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Bigger,
older and bolder Saturday |
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19-Oct-13 |
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Older
& Bolder is an annual activity program presented
by the Moreton Bay Regional Council for residents and ratepayers aged 50 years and over. It is held in
October / November each year and gives individuals an
opportunity to stay active and healthy and experience
and enjoy passive, adventurous and cultural
activities.
http://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/olderbolder/
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Photos
and captions courtesy of Nick Sheahon. |
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--------------------
From: nicholas
sheahon
Date: Sun, Oct 20, 2013 at 12:06 AM
Subject: Bigger, Older n Bolder Saturday
To: "cgcmemlist@vicnet.net.au
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IS-28 CQC from IS-30 GQA ... sharing a thermal over
Caboolture Hospital.
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With
eight Older and Bolder guests booked in and perfectly
clear skies, it was no surprise that the duty crew
arrived bright and early and wasted no time preparing
for what promised to be a big day for our club. The
IS-28, Blanik GYK, Pie Cart and SPA were all at the
ready and taken down to the 12 threshold in
anticipation of the arrival of the first guests.
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Steve
Chapman doing the paperwork in Pawnee Tug SPA.
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Duty
instructor Dave Donald and Florian Poff, however,
managed to sneak in the first flight of the day. As
Florian is really working on circuits and landings,
this was the first of a few (that's right, 3) flights
for him of exactly 9 minutes from 1500' launches. From
there, GYK was shared between Florian and Chris Hansen
for member training flights throughout the day.
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Richard
Lakeland gives a wave before departing in IS-28 CQC
(with Neil Muspratt n the rear seat).
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Meanwhile,
Mark Thompson, Neil Muspratt and Mike McCluskey began
showing some senior members of the community the joy
and exhilaration of our sport. First away was
Bernard Winter followed by Michael Wood, both in CQC
with AEI's Neil and then Mark respectively. Shortly
after this, David Higgs and Mick Moloney arrived and
brought the IS-30 to the flight line to keep things
moving along at a fever pace. Richard Lakeland was
next away with Neil in CQC, while Mike McCluskey took
Mariann Matthias in QA. Of course not before she
(and everyone else at the pie cart) sampled one of the
cup cakes that Mike brought to the party (although I
believe I heard him telling his better half that the
cup cakes were a hit and as such I'm not sure he baked
them himself).
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Richard
Lakeland and Neil Muspratt return in IS-28 CQC.
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David
Higgs got into the Older and Bolder action taking
Heather Adercrombie in CQC and Mike backed up in QA
with the flight of the day (46 minutes) with a very
happy Lia Saint-Smith. The penultimate flight for the
adventurous seniors was performed by Mark Thompson who
took Joyce Beecher flying in CQC. Joyce enjoyed her
flight so much I think she nearly missed the Magna
taxi to take her back to the car park and I think she
would love to return for further flights in the
future. Finally Neil took ex glider pilot Raymond
Robson in the IS-28, but not before Raymond showed the
pie cart crew some photos of his gliding days in
Kookaburras and even his glider pilots certificate
book etc. Raymond also thoroughly enjoyed his flight
and stayed around a while longer swapping flying
stories with our members.
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Florian Poff about to launch Heather Adercrombie
and David Higgs in IS-28 CQC.
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With
the passenger flights complete for the day, the pace
relaxed a little and Chris and Dave had a final
training flight for Chris in GYK before they had to
depart the field. Mick Moloney then took over from
Dave taking Florian for a couple of final training
flights. The IS-28 and IS-30 were both hanger flown
solo style by David Higgs and Mike McCluskey
respectively. Mike had a pleasant 20 minute flight
while David decided to get the job done as quickly as
possible with only 4 minutes. Still a lot easier and
quicker than towing it back.
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Mariann Matthias and Lia Saint-Smith enjoy a
cupcake while Nick Sheahon completes the
paperwork.
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A massive thank you
must go to all of our members who helped launch,
retrieve and look after our Older and Bolder guests
throughout the day. We did a total of 18 flights which
I think maybe the largest number of flights that I
have seen in a day and without a doubt the most on a
day where I was duty pilot. Certainly a big thanks in
particular to Alex Horvath, who did not fly today, but
worked tirelessly as assistant Duty Pilot launching
and retrieving countless gliders. Also, we must not
forget our illustrious tug pilot for the day Steve
Chapman. 18 flights for the day and he would have been
the only person involved in every one. He also left
the field with a big smile having totally enjoyed his
day in the newly returned to service SPA.
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Lia Saint-Smith in IS-28 CQC ... before she has
even launched!
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Something
I learnt a few years ago, when I earned passenger
carrying privileges in powered aircraft, is the
pleasure one gets from sharing aviation. Today was the
best example of this I have ever seen. The complete
joy, respect and gratitude the older and bolder ladies
and gentlemen showed for their flights with us truly
made the hard work worthwhile. There is no greater
feeling than sharing our great pastime and I for one
will be looking forward to the next Older and Bolder
day, whether I am rostered on or not.
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Joyce Beecher and Mark Thompson ready to roll in IS-28
CGC.
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Statistics
for the day:
GYK 9 flights for 1 hour and 52 minutes
CQC 6 flights for 1 hour and 59 minutes
QA 3 flights for 1 hour and 29
minutes
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Raymond Robson with Neil Muspratt about to enjoy a
flight in IS-28 CQC (while Florian Poff returns L-13
Blanik GYK to the flight line and, further back,
Bernard "Speedy" Gonsalves tows out his K14 motor glider
for a self-launch ).
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Happy
Landings,
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Nick
Sheahon
Duty Pilot
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