CGC Diary

Robertson fly-in

2007-10-11T09:52:00.000+02:00

The weekend started with a fuel crisis! While Avgas had been ordered in time, it was not delivered. Upon further prodding, Shell/BP said that no order was received, so the process had to be started again. With the lead time involved, it looked that there would be no fuel on Friday, meaning not enough fuel for the tugs for the Gauntlet. Residents schlepped one tug to the pump on Friday for the last drops and luckily on Saturday morning the tanker arrived. Johnny had left 40 litres with Bill on Friday night (when he had taken Bill’s new Grob canopy to FAWC) in case the fuel did not arrive.

Saturday saw the Gauntleteers Adriaan (LAK17), Cornelius (LS4), Mark (Nimbus2), Alan (LS8), Rico & Jacobus (DG500), William (Std Cirrus) and Peter (VentusB) all braving the strong NW wind, ably towed by Paul and Nina, who launched the entire field in less than an hour. Frank Dorey’s launch point organisation was also superb.

With 50kph winds provided by a front to the west, and the north westerly ridges not being accessible because of cloud cover, the brave pilots opted to go south east in extremely rough conditions, some turning just beyond Swellendam (see the report by clicking the “Gauntlet” link on the CGC homepage)(see also the OLC web page). Cornelius, as usual keen to be out in front, landed at Robertson from where Nina retrieved him with a long and expensive aerotow. Rico and Jacobus also landed at Robertson for a “walkabout” before taking to the sky again (possibly a p-stop though nobody is telling. Ahhh! The joys of a self launcher!) Actually I think Jaco was feeing a bit “naar” after sitting in the back seat while Rico toiled for a long time, trying to climb away from the quarry at Robertson. Rico confessed he had used his motor twice on the flight, but also that it was the first time in the last five years he had done this.

As forecast by Sven, there was wave to be found from fairly low level in the valley. Herbie reached 12000ft in his Cirrus (a record for this season) and Rob K 10200ft in his Carat, halfway downwind to Robertson, but outside the TMA. You could also ridge soar the upwind side of the clouds. Unfortunately the best lift was just inside the TMA, but with a transponder one can’t fool ATC so…

Mike P and Friedrich tasted the soaring conditions, with Friederich having to use the Apis airbrakes to stay out of cloud. He was heard to report that “he could not come down”, but thoroughly enjoyed his 133 minutes airborne. Tom went for a check flight with Martin in GZF and Bill took his last remaining toy, the G109, for a lovely long flight. Duty pilot Frank Dorey also took a ride in GZF.

This was the first time this season that gliding in significant numbers took place in the Cape Town West Information Region (the 126.5 MHz area). This area has been monitored by ATC for some months now, and the controller was pretty surely flabbergasted by the language used. I was asked for my departure point, destination and level! A bit later somebody said “this is U2 abeam Fischer International, 32, heading west”. From ATC one sometimes gets instructions which are completely illogical and therefore difficult to remember for repeating – and this may occur while you are falling out of the sky and need all your attention and concentration elsewhere. It will take some weeks before ATC will understand that gliding operations and glider pilots are different to ‘normal’ aviation.

Saturday’s flying ended with Mark waking up the sleepers with his Czech “noise machine” – a new and thirsty customer of the “Propswaaier Trust”.

So to those who thought the Saturday weather was “off”, you all missed a great day.

In the clubhouse the bar is now operated on an “honesty system”. One can take a drink and leave the cash in the cashbox. The cash bit is due to change to a “credit system” similar to that used in the Vliegklub and at the Bloemfontein Gliding Club. The barman will therefore take a much needed rest as Wally is the man in charge now.

On Saturday night and Sunday Worcester experienced rain. Between the clouds you could see snow on Brandwag, Riviersonderendberge and others. The temperature remained below 10C! Both duty pilots nevertheless turned up and duty instructor Phil took some friends for a ride in the Rotax Falke.

All in all, despite the Sunday weather, a successful flying weekend.

Report compiled by RK/AN/PW

Summer strikes!

2007-10-01T09:46:00.000+02:00

The summer season started last week on the Highveld with torrential rain falling around Mafikeng especially. After the dry winter season, just before the summer rain begins, they have the best soaring weather of the year. That is why the Gauteng Regionals are organized during that time. Kevin Mitchell and Sven Olivier were both there to represent the CGC. Kevin was amazed by both the good soaring conditions and the amount of water coming out of the sky.

We experienced the edge of a front passing along the coast this weekend. On both days we had southerly to south easterly winds with a cool temperature. The swallows have returned from the north, bringing Tom H with them as well!

On Saturday Martin Y had the longest flight with 3,5 hours on the southern side of Vic Peak. On one or two occasions he had to choose a field - just in case! We saw many who took to the beautiful sky for the first time after a long winter break. Among them Herbie, Wally and Alison in her “Broomstick”! Friederich got a lot more experience in the Apis, doing 3 launches. His daughter helped to walk his wing to the launch point. Adriaan flew his Lak17 and Rudi flew his Astir. Sadly, Bill’s Astir left for its new home at Magaliesberg. Reinhold did an instruction flight with our newest member, Marc Avella. Mark S flew his Nimbus and after landing, let Nicky fly it as well.

A DG400 experienced a collapsed undercarriage while landing and blocked runway 15. June and Rudi had to land on runway 12 - a new experience for sure. Your reporter was the first one to speak to the DG pilot. He said that the wheel was down, but it collapsed when touching the ground. Your reporter is not on the flying panel but his opinion is that it is not good enough that the undercarriage handle is merely in the “wheel down” position - it must be secured, or secure in the “wheel down” position. The pilot was a bit rusty on type and this event could be headed “Winter Blues”!

Ryno O did the timekeeping – and a good job as usual. Gareth assisted with retrieving gliders and helped with the launching.

Sunday saw mainly visitors. William took two friends up while Johan showed some visiting KLM flying personnel what soaring is all about. The KLM pilot, John, got a ride with Rico in GWU. Simon, a visitor from Somerset West, had seen our website and brought his family out for the day. He experienced his first flight ever with Johan and thoroughly enjoyed his day! Adriaan and Adri flew the Lambada after Adri had done some “touch and goes” earlier. Later, Adriaan did his “back-seat” rating with Andre. Now we have a new AE instructor! Mike Miller and Maurice Cotton kept a good timekeeping setup on the ground while John S tugged in MIV.

Others seen at the airfield were Rob T, Peter F, Peter W and Hubert S.

All in all – a very enjoyable weekend!
Rob K and Alison N.

Of course!

2007-09-25T09:44:00.000+02:00

We had a super long weekend with some good flying, nice weather although a bit chilly and good results.
The weather is definitely changing. During last week temperatures of 32 degrees were seen at FAWC. The switch was turned over last Tuesday.

On all three days there was a front hanging around the mountains and on Saturday night we had rain which lingered on in the valley on Sunday and the occasional lost droplet was felt. At Brandwag and at Rawsonville showers could be seen.

Saturday was the best day with Rudi in wave up to 11 000 ft above the Robertson road and not climbing more because he had no oxygen installed. He entered the wave at the small hub just before Vic Peak but because of the TMA there he went into the secondary further downwind. Of course outside the TMA is the place to fly wave-rarely do we hear that this is done. Rico flew with Jerry to beyond Renosterhoek also the first swallow to venture there this season. Johan flew some friends around Vic Peak.

Mark landed his Zlin here. He told me that the fuelbill from Lanseria to here came to 3000 R. He must have lots of funds-the pensioner flying a Carat has a fuelbill for the same trip in the 300 R bracket.

Rudi repaired GOK’s broken wingdolly and Johan found that the antenna connection in GUZ was wrong and installed the proper stuff. During the weekend other work done was a “magdrop” on the VWRV as well as MIV both fixed by Johnny.

The 7 students on the course were only on the winch. Winching was a success this weekend thanks to a good team. Only one cable break on the launch of the total 80 launches. We are getting there. On Sunday 34 launches were made; a near record for the Club so I am told. Thanks to the launchteam; Marion, and Brian, overseer Ian and drivers John and Rob K and Martin Grunert but also the instructors : Andre, Paul Bailey, Peter Clemence, Fred Vernimmen, Quintin Hoole, Mike Pacsoe and Ian Forbes . William drove the tractor the entire day on Sunday. Other duty pilots who helped out on their days of Duty were Alison and Paul and Jesse Roos.

A height of 3100 ft was reached on the first winchlaunch on Saturday. On Sunday Mike Pascoe also towed to Vic peak and stayed there for an hour while Rico tried to find lift in his DG500. Convergence cost us valuable time while we had to change runways twice! Otherwise we would have exceeded the winch launch record which was set up by Andre and Mad Max 1 a few years ago – 34 launches, too! These windshifts caused also some dicey launches because of tailwind and windshear a bit up.

On Monday our up-country pilot, MartinYoung had some good flying in the SE on the Villiersdorp ridge. He reported that wave was there. He also flew down to Robertson and back. Gerhard Waller also took a launch and flew for an hour. The Ka 7’s flew in lift for over an hour from the top of the winch!

The tractor get teeth, but it's not the key!

2007-09-17T08:04:00.000+02:00

Saturday saw the first 8 of 26 pre-course training flights, in a windy and chilly north wester, completed in Motor Falke. These flights are pre-requisites for the 3 day CGC winching course which starts this Friday evening. Andre Leeb-du Toit and Boet Coetsee shared the task of instructing and pupil feedback was excellent. Thanks must also go to Alison, Ed and Peter for helping to make pupils feel at home (spotted wondering around aimlessly at CGC!)

Andre spotted a broken spring on the Motor Falke apron and Johnny ascertained that it was from the MF’s exhaust. Johnny replaced it and the training was able to continue without delay. Well done Andre for being attentive and thank-you Johnny for your efforts.

Rob Tiffin, Reinhold and Trevor did their annual check flight where Mike gave a hand and Dietmar did a proper timekeeping job. Sven was seen under the dark clouds trying to get away however he just managed one hour. Alan O’Regan took over from Jesse Roos as co-duty pilot, too, but declined an invitation to fly. Dietmar was fortunate to have a last flight of the day in GOK.

On Sunday one would expect a sunny, nice post frontal day however another front was looming on the other side of the du Toitskloofberge and the weather was similar to Saturday.

Kevin was on his own as duty pilot as his co-duty pilot, Hans Pruter had resigned recently. Marion kindly assited Kevin. The Motor Glider training proceeded with Martin Grünert and Andre Leeb-du Toit doing instruction. It got off to a late start, but thanks to Andre and Martin’s perseverance, the 8 flights were completed by 6pm. Again, pupil feedback awarded top marks! Nina Grünert was doing the tugging in MIV and Fred Vernimmen was instructing for the club. They took a young family member of Marion’s for an AEF in GOK. Fred also managed to take one of the course pupils for a additional training flight in GOK. Cornelius, Ian and Kevin checked their planes and the weather. They stayed up for around one hour each.

Great news is that Johnny got his bush cutter working. Mounted on our tractor it can cut the grass on the edges of the runway and maybe around the hangars. The municipality is supposed to do the runways however this was and will never be a success. If one gets them they work for one hour and then return for some odd reason and don’t come back.
Sad news is that somebody took the ignition key of the tractor without informing Ed or Rob. Now the tractor is standing outside (in the rain) and idle.

RK & KDM

Snow goes, Wilga wisits!

2007-09-10T08:09:00.000+02:00

Saturday was a typical spring day, a bit chilly with a front passing on the other side of the mountains. The last bit of snow is melting on top of Sneeukop and now the red Namakwaland daisies came up en masse on the airfield while the yellow madeliefjes are less visible than previous weeks. The whole week was marred by the passing of fronts. Not severe ones with rain on the field but certainly low temperatures and lots of wind.

Many vested member came to spring-clean their hangar, trailer, and plane or inspect the facilities etc. We saw Rudi (as usual) doing the odd repair and further Bill, Reinhold, Rob K and Rob T, Peter W, Hubert, Gerhard, Kevin, Trevor and John, all busy with their equipment.

For the first time the Apis could be seen flying here. First Martin had a check ride and thereafter Friedrich took it twice to the sky. May he have lots of enjoyment. Bill’s hangar is sold to Friedrich and the plane will be hangared there. This Apis is the only one in the country and is made in the same factory as the DG500. A semblance to the DG sailplanes can be clearly seen.

It is getting busier; we had 21 flights. Of these 4 were paxes and 10 self launchers/motor gliders. Friedrich did some training flights in the Rudi’s Astir while Gerhard used it later in the day. Rico stayed up longest with more than two hours trying the wave at Waaihoek, no luck there and finally coming to the thermals at Vic Peak..

Andre Leeb du Toit and Boet Coetzee in GUF along with Alison and Johnny in VAE flew to Tanqua for brunch and joined a few of the WFC guys there including Paul Troskie who had left late on Friday afternoon in the Rotax Falke.

On Sunday another front came closer in, a tablecloth on Slanghoek / du Toit Berge and we saw a windy cold day. Prior to the wind picking up, the Hepburns were seen doing Touch and Go’s in their Lambada.

Martin Y with great enthusiasm was the first to start at just after eleven. When coming all the way from Knysna one has to extract as much as possible from this flying opportunity even though he was on duty. He tried the wave on the west side of Vic Peak for more than two hours. Although the wave was there no great heights were reached. Peter F was there too Jesse Roos turned up to fly but the wind became way too strong.. Mark took a pax for a ride. He arrived with this pax in a Wilga, an ugly looking utility plane based in FASL. It has a bit of a cross between a mechanized locust and wildebeest. They are well known tugplanes in Europe but with their heavy engine are very expensive to run. They regularly tug 3 gliders together.
This model had an effective dashpot fitted on the exhaust undoubtly to do with the noise requirements at FASL. East European engines are normally very noisy.

RK

Cape Groundlet

2007-09-03T09:07:00.000+02:00

Saturday saw windspeeds of up to 60 kph. Still some Gauntleteers turned up and hoped for the best. None of them flew.

Rico took up Bill up in search of wave in these extreme conditions. They found heavy turbulence at Jan du Toit (river) but were unable to get into the wave (if it was there) . They tried twice. Courageous.

Sunday was a nice post frontal day with some cloud still lingering around. Adriaan had a go at the inviting sky and managed to stay up for 42 minutes although it was early in the day.

Two paxes were shown around and Johan got some aerobatic lesson from Phil.

The usual motorglider trips were made around the field.

Rob

Sproing in the cable

2007-08-27T10:01:00.000+02:00

Saturday was a beautiful spring day with no wind whatsoever, a nice temperature of 20 degree, snow on the mountains, lush green veld, yellow flowers –in short one should be out and about. The show was run by the resident A&A team.
With great pleasure we saw that some new trees were being planted. Kevin got one planted while somewhere else kameeldorings were planted with a rain pipe next to it. We are not 100% sure about its purpose but presume it is a water reservoir. It looks a bit like a vent pipe on a sewer pit. Sorry I digress.
The winch team had five visitors. Nico gave a hand and is trying to get the operation up to Henneman standard. We had one cable break on the new cable nogal with ten launches.
Nice to see the K8 flying. The very stable conditions are not good for soaring so nobody stayed up longer than 30 minutes. The usual experience flights took place. No better day than this without any turbulence whatsoever.
Sunday started with no wind but around ten o’clock it started blowing hard and it the late afternoon the rain started. Last night a lot of water fell-more than a normal showery front produces.

Rob K

Sweeps and roundabouts

2007-08-20T08:43:00.000+02:00

Maintenance Day was well attended with 35 members (out of the 73 listed) and got off to a slow start but picked up momentum as the day got warmer.

GOK, GUU, GUZ, GIG and GZF are all serviceable with GUC having major work done on the connector rods for the wings and GHB some repairwork which is time consuming. The hanger is clean as well as the winch setup serviced. Both RV’s are serviceable and I would like to remind the duty pilots to use the VW RV often as this prevents the battery from running flat. Both tugs were springcleaned and Adri swept the stones off the end of the runways.

Lunch was hot dogs in the Clubhouse and worked resumed after lunch. Many went to have a look at Friederich’s Apis which had arrived and he spent some time cleaning and getting ready. Rob Tiffin painted the floor of the Startwagon and Sven went around the various hangers upgrading the Flarm units.

At the end of all the work the Lambada got airborne with the Hepburns and then the Grob first had a flight with Nina and I and then Johnny later for an evening flight around the valley.

A pleasant evening was spent in the clubhouse where a few members stayed for a braai.

Sunday morning began with a light NW which quickly picked up and blew steadily all day. Mark Siegelberg arrived to do his duty but there were no takers so he did some work on his glider. The Griffiths and the Hepburns went home fairly early. The only other people seen on the airfield briefly were Hans Sterling and Hubert Spaun. There was no gliding at all.

A long weak end

2007-08-13T08:33:00.000+02:00

The wind had blown all Wednesday night and did not abate for Thursday at all. Ari decided to use NIG for tugging and Mike Pascoe decided to brave the conditions and take a launch. The wind gusted over 75kph and Kelvin, who was duty pilot, and Ian, Duty Instructor, assisted with the launch. After NIG landed, Ari had to shut the motor down and we towed the tug back to the hanger. Unfortunately Mike had to return from Vic Peak due to a flat battery. The entire front row of hangers, including Graham’s and Peter’s, have a power problem and hence his batteries were flat. Two paxes arrived via an Albatross that had flown in from Stellenbosch but they were unable to have an AE flight due to the conditions. Later in the day Kevin tried a launch with his DG400 but experienced power problems and aborted his take off.

Mark Howes was putting the finishing touches to GOK and he really had done a fantastic job of the canopy repair. Thanks to all, especially Hans, who lent tools to do the job. Rudi was there preparing for the AAI on GHB with the assistance of Ari. Johnny replaced the muffler on MIV in time for her to work on the weekend.

Friday’s weather was worse than Thursday with more rain and wind. The water table on the airfield is so high that the water is not draining away fast enough. Saturday also saw no flying although Bill had arrived in case someone wanted a tug, but had no takers. Sunday was a beautiful day.

The wind had turned to a light SE and later in the day to no wind at all. Wally had arrived to instruct but there were no students to fly so he eventually went home. Martin arrived with Johan Pretorius from Stellenbosch who wanted to experience gliding. Johnny and I had flown for an hour in the Grob and found a little lift against Brandwacht peak earlier. Martin Young had arrived on his way back to Knysna with his family and had a short flight in GIG before continuing his journey. By then there was no lift as the wind had died. Martin Grunert, with Nina tugging (as well as retrieving with the golf cart) and Johan’s girlfriend running the wing, flew four flights with Johan in GUZ. Peter Wooley had wisely decided not to fly as he saw the state of the Grob after we had landed. Mud everywhere!! We needed off-road tyres on the Grob to get past the front of Otto’s hanger!

Hopefully, from hereon, the weather will improve.

And that was the weekend news!

Alison

Winter wunders

2007-08-06T00:23:00.000+02:00

Five Gauntleteers tried their best in the SE wind on Saturday. This meant trying on the Victoria Peak to Villiersdorp mountain range. The conditions were difficult on the south side of the Stettynsberge; Cornelius and Mark landed out there. Cornelius made a groundloop while landing and that in the field next to where GOK was damaged last year. Mark landed in a sandy field across the road and stopped within 15 m thanks to the loose matter. It looked like beachsand with the loosseness of dunesand. Peter F went the furthest on the day (as usual).

Lots of other flights were made; we saw the Stemme in the air, Peter W polishing his motorglider and his landings, the usual Rotax Falke touch and go’s, two pax rides and getting the feel of a soaring plane.

Not satisfied with all the activity, a small band participated in the Cape Airborne Antics - Balloon build, much to the concern of the onlookers. It is not everyday we see lighted petrol baths on the airfield!

Fortunately, they were not totally unprepared for the conflagration which followed, and they were definitely heard to say, "We'll get it right next time!".

Some slightly more sane members were seen to "stand well back", but most involved seemed to have had a good laugh.

The evening started with Glühwein in the clubhouse provided by Alison. That pan of wine was soon empty. Hereafter we drank Rico’s wine with the potjiekos which this time arrived quite suitably around seven o‘clock.

We had further a very enjoyable evening with kids, dogs, old and young (at heart) around and under the table. Pity is that this sort of successful winteractivity is done at the end of the winter- we don’t have much time for repeats now.
Lynn Milne was there for the renaming of the Gauntlet Trophy. It is now the Garth Milne memorial trophy.

Sunday saw a beautiful winter’s day. Fickle to no wind on the ground with a nice temperature. A bit up there was a stiff NW breeze. Clinton Birch from GGC went solo on our Cirrus. He owns the only LAK up country I believe. Johan and Ian were on the Langeberg in erratic thermal and wave lift for close to two hours. Nice to see Dick Steer again. Phil and Peter C were the instructors on duty and did each two instructional flights.

The next Cape Gauntlet will be on 1st of September, we hear. Be there! Maybe this time we will have lift-off.

We're not sinking - it's just deeper here

2007-07-30T09:58:00.000+02:00

There was no flying over the weekend due to too bad weather. The whole week was a blow out except for Wednesday when two aerobatic planes came to train for their regional contest. Must be good for nature all this water. The sturdy dutch living in the camp classify this weather as normal dutch winterweather-nothing to get excited about. Tom sitting in Ireland and reading our mail got worried that his hut was in the water and floating away so he phoned in the middle of the night to inquire.

Saturday Jacobus and Jerry worked on the AAI of GUC and even put it together. Rudi was there, too, to give advice and a hand.

Sunday did not see any activity. Pilots in Europe work on their planes with this sort of weather. Logically their planes are generally in a much better condition than the SA ones. Wonder if we will see this phenomenon here too? Exceptions were Adriaan and Adri who were getting their LAK and trailer ready to go to the wave camp at El Mirador. Alison and Johnny were there, too, but they came out especially for Katryntjie.

Johnny took some photos of the Breede river in flood and I have forwarded one of these to the News. The photo was taken at Nekkies resort on Saturday morning.

Rob

Motorflowers

2007-07-23T08:52:00.000+02:00

Saturday saw a beautiful winters day with a chilly early morning and pleasant mid day temperatures, no wind, a bit of left over cloud amongst the blue skies, lush green veld with yellow flowering madeliefjes. Why go to Switzerland ?
Reinhold took some four visitors up to under the clouds at the Audensberg. Friederich continued with getting experience with soaring flight and many motor gliders went for a flip like Peter W, Jesse, Rudi, Jerry. Cornelius took his LS4 for a mid winter shake down cruise and found that the pneumatic tubes were leaking presumably caused by mice eating into them. So Sunday was spent by Cornelius making his hangar and his sailplane an unfriendly place for these pests. His next problem is to cut holes in the aft fuselage to run new tubes and repair these holes.

Sunday started calm until the aerobatic crowd arrived. They popped up without informing us and luckily for all the soaring enthusiasts it did not look very good with a very stable looking sky. Rob T, Jesse, William and Phil all had a ride in a motor glider. High wind feathers could be seen in the sky foreboding a coming depression.

Now Monday the depression is here with wind speeds of 50 kph.

GUC get her AAIsh!

2007-07-16T08:57:00.000+02:00

In Rob K’s absence:…

On Friday the air was like a millpond and, once airborne in VAE, we heard the airwaves very busy with many aircraft making use of the still conditions. There happened to be a microlight fly-in at Baviaanskloof.

This continued on Saturday – the conditions being the same – and it seemed that everyone was out flying and enjoying the weather suitable for power flying! At the field activity began early with the teams turning up for duty as well as the winch operation which got underway fairly early. GHB was the first to launch when Grove took a very enthusiastic pax for a flight. Next to launch off aerotow was Martin Young (all the way from Knysna). He made a valiant attempt to stay up but only managed 30 minutes and tried again later in the day. Unfortunately the conditions for staying up did not improve. Incidently, Martin very kindly helped Jerry with part of the AAI on GUC as no-one else turned up to help Jerry! Where were all the guys who fly her?

GHB continued to be kept busy with paxes and then landed on the winch runway to be utilized there for the rest of the day. 7 successful winch launches were achieved with the new cable which was being “run-in”. Marion Cole was a very efficient duty pilot.

Other pilots who flew off the aerotow were Mike Pascoe, WallyTamsen, Rudi, and Gerhard. Rico as well as Kevin flew their self launchers.

The TMG’s were busy, too ,with Peter and Susan in their Lambada flying down to Renosterhoek and located an eagle’s nest high in the mountains. Jesse Roos – who incidently had gone solo last Tuesday at Stellenbosch in GKM – flew for about an hour. Congratulations Jesse!! Paul had also re-soloed the week before! The Club Rotax Falke was kept busy with John Spargo, Rudi, and Mike Pascoe who flew with Herbie. Frans went for a short flight with me in VAE and then Johnny took her up the Hex valley and then back over Nuy – engine off – back to the field.

Another person worth mentioning was the appearance of Trevor Johnsson who actually stayed over in order to finish the AAI on his glider. Nice to see you again, TJ! (Something like the swallows returning after winter!)

Bill and Sue were also out there after their return from the States!

All in all a busy, nice warm day!

Sunday’s weather was the same but the attendance was bad. Only one flight in GHB with Coen Marais and Ian and then GZF was kept busy with Andre and then Rob Tiffin with Ian. Bruce and Peter flew EEJ ‘all over the place’!!

Brian Cole then flew GKM back to Stellenbosch.

Don’t forget the gauntlet on the 4th August and then a possibility of a potjie afterwards – details to follow.

STOP PRESS : ALL LADY PILOTS (of the powered kind):

Worcester Vliegklub have invited all lady pilots to fly in on Saturday the 11th of August. There will be a braai in the evening and breakfast on the Sunday morning. The men will be doing the cooking and the washing-up!!!. Guest of honour – Dietland Lemmpe! RSVP : Ursula at the Vliegklub.

Until next weekend, safe flying.

Alison

Wally has a Rainwave

2007-07-09T09:00:00.000+02:00

On Saturday we had our now regular front passing. The next front is due coming Wednesday so it looks now that coming weekend will be clear of nasty weather. This front was also less intense than the previous so maybe things are getting better.

The duty pilots Andre Stander and Dietmar Wientzke as well as the instructors: Wally and Paul Baily all turned up to do their duty.

Jerry had a flip in the Rotax Falke with Wally but had to hurry back to the field after being chased by rain, and later an eventful ride with Rico in his DG500. They flew in wave between Slanghoek and Waaihoek and even ridge soared on the clouds there. Rico commented that this was the most exhilarating soaring he had done for a long time. It shoes the variety in soaring we have here at FAWC.

Kevin was observed going up in his DG 400 at an angle of sixty degrees thanks to a nice headwind of 30 kph and a strong engine. In the german language this is called a ‘Senkrechtstarter’.

Sunday was cold and windy and although the entire team, including Nina (tuggy) and Boet (to instruct) were there, nobody flew.

Gareth could not fly GUC since its Authority to Fly had expired. The principal in charge had forgotten about its yearly inspection date…

Ah, well, next weekend will be better I bet.

Dig this limerick!

2007-06-21T07:29:00.000+02:00

Rob Tiffin, our energetic chairman, is offerring to remove soil excess and dig holes on the airfield for any who want or need it, prompting the following responses:

EY (Sven Olivier): Will pupils and other interested club members be allowed to attend and observe how one digs a hole for oneself? (I wonder whether Alan will do a limerick on this?)
;-)

X32 (Alan O'Regan):

Rob is our redoubtable chair
Undaunted he'll not turn a hair
He glides with flare
and occasional scare
But digs holes with an air of flair!

ID (Peter Farrell): I think you just coined a new nick name for Rob! "Flare & Scare Rob"

EY: But it could also be “Scare with flair Rob”

X32: Just goes to show that not even the hallowed committee are safe (from a little digg, that is).

That said, Rob, u da man! with the digger. And we all diggin’ it, bro!

Weekend Report: Windy visitors

2007-06-19T08:16:00.000+02:00

Saturday was a beautiful winter’s day; no wind, calm, not cold and perfect for doing the odd job.

Friedrich Moolman continued with getting experience in gliders. He is a power pilot who bought an Apis motorglider so he has to get experience in motorless flight.
A visiting (professional) pilot in a Cubby was taken for a ride by Rico in GWU. They managed to stay up at Vic Peak for an hour; the longest flight of the day. The daughter of the Cubby pilot went for her first soaring flight in HB and very likely we will see her more here since Daddy also thinks that gliding is the way to learn “the ropes in aviation”.
The Sterling’s did some touch and go’s in ZF while Nicky and Sven used ZF for some practice. A perfect day herefor.

Sunday was a blow out as forecasted. We measured 100 kph wind speed.
Still some six members turned up. Phil and Martin took two visitors up in ZF for a flip. Most likely they are now so scared that they will never go for flips again.

Weekend Report: One launch weekend

2007-06-12T08:03:00.000+02:00

With the forecast the way it was I was surprised to see a few faces out at FAWC on Saturday.

Rudi turned up to inspect his hanger and gliders and do some work as did Herbie who was doing some carpentry work in his hangar.

The weather was so foul that the duty pilot and instructors decided to call off operations early on Saturday. The airfield was waterlogged and the river was up to the cross runway fence again. So – no flying was done.

BUT

Sunday was a different story – we had one brave person take a launch! 100% more flying than Saturday. Great!

Johan Gericke was out at the field bright and early to do the Annual Inspection on GIG. So, assisted by Bill Griffiths, they worked in the cold, dark, clattery hanger until after lunch when the glider was rigged.

Bill then aerotowed Johan to Jan du Toit’s but he was unsuccessful in contacting the wave and flew back to the airfield.

That morning early, Ryno Oosthuisen arrived at the field to do his duty but was advised by Ed that there would be no flying due to the conditions being the same as the previous day. At this time the wind was gusting up to 60kph as well. So – once again – flying was cancelled.

Hopefully the weather will be better next weekend so – see you all then!

Alison

Weekend Report: So quiet even the duty pilots could not be heard!

2007-06-04T09:15:00.000+02:00

Saturday saw a stable sunny autumn day. The Gauntleteers enthusiasm was accordingly. Alan was recovering at home and Sven as stand in was trying although sick with flu to get the show “off the ground”.
Peter F was the first to launch at 14.00 hrs and staid up for an hour at Vic Peak. Martin and Jaco in GOK were the longest in the air with 72 minutes on the Hexrivervalley side of the Audensberg where they found that a north easterly wind gave them lots of lift. Beautiful cumulus could be seen there. Unknown terrain and not for the inexperienced I would think.

Frans Moolman went solo. Well done. That did not take too long. Some 5 pax rides were made too while June S did her touch and go’s in GZF.

The day after a Gauntlet day is normally quiet but this Sunday was quieter than anything before. Both duty pilots did not turn up and especially that one person should show a bit of responsibility towards club matters. Grove turned up with some paxes and enjoyed the conditions. The cumulus were now over the valley and it was hot and humid like on a summer’s day on the Highveld just before the rain. Gareth had a long ride in GUC of more than 3 hours and was hoping that the north westerly wind forecasted would enable him to get out of the valley and on to the ridge. Alas, no wind and no rain so far this Sunday nite.

Weekend Report: Be safe - stick to gliding!

2007-05-28T09:10:00.000+02:00

Saturday’s prediction was a moderate SW which did not materialize until about 11.30am. Kelvin set the pace with launching GUC at about 12.30pm and went straight to Vic Peak. He was joined by Adriaan and Adri who then pushed on to fly Table Mountain in their Lambada. Wally and I in GOK also tried Vic Peak, which was working to about 5000’ but tried to push forward to Rawsonville to see if we could find wave but were way off the mark. Sven, also looking for the wave, went West off Vic Peak and we soon heard him at Bainskloof at about 8000’! Rico and Rob K in the DG500 tried to follow suit but had to return to the Peak. June and Wally, also in GOK, had a great long flight of just short of two hours on the Peak.

Johan Gericke, who was on duty, took Demi Holmwood for a flight on the Peak in GOK too as she spent the entire day retrieving gliders in the ERV. Thanks again, Demi!

On the winching side, Ian, John and Rob T spent the entire day sorting out the new cable and other winch related issues.

A great , fun gliding day. Thanks, too, to Herbie who helped push gliders in between doing the LS1 on his glider and to Bill who did the tugging.

The wind died down in the evening and Sunday dawned a perfect TMG day. The inversion was at about 1000’ and we went to Roberstson and back in VAE. Later Peter Wooley arrived and took first Susan for a long flight and then a friend, Tony, for a flight in his Lambada – this time to Hermanus and back! Bill and Johnny went for a flight in VAE so that Bill would not get withdrawal symptoms as his Grob will only be ready next weekend! (The canopy has taken ages to manufacture!)

On the gliding side Adriaan and Adri, with the assistance of Kylie, did duty at the 33 end of the runway. Although the wind was very slight from the SE, it was hardly noticeable. The gliding was a little more active with GOK doing no less that 6 Pax flights! William brought a friend out and he managed to have two flights. Alan Procter did an annual check flight and the surprise of the day was when Alex Kielczynski arrived and also had a check flight. Welcome back, Alex!! Bill helped out with the tugging while Alan did his check flight.

The conditions were VERY stable and the competition of the day was “ who could stay up the longest”! Even my Ka6 did not stay up longer than the twin but, looking at the tug times, they probably went higher!! Yes, I did even fly my Ka6!!! Briefly!!

Ed has bronchitis – hence my doing the weekend news. Get well soon, Ed.

See you all next week for the Gauntlet!!

Alison

PS: Speaking of the Gauntlet I HAVE to tell you all this: ……

I spoke to Alan O’Regan last night and he has broken his foot in a mountain climbing incident!! Good grief!! He will probably be in plaster and not be able to fly the gauntlet but will definitely be there to organize. Get well soon, too, Alan. (Stick to gliding Alan, it is much safer!)

Weekend Report: A new meaning for GliderPort

2007-05-21T08:45:00.000+02:00

Well, if you intended to fly on the past weekend you would have been disappointed for the front really came through with a vengeance on Friday night.

Andre Leeb du Toit had very kindly driven through to FAWC on Friday morning (for the second time last week) to attempt to fly the Rotax Falke back to Stellenbosch. The wind on the ground at Worcester was still in the morning and he managed to get airborne and safely to Stellenbosch. Thanks very much Andre! The Falke was then de-rigged and put into Stellair’s hanger.

We gave Andre a lift back to FAWC late Friday afternoon and, by then, then wind had begun to blow. Not much rain fell until mid Saturday morning but I do not recall the wind ever being so fierce. The DSTV Antennae at the Vliegklub blew down during the day. Saturday night was cold with driving rain and the four of us left on the airfield – Rob, Ed, Johnny and I spent the evening together with red wine and a potjie that had been cooking all afternoon! Great stuff!!

Sunday the duty pilots – Kelvin Holmwood and Richard Stear – arrived to monitor the situation and advised the rest of the team (instructors and tuggie) not to drive all that way as the airfield was waterlogged and the wind too strong. The Breede River was visible from the clubhouse and the water had risen to the end of the cross runway (Ed: the yanks would really be able to call Worcester a Glider-port!).

The only other pilot who braved the weather to drive out to the airfield was Hubert and the afternoon was spent in our flat with much coffee and sticky cakes! (In fact the entire weekend was not good for the figure!)

See you all again next weekend!

Alison

Weekend Report: The Gauntlet may wave

2007-05-07T08:18:00.000+02:00

After the dismal long weekend following the AGM, 6 aerotows in 4 days, it was very refreshing to witness an active second weekend.

Mist blanketed the Breede Valley on Saterday, but that did not discourage the duty pilots Alison and Frank Dorey, who got the show on the road as soon as the mist had been burned off. Peter Clemence and Frans du Toit completed the "production team" that was raring to go by 9 o'clock.

A new member, Friedrich Moolman, arrived in his C210P from FASH, signed up as a member, was issued with Cloudbase and Pupil's Logbook and had his first launch by 10:58 under the guidance of Peter. Adri pipped him at the launchpoint with a "Sniffer" flight in the Lambada.

Andrew Standring in his K7, GTZ, had the third flight; but that was a full 3/4 hours later. After Friedrich's second flight ,Kevin Mitchell launched in GZP and the Hepburns got airborne again in GXH, followed by Paul Troskie and Martin Gruenert in Hubert's 100 HP Rotaxfalke GLZ. Lafrasse Moolman took an AEX flight in GHB with Peter.

The briefing of the Gauntleteers had been postponed to 11:00 hrs and after much waiting and a rebrief at the launchpoint the launchsequence of the competition got under way at 13:09 with Alan in GUY (X32), being towed by Martin and Paul in GLZ, followed by William in GIG, Peter in GNM (ID), Jacobus in GUC, Adriaan in GXA (K17) towed by GLZ piloted by Martin (solo), Sven in GUN (EY), Quinton in GII and Kelvin Holmwood with Martin Gruenert in GOK.(I still do not know how Martin fiited it all in!)

68 minutes to launch 8 competing gliders.,(this just for the record).

Rico took off in GWU with Helmut Morsbach, visiting his old stomping ground again from Japan, as guest for a 2,5 hour flight, after which training continued with a checkflight of Andrew Standring in GTZ with Ian, a second AEX flight in GHB with Peter, a checkflight of Nicky and Boet in GHB, a third training flight of Friedrich in GHB with Boet and a last flight of Andrew in GTZ.

Last landing was GUN at 18:03 after 4 hrs 13min.

(Total flying time: 33 hrs,thanks Alan for the initiative to get the pilots in the air).

A good day's flying (see the pics), although lack of capacity resulted in 2 AEX flights, that were waiting, not taking place.

For a report on the Gauntlet competition and results: see the Cape Gauntlet web page.

Sunday 6 May fell flat again, although duty pilot Helmuth von Michaelis, tugpilot Paul Troskie and duty instructor Nicky Oberhofer were at FAWC at 9:00 o'clock there were no further members or visitors. After the Hepburns took off at 10:03 for a 100 minute flight, Helmuth, the eternal opportunist, launched in GUC behind MIV (Paul Troskie) and spent over 3 hours trying to get away from Vic Peak in the weak wave.

Rico did an annual check with Nicky in the DG500M, which ended in sinking into the mud outside the concrete markers of Runway 30, near the turn-off to the taxiway! Although they landed at 15:32, it took untill dark to extricate the glider out off it's sinkhole.

Where were all our flying members, particularly the trainees? Another ideal training day went to waste due to lack of participants: Quo Vadis Cape Gliding Club?

EdV.

Weekend Report: Two cold fronts

2007-05-02T08:08:00.000+02:00

The weekend “passee’ was dominated by two passing cold fronts. Friday the 27th was like European winterweather so some real enthusiasts came in the morning but vanished at noon because of wind, rain and cold.

Saturday was a typical post frontal day and Martin Young was the early bird trying out Vic Peak in the westerly wind. He flew nearly 3 hours venturing there and across the valley to Brandwag. Peter Farrell soared in the Audenberg to Waaihoek region while Rob K sniffed also the conditions out there with ZG. There were some nice pockets of lift. Rico thought to do a friend a service by taking her for a flip however she became sick and had to return. Alison was the next passenger in Rico’s plane and came back with a great smile. Pretty sure we will see her more there. Kevin M went for a flip. June and Andre did some training flights in ZF.

Sunday was again windy and cold. Only Martin G and Hubert went for a ‘derust’ ride in LZ. Lots of horsepower there.

On Monday the Hepburns and Kevin M went up, no tug pilot or other people present.

Tuesday, May 1 was Labour day and after the article in Getaway magazine about CGC we expected some visitors. The conditions were now totally different to the previous days in that the weather was stable with no wind whatsoever and a high temperature. Not much lift to be expected. There were two paxes, Helmut von M was staying up longest with 1,5 hours. Further we saw the usual motorglider rides.

It looks that the season changed. The grass next to the tar road in the camp is growing and green again. The watering in the camp is stopped.

Weekend Report: AGM approaches - Best club member?

2007-04-23T10:20:00.000+02:00

Both Saturday and Sunday’s weather was superb for TMG as well as glider training. Balmy, Autumn days! Paul Roos was excellent as duty pilot for Saturday and did his duty solo and as though he had done it for years!

Earlier that morning Johnny and I in RMP, Andre and Quiton in GUF, Adriaan and Adri in GXH and Brian Cole in GKM flew in to the breakfast at Robertson which was also well attended by other Clubs.

When we arrived back at FAWC, our newest member – Dietmar – was already there with two paxes who were later flown by Andre in GOK while Dietmar took advantage of having GHB all to himself and flew alternately with Reinhold and Wally who were the duty instructors.

Kelvin had a flight first in GOK and then THREE flights in GUC! Frans du Toit had about twelve tugs to do which kept him busy until after 4.30pm. It was also great to see an old friend from BaraG/Donaldson days - Dirk Gonlag - who visited us for the day!

Sunday morning’s silence was broken with Brian in GKM before he resumed his duty day. He was followed by Martin Young in GUC tugged by Alan Procter. Martin then went on to do his conversion onto GIG and flew for an hour and a half! Well done Martin! Boet Coetzee took his daughter for a flight to Hermanus in GUF. Helmut then flew GUC, too, for over an hour

Nicky and Rob K took the winch out and 4 successful winch launches were achieved. Even Hubert helped myself and Rob Tiffen on the winch runway while Marion very ably ran the aerotow launch point.

Adri and Martin flew to FACT and then later Adri flew there and back solo while June flew with Martin in the Rotax Falke. Later Martin flew with Rob Tiffin in the Falke, too. Thanks to Alan Procter who helped put away four gliders yesterday! A tuggie going beyond and above the call of duty!

This coming weekend there will be a tug pilot for Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday with Rico available for Monday should anyone be interested.

Do also remember the AGM on Wednesday at the Pinelands Bowling Club at 7.30pm. We might even vote a best club member:

See you all there!

Alison

Weekend Report: Quietly busy

2007-04-16T02:35:00.000+02:00

A quiet - but enthusiastic weekend nonetheless! Errol drew had stayed over and flown during the week and, as he is leaving today, has de-rigged his glider until he returns in a few months time.

On Saturday William Whittaker brought a few Air scouts to the club for winching and the winch team were there to get the show on the road. Nine launches were achieved with a strong 35kph NW wind so there were nice, high launches. Even Errol was amazed as to what height we get to and he had two launches, too. Sven and Ian instructed on the winch side while Paul Troskie was to instruct on the aerotow side but we had NO takers for instruction, again. Thanks to Michael Allen who drove the tractor all day and Nico Le Roux who was duty pilot.

On the Aerotow side we only had one launch and Paul tugged Gareth in GUC who flew in wave for 3.5hrs.

The morning had started with Jacobus, Gareth, Johnny and myself sanding and finishing off the repairs to GUC. After one or two glitches and lots of elbow grease, we rigged the glider with the help of Jerry and June, and managed to get the paperwork done and GUC taken to the launch point. Thanks to all concerned who made this possible! Thanks to Jerry for working on the installation of the Flarm in GHB. Hopefuly the radio in GHB will be repaired by the weekend.

The only other glider that flew on Saturday was Rico who took a friend for a flight in GWU and thoroughly enjoyed the conditions.

GXH with the Hepburns, and GZG flown by Rob Kakebeeke took to the skies as well.

Saturday evening was quiet with Ed being invited to a local party so the bar was only kept going until 7.00pm and then the few that were there went home.

Sunday’s duty pilots arrived early (Richard Harris and Maurice Cotton) to get things going. Johan Gericke was the first to turn up with a friend, Barry, and they flew together later in GOK after helping much at the launch point . June had booked the Rotax Falke with Phil Surridge and flew for almost an hour in really still, great conditions. Kelvin then had a check flight in GOK with Paul Troskie tugging (again) and then Ari took to the skies in the LSpatz and landed an hour and a half later just as the wind started to pick up. Very well timed, Ari! Adriaan and June in GXH and Peter Wooley and Susan in GXZ also took off with both flying again later. Kelvin then few in GUC (with an ASI that was u/s) landed and thought that he had fixed it, flew again only to find that it was not fixed but managed to stay up for half an hour. This is when your ‘blank panel’ exercise really counts!! Errol Drew also had his last flight in his Antares before packing it away.

That being the end of the tugging for the day, Paul took a friend for an hour-long flight in the Rotax Falke.

During the day, Peter Clemence and his wife, Felix, had flown over from Fisantekraal in EEJ and he later flew back with his brother, Bruce to Fisantekraal while Felix drove back.

Thanks to the teams for doing their duties to make everything run so smoothly this weekend.

Please remember the AGM next Wednesday, the 25th of April, at the Pinelands Bowling Club.

Regards
Alison

Easter - Exhausted After Severe Training Exercise & Recovering!

2007-04-10T06:42:00.000+02:00

The course ended on a high note on Friday evening with a lot of happy students. I must thank a lot of members who gave their time and energy to the successful running of the course (see the comment on this blog entry for some excellent feedback). I am not going into detail as Dietmar has already done that! The Instructors: Andre, Peter Clemence, Johan Gericke, Paul Troskie, Quintin Hoole, Martin Grunert, Ian Forbes, Nicky and Ari; Tug Pilots: Nina Grunert (every day), Paul Troskie, John Spargo, Frans du Toit and Alan Procter, all need to be thanked for giving of their valuable time. Another member, who really needs mentioning, is Andrew Standring who spent the first few days on the course helping the students and the duty pilots in getting things to run smoothly at the launch point! He also managed to complete his “C” as well as 10 solo flights! Tom and Jesse did a sterling job as duty pilots for the course. Of course, the member who stands out the most, is ED!!! Without him the course would not have run so smoothly. A big thank you Ed! I know how tired you are this morning but your contribution is highly valued.

I must also mention a person who was behind the scenes and who stayed on the airfield for the entire week just in case something should break and that is Johnny! Thanks for all your assistance and – for me – the support you gave to the course!

Now, for the rest of the weekend, the report is very short.

Saturday no duty pilots turned up so a big “Thank You” to Jerry who gave up his flying so that others could fly while he did the timekeeping! Boet, the duty instructor, took 3 paxes in GOK, then took a visiting pilot from Bloemfontein, Walter Walle, for a flight to Hermanus in GZF. Two singles who flew were Garth Milne and Bill Griffiths who both had nice long flights. Jacobus also flew GZF in between his hard work on GUC. Incidentally, Jacobus spent most evenings last week until 11.00pm working on GUC in the club hangar and repeated his efforts all weekend as well. The work is nearing completion and hopefully GUC will be polished this weekend. I am sure that Nina was pleased that the day was not as busy as anticipated as she had “drawn the short straw” and had to tug on Saturday as well! Thank you very much Nina (The guys on the course called her the “Tug Chick”)

The evening saw much entertaining in the Clubhouse with the O’Regans and the Farrels as well as Rudi and Liesl, Horst and Chrystal, Gerhard and Marianne.

On Sunday the conditions were much the same as Saturday. Calm to start off with but then the light breeze from the NW began. Peter Wooley took Susan for her first flight in his beautiful new Lambada – GXZ – and later flew a long flight down the ridge towards Robertson by himself. Rob K took off and flew to Clanwilliam and Elands Bay and back. Rudi and Gerhard flew GZF as did John Spargo and Errol Drew. Rico took Horst for a flight in GWU which, after landing, Horst described as his best flight in a long time! They flew for just over 3 hours and managed to get to 8500’ at one stage! I also managed to take VAE down the valley for an hour. Really nice TMG conditions!

Monday morning the team: Fred, Henry and Rico turned up to do duty but, disappointingly, we had NO takers for the tug. Rob K flew to the KKNK at Oudtshoorn and GZF was flown by Jacobus. Errol was the only glider which flew for close on 4 hours (ed: to Renosterhoek!)! See what you guys missed! I took RMP to Theewaterskloof and back and then had to return to pack up after the long weekend.

Just a reminder of the AGM on Wednesday the 25th of April.

Please cast your minds to the nominations for the Committee and remember that the positions to be filled should be by those who want to contribute to the WORK to be done in the Club. A position on the Committee is not a popularity poll or to appease someone’s egos. It is real hard work and self-sacrifice and a position that leaves you open for criticism all the time by the odd few. But it can also be very rewarding as we have many very nice and appreciative members, too!

See you all next weekend!

Regards

Alison.

PS: The weekend news editor’s position is also open from Saturday the 28th April. A volunteer would also be appreciated.

Big Boys & Toys: Andre turns 50!

2007-04-02T06:59:00.000+02:00

Saturday morning got off to an enthusiastic good start with Alan’s briefing in the Vliegklub training centre which was well attended. Jacobus was hilarious when he arrived dressed as a mad scientist– blond wig and all!! Jennifer and Douglas Bradley were visiting us and Jennifer flew with Martin “Mountain Meister” Grunert in GOK. Douglas was fortunate to be invited by Rico to fly with him in the DG500. Both had wonderful experiences, and this morning’s reports from their home confirmed that! Thanks to everyone involved for making them feel welcome at our Club.

Two tug pilots had been organized and Paul Troskie (MIV) and Rico (NIG) were kept busy from just after 11.00am until 13.00 when all the gauntleteers had been launched. Alan, Peter, Quinton, Mark, Jennifer & Martin, William, Jacobus, Craig, Adriaan and Errol all took part in the competiton. All made it back with the exception of Jacobus who outlanded with a little damage to the wing of GUC. He was very fortunate as he had a VERY close encounter with a barbed-wire fence! We are all very happy that YOU are fine, Jacobus!

Garth did his annual check with Paul Bailey while Rudi took a launch in his Astir and flew for just over an hour. Paul then took Garth for a flight in GUF and Jerry and Nicky went flying in GZF.

Peter Wooley has been trying to get illusive paperwork regarding his Lambada together in order to complete his Annual Inspection and this was accomplished by Saturday afternoon. The Cherry on the Top was when he went for his first type-conversion lesson with Martin at sunset. Congratulations, Peter! I am sure it was worth the wait!

After sunset everyone gathered in the Clubhouse and the mood was very festive while everyone chatted about their day’s flights. We celebrated Andre’s 50 years of gliding with champagne and the presentation of a Certificate! Well done, Andre! Andre was also thanked for his amazing effort in getting GHB repaired in time for the course. Rudi fetched the wing from Andre’s workshop on Friday morning and brought it straight out to the airfield. Unfortunately Friday was the day that the schools closed and Rudi was caught in the Cape Town traffic from 8.00 in the morning until he reached the airfield at 13.30. Your assistance in this matter is greatly appreciated, Rudi!

Andre Stander drove out especially on Saturday morning in response to the request for assistance to do the LS1 to GUZ. He and Rudi completed the inspection and then we all helped to rig GHB whereafter Andre Stander and I cleaned the gliders in preparation for the course. After putting the gliders back in the hangar, Andre had to leave the airfield as he had a prior engagement. Before leaving he discovered that Ed had a plight which needed attention : the liquid refreshment order had not been delivered. Andre then drove to Cape Town, collected the order from Makro and drove back to the airfield to deliver the drinks to the Clubhouse! This surpasses anything ever done for the club in recent times – I am speechless and I can only say “THANK YOU” Andre!!!

On Sunday morning I thought that I would take Jacobus’s mind off the day before and take him for one of “Alison’s Scary Flights” in the Grob. I certainly took his mind off things for a few minutes as the 90 deg. cross wind sent the Grob (thankfully airborne) heading for the bushes at the side of the runway for a few seconds! The rest of the flight was uneventful but we had to land due to a radio problem. Adri and Adriaan were next to get airborne (separately) and flew in what seemed marginal conditions the rest of the morning. They were joined by Johan Gericke in GOK with a pax and then Errol also tried out the conditions in his Antares. Phil flew first with a Pax in GOK and then with June in GZF for an hour. Johan Gericke was kept busy in GOK and Ian did various check flights in GOK as well. Kevin had the last flight of the day in his DG400 for half an hour.

The day ended with us getting geared up for the course which starts today. My thanks to the people that have put in a lot of effort to make this happen: Andre LdT, Rudi, Andrew S, Ed, Tom, Ian, Johnny, Andre S, Rob K, Jesse, Hans (for the projector), and all the Instructors and Tug Pilots.

Anyone wishing to fly during the duration of the course must bear in mind that the course launches take precedence over any private gliders wishing to launch. Private gliders are very welcome but the pilots must bear in mind that they might have to wait for a launch until a tug is available. The course runs until Friday afternoon.

We hope to see you all at the field over the Easter Weekend.

Until then….

Alison

Weekend Report: Early birds find worms

2007-03-26T06:30:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-03-19T08:18:00.000+02:00

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

2007-03-12T10:01:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-03-05T07:59:00.000+02:00

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

Wally WORKS!

2007-02-26T10:15:00.000+02:00

The weekend began, once again, on Friday - with Kevin Mitchell getting airborne by 18h00 and flying with his beautiful DG400 to Mitchell’s Pass and to Nuy and back to the airfield and landing at 19h00. This makes the rest of us envious, especially since some of us were caught in the traffic- jam on the Rawsonville side of the pass until late and this also had a knock-on effect when the authorities cleared some of the wreckage on Saturday morning. June telephoned to say that they were delayed in the traffic pile-up and, by the time she managed to get to the Startwagon, we had hooked up the first glider for launching. Wally, who was instructing, had two more launches before Nina and helpers packed the tug away due to the strong NW which made the tugging risky. On his last flight he had a member of an Austrian gliding club on board and they had a wonderful wave flight overhead Slanghoek to 8000’ and stayed up for 1hr 45min. Axel, the other pilot, was beaming from ear to ear for a long while after that.

Unfortunately for the rest of us that was the end of the day’s flying and many retired to the Clubhouse for a beer. Peter Wooley, who came out especially to polish his motorglider was unable to do so due to the airborne grit flying around. Rudi kept himself busy with the tailwheel mod for his Ka7 and in various hangers various work was done. A disappointing day for many. I think that the roaring wind, the dust and the heat made quite a few of us a little more grumpy than usual.

Sunday dawned with a moderate NW blowing and many of us were holding thumbs that it did not blow out again.

Sven arrived and together with the duty pilots – Kelvin, Demi and Brian Dean, got the show on the road. (I think that next time I do duty I am going to request that Kelvin is my duty partner – we always get Demi as a bonus!) We had expected about 5 ot 6 intro flights but this was boosted with 3 of Wally’s as well as the expected KLM pilots. (No, Andre, they did not bring their flight attendants along so you would have stayed over in vain!)

Ed, who was flying with Otto (welcome back) in TR, reported that the south side of Vic Peak was working and a few tried this route. Otto remarked on landing that he returned because he was bored. Come on Ed, where’s you in-flight entertainment! Jacobus flew GUC and then landed so that Helmut could fly. He had a wonderful flight for close on 2 hours in GUC. The conditions were definitely improving and Tom had a good flight in his glider.Adriaan launched in his Lak and stayed up for just under an hour. We missed Adri this weekend – we’ll have to wait until next weekend for her regular early morning circuits in the Lambada.

As the wind had calmed a little and the queue for GOK was lengthy, Wally took GHB out of the hanger and continued to help Sven as he was the only instructor on duty. Thanks VERY much to Wally and Sven for a great job done yesterday! The last glider to land landed at 18.50. I think Wally gets the prize this week for doing two duty days in a row!! We totaled 10 Air Experience Flights yesterday.

Jacobus had an amazing flight with Brendon O’Brien, and was reported doing some breathtaking aerobatics.

Rob Kakebeeke was also seen taking to the skies in his DG400.

Generally a very quiet weekend for members – everyone must be interpreting the weather better than I! Unless I am the eternal optimist!

See you all next weekend.

Alison

Rallies & Blade Runners!

2007-02-19T08:02:00.000+02:00

The weekend started early with Adriaan doing a great 425 km on Friday after Paul Troskie kindly aerotowed him and Tom, who also flew. Paul then treated himself to a flight in the rotax falke with a friend.

Woxie and POP set the pace on Saturday morning by flying out of FAWC to Nadini in GZF after Ed had kindly refueled them prior to their takeoff at 06.46!

Our first Pax of the day was Brendon O’Brien from the UK, a very experienced glider pilot and aerobatic pilot. I have never seen Martin so impressed by anyone before in my life! Martin’s eyes were like saucers when they returned. The man is a master of aerobatics!

Things hottet up after Alan’s briefing for the Bladerunner contest – for which he really deserves accolades! Well done and thank you very much Alan. I know that all who participated had a wonderful time – albeit not all that easy in the beginning. Launching began in earnest with Mark in TIM (although he did not take part in the contest) then Cornelius (who had to re-light) Peter Farrel, Adriaan Hepburn, Reinhold and Gerhard in GVK, and Sven in the 27. These launches were interspersed with power aircraft landing for the rally and later taking off again, as well as motor gliders – GUF with Boet and Paul, Bill in OEM and Dirk and Martin in GZF. Very busy launch point! Jerry and Grove took GOK up for an hour and had a great flight. After that Grove flew paxes which kept him busy until the end of the day.

Martin Young (all the way from Knysna) had a two hour flight in GUC.

Winching got underway at lunchtime and thanks to the team as well as Michael Allen who spent an entire day helping and then did not manage a flight for himself afterall. The team managed 4 launches without a cable break and Kevin as well as John Spargo had good flights as well as Jesse Roos’s friend, James, who flew for half an hour.

Congratulations to Rudi who did his rotax falke conversion!

Thanks to all those who worked so hard on Saturday and gave me a hand at the launch point. It was also nice to see Horst Mucke and Giso von Petersdorf visit us for the day. Marion and Penelope kept us company under the shade structure while Brian went flying in his Pipistrel.

Sunday started bright and early with the sound of GZG at 07.48 heading for Langebaan. Adriaan and Jacobus followed suit with a take off at just after 9.00am. Martin was launched at 10.10am by John who had stayed over and the duty pilots were bright and early, too. Martin stayed up on Vic Peak, with 2 attempts at the ridge to Villiersdorp, for over two hours. After he landed, Helmut took GUC up again for close on four hours after releasing at 2500ft over the dam hills! Tom Heaslip was not so fortunate and landed after 20 minutes. Mark Siegelberg was kept busy - first with Leigh from Getaway Magazine as well as conversions in the Rotax Falke. First Graham Anderson (nice to see!) and then Rob Tiffin. Alan Procter had a good flight in GIG – over an hour!

It was a pity that Sunday was so quiet but we certainly made up for it on Saturday – a hectic day all round with many tired pilots and helpers. Thanks again to all.

See you next weekend.

Alison

Tugs of Navarrone?

2007-02-06T19:41:00.001+02:00

I am sure that Alan O’Regan, of all the members, must be the most frustrated after the problems that we had on Saturday in getting the “Gauntlet” off the ground. Thanks to Adriaan who stepped in and did 4 launches before having to stop tugging due to the strength of the wind. He damaged his wingtip on the second-last landing although not too badly. At that point, Johnny had managed to patch- weld the exhaust of NIG and Nina carried on with the launches but had to stop on the sixth launch when the manifold broke while she was flying. Both she and Jacobus, who she was towing at the time, handled the situation very well and without incident. Unfortunately the Gauntlet launch came to a grinding halt! The wind had been very strong and, up to this point, NIG had not been able to turn in the wind so Johnny took out his “Mark 1” towing contraption which increased the turn around time in getting the tug back to the launch point tail first!

Both Quinton Hoole and Ari Cotton made a valiant effort in staying up but the conditions proved very difficult and they landed after half an hour of trying, followed by Errol in the Antares.

Those who did manage to get away did some very nice times and distances – one of which was William Whitakker in GIG who did a PB of over 300kms! Congratulations William – but that also did not go without incident as William hit a” Pothole” in the sky and damaged the canopy. Not too badly, though, and he says it should be repaired by the weekend.

The entry for the Gauntlet was the largest I have ever seen at the Club. It is a pity about the tugs – Murphy definitely played a part – but at the next gauntlet on the 3rd of March, Both tugs WILL be operational and there will be two rostered tug pilots for the day!

I am sure Alan has a record of distances flown on Saturday and will make the information known should you be interested. Thanks for all the effort put into the arranging of the Competition, Alan.

Marion and Brian manned the launch point very ably with all the effort needed in trying to get everyone off in time and were assisted by Paul Bailey and Andre who were duty instructors.

In the meantime Johnny was frantically trying to get hold of Tony, the chap that does the coded welding and managed to coerce him into driving out to Worcester to repair the welding on the tugs. Toey did so early Sunday morning and repaired MIV but had to take the manifold of NIG with him to his business premises as it needed a little more attention.

So tugging once again got underway, with a small snag raising its ugly head after lunch but was sorted out by Johnny, and now MIV is once again serviceable.

One tends to forget the times that they work non-stop and it is unfortunate that we have had two weekends with snags back to back. It is unusual and we do have short memories as to when they are indeed serviceable!

No students arrived on Sunday and Jacobus took advantage of the fact that he was there (duty pilot) and availed himself of the instruction at hand (Wally) and began his conversion onto the Rotax Falke and soloed as well!!! Well done Jacobus, and well done landing in that fairly strong cross wind, too!! We were all watching!

A reporter from the Getaway magazine was flown first in the Rotax Falke by Wally (at 6.30 in the morning!) and then she had a flight with Adriaan in GXH. She was very impressed with the weekends activities and the various gliders on the field. I took Ed for a flight in VAE – the first time he has been airborne in months!!

Paul Troskie took his 86 year old grandmotherinlaw for a flight in the Falke, too and she loved it!

Rob Kakebeeke as well as Rico launched independently as did Errol and Kevin Mitchell and all had long, good flights.

John Spargo behind the controls of MIV launched Gerhard Waller who had a great flight down the ridge to Ashton and later launched Adriaan.

Thanks to all who helped out this weekend and especially to those who understood the logistical “glitches” which can make a weekend so stressfull.

A special “THANK YOU’ to Johnny who spent both days working to get the equipment serviceable so that others can enjoy their weekend’s flying.

Welcome back to Jerry Betbeder – it was nice to see you – and it was also great to see Peter Wooley and his new Lambada.

Attached too, is a letter that Mark Siegelberg has asked me to forward with the weekend news.

Until next week ……..

Alison

Another LAmbaDA!

2007-01-29T07:24:00.000+02:00

This Weekend’s news actually began when Peter Wooley landed at FAWC in his new Lambada which he flew down from Johannesburg with Adriaan Hepburn. From what I gather, they had quite a grueling trip ( being chased by storms) which began on Wednesday afternoon when they took off from Johannesburg, stayed over at Tempe that night, left at first light on Thursday morning and they landed at Worcester on Thursday afternoon and were welcomed home by Ed! I am sure Peter will be writing something about his trip in the KK. Congratulations on your new acquisition, Peter.

Saturday’s crew arrived bright and early. Paul Roos and Roger Tipping helped out by Jesse Roos kept the show on the road at the aerotow side while the “A” Team got started bright and early on the winch side.

Adri and Adriaan flew their Lambada for the first time in weeks while GZF was flown by Andre as well as Boet Coetsee.

Martin Young had driven down from Knyzna for the weekend and first flew in GOK with Grove and then later in GUC for 3.5hrs. Jacobus Hartman brought his brother Alwyn for an introductory flight while he flew in GUC for and hour. Adriaan must have “mended” as he flew his Lak for 6.5 hrs! GIG was shared by Alan Procter (1.5hrs) and Grove (1.05hrs). Tom Heaslip, TJ, Herbie as well as Errol all had long flights as well. One of the pilots I spoke to described the conditions as “difficult and hard work”. Rico braved the heat in MIV – I do not know how he always seems to remain so cheerful!!

It was certainly hot at the launch point, too. Winching went Extremely Well with John Spargo driving and being relieved for a flight himself by Rob K. Paul Bailey flew the first two paxes and had to be called down as they were at risk of flying for more than the 30min allowed!!! Rudi as well as Rico, Ian Forbes with his son Adrian and Tom all had flights until late. On the last launch the cable broke but for the rest of the time the flights were between 10 and 37 minutes. Well done to all who worked so hard in the blistering sun.

Sunday looked windless and inverted early and advantage was taken of the conditions by the Grob - VAE and a visiting Grob - LRL. The first self launcher to take to the skies was GWS with Hans and Martin and they flew an 800km distance! At this point Paul “Hawkeye” Troskie spotted another crack in the exhaust manifold on the RHS of MIV. So – no tugging!! Not to be daunted, Martin, Helmut, Dirk all took advantage of Cross country training in GZF and kept Nicholas busy until late! Rico and Horst Pfleugner flew for over two hours in GWU and Errol flew the Antares.

The wind had picked up from the NW and was gusty up to about 30kph. And HOT! Not a very pleasant day for those on the ground– thank heavens for the swimming pool and the aircon in the clubhouse!

Thanks to Louis Esterhuisen who sat alone (most of the time) at the launch point and then locked up at the end of the day’s flying.

Remember the Gauntlet this coming weekend!

Also welcome back to Jerry Betbeder who was away visiting New Zealand. He says he will be out at the field next weekend! At the same time – Bon Voyage to Garth Milne who left for Oz for a few weeks.

See you all then.

Alison

Weekend Report: Hot but quiet: the Weather AND the Antares

2007-01-22T21:05:00.000+02:00

Sven’s forecast for the weekend seemed encouraging but many stayed away because of the anticipated extreme temperatures as well as the other activity – aerobatics – scheduled for Worcester Airfield for the weekend.

Adequate preparation was done prior to the visiting pilots arriving and our duty teams on both days arrived for the safety briefing on time which was vital for the days’ operations. Everything went off smoothly and great co-operation was forthcoming from both sides. Some of our members just enjoyed watching the aerobatic pilots while others enjoyed the coolness of the airconditioned clubhouse.

Saturday, Gareth was out bright and early and did a long flight, 3.8hrs. However, the earlier part of the flight was not easy in that the lift seemed elusive but ‘hanging in there’ paid off. Reinhold had a flight with Ian in GOK and ,when it landed, Jacobus did his GPL flight test with Nicky in GOK. Errol Drew wowed the crowds when he took off in his super-silent Antares and flew for over an hour.

Andre Stander, one of the duty pilots, stood in for Jesse Roos, the other duty pilot while he went flying in the Pipistrel with Martin and then later with Boet who had completed him conversion onto same. It was a very long, hot day for the tug pilot, Frans du Toit as, although there were not many flights in total (4 launches) they were long flights and in the same glider (GOK) which meant that he had to wait at the launch point in the heat. Thanks to all the team: Frans, Martin, Boet Andre and Jesse for all the hard work and co-operating safely with the other traffic.

Sunday the heat was even worse!!!

The flying, what there was, was good and the pilots stayed up for considerably long flights. Cornelius had three paxes while William had a visitor which he took for a flight. Errol – once again – flew his Antares while Sven (who was on duty) let a visiting pilot from Germany, Volker Fiebig, fly his ASW27 after a check flight with Fred in GOK. Volker stayed airborne for 3 hours while his wife took advantage of the pool. Rico and Horst Pfleugner had a nice l.5 hr flight in GWU and Sven and Fred went flying in GOK. Sunday’s team : Sven, Fred, Ari (Tuggie), Maurice and Rob Tiffin…..thank you for doing duty in the worst possible conditions! 39deg and an easterly wind!

Once again, the team did their duties without incident with the visiting pilots. A spin-off from this was when 2 of the aerobatic pilots have asked for details of our ab-initio course and would like to begin gliding!!

Just two issues I must mention:

Duty pilots…. Please keep your time sheets neat. If they are a shambles – and it happens on a busy day – it might be an idea to re-write them so that Barbera can accurately post the times to the accounts.

The other “gripe” is the pool. Members must please try not to damage, stand on, sit on or dive onto the pool sweeper. I know it gets in the way but it suffered a little damage this weekend and is expensive to replace. If you remove it from the pool, do so only if you know how. Or call Ed to help.

GHB’s frame is being welded at the moment and then, later this week, will be coming to my factory for recovery and respray of the damaged section. She should be operational by two weekend’s time.

Next weekend we are back to normal operations so….. see you all then.

Alison

Jacobus BUSTS 50!

2007-01-15T21:07:00.000+02:00

(Ed: Jacobus Hartman flew his 50 by doing a declared 163 km Audensberg, Swellendam, Robertson).

Hi ya all, I would just like to made a note on something that happened before I flew to Swellendam the past weekend.

My glider and trailer was all setup to roll, but I still needed to get the logger sorted out. Thanks for that one Nicky! After about 2 hours getting ready I got to the starting line and found a crowd waiting to be launched. Now this is is the part where I would like to thank 2 people in particular:

Sarel and Peter

Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to launch prior to the 2 of you. I know it was a gut wrenching decision and I really appreciate it! (hear in head a Afrikaans tune: " ...ons se baie baie dankie..") Thanks again to Peter who flew on the same ridge and gave feedback on weather conditions ahead. Both Your beers (plural per person) are on order...

Also to: Adriaan

He let me fly the ridge with him in the Lambada last year and gave a lot of comments on where to stay high and what to look out for. Also, he was the one who "kicked my ass" onto the ridge that day, saying that it would be a great day. Although u could not fly the whole of the ridge, thanks for starting it out up there with me. Really, If u were not there I probably would have just taken a local flight and be chilled out with it. Thanks for the info and being a notable driving force in this GPL endeavor of mine. (since bitching about not going solo to this 163km predeclared flight) When I grow up and have my own performance glider I might be able to keep up...

Also: The retrieve crew

Amongst of the best looking retrieve crew members on the airfield(s). It was a real pleasure to be picked up by 2 very good looking lady's. And they were totally able as well... (highly recommenced)

As a post script:

Ed: as always - proving that a lot of learning can be done even when not flying (ie: behind the bar counter) IF you listen hard enough. Peter Wooley and Mike Pascoe: Thanks for all the info on flying that particular ridge along with some of your OLC traces. Rico - for showing me a particular spot on Audensberg that has always worked for me. Garteh - for being such a subtle "competitor " - you really kept me on my toes since the Ab Intro Course. And have helped me to firuge out some stuff about flying which I would have overlooked. And then the hands that helped put the glider back together: William, Mrs. Cole, Kim, Adri, Kylie, Alison.. (do I detect a pattern of women here..?)

(lets not forget: "Windhoek" (windy corner) for refreshing - or finishing - a tired pilot after a day's worth of flying)

Most importantly at last - to: " THE MAN " up above, helping me live this live..

Regards

Jacobus Hartman

Weekend Report: Cart Wars

2007-01-15T19:35:00.000+02:00

Saturday was relatively quiet despite the good gliding weather – proven by some great distances flown eg: Craig Fussel 521 km.

It was good to see Adriaan airborne again after being earthbound for the past weeks due to injuries sustained paragliding at Christmas.

Otto experienced some instrument problems after launching and had to land to sort them out and then relaunched and flew for 2.5hrs. Sarel Oosthuisen had a 2.5 hr flight in his Cirrus and William Whittaker flew first GIG and then took to the skies in GOK with Kim. Peter Farrel in ID flew for 3.5 hrs as well! Even I flew GVA.

Bill Griffiths spent a good deal of the day tugging in the uncomfortable heat, while Mark instructed Marion, Jesse and Paul in the Pipistrel. Later Nicky took over and flew with Jesse in GKM. Herbie and Peter Wooley were seen working on their hangers and huts, and later Peter flew with me in VAE.

I must mention the MOST incredible Duty Pilot of all times. Peter Middelton had resigned towards the end of last year. His last duty had been swopped with Kim Carter-Brown, but he did not renege on the outstanding duty. True to his word (remember – he is not a member) he turned up and did his duty on Saturday. If there was ever an award due to a duty pilot – he would be the one to get it! Thank you very much Peter. I – for one – am going to miss you very much!

However – the” Cherry On The Top” award for Saturday’s Flying goes to Jacobus Hartman. Before he took off on Saturday, he inspected GUC’s trailer, arranged a crew and left his car with the crew in case of a retrieve. He took off, flew to Swellendam and, on the return, landed at Robertson and had to be retrieved. Congratulations on doing your 50k’s Jacobus, and the preparation beforehand. What’s more, on returning, he rigged GUC and stowed her in the hanger! Your example will be hard to beat!

Saturday evening had many staying over – Bill and Sue, the Fussels, the O’Regans, Peter Farrel, Otto, Mike Pascoe, Rudi and Liesl, Peter Eich, Andre, the Hepburns, Jacobus, the Coles (and Penelope), Bruce Clemmence and ourselves. Like “old’ times!

The next day promised to be an even better day and Alan did a weather briefing in the Clubhouse at 9.00am. Otto was first off the mark with Martin and flew 1029km!! Well done Otto!.

The motor gliders were, once again, out in force with Angus Money in UMZ, Johnny in VAE, Brian Cole and Adriaan in GKM, Andre in GZF and Bill in OEM all having fun.

Alan O’Regan was the first to aerotow and came back with a cracking 885km under his belt! Great Alan. Cornelius did a not-to-shabby 785km!! Next was Sven who flew a great 694km and Mike Pascoe 273km. Tom Heaslip flew close on 2 hours in his Jantar and TJ in GPB flew over 2 hours. Helmut took the newly-rigged and cleaned GUC up for close on 2 hours after which Jacobus took her for another two hours while Rudi flew his Astir for over an hour. Hans Sterling and Reinhold Lawrenz flew the Stemme for 4 and a half hours.

GOK was kept busy with visiting pilots and paxes.

Rico was a very enthusiastic and entertaining tug pilot (thanks for your happy banter over the radio, Rico) while the instructors, Phil and Boet, assisted by William flew in GOK and GUZ all day. The two duty pilots, Richard Harris and Henry Barnes were fantastic! They only left the field after 8.00pm after being on the runway all day and running operations so efficiently. Thanks to both of you.

During the WWII, when a pilot shot down another aeroplane, little stickers were put on the side of the pilots plane to acknowledge that he had shot down these planes. At our Club we are having stickers made of Golf Carts being “shot down” (or run over) and Hubert Spaun has both of these to date. The first time he was involved in a golf cart accident was when the Club Golf Cart was unceremoniously rammed into the wing of the DG after it had landed with Hubert at the controls. Yesterday Hubert reversed over Hans Sterling’s Golf Cart. He had stopped his Prado to speak to a club member when Hans parked behind him in his golf cart and vacated it. Hubert did not see this and, after starting his car, reversed because there was a tyre in front of his car. He could not understand why his Prado was “sluggish” and would not go. He got out and saw the Golf Cart on it side behind his car. So – if you own a Golf Cart – beware of Hubert Spaun. He will “shoot you down” sooner or later!! (Something like our hanger being rammed into!!)

Remember the Power Aerobatic Competition to be held at FAWC at the weekend. There will be a safety briefing at 9.30am on both days for anyone flying on those days. I suggest that all Duty Pilots, Tug Pilots and Instructors as well as anyone wanting to fly on those days, attend this briefing.

ALISON

Weekend Report: A new year!

2007-01-07T22:38:00.000+02:00

Happy new year everyone! This is the first Weekend News of 2007.

SATURDAY

What a fantastic day! The fact that it was raining in Cape Town did not mean that the weather would be bad in Worcester – quite the contrary!!! Sorry to those who stayed behind for the cricket – you should have come gliding instead!

First off the grid just after 1100hrs was Mark Siegelberg. He was followed closely by Cornelius, Herbie, Hubert and Martin in GUJ, John Spargo, Mike Pascoe, Boet Coetzee in Rudi’s Astir, Ian Forbes, Rico and Jesse in GWU, Nico Le Roux, Rudi Schurkes, and Otto and TJ in TR. I have left out Errol Drew because it is worth mentioning that he had his Maiden Flight in his beautiful Antares right here at Worcester! A magnificent glider – beautifully quiet and graceful! Congratulations Errol!

Annual checks by myself and Mike Pascoe kept the instructors Nicky and Paul Troskie busy as well as many pax flights. Brian Cole took to the skies in his beautiful Pipistrel and had lots of fun.

Congratulations to Sarel Oosthuisen who obtained his Pax rating and then took his brother – visiting from Australia – for a flight for an hour and a half.

Hubert and Martin flew to Klaver and back in just over 3 hours. Unfortunately the circuit was very busy on return and they landed on the winch runway and incurred some damage to the tail of the glider in the resulting groundloop.

Rico and Brian, not having flown enough, flew for an hour at the end of the day in GWU.

I think the cherry on the top goes to Mark Siegelberg. As he was the only pilot not home at about 1900hrs, I phoned him on his cell to find out where he was and he confirmed that he was still airborne just short of Porterville. I advised him of the change in the wind to SE at Worcester. 10 Minutes later he telephoned me and told me that he had landed out on the Northern side of Porterville close to the mountain. Nico Le Roux and Nicky Oberhofer set out to retrieve him (thanks guys). In the meantime Mark had walked down the mountain to intercept them at the main road. They all set out to retrieve the glider – but could not find it!! They tramped around for hours in the dark and eventually gave up.! Mark had to fetch it on Sunday morning!!

Everyone had a great evening in the Clubhouse after such a great day. Thanks to Tom for doing duty solo. Thanks to Nina who tugged all day in very rough conditions.Also thanks to Marion Cole who helped out at the launch point.

SUNDAY

The full team arrived for what promised to be a good day’s flying again. The weather promised to be great almost as good as Saturday.

We had taken GUC and GOK to the threshold of 15 when Paul Troskie, the rostered tuggie, advised us of an unserviceable tug. The exhaust manifold on MIV had a crack and the tug could not be flown. Much disappointment all round. Johnny took the exhaust off the tug to get it repaired during the week and will get it back by Friday.

Our only option – the Rotax Falke – saved the day with instruction flights and pax rides being flown by Wally and Quentin.

(NIG is also at FASH having some maintenance done.)

Thanks to Hans Pruter (great to see you again) and Ruben Rens who turned up to do their duty as well.

Bill Griffiths had a long flight in his Grob and Kevin Mitchell. Rico Suter, Rob Kakebeeke and Errol Drew took to the skies in their self launchers.

See you all next weekend. Remember – the great weather is here NOW!!

Alison

WEEKEND REPORT: Rain & Boomers

2006-12-11T13:16:00.000+02:00

I suppose the highlight of the weekend was when Mark Siegelberg drove onto the airfield at 7.30am on Saturday morning with his “new” glider in tow ….ZS TIM! His Nimbus 2C. He had driven through the night from Magaliesburg.

Now, for those of you that don’t know, this glider is only one of two that have monogrammed registrations. The other is ZS- BOB – owned by Ed Verpraet. Tim Biggs owned ZS -TIM and flew many records with her. (Maybe we will see ZS -BOB in the skies above Worcester one day soon, too.)!!! I wish Mark many happy soaring hours with her.

Saturday was 8/8 cloud and rainy. There was a strong SE too! It was good to see Peter Wooley who came out to do some maintenance to his property on the airfield and brought Susan along, too. Unfortunately the weather was none too pleasant and many, who did drive out for the day, returned to Cape Town early. Nicky test flew the Rotax Falke and later did some cross country training with Jacobus Hartman, but that was the only flying that was done on Saturday.

Sunday was a completely different story, though! Post- frontal and great thermals everywhere. Ari was positively exhausted when he had finished tugging for the day! Congratulations to William Whittaker on his newly acquired PAX rating!! Coen Marais, Frieder, Helmut, Hubert and Martin, Tom,Trevor as well as Mark (in his NEW glider) all had fantastic flights. GOK was kept busy with paxes with both Boet Coetsee and Phil Surridge instructing and Bryan Dean had a fantastic long flight in GHB. All reports were that” they could not come down!” Johan Gericke and Kevin Mitchell excelled as the “A” Team of duty pilots and were ably assisted on the admin side by Marianne Verpraet. A really nice atmosphere prevailed at the launch point and thanks to all for all the effort put into the smooth running of the operation.

I would like to wish Herbie Oberhofer a very happy 70th birthday that he celebrated this past week as well Trevor Johnson who celebrates his birthday today!! (Keep believing in that Tooth Fairy, Trevor)!

This will be the last weekend news for this year and the next will be after the weekend of the 6th January, 2007.

Duty pilots for that weekend are as per the draft roster posted on the 18th November:

Sat 6th Jan Penderis/Heaslip
Sun 7th Jan Pruter/Rens

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy festive season and thank you for all your support during the past year.

ALISON

Weekend Report: Heaven & Hell

2006-12-04T14:23:00.000+02:00

On Friday we were very sceptical as to whether we would be able to transport the wing of GZF back to Worcester but Johnny phoned Trevor at 6.15am on Saturday to tell him that there was virtually no wind and that he should get moving with the wing from Stellenbosch to Worcester. There were cheers all round when he arrived at 10.30am with the wing in tow!! Thanks to those who helped rig her – Johan Gericke, Wally Tamsen, Johnny, Ari, Rudi and Craig Fussel. Special thanks to Rudi who did a very neat repair and Johnny for spraying her and the use of his facilities at FASH.

Jerry Betbeder was on duty on Saturday and got the show on the road nice and early and was very ably assisted by his assistant for the day – by special request – Demi Holmwood. Thanks Demi!! The winch team – Rob K, Chris Ludolf and William Whittaker, began to set up the winch – a job which took a great part of the day but the team were rewarded by a stunning launch…..at 18h45 they launched Ian Forbes and Kevin Mitchell and stayed up for 45 minutes!!! Incredible!! And the rope did not break, either!

Briefing for the Gauntlet was at 9.00am in the Clubhouse and was well attended, and again well presented by Alan. At 11.20am was our first launch and after that was hectic and reminded me of the contest days at Vryburg!! You will read all about the Gauntlet in the Blogspot! We managed to launch all 10 contestants within 1 hour with 1 tug. ("Heaven", Ed.) To see them thermalling in a gaggle over the red hill also brought back memories! Congratulations to Peter Farrell in ID who was the overall leader in this season’s Gauntlet. Well done to all those pilots who took part .

Garth Milne outlanded near Pikernierskloof and was retrived by Rico Suter and two of our visiting pilots from Austria. Rico, you are fantastic!! I think that was your third retrieve this season?

To make things even a little more complicated for the day we had to change runways to rwy 33 and move all the cars that were parked at the 15 side. We were a little short of hands and many of the paxes and visitors were roped in to help drive. Then MIV’s starter motor broke and we had to get NIG out, cleaned, DI’d, filled with oil (she is using oil more than usual) and Mark continued to tug with her and then Ari took over so that Mark could fly a pax. We will be getting MIV repaired hopefully this week.

Saturday evening was very jolly with the celebration of the wonderful flying day and the end of the Gauntlet! Incidently, for the first time in a while (excluding the courses) we had to begin a second timesheet! Well done to everyone.

Some of you may have noticed the computer in the clubhouse. Thanks go to Kevin Mitchell who was assisted by Nicky Oberhofer in getting the system set up. The new clubhouse Computer has a dedicated broadband internet connection. It is for the use of all CGC members to upload flights to OLC, and do flight analysis with SeeYou, SpePla etc. It also includes cables and software utilities for upload/download of tasks or waypoints to our various loggers.

At the moment Sven is flying in the qualifier for the gliding Grand Prix. We wish him everything of the best.

Sunday, as many of you may have realized, was Blown Out!! The wind on the ground at Worcester was in excess of 75kph.! ("Hell", Ed.)

On a more serious note, Dave Starke is not feeling very well at the moment and we wish to let him know that he and Shiela are in our thoughts.

Remember that next weekend is our last rostered weekend. So make the most of “organized” flying – the next rostered day will be the 6th of January.

Until next week……

Alison

Weekend Report: Tulbagh fly-in

2006-11-27T21:43:00.000+02:00

What a weekend! I, for one, have come back to work to recover!

The weekend actually began on Thursday with Randall, Garth and Quinton doing some excellent flying followed by Adriaan on Friday.

The rest of us (the ones’ who had to work!) arrived early on Saturday and the teams were there to do their duties. Garth thought that is was not going to be too busy so sent his co-duty pilot off in GUC. Jacobus had a fantastic flight around the valley. Others who flew were Jerry in GOK with Wally, followed by Horst Pfeugner and a visitor – Frieder – who also flew in GOK. It was nice to see John Spargo in HW again! Believe it or not, I flew the Ka6 as well!!!!

Bryan Dean had a check flight in GHB and then 2 more solo flights later in the day. Sven had a nice long flight in EY and Rico had a few flights in his DG500, and Adriaan in K17 flew too.

On Sunday we awoke to the sound of Adriaan and Jacobus taking off in the Lambada en- route to Riversdale. The air was calm and we took advantage of flying the Grob. After landing the air became very busy with the Pipistrel flying and Martin converting instructors and later more motor gliders became airborne and even two visitors arrived from Swellengrebel Gliding Club. They plan to visit our club in early February to do some aerotows and Gliding.!

A light SE picked up and we launched GOK from 15, then myself in the Ka6 (Yes, again!) , and then Johan Gericke took off in GIG. It was inverted and I did not stay up long but Johan ventured further towards the mountains and managed to stay up and the conditions improved. Then the wind changed!! A fairly strong NW blew and surprised most of us. Johan reported wave at Waaihoek and was at 6500’. GUC with Frieder, Ian in LW, Wally in GVG, and a few others took off. We really had an active day at the launch point with many single seaters flying but no students again. Then the wind dropped – completely!!

Johan Gericke telephoned me to tell me that he had landed out. By that time I had left the field already so telephoned Andre and Marion to organize a retrieve team. Wally and Ari very kindly set off to fetch Johan. Then Ian phoned – he had also landed out. Both near Tulbagh. Randall set off to fetch Ian and Nicky followed to lend a hand on the way home. Thanks to all the crew who worked so hard and unselfishly at the end of a hard, hot day to help their gliding buddies!

What was also very nice to see was the family presence at the Clubhouse on Sunday. Children in the pool and mothers and small children in the shade! The Clemmence family was there with friends and Tombi with Christine as well at the O’Regans and Marion and Penelope. Like old times!

I really must make mention of the two tug pilots who worked EXTREMELY hard in the hot conditions this weekend. Nina on Saturday and Alan on Sunday. We tend to forget about these pilots when we are focused on getting into the air. Duty Pilots – try and find a relief tug pilot for a launch or two or insist on giving them a drink-break. Their safety and that of the people they are towing is of paramount importance.

On the Business side:

1. GZF’s wing will be back by the weekend and we need members to help rig her. Especially if you are of the members keen to fly her, your help would be appreciated. Please contact Trevor Johnson if you can help.

2. On Saturday evening I had to go and speak very nicely to the members of the horseriding Club. They really have a very serious problem with the traffic past their club and decided to dig a huge ditch to force people to drive slowly. I told them that we have made our members aware of their problem and everyone was endeavoring to drive slowly but that we could not be responsible for visitors and casual traffic driving to the vacant land next door. I also urged them to rather communicate with us and also make everyone aware of their presence by putting up some sort of signage. The meeting was very amicable and they promptly filled in the ditch. I MUST URGE EVERYONE TO PLEASE BE AWARE OF YOUR SPEED WHEN DRIVING PAST THE STABLES. We do not need a war with our neighbours.

3. I had a look at the trailers in the trailer hangar on Sunday with Graham to see which ones are renting hanger space. I must say that I was horrified at the state some of the private trailers parked in there. Quite a few of them have flat wheels and rusty fittings! I know that it is none of my business how some of you look after your trailers but, with the spate of outlandings lately, it is not fair on anyone requesting a retrieve with a trailer that will have a blow-out five kilometers down the road or is not mechanically sound! I urge every member to maintain their trailers to an acceptable roadworthy state. That includes Club trailers. If you fly the glider – you look after the trailer, too!

That’s all for this week.

Alison

PS : Don’t forget the Gauntlet on Saturday!!!

Weekend Report: Annual Fry-up

2006-11-20T21:46:00.000+02:00

Those who attended the Annual Dinner at Skulpadvlei I am sure agree that a good time was had by all. Thanks to Wally for organizing the evening at a stunning setting amongst the vineyards. The food was excellent and the company was wonderful. We were amongst the last to leave at close to midnight and then drove to Worcester.

Alan O’Regan announced the results of the R & A contest during the dinner, with Garth Milne the winner in two of the categories – Well Done!! Alan also gave the status on the OLC to date which ends after the first weekend in December. At the moment Adriaan is leading so those who are chasing him still have one more competition to fly to try and catch him!!

Attached are two photos of the Annual Dinner – I have more on request – please contact me and I will send them to you.

Saturday morning saw a fresh SW and June and Hans were there bright and early to do the day’s duty. Unfortunately we had a ‘glitch’ with the duty instructors not being able to swop out so we are VERY grateful to Ian Forbes and Nicky Oberhofer who flew the entire day in GOK and GHB. Especially Ian who had his day planned around the winch. Thank you both VERY much. Nina, once again, very ably tugged.

The winching operation was manned by John Spargo, Tom Heaslip and Rob Kakebeeke who spent the entire day in the blistering sun sorting out cables. They were rewarded at the end of the day by doing two launches with the Ka7 off the winch – a great sight to see after all the dedicated hard work! Well done guys. You might have also seen the e-mail sent out by John this morning which will give you an idea as to how much work was done around the winch on Saturday.

Herbie, Rudi, Gerhard and Cornelius were virtually the only pilots flying their singles on Saturday and the conditions were very difficult resulting in Cornelius outlanding. This was unfortunate as we on the ground were stretched to capacity and Cornelius had to ask his brother-in-law (who lives in Worcester) to retrieve him. Thank heavens for family!

The “Cherry on the Top” was Bryan Dean going solo last thing in the afternoon! Congratulation, Bryan. (and that was the day-after-the-night-before)! Watch out all those who fly GUC – we have one more pilot who will be wanting to fly her soon.

We awoke to the strangest weather on Sunday morning with huge black clouds behind Brandwacht Peak and the Audenberg. They very quickly moved over the airfield , as well as rainy weather moved in from the Tulbach side. We soon had thunder and lightening and the threat of hail! After quite an intense shower the storm moved over towards Greyton and those huge clouds stayed there for quite some time. We managed to get Katyntjie out from under the bed only some time after the storm!

The team was at the field standing by and soon the tug and the gliders were taken out of the hangers. Kelvin – ably assisted by our star retriever, Demi – had the rest of his family there for moral support as well. Reinhold stepped into the breach and instructed all day as well as flew introductory flights. Ari tugged all day. The heat was intense and the flying conditions improved into the afternoon and, before the second storm arrived, Jacobus and Garth were having wonderful flights on the Keeromburg. Rob Manzoni arrived at the field with two people for air experience flights. While he was waiting he helped push gliders and then amazed everyone when he took a panga out of him Landrover and proceeded to cut down the Port Jacksons which were close to the runway. Thank you very much Rob ….and you aren’t even a Member!! (Yet).

Other pilots who flew earlier in the day were Gareth and Helmut. Rico helped out by flying some of the KLM crew visiting us. Thank you very much, Rico.

Peter Clemence and his brother – Bruce – flew their Sabre around the peninsula and then to Morningstar and then back to Worcester and arrived just before the storm broke. The Sabre – ZS EEJ – is a beautiful 2 seater ultralight and they are enjoying flying it very much.

If you happen to see Katryntjie next weekend, don’t be alarmed because she has been “groomed”. Not an easy task but we somehow accomplished it with the minimum of struggling by Katryntjie – hence the” unique” haircut. At least we got rid of some of her dreadlocks and burrs stuck in her coat.!!

I hope I have remembered everything so, until next weekend, caio!

Weekend Report: Barnstorming!

2006-11-13T19:22:00.000+02:00

I had to work on Saturday at my factory so only arrived late in the afternoon at FAWC and seemed to have missed a great gliding day.

The first thing that Mike Pascoe said to me was that the Rotax Falke had been damaged. Fortunately, not seriously, but enough to put her out of action for at least a week. Trevor was the guilty party when he joined Adriaan’s “Barnstormers Club” in trying to take a shortcut through our hanger! (I know, Trevor, I said that I would not say anything on the news– but by now everyone seems to know, anyway!)

There was a fair amount of activity and the weather was great for flying the south side of Vic Peak. Herbi, Rudi, Gerhard, Randy, Mike and Jerry all took advantage of the conditions. Mike and Quinton took turns in taking paxes for flights as there were no student flights. GOK was kept busy with Tom and a visitor from Germany – Freda. Paul Troskie must have done at least about 12 launches during the day in MIV.

Sunday’s conditions were similar to Saturday but a bit more thermic and was taken advantage of by Johan Gericke in GIG who had a very long flight and he was joined later by Adriaan who I heard had flown along Keerom Berg and over De Doorns. GUC was kept very busy with our visitor – Freda – as well as Kelvin, and Helmut – who had two flights.

A surprise visit by a longstanding member – Andre van Rensburg brightened the day and he helped out with some tugging and gave Rico a break! Kelvin’s daughter, Demi, was the star of the day as she virtually single-handedly retrieved every flight that landed with the ERV. She really worked very hard at helping the duty pilots – Marion and Andrew. Andre and Paul Baily were kept busy in GOK and GHB respectively with both paxes and students alike. We are really busy with visiting overseas pilots right now. Our website has been a fantastic advertising tool. Kelvin also introduced a new member – Gerhard Eksteen. I knew Gerhard from hangliding days from 1973! Small world.

During the day a few of us helped put the wings onto Bill’s Grob 109a. What a job - but much celebration when they eventually locked into place!! Congratulations Bill.

It was also great to see Horst and Christine Mucke again who stayed over for the weekend.

On another note:……..

Get well wishes to Erna Lawrenz who had an operation on Thursday. We are all thinking of you!

Anyone driving to the club along the road that goes past the horseriding stables need to please DRIVE SLOWLY!!!! We all try and be considerate of our neighbours (excuse the pun) but I have seen a few members SPEEDING on that road up to the Club gate. We have had complaints recently!!

This also applies to anyone driving on the airfield. Please drive slowly!!!! Anyone driving to the launchpoints must drive on the TOWN side of the taxiways please. This keeps the wear and tear of the taxiways to a minimum.

Please do not forget the Annual Club Dinner on Friday. See you all there.

Regards

Alison

Weekend Report: Cloud-gaps & paxes

2006-11-05T19:37:00.000+02:00

On Friday night I thought that there would be absolutely no flying over the weekend never mind Saturday but, once again, Worcester surprised us with the rain stopping late in the morning enabling everyone to launch in time for the gauntlet. The Breede river was flooded and quite a sight to see!

The briefing again was most informative – thanks to Alan – and his weather prediction was spot on. Launching was delayed until the rain stopped but after that launching got seriously underway with Frans du Toit tugging and the launch point ably manned by the two duty pilots – Frank Dorey and Walter Uys. Grove instructed and flew paxes in GHB and was kept busy all day.

A fair amount of maintenance had been going on in the main hanger in the most unpleasant wet, draughty conditions possible with the tost system on MIV sorted by Frans and Jerry with Johnny at hand and a few of the Falke’s snags being seen to by Johnny with myself passing spanners, etc Rudi mended a cracked bulkead in GUC which was spotted by Jerry. Well done Jerry! Bill Griffiths continued to work on his 109A which is taking shape nicely. He should be putting the wings on soon!

I wont report on the gauntlet because Alan has written a fantastic report in the blogspot which I recommend that you should read. It was great, though, to hear Quinton get back to the red hill after getting low near Waaihoek! It really sounded like a tough contest day!

Although Saturday was a winching day, sadly no winching was attempted.
Welcome back to Andre Leeb du Toit who has returned from Turkey and Tom Heaslip who has flown south for the European winter!

Sunday dawned a beautiful clear day with a fair SE which, during the course of the morning, freshened to a strong SE. Adriaan Hepburn and Henry Barnes were kept busy throughout the day with an unusual number of paxes who arrived for flights. Things got very hectic at the launch point and Adriaan helped out with a couple of flights in his Lambada to keep everyone happy and Adri and Tom helped at the start wagon with the timekeeping. Unfortunately, with so many interested non-members wanting to fly, there were not many members available to help push gliders and retrieve, and those who were on duty had their hands full. John Spargo was kept extremely busy tugging until late and both Fred and Mark did not have much of a break between their flights either. All in all a VERY busy day.

Both Jacobus and Helmut had great flights in GUC flying on the south side of Vic Peak. Sven had the longest flight of the day. It was great to see Chris Ludolf fly his Astir and congratulations to Coen who has bought a share in that beautiful glider. Ian managed to get launched in LW and had a good flight as well as Kevin who flew his DG400 after sorting out his flat battery from the day before! It was also great to see Tombi and Christine at the launch point, too. Otto flew his DG500 with Jurgen Puscher and Rico got his DG500 airborne, as well.

Thanks to Micheal Allen who helped get GHB down to 15 and then did not have a flight after all.

Conditions were turbulent on the threshold of 15 at one stage and the wind had picked up in strength by the end of the day’s flying.

I was very privileged to see – close up – a Bat- Eared Fox run across the taxiway near the cross runway. There is a family of these foxes which have been living on the airfield for a few years and, should anyone see them, please do not scare them. They are extremely shy and are usually nocturnal so I was surpised to see one during the day.. I have only seen two before at night. We also have buck living near the end of Rwy 15.

I would like to say a big thanks you to all the members who worked so hard this weekend to keep everything running as smoothly as it looked on the face of it! It is not easy to keep everyone happy all the time – but we really give it our best shot!!

Until next weekend, safe flying.

Alison

Weekend Report: Not SO rough!

2006-10-30T22:09:00.000+02:00

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!

2006-10-23T21:47:00.000+02:00

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!

2006-10-16T21:42:00.000+02:00

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!

2006-10-09T21:40:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-02T21:34:00.000+02:00

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

Weekend Report: Gareth AWOL again!

2006-09-26T21:30:00.000+02:00

Conflicting weather reports and the Ysterplaat AAD most likely kept many away from the field on Saturday but those who were there had good flights. Paul Baily instructed and flew paxes and Andre helped out when the second duty instructor had not arrived. Louis Esterhuisen did a good job of Duty Piloting all alone! Paul had flown MIV over from FASH on Friday but she was not quite ready for tugging on Saturday morning and Johnny was on hand to fix the snag. Normal tugging then resumed. Jerry and Martin Young (all the way from Knysna) took turns in GUC and Greg from Flight Avionics flew with Andre in GOK. Reinhold also had a good flight in GWN (Astir).

At 9.20pm the Airfield lights went out!

Sunday began with a light NW wind which picked up after lunch (thank heavens as the horse flies were out in abundance!). Helmut, with the assistance of Barbera and Demi Holmwood were coping pretty well with the odd flight when suddenly things became hectic. The wave started and Marting Young, Ian Forbes , Kelvin as well as Gareth Floweday all had good wave flights. An entire KLM crew as well as 2 visitors from Switzerland arrived for pax flights. At this point we also found out the that power failure was a damaged cable and could only be repaired on Tuesday.!!! Added to that was the fact that we could not pump fuel and, when MIV ran dry, we took NIG out of the hanger (she was full – thanks to Frans for re-fueling before hangering!). Johnny and I then dashed back to FASH to fetch his generators which he rigged up to the fuel bay. We made it back in time for the start of the course where we advised all the students of the status and handed out candles to everyone.

At this point Helmut came into the Clubhouse to advise us that GUC had outlanded with Gareth and he needed help to retrieve. Again the Star of the Show – Rico Suter – (Tuggie, glider pusher, launch point manager and general factotum) together with his dogs and Kelvin, Demi, Adrian Forbes and the Swiss visitors all set off to fetch Gareth in the dark. Helmut and Rico – you guys went the extra mile after doing your duties as well! Thank you very much!

Monday and the beginning of the course was marred by strong NW as well as rain. Thank heavens, as predicted, this cleared by lunch and, at the same time, the wind changed to SW. I really think that everyone involved deserves thanks for putting up with batteries that died, ERV’s that ran out of battery power and no electricity for working cell phone chargers and lap top computers. At 13.30 the power was restored, thank heavens.

A special “THANK YOU’ to Hans Sterling for the loan of his projector for the course. We managed to keep the students occupied with gliding DVD’s powered by the generator.

Also a very special thank you (again) to Johnny for stepping in and fixing the VW RV, the gas system in the Vliegklub Clubhouse so that it was in working condition for the course and the supply of his generators to keep things going.

Please remember that the 7th of October is the Gauntlet followed by a Potjie. Please book with Wally should you want to book for dinner. There is the possibility that Good Hope Flying Club will be doing some night flying that evening and might join us for the Potjie. They will also be staying over and, should this happen, breakfast will be served by the Vliegklub in their Clubhouse. Anyone wishing to book for this breakfast, please contact my via e-mail.

Also, please remember to MOW THE GRASS AROUND YOUR HANGERS!! It is getting very long and is a Fire Hazzard!!!

See you all next weekend.

Regards

Alison

Weekend Report: Instructing in singles!

2006-09-18T01:26:00.000+02:00

Saturday was an absolute “wash-out” with rain and snow at Worcester but Thanks to Johan Gericke and his team who did turn up for their duty. Sunday was a total different story and there were many who anticipated the post- frontal conditions and took advantage of them.

A little bit of a late start as the day did not develop early but Kim and Ryno were there with Sven and Peter Clemmence instructing and Alan Procter tugging with NIG. The tug’s starter-motor would not engage but Johnny was on hand to get it going, thankfully. Demi Holmwood was a great help with the time keeping as well as glider retrieval. I am sure that Ed will be impressed with her neat time sheets.

GOK was kept busy by Kelvin, Helmut and John Spargo and John flew the Rotax Falke as well. There were no students but the highlight of the day was when both Kelvin and Helmut converted onto GUC! Very well done both of you.

Craig Fussell, Sarel Oosthuisen, Peter Farrell and Sven Olivier (in between instructing) all had wonderful flights in their singles.

Attached is a photograph that Peter Clemmence sent to me of visitors on the airfield which was a wonderful surprise.

I had to leave early so, if I missed any later flying by anyone else, please submit your stories to me and I will forward them to the CGC News as a PS.

Remember that next weekend is a long weekend but the course starts on Sunday night. Although there will be flying on Monday it wont be a rostered day as the course will be in full swing. If you wish to fly on that day it will be when we are able to fit in an aerotow for you as the trainers take first priority.

Another very important issue is the grass around all the hangers. The rainy season is almost at an end and the grass is knee high around all the private hangers. We found it relatively easy to cut the grass now around our hanger and keep it short. It is important not to let it get too dry and become a fire hazard so – Please mow around your hangers urgently!

The September-October KK is out and Peter has, once again, excelled himself with this edition – enjoy reading it.

Until next weekend …….

Alison

Weekend Report: Double booking: To fettle, fly or both?

2006-09-11T19:47:00.000+02:00

Rob Kakebeeke organized a maintenance day with a difference and we were pleasantly surprised at the members that did turn up. About 12 to do various tasks which, the main manual labour task was, cleaning the Club Hangar. Coen Marais was wonderful in organizing 2 x 10 ton trucks and a front- end loader to move many loads of gravel to the 15 side of the runway to even the surface of the glider parking area. All we need now is rain and a working roller.

Sweeping the big hanger was a back breaking job until Johnny lent us his Stihl blower and it took much less time to clean. Jerry repaired the cable attachment for the pedal adjustment on GOK (with the help of Johnny and his lathe).

Johnny and Trevor had spent the entire Friday and Saturday doing the AAI on GZF.

The Gauntlet got off to briefing with much hilarity and all I can say is…..Alan and Sven, don’t give up your day jobs for an acting career! The entry grid for the gauntlet was about 10 members and I must say thanks to those gauntleteers who helped with the Club hanger AND took part in the competition! Jacobus Hartman did a great deal of very necessary maintenance on GUC’s trailer – thanks Jacobus!

There was a little confusion about the lunch and Adri saved the day by dashing off to the shops and delivered a lunch of Hot Dogs with the help of Marion! Thank you both very much.

The competition had a glitch halfway through the launches when MIV lost the tow hook off the end of the rope and we had to get NIG out of the hanger in a hurry. Adriaan stepped in and launched 2 gliders and, in doing so, forfeited his chance to fly his glider. Many thanks, Adriaan. After launching the raimder of the gliders with NIG the weather did not develop to what was expected but no doubt Alan will give an account of the day’s happenings in the Blogspot!. Welcome back to Louis Esterhuisen who took a couple of launches in GHB.

We were indeed honored with a visit by Tombi and Christine Mitchell who had her first visit to the club at 3 weeks of age! And beautiful, too!

The day ended with a great evening in the Clubhouse for those who stayed over.

Sunday had its share of snags with us changing the hook system on MIV to the alternate hook and then could not find the rope with the Tost attachment. Paul is not yet rated on NIG (a scenario being sorted out this week) so we could not use that tug. After spicing an attachment for the original rope, the illusive rope was found so we launched with MIV after all. Phil did much instruction in the Rotax Falke. That also did not go smoothly when it developed a puncture (which Johnny fixed)! And we could carry on.

I know that you all say that I am “rooting” for Johnny here but, I am sure all who asked for his help this weekend, will agree that he was always on hand to fix, lend, machine, sort out, etc for anyone who asked. In fact, I think he went back to work today to rest from the weekend! Thank you very much Johnny! (and he isn’t even a Club member!)

The others who flew yesterday were Adriaan and Jacobus in GXH and Brian Cole in GKM.

Many thanks to the team who turned up for their duties including my partner for the day – Peter Middleton. To Peter Clemmence - I hope your Parrot is well! (No, Adriaan, not the same Parrot that you were talking about!!..

Until next week - …….

Alison

FLARM – NOT SO FALSE AN ALARM

2006-09-06T19:32:00.000+02:00

Here follows a report by compiled by Sven Olivier from a survey of CGC FLARM users over the last two years:

Flarm has now been enjoyed at the Cape Gliding Club since the middle of 2004 and around 30 units have been sold, most of which have been installed and are fully functional.

In order to assess, albeit on an informal level, the functionality of FLARM as perceived by the pilots I caused a questionnaire to be circulated posing 7 questions. 15 pilots responded, 14 of whom answered the questions posed. I analyze the responses with respect to each of these questions.

1. Do you think / feel that Flarm provides a false sense of security?

93% of the pilots responded that Flarm did not create such a false sense of security.

Many of these answers were, however qualified to a greater or lesser extent. Some of the more important qualifications were as follows

“No, it is a useful tool, but good look out continues.”

“It gives me a secure feeling knowing that I have also an instrument watching others”

“No, absolutely not, nor do I get a false sense of security when I wear a seatbelt.”

“Yes, I’ve quite often caught myself looking at the flarm rather than outside – I think Flarm encourages you to fly more ‘in the cockpit’”

“No, Flarm simply supplements your normal scan of other traffic.”

“It can, but it shouldn’t. We are VFR pilots and are trained to fly outside and refer inside.” “An audio warning that requires a 1 second glimpse at an instrument should be something that the most/all pilots can cope with without compromising LOOKOUT”

“No. It is important, however, to understand that although FLARM may provide a useful warning, it does add to cockpit workload (albeit not very much). Since most traffic does not fly with FLARM, lookout can in no way be replaced. In the Cape we fly in a narrow band of airspace along the ridges, and lookout is mandatory to avoid rocks, but also because of the confined area of flight-paths.
However, even if all gliders are mandatorily flying with FLARM, you cannot be sure it is on or working. Even with FLARM we will not drop our mandatory radio reporting procedures to improve 'visibility' of glider traffic.”

2. Have you (flying without Flarm) ever been in a position where (notwithstanding your efforts to keep a good look out) you saw the other glider too late (for your own comfort)?

93% of the pilots responded yes.

Not many answers were qualified, but the following are notable as being from contest pilots, relating incidents from contest situations flown from ‘flatland’ contest sites.

“I had two near misses at the 2004 GRC one at the start the other on course. I’ve never seen a glider so close and from such an angle (the bottom). My and other experiences that year led to an extra minutes briefing by Keith (Ashman) stressing the point.”

“Certainly. Once in the UK during a competition start where the flarm would have completely sorted it out - I still don't understand how we avoided a mid-air. Once on a ridge near Worcester where a less experienced pilot created a double blind-spot. This is really frightening and the only choice was to leave the ridge.”

3. Have you (flying without Flarm) ever been in a position where you were unable to see the glider coming from the opposite direction (on the ridge) and passing you, despite being in radio contact?

64% of the pilots responded yes (one of the pilots who recorded a “no” was in fact involved with me in just such as situation – but I have not changed his answer to “yes”).

One comment included

“Yes, very scary.”

4. Has any of the above two examples happened since you have had Flarm installed?
100 % of the pilots responded “no”. (two pilots who did said “yes” qualified their answer indicating that they had not observed the other traffic until warned by Flarm, which I have accordingly taken as “no”)

“On multiple occasions, I have been alerted to a (previously undetected) glider passing in the other direction by the FLARM. On one occasion the 'other' glider was on the wrong frequency. I have not avoided a 'near miss' with the flarm (yet) and I have a goal never to need it for this.”

5. What are your personal views on Flarm?
Notable comments were as follows

“Must be in all sailplanes especially at FAWC. At Gariep I experienced a language, frequency and position reporting problem …
You have to do is speak to the people that fly in the French Alps, I have first hand experience. Each club has at least one death per season from mid air collisions. Contact the CFI at Vinnon for horror story's.”

“An excellent aid. Not a cure al, but a very good safety feature”

“It is a good solution – I question the audible signals though … too many beeps syndrome. The Flarm remote panel should be mandatory and positioned high enough that while the pilot’s head is upright, he/she will see the Flarm visual indications”

“A great concept but essentially and AID that should never substitute the need for a CONSTANT GOOD LOOKOUT. The danger to me lies in the pilot becoming complacent. Say you are flying the ridge with a glider behind you and your flarm constantly warning you of the gliders presence. Suddenly your flarm registers another glider on your 1 o clock but you keep thinking it is the glider behind you so you don't refer inside to your flarm.( a different audio tone for the second glider can get your attention) Same with a flarm equipped tug plane that has a glider on tow. The pilot can become so use to a flashing flarm showing the glider behind him that he ignores/omites seeing a new warning. Let me add that I would chose to receive any form of additional warning/caution as a secondary supplement to keeping a good lookout.

I have had occasions when the FLARM has alerted me of other gliders in the area before I have spotted them particularly when they are in or close to a blind spot. In the mountains the presence and position of other planes is predictable but in the open they are not, particularly when you have been flying by yourself and someone joins you unannounced for a "free ride". This is of great concern when I intend leaving the lift area and there is suddenly a glider in my escape rout. This is when I have found it most useful.”

“It reduces the probability of mid-air collision. It won't prevent all, but if it alerts pilots to even 50% ot the unseen situations, it will halve mid-air rates.
IMHO, it should reduce collision rates by more than 50%”

“As long as the pilot understand the function and mounts it high on the panel (when the alarm goes you need to be scanning quickly) I think it is invaluable. Regardless of the SSSA view, we will not allow entry into the Cape Gauntlet without a FLARM.

There is a valid concern that the use of the wireless frequencies that the FLARM currently uses is on the increase and interference is ever more likely. However, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on the South African use of the FLARM in the medium term future.”

6. Should Flarm by compulsory for all gliders?

The overwhelming answer (69%) was yes.

Notable comments were as follows

“Yes, without a doubt. It can only work at its most reliably when every glider has one.”

“Difficult to say. It would be interesting to see how many, if any, life's could have been saved due to midair's had Flarms been installed. I do think the tugs should each get one.”

“Yes, definitely. System is not effective unless everyone complies. Should absolutely be mandatory for X-C.”

“No, not all. There are a number of reasons why a glider might not have Flarm. Or the Flarm in a particular glider might not be operational on a particular day. Thus it could prove difficult and very unpopular to enforce.

A significant problem is that the units do not have ICASA approval. Thus there is a grey area surrounding their legality, which would make it very difficult to force installation in all S African gliders.

Another problem is that these units are not constructed to the same standard as other A/C equipment, such as radios, transponders and loggers. The software has also proven to be less "mature". Thus we can expect more equipment problems with Flarm than we have with other avionics. If a Flarm packs up, is it fair to ground the glider until such time as the Flarm is repaired?

Some clubs (eg with few gliders and lots of space) will get less benefit from Flarm than others.

A single Flarm is useless. You need to get a significant portion of a glider fleet flying in a specific area to be equipped to make it work.

Thus it makes a lot of sense to campaign for Flarm installation at a Club or Contest level. In this environment a lot more benefit can be derived from making Flarm compulsory than other technologies such as ELT's or transponders. It is also easier to have skills and spares on hand to maintain the equipment. Focusing effort on specific identified fleets of gliders will derive maximum benefit.”

“I should very much like to see this. I am concerned about making additional equipment compulsory as I think we should be very circumspect about constraining the rights of individual pilots. However, I am persuaded that the benefit it is sufficient and would add tugs and motorgliders to this list.

How many more pilots have to die in mid-air accidents before we realize that the cost/benefit equation in the cockpit (workload vs instrument
benefit) is massively positive?

[[Interesting thought: could I sue another pilot because they are not taking reasonable steps to remain visible to other pilots? Perhaps not, but what if that pilot flies into me because they don't have a Flarm?]]

The FLARM consumes negligible power and provides a logging facility (which includes logging of alerts and warnings. I would like to see a system on each airfield which automatically interrogates gliders on landing and downloads the data for (anonymous) analysis.”

7. What does your spouse say about Flarm being compulsory for all gliders?
Notable comments included

“Without FLARM she believes gliding is a widow maker (RSA has 2 widows).”

“There will be less orphans in the world.”

GENERAL COMMENTS

Cape Gliding Club runs a monthly contest known at the Cape Gauntlet (see http://capegauntlet.blogspot.com/). It is obligatory to have an operational Flarm unit in order to fly in the contest.

In summary one of the pilots stated as follows

“I see few downsides and significant benefits for installing a FLARM. I would recommend its compulsory installation in all gliders, motor-gliders and tugs.

The SSSA may need to be cautious around the compulsory specification of an instrument which is essentially using an uncontrolled frequency.”

I wish to thank those pilots who has responded, I am certain that the responses shall be of assistance to the SSSA Exco.

Weekend Report: It's Raining - Awards!

2006-08-28T20:46:00.000+02:00

I was not at Worcester this weekend so I do not have any news of the FAWC nature but have a few items that I need to forward to you all.

Congratulations to the Mitchells on the birth of their daughter – well done guys!!

I was at the Soaring Society AGM at Magaliesburg at the weekend. I will be doing a full report to all members for the Krautkorant but really must stress to the members what a fantastic job the Exco are doing for the Gliding fraternity! The time that these people put into the movement voluntarily to save money and hassles for all of us is invaluable. Mike Pascoe (as one of the Exco members) attended too and will support me in what I have stated.

A wonderful surprise were the awards received by members of our Club. Nominations were forwarded by Alan O’Regan (thank you Alan) and the SSSA Safety award went to Andre Leeb-du Toit for his publication of the manual “Cloudbase”!

The Pilot of the Year Award went to Sven Olivier for his FAI 1000km.

A proud moment indeed and well done both of you!

I also brought back FAI Centenary Gliding Weeks Certificates for the Southern Hemispere for

Sven Olivier – Club Class
Peter Farrell – 15m Class
Alan O’Regan – Standard Class

All winners in their Class! Congratulations to all of you.

Until next week…..

Weekend Report: GOK is back!

2006-08-20T20:42:00.000+02:00

Graham Anderson had traveled to Potcheftroom last week to collect GOK and arrived back on Friday morning. GOK looks stunning and I have included some photographs of her. Thanks to Graham for traveling all that way to collect her.

Saturday the weather was the worst I have seen it at FAWC in a long while - 1000’ cloud base at best, cold and very wet! Yet the team turned up and all helped in rigging GOK – Craig Fussell, Paul Bailey, Wally Tamsen, Rob Kakebeeke, Ari Cotton, Ed Verpraet - thanks to all of you but, most of all, a big thanks to Jerry Betbeder who spent the entire day cleaning, polishing and taping GOK.

Paul Troskie drove all the way from Ceres to tug but had no takers. Even if we could get airborne, the gliders wheels would have been full of mud as the airfield was saturated.

I would also like to say a big “Thank You” to Johnny who helped with the elevator inspection and helped out with all those tools and extras one needs when rigging but seems to find that you have left them behind!

Sunday was 100% better and we had many interested parties turn up to fly. Bryan Dean and Frank Dorey, the duty pilots as well as Mark Siegelberg (yes, that is him running the wing of GOK in the photo!), Peter Clemmence (who flew in – in GWB) and Nina tugging – all turned up to do their duty.

Martin test flew GOK on the Audenberg ridge with Koen Marais for over two hours and had the longest flight of the day.

Randy Cullen and Peter Farrell joined Martin on the ridge and Jacobus Hartman and Johan Gericke also launched singles – Johan after spending most of the day working on GIG.

Helmut von Michaelis had his first flight in GOK while Kelvin Holmwood completed his 10 solo flights required before converting to GOK! Michael Allen kept GHB busy while Ian Forbes decided that the better option for the day was GZF. Not a very good day to stay up locally but, once again, a good training day. The airfield was certainly stunning with the flowers opening after the rain.

Anyone flying GOK must remember:

1. Please clean off any marks immediately they are made or report any damage incurred so that it can be repaired immediately.

2. NB: The MINIMUM front seat weight is 70kg.!!!! This is very, very important to remember. This is placarded and is written in the DI book.

Katryntjie was very ill during the past week and thanks to Rob and Ed who took her to the vet on Thursday, she is now on the mend. Her illness is a mystery but she was chasing (and catching) rabbits again on Saturday!

I wont be out at the Club this weekend coming but will be at the SSSA AGM. I wont be able to do a weekend news but, should anyone volunteer, I will be most grateful.

Until next time…..
Alison

Weekend Report: The Stork flies - and Wave

2006-08-07T20:49:00.000+02:00

This week’s news begins a little earlier when, on Thursday evening, John Spargo and Libby’s baby daughter, Katie, was born. Congratulations – well done!

Friday afternoon was such a beautiful evening at Worcester that I flew RMP for half an hour locally. The spectacular weather persisted on Saturday and not a breath of wind blew! I took VAE out and had an hour flight in the valley. Fantastic weather for training or motor glider flying and June Sterling as well as Alan Procter took advantage of the conditions in the Rotax Falke. It took Paul Troskie just a few minutes to do his conversion, too! Kevin Mitchell had a wonderful late afternoon flight in his DG400 and landed just as the sun set. Hans Sterling set off with Martin Grunert for a flight in his Stemme.

Work was being done in the hanger when Rudi, Michael Allen, Kelvin Holmwood and Nina Grunert took care of the AAI (old LS1) inspection on GHB. Thanks guys! They then took it out of the hanger and Kelvin did a few solo flights until sunset. Adriaan went whale watching in his Lambada, while Rudi flew in the tandem falke with Gerhard.
Thanks to Michael Allen who did his duty solo and handled it very competently, too.

Sunday was a very different picture and the predicted NW began fairly early. Jacobus Hartman was there early and gave a hand to Gareth in preparing GUC for a wave flight. Johan Gericke beat everyone with an early launch in GIG and throughout the day I heard him at various altitudes and changing to 119.7 as well! Gareth called at various points in the valley at 8.0’ as well as Ian Forbes in GLW. Hotel Bravo was taken to the ridge by Paul Cartnel as well as Kim Carter Brown and they both managed to stay up high for long flights with Grove Steyn and Fred Vernimmen. Gerhard Waller flew his Janus with a friend and had a wonderful flight, too. Unfortunately Adriaan and Adri’s wonderful flight in wave ended with a mishap on landing – sorry about that, Adriaan. It was very gusty at that point and we also had to stop tugging.

I had to leave early and collect a car at Stellenbosch airfield and, when I arrived there, I met William Whittaker doing a preflight on OHI. Wrong choice again, William. Longer wings and the north side of Vic Peak would have been the better option! I hope you enjoyed it, anyway!

For those who have not been coming to the field, you have been missing out on the best wave that we have had for a few years and it is there virtually every weekend!.

Remember that there WILL be flying on Wednesday at FAWC. (Weather permitting).

Dieter Eberbach is looking for a single seater glider that is not in use anymore for his displays at airshows. If anyone knows of anything available, please contact me.

All pilots are invited to a talk on weather by Steve Metcalfe at 6.30pm at Stellenbosch Flying Club on Monday the 21st August. RSVP Alison 082 728 7386. Snacks will be served.

Last but not least – remember the Gauntlet this Saturday at FAWC.

That reminds me……. no competition finishes over the Clubhouse as the Stork is on short finals once again. In two weeks time we are expecting the arrival of Kevin and Tombi Mitchell’s baby! Good luck, guys.

Until next time – happy flying.

Alison

Weekend Report: Motorglider out to lunch

2006-07-31T21:35:00.000+02:00

This past Saturday dawned with no wind which, at about 11.00am, became a NW of about 30kph on the ground but much stronger at altitiude.

Michael Allen was the fortunate pupil that flew with the instructor, Sven, for over 3 hours in wave in GHB. What a tremendous experience for him!

The singles flying on Saturday, once again in wave, were Gareth in GUC, Reinhold in GWN and Trevor in GPB. Rudi and Gerhard Waller flew the Janus together and Rico took a friend in GWU. It was great to hear Reinhold airborne and enjoying the conditions at FAWC again. Like old times! Gareth was a little unlucky when he outlanded GUC near Wellington and was retrieved by Rob Tiffin and Roger Tipping, the two duty pilots. They returned after 9.00pm and had had to borrow Sven’s 4x4.

Adriaan and Adri – in the Lambada – joined the singles in the wave and were allowed into the TMA by Cape Town Approach. The other motor glider airborne, before the wind picked up velocity, was Paul Bailey in GUF. The early tugging was done by Paul Troskie and Frans du Toit took over later in the morning.

Sunday Walter Uys was duty pilot and he also enjoyed the Rotax Falke later in the afternoon. The wind started early NW and Ari Cotton and Peter Clemmence were instructors on duty. Our newest student, Victoria Norris, had two nice long flights with Ari on the ridge and Jacobus Hartman flew for over 4 hours in GUC (after rigging her). Gerhard – as if he had not had enough the previous day – flew for over 4 hours as well in the single Astir – GWN.

Out CFI, Ian Forbes, enjoyed his LS3 for more than 3 hours and Helmut took GHB up solo for over an hour, while Terry Pattinson flew GZF with Peter Clemmence. Fred Vernimmen did his annual check with Ari and Rico again took a friend (again)in GWU.

Those members that did not come out on the weekend missed two good soaring days. Remember that winter will soon be over and you will have to wait until next year for these conditions! Try and make an effort to fly the ridge this year!

Adri took Adriaan to lunch at the Lord Milner Hotel at Maaitjiesfontein! They enjoyed the lift off the Motroosberg on the way back and then joined the gliders at Vic Peak before landing. They certainly know how to enjoy their motorglider!

It was really nice to see “old “ faces like Trevor, Roger and Reinhold out at the Club again – what about the rest of you guys! Where is everybody? You don’t know what you are missing!!

Until next weekend…….

Alison

Weekend Report: Winter Rules

2006-07-17T20:51:00.000+02:00

Saturday was extremely quiet but most of the team turned up. The instructor ,Ian Forbes, was kept busy instructing on his own. Craig Hopkins and Ryno Oosthuisen were the students. Brian Cole and Ryno, the duty pilots, took turns flying. Brian flew his Pipistrel and the Hepburns kept the circuit busy with the Lambada. Rob Kakebeeke made it back from Beaufort West in his Karat after spending a few days there due to bad weather.

The weather on Saturday started out with a very strong NW at dawn which calmed to about 15kph at 9.30am and stayed like that until early afternoon when it changed to a light SE.

Sunday was even worse with low cloud at approx 1000’ which lifted in patches at about midday. No gliders were taken out but we kept the Falke busy all day with conversions, paxes and intros. We have a new member – Victoria Norris (17 and a half years old) who is extremely keen to learn to fly! She had her first flight with Martin in the Falke and joined the club after they landed! Adriaan and Adri took off at about 1300hrs and came back two hours later in the Lambada.

Thanks to my duty partner – Garth Milne – and the instructors: Martin and Fred as well as Rico who was on standby the entire day. A light drizzle persisted from about 3.00pm and made conditions extremely cold and unpleasant, but the company was great: William Whittaker, Helmut von Michaelis and Terry Pattinson, thanks to you guys, too.

See you next weekend!

Alison

Weekend Report: Vic Peak is Flakey!

2006-07-10T20:53:00.000+02:00

The entire weekend we waited for the predicted “Big Blow” but nothing happened until later on Sunday morning at altitiude.

Saturday dawned calm and inverted with a light SE breeze now and again and we launched from 33 (expecting the NW to pick up). Bill tugged with MIV until later in the day when the starter motor broke and Bill had to ferry the aeroplane across to FASH for repair. Many thanks Bill. Prior to that Dirk Kotze , who had previously tugged for the Club, very competently did his tugging renewal with Piet Truter.

Peter Farrell, the duty pilot, did a splendid job as the day became hectic with 8 KLM pilots and crew who came out for IE flights. We kept Alan Procter busy in the back seat of the Ka7 flying paxes. Jerry Betbeder and Johan Gericke pushed and retrieved gliders in between their flights in GUC and GIG. Ari, even though he was not feeling well, helped out. One student, Craig Hopkins was kept busy helping to push and retrieve gliders and we had 2 new members join as well as a young lady who wants to join the Club next weekend! Also thanks to Adriaan , Adri and Kylie Hepburn who helped at the launch point on Saturday.

We must also thank Alan Procter and Johan Gericke who came out during the week on Tuesday to do the LS1 inspection on GIG. This they completed on Saturday morning. Well done guys!

The Hepburns, the Coles, the Navarros, Rudi, Rico, Andre and Boet all flew motor gliders as the weather was perfect for power flying!

On Sunday the weather was the same as Saturday on the ground. Gareth Floweday arrived early to book GUC but was still beaten by Jacobus Hartman!

Logistical plans were in place for Nina to do her conversion onto NIG so that we could tug on Sunday. Again we kept Piet Truter busy and , while I washed a very dirty NIG, Nina did her technical exam and then the aeroplane was ready for her conversion. The call was made to the insurance company by Graham and it was all systems go! While we waited as Nina flew with Piet, the day was saved by Adriaan who TUGGED WITH HIS LAMBADA!!!!! Thank you very much Adriaan. Nina, handled NIG very competently for the rest of the afternoon.

I am sure that many members don’t realize the planning that goes on behind the scenes to keep the ball rolling in a case like this. Thanks to all who helped.

Nico Le Roux, the only duty pilot for the day, and Sven Olivier, the only instructor for the day, managed with the help of Martin Grunert. Sven flew a family of four paxes who had the benefit of flying in the wave. Helmut van Michaelis had the last flight of the day in GHB and also enjoyed a long flight in the wave.

GUC was shared by first Gareth and the Jacobus. Unfortunately Gareth was a little low on the peak and landed out just at the foot of Vic Peak. He did an excellent landing in a VERY newly ploughed field and Sven kindly lent him his 4 x 4 for the retrieve. The glider was re-rigged and Jacobus took off and enjoyed a long flight in GUC in wave. The other pilots who enjoyed the conditions and had long flights were Alan O’Regan in the LS8, Reinhold and Hans in the Stemme and Rico and our newest member – Mike Walker – in the DG500. I also heard Brian Cole at 8000’ on the peak in his Pipistrel and he was joined by Adriaan and Marion in the Lambada. June and Martin took to the skies in the Rotax Falke as well.

We were also paid a surprise visit by Bob and Daphe Allison (from Soaring Society). Unfortunately they could not stay longer for a flight but will visit us again soon.

All in all a very productive and positive weekend with fantastic input by all our members who were there. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH!! It should be like this every weekend.!!

See you all next weekend!

Alison

Weekend Report: A Gauntlet, a solo and missed opportunity!

2006-07-03T20:57:00.000+02:00

Saturday morning was VERY frosty but that did not deter June Sterling when June and Mark Siegelberg took GZF out of the hanger, DI’d her and went flying. THEN JUNE WENT SOLO!!! Well done June , those landings were awesome!

Briefing for the gauntlet got underway at 10.00am and, as usual, was very interesting and informative – thanks to Alan O’Regan. I would advise anyone, not only the gauntlet pilots, to attend these “lectures” as they are not always pertaining to competition flying but also issues of safety and airmanship. A great lighthearted atmosphere prevailed which continued at the launchpoint. Strong winds were predicted and, although nothing happened on the ground until about 1500hrs, at Vic Peak Adriaan and Adri, who ere flying their Lambada confirmed that the wind to be very strong at altitude. Turbulence was experienced at Slanghoek Valley. Definitely wave!

The Gauntleteers were P Farrell, G Milne, A Cotton, R Cullen, A Hepburn, W Whittaker,S Olivier and Ian Forbes. Reinhold and Gerhard Waller also launched and flew to Saronberg in the Janus but did not have a logger or Flarm so did not take part. Martin Grunert and Hubert also flew in the DG500. and Rico with (stranger) Trevor Johnson in GWU. Although Rudi did not participate, he flew his Astir for over 2 hours. As did Bill Griffiths in his Astir.

As there was only one student, Craig Hopkins, he was fortunate enough to have GHB and the instructor, Mike Pascoe, for the entire day. They flew in wave for 3.25 hrs!

When Garth landed, he dropped his cellphone unnoticed on the runway. After much searching it was discovered the next morning, fortunately, by Bill Griffiths who was out walking his dogs. You were very lucky, Garth. (especially after MDF’s early morning circuit training)!

I do not have the results of the gauntlet yet but I am sure Alan will publish them soon.

Sunday had similar conditions to Saturday but with the wind reaching the ground and, by 3.00pm, was gusting 55-60kph.

Again we had only one student (lucky Craig) and this time he flew in wave with Wally for another 3 hours! (This was after someone locked him in the bunkhouse overnight and he telephoned me to get out – Gerrie did not know that he was there!)

Jacobus Hartman was observed looking purposeful with GUC and the Logger and launched at 11.00 and landed at 16.35.!

Mike Pascoe had a long flight, also in wave, for almost 3 hours. Later in the day the 2 DG 400’s with Rob and Kevin had long flights too, accompanied by Martin Grunert and Rico Suter in the DG500 for over 3 hours.

Both Phil Surridge and Wally Tamsen had brought introductory flights with them and these lucky people were also introduced to our wave conditions!

I must mention here that our Sunday Tug Pilot – Nina – certainly handled the VERY strong windy conditions exceptionally well.

Again – missed opportunities. Where is everyone? If anyone is concerned about the weather, please remember to phone me for a forecast – you are more than welcome!

Weekend Report: Worcester gets Launch Pads!

2006-06-26T21:16:00.000+02:00

As predicted the weather was SE on Saturday and very stable. Unfortunately we had no students avail themselves of this perfect weather for training. However the motor gliders were out in force.

Firstly Adri flew GXH by herself locally and then Adriaan and Reinhold went for a long, leasurely flight and landed at Happy Valley. GZF was kept busy with June Sterling, Paul Bailey and Martin Grunert continued with Pauls conversion on his newly aquired GUF, and Boet Coetzee flew with Frans du Toit in the busy GZF after which Frans flew the same to Tulbach to say hi to his family! Jerry and I took to the skies in VAE and had a look at John Fischer’s strip and then to Kwaggaskloof dam and back to the airfield.

The only real gliding that took place was GUC with first Jerry (18min and then Johan Gericke (20 min). It was VERY stable and NO wind.

Johnny spent the entire day fitting a new alternator to the tractor and rewired a good section of the wiring in the area of the alternator. Thanks Johnny!!

When I heard the hanger doors rattling early on Sunday morning, I expected the predicted NE but was surprised when the wind was fresh SE! Adriaan was on duty and the Ka13 was taken out when Phil arrived with Martin Young. Another student who arrived at the same time, Craig Hopkins, was extremely fortunate when he had the first flight of the day on Vic Peak and stayed up with Phil for an hour. An intro flight had the second, not so long, flight and Martin Young, who had flown earlier with Martin Grunert in GXC, now flew the 13 as well. Adri did circuits in GXH throughout the day (Nice landings, Adri)!

Rob Tiffin then collared Martin G for some Rotax Falking and Rob Kakebeeke flew his Karat. As we were leaving for home, about 4-00pm I saw Kevin Mitchell take off in his DG400. I hope you had a good flight, Kevin.

Just on another matter:

The Rotax Falke now has a “Start-up” pad compliments of Johhny Navarro and John Spargo. Please, when positioning the Falke onto this pad, the wheels must just be on the back edge with the propeller in about the middle of the pad. The propeller must NOT be on the front edge or hanging over the edge of this pad. The concrete pad is also NOT for run-ups but just for starting the Motor Falke so that the propeller does not get damaged by stones.

Remember the GAUNTLET (I hope I got it right this time, Peter) this weekend! See you all there.

Regards
Alison

Weekend Report: A LONG weekend

2006-06-18T21:38:00.000+02:00

The long weekend was a little disappointing – or so I have been told! Friday was a non flying day due to the mist not lifting all day. Thanks to the teams who did turn up nonetheless. Sarel and Nicky got airborne in the Rotax Falke later in the day.

Saturday was not much better with incredibly stable conditions. The Rotax Falke was kept busy with Gareth Floweday and Mike Pascoe as well as William Whittaker completing his conversion. Ian Forbes also flew the Falke, and Dave and Hubert enjoyed their as well.

Thanks to Jerry and the team for doing the LS1 on GUC.

Sunday, again, a quiet day with Helmut von Michaelis flying solo in GHB and a passenger going for a flight with Ari. After that Marion Cole had three flights in GHB with Ari. Rob Kakebeeke went for a flight in his beautiful Karat.

It is a great pity that students do not make good use of these excellent conditions for training. Do also remember that all glider hire before 11-00am is free. Your tug pilots and instructors drive all the way to Worcester especially for the members benefit so it is very disappointing when there is a low turn-out. We do not always have these conditions and, sometimes the days are blown out in winter, so take advantage of the stable days to perfect those take-offs and landings!!

Congratulations to Sven who did so well in the “Worlds” – we are extremely proud of you!

Don’t forget the gauntlet this weekend. This is arranged by Alan O’Regan and, should you want to know more about this contest, contact Alan. This is our “Mid-winter Gauntlet” so, why don’t you all come out and fly and afterwards enjoy a roaring fire and good, warm company in the evening!

See you all next weekend.

Alison

Weekend Report: A Lady's record!

2006-06-11T21:41:00.000+02:00

Saturday’s conditions were exactly the same as last Sunday’s - Light NW on the ground with a stronger NW at the Peak. The Ka13 went to test the water (on the Peak) and GZF followed suit. I tried the valley – yes, in the 6! – but was unlucky. By the way, comment was passed because it was a first with Nina, a lady pilot, tugging another lady pilot at the CGC! Some cheaky male pilot asked if we both flew in the same direction and whether we did not go shopping!!

Garth Milne, Craig Fussell and Randy Cullen all enjoyed the wave and was joined by Jerry in GUC and later by Gareth, also in GUC. Martin Young had driven all the way from Knysna to spend the weekend with us and had a wonderful flight with Rico in GWU on Saturday, tried the winch and had a great long wave flight in GUU on Sunday. Craig Hopkins, the other student there on the day, had a couple of great flights in the 13. Rudi took the Janus for a flight on the ridge and stayed up for an hour.

The surprise of the day was when Dave Starke drove out to the Club with Hubert and Gareth. Martin Grunert and Dave flew in Dave’s Rotax Falke and had a great flight. It was really good to see him and was difficult to imagine that he had major surgery only a few days before!

Reinhold was duty pilot and held the fort as well as helped out on the winch. Unfortunately the winch was dogged by cable breaks throughout the day but a valiant effort was made by Ian, Nicky and Rob Kakebeeke.

In the evening Martin Young showed a DVD of Grand Prix flying in New Zealand. It is a shame that we did not have more pilots to see this great Show.

Sunday was a little disappointing as far as turn-out went. Kim Carter- Brown arrived to do her duty and brought a friend from Howick Gliding Club, who has moved down here, along to meet everyone. His name is Russell and he is a winch instructor.

Phil Surridge took a couple of people for air-experience flights in the Rotax Falke and later flew with first Kim, and then Rob Tiffin in the Falke.

Ari had long flights with Helmut and Russell in the 13 and then Helmut flew the 13 for a very long flight at Vic Peak. Again, those who did not come out to fly missed a good wave day.

The highlight of the day was Adriaan and Adri returning from Brits where they had taken off that morning. This was after an Epic flight to Namibia and Botswana. We hope that they are going to write a story for the Krautkorant on this trip.

Congratulations to Sven who is flying very well in the World Gliding Championships.

Weekend Report: Grizzly Gauntlet and Super Sunday!

2006-06-05T21:28:00.000+02:00

Saturday was well organized with Jerry Bedbeder and Brian Dean at the helm. Ian had organized a winch day and the team duly pitched up with Rob Kakebeeke standing in for Chris Loedolf (Chris’s wife is on short finals with their baby)!

We had an early start with June Sterling and Mark Segelberg doing a dawn patrol (or so it seemed) in the Rotax Falke. Later in the day, Hans quickly converted and soloed in the Rotax Falke. Congratulations Hans.! Johnny and I took off later in the Grob and we found the air masses doing strange things. We even had the two windsocks facing each other later in the day.

Briefing for the gauntlet got underway at 10.00 in the clubhouse and the entrants this time were Johan Gericke, Ari Cotton, Peter Farrel and Alan O’Regan. After Ari had launched and could not find conditions as conducive to a contest day as would have been desired, , the contest was called off. Ari, nevertheless, stayed up for 3 hours. Frank Dorey, one of the students of the day, took an aerotow and then a launch in the Rotax Falke which he considered very worthwhile in those difficult conditions.

Rene Heise brought a friend with him for an intro flight and then had a check flight himself and a solo launch later – the last flight of the day. Unfortunately Rene tells me that he will be leaving the Cape and relocating to Pretoria soon. This is a great loss to us at the Cape Gliding Club but we wish him all the best in his future in Pretoria - and at Orient !.

Jerry has asked me to thank his team for the day : Alan Procter – tuggie, instructors Mike Pascoe and Grove Steyn and his assistant duty pilot, Brian Dean as well as Rab Kakebeeke. 6 Winch launches were achieved with Rudi an avid supporter, as well as the students, flying the Ka13. No cable breaks happened but on the last launch we had an overrun.

SUNDAY

What a fantastic Day!!!!! With this one - you snooze , you lose!!!

Jokes aside, the day got off to a fairly late start and our lonesome duty pilot , Henry Barnes (well done, Henry) did very well on his own. Unfortunately his partner did not pitch up!! Actually, Helmut arrived with his uncle, Giso, and stayed to help Henry despite a very bad cold. Our first flight was a pre-booked birthday flight and the chap who flew with Peter Clemmence (Simon Blumer) had a wonderful flight on Vic Peak.

Once we knew Vic Peak was working – well that was IT. Gareth Floweday took off at 12.15 and only came back at 3.30 – and then for a RELIGHT!! Behind him was myself, Guy Pfefferman, Mike Allen, and Craig Hopkins. (in the 13) each having an hour each . In the singles were Gehard waller, Randy Cullen, Nicky Oberhofer and Kevin Mitchell. Kelvin Holmwood got into the wave above the northern dam wall but had to stay local. Everyone else was up at 8.5 and flying all over the valley to Jan du Toit’s, Slanghoek, Waaihoek etc - all at 8.5!! The last flight of the day landed just after sunset. Thanks to the tuggie – Paul Troskie, who worked very hard and had a long day. Also thanks to Peter Clemmence and Quintin Hoole and Andre who stood in to help out with the Rotax Falke. We achieved a full time sheet for the first time in a long while!!

Remember that the weather can be very disceptive – don’t take anything for granted – you might be pleasantly surprised!!!

Just a note to Dave Starke after his operation and on the mend - we are all thinking of you, Dave! Get well soon.

See you all this weekend
Alison

Weekend Report: Adriaan & Adri take off

2006-05-29T21:46:00.000+02:00

SATURDAY

As I am sure you all are aware, Saturday was rained out in most places and blown out at Worcester. Thanks to the team that turned up in any event – William Whittaker and Frank Dorey as well as Bill Griffiths and Boet Coetzee.

SUNDAY

Sunday held more promise and Ari and Andre , the instructors, were the first to arrive with Mark, tuggie, close behind. Helmut and Cornelius, the DP’s, got the show on the road. With a 30km NW, GHB was the first to be launched and Helmut and Ari had 2 hours on Vic Peak. Next Garth in GHW and Alan Proctor in GIG followed by Jaco in GUC all had long flights on the Peak. Adriaan and Adri and Adriaan and Kylie also joined them with Kylie taking her spectacular air to air photos.

Later a new member, Paul Cartmel, had a wonderful first instructional flight with Ari on the Peak. Cornelius converted onto the Falke and June Sterling also flew the Flake with Andre. In fact, the Falke was kept busy until late with Alan Proctor flying it after he had landed GIG.

I would like to wish Adriaan and Adri “Bon Voyage” as they are leaving tomorrow in their Lamabda for Namibia and Botswana. They will be meeting up with other Lambadas and Sambas in Namibia. They should be back about the 10th of June.

I would also like to wish Dave Starke well. He is going into hospital today for an operation and we will be thinking of him and Shiela. He is being admitted to the Constantiaberg Clinic.

I would like to congratulate Peter Wooley on a fantastic KRAUTKORANT . I am sure that not many people know how much effort Peter puts into editing and putting together the KK. Thank you once again Peter!

Last but not least – DON’T FORGET THE GAUNTLET next Saturday!! I am sure that Alan will be putting together something challenging for everyone – especially with the weather keeping everyone guessing!

Don’t forget that , if it should be raining on the Cape Town side of the mountain, it does not mean that the same weather is prevailing on the FAWC side. Phone me on my cell if you are not sure!

ALISON

Weekend Report: Kelvin is hot to trot

2006-05-22T22:09:00.000+02:00

Saturday the 20th dawned wet and blustery with no hope of anyone being interested in coming out to Worcester to fly - but then you never can tell!

The duty pilot, Ruben Rens , and his team turned up early with the
exception of Nina who was rained in at FASH with MIV. But then there
was no rush and she managed to get in at FAWC at about lunchtime when we had a huge blue hole over the airfield for about 30 minutes! Well done Nina.

Then the surprise of the day was Johan Gericke who first flew GUC and
then converted very ably onto GIG. Congratulations Johan and very well
done. Most of his flying seemed to be done dodging the raindrops but
10 out of 10 for getting airborne. Boet Coetzee briefly got airborne
in GZF.

Sunday held no more promise than Saturday but the NW did not pick up
speed and Michael Allen, the duty pilot was there bright and early.
Peter Clemmence, the instructor for the day , was assisted by Ian
Forbes. With a huge turn of events, we ended up with 5 students and we
even had to get the Ka7 out to assist with the demand!! Incredible how these things happen – one can never tell!

I know that the Cherry on the Top was when KELVIN HOLMWOOD WENT SOLO!!!! Congratulations Kelvin and well done!

Our newest member, Craig Hopkins had quite a few flights as did Brain
Dean. Helmut flew solo and we even got our duty pilot airborne in GHB
as well as a fantastic flight with Rico in GWU. Rico also treated
Ruben Rens to a flight in his DG500. Rudi stayed on the peak for over
an hour in his Astir.

Adriaan flew all the way from Brits in the most difficult conditions. I am sure he will tell us the stories of what he experienced on the way
back. He landed also just before sunset when the last of our gliders
were landing.

Thanks to Paul Troskie for tugging - it was a long and very cold day! Also thanks to Ed who stood in for Michael Allen when he was airborne.

Bruce Clemmence and Peter Clemmence flew Bruce’s new Sabre with Wynand! I wish you lots of happiness with your new plane.

A great fun day was had by all with a fantastic atmosphere prevailing – thanks to all!!

Alison

Weekend Report: Mother's May

2006-05-15T21:30:00.000+02:00

The highlight of the past weekend was a Prawn Dish that Marion Cole whipped up on Friday night.

Saturday;s flying was almost a non-event : not a single pupil’s name on the flying list! Flying got started only because a couple of KLM pilots on a Lay-over arrived. Anton van Doeveren and Lucas Declerck had flight with Nicky, Sven and Rico. Also Brian Cole took to the skies with Nicky in Brian’s Pipistrel Sinus. Reinhold flew solo in Rudi’s Astir and the tandemfalke. Sven managed to stay airborne for 71 minutes and Alan Procter had a check flight.

SUNDAY (Mothers day ) was a day for non-attached pilots! CRAIG HOPKINS joined (or re-joined) as a member and had 2 flights, so did Helmut von Michaelis, whilst William Whittaker took GIG up for 1,5 hrs. Martin took Hannes Mayer up for 2,5 hrs and then ANDRE VAN RENSBURG did his conversion in GZF. The ridge was working well and towards Robertson there were good cloudstreets. Martin came back from Robertson on thermal power only!

What a weekend of missed opportunities for low-time glider pilots!

EDV

Weekend Report: XC Motorgliding

2006-05-08T22:05:00.000+02:00

Without a doubt winter is here!! Saturday was one of the coldest days that I have experienced at Worcester but that certainly did not deter the Gauntleteers from flying!!

Briefing was well attended at 9.00 am and expertly arranged by Alan and Sven. The atmosphere was fun and everyone was at the launch point well before 12.00am – the official launch time.

Sven was sent off as wind dummy and, after releasing near the quarry, quickly returned to the airfield for a relight. The task was changed as the predicted weather did not materialize and a new task was set. Everyone launched for Vic Peak and the start line was Rawsonville. For the first hour after the start gate was opened I heard many going back to the peak at 2000’ for a top up in height! It really sounded like hard work.

Everyone made it back with some interesting returns to the airfield by Alan and Peter.

Well done to Peter Farrell who won the day!

The DI competition was arranged by Ian Forbes and Jerry Betbeder. Quite a few “sneaky” snags were done which most of us did not even see! Not good at all! Much hilarity ensued and Johnny commented that he thought that the biggest snag was “no engine”.!

Most members enjoyed a braai afterwards and I thought that a great time was had by all. Thanks to Alan, Sven, Ian and Jerry.

While the gauntlet was being flown, Ian Forbes, Andre Stander and Jerry Betbeder worked on the winch. Ron Kakebeeke is fixing the tractor flat wheel and flat battery so that everything will be serviceable by the next winch day.

SUNDAY

Once again GHB and GZF were kept busy. Mike Allen and Helmut von Michaelis flew GHB with Rob Tiffen and Andrew Standring had flights as well. Nice to see Andrew again!

The weather was extremely stable and very good weather for motor gliding and Adriaan and Adri took advantage of flying to Hermanus and Johnny and I to Montagu, Bonnievale, Greyton and Villiersdorp back to FAWC.

Grove Steyn and Alan Procter both had long flights in GZF.

At the end of the day Peter Clemmence and Wynand Rademeyer landed at FAWC in a Sabre JK5 jnr which they had flown down from Johannesburg! Bruce Clemmence had flown the leg from JHB to Hannover with Wynand and Peter has continued from there with Wynand until FAWC.

Congratulations on the purchase of this aeroplane and many happy hours of flying!

Until next weekend,

Alison

Weekend Report: May Day

2006-05-01T21:32:00.000+02:00

I, personally, did not make it out to the airfield until late on Thursday but, when I got there, there was still a reasonable amount of activity with Helmut doing the last flight in GHB. Adriaan was kept busy in his Lambada with Dave Starke and Gerrie Kachelhofer. Sven and Quinton flew the Rotax Falke and Rudi his “broom-broom” GXC!

There were no takers for Friday the 28th but Saturday was a completely different story!!

Saturday was a wonderfully unstable day and, although we got off to a late start, we filled 1.4 time sheets.

Martin Young visited us and had two great flights after his check flight! Marion Cole also kept GHB busy and Peter Farrell had a lovely long flight in GHB with his niece, Lucinda.

Again the motor gliders kept the circuit busy with GZF, GXH, GKM and GZG.

GHR (Herbie), GUH (Rudi) GUC (Gareth ) and GVK (Ari and Gerhard) also had long flights. The later the day, the better the conditions became. Sven took a late launch after rigging his glider and then flew for 2 hours.

Rico went flying in his DG500 – and here is one of the stories of the weekend……

Rico had left his dog, Thabo, at his hanger when he went flying and the dog decided to go for a walk. When Rico returned the dog was nowhere to be seen and many of us drove around to look for him well into the night. Still no Thabo. By 10,30pm the weather had deteriorated and it started to rain. Rico had gone home and returned by 10.30 and said that he would wait by his hanger throughout the night in case the dog should return. He opened his hanger and parked the bakkie half in the doorway. He then went to sleep on a mattress in the hanger. (It was freezing). The next morning he phoned me to tell me that the dog had miraculously returned at 4.30 that morning! We were all very relieved!!

Sunday the weather was awful but the team still turned up to do their duties and Paul did two launches with Louis Esterhuisen doing a hanger landing in GHB and Jacobus Hartman launching in GUC for a five hour attempt. Adriaan launched his Lambada twice and kept Jacobus company on the South side of Vic Peak , taking some awesome photos as well. The Rotax Falke was kept busy with Ian Forbes, Marion Cole and myself tryng out the extreme conditions. By 17.30hrs the wind was 40-50kph on the ground. The laurels go to JOCOBUS HARTMAN who completed his five hours and landed at 17.45hrs with frozen toes!!! Well done Jacobus.!!

I left the airfield on Monday at 11.00am but was pleased to see, before I left, that the teams had pitched up for their duties. Brian Cole in his Pipistel and Marion Cole in GHB kept the instructors busy with BRIAN COLE going solo later in the day!! Congratulations and very well done, Brian.!!!

It was also good to see that Lee Penderis got airborne as well. Kevin Mitchell flew his DG400 for almost an hour and also Sarel Oosthuisen in HW for about and hour, as well.

…….And, of course, our Star tug pilot, NINA, at the helm of MIV.

Just a note for the pilots newly converted onto GUC…….

After landing, please use the tow-out gear to get the glider back to the launch point. Towing it with a rope puts a lot of strain onto the small tail wheel . Also do not turn the glider by dragging it on the wing-tip. This does not do the tail wheel any good, either..

When stowing GUC in the hanger, ALWAYS take off the tail dolly before pushing the glider into the hanger. Never leave the dolly on the glider once it is in the hanger. Once you have cleaned the glider and taken the batteries out of the glider, please put the covers back on. Please leave all club gliders in the condition you would like to find them.

That is all for this week!!

See you all on Saturday at the “GAUNTLET!!!”

Alison

Weekend Report: No flying and a social day

2006-04-24T21:49:00.000+02:00

SATURDAY 22nd April

I am sure that I don't need to give anyone a weather report of the weekend
but the only thing that happened on Saturday was the WEATHER! A few brave
souls ventured out to the Club but the airfield looked like a sea for most
of the day as the rain bucketed down.

NO FLYING

SUNDAY 23rd April

I asked Andre to send out an e-mail on Saturday to encourage anyone wanting
to winch on Sunday to be there. The wind was too strong for the tugs, as
it happened, and we had a great team turn out for winching.

Garth Milne was duty pilot par excellence and had his instructors Boet and
Fred as well as Ian Forbes helping to get things going. Sven manned the
lights and the radio and Rob K drove the winch, with yours truly for part of
the day on the tractor and trailer. Thanks to Jacobus Hartman for taking
over on the tractor, and William Whittaker, who later flew GUC off the
winch, for all their effort. Mike Allen and Helmut von Michaelis also had
turns flying.

All in all, the spirit was great and as Garth says:" a great social time was
had by all!"

Thanks to all concerned.

REMEMBER:

Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are all rostered flying days so come
out to the Club and join us for a great long weekend!!

Alison

Weekend Report: Easter

2006-04-18T22:01:00.000+02:00

FRIDAY

Conditions were fairly stable yet Gareth Floweday took the laurels and stayed up in GUC for 4 hours! Thanks to the team - ADRIAAN for duty pilot and GROVE and MARTIN for instructing with NINA towing. Marian Cole was the sole student in GHB and Brain Cole was instructed by Martin in the Pipistrel. Kevin Mitchell flew his DG400 but the day was once again dominated by motor gliders!

SATURDAY

Saturday morning dawned one of those classic Autumn stable mornings and by 8.30, 4 motor gliders: GXH, VAE, GLZ, and GZF were at the
holding point and all flew off together for breakfast at Porterville! What a stunning morning and thanks to Adriaan for arranging it. I certainly will encourage more of these fly-away mornings, especially during mornings that promise to be a mediocre soaring day!... We were collected at the airfield at Porterville and taken to the resuarant in town for a very pleasant breakfast and then flew back to FAWC. VAE took the long ruite via Franschoek and Villiersdorp and GXH via Shelly point!

Many single pilots: Peter Farrel, Sarel Osothuisen, Garth Milne and Kevin Mitchell all made valiant efforts to stay aloft in their gliders while students Ryno, Kelvin and Marian kept GHB busy.

Later in the afternoon a transmission problem with GZF caused an incident between two motor gliders. Thankfully this (radio) problem was sorted out on Monday by Wally Tamsen. Thanks Wally. The other "communication" problem was sorted out on Sunday night (see Sunday)!

SUNDAY

It was good to see Kim Carter-Brown again at the field and once again Marion Cole and Helmut von Michaelis flew in GHB. The weather was threatening to worsen but Wally and Fred were certainly kept busy until late with the trainers.

The GZF radio problem had caused words between Tom and Adri and Tom apologised publically to Adri at the braai in the clubhouse on Sunday
night. His "apology" is for all to see on the notice board! Thanks to Tom and Adri for resolving this disagreement so well!

The braai in the clubhouse on Sunday night was one of the best I have ever attended!! The atmosphere was fantastic and we all had a great deal of fun!

MONDAY

Cloudbase was about 3000' at best and worsened. When we left at 1430hrs, it had begun to rain in the mountains! Activity at the field was minimal but Adriaan made a valiant effort to keep things going by taking Horst, Marion, Brian and Piet van Toorenburg for flights in his Lamabda.

When Wally had completed fixing the radio in the Motor Falke, he took Juliana for a flight. Hubert and Martin had a 3 hour flight in Hubert's Rotax M/Falke to St Helena Bay.

All in all a very pleasnat weekend and thanks to all who helped with maintenance issues - Johnny for the rotax prop, Wally for GZF radio
and Ed for the wiring on Goks trailer and Ron and Tom for the tyres on Goks trailer.

We also say goodbye to Tom who is flying North for the winter and we will see him again in October.

I would also like to thank Adriaan Hepburn for his evident club spirit and motivation of other members this weekend.

Please remember the AGM on Wednesday evening - see you all then.

Regards
Alison

Weekend Report: GOK takes a break

2006-04-10T21:55:00.000+02:00

The Club was relatively quiet on Saturday after the hectic activities of the
course which finished on Friday afternoon. Mike Pascoe and Paul Bailey
were kept busy instructing while Nina very competently tugged. Johan
Gericke was duty pilot and also fixed the radio in GHB. Thanks Johan. The day was marred by the outlanding of Ed and Piet van Toorenberg in GOK. Unfortunately GOK was damaged and will need to be sent away for repair.

Sunday was also very stable and uneventful and we kept the Ka13 busy with
pupils and paxes. Marian Cole and Rob Manzoni were the pupils and Mike
Pascoe, Will Whittaker , Jaco Hartman (who took 3 launches in GUC) and a visiting pilot - Rens, a KLM pilot, and Errol Drew (welcome back!) flew the
singles. Much later in the afternoon Kevin Mitchell flew his beautiful
DG400. We hope the weather improves for the Easter Weekend and we hope
we have lots of activity!!!

Remember that everyday of the Easter Weekend is a rostered flying day so, see you there!!

Alison

Weekend Report: Trailer Reversing & more

2006-04-03T21:52:00.000+02:00

Saturday

The Cape Gauntlet comp comprised a record entry of nine – a sign that things are growing again on the local cross-country scene. We have a lot of experienced and capable cross-country pilots, many of whom own excellent ships – so it was super to see so many flying. Alan’s “Gauntlet” efforts have already done much to encourage pilots back into their ships and to “do it” – thank you Alan, all it takes is a spark and the magic is there. I hope it will also be an encouragement to the up-and-coming pilots who must surely have their sights set on new cross-country endeavours. Be encouraged! – I have yet to meet a returning cross-country pilot who is grumpy – even when returning by road form an outlanding. Cross-country soaring must be the most satisfying thing on earth after …, well, who knows

Adri kindly stood in as duty pilot; Mark tugged with NIG and Paul Troskie, MIV. Unfortunately the NW wind picked up to the extent that we had to put the Ka13 away. Of the singles that launched, Alan takes the trophy for the most perseverance, as he took three launches before getting on task. It must have paid off because he came third overall with Adriaan taking the laurels once again. Well done Adriaan, the CGC’s “secret weapon”! We had a full time sheet I must thank everyone who took part in the day. More news on the actual “flying” will be on Alan’s Cape Gauntlet blog.

The trailer-reversing competition was hilarious! The spirit of the participants as well as the spectators was great. John Spargo beat everyone with his skills. It certainly wasn’t easy and I came stone last, but at least I tried.

Wally organised a wonderful “potjie” from the famous Helgaard and a few people dressed "silly". I think Wally won that competition. There was some consternation when a "male stripper" turned up, which everyone denied arranging. The party went on until the small hours so I was pleasantly surprised when Sunday dawned to early activity.

Sunday

During the reading of the “Gauntlet” results, Alan O’ Regan had requested help the next morning at 08h00, to rig two Ka7 trainers. What a joy to see Alan himself, Peter Farrell, Wally Tamsen, Tom Heaslip and Jaco Hartman all arrive right on time. Craig Fussel and Andre Leeb du Toit came along a bit later. The result: - both Ka7's rigged by 09h30. What a team! Next, GUU was then taken to Dave Starke's hanger where Dave spent the entire day sorting out the plumbing and electrics in order to get the glider ready for the course. We owe you big time Dave! You were pivotal in getting the tools for the course ready. Thanks also to Andre who weighed the glider, and Rudi who performed the annual inspection and did the paperwork.

Congtratulations to Gareth Floweday who converted to GUC. He looked so cool and comfortable in GUC before the flight, that I had no idea it was his conversion.

It was one of those weekends when, at the end, I felt that I had had a great time – a return to "old times" and fun times.

Alison (with a little help from Peter)

Weekend Report: Nina tugs her Dad

2006-03-28T22:16:00.000+02:00

Saturday

The students that missed Saturday's flying missed out on a great training day. Those of us who flew had a lot of fun and finished the day with Martin doing about two and a half hours, 8500' flight in a KA 8, to Tulbach and back! Gauntleteers eat your hearts out.

In fact the Grunert family did extremely well with Nina doing her first proper tugging duty - she even towed her father! Her flying was excellent and her landings put a lot of us to shame! Well done Nina!

Thanks to all the team that turned up on Saturday to do their duty and Rob Tiffin who changed from Sun to Sat to help out.

Commiserations go to Trevor Johnson who fell asleep at the wheel of his BMW and somehow survived the crash.

Sunday

Sunday was not off to such a good start with one of our instructors saying that he didn’t know he was duty. Come off it guys! The roster may sometimes be a little late, but this is crazy! It’s also irresponsible and you inconvenience a whole group of people.

The weather on Sunday was a great deal better that Saturday and we saw a whole group of single seaters and self launchers take to the skies.

Remember the “Cape Gauntlet with a difference” on Saturday. Remember also to book TODAY for the Saturday potjie with Wally Tamsen (084 774 7777).

Alison

Making the best of it

2006-03-11T10:47:00.000+02:00

With everyone worrying about the effect of the fire - Cornelius plans how to USE it (photo from the March Gauntlet).

Just goes to show how one man's meat is another man's poison!

What follows is a report of another day were we made the best of it.

Only Ed pitched for the weather briefing at 09h00 - somehow everyone seemed to figure the 8/8 cloud was going to be the story for the day, but how wrong you can be!

By 10h00 it had burnt off, gone largely blue and there were clearly thermals under teh inversion - at this stage at about 3500ft. The forecast was for excellent instability (the approaching front was very clearly visible in Cape Town ("waiting" for the day to pass so that it could come through in the evening - notice how often the fronts get in phase with the day so thet always pass through in late evening?) after a morning of inversion, lights winds and 'softer' thermals.

After some initial end-game-tennis we settled on 33 and Adriaan took the fist launch (12h45), immediately followed by X32. Herbie disagreed with me that "Jan du Toits" always works in a SW, and as I launched there I had the opportunity to test this - not for long though (it wasn't working). I only just made the jump to Waaihoek (having the biggest BUMP I have ever experienced in the lee of Waaihoek and I sometimes wonder how it all holds together when the weather is that severe.

We climbed on Waaihoek to 4500ft and could see the inversion below the top of Saronberg - thick and unappetizing looking. We discussed options and eventually decided that there was no point in hanging around - and jumped Mitchell's saddle to Witzenberg which was working but quite soft and needed us to trickle along. X32 did not have enough height to jump into 24 rivers so we used the Saron Gap to Porterville. The Portville soft but carrying and we made it to Renosterhoek and back but it was sweaty stuff being close in an as slow as we dared.

I took a climb (unusually) at the south end of the Porterville ridge and a long glide to the Witzenberg. Adriaan struggled with the jump because he missed the climb, but we both got established on the Witzenberg. I again took a high climb at Waaihoek to jump to Keeromberg - the sink was really severe. Adriaan bailed at this point not wanting to risk a land out on Kylie's birthday.

The ridge to Swellendam was cooking but a little rough and I should not have attempted the corner - I started round the corner at 4500ft (high for X32 but it was quite westerly and without the extra the trailer would have earned some more trackmiles). I turned at 100km and made it back around the coner down to just over 3000ft, buit quickly regained the top and it was cooking all the way to Keeromberg.

It was now 17h00 and the front ridge was clearly cooking in the pre-frontal instability. I elected to try and make the jump to Waaihoek by climbing to 5800ft on Keeronberg. But it was mostly heavy sink along Brandwag and I was down to nearly 3000ft at Jan du Toits - which was now working Herbie! - and climbed high for the jump to Waaihoek.

I can honestly say I have not had a more difficult day (these jumps were brutal) making around the corner (Keerom to Waaihoek and vice versa) and Adriaan certainly had a similar experience - it is interesting to me that these days (where there is NO chance of a 1000 are often the ones where you really learn stuff or use all your knowledge). My method for rounding the corner (Keerom to Waaihoek) is to climb high and then fly the risge as though it was working - hoping (as usually happens) for lift in the rotor. I either got it wrong today or it wasn't there, but I doubt a lower performance ship would have made it.

From Waaihoek it was gangbusters to past Dasklip. The big concern was not to stay out too late and as it went soft as the ridge got lower I decided to turn just before Piekeniers - a good call as it turned out because it felt like I got the last out of the Witzenberg on the way back - trickling along to make it climb, and on Waaihoek there was nothing - zero. I suspect another 15 minutes (the time it would have taken to do the extra 45km to Renosterhoek and back from the place I turned would have been enough to render the ridges unworkable.

So 680 OLC (720 track)km from a 13h00 start - we certainly had an afternoon of a 1000km day and made the best of it.

HotRocks above the inversion?

2006-03-07T19:30:00.000+02:00

Well the overnight Tephi indicated the strongest, shallowest inversion I have ever seen - nearly 18 degrees C in 1400ft. And it was clearly visible at 08h30 with fires below it having no impact. A little depressing, actually, given all the other wonderful indicators of a great day. The thermals thought so too and there was not a breath of wind.

Since I was already in Worcester and had arranged a 10h00 launch with Mark S (who was ferrying MIV to Stellenbosch) I had to take a launch or abandon the day. It was petty clear to me that it wouldn't be working but some stubborn streak (which goes right alongside my many-dented ego) urged me to launch anyway, these opportunities for mid-week days don't come along so often. Ed, stalwart that he is, ran the wing and checked my wildly optimistic declaration (a 1000km triangle).

The aerotow was smooth - horribly smooth. But at Jan du Toit's we go a big kick - the vario was indicating nearly 6m and I pulled off and after some scrabbling climbed to 4800 by getting in close to the rocks. I pushed to Waaihoek, but had not yet sussed it that only the hotrocks were working and it took me a few passes to figure it out - it was also very early on the day and there was some inconsistency about the lift on the ridge.

You could have blown me over with a feather that there was such good lift clearly above the inversion - helped by the fact that the airmass above the inversion was almost super-adiabatic, but it is worth remembering.

I flew out to Botha and through the start gate and set course for Nieuwoudtville - the Waaihoek run was ridiculously buoyant now and I was able to jump Mitchell's saddle at 5400ft and head straight for the Witzenberg. Fortunately I did not 'change gear' to the sort of energy Waaihoek was demonstrating and X32 trickled at a minimum acceptable airspeed along the Witzenberg never making it to the top and down to 4000ft by the top of the Tulbagh valley.

Rob Manzoni had reported and inversion also in the Porterville valley and not much wind, but in for a penny in for a pound, so I jumped the Saron gap and joined the Porterville ridge at 3200ft (I am guessing you are seeing the height trend here). The Porterville ridge was only just not carrying - from past experience I suspect the long-wings would have been just fine but I was down to 2800 abeam Porterville and it frankly looked like more of the same to the North.

I turned, thinking that will a little bit of luck I could make it home and was able to climb back to 3000 at the Southern end of the Porterville ridge. A jump to Saron berg saw me down to 2400ft and it did not work until the southern tip just before the Gouda gap, but it was clearly no a good position to be in - with not enough height to jump to the Witzenberg, I tried anyway - overflying Tulbagh in the process but to no avail. Plop - a great field right next to the road.

Mr Spargo did the honours and came to get me after I initially tried to hitch back, but like some thermals, the traffic just wasn't lifting! See John arriving at the field in the picture - and if you look very closely, you'll see a cloud at 8000ft over Mitchell's Pass laughing quietly. Thanks Big J!

If I had this condition again (Hotrocks above an inversion), I would run east and stick with the high ridges. And although it wasn't that successful, it was a great day out! And thanks again to Mark, John and Ed who made it all possible!

Weekend Report

2006-02-26T20:11:00.000+02:00

Saturday

The weekend was overshadowed by the funeral of Hans Lobach on Saturday afternoon. It was attended by a good many of our members. Thanks to Reinhold Laurenz who spoke at the funeral on behalf of the Club and the soaring members in general. Our sincere condolences have been conveyed to Elizabeth and the extended Lobach family.

Saturday dawned with low cloud which persisted until after lunch. I had to fly out to an event at Happy Valley near Greyton. We went in ZS-RMP, the Cherokee 180, via Bonnievale and from there crossed over the Sonderendberge to reach Happy Valley. For anyone interested, the runway is a good grass one of approx 35m width, 650 metres long. It is 1000' above sea level and has a hump in the middle! The owners, Marianne and Neville Wright, welcome anyone who wants to land there and you can pre-book for breakfast, or simply pop in for coffee.

We flew back via Theewaterskloof dam, arriving at FWC at 14h45. Adriaan and Adri were on duty at FAWC at the time. Before we had taken off that morning we were privileged to see Kevin Mitchell do the first of his three maiden flights in his beautiful DG400M. We wish you lots more happy hours in your new glider, Kevin!

Andre Stander, the only student on Saturday, managed three flights while Tom Heaslip flew two hours, Sven 6.2 hours, and Trevor Johnson 1.5 hrs. At 15h00 the convergence was well developed. Adriaan and Bill G managed to fly alongside Sven near Greyton, enjoying the strong conditions.

The Rotax Falke was kept busy with Ari and Andre Stander practicing circuits. Both Frans du Toit and I completed our respective conversions onto the RF, under the watchful eye of Martin G. Otto and a friend flew in his DG but after an hour he called to say that he had to return to the airfield because "he was full and his passenger was empty". Very descriptive!

Those who did not fly - especially the students - missed a very good training day with good flying conditions.

Sunday

It began with a NW but threatened to blow out. We therefore took GOK to the launch point in anticipation of the expected conditions and to prevent scurrying back to the hanger with the lighter trainers. Andre LduT and Peter Clemence were kept busy with three students and two visitors. It was very nice to see Rene Heise at the field again. One of the “AE” visitors was Urs Rothacher, the technical director of FLARM who was visiting. He also upgraded various FLARM units. It was a pity that the conditions were not good enough for him to have a really spectacular flight. Hopefully he will visit us again.

At about 15h30 the wind strengthened and the operation had to called off. We certainly seem to have had an undue and disappointing number of "blow-outs" this season.

We will advise members whether there will be a tug for flying on Wednesday, the public holiday. Watch the news on the “CGC discuss” forum.

Do also remember that it’s the “Cape Gauntlet” this weekend as well as the first Saturday party in the Clubhouse. For those with motor gliders, it’s the Swellendam fly-in is this Saturday and Sunday at Swellengrebel Flying Club. Camping facilities are available at their airfield.

Thanks to Tom Heaslip and Rob Kakebeeke who put the roof back onto the ERV as well as repair the seat of the tractor. Speaking of which - Peter Clemence has been signed out after his conversion onto the tractor - he just has to send his paperwork in!

That’s all the news for now. Just one more request: WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO DO THE ANNUAL INSPECTION ON THE Ka7 ON THE WEEKEND OF THE 17TH MARCH. Please contact Jerry Betbeder should you be able to help. Remember students - this is an excellent opportunity to get to know the workings of the gliders.

Alison

Weekend Report: Porterville 1st, then a black/blowout.

2006-02-20T23:12:00.000+02:00

Saturday

Flying on Saturday began nice and early with our first launch at 10h25 in what was promising to be a very hot day. We were not disappointed but as the day developed it became evident that the inversion was not going to lifting. Adriaan and Wally both took their gliders back to the hanger - Adriaan to go "Falking" with Hubert to Porterville instead.

Student pilots Frank Dorey and Andre Stander had three training flights each. Our guest for the day, Fuad Esack, from the Cape Community Newspapers, came out to Worcester to do an article on gliding at Worcester. His day began in style when Mark invited him to come along on the tug ferry flight from Stellenbosch to Worcester. That was followed by a flight in GOK with Nicky, followed by a winch launch with Martin. All in all Fuad had a good time and got a good impression of how the club operates.

Garth Milne was the star of the day (again) with an excellent out-and-return to Porterville! Well done! And also well done to Sven who managed to stay airborne for 5.9 hours. Gerhard Waller flew for two and a half hours and so did Herbie. A rare sighting was made and logged of the Tipping lad who flew his beautiful ASW20 for two and three quarters of an hour! Also airborne was Jerry “Wave man” Betbeder in GUC.

Winching got off to a slow start but we managed five launches. I personally had a bad start to helping with the winch when I inadvertently almost reversed over John Spargo with the tractor (fortunately I missed)! Sorry John! You certainly can jump high and fast!

The Rotax Falke was kept busy with June and Wally both doing their conversions with Martin Grunert.

A full time sheet and five paxes - a great day!

Sunday

The power cuts had far reaching repercussions when both Mark S and Rico S had huge technical problems and could not make it to the Club. The wind picked up in velocity and by noon Alan O’Regan called it a day and no flying was done. Earlier Adriaan and Adri in the Lamabda and Johnny and I in the Grob had got airborne but had to beetle back to the airfield in a hurry, due to the wind suddenly picking up in strength. Thanks to Alan, Wally (who stood in for Mark), and Mike Allen who came out to do their duty. Well done guys!

Alison

Porterville at last!

2006-02-18T20:06:00.000+02:00

Garth Milne reports on his first flight to the front ridge in the Cirrus. . .

I was really pleased to get out onto the Porterville ridge on Saturday. One step closer to Renosterhoek! I looked at Dr Jack's blipmaps on Friday night. They showed wind onto the Porterville ridge at 11:00, 14:00 and 16h00? so I was hoping to get there.

I asked Mark for a tow to Audenberg. He towed me past Brandwag where there seemed to be lift so I released, but ended up slowly sinking, so migrated back towards the Audenberg slope where I could slowly climb to about 4500. The N1 at Hex had no sink, and with intermittent lift I could get onto Keerom and to Nuy, where the lift was marginal but sustaining.

Eventualy getting tired of this I decided to see if Brandwag had improved. There was wide 1m/s lift in front of Brandwag, so I reached its top, and could then make it around Waaihoek where another 1m/s topped me up to get to Mostertshoek. Along the Witzenberg the wind was parallel to the ridge, with more sink than lift so I headed towards Tulbach, getting a few thermals. At 5000' approaching Tulbach I radio'd Sven in EY and asked if I would make the Saronberg/Soldersberg gap. He said I would - but to be careful, since it was getting late.

Heading into wind (possibly lee sink from Saronberg) I lost height, but pushed the speed, and reached Solderberg at 3000', expecting (hoping?) there would be lift on the windward side. My nerves recovered a bit with the 0.7 m/s against the Sodersberg rocks, and I gained slowly to 4000' (big difference to have the ridge below you), and could then gain enought to be looking down on the ridge to Porterville, so "here goes". There was no trouble maintining height to past Porterville, but I was getting too far into unknown territory. Sven's "be careful" was in my mind, and I was not sure about getting back across the Tulbach valley. ON returning, just NE of Solderberg I happily hit a 1-2m/s thermal. There is nothing as comforting as watching the dial slowly wind up, knowing that this is your ticket across the valley and home! I circled in any lift on the mountains towards Tulbach, and then headed diagonally across the valley.

Alan previously suggested one aim SE for a point on the Witsenberg mountains near a landable area. I followed this advice and found 0.5 m/s lift on the slope so slowly climbed to the top at Mitchel's pass. I looped back once get more height, and crossed on the West of the Mostertshoek gap (previously suggested by Sven/Alan). At Waaihoek I could again "tank up" and initially headed for Vic Peak, hoping to add some km for the OLC. Sven's height reports from Nuy showed he was climbing, so this sounded like as safer bet, and I turned back to Brandwag, and after reaching Nuy returned home via Keerom.

Getting onto the Porterville ridge for the first time has opened a new area for me. I am grateful for all the help from Sven (in the flight and on the ground), Alan and others. Their internet leads (Google Earth, Blip Maps, encouragement to post to OLC etc) have also added to this latest step. Thanks guys!

Garth

Wave on a thermal day

2006-02-14T20:38:00.000+02:00

Today the BLIPMAPS forecast a ballistic day, but we had already spotted that they (and NOAA) seem a little blind to our inversions. And today we had a 10 degree inversion.

After a launch from tuggie-combo John&Piet (thanks!) with Ed running the wing, X32 found good lift in Jan du Toit's and headed for Waaihoek. MUCH more sink than usual and it took a while to climb up again to start at Botha.

Rob Manzoni (see pick of him syphoning fuel into GUF at Porterville recently) reported good conditions on the front ridge, but it was really bumpy and decidedly soft at Dasklip, so at 2500ft (after losing 500ft in less than 5 km) I bailed and returned somewhat gingerly back to Jan du Toits.

Jan du Toits rotor-thermal worked to 6500 and suddenly went smooth (like is does) and friendly controllers allowed a run at FL120 to Villiersdorp and further.

We are so priveledged to have these mountains to play in!

And Ed just LOVED the short retrieve from the taxi-way. YAY! X32 lands at FAWC for a change.

Weekend Report: Kelvin goes blind

2006-02-12T18:24:00.000+02:00

Saturday

A classical breathless super-hot day at the airfield. Unfortunately, once again, there were not enough takers for the winch so we aerotowed for the entire day. Rudi waited until later in the day and was rewarded with a two and a half hour flight in his Single Astir. Kelvin Holmwood, the only student present, had GHB all to himself and enjoyed four flights, one of which was his "blank panel". Well done Kelvin! Adri took accolades with her circuits and bumps in the Lambada - and later was cleared solo. Congratulations Adri! Andre Fechter flew in from Stellenbosch with Martin Grunert, in his brand new Pipistrel Sinus. Ari and Peter Clemence worked very hard instructing in the searing heat, ably assisted by tuggie Bill Griffiths, with duty pilots Henry Barnes and Marcel de Reuck. Well done to all of you.

Sunday

It looked promising to me early on (though I always seem to misread the weather). I was quickly proved wrong again when the north wind picked up to a very healthy 50kph. We were unable to take the trainers out of the hanger so all the students and AE flight visitors were all flown in GOK by Phil and Boet. Unfortunately Boet landed out near Brandvlei dam wall, and Phil and son Liam, plus friend Justin together with Coen, went off on retrieve.

Johan Gericke tried to get going early for a goal flight, but to no avail. Nevertheless he had two flights of over two hours each, in GUC. Sven and Peter Farrell had long flights in wave, thermal and ridge. Kevin Mitchell flew GUC and had such a rough time in turbulence on aerotow that the airbrakes were wrenched open and he had to release prematurely when he got out of position behind the tug. Hopefully he will have his DG400M in the air soon.

We welcome to our newest member Frank Dorey (and his wife Enid). Unfortunately Frank was unable to fly yesterday due to the outlanding, but he has already signed up for the April course.

Jaco Hartman worked extremely hard yesterday together with Coen Marais, as well as tug pilot John S, who handled the tug well in the strong winds.

Please note! Saturday is winching again and we really would like to get the winching operation going. However, we cannot do this if no one pitches up to fly off the winch. Remember, this is an opportunity to practice your circuit planning and landings – a really inexpensive launch method compared to aerotow. So all you students out there, please bear this in mind and come and winch with us next weekend. Besides - we are dying to try out latest acquisition - the FIAT TRACTOR!

Remember! ALL GLIDER HIRE BEFORE 11 AM IS FREE!

Alison

Cape Gauntlet takes to the sky

2006-02-07T23:11:00.000+02:00

The Cape Gauntlet, the monthly competition of the Cape Gliding Club, took to the smoke-filled skies over the Western Cape this weekend.

Gliders launched from the Worcester airfield and followed courses taking in Robertson, Citusdal and the Du Toit's Kloof tunnel.

For results, pilot reports, and more, pick up the Cape Gauntlet!

Weekend Report: The Gauntlet is thrown

2006-02-06T20:07:00.000+02:00

Saturday

For those property owners who were affected, the grass around the hangers was removed by Hennie du Preez and his staff on Friday morning. They have not yet completed the task but the worst has been removed. The rest will be done in a few days as he is busy with harvesting at the moment. A firebreak will also be graded on the eastern side of the hangers by the municipality.

Saturday was extremely busy, as Murphy caused us to change runways twice, kept cloud base at 2000' for the greater part of the morning, and troubled the workings of MIV’s starter motor. Then there was a fuel leak, so we took NIG out of mothballs and that certainly helped with getting all the gliders launched in time for the Cape Gauntlet competition.

The heat was extreme and the pace was hectic. It was actually wonderful to see a full launch point and both tugs out of the hanger and working. There were quite a few visiting pilots from the UK who were able to fly with Mike Pascoe and Andre.

Adriaan led the pack and won the comp – you can’t hold this man back now! Unfortunately Tom landed out at de Wet, where Rob K and Kevin Mitchell went to retrieve him.

Saturday night saw Rico fighting another huge fire on his farm but he still managed to come and tug on Sunday. NIG behaved beautifully all day.

The Rotax Falke was kept busy with Rudi and June doing conversions.

Sunday

The entire team turned up – we had one student (Andre Stander) and five AE Flights. One of these people joined the club so we welcome Paul Cartmel to the fold. Another AE visitor introduced and flown by Boet Coetzee is Frank Dorey who is also interested in the course.

GHB was the only glider taken out of the hanger on Sunday but we managed to keep her busy and did about 10 flights. Dave and Hubert flew their Rotax Falke.

Please remember that the course is from the 3rd to the 7th April. If anyone is interested in doing the course or who knows of someone who may be interested - please pass their names on to Peter Wooley.

Now that the main grass has been removed, all hanger owners are requested to please to care the areas immediately surrounding their hangers – you are urged not to let the situation get out of hand again – these clearances cost money and we have to pass these costs back to you. PLEASE! Maintenance of your hanger and the immediate surrounds is your responsibility.

Alison

Weekend Report: 904km

2006-01-30T20:05:00.000+02:00

Friday
Friday saw Sven take to the skies in GOK with a Swedish guest Lars Olson. They turned at Piekenierskloof in the north and on the return flight overflew the Groot Winterhoek mountains - a rare treat. Adri started the weekend with some touch-and-goes accompanied by Adriaan in the Lambada.

Saturday
Flying started at 10h13, thanks to Quinton who got the show into the air. Test aerotows were flown with the Rotax Falke piloted by Mark. GHB was first piloted by Quinton and later dual, with Quinton and Boet. The piece de resistance was the aerotow of the Twin with Jerry “Duo Discus” Betbeder and Mike Pascoe. In a no-wind situation it was somewhat marginal as to height AGL at the end of the runway – although I remember being taken aloft in a Kranich at Old Tempe by a Tiger Moth when after a circuit around the little church steeple we arrived back over the runway at 150’. For a club operation a little thin for comfort!

Adriaan launched at 11h10 to return at 19h13 after covering 904km! Dave Starke and Reinhold had a two & a half hour flight in GLZ, Hubert’s tricycle-gear Rotax Falke, whilst Mike Pascoe, Herbie Oberhofer, Tom Heaslip, Gerhard Waller and Peter Farrell were airborne in their respective gliders for two to three hours. Rico and Horst Pflugner enjoyed two and a half hours in the DG500, and Bill Griffiths one a half hours in his Astir. The longest flight in a club ship was Gareth Floweday and Boet at 77 minutes.

Seven Air Experience flights were launched after the singles and together with check flights, the instructors were kept busy. The “Two Louis’s” as duty pilots recorded 28 flights, a medal for perseverance was earned by the only pupil, Andre Stander, who actually managed to have two flights, both of over an hour.

John Spargo was the extra-busy tug pilot – thanks John!

Sunday

An excellent instruction day with Phil and Randy sharing the load and Nina and Gareth handling the ground operation. It was a slick performance which benefited Ben and Eduard Kieser (three each), Jaco Hartman (five!), Helmuth von Michaelis (two), Michael Allen (two) and two Air Experience flights. The longest flight was 61 minutes – Helmuth and Randy.

There is a perception amongst duty pilots and time keepers that in order to satisfy a wish for minimal effort, that flights of private glider including self launchers do not need recording! This is a fallacy! The timesheet needs to reflect ALL glider movements. Some information is needed by the treasurer for invoicing (the most important) but the complete range of activity must be recorded for national statistics and our web page. The web page info helps attract visitors and they spice up our cash flow. So PLEASE! – duty pilots, record ALL flights in future.

The ignored flight this Sunday was Hans & Martin in the Stemme who did Renosterhoek and back.

Alan Procter got everyone airborne – thanks Alan!

Ed

Weekend Report: Neiuwoudtville Recce

2006-01-23T20:04:00.000+02:00

Except for a few pilots, both days were blown out, especially for training. However on Saturday a few powered gliders launched - Otto, Hubert, Rico, Rob K, Hans and Reinhold, and Martin were able to get airborne. Rudi and Ari took tows to brave the extremely turbulent conditions in their singles and Ari was rewarded with a spectacular flight, beginning in wave at Victoria Peak and transitioning to ridge, all the way to Renosterhoek and back. An excellent second flight in his “new” ASW20.

Visually the wave clouds were of the most spectacular seen at Worcester and it’s estimated that at least 30 - 40 000’ was attainable.

Adriaan, Sven, Alan O'R and Quinton took off in motor gliders at 06h45 on a fact-finding recce to Niewoudetville. A very interesting and informative trip where outlanding areas were duly recorded. Sven has a set of digital images.

Uys Jonker flew his Motorfalke from FAWC back home and reported lift on the northern side of the Langeberge as well as good wave in the lee of the Swartberge.

Back at Worcester the highlight was the arrival of our “nearly new”, diesel FIAT tractor. This is for drawing out the winch cables as well as airfield bush cutting. Ed is in charge of the key and will convert tractor drivers where necessary. PLEASE! ABSOLUTELY NO CHILDREN EVER will be permitted to ride on this tractor.

NIG was test flown by Mark on Saturday and (he says) it is running beautifully. Johnny Navarro spent a lot of time repairing the tow release mechanism on ZS-GZF, so we are now ready to commence towing – THANKS JOHNNY! Any takers for a tow?

Thanks to the teams that turned up for their duties regardless of the weather!

Welcome back to Jerry Betbeder who attended a ridge and wave flying course at Omarama in New Zealand! The aircraft he used was a brand new Duo Discuss - lucky chap!

Alison

Weekend Report: Another DG400 arrives

2006-01-10T19:55:00.000+02:00

Firstly I would like to thank all the tug pilots - Ari, Aubrey, Mark, Bill, John, Rien and especially Rico who tug many times when there was no one else. A BIG thank you! The Star of the Winelands Week was ED. Ed took the times every day (and there was flying virtually every day) and also helped launch gliders when there were no hands. We would not have managed without you!

Saturday took us by surprise with the weather that moved in overnight but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the members who came out to the Club.

Kevin Mitchell brought his brand new DG400 out for the first time. Congratulations to him and to Hubert with his new Rotax Falke. Two new members joined on Saturday - Ben Kieser and his 15 yr old son Edward. Welcome to our Club. The Rotax Falke was in much demand on Saturday with conversions and Ben only managed to get airborne after 6.00pm. They had 2 or 3 more flights in gliders on Sunday, though, and are enjoying themselves! Thanks to all those who made them feel welcome. Many members took the time to clean hangers and do general maintenance on their gliders and hangers. A very merry atmosphere prevailed throughout the weekend!!

Sunday the weather was much the same as Saturday to begin with and cleared later towards the afternoon and we had a very active gliding day.

JUST ONE COMPLAINT:

Duty pilots are not phoning their teams on the Monday of the week preceding their duty and the instructors and tug pilots are not always informed of their duties. I do know that it is up to every member to know when he/she is on duty but it does not always work like that. People need to be reminded verbally. Then at least you know that they are informed. e/mail or SMS are NOT adequate. Another thing, PLEASE arrive early. Every week seems to get later and later and this is not a good example to our enthusiastic students. We cannot lose members because of our "laid back" attitudes. This also gives the perception that perhaps the ENTIRE operation, including instruction and safety, is not taken seriously enough.

Regards

ALISON

Weekend Report: An FAI 1000!!

2005-12-19T19:54:00.000+02:00

Friday

Those members who attended the ZS-MDF “bring and braai” at the du Preez Wine Estate really had a super evening in the most beautiful garden setting. Hennie du Preez supplied the braai fires and people to do the braai as well as
superb wines. It was good to see the Vliegklub and the Gliding Club members enjoying a joint celebration together.

Saturday

Before I start with the report, congratulations Jaco Hartman for going solo last weekend. Apologies for omitting you from the last Weekend News.

This weekend proved to be a real humdinger.

Firstly, duty pilot Hans Pruter managed very well in the absence of this partner. Hans, we hope to see you come and fly more often now. We had a visitor, Florian, who has a PPL and is visiting from the UK. She is doing some gliding while in the Cape. We also had a few visitors from Germany.

Our own singles pilots, Adriaan Hepburn, Jerry Betbeder, Kevin Mitchell, Sven Olivier (570km), Randy Cullen, Bill Griffiths, John Spargo, Rob Kakebeeke, Mike Pascoe, were all at Worcester braving the howling SW wind. Nicky Oberhofer flew down to Swellendam and Adriaan Hepburn made at least two traverses down east as far as Tradouw Pass. The cherry on the top for Saturday was Gareth Floweday completing his Five Hours in GUZ. Well done Gareth!

Good to see were our “recuperating” members Mike Pascoe and Reinhold Lawrenz, both taking to the skies again. Welcome back both of you!

At last we have met the well-known (by name any way) Errol Drew, who spent the weekend at the Club – welcome Errol! We hope you enjoyed for first weekend at the club.

Unfortunately Quinton Hoole's day began badly when his car had to be towed back to the field. Fortunately everyone rallied round and helped get his family back to town.

Sunday

Well what can I say! Adriaan has finally cracked the “big one” – 1000km plus! Congratulations – there is certainly no bluffing you way through cross country soaring with a lot of “talk” - now you have DONE IT and got the IGC file to prove it. Sheer dedication to soaring has earned you a well deserved place in the CGC “Hall of Fame”.

Well done also to all the other pilots who were out and about: Cornelius, Randy, Garth (397km! Well done!), Martin G (also estimated 1000km but not downloaded at the time of writing – well done but we now expect that of you Martin!), William Whittaker and Quinton. The high wind resulted in some heart-stopping landings – well done all of you – there were no mishaps.

Thanks to all who helped put the Ka7 and Ka 13 away - it was not easy. A couple of winch launches were also done with some very interesting approaches in that strong wind.

Jerry is off to Omarura in New Zealand where he will be doing a cross-country soaring course. Have a good time Jerry – you’ll be able to teach us a thing or two when you return.

For those staying at Cape Town over the holiday period, remember that we will be flying at Worcester (by arrangement) right through from Friday 16th December to January. Tug pilots – we need you!

There’s a pile of renewed GPL’s and copies of the December KK for the non-e-mailers, which will be delivered to the airfield next weekend.

Also of interest, Andrea Schlapbach of FLARM fame is visiting the Cape and is staying with Sven till 16/12.

Alison

Weekend Report: Blowout

2005-12-16T19:56:00.000+02:00

Saturday

Blown out!

Sunday

A beautiful day with a light SW and though it did not really shape up to the "gurus’" expectations, some interesting flights were achieved with Sven flying down to Napier and back.

Three students came to fly - Mike Allen, Andre Stander and Jaco Hartman, who each had two training flights. We had a visitor from the States – Adnan Mirza is a Pakistani and married to a lady from the Netherlands. He is a very interesting fellow and flies commercially for an airline in the USA. We also have a new member, Andre Fechter, who has just bought a Pipistrel and will be learning to glide at our Club.

Otto, Rico and Rob K flew their self launchers and Dave and Hubert their Rotax Falke. The other pilots who had good days were Sven, Garth, Cornelius, Adriaan, Mike P, Tom H and Kevin Mitchell (in GUC). Most remarkably a certain Zeppelin Ka6 was seen taking to the skies again, trailing cobwebs!

Remember to get to the field early to avoid a late launch at the back of the queue - we hope to have a second tug at the launch point soon, as all the summer activity is causing a bottleneck at peak times.

Rudi and Gerhard are both working hard on the recovery of GUU - thanks to you both. Horst is turning new bushes for the Ka 7.

I would like to also mention that Hans Lobach is very ill and is in the Vegelegen Medi Clinic in Somerset West. Details about his condition can be obtained from Rudi Schurkes.

For those with motorised aircraft - Stellenbosch is having a huge Fly In on the 27,28,29 Jan. There will be camping, parties, fun flying and prizes. All are welcome!

Fly Safely and see you all next weekend.

Alison

Weekend Report: Adriaan cracks a smile

2005-12-12T19:52:00.000+02:00

Special Report: A long walk home

2005-12-08T19:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, four of our highly motivated pilots took to the air from FAWC, with a little help from Rico and Adri. Now we can say that Adriaan Hepburn certainly has become “flavour of the week” with a PB of 975km! This flight took in Renosterhoek, du Toitskloof tunnel and a point far out east near George. An amazing achievement for a still-developing glider pilot, made more special as he flies a “pure glider” and has no way to extract himself out the results of any bad decisions (should he make any).

Martin did 1000km on the same day, but Martin, we have come to expect 1000km from you now! Martin now leads the OLC.

Sven (EY) did an excellent 870km.

Alan – well done to you too, and commiserations that you overcooked your flight 225km out, near George. You get the CGC “greatest retrieve of all time” award – flying SAA back to Cape Town and retrieving yourself the next day (today).

“Well done” to all these committed pilots!

Peter

Weekend Report: A looong weekend

2005-12-05T19:49:00.000+02:00

Saturday

I don’t think that we can call it the “weekend feedback” this time because the weekend started for some on Thursday. Looks like the same will happen this week too.

Bill Griffiths took the tug from FASH to FAWC on Thursday morning and managed to do a few launches, which was much appreciated by the glider pilots. Great distances flown by Sven, Adriaan (640km) and Ari. Unfortunately Adriaan's accommodation was well and truly burgled on Thursday night by some thugs who really new a bit about the technicalities of alarms - he discovered this on Friday morning when he returned to fly.

Friday again saw a group of enthusiastic pilots take to the air, but by all accounts it was not a great flying day.

Friday night was our annual dinner at Stellenbosch Flying Club, organised by Wally and Juliana Tamsen. Juliana decorated the tables and Wally organised the spit braai with Phillip, the club manager. Thanks to you both for organising everything. The place was booked out and after everyone was seated, we began the evening's festivities by wishing Andre Leeb a happy 70th birthday, complete with cake and 70 lit candles, which he had to blow out. Thank heaven his beard was just trimmed, otherwise it might have caught fire as well! After that we handed out solo certificates to Rene Heise and Gareth Floweday, followed by the James Gilliland awards to Sven, Martin, Alan O and Peter F - unfortunately Reinhold could not make it. The last guests went home at midnight and everyone had a good time. The venue is very beautiful, especially at sunset.

Saturday was fairly quiet (I suppose some members went to the Ysterplaat Airshow). We had three students and a few singles – Cornelius, Jerry and Johan Gericke all flew but it didn’t seem to be a great day, just hot. John Spargo converted to the Rotax Falke – well done.

Sunday

Word on Saturday evening was to prepare for a “ballistic” day on Sunday. More like the blue-death haze of ironbound inversion! Not daunted, the singles and one DG500 filed into the air from about 11h00, spending the next two hours fighting with gravity and obnoxious little thermals at 2000’. The brave eventually flew off eastward and turned at some alarming distances, such as two hundred and something odd (Sven, Alan), and GEORGE (Martin). The less brave turned at Tradouw (Graham) and the even less brave at 85km.

That upstart Hepburn utilised his “secret weapon”, a hot line to Mr Manzoni in Porterville, and had a rip-roaring trip northward. Kings of the Day were Alan and Martin who did east AND north (Martin about 920km). But first prize goes to Sven who was on final approach numerous times at Swellendam, only to make it back in the end to Worcester, just as light was fading. I think the thought of a relight behind an 80hp microlight at Swellendam, and no fuel available at Worcester for MIV, gave him the grit to fight his way back up and finally home. Well done Sven!

Others spied in the air were Kevin Mitchell, Rob Kakebeeke (first in his Carat, later in his DG400), William J Whittaker, Garth Milne (at Robertson), Randy Cullen, Fred Vernimmen, Peter Clemence, Rico Suter and apologies for the names that have eluded me (soaring was bloody hard work!)

So if the hot-shots can get 800-900km out of a bad day, what are they going to achieve on a good day, which might commence at 10am? The mind boggles.

Come and be part of the flying!

Alison (Saturday) & Peter (Sunday)

Mood's wings

2005-11-29T08:07:00.000+02:00

Today was a day when the ridges were full of 'attitude' - moody as hell - like PMT - Pre-Meditated Turbulence. It really required shifting of gears in order to be able to keep the speeds up and not land out. Adriaan (K17) and X32 flew nearly the same routing and here is what it was like (view or download the flight trace by clicking the title of this post).

First leg to Robertson was excellent proving that we launched to late - all of it above 4500' without turning. Sink at the Robertson corner (always is in a SEer)and then it was a bit 'soft' until nearer Montagu, but good in the run-up to Montagu (it nearly always is regardless). From Montagu to Swellendam it got progressively 'softer' and unless you were prepared to take a climb there was not enough energy to get round the corner, so we turned at just over 80km out.

Didn't get comfotable - back to ridgetop height - until nearly Ashton and the run up to Ashton from the East was very rough (remember to increase your speed as you experience more turbulence - you need better control authority) but it wasn't really working further out (the other option).

Round the corner at Waaihoek and it was working well allowing a jump north over "Mostert's Saddle" into Mitchell's pass. The Witzenberg was working but not up to full strength and the North end was clouded in (below the saddle) so X32 jumped to Saronberg - which was barely working - and flew almost completely round it before getting lift in the Saron gap.

The Portville ridge was barely carrying and we did not get over the top until Dasklip after which it went very soft and needed best glide / min sink to stay in touch. These were some of the slowest speeds we've flown the Porterville ridge and it didn't get good again until the Westerly flows just south of the N7 Piekenierskloof Pass, but then it was gangbusters and a low level (2400') scorcher to the turn at Renosterhoek!

Getting back was almost the same in reverse - I don't think I have had to 'shift gears' on the ridge so often before.

Weekend Report: Let the numbers roll

2005-11-28T19:47:00.000+02:00

Saturday

All year it’s training season, but right now it’s also cross-country season, big time. It would be difficult in this issue to leave out Alan O’Regan and Adriaan Hepburn, who completed 780km and 712km respectively. Congratulations, but no PB’s for either of you! I’ve noticed that Adriaan carries little sachets of “goo” which he “sluks” during the flight – could this be the key to success? We will think of anything rather than admit that you are just a top-class cross-country pilot!

Saturday was a rough, unpleasant day and two fairly experienced pilots managed to land in some hilly terrain, quite far from home. Thanks to John Spargo and André Leeb du Toit who led the retrieves. A note of advice: if you plan on going off across country, do leave your car and trailer ready for the first responsible member to hook up and go. It avoids delays and frustration on all sides (note: no names!)

The four students present kept the two instructors busy all day. It looks like Jaco Hartman will be next on the solo list. Bill tugged no less than 4½ hours in MIV!

We are noticing quite a few overseas visitors coming to FAWC – let’s make a special effort to make them feel at home.

Jerry did a lot of work repairing the dilapidated GUC trailer – thanks Jerry.

Sunday

Due to a serious engine problem with MIV (NIG is awaiting spare parts; the Rotax-Falke tends to overheat so is unable to tug), it was a day of winching. This proved very successful and the three student pilots had a good time. Apologies for the lack of information here!

Everything is being done (through Mark) to sort the tug out as soon as possible.

• Expect the December KK later this week.

• Hope you have booked for the annual dinner, this coming Friday 2nd December.

Peter/Alison

Weekend Report: Soaring celebration

2005-11-21T19:46:00.000+02:00

Saturday

It was nothing short of a “celebration of soaring” and what we hope is the beginning of a great soaring season! After what looked like a lousy day – thickly blue-grey with an inversion, it eventually became a soaring pilot’s paradise with flights reaching as far as the Sandveld just north of Renosterhoek, Du Toitskloof, Villiersdorp and Ashton.

Added to the usual goings on, we had 11 visitors from Worcester for “air experience flights”. This was a tem-building exercise by a local Worcester company and made a really busy time for everyone at the launch point, especially the instructors, of whom extras were brought in for the occasion. Thanks to Johnny Navarro who joined in this “festive” occasion by supplying borewors rolls at the launch point. One of the hardest worked members on this day was tug pilot, Mark, who was in the saddle from 10h30 to 17h45!

A light note concerns one of the local "air experience pilots" who was flown by Wally Tamsen in a Ka7. This man had already had a beer and was feeling a bit merry - as Wally took off behind the tug, we could hear him whooping and yelling all the way down the runway! I think the beer fumes were quite overwhelming as Wally landed exactly 29 minutes after take off! Wally later told me this guy kept it up for the entire flight! As far as PR goes, this introduction to gliding for so many Worcester folk has made people more aware of our virtually unknown sport and may bode well for obtaining future interest from the local community.

All told Saturday was a “bumper day”. Best flights were in the region of 450km. There were so many pilots flying that I won’t even try to remember all the names.

The day closed with a beautiful still evening and a most pleasant gathering of pilots, wives, girlfriends and dogs around the braai.

The only bad news from Saturday is that Ian Forbes, while trying to prevent the Twin Astir colliding with the tail of the tug after an aborted lake off, broke his arm and dislocated his elbow as he collided with the hard runway surface. He’s had one or two operations already and is being discharged from hospital today.

Sunday

The day commenced with a weather briefing from Alan – thank you Alan – more of this would be most edifying. The weather turned out to be more or less a repeat performance of the previous day, but quite a bit more tricky. The Porterville, Witzenberg and Langeberg runs were boiling away with thermals. Early in the day the Swellendam mountains were dead, and later they picked up but were hampered by very low cloud bases. Alan and Sven both landed out, for which they both get 100% for trying hard. The best flights were in the region of 650km.

Sunday duty pilot, Coen Marais, did a splendid job of keeping the peace by getting everyone launched in order. This even included the pilot who phoned his name in. Listen guys, this kind of thing is not on. When you arrive at the field put your name on the list – don’t get someone else to put it on before you get there – it is selfish and sets a bad example.

Peter W & Alison

1000 with a night stop

2005-11-20T20:22:00.000+02:00

It perhaps sets the tone for the season that Peter Wooley was able to complete a long weekends flying (460 on Saturday and 660 with Martin on Sunday - over a 1000km with a night stop!) after a lay-off. How about getting rid off the night-stop, Peter?

Not satisfied with a 1000+, Peter set off on a retrieve from Fischer's field where he had -er- visited before (according to Peter: "a really welcoming couple - a true gentleman and his lovely girlfriend Karen). For those of you unaware of where fischers field is - it is about 30km from Worcester, perfectly situated between Worcester and Robertson fields.

. . and now the weekend report:

Saturday

It was nothing short of a “celebration of soaring” and what we hope is the beginning of a great soaring season! After what looked like a lousy day – thickly blue-grey with an inversion, it eventually became a soaring pilot’s paradise with flights reaching as far as the Sandveld just north of Renosterhoek, Du Toitskloof, Villiersdorp and Ashton.

Added to the usual goings on, we had 11 visitors from Worcester for “air experience flights”. This was a tem-building exercise by a local Worcester company and made a really busy time for everyone at the launch point, especially the instructors, of whom extras were brought in for the occasion. Thanks to Johnny Navarro who joined in this “festive” occasion by supplying borewors rolls at the launch point. One of the hardest worked members on this day was tug pilot, Mark, who was in the saddle from 10h30 to 17h45!

A light note concerns one of the local "air experience pilots" who was flown by Wally Tamsen in a Ka7. This man had already had a beer and was feeling a bit merry - as Wally took off behind the tug, we could hear him whooping and yelling all the way down the runway! I think the beer fumes were quite overwhelming as Wally landed exactly 29 minutes after take off! Wally later told me this guy kept it up for the entire flight! As far as PR goes, this introduction to gliding for so many Worcester folk has made people more aware of our virtually unknown sport and may bode well for obtaining future interest from the local community.

All told Saturday was a “bumper day”. Best flights were in the region of 450km. There were so many pilots flying that I won’t even try to remember all the names.

The day closed with a beautiful still evening and a most pleasant gathering of pilots, wives, girlfriends and dogs around the braai.

The only bad news from Saturday is that Ian Forbes, while trying to prevent the Twin Astir colliding with the tail of the tug after an aborted lake off, broke his arm and dislocated his elbow as he collided with the hard runway surface. He’s had one or two operations already and is being discharged from hospital today.

Sunday

The day commenced with a weather briefing from Alan – thank you Alan – more of this would be most edifying. The weather turned out to be more or less a repeat performance of the previous day, but quite a bit more tricky. The Porterville, Witzenberg and Langeberg runs were boiling away with thermals. Early in the day the Swellendam mountains were dead, and later they picked up but were hampered by very low cloud bases. Alan and Sven both landed out, for which they both get 100% for trying hard. The best flights were in the region of 650km.

Sunday duty pilot, Coen Marais, did a splendid job of keeping the peace by getting everyone launched in order. This even included the pilot who phoned his name in. Listen guys, this kind of thing is not on. When you arrive at the field put your name on the list – don’t get someone else to put it on before you get there – it is selfish and sets a bad example.

Peter W & Alison

Weekend Report: Blown in

2005-11-14T19:44:00.000+02:00

Saturday

The weather had us well and truly fooled this weekend with big black skies on Friday night, thunderstorms and torrential rain. It was the same for Saturday night.

During the day on Saturday we had a 35kph NW and 8/8 cloud. The Vliegklub had a very successful “fun rally” with breakfast served in the Clubhouse, which was also well supported by CGC members. Thanks guys! The rest of the day's gliding was very quiet with no lift -just a few check flights by the visiting pilots, Hans from Switzerland and Piet from Holland.

Sunday

Sunday was far better for soaring but got off to a slow start with the weather looking to be the same as Saturday. Fortunately it quickly improved. Sven had a long soaring flight and Piet from Holland followed him down the ridge in GUC (Piet said that he had read all about our amazing flights from Worcester) Hans will be staying on for a few days. Both pilots were astounded that we do not fly during the week.

We did 20 flights on Sunday with a few “Air Experience” flights. William Whittaker flew some friends in GOK; Alan Procter and Ari took turns at tugging and gliding; and Henry Barnes did a splendid job of Duty Piloting all by himself (because his partner did not turn up).

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BOOK FOR THE “END OF THE TEAR” PARTY WITH WALLY TAMSEN – TIME IS SHORT.

Alison

Weather & Visitors

2005-11-13T20:33:00.000+02:00

CGC collects Aero Club Awards

2005-11-08T19:41:00.000+02:00

This last weekend, Alison and Johnny Navarro attended the prestigious annual "Aeroclub Awards" in Gauteng. The club is indebted to Johnny and Alison for travelling all the way to Gauteng to wave the CGC flag for us at the Aeroclub - especially as the considerable expense of attending the function was borne by themselves. What follows is Alison's report.

Peter

Weather for entire weekend in Johannesburg consisted of phenomenal thunderstorms, Saturday evening being no exception. The Aeroclub Awards event was held in Mark Beckley's "Skyraiders" hanger at Rand Airport. This hanger is especially rigged out for events of this nature and there were 27 tables set up for the approximately 250 guests - most of them wearing their green "Bokke" national colours blazers.

The Soaring Society was represented by Dave Mortimer and his wife June, Bob and Carol Clifford, myself and Johnny, and Brenda Bradley, together with Douglas and Jennifer Bradley.

The entire event was professionally organised and the master of ceremonies was Niel de Lange. The awards were handed out by the Aeroclub Chairman, Stan Oliver. It was a very proud moment for the Cape Gliding Club when the names of our five cross-country pundits were read out (Sven Olivier, Alan O'Regan, Martin Grunet, Reinhold Lawrenz and Peter Farrell), for whom I collected the awards. It was also an emotional moment when the two young Bradleys collected their colours! Peter will send out some photos of the event soon.

We saw a lot of "old faces" at the meeting, including Rainer and Barbara Freibose, and Dale de Klerk (Francois' brother).

What I discovered while there, is that the other Aeroclub sub-sections are also very proud of their members' achievements, and many of the microlighting and aeromodelling bodies had proposed their members for awards. Quite a few of these folk subsequently received certificates and trophies for their achievements. In future we at the CGC must look more towards nominating our members for the due recognition for their achievements in soaring, as they deserve similar recognition as in the other aviation disciplines. This in turn will have the effect of heightening an awareness of gliding in SA, especially Western Cape gliding.

The trophies received on Saturday will be presented to our pilots at our CGC annual dinner at Stellenbosch Flying Club on the 2nd December, 2005. Details of this event will follow later this week.

Alison

CGC's youngest pilot

2005-11-06T21:07:00.000+02:00

Earlier today CGC's youngest pilot, Sam O'Regan (aged 7) took to the air for the first time with a gloriously smooth flight to Vic Peak, unusually in a North Easter. A smooth run part-way to Villiersdorp set the scene for a cross-country career, but prudently, he was back in half an hour.

After the flight, Sam proudly announced "It weas great fun, and I didn't even get sick!".

There were many other notable flights on the day with Cornelius von der Heyden & William Whitaker doing a lead and follow to Robertson and Villiersdorp.

Weekend Report: Converting to Wave

2005-10-31T19:40:00.000+02:00

Saturday

William Whittaker arrived bright and early to do his duty and we took the K13 down to the 15 launch point and were joined by some enthusiastic singles.

Unfortunately the weather did not amount to much but we did lots of training and check flights. Herbie, Bill, and Otto launched but only Herbie managed to hang in until the convergence eventually arrived. Whoever launched after that had no problem staying up. Ari tugged for 3.5hrs in total and we had a very gratifying and active day’s flying.

The highlight of the day was Jerry converting onto GUC. Well done Jerry! Nicky continued to do conversions of members onto the Rotax Falke.

I must mention that the good, light-hearted banter and fun at the launch point on Saturday was wonderful to be part of - I personally have not had so much fun on the airfield in a long while! (at least not since the course).

Sunday

Sunday was disappointing in that it was very quickly blown out and only one of our four new students present managed to have a flight. Sven, Randy and Cornelius all managed to get into wave, and Quintin and Mike Allen had a wonderful long flight in GOK, after he was told that there would be no more launching. Andre, Jaco and Brian – don’t become despondent - you should have better luck next time.

Alison