The duty pilot got the club glider flight of the
day.
The duty pilot got the club glider flight of the
day?
Yes, that’s what can happen when the rain
clears to a great flying day and hardly anyone
but the duty crew turns up to enjoy it.
Nick Sheahon logged 53 minutes of thermalling
GYK around a beautiful sky with Speedy in his
GYP (the absolute flight of the day), only just
beating Lindsay Mitchell and Eric Dickeson who
sailed CQC around a different part of the sky
for 50 minutes. Those were the outstanding
flights of a stand out day for the small crew at
the flight line.
The day started so quietly that Lindsay turned
the 50-hourly inspection of the Blanik into a DI
tutorial for an attentive student group of one.
Meanwhile I DI’d the IS-28 with the able
assistance of Eric, making a welcome return to
flying after an absence involving overseas
travel and a new house. And that, with tuggie
Tony Esler, was the full list of pilots for the
morning. It was a good thing duty pilot Nick
brought his gorgeous girls Kylie and Indie for a
day out in the sun, otherwise the Pie Cart would
have been totally deserted by the first two
flights.
There were so few of us that when Nick and I
followed Lindsay and Eric into the sky, I felt
compelled to give them the radio message that
they would not have a retrieve crew available
when they landed. This of course was also heard
by Tony Esler, who quite rightly took it as an
unwarranted slur on the competence of all tug
pilots. After all, by the time the first glider
landed, would he not be back on the ground and
available to multi-task as retrieve driver?
And so it was that Lindsay and Eric returned 50
minutes later to find a retrieve car and crew
ready for them.
“This will show Garrett what a competent
retrieve looks like,” Tony boasted as he
efficiently pulled out the retrieve rope.
“OK, I’ll tell him,” said Lindsay. “Did
you bring the tail dolly?”
I rest my case …
And that would have been it for the day, but for
two young arrivals in the afternoon. I took
walk-in AEF customer and future very keen pilot
Bryce Moss for a flight in place of AEI Lindsay,
who had to leave early to prepare for Sunday’s
Gliding Queensland AGM.
And Jonathan Manifold arrived (not so much late
for Saturday flying as very early for Sunday
flying) with just enough daylight for a
thermalling check flight and a low level rope
break from RWY24 which brought us neatly back to
the tie downs at 16:14.
Total flying for the day:
GYK 4 flights 1:35
CQC 2 flights 1:14
Sunday looks even better and a full crew is
rostered - so don’t waste another day of great
autumn flying!
