The Auckland Gliding Club Weekly

Transcription

1 The Auckland Gliding Club Weekly Saturday 11 February Sunday 12 February Volunteers for this weekend February 2017 Instructor Duty Pilot Winch Driver Tow Pilots Wayne Thomas Doug Henry Grahame Bradley Greer Graham Matt Findlay Player Cochrane Norm Duke Seamus Breen Dan Mathers Paul Knight Coming Events 4 March 12 March Vintage Kiwi, Taumarunui TBA Paul Neave Congratulations, Matt Last weekend Matt converted to the Single Astir, and completed his first flight in a single-seater Well done, Matt!

2 A Good Day Out (Ross) As we entered the last days of 2016 the weather at last combined with a holiday period. I got a few texts the day earlier - from those who understand RASP better than I - that Friday 30th Dec was looking pretty good. I also sent out a bulk text indicating we will have a launch facility ready for those who want to have a go. We managed to amass a good group, with a range of experiences wanting to do some XC flying in good weather. The first launch was Maurie (as usual) who maintains he needs a head start. I m not so convinced; he is a legend and he tiptoed between clouds after slowly climbing up from about 10.30am. I launched at around 11.15am. My task for the day was to attempt an FAI 500km which goes from Drury to Pio Pio (20km west of Te Kuiti) and across to Galatea (60km NW of Taupo). This route still looked ok at this stage, so I headed to Mercer and southwards. Cloud base was low, at 3500, but it was still early and the climbs were reliable which provided some comfort. At Huntly I called Ch- Ch control and gained a clearance to 5500 towards Pirongia and then to Te-Kuiti. Taking a bit of time to sound reasonably brief and professional must have helped as the controller was more than helpful and even seemed cheerful.

3 Actually I could have avoided the controlled area as further west was working ok but with only 3500 it s nice to have lots of land out options along the main roads southwards. I crossed the western face of Mt Pirongia by 500 feet or so and the track was clearly defined towards Pio Pio. Cloud base was still only 4000 but there was plenty of sunshine, no high cloud and the sea breeze was still an hour or more away. I probably spent too much time staying near to cloud base but getting caught in sea breeze way down there would not be fun. I clipped the turn-point at 1.30pm and headed East cutting a track direct towards Pureora. This is a well-known turnpoint when flying from Taupo. This range of hills sits along the western road NW of Lake Taupo and often provides a reliable lift source with converging air from the lake and the western air mass. At about 50km from my last turn-point I listened for pilots from Taupo but there didn t seem to be much happening and towards Galatea looked less inviting than the way south. About here my Flarm spat out a warning and shortly later Dave Jensen passed only 200mtrs or so away heading toward Taumarunui. It was helpful not to feel so lonely this far from home. I carried on towards Mt. Titiraupunga but at about 2.15pm I started to question my timing and the conditions further east. With a massive convergence cloud heading down the southern ridgeline I canned my task and followed the strong lift towards the Kuratau Junction turnpoint. This I regret now, as I really would have progressed at least a fair way east without too much drama hindsight! Anyway I stopped about 20km NW of Turangi and this was the first time I got concerned. I dropped out of the lifting black clouds and needed to search further inland and into some boony countryside felt pretty

4 low with the land under being about 3000 maybe my state of mind had changed but I was extremely glad to find a way up into the cloud again. This climb took me to 6500 which was great. Steering clear of the lake and now off task and meandering home I decided the way north looked better towards Benneydale. The landscape below may seem daunting as these areas are hilly, with large areas of forest and undeveloped farms. However most farms down that way have an airstrip, or maybe even a very large flat paddock for hay or supplements. This is not so common further north where the valuable land is often subdivided for careful stock management purposes. Anyway I flew a very random track eventually deciding to head NE from Benneydale towards Wharepapa South and onwards to Maungatautari Mt. These areas are well known if competing out of Matamata as they provide both a lift source and a big airstrip at Wharepapa. I called ATC and again got a clearance from a helpful controller. I think it s really helpful that I have a Mode S (Trig) Transponder as they seem to recognise me immediately and have never needed to ask for a code, which I find distracting. I headed over Cambridge, which was pumping, and skirted the Hamilton Control Area passing west of Morrinsville and through controlled airspace until leaving it to pass into the Waerenga Valley very much Drury stomping grounds. Apart from choosing to pass the Bombay hills a bit low at 1600 the way home was great and I landed at about 5pm. Six hours of fun gave me 464Km (OLC). It was a good day for other AGC pilots as well Dion Manktelow, Campbell McIver, Mat Findlay & Simon Gault all did about 250km flights. As for Maurie Honey he did 340 OLC km in his PW5 and gained 506 points beating my flight and even some big flights out of Omarama. It s a bit like fishing or surfing the good days don t come often enough but when they do it makes it all worth it. Dynamic Turbo Tug Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from Rae and Bruce Drake, who demonstrated the Dynamic Turbo Tug. They ve been calling in at several venues in the North Island, spending several days assisting with launches at the Club Class Nationals event at Matamata. A number of pilots experienced tows behind the Dynamic, including AK and DX, so the little 115 horsepower engine showed it is capable of launching a heavy glider with 2 occupants on a hot day with light winds pretty impressive.

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6 Clubhouse rearrangement It has been pointed out by Simon Gault that our clubhouse has been a confusion of the social and technical aspects of our sport; Simon suggested (and the committee agrees) that the bar would be more welcoming if the business functions were relocated to the training room, and the bar became a dedicated social facility.

7 Amongst other things, this means the notice boards in the bar will be stripped of airfield charts, notices, and for sale advertisements, and become a repository for photographs of our flying and social activities. There will be some new boards in the training room for the training and operations side of our activities, more supportive of its function as a briefing and training venue. Last weekend, Rae Drake worked with Marion to plan out the movement of furniture, and then the physical relocation was carried out by a group including Lois Kok, Keith Annabell, Rae Kerr, Adam Cumberlege and more a real team effort.

8 (Notice the computer has been moved out of our social room to the training room) A new cover for AK Marion reports that she was advised by Rae Kerr that both the dust cover, and the winter cover for AK were missing. Marion is looking for feedback from members for the cover design. You ll see (below) that Marion, assisted by Roger Didsbury, has commenced work on the two new covers if you have experience or ideas on the best details to make a longlasting, workable cover that gives maximum protection, Marion will listen to your ideas.

9 Congratulations, Lois! You ll remember that Lois Kok completed his first solo last week, too late in the day(!) for a decent photo. Lois was back flying again over the weekend, and after a check circuit, completed 3 x solo circuits in AK. Great to see how he s progressing Lois has only been in the club since late last year, and is making excellent progress

10 Club equipment Dave McIver reports that one of the older parachutes has been sitting in the caravan for a week or so He writes Once again, I m finding myself having to ask members who use parachute gear to PUT IT AWAY AFTERWARDS! It s your club everyone: treat the gear as you would like your own gear to be treated. Consider other people who might want to use it after you and can t find it. On that theme, I m going to wonder out loud: What happened to the dust cover, and winter covers for AK? Sure, we have a willing volunteer who can make us some replacements but what happened to the ones we already had? Last Saturday, as I was putting AK to bed after an afternoon of instructing, I found that it was fitted with only 1 battery. Sunday morning, when I went to install both batteries, I discovered why: there is a broken anchor nut attachment on one of the battery boxes, so the LH battery cannot be restrained. How come this wasn t listed on the notice board in the hangar, so it could be repaired? Of course, equipment is subject to fair wear and tear, we accept that, and we have a maintenance contract in place with Sailplane Services so that unserviceable items can be fixed promptly, so that our gliders are available for your use. Unfortunately, Ross has proven to be a useless psychic, so we ve developed a system to make sure he is advised of defects, so they can be fixed. If you don t use the system, guess what? Let s all work on our social conscience, so that we take care of our communal stuff, and leave it as we found it, or at least, if it s not as we found it, then tell Mr Fixit so it will be back for our flying pleasure with the minimum of delay. We re a club, remember, and we all depend on each other (ultimately, for the preservation of our safety broken equipment in an aircraft can lead to bad things happening!). Let s all work together to develop a stronger culture around this sort of thing it is unthinkable in our club that any pilot landing out will be left in the paddock, there are always club members who will ensure a safe return to base. Let s adopt the same attitude to taking care of our gear, so that we can count on each other to do the right thing, and our stuff is always returned to base ready for the next club member to enjoy