Weekend Report: Not SO rough!

For some of us the weekend began on Friday afternoon when Johnny and I in VAE, Rudi and Gerhard in GXC, John Spargo and a friend in GZF and the Puschers in DHL all set off for Tanqua despite Alan’s very accurate weather forecast. In fact, his predictions helped tremendously in our route planning. Paul and Kathy Baily traveled by road and arrived at the farm after dark. Rob Kakebeeke arrived on Saturday afternoon after a round trip via Sutherland and Calvinia.

A great time was had by all with fantastic food, a great rest and lots of swimming and flying. Unfortunately Boet Coetzee developed a suspected motor problem and could not join us and Otto did not make much headway in the strong wind in his DG500 so decided not to continue and stayed local.

The trip back on Sunday was stunning until we exited the Hex river Valley on the Worcester side and then became very turbulent as we descended. The approach in that severe wind of about 50kph was also nailbiting and Johnny managed to land VAE safely.

Many thanks again to Ester and Alewyn Burger for their wonderful hospitality! It really is a pleasure visiting your wonderful farm.

Saturday at the field was fairly busy but only one student arrived and, because of the strong wind, flew GOK instead of the training glider.

For some pilots the conditions were challenging and congratulations to Adriaan who flew in excess of 500km and flew to Renosterhoek and back twice. Alan O’Regan and Randy Cullen as well as Nico le Roux (in his beautiful ASW20b) also had good flights. Once again we were supported by our KLM friends who came for air experience flights as well as a pilot from the UK.

Thanks to Peter Farrell who worked extremely hard as duty pilot as well as Brian Cole. Both were ably assisted by Jerry Betbeder on the ground and Mike Pascoe who instructed and flew paxes.

Alison

Sunday Flying:

Well, let’s start with a nice social evening Saturday night. I arrived at 18h32 at the club and did a “greeting round”. A fire was already lit for the braai which was to follow. Michael and his girlfriend were cleaning out their newly acquired poolside villa, which I think also doubled as a nice workout for his ballast...
Marion and Brian were also seen (and indirectly heard) with their newest accomplice - welcome Penelope!! (Hope it’s spelled right) An adorable little girl which had everyone oogling... Ed omnipresent as always manned the bar, and there could be found the likes of Trevour, Adriaan, Adri, Otto, and Brian (amongst the ones I could remember).
Bill and his wife also stayed over and I was sure I saw Bill’s hanger door opened by a crack till after dinner. Alan O’Regan and the family also used their hut, with the man doing a lot of braai’ng and the next day a lot of flying… Kite flying that is. Or was that crashing…?
Dinner was primarily braaivleis, wine and salad.
Later that night unidentified silver BMW was seen racing into the club, the owner unknown to the author followed by a hangar alarm wailing... Strange things..? Oh well.

I slept over in a hanger on Saturday evening which allowed me to pinpoint the exact time the wind started to blow – 06h43. About the same time the birds woke up some chirping noise (maybe they did this earlier but I was still dreaming about avgas). Well, to make a long story short: Everything was taken out and ready to roll by 08h00. Gareth Arrived and did a DI on GUC. Arri swapped duty with Nina and was cleaning MIV shortly after GUC arrived at the launch point. Mike Pascoe stayed over and did some “weed eating” that morning around his hanger (something some other people should also do…) Sven was there with his red racer and was contemplating flying... The show kicked off with a very excited Gareth taking the first launch at 2 minutes to 10 in GUC. Well done Gareth by taking the silent award for the longest duration flight for the day, just over 3 and half hours “… of scratching every millimeter of lift…”. We had 2 visiting members from clubs in the EU. One from England – John, and the other from Scotland – Peter. Both hand nice flights with GOK on Vic peak thanks to Phil Surridge who also did all of the instructing for the whole day on his own – Phil... You’re the man. The member quantity picked up with Rob Tiffin arriving and giving 2 x pax flights to his invited guests. Helmut had a flight in GOK, Kelvin also and his daughter Demi was very fortunate (to the jealous remarks of her dad) to have a flight with Rico in the DG! Mike Pascoe also flew his glider and William had an early and quick go in GIG. At this point I must congratulate Arri – Hectic turbulent conditions and some cross wind, but he did not even sweat, and actually encouraged everyone to: “…man, get in and get up!”
All this during the arriving of the Tankwa elopers. One of the arriving aircraft had an interesting 1st landing attempt (`n goeie ding is dat nie baie mense Afrikaans oor die radio verstaan nie, anders was hy dalk aangekla by die “Broadcasting complaints commission”).

There was a short interval of 30 minutes during which time Mike took his glider back to the hanger. After that Gareth and Jacobus swapped places and Jacobus took GUC for a 4 minutes shorter flight than Gareth. Some members had opinions about his release height but at the end of the day a full circle was flown from Jan du Toits to Keeromberg, over the valley to Vic peak and over to Waaihoek via Slanghoek mountain through 4 wave bars! (and GUC made it back to the airfield) Unfortunately he was marginally beaten by William on OLC distance (164km vs. 178km), so no silent awards (shutup I don’t want any complaining). GIG, flown by William, on the last tow from Arri, soon followed GUC for the wave flight and got into controlled airspace in a BOOMING wave bar (5+ up). William did a nice distance flight after exploring the options at Keeroms and going back to into the wave to Villiersdorp and back. Nice one William – you receive the silent award for distance.
Then there was our happy Kevin who took off in his DG and also flew everywhere. Brandwacht, Jan du Toits, Vic peak, Rawsonville ECT. All in all a nice day Sunday. After everything was packed, some drinks, flight logs and entertainment was enjoyed at the bar. Ask Ed about 45 degrees into not 1 but 2 thunderstorms. What a crackle!
Thanks all for the day Sunday especially the people on Duty – Arri, Phil, Gareth and Jacobus.

(J)

Weekend Report: So much for the forecast!

I left the airfield very early on Saturday morning for FASH (by road) ( - we had our Reach For A Dream day there for about 70 terminally ill children )– and the cloudbase was only about 3000’at FAWC. When I returned at 15h00 many pilots were airborne and enjoying what Alan predicted to be the better of the two days forecast! The lift seemed to be local, though and not many pilots ventured too far.

Frans du Toit was tugging and was kept busy until late in the afternoon. Andre Stander managed a check flight and two solos while Jerry flew GUC. William Whittaker excelled himself as duty pilot.

Hans Sterling with Reinhold on board had a very nice soaring flight to Villiersdorp and back. Herbie, Adriaan, Trevor and Randal were amongst those enjoying the conditions. Rudi flew his motor glider GXC.

Sunday was uneventful with many attempting the conditions. Adriaan and Sven stayed up the longest and practised flying in the weaker lift. Sharing GUC again were Gareth, Jacobus and Helmut. Kim enjoyed her flights in GHB which was really underutilized! What has happened to all those pre-solo pilots! These days the weather is perfect for training and you are all really missing out on good flying and “staying up” conditions!
Louis Esterhuisen and Maurice Cotton did an excellent time keeping and duty pilot job with John Spargo tugging and Peter Clemence and Boet Coetzee instructing.

I must just mention that Congratulations is in order for Peter Clemence doing his flight test yesterday and qualifying for his MPL!!!. Well done, Peter. I listened to most of his flight when I was on the way to Hermanus yesterday and he sounded very cool on the radio! He really was put through his paces by Louis! Well Done, Peter. After his test he flew over to FAWC in EEJ to do his duty.

Next weekend is the Tanqua Weekend and, to all those going, have a good time and see you there.

Alison

Weekend Report: Gareth returns!

Saturday was thermic and quiet a good few enthusiastic pilots got airborne and stayed up for quite a while – Garth, Gareth, Jerry and Reinhold in GOK, Rudi, Gerhard, Rico and Roger in the DG500, Herbie (who first went for an “Alison’s Scary Flight” in the Grob with me) and Adriaan.

Most of the pilots went to Vic Peak initially with the exception of Garth who found lift at Jan du Toit’s. Unfortunately Adriaan had to outland at Wolseley and was very ably retrieved by Adri and Kylie. We also were treated to the great sight of Gareth in GUC landing back at the airfield after a nice long flight! Well done Gareth!!

The day was aggravated by changing runways twice and the Duty Pilots had their hands full with the traffic flying in from Cape Town for night flying practice at FAWC. Good practice all round, though.

The instructors, Sven and Grove`, kept busy in GHB and Jesse Roos was fortunate enough to have 3 flights and GHB almost all to himself. There was also good convergence reported east of the field which stayed there for quite some time. Boet Coetzee and Frank Dorey had a great flight in the Falke, too.

For the first time in a while we had a full time sheet!

Sunday delivered similar conditions and Ari had his hands full with instruction on GHB so Cornelius, one of the duty pilots, helped out with the two KLM paxes that arrived. Ruben Rens kept the momentum going on the ground with Rico (amazing man, this) tugging, pushing gliders and – this time – babysitting as well!!

Michael Allen and Richard Steer both had good flights in GHB.

Thanks to all who contributed to making the “wheels turn” so smoothly this weekend.

AN APPEAL PLEASE ………..

The runway verges on the 33 side are in a shocking state with weeds and Rico almost had an incident on take off on Saturday. Rico has appealed to members to come out early on Saturday morning with spades to help clear as many weeds as possible and then he will spray the area with weed killer. If we do not do this, we are at risk of losing the runway surface! Water gets in under the surface and lifts the tar and you all know how valuable the tarred sections of the runway are to us. RSVP me at architecnic@intekom.co.za if you are willing to help. If we all get stuck into the project, it will not take long.
Thank you.

See you all next weekend!

Alison

Weekend Report: A gauntlet blowout!

Friday evening at Worcester was stunning with the full moon, no wind and the valley lit up by the light of the moon and Saturday morning equally beautiful. A wonderful spring morning with no wind so we were airborne in VAE at 7.30am. We returned at 8.15 for breakfast and the Gauntlet briefing. Some of us thought that Alan was a little “off the mark” when he predicted strong NW which would increase with altitude and as the day wore on. We had NO idea how correct he was. Spot On, Alan.

We endeavoured to get everyone airborne before it blew out on the ground but were not quick enough. It was so strong by 11.30 that we had to pack away the trainers. Sven reported 113kmph at 7500’ and at that time it was gusting 80kph on the ground. The landings were interesting and some of the reports of rotor at Jan du Toits and over the golf course and the red hill made those of us who were on the ground happy that we were not airborne. Well done to all those who flew in those extreme conditions and landed so competently and safely!

A power pilot who had taken off at Fistantekraal earlier in the day had to land at Worcester and phone his wife to collect him and his passenger by car as the wind was too strong to cross the mountains. He was making no headway at all!

Rudi and Gareth continued to inspect GUC and Rudi found further damage under the seat which he then repaired so GUC was grounded once more. Thanks, Rudi for all your help and hard work. Thanks also to Sandy who came out to the Club three days last week to finish off the repairs to GUC so that she could be rigged on Saturday.

The winch team turned up to work on the winch and spent a great deal of the day on the winch runway sorting out cables in the wind. Great work, guys. Not an easy task.

Bill and Johnny worked on Bill’s G109 and, by the end of the day on Sunday, had started the motor. Bill is making great progress and the Grob really looks good.

Saturday evening was a merry occasion with the Potjie that Wally organized and, when I left at 11.00pm, the evening showed no signs of ending soon. Thank you Wally and Juliana for a great evening. (There are some interesting photos on Adriaan’s website)!

Sunday was washed out and blown out. Thanks to the duty pilot, Richard Harris, who turned up after all! There was virtually no flying – at about 2.30pm Martin Grunert took our newest member, Jesse Roos, in Paul and Brian’s Pipistrel for a flight. After that Brian flew some circuits in the same motorglider. Not pleasant conditions, though.

Thanks again to all those who worked hard on the ground to get the gliders off the runway in severe conditions on Saturday. It is great when everyone works together.
See you all next weekend.

Weekend Report: Course goes well

The course ended on Friday on a high note with Andre Stander and Robert Bedford both going Solo! Well done to both of you!!

Many, many thanks to Fred Vernimmen who was absolutely marvelous in running the course and his tireless efforts in giving the students all his attention until late every evening. All the preparation in the lectures for every night after dinner! Marion Cole was incredible in running operations on the runway every day despite the heat and the horse-flies. Her sense of humour and ability to keep the show on the road endeared her to all at the launch point.

Thanks to all the instructors and tug pilots – especially Nina; Ed who managed the administration, and Hans Sterling who loaned us his projector.

After everyone had gone home, the airfield was a little quiet and Saturday dawned with a strong NW which increased until we were eventually blown out. Some of the “team” arrived but it really was a “no go”. After lunch Rico very bravely, with Sven, took off in the DG in a wind which I estimated to be around 65 – 70kph! And gusty! They did not stay up very long as they did not manage to contact the wave.

Much maintenance was happening in the various hangers during the afternoon – Bill and Johnny with Bill’s G109, Kevin, Jerry and Alvin with Kevin’s DG, Alvin with GUC, Dave and Hubert with their gliders and Rudi helping out as well. A busy day on the ground.

Sunday was a Classic wave day. The NW had abated a little making it possible to take GHB out of the hanger. GOK was first flown by Alan O’Regan and Sam, then it was taken into wave by Jacobus who flew for close on 2 hours. (He must have had a wonderful time as one of his radio calls was “Yeehaaa”) Michael Allen and Wally flew GHB in wave for over an hour and then Andre Stander flew with Wally in GHB as well. He said that the ridge was working so well that, after 2 passes, they were at 6500ft and then pushed forward into the wave over Rawsonville.

Alan Procter had a flight in GIG but, by that time, the wind was dropping and he was not as fortunate to find wave.

Those who did not come out to Worcester really missed excellent wave conditions.

Remember the gauntlet and the Potjie on Saturday and remember to book with Wally!!

See you next weekend.
Alison