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Southerly
Saturday
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11-Aug-12
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With a
rather brisk and cold wind prevailing from the south (and
varying to south-south-west) we set up for operations on
Runway 24 this morning with the first launch at 10:49 am.
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The Duty
Crew of John Ashford (Duty Instructor), Tony Esler (Tug
Pilot), Garrett Russell (Instructor) and me (Air
Experience Instructor / Duty Pilot) were joined by
recently recruited new member Andrew Cowley, trainee pilot
Hide Ogawa, Boonah Gliding Club visitor (Gary Chaplin) and
Karl Bodi who was, as usual, keen to assist in any way he
could and to fly whatever he could.
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A
Texan doing touch-and-go crosswind practice into 24.
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Andrew
Cowley ready to roll in CGC ... with Garrett Russell in
the rear seat.
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Tony
Esler and Gary Chaplin "enjoying" the brisk
southerly winter breeze. Gary had called in to do a check
flight before doing his AEI duties at Boonah tomorrow.
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Andrew
Cowley with John Ashford ... seen here during
"pre-flight" checking of the IS-30.
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Garrett
Russell - circuit planning with trainee pilot Hide Ogawa.
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Karl
Bodi with another "veed" sandwich ... check out
the brand on his water bottle!
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All up there were 9 launches (4 in GQA and 5 in CQC) for a
total of 4:41 of flying for the day.
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I had encouraged YCAB-based power pilot
Peter Pretorius to take his first flight in a glider ...
we returned with the longest flight of the day at 51
minutes (heaps of fun including a short period of
spectacular straight line climbing in wave - from 3,500ft
at the step near the Big Fish to 4,500ft heading out
towards Mt Beerwah). Peter was, without a doubt, the most
enthusiastic and appreciative glider passenger that I have
ever flown with. What a blast ... Peter's enthusiasm for
life is extremely infectious!
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Peter
Pretorius in CQC with Kevin Rodda (rear seat). Peter's
all-flight-long ear-to-ear smile had disappeared
momentarily as he concentrated on taking this photo back
over his shoulder ... he was totally enthused with every
aspect and detail of the flight!
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Later in the
day we were joined at the 24 flight line by Bernard
"Speedy" Gonsalves with his ASK-14 motor glider
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Speedy
with his delightful ASK-14.
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We then had
a visit from Dustin Forke, a Silver C glider pilot from
the Mt Beauty club who now resides in Brisbane and hasn't
flown for a while. Dustin signed up as a 9-day GFA member
... however after one flight with John Ashford, changed
that to a 12 month membership and became CGC's latest new
member! Dustin is planning to be at YCAB for more flying
tomorrow.
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Welcome
to our newest member ... Dustin Forke.
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The last
landing was at 3:33 ... but not before Karl Bodi (with
Catriona) and John Ashford (with Natasha) had utilised
members of Andrew's family as "ballast" in QA
and CQC respectively. I tried without success to encourage
Keziah to do likewise ... hopefully she will overcome her hesitance
and take up the offer on another day.
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Andrew's
mum Catriona and his sisters Keziah and Natasha with Karl
Bodi.
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Karl had during the afternoon jumped
eagerly into SPA to provide an early mark for Tony Esler.
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As
we finalised the day's operations and "closed up
shop" back at the hangar, John commented to Garrett
and me on what a great day we had had. We both readily
agreed and can only wish the same for all those who head
to the airfield tomorrow.
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Aim high and
stay safe,
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Kevin
Rodda
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Air
Experience Instructor
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and
filling in as Duty Pilot
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