Yes, you read the subject heading correctly.
Today’s flight sheet contains just
Coincidentally that was also the size of the duty
crew when a medical emergency forced duty pilot
Dan Kershaw to bail early, reducing an already
small rostered crew to Tor McCaul in the tug and
me in the back of the 28.
Yet despite that it was a busy and productive
day for the club.
Lindsay and Speedy were all smiles at the
unheard of space and easy access they’ll have
for GYK’s annual airworthiness inspection,
thanks to the generosity of CAC in renting us a
corner of their spare hangar for the next few
weeks.
Lindsay and Speedy were also happy to have
plenty of hands to help de-rig the Blanik,
thanks to the presence of Arthur Mailey, Shane
Tuck and Bob Hainsworth on the airfield. These
members weren’t out to fly, but to continue
their efforts on the new Pie Cart, which is
looking more luxuriantly habitable with every
work session.
So what about the two flights?
Kevin Rodda volunteered on very short notice to
come out so we could safely fly with a minimum
ground crew. And fly we would, because I had a
family/friend flight booked which had already
been postponed more than once.
So out we trooped to RWY30 for what had all the
makings of a one flight day. But one flight
worth the effort, because after half an hour of
working hard to find blue lift, I came back with
a passenger talking enthusiastically about the
possibility of becoming a pilot.
Was it my friend’s enthusiasm? Was it the
sniff of a bit of competition? Whatever it was,
Kevin made a last minute decision to turn it
into a two flight day with the avowed intention
of beating my 3,000’ 33 minute flight. And he
had the advantage of flying solo once Rupert
Perry declined to join him in favour of flying
the Drifter.
But solo or not, this Saturday was far from the
same as Sunday a week ago, when Kevin scored his
epic and previously reported
five
hour KA6
flight.
Today he
came back down almost four and three
quarter hours short of that magic mark, after 15
minutes of battling a stiffening sea breeze.
> Say
no more Sunday
So a total of 48 minutes flying which added up
to a good day for the club anyway.
And if you’re wondering about the gliding
marker mentioned in yesterday’s Friday report,
this is what to look for on your next approach
to RWY06:
It’s deep in the undershoot on grass left, and
the main reason for uncovering it is as a safety
marker for a landing hazard on that part of the
runway. If you’re planning to land short, use
the marker as your aiming point and you won’t
drop a wheel into the deep ruts immediately
upwind of it:
Safe flying - and here’s to many more than two
flights for Sunday!
