The Taupo Gliding Club s Newsletter

Transcription

1 The Taupo Gliding Club s Newsletter October - November 2016 Welcome everyone to this Christmas edition of Outlanding. As we can see, summer is trying to break through and we have had some great days for flying. There has been competitions, cross country and mountain training courses, new solo pilots, new tow plane pilots, returning visiting pilots and new members. This edition we have some interesting articles so sit back and enjoy. If anyone has an article or something they would like in the next edition could you have it to me by 25 January As this is the Christmas edition, I would like to wish each and every one of you and your families and Very Merry Christmas and a Safe a Prosperous New Year. Cheers Trace. What s inside? CFI Report Reminders Do s and Don ts ZK-GSS New Flying Rates Article Jerry s Mountain Flying Course Article Cantankerous Sods A Member s View Article GNZ Northern Regionals - Matamata Upcoming Events New Members Achievements Humour

2 CFI Report by CFI Bill Kendall The club has been very busy over the last week with 29 Squadron visiting from Rotorua and the Collage on Monday all in all some good flying for duding aviators and to top it off we have 5 Squadron ATC from Auckland visiting next weekend weather permitting (not looking good). 5 Squadron have 26 cadets who want to fly so we will need all the help we can get. Once again we have had an occurrence with a commercial aircraft; it may not have been one of our pilots but an occurrence out of Centennial Park all the same. So ONCE AGAIN I ask all Taupo Gliding Club pilots to review our Club Flying Rules and Operational Procedures and also study the MBZ/CFZ boundary s and associated procedures. Be familiar with the Q300 track on their RNAV approach into 17 at Taupo. Just remember that these are not the only larger aircraft that use Taupo Airport. Think about your radio procedure; think about what you are going to say, use plain language if necessary, just talk to them and know exactly where you are, don t be afraid to make a correction, just get it right and have your transponder on mode C (Alt). COMMUNICATION IS A WONDERFUL THING. Air Nelson pilots have procedures to follow, when they get a close contact on their TCAS they will abort their approach into Taupo. Think of it as a big bubble around their aircraft and if any aircraft enters that bubble they will get an alert and effect a go around, in other words, take avoiding action. When the Q300 pilot gets an alert or close proximity warning the action becomes more urgent. In the latest occurrence (during the Central Plateau Comps) the Q300 aborted his approach into Taupo and did a downwind landing on runway 35 thus causing a delay in his departure and schedule. In this case the glider pilot saw the Q300 and turned back into Centennial Park so GOOD LOOK OUT was to be commended. Just as a matter of interest the Q300 will have his landing lights on which makes it easier for you to see him, just remember a glider profile is very difficult to see against a cloud back drop. There are now THREE Q300 aircraft coming in per day, morning, midday to 1300hrs and evening so have this in the back of your mind if you are enjoying the days flying with summer now here (I think). Have a read of the Sept/Oct VECTOR, the article on Q300s at Uncontrolled Aerodromes Talking about knowing the area in which you fly it is very important to know the AIR SPACE requirement, for example if you are flying this side of Ohakki the maximum height is 4,500 feet so please check the latest charts. Also in the Sept/Oct VECTOR there is a review on the November 2016 Airspace Changes. LOOK OUT LOOK OUT LOOK OUT

3 I recently attended a Cross Country Course along with Hugh de Lautour in Omarama in the South Island along with 12 other pilots from top to the bottom of the country. This was well worth the trip as there was just so much to learn from experienced cross county pilots and those that have had many years mountain flying. Such beautiful country to fly over, quite daunting with all the big sharp pointy things covered in snow, beautiful but potentially dangerous if you have never done mountain flying before. I was more conservative than Hugh so spent my time testing the water and getting to know the area taking in all I could from the local pilots. When I go back again I will be better prepared, also getting to know the good land out options being very comforting for the new boy. I will leave Hugh to tell his great story. I flew in the Duo with the local CFI and he put me through a vigorous 3.5 hour crash course in flying in the mountains (fantastic). I had a good day on my own doing 4 hours climbing to 9,000 feet in the lower mountain area just getting to know the place. I would strongly recommend doing a cross country course whether in the North or South Islands, these are a great way to kick start and hone your cross country skill (also confidence building). The Taupo Gliding Club requires you to attend a cross country course before flying cross country i.e. greater that 10NM from Centennial Park. We will look at holding our own cross country course in the future. REMEMBER SAFETY FIRST Good flying Some Do s and Don ts by Trace As we get back into the soaring season I thought it would be a good time to highlight some timely reminders and to begin with, it is advisable that we ALL have a re-read of the CLUB RULES. These are our guidelines for a safe and efficient club operation. DO Secure gliders when not in use DO - Hang the tow ropes up at the end of the day so that the weak link is secured to the nail. This ensures that the link is visible and can be checked for any elongation. DO - When attaching the tow rope to the tow plane, ensure the weak link is attached to the tow plane hook. DO Before you fly a glider for the first time even if it has been flying all day check to see if the DI book has been signed and the glider is within its serviceable time frame. DO NOT tow the gliders with a rope that does not have the correct ring set up such as the rings in this photo. DO NOT leave canopies open or unlocked. DO NOT reach in through the small clear view window except to unlock and open the canopy. DO NOT blow straight down the pitot or total energy probe, as this WILL damage the instruments.an incident happened in Matamata when the owner of an ASW28 did blow

4 down the probe. RESULT! airspeed indictor, electric and mechanical varios damaged beyond repair and now have to be replaced. The cost? Thousands of dollars!!!!!!! The above do s and don ts are just an example - reading the club rules will ensure we are all up to date with the club s operations. ASW 28 ZK-GSS Our new edition to the glider family has arrived at Taupo and there has been no shortage of pilots wishing to fly GSS. GSS arrived in town after the previous owner arranged to get the glider to the ferry at Picton and Tom Davies picked it up in Wellington and brought it up to Taupo. Thank you Tom! Once located in her new surroundings, club members gave her a spruce up and she was rigged to fly. Tom Anderson had the privilge of being the first club member to fly GSS and he was very happy wth its performance. Since then other club members have flown her including Brett who entered the Central Plataeu Competition and landed out! The glider is easy to rig, easy to fly and easy to transport so for those of you who wish to fly the ASW 28 you will need the following: Be a QGP Have a minimum of 30 hours PIC flying time Have flown the Twin Astir at least three times, twice of which with an instructor, for experience in the use of a retractable undercarriage, or be type rate on another single seater with a retractable undercarriage. Have read and understood the flight manual. Be current, having flown within the last 30 days. Be briefed by a qualified Instructor Before going cross country, have completed a cross country course or be cross country rated and have demonstrated short field landing. New Flying Rates Great News! At the last committee meeting it was decided to alter the glider flying rates for eligible pilots and for certain gliders. If you are under 18 years of age, and solo, the PW5 s and Twin Astir are 50 cents per minute. For all club members, not in the flying scheme, the Twin Astir is 50 cents per minute. For all club members the Jantar, ASK 21 and ASW 28 remain at $1.00 per minute. Tow rates remains the same at a $1.00 per hundred feet (QNH) plus $ i.e a tow to 3500 will cost $45.00

5 Jerry s Mountain Flying Course by Hugh de Lautour When I saw the ad for Jerry s Course at Omarama, I knew I had to go. I had flown for a few days at Omarama once before, about ten years ago, and absolutely loved it, but it was as a very green QGP and always with a local instructor. This time, with a bit more experience under my belt, it was the week before the South Island Regionals so it made it worthwhile to take my own glider down and get some valuable instruction on mountain flying before entering the competition. Bill Kendall was able to come down for the course as well, so it was a bonus to have him and Mary there, staying at the same motel. The course started on Sunday 6th November, so I took advantage of a no fly day at the Central Plateau Champs on Friday 4th and went as far as Wellington. A morning ferry to Picton had me on the road to Christchurch the next day down a very beautiful bit of coastal road which unfortunately no longer exists, so after another overnight stop with friends near Kaiapoi I made it to Omarama on the 6th in time for an afternoon briefing. The instructional course started in earnest on Monday morning, and the dozen or so pilots from all over the country were privileged to get real quality information from the vastly experienced Gavin Wills. (It is still called Jerry s Course after Jerry O Neill who had been running it for many years the week before the Regionals, but he himself is no longer there.) It was just so valuable to be able to get the benefit of Gavin s experience as a mountain soaring pilot. There is so much that is unique to that type of terrain that it would have been almost impossible - and definitely foolhardy - to fly down there without that type of instruction first. There was a lot of emphasis initially on doing your homework on the landout sites - almost all topdressing strips, as it s not exactly full of nice big flat paddocks down there! Then there was talk of convergences, thermal triggers, sunny slope versus shady slopes, rocky surfaces versus snowy surfaces, wind patterns on ridge tops, turbulence, rotors, waves, blind valleys, Hugo s Elevator and so on until we couldn t absorb any more! That afternoon Gavin set us a Cat s Cradle task which was great - basically just a list of waypoints with the idea of crossing a minimum of any six waypoints in any order while trying to maximise distance - so that we had an opportunity to get orientated with the lie of the land and locate some of the landmarks and landouts we had been told about earlier. There were plenty of thermals that day, so we all had a good fly around, and that night Gavin and Mandy hosted all of us for dinner at their home which was a great get to know you time for the course participants. Tuesday was shaping up to be a wave day, which was great news, as that was really what most of us had gone there for. The morning lecture was appropriate to the conditions, and by lunchtime we all had a vastly better idea of how the wave patterns worked, and how to get into and out of them - including what Gavin called doing the rotor walk! Some of us struggled a bit for a start, but with a little bit of knowledge and a lot of luck, I managed to get into the wave just near Lake Ohau, and quickly climbed to 13,500 which I seemed to recall was the maximum allowed altitude. It wasn t the first time I had been in wave, but it was

6 definitely the best experience, and very satisfying to be able to put the theory into practice to get into it. It was, as Gavin had said it would be, very sharp rough turbulence in the rotor cloud below the wave, but when you get into it, it goes totally smooth in an instant, and there you are going up steadily but seemingly absolutely still. I played around in it for a while and attempted to complete the task, but was having trouble staying under 13,500 so pulled out of it and went back to base. I thought I had done OK, but when I started telling people how I had got on, I got a few laughs because if I had done my homework properly I would have known that the airspace I was in was actually unlimited! The weather briefing the next morning Wednesday the 9th of November, indicated that it could be another wave day, but probably blue wave, which meant that although the wave would be there you couldn t actually see it because there were none of the characteristic lenticular clouds. So again the morning lecture was appropriate, and a task was set which would give us an opportunity to try and find the wave. Again I drew on Gavin s words of wisdom, again I had a good bit of luck, and again I got into the wave. This time I took advantage of the unlimited height available, and managed to stay in the wave all the way up to 18,000 and all the way up to Mount Cook. It was probably the best day I have ever had in a glider - certainly the best on my own. It is hard to describe the feeling of soaring that high and that far just using thin air as your sole means of progress. That day I flew for four hours, climbed from 3000 feet to feet, travelled 400 kilometres, flew over the top of New Zealand s highest peak, landed back where I had started, and all without the use of an engine. If you aspire to anything in gliding, I recommend you keep working towards doing Jerry s Course. Contakerous Sods by David Smith Ever thought of the effects cantankerous sods have in clubs? I was going to go into this but our editor said he wouldn t have it. Not because the term may be inaccurate, or that it is inappropriate, or anything like that. His real fear is that there will be someone, somewhere, sometime who thinks they recognise themselves and take umbrage. His real fear is a frank exchange of views behind a hangar. So instead let s change tack slightly with quick flypast of the CAA rule 100. CAR what rule 100? Precisely the point. It s new and came into effect this year. Rule 100 is about safety management so reading it is not fraught with all that great a risk. Most importantly it concerns each and every one of us although this might not exactly jump out at you with a first reading. CAR 100 is all about raising the bar on operational safety in our day to day practices and procedures in aviation. Its origins can be traced to both the fiscal cost incidents involving light and recreational aircraft impose upon the state as well as the internationally projected image of aviation safety in this country accidents create. Then comes the poor pilot who just wants to go home in one piece after a day s flying.

7 In essence, rule 100 recognises that further advances in technology will not improve safety greatly (bits don t break or fall off any more). Similarly adding extra legislation won t help much. Instead, the drive has now focussed on the 11cm issue, i.e. that bit between the ears. Particularly relevant is that rule 100 asks us to take a critical look at our operational culture [that s kulcha for Trace!].i.e. the way we do things around here. And that s where every one of us comes into the process through examining the story we are telling ourselves. Much of it distils to a reappraisal or fine tuning of the procedures and practices we already have in place. No longer can we expect to leave the full responsibility for all that safety stuff to long suffering CFI s. Active contribution from all of us is solicited. No surprises there, after all, no CFI can be everywhere during flying days but club members generally are. Now comes the hard bit. Accepting the need and recognizing what and where. Leaving aside promulgating a club mantra for safety, or our familiarity with the emergency response plan for the moment, one of the most powerful tools in the process is the you see it, you own it approach. Getting all of us to raise and document issues of concern and record incidents. Incident reports, even those for what appear at first reaction to be minor issues can, with time, can lead to valuable insights into behaviours or practices ripe for correction. This was brought home to me recently while sifting through incident reports looking specifically at events involving brakes popping open while gliders were being launched. Ok, we all recognise that in such cases the pre-flight checks had not been done completely. (Re. the CFI s reminder in the last newsletter!) But this still left the reason as to why unaddressed given that experienced pilots were involved. Of the four cases selected, three contained good pre-launch situation descriptions. The fourth was filled in with an interview with the pilot. In each case it emerged that at some stage in the pre-flight checks the pilot been disturbed / distracted. One was the frequently seen pre-launch gaggle of people chatting beside the cockpit. Something in this discussion caused the pilot to be distracted from the task in hand. The other three cases concerned issue of consequential haste and involved the first subject of this note i.e. those overzealous types endowed with surfeit of self-righteousness. The first of these involved our subject grabbing the tow rope end, barging up to the just closed cockpit, nudging the wing runner aside followed by a loud demand for the pilot to make the back release checks immediately. The remaining two separate incidents involved our subject types coming forward for somewhere behind on the grid ranting about getting a move on, there were only so many launches in a day, expletive, expletive etc. etc. at the very moment the pre-flight checks were being made. No pressure! Recognise this anyone? The need for a sterile hallo near the cockpit while the pilot is engaged with pre-flight checks is long known. The incident reports simply illustrated how the practice had unwittingly become eroded over time to a point where it was no longer recognised as being important by club members. Incremental acceptance is insidious form of contagion and illustrates how we really do need to stand back from time to time and examine the story we are telling ourselves.

8 A Member s View by Josh Park Hello all Taupo Gliding Club members, my name is Josh and I'm a student training for QGP and a junior tow pilot. It's been 10 months since I have joined the club and I would like to mention that it now has become my safe house. I am truly enjoying the environment here and learning how to fly a glider opened up a whole new understanding of principle of flight and flying here in beautiful town Taupo is absolutely amazing. I would like to thank my instructor Gordon who has been guiding me the right ways to enjoy and appreciate flying gliders. Tom our manager who has never failed to be present whenever I visit the club and inspire me with his motivating stories, Rod, who trusted me to have my hands on the control of his baby bird SuperSTOL and taught me how to fly a tail dragger and now I am rated and been towing for the gliding club which I am totally hooked on to. I am truly honoured to be involved with Taupo Gliding Club. In aviation I learnt that personal connection is one of the biggest factors that cannot be ignored in order to grow up in the industry and because my dream is to be able to fly commercially and being a first pilot of my family, I knew absolutely nobody who I could go and ask questions how to grow up in aviation. However, ever since I joined the club, I must say I am lucky to meet everyone who is so passionate in aviation and that passion encourages me to keep myself going toward my dream. My career goal is to be an air ambulance pilot. I would like to serve and help people in need with a passion and talent I have and also to pay forward the help I got from all others to be where I am now. For now, I will keep working hard toward QGP license and instructors rating in the near future and tow whenever club is in need. I wish every club member an early Merry Christmas and I hope to see those club members that I haven't met yet too. GNZ Northern Regionals - Matamata The GNZ Northern Regional competition was held at Matamata between 26 November and 03 December. Four Taupoeans decended upon the field; Hugh de Lautour, Trev Terry, Brian Williams and Trace Austin. Armed with three gliders and a towplane what else could they ask for? Umm! Decent weather! Trace had an interesting drive up with the newly refurbished trailer. After arriving at Waharoa and stopping for a maggot bag (meat pie) and coffee, he decided to check the wheel bearings of the trailer. Upon walking around the back he discovered to his horror that the back door of the trailer was missing. Cancelling the idea of coffee and food he drove on to the field and dropped off

9 the trailer then proceded back to search for the door. Trace drove all the way back to Taupo without any luck in finding the missing door, however, luck was on his side on the return journey. Laying on the side of the road between Tokaroa and Putaruru was the lost item and still in a good and servicable condition. Everyone else had an uneventful journey north. Sunday saw the start of the competition week but due to conditions not being suitable for tasking the day was cancelled. Monday therefore became day 1 with a ridge task. This was a day for good lookout as 19 gliders were flying up and down the ridge and high speed. David Jensen in hos JS1 had a raw average speed of 172kmh, hence he won day one in Open Class. Trev was third. Trace and Hugh both had great days with a third and fifth respectively, but the day belonged to Tony Davies in Racing class with an average speed of 159kmh. Tueday s task was an Asigned Area Task (AAT), once again up and down the ridge. For two Taupo entrants it was a day best forgot. Trev missed the first turn point altogether and Trace had brain fade on the second leg, although they both had good flights. Hugh had a respectful seventh, however, the this day belonged to Genny Healey and G. Dale flying the Piako Club s Puchaz. Wednesday - no flying. BUT! It was Hugh s Birthday. As there was no flying there was a social afternoon with drinks and snacks before heading to dinner at the club. The social afternoon continued into the evening and enjoyed by all. Thursday no fly day. Friday We had an AAT up to the north and down to the south. Trev had an engine start around Aripuni Dam and Hugh and Trace landed out in the spud patch south of Matamata. The day was full of surprises with narrow difficult thermals to start with, however, there were good climbs around and then towrds the end the heavens opened up and the rain came down. Saturday To finish of the week we had another AAT, this time we went south to Arohena for racing class and Ranganui A/S for the open class then north to Maramarua and Hotel Dvin. There were a few landouts with the soft conditions but Hugh and Trace got home. Trev decided that it was better to fly on to Taupo and have Brian pick him up in the Robin and take him back to Matamata for dinner. It was a great week of flying and socialising and the Taupo continent had a ball.

10 New Members We would like to welcome the following new members to the club: Timothy Stegehuis Peter Avery Kathleen Kneale He may not be a new member but welcome back Denis. Denis has been coming to Taupo for many years and is a great help around the club during the busy summer. Achievements Josh Park our newest Tow Pilot Genny Healey, a day winner at the Northern Regionals with G Dale, and most importantly QGP. Ivan Booth going solo and achieving his A Certificate. Congratulations to all of you!!! Upcoming Events Just a quick reminder about the following events. Potluck Dinner 10 December 5 Sqd n ATC from December Christmas Camp 26 Dec 09 Jan 17

11 Humour MERRY CHRISTMAS