The crew at the field on Saturday had some very charming company:

Kreisha Ballantyne-Dickes is the deputy editor of  Australian Pilot magazine and she paid us a visit through the good work of Peter John to see what real flying is all about. 

While Peter showed Kreisha what an IS-28 can do in two flights, they were chased around a perfect sky by Sports Aviation Association vice president David Brown and your fearless correspondent in an RV 9 (again organised by PJ) attempting to get a good spread of photographs. Stand by to see CGC featured in an upcoming issue of the magazine, and possibly even on the cover.

Meanwhile, back at the Pie Cart, duty instructors David Higgs and John Ashford had plenty to keep them busy with three relatively new pre-solo pilots. Brand new member Hide Ogawa lined up for his second day, third flight and an introduction to ground handling skills. Paul Griffin returned to pick up his training after a few months work-related absence. And Steve Wilson rejoined the club after a year or so away from flight training. Welcome back, Paul and Steve.

Mark Yabsley was also out early to take his father Charles on his first glider flight:

The result was a short but intense day of flying which amounted to 11 launches. Five flights in CQC for 1:31, four flights in GQA for 2:08 and a single flight in GRS.

Our three students all got a good taste of thermalling before declaring themselves done for the day and the last two launches evolved into a lift-seeking battle of the red-and-white sailplanes. David Higgs flying GQA solo and your correspondent in GRS mostly solo (there were still one or two ants) found themselves gaggling with Speedy Gonsalves in his K-14 GYP. It must have been a grand sight from the ground, not far south west of the hangars, and was certainly a joy in the air. 

The result of the battle was GQA winning easily on height gain and GRS winning on duration by just one minute – 34 against 33, which also happen to be the best two club launches of the day. But you have to judge those times against Speedy’s three hours (admittedly from a much earlier take off) in company with Bert Persson!

By shortly after 1400 duty pilot Nick Sheahon was packing up the Pie Cart and tuggie Steve Chapman was putting SPA to bed. But the day’s flying was far from over. As we closed the door on Hangar 22, the crew still there was treated to a flypast from the original Caboolture Formation Flying Team:

Thanks to Nick for the photos and keeping the day running so well – and congratulations on your PPL, gained with a test flight from Caboolture last Wednesday!

Garrett Russell
for the Saturday chaps (and guests)