Weekend Report: Swellendam - nearly!
Saturday
Having not been present at Worcester most of this year it was great to find such a friendly, enthusiastic vibe at the airfield. We experienced an unexpected strong NW wind which delayed the start to 12h30, but the three student pilots (Kelvin, Peter & Wikus) all had multiple flights. Aubrey Terblance had his first experience of a serious “box” as yours truly went through the motions of a GPL validation test (Aubrey had earlier flown MIV back from Stellenbosch where Johnny Navarro had sorted out exhaust manifold and radio problems). Even with the wind, Vic Peak failed to deliver but there were thermals if you were clever enough to use them. Randy Cullen was the only private owner airborne other than Hans Sterling, who kindly treated an enthusiastic visitor to a ride in the Stemme, while June stayed on the ground keeping the times. Maybe our visitor will decide to join the next course, as this one has ended up being totally oversubscribed.
The new Rotax Falke was rigged on Saturday and is really looking lovely – I’m sure there’s going to be a scramble for folk to get converted once we get the paperwork back from CAA. The flight manuals are now available from Nicky. We are planning on using this aircraft for early basic training, but are holding our breath that it is going to be A1 for tugging as well. Hopefully members are going to use it for some longer distance flights too.
On the power side William Whittaker visited in a Cessna together with Kim Cater Brown and some Belgian friends, and Riaan van Deventer was seen flying around with André “Woxie” Leeb du Toit in his Scheibe SF25. If I’ve left you out of the report I apologise – it was a busy time! Nicky had some friends out for air-intro rides and when we left the party was beginning to get noisy!
Sunday
The “real news” of the weekend is that Sleepy Hollow has finally woken to a bright spring after an unusually sound winter sleep. The Sunday wind has swung to SE and the day began with an usually early 10am start – thanks Alison! Sven Olivier is back to his former tricks, zooming round the valley to Ashton and Villiersdorp, clocking up about 275km. Gareth Floweday and Helmuth von Michaelis both had good long soaring flights. Although he had to stand in for a no-show as duty pilot, Alan O’Regan managed a commendable 2.5 hours in the club Cirrus GIG, getting to about 30km short of Swellendam and back – can you credit this guy! And that was even after Alan Procter had had a successful soaring flight in GIG as well. There were a couple of visiting paxes (one with Peter Farrell) and Chris Loedolf had a good soaring flight in his “new” Single Astir. Thank to the “officials” of the day: Phil Surridge, Rico Suter, Alan O’Regan, Graham Anderson and Rob Tiffin.
It’s time to fly the bubbly spring air – don’t miss out!
And some more…
We are planning an evening, possibly coupled with a social weekend, where Sven Olivier, Martin Grünert and Alan O’Regan will talk about ridge running around Worcester. This will be an interactive occasion so you will be welcome to ask about all those things about soaring that still perplex you (and me). This is not an evening especially for the pundits – it’s for ALL of you. We will keep you informed of the date.
Peter
Having not been present at Worcester most of this year it was great to find such a friendly, enthusiastic vibe at the airfield. We experienced an unexpected strong NW wind which delayed the start to 12h30, but the three student pilots (Kelvin, Peter & Wikus) all had multiple flights. Aubrey Terblance had his first experience of a serious “box” as yours truly went through the motions of a GPL validation test (Aubrey had earlier flown MIV back from Stellenbosch where Johnny Navarro had sorted out exhaust manifold and radio problems). Even with the wind, Vic Peak failed to deliver but there were thermals if you were clever enough to use them. Randy Cullen was the only private owner airborne other than Hans Sterling, who kindly treated an enthusiastic visitor to a ride in the Stemme, while June stayed on the ground keeping the times. Maybe our visitor will decide to join the next course, as this one has ended up being totally oversubscribed.
The new Rotax Falke was rigged on Saturday and is really looking lovely – I’m sure there’s going to be a scramble for folk to get converted once we get the paperwork back from CAA. The flight manuals are now available from Nicky. We are planning on using this aircraft for early basic training, but are holding our breath that it is going to be A1 for tugging as well. Hopefully members are going to use it for some longer distance flights too.
On the power side William Whittaker visited in a Cessna together with Kim Cater Brown and some Belgian friends, and Riaan van Deventer was seen flying around with André “Woxie” Leeb du Toit in his Scheibe SF25. If I’ve left you out of the report I apologise – it was a busy time! Nicky had some friends out for air-intro rides and when we left the party was beginning to get noisy!
Sunday
The “real news” of the weekend is that Sleepy Hollow has finally woken to a bright spring after an unusually sound winter sleep. The Sunday wind has swung to SE and the day began with an usually early 10am start – thanks Alison! Sven Olivier is back to his former tricks, zooming round the valley to Ashton and Villiersdorp, clocking up about 275km. Gareth Floweday and Helmuth von Michaelis both had good long soaring flights. Although he had to stand in for a no-show as duty pilot, Alan O’Regan managed a commendable 2.5 hours in the club Cirrus GIG, getting to about 30km short of Swellendam and back – can you credit this guy! And that was even after Alan Procter had had a successful soaring flight in GIG as well. There were a couple of visiting paxes (one with Peter Farrell) and Chris Loedolf had a good soaring flight in his “new” Single Astir. Thank to the “officials” of the day: Phil Surridge, Rico Suter, Alan O’Regan, Graham Anderson and Rob Tiffin.
It’s time to fly the bubbly spring air – don’t miss out!
And some more…
We are planning an evening, possibly coupled with a social weekend, where Sven Olivier, Martin Grünert and Alan O’Regan will talk about ridge running around Worcester. This will be an interactive occasion so you will be welcome to ask about all those things about soaring that still perplex you (and me). This is not an evening especially for the pundits – it’s for ALL of you. We will keep you informed of the date.
Peter
posted by CGC Reporter at 19.9.05
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home