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AEF
Saturday
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20-Oct-12
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From: Garrett
Russell
Date:
Sat, Oct 20, 2012
Subject:
AEF Saturday @ YCAB
To:
members@glidingcaboolture.org.au
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I
hope my emails about the Older & Bolder passengers did
not scare off our pre-solo members from flying today,
because their six AEFs were the only club glider flights
today, amounting to 3 hours 31 minutes in CQC and GQA.
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The
Blanik stayed under wraps for what may be our first day ever
of all passenger flights. All flights were taken by just
three members – rostered AEI Karl Bodi and volunteers
Kevin Rodda and Mike McCluskey. The success of all six
flights can be summed up in a single picture:
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And
that smile is from a sub-20 minute flight!
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In
complete contradiction to accepted wisdom, the late morning
flights were all totally devoid of lift and the early
afternoon flights were so full of lift that the pilots had
to be called down after an hour. [Mike
McCluskey/passenger in GQA 1:05 and Kevin Rodda/passenger in
CQC 1:08]
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And
that was AFTER the sea breeze kicked in!
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Unfortunately
it was also AFTER the rest of the crew on the ground had
packed up in anticipation of the usual early coastal close
to the day’s flying ...
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However
it was still a day packed with action, starting at the tie
downs in the early morning:
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CQC’s
communications problems attracted the attention of our new
CFI and resident radio guru [John
Ashford]:
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And
his activity soon attracted the care and attention of our
Duty Pilot and newest Maintenance Magician
[David
Guzzwell]:
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No
prizes for recognising these airfield bums.
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And
the rest of us weren’t idle either:
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David
Higgs and Mick Moloney led the AEI team in washing and
vacuuming the gliders in preparation for our passengers:
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Meanwhile,
in a hangar not far away, another member was pondering
whether he could fly his motor glider with a really bad
defect his DI exposed:
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By
Speedy’s standards that’s a Major on his beautiful K-14:
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But
he eventually did fly it anyway – for just over three
hours in company with Bert’s Atlas in that afternoon lift
the rest of us double guessed ourselves into missing.
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John
Ashford also self-launched his Atlas, but was beaten by a
carburettor problem into an early return. Better luck next
time, Scrubby!
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And
finally, David Higgs discovered a new definition of
“towing” after the tug and glider ended up more than a
rope length apart on RWY30:
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Thanks
to all the volunteers and the rest of the crew – tuggie
Tony Esler and duty pilot David Guzzwell – for turning
such a hot and blustery day into such a triumph of club
camaraderie and teamwork which impressed every one of our
passengers.
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Garrett
Russell
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