Hi all,
Saturday started out looking like a rather average
day for flying at YCAB with cloud cover building
and light showers blowing through the area. Our
optimism prevailed however and the skies were
looking better by the time the Duty Crew had
prepared for the day and begun setting up.
Duty Instructor, David Higgs, and Tuggie, Tony
Esler, conferred and decided 06 was the runway of
choice given the current and forecast conditions
at the time, while AEI, Kiven Rodda and my very
rusty Duty Pilot self joined an eager and
ambitious John Nestor in unwrapping and inspecting
the Twin Astir and Club Libelle.
Speedy arrived early to display his logo handiwork
to Kiven Rodda and any others before disappearing
back to the hangar for the day to work on painting
the IS30.
Speedy’s
Kookaburra logo handiwork. It was heard said that
the logo was representative of the aircraft owners
with one rather larger and one smaller Kookaburra.
The Libelle’s tail dolly was found flat and,
after disassembly, it was discovered that the
inner tube had most likely been punctured by a
length of tyre bead reinforcing wire found to be
extruded from the tyre itself. Options for
repair were being discussed when Bert Persson
advised that a Blanik tail wheel was identical and
that he had a spare stashed in the container.
John
Nestor examines the Libelle dolly tyre.
By the time repairs had been effected and the
Libelle was ready to be moved, Mark Yabsley had
arrived with friend, Anton Ilchenko and the Blanik
was unwrapped and prepared as well.
All this activity, coupled with a handy dose of
disorganisation from myself, left us launching
rather later than originally hoped and first
flight was our AEF passenger for the day, Judy
Hall, with Kiven Rodda at 11:20. Please note
that the spelling of Kiven’s name is a result of
a story he told about how his New Zealand friends
pronounce the normal spelling of his name. I
have applied his recommended alteration of the
spelling in this report to ensure that they
pronounce it correctly.
AEF
passenger Judy Hall with partner Ty Ward.
Next launch was Mark Yabsley and friend in the
Blanik, but with little lift to be found, they
were back in about 10 minutes.
Finally, John Nestor got his first chance of the
day to achieve his current milestone objective - 1
hour aloft in the Club Libelle at Caboolture.
Launching at 11:53, John missed out on his
hour by 11 minutes but while he was up, a friend
of mine from work took a flight in the Twin with
David Higgs and we may yet have a new member on
the cards.
Kevin decided to take an opportunity in improving
skies to soar in the Blanik and was joined by Bert
in the back seat at the last minute for some
mentoring. An hour and twenty minutes later
they were forced down as Kevin had taken an
unexpected turn “due to Bert’s overly rough
and erratic handling”.
Kevin
recovers from an unexpected bout of queasiness.
It was while Kevin and Bert were up and clearly
enjoying the best conditions of the day that the
day’s biggest achievement was conceived. John
decided to have another go at his hour. Launching
at 13:44 into still improving skies, with cloud
streets forming due to the strengthening wind and
a significant sou’westerly drift, John was seen
to struggle at times, even earning praise from
Bert as he was observed climbing away from what
seemed a certain end to the flight.
The struggle paid off with a very happy John
Nestor touching down 1:11 later as we packed up
the rest of the fleet. Congratulations on
achieving that milestone John!
And all this from a day that started out showing
very little promise.
Statistically:
IKW - 2 for 0:41
GYK - 2 for 1:30
GJY - 2 for 2:00
A most relaxing and rewarding day, thanks to all!
