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From: John Nestor
Date: Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 9:19 PM
Subject: First Friday Flying since Easter
To: cgcmemlist@vicnet.net.au
On 29th May Garrett Russell asked a very pertinent question:-
Who will be first to launch behind our much anticipated standby Pawnee?
Don't all rush forward at once!
Of course then it was assumed that Friday Flying would resume on 31st May;
but no, Friday Flying did not resume until Friday 7th June and we now have
the answer to Garrett's question - It was me, John Nestor
When I arrived at quarter to eight I thought that I was the only one there,
but an investigation into the Tug hangar revealed John Knox (accompanied by
his faithful four legged [male] friend Pat) standing beside a shiny looking
Pawnee carrying the inscription "Australian Air Cadets". After the usual
greeting we pulled the Pawnee out of the hangar and I went in search of
other members, soon locating Barry McCarthy, Bob Hainsworth, Charles Hoch
and Ken Mitchell unwrapping gliders and preparing the piecart. Ken Mitchell
and John Nestor DI'd GYK under Barry's watchful eye while Charles and Bob
dealt with CQC.
With the windsocks wrapping themselves round their poles and the GA people
using runway 12 we made the long trek out there and Barry McCarthy and John
Nestor made the first flight at 10:13, followed by Charles Hoch and Bob
Hainsworth, Barry McCarthy and Ken Mitchell, Bob Hainsworth and Charles Hoch
then Karl Bodi who had thought that he was not going to fly the tug today.
After lunch there was a long pause caused by doubt about whether the fuel
bowser would let us have any fuel, this was eventually resolved in our
favour; in fact doubly in our favour, as the tug was topped up at no charge
to recompense us for the long wait, after which Ken Mitchell flew solo.
Then Steve Bowtell arrived to take over tuggie duties from John Knox, along
with Nathan Bowtell. Lindsay Mitchell was "just passing" and dropped in to
see whether the Friday Fliers could still remember where the airfield was.
Steve persuaded Karl to convert to the "new" Pawnee so that he could fly
with Nathan. The afternoon finished with 2 short flights by Barry and John,
a simulated rope break and a hangar landing.
Altogether a fine day's flying, much better than the early weather would
have indicated. Signs of lift were indicated by the buzzards circling but
only up to a couple of hundred feet. Flight of the day was Bob Hainsworth
and Charles Hoch in CQC who managed a very creditable 1 hour and 5 minutes.
GYK was launched 8 times for a total of 1 hour and 33 minutes while CQC was
launched only 3 times but stayed in the air for longer at 1 hour and 42
minutes. The star of the day was Barry who made 6 flights despite suffering
from Chinese Flu.
My apologies for the lack of photographs, my partner and chief photographer
was not with us today.
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