Weekend Report: Early birds find worms

Saturday’s enthusiastic early launch by Adriaan saw him re-launch an hour later and then stay airborne for a good almost four hours . Mike Pascoe in the Ka2 also took an early launch and flew for just over half an hour. Another pilot who anticipated the early conditions was Alan Procter who also re-launched GIG later and then had a great long flight. The later the day became, the greater the development until a sudden cut-off just after 17h00.

The day had began with a light breeze and then changed direction and we had to change runways to 15. The buoyant conditions persisted in the valley and pilots were heard flying from Robertson to Villiersdorp across the valley.

Ari in GMK, Rico and Horst Pfeugner in GWU, Gerhard in GWN, Rudi and a friend in the Ka2, Nicky in GHR and Mike Pascoe (this time in GMH), all had great long flights. Hans Sterling and Andrew Strandring had a good flight in the Stemme while Paul Bailey – the instructor on duty – flew a pax in GOK. Jerry did his two hours in GUC. Well done Jerry! All in all – a good days flying by the singles – 2 and a half hour tugging by John in MIV. The TMG’s that flew were Adri in GXH, Rudi and friend in GZF, and the sunset cruise was done by June in GZF! Nice to see you in the air again, June!! Horst Mucke and Sasha paid us a visit and Horst helped out at the launch point which was very ably “manned” by Pater Farrell.

On a last note for Saturday –“ Thank You” to Ari and Andrew Standring who did the LS1 with me on GUU. They were the ONLY members who responded to the appeal put out last week! Shocking when we have over 100 members in the club! Actually, the inspection went very quickly and both Ari and Andrew were still able to fly after doing all that work. Thanks Guys!!


Sunday was VERY quite – the silence being broken by Marion Cole and Adriaan in GXH for an early morning flight! The other TMG’s that flew – Adri in GXH and Brian and Adriaan in GKM. Other than that we only had two flights in GOK with two visitors – both being flown by Wally. Rico and Horst Pfleugner again flew in GWU. Horst leaves for warmer climes this week and will be back in the spring! Another pilot who flies north is Tom Heaslip and he will be leaving next week.

The weather on Sunday was very calm in the morning until about midday and then the wind picked up to about 40kph. Paul Troskie only had two tugs and then we put the tug away as there were no more customers!

Rob Kakabeeke had flown to Cape St Francis on Saturday in the Carat to visit the Mitchells and he flew back on Sunday afternoon.

Remember the Gauntlet this Saturday as well as the bring and braai in the evening!

See you all then!

Alison

Weekend Report: Blunt Runner!

As Andre is busy repairing GHB, Paul Troskie very kindly stood in for him and instructed on Saturday kicking off with a flight in GOK with Kelvin Hokwood at the controls. They joined Mark who was already on Vic Peak and flew for over an hour and set the pace for the rest of the day! Nina arrived bright and early to tug.

Then the Fun started!!
Sven in a Ka8, Martin in another Ka8 and Alan O’ Regan in a Ka6 all took the skies in what Alan called the “Bluntrunner” challenge! It was hilarious and these guys took the old gliders to Vic Peak, Nuy, Slanghoek and all over the valley. When they landed they had smiles all over their faces as though they had just discovered what flying was all about. FUN!! Alan has promised a repeat soon
and then Rudi, Ari, hopefully Andrew, and I will join in the challenge. As well as anyone else wanting to join in – the Ka7s also qualify! It was really very nice to see.!

Graham Anderson as well as Tom Heaslip and Rudi launched, followed by Kelvin and Rico in the DG who joined Adri on the South side of Vic Peak doing her 2 hour soaring attempt in the Lambada.


Alan O’Regan took his two sons for a flight in GOK (separately) and Rob Kakebeeke had two long flights in the day in his Carat. Andre Stander also managed to get the first of his flights on GOK with Paul and we hope to see more of him soon when his workload diminishes!

Jerry Betbeder worked on installing the transponder in GUC and the flarm in GHB. Thanks Jerry for all the work done around the club gliders. Thanks also to Jacobus for the stunning wingbags for GUC and the boxes to put them in. All who fly GUC, please remember not to put the wingbags in the dirt and try and keep the glider in the condition in which you would like to find it. Jacobus – your sewing is superb – I had no idea you were so talented!

Great soaring weather and everyone flew until late.

Sunday was a little quieter (if that is at all possible!) and the team turned up to do their duty and Kevin coped very well ably assisted by Tombie in the startwagon! We were short of hands but roped in the visitors who had arrived to fly – a Hungarian (Ish) and his British friend, Duncan, as well as two friends of Rico’s visiting from Germany. Johan Gericke had a great time flying with Ian first in GOK and then in GUU doing his pax rating. Jacobus Hartman had GUC all to himself and had a wonderful 3 and a half hour flight! Tom also became airborne and flew for almost two hours in his Jantar. Reinhold flew the paxes and was kept very busy and the day ended with Rob (“Two-Spat”) Tiffin flying with Ian in GOK. Rob had come out to the field to re-fit the spats to the Rotax Falke. He has done a marvelous repair and they are looking very good. Thanks Rob! Rob Kakebeeke once again took to the skies in his Carat and was seen landing 1 and a half hours later.

Before I end I would like to wish Ed Verpraet a very happy 69th birthday today!

Remember that there is flying on Wednesday and we have a team rostered – so take the opportunity of doing some midweek flying and join us.

See you then.

Alison

Weekend Report: Marching Gauntlet & GHB woes

There was a fair amount of mid-week flying by Otto and Ed in TR as well as Rob Kakebeeke in either his DG400 or the Karat last week. What it must be like to be retired and living on an airfield! Something that most of us can only dream about. I had a great sunset flight in the Grob late on Friday evening – a great stress-reliever at the end of the week!

Saturday had full teams for both the aerotow operation as well as the winching operations. Nicky stepped in and helped out on the winching side as well and 10 launches were done including 2 with GIG with William Whittaker as well at Grove Steyn. Michael Allen had 4 successful launches in GHB and heights of over 2200’ were achieved and only one cable break. A very successful winching day in all! Even Rob Tiffin had a launch. (His was the one when the cable broke!) Thanks to Rob K and Tom H as well for all the work in that heat.

Alan O’Regan, the “Gauntlet Meister”, had everyone in the WFC Training centre for a very comprehensive and informative briefing at 9.00am. He certainly had gone to a great deal of trouble in his preparation of the task as well as the weather. Thank you very much Alan for all your effort (full report).

Launching got underway with both tugs, NIG and MIV, which made an enormous difference! Thanks to Nina and Rico. We – Mike Pascoe, Martin Grunert, Jerry Bedbeder (until the two of them launched in GOK), myself and Rob “Two-Spat” Tiffin, - launched the field of 7 contestants in exactly one hour. We also re-launched Peter Farrell who had to land because his GPS was giving him problems.

Once underway, we watched with anticipation as the day seemed to turn out a little different to what was predicted. Unfortunately Adriaan landed out at Saron and his crew went to collect him with Ed kindly taking over the timekeeping. They did get back in time to celebrate Kylie Hepburn’s 18th Birthday in the Clubhouse! I hope you had a great birthday, Kylie! Thanks for the great snacks, as well!

This was the first time that Jacobus took part in the gauntlet in GUC and flew for over 4.5hrs. He did well and was very tired after he landed! Jerry said that he had a wonderful flight with Martin and flew up to Renosterhoek and then down to Franschoek in GOK! Mike Pascoe, Gerhard Waller as well as TJ all had launches, too, but did not take part in the gauntlet. Rudi Schurkes did his checkflight with Woxie in GZF and flew for over an hour and Rico flew his DG with Horst Pfleugner after he had packed NIG back in the hangar.

It was an extremely hot day on the airfield with a fairly strong NW wind which made exertion of any kind unpleasant! Johnny brought his weighing equipment and helped Peter Wooley weigh his Lambada on Saturday morning.

Judging by the amount of glasses in the drying rack on Sunday morning, I am sure many celebrated a great day’s flying on Saturday.

Sunday started fairly early with Brian Cole flying his Pipistrel on a great hour-long flight in that beautiful still early morning air! The rest of the day got off to a fairly late start with the training as there were not many pupils. Mike Muller, once again, had a great hour long flight with Fred in GHB. Marion Flew in the Pipistrel and also had a flight in GHB with Fred. Rob Manzone paid the club a surprise visit and flew with Adriaan in his Lambada.

Other than that, Rob Kakebeeke flew his Carat and Nina flew in Hubert’s Rotax Falke with Martin after she had finished tugging. Reinhold, too, had a flight in GLZ with Martin.

Unfortunately a mishap with GHB has put her out of commission for the next few weeks and Woxie is going to repair her and have her ready for the next course which starts on the 2nd of April. Thanks very much, Andre!

This does not mean that we are gounded for training – we still have 2 very airworthy Ka7’s. So – Students – Do Not Stay Away!!

Until next week……

Alison

Weekend Report: Lift in the rain!

Not much to report this weekend. Saturday the team arrived to do their duty and Alan was on time to brief interested parties in the Clubhouse on the expected weather for the day. He predicted an early blow-out and he was correct as, by the time Nina was ready to take the tug to the launch point, the wind was rough and gusty up to 60kph. The rain arrived in the afternoon and that put a dampner on everyone’s spirits.

Various members helped the” birthday boy”, Otto, (60 – no less!) to de-rig his glider as he flies north for the winter tomorrow. Farewell and see you in the spring!

Johan Gericke, Jacobus and Jerry worked on the installation of the transponder to GUC which should be completed by next weekend.

Nina arrived bright and early on Sunday as did Craig Fussel and Jacobus who stood in for Coen.

The rain had not completely disappeared and I in the Cherokee and Adri in the Lambada took to the skies in opposite directions. Adri flew for an hour down towards Tulbach and I turned back short of Robertson. Each cloud I flew under rained on me although the air was quite buoyant – promises of what was to happen later in the day.

Martin Young had driven down from Knysna and had first a flight in GOK and later a flight in GHB (only because GUC was in huge demand)!

Tom Heaslip. Adriaan, William and Helmut all had good flights with William flying to Robertson and back – also in rain! Jacobus had to be called down after 2 hours and he had to open his airbrakes to get down! On the drive home at 5.30 I heard Helmut, on the radio, flying GUC at 6700’ on Brandwacht Peak at cloudbase and enjoying himself immensely!

Welcome to our newest member, Mike Muller, who joined the club yesterday and then had his first flight with Ian in GHB. They stayed up for over an hour and that was a real great introduction to gliding for Mike!

Nina tugged in what was confusing wind directions and handled NIG superbly. It was also great to note that, when Johnny checked the engine after the day’s tugging (2.5hrs), she had not used much oil at all. A great sign as she has just had a top-overhaul and is behaving well.

Peter and Bruce Clemence availed themselves of the good flying weather and took to the skies in the Sabre EEJ. Congratulations on Bruce’ newly aquired Chalet – the Dawid de beer Hut. May you have many happy weekends there.

Do not forget the Gauntlet next weekend. See you then.

ALISON