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Low
Lift Saturday |
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11-Jul-15
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From: nicholas sheahon
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2015 13:31:18 +1000
Subject: Low Lift Saturday
To: cgcmem@mailmanlist.net.au
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"Indie
Girl" ... ask Nick about the story behind the
name!
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All members and crew for Saturday had been told to wait on advice from Kevin Rodda before heading to the field this morning in anticipation on the impending cold snap and poor weather for South East Queensland. However, myself and my cocker spaniel, Indie, took the punt and headed straight to YCAB prior to the texts and emails from Kevin indicating that there was (some) blue sky and a number of powered aircraft already making use of Runway 30.
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L-13
Blanik GYK makes her way to RWY30
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The one air experience flight planned had been postponed looking for a better day, but Bailey Seymour was at the field bright and early and he and Kevin had GYK DI'ed and at the flight line on Runway 30 just prior to 10am. Speedy had also arrived and was looking at flying the Kookaburra and had it at the flight line by about noon.
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By that time, Tony Sorensen and Bailey had completed two short flights (both under 20 minutes), reacquainting Bailey with our Blanik and non-powered flight. These flights were witnessed by Alan Robertson, a glider pilot from New Zealand who had stopped by to check out our operations while in Australia. Having never seen a Blanik before and having done all of his gliding from winch launches, he could not resist taking the opportunity to take a flight with Tony and experiencing an aerotow to 3000 behind SPA.
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AEF
passenger lan Robertson with Tony Sorensen in GYK
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Kevin also took a phone call from Michael Erbacher and Judith Richards who had arrived at YCAB and just decided to try something a bit different today. Kevin and Judith took (equal) flight of the day at 29 minutes from their 3500 launch and Tony took Michael for 21 minutes from a similar launch. Not bad considering a lack of lift.
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AEF
passenger Jude Richards with Kevin Rodda in GYK.
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Speedy took friend / workmate Colin Dattinger in the Kookaburra for the other (equal) flight of the day and then he and Kevin very generously offered a flight to my wife Kylie who had arrived at the field mid morning. Kylie (and I) were very thankful of this offer and while Kylie does not do a lot of flying, she certainly appreciated the significance of a flight in such a beautiful aircraft.
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Bernie
Gonsalves with Kylie Sheahon in Kookaburra GLM
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From there, the mission was back on to get young Bailey back to solo status in the Blanik. After another very short flight from a 1500 foot launch and a perfect landing with Tony in the back, Bailey secured the
empty harness in the back seat and took GYK into a clearing sky on his own. Well done Bailey and welcome back to our flight line. Thanks also to Bailey's air cadet friend Chris who came along to watch Bailey and assisted around the pie cart a lot during the day.
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Bailey
Seymour being "sent solo" by Tony Sorensen
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The hanger flight to return GYK nearer the tie down area was taken by Speedy and Kevin and they returned 'just' short of the hour at 22 minutes. They thought they were a little closer than that.
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All in all, ten flights on a day we did not think we would even get to fly at all was a good result.
The stats were as follows:
GYK 8 flights for 2 hours and 27 minutes
GLM 2 flights for 42 minutes
Thanks must go to Steve Chapman for towing us aloft in SPA all day. And thanks also to Steve Bowtell, Tony Sorensen, Speedy and Complete Aircraft Care for completing SPA's 100 hour service and getting her ready for flying today. I can also report that the new paint job on the pie cart not only looks great, but I think it has added at least 3 knots to its airspeed on the way down to the threshold.
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Steve
Chapman in Pawnee tug SPA
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Till
next time, safe flying, have fun at the flight line and happy
landings
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Nick
Sheahon
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DUTY
PILOT
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