The club’s March flying drought has broken!

13 days into the month – and more than that since the last club flights – today’s crew managed to squeeze 9 glider launches and 10 glider landings* in between scudding showers, squalling winds and grass runways that still felt more like a swamp than an airfield.

Fortunately the tightly packed isobars were mostly aligned to Runway 12 because others, especially 06 Left, were impossible even for helicopters. Peter Stephenson led us out there in his new and now mud-spattered Mini, where we stayed from before 1000 till just after 1530.

David Higgs, Steve Chapman and Rod Elsworth and I were also on duty, wondering what we were doing through the wettest DI session in living memory. It took almost an hour to prepare just one Blanik while avoiding a series of drenching showers.

One Blanik was all the conditions warranted because the only paying customers at the hangar this morning were two ab initio students:

Air Cadets Michael Somerfield and Campbell Noakes who had both joined the club some weeks ago but had so far been washed out of any flight training.

Their first lesson was how to get soaking wet walking a glider out to the flight line!

But the radar showed the showers to be isolated so we gritted our teeth and carried on to a day that delivered all but one of Kevin Roden’s Illustrated Atmospheric Conditions. Everton Hills’ 8/8 blue sky was the only one we missed out on.

Flights were short, take offs and landings were challenging and the upper air was surprisingly smooth all day.

Our Air Cadets got three flights each with Peter and David.

Rod Elsworth got current again with his first flight since mid December.

Mike McLuskey arrived with family from England and discovered why a blustery day is not a good time to introduce a nervous female relative to gliding.

And David and I logged the day’s shortest time in a hangar flight which was abbreviated by the sight of more rain scudding in fast from Bribie.

The total for 9 flights in GYK was 1:31. *And what about those 9 glider take offs and 10 landings?

Kevin Rodda took off with his brother in law in Motor Glider FQZ and landed in Glider FQZ. He also took some photos of our new young blood trainee members, which will probably be on the club website before you can say atmospheric conditions.

I hope the weather holds up for tomorrow’s crew.

Garrett Russell
(with thanks to Campbell and Michael’s dads for pitching in to help clean the tug)

Has "BP Pick-a-Box" quiz-king turned federal politician Barry Jones joined the Caboolture Gliding Club?    

No ... it was just Steve Chapman (Tug Pilot) imitating Air Experience Instructor Garret Russell and his trade-mark "light black" facial hair look ... Blues Brothers eat your heart out!     

New CGC member Michael Somerfield (with his Dad who has gliding experience from WA). 

Almost ready to launch Michael's very first "traditional" glider flight ... he has however had a prior flight "on the dark side" ... in motor glider at Amberley.

Michael with David Higgs (Instructor) in the rear seat. Michael's cap looks like it could have been a creation from the Bushy Bill collection. 

Rod Elsworth looked a somewhat forlorn figure in the pie-cart ... possibly contemplating what a Duty Pilot could do to make himself look busy when entrusted by the Club to organise a flight-line fleet that today consisted of one Blanik.  

Peter (Duty Instructor) with another new CGC member Campbell Noakes.