With two Air Experience Flights booked in and a
blue sky, there was little doubt that we would
be flying regardless of the extreme heat
predicted.
I was joined at the airfield by Jason
Humrich who was keen to continue his
training from the previous day. As such it was
Duty Instructor Dave Donald and Jason that took
the first flight in GYK from Runway 06,
towed into the blue sky by Tony Esler a few
minutes after 10am. As the first passenger
had just arrived to see this launch, and
Jason was really looking for circuit and
landing practise, they were back in only 9
minutes from a launch of only 1500 feet.
From
there Neil Muspratt took over control of
GYK, firstly taking 16 year old Thomas O'Doherty
on his first light aircraft flight. Following
this was Justin Hockey, also for his first
flight in anything smaller than a Dash 8. These
flights were 25 mins and 47 mins from their
respective launch heights of 3500 and 4500.
Speedy
Gonsalves and Kevin Rodda wheeled out their
respective self launchers and departed the
airfield around noon, but for the rest of
us, that was enough.
Saturday may
well have been the hottest day I have ever
experienced at Caboolture and GYK had no one
else lining up to fly in the very uncomfortable
conditions.
As
such we packed and were heading home by
about 1:30pm. Kevin (who had departed a bit
after Speedy) had returned by this stage after a
32 minute flight ... however, Speedy had managed
to get away to the west and recorded a flight of
1 hour 50 minutes including a climb to 7500 feet
at one stage.
Stats for the day were as follows:
GYK 3 flights for 1 hour and 21 minutes
As noted above, Saturday was a timely reminder
of the intense heat that the Queensland climate
can produce. By the time we had packed up, I had
nearly gone through my normal water ration for
an entire day and I made a stop on the way home
for a nice cold drink from the IGA.
Dave
Donald made particular note around the pie cart
that the article on our website by Ken Wishaw is
one of the best he has read regarding this issue
so if you have not had a look at this, please do
so and always keep up your fluids while at the
airfield. Inform or remind any visitors and
guests you invite to the airfield of this
issue also.
http://www.glidingcaboolture.org.au/Dehydration.html
Til next time,
Happy Landings
