Ventus
2xT and Dimona H36 Arrive Nov 03
BBC Journalist Witnesses Freak Sunrise
The BBC's Caroline Wyatt at Cap Blanc-Nez, near Calais,
France on July 31st 03 describes Felix Baumgartner's approach from the
west: "Then we see him more clearly, the 6ft wings strapped to back silhouetted
against the rising sun. Suddenly I can see why he called the project Icarus
2."
source |
| |
Vale Joe Scott
Some 200 friends and family paid tribute to Joe at the Lighthouse,
where the flypast included a bevy of trikes, a motor glider and an F111.
Many tales were told of Joe's derring do, some true, at the wake held at
the Byron Bay Golf Club.
To instructors and other interested members
Macca Instructing
Mt Kaputah 2002 |
There been a bit of too and froing re parachuting through cloud - anyhow
it looks as if we must read NPRM.
TO ALL
I think it would be good if could have a members page on the web site
as a means of communicating - news and date of next meeting - aircraft
serviceability - interesting sites - jobs need doing around club - news/ideas
from other clubs - activities from other clubs that we get invited to,
etc.. Anyhow should it be done by email or via web page what do you think?
So here goes ...
NEWS
I recently visited Gawler SA for the World Club Class Competition (handicapped
comp using prescribed area tasks - ie you fly into circles of varying diameters
from 15km to 50km) and was won by a young Brit Peter Masson (2nd Brit 3rd
Czech 4th Brit) and all winners young and were flying gliders valued at
less than $25,000 so gone are the days of having to fly a $100 000 plus
glider to be competitive at a comp. The highest placed aussie was Tom Gilbert
Libelle in 11th while Bruce Taylor was 35 and Ron Sanders 38th out of about
45. The US, Brits and Germans all stood up and congratulated the organisers
as this was the best run world comps ever. The service provided by
the Bureau of Met was outstanding to say the least - locally you
may care to visit www.bom.gov.au and see instantly how the rain is pouring
down on the north coast via Grafton Radar. I noticed the commercialism
of food and souvenirs creeping in but guess that is the way.
Where ever you go you see new ideas for hangers and yet again I saw
it at Gawler - It now makes me realise we can fit 6 motorgliders in say
Dieters or Rick's Hanger with INDIVIDUAL ACCESS to each glider and without
any hanger rash.
HIGH OIL TEMPS are a thing of the past. Nick Hunt (Red/white Cesna
180 often visits Tyagarah) was having trouble towing when temperatures
got to 45 deg and had to pull the pin. The Americans - Charlie Spratt
-came to the rescue. We pump a spray of water on to the oil cooler. The
FAA do not approve but we just do it at comps in the dessert and pull it
off at the end of comps!! Nick in desperation spent $50 on a weed spray
and ran a tube up the outside of the engine - with about 3 sprays of water
on the tow up it knocked 30 degrees off the oil temperature and Nick was
simply amazed at the difference. He found he was using 1 litre of water
for 7 tows. Geoff Sim who owned a Grob 109 for 20 years shook his head
in amazement and it even has possibilities for Falkes or Petar N's G109B!!
Trust me it works.
A number of years ago Adelaide Soaring Club added a Jabiru to its fleet
of eight gliders and it has proved very popular with the older members
who want to fly when there were no thermals. During the year they
upgraded with the latest version engine having done their 1000hrs in the
original engine in the previous 2 1/2 years. They find the Jabiru
is doing almost 400hrs a year and the new engine is excellent
Simon Hacket's C Falke (has variable pitch prop) hit a fence recently
while on the ridge at Lochiel the site of Adelaide University Gliding Club.
It is being repaired by Peter Carlson at Temora
FROM DIETERLAND (as several members affectionately call it). A cave
is being built on the east part of hill where the tipi was. Also
a Bob Dylan concert is planned for March 31 on the racecourse but keep
an eye on the papers for more information.
Joe Scotts latest way to promote his hang gliding. Parks in main
street of Byron with TV on roof of car and video run off an inverter via
special battery and takes booking for the next days flying.
FUEL Thomas GLA takes car (red) fuel while the others and Jabiru when
it comes take AVGAS 100 (purple/blue) and this is in bulk tank. We
need a rotary pump with accurate gauge as the present system is totally
unsatisfactory. Somebody forgot to put the bung back in tank!!!.
Roger Lavers has completed the earthing while fuelling wiring at 3 points
- at fuel shed , at in front of club house and at tap on eastern side of
Rick's hanger. It has been properly done with 1.8m stainless steel rods
earth rods and 2 clips on end. This is a requirement of CASA for
our AOC renewal and
ask everybody to bone up on refuelling from Jerry cans as CASA require
whether it is or is not a charter flight. THERE IS TO BE NO REFUELLING
IN HANGER AT ALL. While on topic CASA pilots must be aware of last
light requirements.
Al Giles recently landed LS4 IID (ex Brett Iggulden and Gary Speight)
in Lake at Keepit and did much damage. Spoke to my Swedish friends
at Gawler and they assure me you MASTER OFF AND DO NORMAL LANDING WITH
WHEEL DOWN and
except for possible electronics damage you should be able to fly the
next day - that did happen in Sweden with 3 out of 4 lake landings during
Worlds in 1993
Kingaroy Club and more recently Boonah have converted Cessna 150 to
180hp with big savings in Aerotow costs Recently Lake Keepit club
in order to contain Towing costs have bought a 1996 120 hr tt Aviat Husky
180HP for $A112 000 (bring $US90 000 in USA) Fuel burn is down to
40 lit /hr as opposed to Pawnee at 55 lit/hr. Charges are kept the
same except tow retrieves from Airfields has been reduced from $180/hr
to $120/hr which has really brought retrieve costs down to 1980 prices
esp in view of
the fact that it flys out to airport at 100kts. Boonah and Kingaroy
Clubs have conveted Cessna 150 to 180hp with similar savings in costs.
March 9, 10, 11 WATTS BRIDGE glider fly in - caution there is a road
across middle of runway - will be closed off at weekend.
I have a copy of the 20 min video produced by Int Gliding Commission
(IGC) in December It is designed to be given out to Glider passenger rides
free to promote gliding. It is very good and very high power sell.
The video is a combination of the NZ world comps video and "Lucy Learns
to Fly video" If you have seen either of these videos then you will
know how good it is. They cost A$6.10 each in lots of 100 and funding
came from 4 German Glider Manufacturers (Schempp-Hirth LemkeSchneider,
Schleicher and Stemme). Think the high sell may just work and it is a project
worth supporting.
Please read about Parachuting through cloud and the end of this email
if you are interested .To explain Bob Hall is our President to be of GFA
and was chairman of the Ops Panel (ie boss unpaid instructor) and is an
EXCELLENT person, while Beryl Hartley is our hard working present President
GFA
Mike Burnes reported that IKB may be ready to fly by end of week ie
3rd Feb. The hold up is a cobra head intake elbow between air filter and
carby it is choking off engine a little.
Found in Aerokurier recently:
Aero-towing with ULs approaching certification Braunschweig: Aero-towing
with Ultralight aircraft could be certified as soon as next season. UL
manufacturers and importers are currently working on suggestions for the
technical and training regulations. As part of the testing program gliders
with a maximum take-off weight of up to 600 kg may already be towed.
If you have need to fly interstate now is the time as Qantas have extended
the competition with Virgin Blue to Coolie with $68.20 to Sydney and $108
to Melbourne and just book 24 hours before on the net only - think it is
called top-edeals. Brian and myself have taken advantage of
it recently.
MEETING COMING UP NEEDS TO DISCUSS HANGER OWNERSHIP money spent on promotion
among other things. Thomas has been keeping records of where people
have
been coming from and the yellow brochures via resorts and backpackers.
Talk with Thomas
Now should this info be communicated via email or via a members page
on the web site? What do you prefer?
IAN MCPHEE
Change of take off procedure on 23 : After several
conversations with the Skydiving people - mainly about drops through clouds
- they expressed concern from their side about us flying over their hangar
and drop site when we do our little slide to the right enabling us an easier
turn for a downwind landing in case of engine failure. We agreed that when
possible we will move to the left from now on when taking off on 23, except
of course if a strong crosswind from the south would make it unsafe.
)