Recent News at Waikerie |
|
A different place to look for club news This summer's flying news will appear on the WGC news site. Among other things, this software allows several people to add stories. |
|
Joeyglide Tug was ferried to Gawler on Monday after a late decision to use an extra tug for the launching. I was ferried up to Waikerie by Graham Cant in the AUGC Motorfalke to pick it up. No flying yesterday though Tug was used today and did about 9 launches. John helped me learn about competition towing. It was heaps of fun but the new FLARM was lit up like a Christmas tree. Kinda appropriate this week. Cath Conway - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 16:07:00 (CST)
|
|
Weekend activities 15 December 07 Friday 14th Whilst Nigel was working on the installation of the new Ikea kitchen cupboards & draws the committee wrestled with many difficult issues, water, summer ops, insurance, gliders and fleet utilisation. Saturday 15th Weather forecasts proved to be accurate, we had overcast and over development with a few light showers moving through during the day. This meant no flying but an opportunity to finish the kitchen, with a few helpers John Hudson undertook this major upgrade to our facilities. Great effort and a first class result; you all should be proud of your achievement. The aerodrome is extremely dry and fragile. Some of the emergency landing areas where the grass is long we will not be mowing, as this would do too much damage. Unfortunately some Caltrop has germinated and many advanced plants are out on the aerodrome. Please do not drive on the aerodrome, stick to the perimeter tracks as most of the current problem areas are exactly where vehicular traffic has been. Lots and lots of prickles just waiting to be picked up by your tyres. I managed to grub out many of the woody weeds and dig up most of the caltrop on the 20/02 grassed areas. Sunday 16th Weather looked better but we had a few jobs to finish including rigging IKU and de rigging IKO and make ready for its annual form 2. IKU was first into the air for its flight check followed by Craig in FQK and Peter Paine in the Discus HP. Some check flights made up a total of 9 launches for the day. Thermals looked like they were going to around 6,000 but it was a bumpy day towing with up to 20 knots from the South keeping things a little cooler than expected. Jet Greg Jackson - Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 09:34:03 (CST)
|
|
Saturday, 1 Dec 2007 Saturday weather prediction was looking like a good day with 37C and a trough arriving on the Sunday. Driving to Waikerie over the Adelaide hills early Saturday morning revealed another story, with a significant haze in the sky. The temp trace confirmed a strong inversion and with a low overnight temperature the airmass was going to take a long time to heat up and therefore a late start. Maybe some Cu if we were lucky. On the Thursday some areas of Waikerie received 15 to 45mm of rain. Bill Mudge flew two passengers in the morning. One was keen and promised to return. Greg in the LS7, Pete Paine in the Discus and myself launched around 1pm as Cu were forming to the East of Renmark. Pete launched first and got off at 1400ft in what appeared to be a thermal only to find severe sink and a quick return for a relight. 
Greg went next and took a slightly higher tow after seeing what happened to Pete and managed to find a climb. I went next and felt some strong lift and got off at 1400ft. The lift was broken and I lost the thermal at 2000ft and headed off to find a another climb over the dump area. I was down to 1300ft and looking to turn in any lift as I knew that there was severe sink around and I could easily find myself back on theground. Down to 1000ft and in 0.5kt of broken lift I decided to stay in this buoyant air until a decent climb broke away. I spent a good 20mins between 1000ft and 1300ft continually recentering to keep in the broken rising air. Eventually a core broke away and I had 3kts which turned into 6kts at 3000ft and took me to 6,000ft. The wind was virtually dead calm all the way up and the air felt very soft. We all met up at 6000ft and headed off towards the Cu out to the east. Half way to Kingston we got a top up climb of 5kts. Flying into Kingston and out the other side the air was just dead smooth and so we turned around and headed back getting down to 3000ft west of Kingston. Flying 3 abreast we found a weak climb which got stronger and took up back up to 7000ft. Some Cu's were popping over Maggea so we headed off in that direction. We got another climb just before Maggea which turned into a Cu and took us to 9,000ft. There were only half a dozen Cu's in the sky so we went Cu hopping out to Swan Reach getting some good climbs of 7kts avg up to 10,000ft. The Cu's line stopped about 5km short of Swan Reach and new Cu's were popping directly over Waikerie and out to the North over the scrub. We headed off to Waikerie via Maggea as there was a nice Cu in this area that we had to visit. We got a about 5km north of the scrub line and the next Cu was too far away to reach and with no other Cu's in close proximity we all decided to head home from 9000ft. We had flown about 220kms at a leisurely pace for what was a very pleasant and enjoyable flight. Peter Robinson - Friday, December 07, 2007 at 10:48:44 (CST)
|
|
WGC Newsletter 'Out of the Blue' The November 07 edition of 'Out of the Blue' our regular Waikerie Gliding Club Newsletter, is available. Important dates and notices, more on FLARM and a great article on a previous Treasurer, President Jack Shanks. Greg Jackson - Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:16:33 (CST)
|
|
Saturday 17 November 07 On the same day, I was 3rd to launch in my Nimbus after Greg and as the sky filled with Cu's I found it a bit of a struggle to get a strong climb to get through 3000ft. I left at 6000ft and headed for Morgan, finding a couple of average climbs to keep between 7,000ft and 9,000ft. Arriving a Morgan I found a 10kt thermal which took me to cloud base at around 13,000ft. Decision time - Greg was already approaching The Gums and reporting that he was at 7,000ft looking for a strong climb and with the clouds looking patchy out that way compared to a nice looking street running along the trough line (line from Port Aug to Renmark) I decided that it would be nice and pleasant to try and stay above 10,000ft and work the trough line. Heading off from Morgan I flew to the other side of Lake Bonney and then turned around and flew back to Morgan then onto Stonefield where there was a massive cloud. I had to fly at 120kts to keep from being sucked up into the cloud. At the southern edge of the cloud there was cloud hanging down below the base for 2 to 3,000ft being the edge of the Trough line. It was very turbulent as I approached, so this was a good time to turn and head back to the Speedway arriving at 10,000ft. From Morgan to arriving at the Speedway I had flown 206kms at an average speed of 148km/hr flying between 10,000ft and 13,000ft and only taking two thermals for a 2000ft gain on both occasions (basically a few turns in 12kts of lift) and cruising at 90 to 100kts. Now that is the only the way cruise around whilst dodging the occasional rain shower. By this time the sky had completely over developed with rain patches everywhere and lightning out to the East and no lift. The ground effect from the trough line was forecast to arrive at Waikerie at around 4pm and as I line up for my final approach onto 26 the wind swung from 10kts W to 10 to 15kts SSW making an interesting landing onto 26. At least I got to fly one day of some amazing Waikerie weather. Anyone heard what Hiro and Rudi got up to over the last 2 weeks? I understand that after 12 days of flying they'd had enough and packed up. Flying in Hero's 2yr old Nimbus 4DM with most days going to 13,000ft under Cu and flying between 600km and 900kms each day, visiting places like Swan Hill, Broken Hill and Wilpena. Peter Robinson - Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 11:59:18 (CST)
|
|
Saturday 17th November 2007 After reports of three weeks of the best flying imaginable - some have said the best conditions, day after day for the last three weeks in living memory. Cu at 8:30am in the morning up to 8000ft. Regularly filling the sky from 9:30 CDT and going to very very late in the day - everything you have dreamt about. It was with great excitement I was heading for Waikerie on Saturday morning with the knowledge that Craig was attending a conference in Adelaide and if a glider shortage I could jump into the Mossie. The day was going full bottle around 12 noon and I was keen to be first launch and get into the sky. Straight to 7000 ft off launch and then moved over WKI town under rapidly growing cu - 11000 ft scenery spectacular. I was always going direct into wind and Burra was set on the GPS. I got to Morgan and I was still above 10000. Could see a gap between the last line of cu west of Morgan and Burra with some alto cu that was associated with the front slowly moving our way. After two attempts at connecting with something out the front of the divergence line I bugged out and headed back to now rapidly over developing cu. Took one climb and flew to Renmark detouring around rain showers and lower scuddy cloud (about 8000 ft). It was freezing at 12000 ft and dark, the lightning was scary and the sink in the rain patches heavy. I then turned back into wind and headed around some more rain for Magee turning at 5300 and flying the Macready 4kts final glided, arriving at 1000. How good was that; thanks Craig for the use of your glider. Jet Greg Jackson - Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 08:59:05 (CST)
|
|
Latest September edition of 'Out of the Blue" This month's 'Out of the Blue' is available here. (PDF, 83 kbytes) News on FLARM, the South Aust light Aircraft Association fly in and more Memories. Waikerie Gliding Club Open day 6th October 2007, and coming events in the summer. Greg Jackson - Friday, September 28, 2007 at 10:45:06 (CST)
|
|
Form 2's on club gliders Last week the LS4 Form 2 was completed by John, Phil and Graham and is back in service having its evaluation flight on Saturday. It has brand new seals so it should be even more slippery. On Sunday I completed the Form 2 on the Discus with club members deciding it was more fun to do the Form 2 than fly (the weather was rather ordinary and we had an excellent dinner thanks to Jean, Marie and John the night before). Thanks to Craig, Greg, Phil, Dave, John and Pete Paine for helping with the Discus on Sunday. It will be ready for its evaluation flight next Saturday. On Sunday, the westerly change hit Waikerie around 2pm with 43kt winds. Prior to the change hitting there were definite wave lines visible in the sky, which got Morgy interested and around 1pm he took a launch and landed just as the Westerly front hit. Apparently he needed an approach speed of 85kts!! - how about a few words Morgy? The Sports aircraft people were having lunch in the club house as the Westerly hit and were talking about staying another night. Peter Robinson - Monday, September 17, 2007 at 12:58:30 (CST)
|
|
The weekend's flying - 8,9 September I arrived around 1315 on Saturday afternoon and by that time Robbo, David and Pete Paine were ready to launch. Driving up I had noticed a few small clouds developing around Morgan and a few were beginning to appear over the airfield as the trio took off. At the Pie Cart opinion was that the clouds weren't all that high and breaking up as quickly as they formed. When Robbo announced over the radio that he was at 9,500ft in wave attitudes changed - Mark and Bill decided it was a good time to do their annual checks in the Twin and I decided that KYS needed an airing. I overlooked the fact that the Astir had not flown since January and found 3 flat tyres, a good coating of dust and Phil located a red back's home under the instrument panel. These all took time to rectify and with the help of Phil. and John I was on tow just after 1530 just as the other 3 were landing. John led me to a ripper which took me to 7,500ft but the day was starting to slow down and subsequent climbs were to 5,000 and 4,000 but I was happy to have an hour in a single seater for a change. Mr and Mrs Dave Woodward spent dinner and the night with us on their way from W.A. to visit their sons in Canberra and Sydney. It was great to see them again. Sundays weather was flyable but interrupted as several small fronts went through. Between patches of light rain and gusty northerly wind Graham Marsh practiced cross wind landing as part of his annual flight review and I scratched 58 minutes below 3,500. As the REAL flying for the weekend was experienced by Robbo, Dave, Pete Paine, Mark/Bill and Phil, I ask them to add their stories to my scribblings - partly to rub it in to Cath, who spent the weekend in the workshop, cutting and polishing control surfaces. Graham Francis - Monday, September 10, 2007 at 10:45:38 (CST)
|
Waikerie Happenings
We had a busy but enjoyable weekend at Waikerie.The Working Bee on Saturday concentrated mainly on the operational aspect - trailer inspections, attempts to convert the LS4 & 7 Trailers to take the Discus (which didnt work), adjusting the Igloo Hangar Doors (thanks Phill) and some jobs around the Clubrooms (thanks to Graham and Greg) and pulling some branches off dead trees to build a pile of wood for a bonfire on Saturday evening. After dinner for 17, armed with a couple of bottles of Port and the Marshmallows (Thanks Cath), the fire was lit. An enjoyable evening was had by all - with several staying out till late - even through 8 mm of rain. 
Sunday's forecast was for a few showers and a westerly breeze. The first flight of the day was a Japanese Teacher visitor (on exchange in Waikerie with a group of High School Students) who was a keen aeromodeller. Phill and Cath were kept busy for a while with check flights (is yours current ?), Craig and Lesley had a flight in the Twin, Pete Paine and David Lawley flew the LS4.An enjoyable weekend. John Hudson - Monday, July 30, 2007 at 09:21:04 (CST)
|
|
Saturday's flying Saturday dawned......Enough said! Leaving a warm bed and driving up from Mt. Barker through the occasional misty showers made me wonder about my sanity. However,when I arrived at Waikerie the shower activity was well south and the day proved flyable. Pete Paine was there attacking the weeds with weedkiller and Pete Page turned up to replace the tyre on WUN. Tim Laidler flew down in his latest acquisition to tow for us and we began launching around 1pm. Apart from one flight in March I hadn't flown since late November so I combined 3 check flights with my "annual check". It was a cool day but there was lift about when the occasional misty shower reached Waikerie. Pete Paine had 45 minutes in the LS4. Bill and I managed 38, 13 and 12 in the Twin and afterwards Bill also had 58 minutes in the LS4, persevering with "no sink" and 1 and 2 kts. to reach 3,500ft. When next sitting around the bar enjoying a quiet drink ask:
Graham Francis - Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 21:07:06 (CST)
|
|
WGC newsletter for June The newsletter for June 2007 is here (PDF, 83 kB) Club notices, working bee, coming events, lucky Tim, library, club history. Greg Jackson - Monday, July 02, 2007 at 23:13:45 (CST)
|
Weekend of 2-3 JuneThe weekend of 2-3 June was a working bee. Lots of jobs were completed including concreting the septic tank, cleanout of room 10, paving of the path from the car park to the clubroom, washing the tug, sweeping the hangar door tracks, putting a padbolt on the internal clubroom door to the dorms (to keep the rabbits out) and lots of other stuff. Al gave all a demonstration of his jet engine running on the back of the quadbike. Very noisy! Dinner was Corned Beef and John gave a talk about CAR 95.4 and the gliding exemptions. 
Sunday, in addition to working bee part 2, we had Igor from the Uni club come to regain aerotow currency before the Flinders Ranges camp next weekend, and a passenger, Linda who is a local.David took Igor in the Nimbus while Mark Morgan flew Linda in the Twin. Cath Conway - Monday, June 04, 2007 at 17:56:53 (CST)
|
|
Club AGM The 2007/2008 AGM was held on Saturday 19th May at Waikerie. This meeting coincided with the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the forming of the Club. There was a great turn-out for the meeting and celebration. [ The Club Docs have John's President's Report for the previous year. ] I am humbled to have been re-elected President. Peter Robinson and Craig Vinall were re-elected Vice President and Treasurer respectively. Phill Hollick was elected Secretary. Greg Jackson and Peter Paine were re-elected to the Committee. Greg also continues as the Newsletter editor and Craig the SAGA Rep. The 70th Anniversary celebration saw around 110 members - past and present - get together, many making a big effort to get there. We sat 105 people down for a 3 course Dinner (thanks to Jean and Marie) before an interesting presentation by Martin Simons of recent initiatives in gliding in Europe - before lots more reminising. Several of the past members took the opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with the cockpit - with good flying conditions on both Saturday and Sunday. All in all, a great weekend. John Hudson - Monday, May 21, 2007 at 17:06:05 (CST) |
|
WGC Club 70th Birthday Weekend! A few members arrived on the Friday night to be presented with a meal prepared by Phil Hollick. I think it was fair to say the party had begun. Saturday morning commenced with the usual flurry of activity preparing gliders and tug. By first launch around 10:40am the wind was 15 to 20 knots from the West, strength increasing with height, as you would expect. Scattered & rapid cycling Q was consistent all day and cloudbase lifted to around 4500ft. 16 Launches with reasonably high tows made for a good days towing. The tug has just returned from its annual inspection and feels even better to fly. The new Garmin radio very professionally installed is very clear in reception and does a great job when transmitting from the noisy Pawnee cockpit. 
During the afternoon invited guests and past and present members joined in for the AGM; interrupted by a dust storm when we needed to adjourn to put the aircraft in the hanger. After the meeting a group photo and a couple more launches were in order. The clubhouse was packed with well over 100 people staying for dinner. During the event continuous photos of past members and historic 8mm footage was shown. Martin Simons gave us an entertaining presentation during the evening on the latest aircraft and developments in gliding. All in all the dinner was fantastic, the members and guests appeared to enjoy the company with many discussions picking up where we they last left off. Sunday dawned overcast but burnt off to be a flyable day with reasonable conditions to around 5500ft. Over development shut things down around 15:30. Very enjoyable and pleasant weekend at Waikerie. John Hudson again did a mammoth amount of work organising the weekend but still found energy to do towing on Sunday. To John's family, friends and helpers, well done; be proud of your efforts. Jet Greg Jackson - Monday, May 21, 2007 at 16:37:47 (CST)
|
| There's also news from this season,, 2006/2007, 2005/2006, 2004/2005, 2003/2004, 2002/2003 and 2001/2002 seasons. |