Sheet and were very relieved when Neil Muspratt agreed to be seconded to help us out and found the "missing" 10 minutes!

A pensive Neil Muspratt checks the glider log books arithmetic

All up, another great club day (many thanks to Barry McCarthy for unselfishly making sure that we all got to fly and John Ashford for providing excellent tows all day).

It has been an excellent week of flying (14 aero-tow launches on Friday, 8 yesterday and 10 today = 32 flights ... plus three new members ... that's enough to make any Treasurer smile!

Kevin Rodda

DUTY PILOT