Recent News at Waikerie

April 2006 Newsletter The April issue of "Out of the Blue" is available here. (PDF, 220 kB) AGM and club 70th anniversary are approaching. Morgy's flights, the SA State Comp. Greg Jackson - Thursday, April 06, 2006 at 14:48:03 (CST)

Waikerie Week continues - Thursday 2 March Some of the crew left to return to work. The weather briefing indicated thermals to 7000 with strengthening north-easterly winds. At around midday, Cu began to develop. We are yet to see any sign of the high level cirrus associated with ex-cyclone Emma. Keith Willis (PW5) launched at 1345 Hrs and reached a little over 9000 over the scrub to the north of Waikerie. Keith landed at 1900 Hrs, having completed his 300th flight of greater than 5 hours duration. Congratulations Keith. Gavin Wrigley (Hornet) and Phil Hollick (LS7) launched about 1415 Hrs, and flew a 300 km cats cradle WKI - Nildottie - Loxton - Swan Reach Waikerie in 3 hrs and 6 minutes, reaching 8000 under Cu. Another good days flying. John Hudson - Friday, March 03, 2006 at 11:30:44 (CST)

SA State Competition Finishes The State Gliding Competition finished today. After four days' flying, we have joint winners - Craig Vinall and Peter Robinson. Gavin Wrigley came second and Greg Jackson third. Scores here. Pete S - Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 23:19:29 (CST)

SA State Competition - Day 1 The State Gliding Competition got off to a low-stress start today. Story here. Pete S - Saturday, February 25, 2006 at 23:06:43 (CST)

February 2006 newsletter The February issue of "Out of the Blue" is available here. (PDF, 81 kB) The LS-7, some hot days and good flights, coming events including AGM. Greg Jackson - Friday, February 10, 2006 at 14:06:43 (CST)

Weekend flying... 28-29 January The weekend 28-29 January was another busy weekend at Waikerie. With Saturdays forecast for a late start, the fleet was DI'd etc, a couple of TIF flights commenced the days flying. As the temperature climbed towards 40 C, the lift progressively got stronger and higher. Peter Robinson (Nimbus), Peter Paine (Discus), Craig Vinall (Mosquito) and Greg Jackson (Astir 77) all had long flights with climbs to around 9000 in average conditions. David Lawley, Ray Lawley and Phil Hollick also flew having reasonable flights. Towards the end of the day, Rod van den Brink arrived back at Waikerie with the Club's recently purchased LS7 in tow. The new ship was quickly rigged (a very simple a/c to rig) and cleaned. After a number of photos etc, the crew adjourned to the Bar. Late in the Day, John Welsh (GFA Exec Officer) dropped in on his way home to Perth from the Club Class Comps at Benalla. John and Adam joined us for a few beers and dinner. Great to see you at Waikerie John. The planned after dinner discussion on Lubrication and Airspace was deferred. Sunday's forecast was for a temperature of 39C and progressively increasing southerly winds, providing convection to 4000Ft. The LS-7 was prepared. It was great to see the large number of cars at the Pie-cart for just one glider. All appropriately rated pilots who wished to fly the new glider took the opportunity. John Welch flew the AS-W20 KYA and reacquainted himself with the Waikerie surroundings. John had the longest flight of the day. John Hudson - Monday, January 30, 2006 at 10:51:34 (CST)

Flying on 14,15 January It was a surprising day on Saturday. The forecast was for 36C after the previous day having a max of only 33C. However, Saturday morning revealed a sky full of cirrus that only became thicker towards lunch time. The temperature was also slow to rise, although 33C should have broken through to about 3000ft. Bill Mudge had a passenger ride at about 1pm and reported no trouble in staying aloft so we launched into a rather gloomy cool sky. There was Peter Paine in HP, Peter Robinson in IUS and me in the FQK. Right off tow I was into a 5kt thermal which is a change for me. I went easily to 3000ft and Robo was climbing to 4000ft. I met up with Robo and we set off for Blanchetown. I must admit that the sky was off putting. It was gloomy with a lot of shadow on the ground. However, surprisingly there was reasonable lift available even under cloud that was now becoming quite thick. We got two thirds of the way there until we turned and headed back to the speedway to meet up with Peter Paine. Flying with Robo, Peter was able to get some useful tips on thermaling with other gliders. He was being told the usual thing; "increase your bank angle". It was not long before he was able to control his speed to stay on the opposite side to Robo in the turns. I think this type of coaching is very useful. Newer pilots should be encouraged to fly in groups in a lead and follow to gain these skills. It also helps immensely with confidence in cross country flying as there are more of you to find a good thermal. In my case, just follow Robo and you don't have to do any work! We decided to go east and look for brighter patches on the ground. The lift seemed to deteriorate over Woolpunda. The wind had shifted more to the south. We headed back to Waikerie where we climbed back again to 4000ft. We saw Stuart Skevington in KYS climbing over the town in a good thermal, so we all moved over to join him. It must have been something we said, because he took off as soon we came in under him. We continued towards Cadell and were about half way there when the thermal strength seemed to drop off significantly. They seemed to drop to 2kts average and we could see the rain starting to fall on the other side of Blanchetown. Peter Paine and I headed back to land. Again it was surprising how much lift was still about. Robo landed about half an hour after us. Quite an enjoyable 3 hour flight. Moral of the story is always take a launch; it is bound to be better than it looks. Craig Vinall - Thursday, January 19, 2006 at 12:56:29 (CST)

More about flying on 14, 15 January During this time, back at the Airfield, Bill Mudge had flown 4 AEFs, given Stuart Skevington a checkout flight and Phillip Hollick a conversion from front seat to back seat in the Twin Astir. Stuart had an 81 minute flight in KYS, Bernie Konopka had upgraded to the Hornet and Phillip and David Lawley had flown a "mutual" in the Twin. Graham Francis spent almost his entire 85 minutes in the Discus watching the Murray River Queen move slowly downstream on its evening cruise. This was largely due to the fact that the only thermal he could find was 1-2kts over the river. Altogether there were 14 flights for 16 hours that day. There was a severe absence of thermal activity on Sunday. Duty Instructor Nigel Baker found this out on the first flight for the day when he towed to 2,500ft for an AEF, and didn't quite make the 20 minutes allowed. However, the weather did allow him to undertake outlanding checks in the Dimona. He strongly suggests that anyone who has not had an outlanding check or the real thing recently should take advantage of practicing it in the Dimona instead of being faced with the "one off" decision which can confront us all when the real thing occurs. The stable conditions allowed Aiden Baker to practice high tow positions in the Diamant while Dion Baker and David Lawley had a mutual flight in the Twin. Graham Francis - Thursday, January 19, 2006 at 12:56:22 (CST)

30th Dec - 46 degrees at Waikerie This was the second last day of performance week and we had another 7 gliders and a tug from the East on a Safari trying to fly from Waikerie to Wilpena Pound (via Peterborough). The day needed 40 degrees to break through from 3000ft to 10,000ft. There was no Cu and the wind was 10kts from the North. At 2pm it was 42 degrees and we had around 27 gliders grided with 2 tugs and a winch. Most gliders had water on board and we had set a 500km task. The cockpit temp was 50 degrees. I took the first launch in my Nimbus with lots of water on board from the bottom of the hill and was airborne on the downslope of the hill. The climb behind the tug was very smooth and I got off at 2500ft in what felt like some lift. I tried to sample as much air as possible but it was all smooth sinking air and at 600ft and with the co-operation of the launch master, launching was stopped so that I could land full of water on the smooth 26 grass pad. I then had to tow my glider back to the end of the grid. Craig in his Mossie was next to launch and he went to 3000ft and he met the same fate as me. The next 3 gliders met the same fate. Then the lift started to work and gliders were now at least staying up in weak lift. It was 90mins before I got to launch again and in that time I had drunk 3 litres of water and I was still not hydrated fully. The Pie cart was up near the club house so that the launch master could see the entire operations. It was around this time that gliders were reporting 6kt climbs to 11,500ft. 30mins before a band of Cu was forming out to the west over Blanchetown which meant that I was aborting the task which was to the east and my intention once I got in the air was to head for the Cu's. The time I launched the Cu's looked really high and were stretched from Burra to Pinnaroo being around 20 to 30km wide. There was no other Cloud anywhere. It was difficult down low as it took me 2 climbs of 4kts to break through 3,500ft getting down to 1400ft after the first climb. The climb got stronger as it went higher and I topped out at 11,500ft and headed off to Blanchetown. I knew that to contact the cloud I would need to stay high and with it being 4:30pm already I took the first climb I found which was near Blanchtown at 8,000ft. This took me to 12,000ft with another glider below me at 2000ft in the extreme heat. I headed under the Cu and found a strong climb from 11,000ft to 15,000ft which was cloud base and a lovely zero degrees in the shade. Of course I had to give Morgy a call on the mobile to tell him that I was stuck at 15,000ft and this time I had my Oxygen switched on. The cloud street had already started to overdevelop as I needed to be here about 1 hour earlier. So I headed downwind flying at 100kts in 6kts of lift trying to keep out of the cloud and making sure I didn't exceed VNE. I turned on the airspace overlay on my Winpilot to make sure I didn't contravene airspace or run into a domestic flight inbound to Adelaide. I flew downwind for 90kms without turning and only losing 500ft. I ended up doing around 270kms and spending 2 hours above 12,000ft. I met up for a final glide with David Conway from Blanchetown via Morgan and home landing at 7:15pm. My max height was 15,400ft and the max temp was 46 degrees. There were many theories as to why this Cloud street formed including the influence of a sea breeze effect. My theory is that it was caused by the convergence of 2 different air masses. To the west the airmass was far more unstable (Gawler gliders did 500km flights from 2pm start - 16kt thermal reported) and to the east of this line the air was very stable as we found at Waikerie (late start, weak thermals). Also both air masses had thermal convection in the blue and to only 12,000ft. Where the two airmasses converged (Burra to Pinnaroo line) resulted in higher convection which was high enough for Cu to form. Peter Robinson - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at 11:23:15 (CST)

Happenings at Waikerie More news from Waikerie's cross country week A weather change passed through on Thursday evening. On Friday 16 December the weather looked promising, with cumulus forecast with a base around 6000 Ft and progressively strengthening winds with altitude. A 100 Km task was set - WKI-Notts Well- Maggea- Woolpunda-WKI with a view to completing at least two laps. Greg Jackson took on the towing duties for the day. There was plenty of Cu as forecast, providing good climbs to cloud base at 6000. Peter Robinson and Craig Vinall completed a lap of the task before Peter Robinson reported at 7000 above cloud, having climbed up the side of the Cu in thermal wave. Craig and the rest of us attempted to contact the wave, but without success. John Hudson had 2.5 hours in the Discus and Ray Lawley completed his second 1 hour flight to obtain his C Certificate. Ray was provided a map and set off on his first cross-country flight, venturing 40 Km to the south of Waikerie on another flight of 78 minutes. Ray Pols, accompanied by his wife, was visiting from Cairns. Ray had a checkflight in the Twin Astir, then he and his wife set off in the Twin for an enjoyable flight of nearly 3 hours. Another weather change occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, bringing with it showers and wind. This resulted in the abandonment of Saturdays flying and unfortunately, the deferment of a planned talk by Martin Simons. All in all, the weeks flying activities proved very enjoyable for those who participated. It is planned to conduct another gliding week in February or early March, and include the SA State Comps. John Hudson - Sunday, December 18, 2005 at 23:30:05 (CST)

Happenings at Waikerie Monday 12th A forecast change arrived early on Monday morning, bringing a few light rain showers and strong north-westerly winds, which eventually swung to a south westerly. A few jobs were undertaken around the Club before some of the members ventured to the golf course. Tuesday 13th The forecast for Tuesday was for very favourable conditions. A new moist air mass with a light westerly / south westerly breeze provided Cu. A task was set, Waikerie-Maggea-Kingston-Waikerie, 100 Km, with the aim to fly around the course as many times as desired. Mark Morgan and Ron Brock set off in their gliders and flew south to Lake Alexandrina-Coomandook-Merribah-Waikerie, with climbs to 8000. Pete Paine launched in the Discus HP and flew twice around the set task, achieving 110 km/hr. Greg Jackson did likewise in the Hornet. Craig Vinall tookoff in the Mosquito and flew three times around the set task, achieving a speed of 127 Km/Hr for the 100km. Peter Robinson, coaching Dion Baker in the Twin Astir IKO tookoff and flew twice around the set task, achieving 115 km/Hr. After launching the gliders, Sarah Allen took a tow in the single Astir and flew the task, achieving 111 Km/Hr As forecast, the Cu persisted throughout the day, providing some ideal gliding conditions. John Hudson - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 at 11:34:57 (CST)

Happenings at Waikerie Saturday 10.12.05 Bill Mudge was the Instructor for the day with Don Workman in the Tug. Phill Hollick took off early at 1110 Hrs and had 58 minutes in the Discus, all at relatively low altitudes. Mark Morgan did the evaluation flight in the Hornet following the Form 2. Aiden Baker had a flight from the backseat of the Twin Astir with Bill Mudge before converting to the Diamant, which Nigel Baker test flew last weekend. Craig Vinall had 209 minutes in his newly acquired Mosquito, VH-FQK, flying Waikerie-Alawoona-Wunkar-Waikerie. Greg Jackson in the Astir KYS flew Waikerie-Alawoona-Morgan-Waikerie, a distance of 215 Km with climbs to 6000. Allen Hudson did the evaluation flight in his ASW20 VH-KYA, and flew Waikerie-Alawoona-Wunkar, but outlanded in a good paddock. He called for an aerotow retrieve. Bernie Konopka flew for 53 minutes in the Astir WUN. Aiden Baker converted to the Diamant late in the day and enjoyed a flight of 43 minutes. Peter Paine had a flight of 3 hours in the Hornet. Graham Francis enjoyed a 2 hour flight in the Discus. At the end of the day, a few beers at the bar were enjoyed by all - including David White, who called in for a few beers - before dinner prepared by Marie and Jean. All in all, a very enjoyable day. Sunday 11.12.05 The early forecast for Sunday included hot conditions - with 39 degrees forecast, strong north-westerly winds and an approaching westerly change. A revision to the forecast delayed the arrival of the change to lunchtime on Monday. The temp trace indicated convection to 11000. A task - Waikerie-Alawoona-Morgan-Wunkar-Waikerie was set - a task of 300km. Aiden Baker took the first tow in the Diamant, having a flight of 2 hours. Having declared his task and with barograph and camera onboard, Peter Paine tookoff in the Hornet MU. He landed 5 Hours and 2 minutes later having completed the task. Well done Pete, will be interesting to see the turnpoint pictures. Peter Robinson in IUS tookoff at 1316 to fly the task. He landed at 1713, having completed the task. Greg Jackson, in the Discus HP flew the task in 290 minutes. Craig Vinall in the Mosquito FQK also flew the task in 238 minutes. Allen Hudson had 133 minutes in the ASW20 KYA, Aiden Baker had another 65 minutes in the Diamant, Dion Baker had 130 minutes in the Astir KYS and Ray Lawley-Sinclair had 40 minutes in the Astir WUN. The best climbs during the day were to around 9000 Ft. The logger information was reviewed over a few beers allowing pilots to compare performance etc. Another most enjoyable day. John Hudson - Monday, December 12, 2005 at 09:05:24 (CST)

Flying on Sunday 4 Dec I was the only one who flew. Sunday was a bit windy but the predicted front turned out to be a non event. It would have been worth flying I think as I did find strong convection when I finally launched at 3 PM. Yes I launched in a Solo Aircraft. Hadn't realised how long it had been until I did it. The Diamante flies again and I had forgotten just how light the controls were and how nice to fly it is. I had 2 short flights with the second including soaring to 4000, but not for long as we had to pack up and get home at a reasonable hour. Thanks to Phill and Don for help with rigging and weighing and Don for hanging around for only 2 tows so I could do the test flights. Now it is time for the Dimona annual. Too many toys and not enough time. Nigel Baker - Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 12:53:32 (CST)

Flying on Saturday 3 Dec Saturday started with a team sport known as "rigging the Twin Astir". Morgy has repaired the cracks around the undercarriage supports and the Form 2 was complete. The evaluation flight showed us that cloudbase was just over 4000 feet. The wind was a fresh westerly, which eased through the day. Cath Conway was instructing. She came with a small crowd of students, and also had the Mosquito lined up for Simon Hackett. Simon flew for 1.5 hours and seems to have enjoyed his first flight in the Mozzie: probably not the most difficult thing he's flown. Phil Hollick flew the Discus, staying out for a while. Dion Baker flew KYS but it was getting harder to find lift. Damien, a policeman recently posted to Waikerie, enjoyed a long AEF and sounds like a possible new member. Anne Philcox had an aerotow conversion: about 6 flights without getting out of the glider. (This a Good Idea because getting that amount of ballast into the glider was a big job.) Her first solo aerotow was also her first solo in a Twin Astir. She was wondering about having to shout the bar, but it turned out to be a cheap shout. Kym Cleggett was sent solo: his first solo in a glider although he has flown powered aircraft before. I hear it was a surprise to him: the first he knew it was a solo was when Cath started telling him how the trim would be different with one POB. So, with some short pre-solo test type flights, there were 20 glider flights adding up to 6 hours 47 min. Pete Siddall - Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 12:49:57 (CST)

December newsletter The December issue of "Out of the Blue" is available here. (PDF, 130 kB) Airspace/procedure changes, what's been happening recently, CFI comments, the Mosquito, coming events this summer, and more! Greg Jackson - Thursday, December 01, 2005 at 18:34:27 (CST)

Single Seater Day On Sunday 27 Nov 2005, the only airworthy two-seater was Nigel's Dimona. He did an AEF while I was there, then went back to work in his hangar while the single seater pilots came out to play. Ann Woolf did laps on the slasher for most of the day. Greg had done some earlier. Don Workman was towing. Thanks people! There was a moderate southerly wind blowing. At lunchtime the sky was about 2 oktas Cu with wide, flat bases with occasional bumps in the middle, like poached eggs. As the afternoon went on, the clouds faded, and by 5 pm it was almost all blue. Peter Paine launched just before midday in HP: we didn't see him again until 14:45. Bernie Konopka flew KYS for 97 minutes, then spent the rest of the afternoon wishing he could afford to fly more. David Lawley launched in MU, hoping Ray would follow in WUN. However there were some hold-ups, and when Ray finally got airborne, he didn't stay up long, claiming there was 10 knot sink everywhere he went. Later Ray flew for nearly two hours. Greg Jackson flew the Mosquito, FQK. He came back three hours later, having flown about 230 km - Maggea, Kingston, Waikerie, Notts Well, etc etc. Sounded as if he liked the Mozzie. Instead of helping put HP away, I took a launch in it, the second time I've flown it. The first thermal was a bit of an effort, but by following the bubbles drifting back over the airfield I got to 4500 feet. Later I was able to get 5500 feet, and once 6100 feet. I doodled around south of the airfield, playing with what clouds were left (they came and went pretty quickly), and generally poking along towards Maggea although I didn't quite get there. There were 7 glider flights, totalling 13 hours 10 min. On Saturday there were 7 glider flights totalling 12 hours 51. They were all single seater flights, but that's all the info I have. Maybe someone who flew Saturday will tell us what they did. Pete Siddall - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at 10:32:47 (CST)

Drags on 08 The Riverland Racing Club staged a Drag Meeting on Waikerie Aerodrome on Sunday 20 November. The meeting was supported by the Loxton-Waikerie Council, who closed the airstrip so the meeting could be staged. The Drag Strip was Runway 08, with pits set up near the threshold of the bitumen runway and concrete barricades along the sides to ensure the safety of the public. Local service organizations (Lions, Rotary etc) and sponsors set up to provide food and drinks. Setting up for the meeting commenced on Thursday, with the airstrip closed for Saturday, Sunday and part of Monday. The Council mowed a large portion of the airfield. The meeting got underway with the first of the 80 events at around 1030 Hrs. Motor bikes, street cars, specialty cars and a couple of real "drag cars" (Rails) were timed across the short course with many reaching speeds in excess of 100 miles/hour, producing lots of smoke and smells. WGC was given the opportunity to co-ordinate spectator parking. A large area at the western end of the airfield was set aside for parking. The gates were opened around 0830 Hrs on Sunday morning and slowly but surely the public arrived. A small band of WGC members ably greeted the spectators. A big thankyou to Di and Mark Morgan, Allen Hudson, Graham Francis, Ann Woolf and Phill Hollick who assisted with parking and David and Ray Lawley, who manned the Discus, which was placed on display at the main entrance. The day was quite successful for the Club. On behalf of the Club, thanks to those who helped. John Hudson - Wednesday, November 23, 2005 at 21:05:37 (CST)

Flying on Saturday 12th November Saturday seemed to be Gift Voucher Day for some reason. Maybe it was the forecast of good weekend weather. In all, Bill Mudge had 10 flights in IKO and 7 were Air Experience Flights. Two of the others were with Diana Dimasi and Phillip Hollick, new members who joined that day. Phillip is a Sunraysia Club member who has not flown for a while and needed a check flight. Diana has taken the first step in her gliding career. For those pilots that stayed at home, Saturday's weather gave us 6 to 8 kt thermals to 5,000ft and 6,000ft late in the day (like 5.30pm). Sarah Allen went around Maggea, Wunkar, Waikerie once I believe (she had to leave early) and Peter Paine went around twice in MU. David Lawley had almost 2 hours doing a mini triangle in the Discus. I launched in HP at 5pm, found 8kts, had a hour and got to just under 6,000ft (cloudbase). Came down using half dive brakes (and full brakes through one thermal). Phillip took the Twin up solo and got close to 6,000ft but came down when he saw the other aircraft being put away. A very satisfying day, with 15 launches for a total of 15hours 28. GBF Graham Francis - Friday, November 18, 2005 at 16:52:25 (CST)

Weekend 22 - 23 October The weekend 22 and 23 October were again busy at Waikerie, with some reasonable flying conditions on Saturday. Bill Mudge was the Instructor on Saturday. Shane Hogarth, who had completed a course at Waikerie some years ago was there again to refresh his skills. Bernie Konopka had a flight of 58 minutes in the Astir "WUN" and David Lawley had 34 minutes in the Discus "GHP". Jade Palmer outlanded at Moorook in the Astir "KYS". Mark Newton, (from AUGC and Waikerie Clubs) flew to Waikerie from Stonefield to reclaim the "Come and get it trophy" for AUGC. Mark then flew back to Stonefield, this time claiming the "Come and get it trophy" back to Waikerie. Its probably the first time the trophy has been claimed by the same pilot for two clubs on the one day. Craig Vinall and David Conway drove to Renmark to pick-up the RGC Mosquito, which WGC has cross-hired. Craig took a tow from Renmark and flew the Mosquito to Waikerie, while David drove back with the trailer. On Sunday, flying conditions were reasonable ahead of a forecast change, with showers and rain. David and Cathy Conway Instructed for the day. 19 Flights were recorded for the day. Sarah Allen had a flight of 70 minutes in the Mosquito "FQK". Dion Baker was converted to the Astir 77 "KYS" and had a flight of 54 minutes. Ray Lawley-Sinclair was converted to the single Astir "WUN" - well done Ray. Gavin Flavel (who completed a course at Waikerie some years ago) again visited and flew with Catherine Conway. Added by Cath Conway: Also on Sunday Kym Cleggett continued his training with David Conway and Shane Hogarth flew with Catherine Conway on the second day of his two day course, managing to climb from 2000' to 5500' by himself. Flying was abandoned about 1530 hrs due to the arrival of the rain as forecst. All in all, another busy weekend. John Hudson - Monday, October 24, 2005 at 11:29:44 (CST)

How much can you fit into a weekend? On Friday 14th, about 15 aircraft associated with the (Beechcraft) Bonanza Society arrived at Waikerie. This group had planned their AGM to be held at Waikerie. Aircraft seemingly came from various parts of Australia - Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney etc etc. A Working Bee was planned to prepare for the soaring season (with a plan to fly during the afternoon if conditions were reasonable, and finish the work on Sunday morning and fly again Sunday afternoon). The usual "stalwarts" turned up to do the work on Saturday and Sunday (yes- we flew Saturday afternoon) - thanks for your ongoing support. Some of the jobs undertaken included - Lowering the "Pelican II" from the ceiling of the main hangar. The Pelican is now lined up with the rest of the gliders - have a look at the glider, get some pictures etc. - Fixing holes in the main hangar floor. - Fixing some irrigation points around the airfield. - Removal of some more "kunk" from the Igloo Hangar. - Assembly of various items of scrap metal from around the aerodrome. - Some more grass mowing (Ann Woolf had done a considerable amount of mowing earlier - thanks Ann). A "Flight Crew" meeting was held before lunch. Details of this will be circulated seperately to Instructors and Tug Pilots. Details will be circulated to members through "flyers" and the next Newsletter. After a hamburger lunch on Saturday and with good looking Cu forming to the north, preps were made to fly. David Conway and Kim Clegget in the Twin reported at 9500 Ft under Cu. Peter Robinson in his Nimbus and others in Club gliders followed and also got high in the impressive looking sky. Dion Baker, who recently solo'd had a checkflight with David C before having another solo flight. Soon after lunch, Damian O'Rielly arrived complete work on and to prepare his Stemme for its flight to Perth. It's getting close now Damian. Over a few beers, David Pietsch (who was at Waikerie completing some work on his AS W20) provided some interesting insights into the human physiology associated with the effects of low oxygen levels at height, oxygen systems and preventative measure in a discussion before Dinner. Thanks David, most informative. Marie and Jean provided another great meal in the "Sunset Cafe". Was great to see David Jones and his father (Alby) for Davids presentation, staying on for Dinner. Most members then retired to the bar. The opportunity was taken for a Committee Meeting. Sunday morning dawned near perfect, with a forecast maximum of around 28 degrees. After a few more Working Bee tasks (and we never completed the planned jobs this time) and with the sky literally full of impressive looking Cu, we again flew. The Bonanza Society aircraft departed during the morning and afternoon to their widely dispersed destinations. With the ideal conditions, the opportunity was taken to start an aerotow endorsement for Sarah Allen in the Tug. Following a detailed briefing, Sarah completed a few circuits to get the feel of the aeroplane (perhaps you could prepare a Newsletter article Sarah about your impressions of the Pawnee) before we hooked the Twin on for some towing. Unfortunately we were unable to complete the endorsement on Sunday, but we are well down the track to having another tow pilot - well done Sarah. Damian and Nigel ran the engine in the Stemme, before doing some engine runs and taxi trials on the main runway - making it a great day for Damian. Peter Robinson and Kim Clegget in the Twin had a good flight to nearly 10,000 under Cu, having to use airbrake to get down. David Conway in his Ventus also had a good flight, flying to Stonefield where he met up with a AUGC member in a Libelle and flew back to Waikerie, then back to Stonefield and back to Waikerie. Dion Baker was converted to the single Astir WUN. After a brief first flight followed by slightly longer second flight of 38 minutes, Dion finally got away, climbing to 9500 Ft. Dion's impressions were nicely summed up, when after a question from David Conway over the radio "How are you doing Dion", he replied "Bloody marvellous". Peter Paine in HP had several hours in the Discus HP and Greg Jackson did a 300 Km flight in the Hornet MU. Craig Vinall had his annual checkflight with Nigel in the Twin. All in all, a very busy and enjoyable weekend at Waikerie. John Hudson - Monday, October 17, 2005 at 10:20:54 (CST)

WGC Newsletter - October 2005 The October newsletter is available here - PDF, 70 kbytes. The Sport Aircraft Club fly-in, members' recent exploits, Dion goes solo, upcoming events. Greg Jackson - Sunday, October 09, 2005 at 13:20:48 (CST)

Long weekend flying Sunday was busy with every available club aircraft out, plus the Duo Discus. I took a visitor, Bill Verco, for an outlanding check in the Dimona and he then made an attempt at his Silver C distance in the Hornet, flying the old milk run to Loxton. Jade Palmer was flying the same course in the single Astir. Both pilots landed out in the same paddock but as Bill had gone round Loxton he may well have got his silver distance. Ray Lawley had a check flight, as he had had a 1 month break, and then went solo again. David Conway had several check flights with Dion and then sent him Solo while I was in the air in the Dimona with Bill Verco. Ray and Dion had several flights in the afternoon and Dion had close to an hour's soaring on his second Solo while I flew with David Conway in the Dimona, completing his conversion to this aircraft. Graham Francis had his son Neville with him and he flew with me in the Dimona. It was a very active day for the club with 18 tows and 10 Dimona flights. The day finished with a BBQ and there were 24 for dinner that night with the festivities going till late. Monday morning had a few pilots making a slow start to the day after a late night. I got going at 10am with the Dimona, doing 8 flights with Damien O'Reilly who is having some training in preparation for flying his wonderful newly refinished Stemme 10. Aiden and the new Solos, Dion and Ray all had check flights, then Aiden went off in the Single Astir while Dion and Ray shared the twin with Sarah. Sarah had passengers to fly after some soaring in the Discus. Pete Robinson flew the Duo Discus before heading home when David Conway filled the back seat and continued ops with it. The day was not up to it for cross country flying, but there was a steady flow of flights through the day finishing around 4pm whe Don the tuggie headed for home. Again all available club aircraft were operating and a very busy and pleasant day was had. All in all the busiest weekend I have seen in a long time and over the 3 days of the long weekend. It was really good to see. Nigel Baker - Thursday, October 06, 2005 at 13:17:34 (CST)

Flying on October long weekend Last weekend, we flew 5 days in a row at Waikerie. I arrived on Thursday night after David Conway and crew had flown some High School students as passengers. This was the Riverland high schools' sports expo, where students have a chance to try sports that may be new to them. Eight girls and one boy came from year 9 at several Riverland schools. All enjoyed their flights: the only problem was getting them all done before the buses came back. Several times David had to pull the airbrakes, once from 5,000 feet. On Friday there were about 5 pilots present, 2 from the AUGC planning on flying back to Stonefield, and Bill Verco who was attempting his 50km flight over the weekend, seeking a site and outlanding check. What looked like a great day was ruined by an incoming high overcast, brought about apparently by David Conway putting 100 litres of water in his Ventus! David was kind enough to inform us at the end of briefing that quote "The sooner we're airborne, the sooner we'll be flying" a statement greeted with both mirth and general agreement from the assembled pilots! I was lucky enough to be converted to the Discus for the first time and celebrated with a long drifting thermal climb to blunder into wave at 6000ft 10Km East of the field. this rocketed me up to 8000ft during which I heard the Uni Bergfalke calling in an outlanding. After they reported in I couldn't help a quick radio call saying "HP climbing 10kt wave thru 7,500 10km east".... cruel really! The Bergfalke outlanded on the Teletrak strip, a few miles west of Waikerie township. Derek reports that the surface was good and the strip is huge. Whilst the weather seemed good high winds at altitude made thermals rough and broken, a trend that continued all weekend. Most of us went to Stonefield for a barby after flying: being a non drinker I drove home, while some of our more adventurous (blotto) members conducted an interesting ceremony involving the main runway... Saturday saw an excellent turn out with all club gliders in use, and four pilots present without aircraft! (Stuart Skevington, Peter Paine, Bernie Konopka and myself, at one stage were all leaning on the fence looking glum!) Sarah Allen (Discus HP) and Jade Palmer (Astir KYS) were attempting cross countries as was Bill Verco (Hornet MU). Early flights didn't stay up long, as the day wasn't heating as much as needed and there was some wind aloft. Sarah Allen earned extra points by making the first soaring flight of 95 minutes while everyone else was sitting around the pie cart waiting for things to improve. Those considering cross countries soon gave it away. Taking advantage of this I flew the Discus again and Peter Paine who had stayed on for the day was also converted to the Discus later. The Twin Astir was busy with a passenger and check flight for Ray Lawley. The Duo Discus came out and a few of us joined Peter Robinson for some fun in this lovely glider. The Uni club ended up trailering their gliders home. Saturday and Sunday night we were treated to a barbie by Nigel and the Boys, Ray Dion and Aiden, thanks guys! A highlight was Saturday night in the clubhouse: for a change we had more people under 25 years old than over. It is a great sign for the future that our club has so many young pilots, in fact we have 5 under 21 at the moment. Whilst at first I was disappointed that Waikerie was no longer a commercial operation I am now convinced that it is a good thing, as a certain amount of club spirit and ownership by the members is returning, and I can see us going from strength to strength in the future. Sunday looked a good day initially, and Jade and Bill again tried to get to Loxton, unfortunately without luck, outlanding about 30km out. Congratulations go to Dion Baker for his fist solo, and he managed to get a thermal to 6,000ft on his second flight. Nigel had his Dimona in action doing an outlanding check for Bill and some conversion and training with Damien O'Rielly who is nearly finished his refinish of his Stemme 10, a very nice job by Morgy too. Monday was a little quieter with Dion and Ray continuing their check and solo routine, and Cathy Conway flying the family Ventus. David Conway did a Dimona conversion with Nigel, and I did a mutual with Ray and a brief blast in the Discus. The second Astir WUN was undergoing Form 2 inspection by Mark Morgan, which was completed Monday afternoon. Nigel continued with training for Damien O'Reilly, and I took a friend for a passenger flight and Sarah also took a couple of friends up. All in all an excellent long weekend of flying. David Lawley - Thursday, October 06, 2005 at 13:09:05 (CST)

Flying on Saturday It was always a gamble flying on Saturday, with the Crows game starting at 2:30PM. I DI'd the Hornet and wandered away returning to tow down at about11:30. There were intermittent gusty rain squalls passing thru all morning with steadily decreasing frequency, by about 1:00PM they seemed to have petered out and I took off at about 1:15. It was very bumpy, I found the Hornet a real handfull on tow, getting a good view of the tug from every angle! When I bunged off at 2400 it was smoother, but the air was disorganised, no matter what I did I could only get lift for half a turn, I flew all over the available area, limited by he strong wind to about halfway down the field. I must have done heaps of steeply banked circles, frequently getting spat out by strong gusts, then returning to find 6 KT down! I had by 1000 ft made one complete turn in lift. When the second turn looked like taking me past the downwind fence of the airfied I thought stuff this, this is hard work, and headed for the circuit joining area and had an uneventful if extremely short of piecart landing. Despite closing the brakes the glider stopped in about 50 meters, it seemed like there was little if any wind gradient stopping me most abruptly in the still strong wind at ground level, aided by the soft wet ground. I towed the glider back to the hangar and caught the game, whilst conditions continued to improve up above, conditions at the game got worse, I should have stuck with flying. Though rough, the flight I had was most enjoyable. David Lawley - Monday, September 19, 2005 at 12:44:20 (CST)

Weekend's flying, 10-11 Sept The weather forecast for Saturday 10th indicated there would be a relatively short window of thermals to 3000 Ft, with the weather deteriorating later in the day with the forecast arrival of strong winds and rain. Saturday was going to be busy day from an Instructing perspective, with father and son duo Ray and James Conley from Adelaide, undertaking a two-day course. Bill Mudge was the rostered Instructor, with Don Workman flying the tug. After a weather briefing for the pilots and a more detailed briefing for Ray and James, flying got underway. Both Ray and James had four flights each, including a thermal flight each of about an hours duration with climbs to 6000Ft. Ray was a very interesting person to talk to, being a Cathay Pacific B747 Captain, who was on holiday gliding at Waikerie. Other pilots to fly included Sarah Allen, who had a long flight in the Discus. After Sarah landed, David Conway took off and climbed to 5000 - 6000 Ft. David called the Pie-cart while over Blanchetown advising he was proceeding to Stonefield to claim the "Come and get it trophy". John Mudge had a long flight in the Hornet, finally landing due to the cold. Bernie Kanopka also had an 1 hour 15 minute flight in the Single Astir. The day ended with a few drinks at the bar and a BBQ tea for retiring to the bar to watch the Crows defeat the Power. Sunday 11 September. The windy, showery weather arrived during the early morning. The weather forecast was for 25 - 30 knot winds with showers and possible small hail (it was cold enough for hail). John Hudson was the rostered Instructor with Don Workman again in the tug. It was anticipated the day would be quieter than Saturday because of the weather. Ray and James had another 4 flights each to complete their 2 day course. Stuart Skevington had a couple of short flights in the Single Astir.David Conway arrived back with the Discus (on the trailer). Cathy Conway had her annual checkflight before flying a friend who had accompanied them to Waikerie. The weather man was right with the weather, strong winds (straight down the strip) showers and cold. All in all a busy weekend at Waikerie. John Hudson - Monday, September 12, 2005 at 22:20:28 (CST)

Sport Aircraft Fly-in On the weekend of 27th & 28th August 2005, members of the Sport Aircraft Club of SA visited Waikerie, with around 20 aircraft arriving before lunch on Saturday. After lunch there were several flights by the visiting aircraft which included some formation flying. The visiting fleet included several Jabirus, RV variants, a Lancair 360, Sonic, Minicab and an unusual 4 seat, twin engined Aero 145. Gliding activities continued through Saturday although gliding conditions were not ideal with a northerly breeze under a high cirrus cloud cover. David Lawley had a flight with son Ray during Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening commenced with a few drinks at the bar and a 3 course meal prepared by Marie and Jean (it was great to see several WGC members joining in the evening) followed by a musical interlude. After breakfast on Sunday, with a forecast of deteriorating weather conditions, some visitors headed for home early, while the remainder visited Waikerie's places of interest, including the machinery collection, the Chocolate Factory and the Murray River Queen. Following lunch back at WGC, the remainder of the group departed. Gliding conditions on Sunday were an improvement over Saturday. Ray and David Lawley were the only pilots to fly, with Ray taking a climb in the Twin Astir to 4000 Ft and David to 5000 Ft in the Hornet. All in all a very successful weekend where pilots with different areas of aviation interest were able to mix, talk aeroplanes and flying and relax. John Hudson - Tuesday, August 30, 2005 at 10:40:57 (CST)

Gliding News 13 August 2005 First launch on Saturday morning was Kev Philmore who had come up to Waikerie from Modbury with his wife Pat so that he could have a ride in a glider. A few months ago he had a flight in a Warbird and did loops and loved it, so then he decided he would like to try a flight in a glider. John Hudson took him for a most enjoyable flight above the town and along the river. Sarah Allen in the Discus (HP) and Peter Paine in the Hornet (MU) both had local soaring flights. Sarah said the thermals were very broken and on average about 3-4 knots in strength and she managed to climb very slowly to 4,000 ft. Some spin checks were due for Ray Lawley, so John took him up to run him through that exercise which he enjoyed. His father David and Greg Jackson then went for a quick flight together in the Twin Astir after which David then flew with Bernie Konopka, Bernie having earlier had a short flight in the Astir 77 (KYS). Peter Cassidy was our tug pilot for the day. In the evening Marie and Jean Hudson had cooked a meal for a few members who stayed for the evening. Afterwards John gave us an informal talk about Flaps. Sunday turned out very windy and cold. Back to winter again. There was a group of 5 Japanese people coming to fly at 1100, so we had the Twin Astir out ready for them when they arrived. Greg was the tug pilot and John our instructor for the day. They all had good flights with John and went off to the Murray River Queen very happy with the start to their day. Saturday was 11 flights, just over 5.5 hours. Sunday 6 flights, 1.5 hours. Ann Woolf - Sunday, August 14, 2005 at 16:51:09 (CST)

"Out of the Blue" - August 2005 The Club Newsletter for August is available here. It's a PDF (160 kB) and I couldn't open it until I got a new version of Acrobat Reader from here. News about the "working bee/fun bee" just passed, Stuart's thoughts about flying the Discus, fulltime operations for next summer, etc. Pete S - Wednesday, August 10, 2005 at 18:12:12 (CST)

From YB (ex WL). Wednesday 3rd August Since the weekend Brocky and I have been watching the weather as a significant front had been approaching accross the Bight. We thought it would be here by Tuesday. Covers came off and tanks fuelled up ready for the next day. But the front ended up moving much slower than normal. We had then thought that it would arrive during the night and not be useable. We were wrong! Wednesday morning news report said the front was going to reach Adelaide by mid morning, that would put it over Waikerie by maybe mid afternoon. Things were set to go. Brocky rang me late in the morning to say that he would be late, about 13.00, so I finished up at 12.15 and prepared both ships and towed them out to runway 26. You could easily see the prefrontal CUs approaching. Brocky arrived at 13.00 and strapped in after a walk around inspection. The Prefrontal CU was directly overhead and the wind was starting to shift from north north west, more toward the west. November Mike burst into life, then warmed up a little, then zoomed off down the runway as I ran Brocky's wing. I then piled into YB with my chute already on. Checked the systems, "clear prop" and hit the starter. As it wound over there was not a pop from the engine!! "Oh crap!!" I tried resetting the choke and throttle, but still no bang! Checking, yes fuel is on, everything looks good. As the starter wound down I knew that a battery was spent. I made a radio call to Brocky indicating that I would not be joining him today so he had best get on with it before it before turned to crap. I coupled up the glider and on returning to the hangar phoned the battery shop and ordered a couple of new batteries!!! At about 15.45, I had been watching the front approaching from the workshop window and noticed a dust line lifting from the ground about 10km south west of the field. I radioed Ron to see that he was not too far away and informed him of what was developing. He was already a step ahead of me and was running the lift along the face of the dust line. "Lucky Bugger!!" At about 16.14 VH-GNM came in onto final so I went out to help retrieve him in the windy conditions. Ron had great delight informing me the lift under the prefrontal line had been strong. Climbs of 8 to 10 kts and better to 8,500 feet. The line took him in an arc northerly then tending north west over to "The Gums". On the way back he took some thermal shear up the windward side of a cloud to 9,000 feet just for fun and then also noticed some lenticular clouds forming to the south. Unfortunately they were the other side of a large blue hole so Ron made his way back as far as Sunlands (10km west of Waikerie) and then around the line of CUs and tried to make into wind toward Blanchetown where the Lennies were. Unfortunately for him the 40kt head wind made the going too slow and the cold front moved in under him and cut off the convective activity. Next best thing was the frontal lift!! I was pretty peeved but things happen!! From YB. Sunday 7th August I had installed my new starting batteries and had them on charge from Friday. I had intended giving the engine a run over the weekend sometime to make sure the problem was not other than batteries. The last thing I wanted was to miss another good day because of a little inexpensive plastic box! Late Sunday afternoon I had completed all the weekend domestic duties. I ventured out to the field, loaded the new batteries and rolled out the ship. Engine check, climb in, starting procedure check, "Clear Prop!", hit the starter and vroom! she burst into life. You beauty!! Well can't waste a good thing! Just take a circuit and enjoy the late afternoon. It was 16.00 already and the shadows starting to get longer. A round the ship DI and then off to runway 26. Wind straight down the strip about 10 to 12 kts. Checks done, "Clear Prop", warm up and off we go!! During the climb out I noticed things were happening a little in the sky. The CUs were cycling down and were lined cross wind. Some of the clouds had the tell tale smooth tops. In a climb over the Ramco Lagoon, it's getting slower as the CUs continue to cycle down. The cross wind lines are becoming more defined now the thermal activity is not punching holes in the wave activity that seemed to be present. Well there's nothing for it!! If I stay here the thermal will die and guess what I have a steel thermal in the back now!!!! Out with it and continue to climb in the dying thermal while under power. I know you are all calling me a cheater, but I don't care!!! Cloud base was 5,000 feet. I only needed to clear the windward base and cruised into 3 kts of lift. Kill the artificial lift and sit back and enjoy the smooth one!! I worked up the side of the cloud and noted the line downwind directly over the field was much better looking and formed than the line I was on. I moved to a blue gap in the cloud line and headed down wind. Flying straight at the face of the cloud while glancing at thte vario to pick the strongest point of lift. Peaking at 3 kts and then starting to drop so I made a 180 turn and back to the stronger lift. 5,500 feet now and heading south while gaining. There was also a secondary development above the base cloud. Maybe I can make the step into that one as well!! At 7,300 feet now with minimal lift indicated so it's time to move out up wind to try and catch the upper layer. Nothing, nothing, nothing! Either it wasn't there or there was a separation between them but too high to use the steel thermal according to the manual. Oh well just drop down forward to the next line and run down that for fun!!! Operating between 70 & 80 kts keeping height alongside the cloud line. This is acceptable!! More and more cloud developing and the gaps starting to close in. It's nearly 17.00 and the shadows are quite long. Getting late and starting to dim as well. Time to go down, starting to feel the cold now, wasn't really prepared for this type of flight! Dropped into circuit after using landing flap and brakes to come down through a hole in the cloud. Check the wind strength and direction, now on final, in on the grass verge, it's going to be a long walk back to get the car, so what!! Can't wait to stick it to Ron about the flight that he missed!! It lasted only an hour but it was a magnificent time. And again I didn't have my jolly camera!!!! Mark Morgan - Wednesday, August 10, 2005 at 14:07:07 (CST)

Weekend's flying 6 Aug 05 Saturday morning was chilly as has been the norm for the last few months. As Bill Mudge was working in the morning I DI'd IKO and Ray gave the glider a good clean, virtually as soon as Bill arrived we were ready to tow the twin to the launch point. John Mudge had the Hornet DI'd and ready at the piecart. Despite promising clouds all around none were within easy reach of Waikerie as usual. Ray flew a couple of circuits with Bill. (The first of which I tripped over as I was releasing the wing, doing a falling roll with Pike, much to John Mudges amusement.) John flew the Hornet, and I asked Bill to be a simulated passenger, as I had just passed a Backseat/Passenger check last visit and wished to practice before taking my first passenger. Bill made this an INTERESTING exercise, I am not going to give away Bills method, but I alternated rapidly between amusement and small scale panic at a couple of critical moments during the flight. A great learning experience! I must have done ok as Bill cleared me back into the Hornet at last (Woo-Hoo!!!) and pointed at a tantalizingly close cloud upwind of the runway past the town. Peter towed me out towards it and below 2000 ft the air was quite strong up and down. At 2400 the I released into 2Kt Lift. Soon this turned to a smooth 3.6Kt average to 4900. Emboldened I headed up wind towards the now forming cloud and was eventually able to climb to the base of what was a very thin Cu at 5,500 feet. After a few minutes I started to notice the cold, I reckon it was below 0 up there! After 20 minutes of climbing I was able to zoom around the local area at 80Kt doing a little McCready flying for the next 30 minutes before returning to the airfield at about 1500 feet. As only John was there to see it I did my best landing in ages.. On Sunday Nigel arrived to do some dual in the Dimona with Damien (The sandingman) O'Reilly, and Kevin Sedgman and Sid from Stonefield BVGC in their aircraft visited us for lunch. Kevin of course was a founding member of the GFA and has a wealth of experience and anecdotes about gliding. At 85 years of age Kev is an inspiration to us all, but did mention he was going to give up flying at the end of this year. He was flying his homebuilt own design motor glider the performance of which is amazing for such a small aircraft. Sid was flying his 3/4 scale Pawnee ultralight, a very well finished and attractive machine. I had planned to stop in at BVGC on the way home, luckily Kev and Sid informed me there were no operations there! David Lawley - Monday, August 08, 2005 at 16:08:15 (CST)

Gliding News - 7 August 2005 Saturday was an unexpected bonus. Originally we had no tug pilot but Pete Siddall stepped in to fill the gap with Bill Mudge as duty instructor although he had to work in the morning so launching didn't start till just after 1.00 pm. Only Dave and Ray Lawley and John Mudge turned up to fly and they had the aircraft DI'd and ready on the launch pad when Bill arrived. Whilst waiting for Bill, Ray got checked out on the ride on lawn mower and mowed all round the club room and Pete took the smaller mower and mowed the edges. Many thanks. There were no thermals all day until the last launch which was Dave in the Hornet (MU) around 3.30 pm. He had a 50 minute flight going to cloudbase at 5,500 ft in an average of 3.6 knots after an earlier flight with Bill in the Twin Astir. Ray had three launches with Bill and John had a short flight just after 1.00 pm in the Hornet. Damien O'Reilly has been here this weekend working on his Stemme. On Sunday he went flying in the Dimona with Nigel Baker. There were 6 launches on Saturday for a total of just over 2 hours flying. Ann Woolf - Monday, August 08, 2005 at 14:17:45 (CST)

Gliding News 30 July 2005 Saturday began with a clear sky but soon became cloudy which by 1030 had overdeveloped somewhat. Lyn Gray and Colin Turner came over from the Blanchetown gliding club to continue Lyn's instruction on aerotow with three launches during the day in the Twin Astir with Colin. Peter Paine and Bill Mudge turned up early in the hopes of a good soaring day. Peter took a couple of launches in the Hornet (MU) but unfortunately could only squeeze 23 minutes from each flight. Around lunchtime a couple of visitors turned up from the Gliding Club of Victoria, Benalla. One of them, Rob Brown elected to go for a flight in the Twin Astir with Bill but again there was no lift about so it was only a 27 minute flight. Just as Pete was coming in to land from his second flight, Bill was going to do a hangar flight in the Twin Astir and asked me if I would like to accompany him. I did the take off behind Rob Pollnitz in the tug and we pulled off about 2,200 ft. We found 1-2 knots of lift south west of the airfield under a cumulus cloud which Bill worked until it turned to 3.5 - 4 knots with some lift to 6 knots and we climbed to cloudbase at 6,300 ft south of the airfield. I took over the flying again and tracked north west over Stockyard Plain and followed a line of lift then glided towards a cloud over Sunlands which took us down to 3,500 ft. I found good lift under the cloud, 4-5 knots which took us back up to 5,000 ft. We then jumped cloud streets to north of Waikerie and climbed back to 5,500 ft under another small cumulus cloud and drifted with the wind to 10 km north of the airfield. Bill took over once again and followed another line of cloud to Taylorville taking another climb in 2-3 knots to 4,800 ft. I then took over the controls again and flew towards Cadell then at 4,000 ft Bill decided we had better turn round and head for the airfield. As we were turning over the Southcorp winery trying to lose some excess height we again found about 2 knots of lift. I moved out of it and came in to the circuit to land. Bounced once so Bill took the controls and sorted it out. Peter was waiting for us with the tractor to tow us back to the hangar. Thank you for waiting Pete as I know you wanted to get back to Adelaide early that day. This was an incredible flight for mid winter. We launched at 1510 and landed at 1645, a flight of 1 hr 35 minutes. The total flying for the day was 7 launches, 3 hrs 35 mins. On Sunday it was a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies and no wind. John Hudson came up from Adelaide to check out our new tug pilot, Don Workman who is the Manager at Akuna Station who had flown over to Waikerie in their Auster. Don did a couple of circuits in the Pawnee on his own then three launches with John behind him in the Twin Astir. The first launch, John was dropped off into 4 knots of lift and fought hard to overcome the temptation to stay with it and go off soaring. There was plenty of lift everywhere, but no one else around to use it. Welcome to the Waikerie Gliding Club, Don. The next flying days will be 13 and 14 August. Saturday there will be a meal in the evening in the Club Kitchen Sunset Cafe (Chef Hudson's specials) followed by talk on Flaps, Use and Effects thereof. On Sunday there will be a party of Japanese pilots flying with us. Sat and Sun 27 and 28 August will be club flying days. Also this weekend the SAA (Sport Aircraft Association) are having a fly-in and staying overnight at the Gliding Club and various other places around Waikerie. Anyone interested in small aircraft will find their diverse aircraft interesting. Saturday 20 Nov the western end of the airfield is being used by the Holden Monaro Drag Cars. They will have the car park at the western end and be using the bitumen strip up as far as the taxiway. There promises to be a very very large crowd at this event and I think they may, if successful here, make it a yearly one. The Council have asked if we would like to get involved in managing the car parking, selling drinks etc. from the pie cart and probably using our accommodation facilities. If the weather is OK we will also be giving flights to the visitors. All club members and anyone else who wishes, would be most welcome to help out with this event. Phone or email John Hudson if you wish for more information. Ann Woolf - Monday, August 01, 2005 at 20:41:21 (CST)

Gliding news, 17 July 2005 We had a very successful working bee at the gliding club on Saturday. Despite the cold, wet weather sixteen club members turned out to do the many jobs that needed attention around the club area. Peter Robinson took care of fixing the hangar lighting system, Pete Siddall swept out the bottom runners of the hangar doors and later joined Peter Page on top of the hangar door rails to fix the sheeting which was blowing around in the breeze. Sarah Allen, Greg Jackson, Rod Van den Brink and Grant Hudson dug out the holes on the floor of the igloo hangar and filled them with cement which Peter Paine had mixed. A good all round effort. David Lawley had a go at fixing the TV aerial whilst Ray helped out where he was needed. Stuart Skevington, John Mudge and Ann were out on the airfield with the tractor filling in large holes and pulling in the sprinklers up to the hangar area for their yearly maintenance check by Mark Morgan. Mark made a good job of mending the leaks in the sprinkler system by the pump and cottages. John Hudson fixed the main electrics door by the toilets and many other odd jobs whilst Graham Francis screwed dust stoppers to the bottom of doors. Craig Vinall spent time in the office catching up with the accounts. Later in the day, after a downpour of rain, some flooding was noticed on one of the drainpipes which Greg investigated. It turned out to be a bigger job than expected. A hose pipe was pushed up from the exit end to try to flush out the blockage but after a while flooding was noticed on the lawn outside the clubroom. Shovels were found and Nigel and Rod set to and dug up the turf. The pipe, which is hardly a foot underground, was found to be broken and full of grass roots and soil so a temporary repair was made on Sunday until the correct materials can be acquired. It might be prudent in future not to drive round the eastern side of the clubroom and lawns in case more pipe is broken. All the items on John's list were successfully completed except the concreting of holes in the hangar floors - we ran out of cement mix. That will be done later in the week. Many other jobs we hadn't thought of but found needed doing were also finished. Thanks to everyone who turned out for the work. John provided a BBQ lunch in the igloo hangar for the workers then in the evening he and Heather Baker had a meal ready. John and Betty Vinall joined us for the evening meal in the club kitchen and John was presented with a small gift in appreciation of all the work he has done for us on the club vehicles and lawn mowers. After the meal everyone returned to the bar where John Hudson gave a lecture on windsocks. The following day was a good flying day; Nigel Baker was duty instructor with Greg Jackson as tug pilot. Graham Francis had the first flight of the day just after midday with an hour's flying in the Astir 77 (KYS). The next launch was a check flight in the Twin Astir for young Ray Lawley who went solo a couple of weeks ago. The next flight he was solo again. Then it was John Mudge's turn to launch in the Hornet (GMU). John had a good flight of 1hr 50 minutes, the first few thermals fairly difficult to keep in, climbing to between 4,200 and 4,300 ft then about 3pm he managed to climb to 4,400 by the Waikerie Speedway with thermals averaging 4 knots at cloudbase. David Lawley had a couple of flights of 44 minutes each in the KYS. On his second flight he found the thermals stronger at approximately 4.5 knots taking him to 3,500 ft but below 2,000 the thermals were fairly weak which meant some hard work to stay in them and climb. Just before David's second flight Ray had launched again doing the best flight of the day by going up to cloudbase at 3,500 and nearly getting sucked into the cloud in 10 knots of lift. Wisely he put the nose down and descended out of the cloud then came in to land. He has decided that next time that happens, he will carry on flying around from cloud to cloud, finding more lift and exploring the skies. Another good flight was Peter Paine's in the Hornet. His flight was 1hr 30 mins but he only managed to find 1-2 knot thermals and climbed to just over 3,000 ft. Michael and Joanne McCulkin arrived in the morning having driven down from Broken Hill where they run their outback tours, Tri State Safaris. They had been to Waikerie for a gliding flight towards the end of February and enjoyed it so much that when Nigel Baker took his Dimona to Broken Hill the following month, Mick had a couple of flight with him under instruction. Flying again with Nigel today in The Twin Astir he has progressed so well that he was doing the take-off, landing and aerotows totally by himself with no help from Nigel. His last couple of flights at the end of the day were to only 1500 ft doing circuit practice. Well done Mick. In between Mick's flights Nigel took a local lady, Rachel Sayer for a passenger flight courtesy of her father. Nigel also did some flying in the Dimona with his son Dion then Stuart Skevington had some outlanding checks in preparation for cross country flights. Earlier in the day Stuart, whose family had joined him on the airfield, had taken the Discus (HP) for a half hour flight. Totals for the day were 15 launches and just over 8 hours flying. Not bad for a winter's day. Ann Woolf - Monday, July 18, 2005 at 19:14:56 (CST)

Gliding News, 3 July 2005 A few people turned up to fly on Saturday. Bill Mudge was the duty instructor and Rob Pollnitz the tug pilot. The first launch was just after midday when Bill took Lyn Gray for some instruction. Lyn is one of Colin Turner's pupils from the Blanchetown gliding club. They had 22 minutes flying on that first launch, but later in the day, at nearly 3.00 pm, they soared for 37 minutes climbing at about 3 knots under a small line of cumulus cloud ahead of the rain. About 200ft below cloudbase the lift increased to 5 knots and it felt as if they were being sucked into the cloud, so Bill turned away to clear skies and left the way for David Lawley who was just below them in the Astir 77 (KYS) to climb up to cloudbase (3,400 ft) as well. David had a 30 minute flight. John Mudge flew for an hour in the Hornet (MU) just after Bill and Lyn's first launch. He found a cloud street with about 1 knot of lift under it. A most enjoyable flight. Bernie Konopka had a couple of short flights but was unable to contact lift. Barry Greatz brought his 2 sons, Mitchell and Thomas up from Adelaide for a flight with Bill in the Twin Astir. With Barry were his mother Violet, and Ian Radloff from the Orange Grove Bakery. Alby Jones also came out to the airfield to meet up with them again as they have been living away from Waikerie for some time now. Bill then took Ray Lawley for an instructional flight and then Cary Heritage, a friend of Ray's, for his first ever glider flight. We had just put all the gliders away in the hangar when it started to rain. Good timing Bill. Sunday turned out to be an overcast day with very little wind but hardly any lift. David Conway was the duty instructor with Pete Siddall the tuggy. There was no rush to start flying so Peter Paine trimmed up the pathways with Pete Siddall helping. Just after midday David took Ray Lawley on some instructional flights putting him through his paces by giving him a simulated cable break and then another exercise in which he was told that he could not release the rope at the top of his tow. All this had been arranged beforehand with Pete in the tug, so Pete released his end of the rope and Ray had to fly around safely with the tow rope attached until he was on approach when it was released for his father David to pick up from the eastern end of the airfield. After all this, David Conway decided Ray was ready to go on his first solo flight. More weight was added to the front of the glider as Ray is a very light lad for 15-and-a-half years old, and off he went with his father watching carefully. All went well and he flew around for 20 minutes before making a beautiful smooth landing. Well done Ray. Ray started his gliding at the Barossa Valley Gliding Club at Stonefield with 10 winch launches in January 2003. He then had a year's break, another 10 launches at Stonefield, then another year's break until he came to Waikerie this year and had 20 launches on aerotow before going solo today. He now has his sights set to fly in a two seater with an experienced pilot at Joeyglide, the Junior Nationals, in December this year to gain some cross country experience. Also having flights today were Peter Paine in the Hornet (MU), Sarah Allen in the Discus (HP) and David Lawley with David Conway in the Twin Astir. Cary also had a flight with Sarah in the Twin Astir and was thrilled when they found about half a knot of lift for a few minutes just after release and managed to climb about 100 feet above their launch height. Maybe we will see him back here for more when he gets some work to pay for his flying. All was put away in the hangar by 4.15pm and the pilots retired to the bar to celebrate Ray's solo. Flying for the weekend was Saturday 10 launches, 3 hrs 36 mins; Sunday 14 launches, 2 hrs, 48 mins. There will be a Working Bee on Saturday 16th July with lots of jobs around the clubrooms, hangars and airfield that need doing. Afterwards there will probably be a BBQ or meal laid on. Ann Woolf - Thursday, July 07, 2005 at 20:32:03 (CST)

Gliding news 19 Jun 2005 The weekend was a cold one with winds from the north to north east. Despite the coolness, Greg Jackson turned out to tow for both days and Graham Marsh was duty instructor on Saturday and John Hudson on Sunday instead of Nigel as John and Jean were already in Waikerie for the weekend. Sarah Allen had a flight in the Discus on Saturday morning then Peter Robinson had a couple of launches in it. Peter Paine flew the Hornet (MU). Graham's only pupil was Ray Lawley so they did a couple of instructional launches in the Twin Astir. The winds seemed to gather strength at about 500 ft making the towing for Greg somewhat easy with a greater climb rate. As the rain came in with a vengence in the early afternoon that was all the flying for the day. None of the flights were very long as there was no lift about. Peter Paine, David and Ray Lawley and Greg had stayed overnight at Waikerie so they were out again the following day. Peter had the longest flight of the day with 20 minutes in the Hornet in some weak lift which might have been a bit of wave. There was a lot of it about after the finish of flying. Ray had three instructional flights with John and David a couple of launches in the Astir 77 (KYS). He also thought he might have encountered some very weak wave but couldn't stay in it. Stewart Skevinton also had a couple of flights in the Discus and said it was worth the drive up to Waikerie just to be able to keep current with his flying and enjoy his flights. The fuel bowser had a bit of a spring clean in the morning with John Hudson attacking it with WD40 to free up the cogs and clean the cobwebs off the glass front. The next flying weekend will be on the 2nd and 3rd of July when Bill Mudge and Rob Pollnitz will be duty on the Saturday and David Conway and Peter Siddall on the Sunday. Totals for the weekend: Saturday 6 launches for just over an hours flying. Sunday 9 launches for 1.7 hours flying. Ann Woolf - Monday, June 20, 2005 at 13:15:04 (CST)

Gliding news 5 June 2005 The weekend for the club began on Friday evening when the Waikerie Rotary Club enjoyed the hospitality of the Gliding Club's large clubroom and bar facilities for a Quiz Evening. 100 people who attended, a very good turnout. It was a very peaceful day's gliding on Saturday, not much wind, very smooth flying but unfortunately no lift although there were lenticular clouds apparent in the higher levels. The sun was out until early in the afternoon. David Lawley had a tow to 3,000 feet in the Twin Astir with Bill Mudge to do some spin practice. At first David wasn't too happy with it, but after a few spins and more practice at recovering from them, he was much happier with his performance. Later in the day he had his first re-solo flight in the Astir 77 (KYS) with a couple of small bounces on landing which could have been the result of hitting some bumpy ground on the approach. Congratulations David. David generally finishes his day on the airfield with some model glider flying with his son, Ray if there is still some daylight left. Ray also had a couple of instructional flights with Bill, and Graham Francis took his son Neville for a ride. In the morning Bill took Katherine and Lindsay Mullins for a flight each. Katherine had a big smile on her face when she landed as Bill had done some swooping turns with her which she thought were great and Lindsay also enjoyed his flight. Their family from Waikerie came along to watch. In the afternoon Adam Palfreyman from Tasmania and Cynthia Jane Palfreyman from Adelaide both had flights which they enjoyed and possibly would like to have some more. We also had a visit from a couple of pilots from Murray Bridge who flew in in their club's Grob motor glider. Our solo pilots Peter Paine and Bernie Konopka both had short flights mainly to keep themselves current as they knew there wasn't any lift about; Bernie in the Astir 77 and Peter in the Hornet (MU). It was a lovely surprise to see Andrew Maywald back with us even if only for the weekend. He had a flight with Bill in the Twin Astir as he hadn't flown since he went solo a few months ago having been away from the area. Mark Morgan had his ASW 17 (WL) out today - very strange we thought as there was no lift about. It turned out that Brett Kettel had come down from Darling Downs in Qld to try it out with regards to buying it. Brett seemed suitably impressed with it. Mark has bought Hiro Yamada's ASW 20 with a top motor (KYB) so he will now be able to launch himself. On Sunday, another very calm day, Stuart Skevington had a flight for 2hrs 48 mins in the Discus (HP), his highest climbs reaching 3,800 ft in lift of about 2 knots average. Four of his thermals were in the company of the same eagle. He also gained his Daily Inspection (DI) ticket, so he had a very satisfying day. Nigel Baker was the duty instructor with Peter Cassidy as the tug pilot. Accompanying Nigel were his two sons Aiden and Dion, and also a friend of theirs who is not quite 18 yrs old, but when he is he intends to come here to learn to fly in Nigel's Dimona and the club gliders. Andrew Maywald had a couple of flights with Nigel in the Twin Astir (IKO), and Graham Marsh, who had flown up from Gawler in his Motor Falke, had a check ride in the Twin Astir. It only lasted for two minutes, so Nigel must have given him a simulated cable break. Ray's training continued with three flights whilst David had a couple of flights in the Astir 77 (KYS) Saturday 15 launches for 3hrs 34 mins Sunday 11 launches for 4hrs 36 mins Ann Woolf - Monday, June 06, 2005 at 12:53:31 (CST)

Gliding News 22 May 2005 On Saturday a few flights were made before stopping for the AGM. The tug pilot was Pete Siddall. John Hudson took a solo trip in the Twin Astir, after which Peter Robinson flew his Nimbus (IUS) and Sarah Allen launched in the Discus (HP). Both of them managed to contact some wave had flights of just over 3 hours. The forecast winds were going to increase with height which gave an indication of wave. At take off there was not much wind, but when Sarah and Peter landed there was about 5-10 kph from the east. During the flight it was about 11 kph westerly at 3,000 ft. About 10-15 km east of the airfield Sarah got a climb to 4,000 ft through the convection and into the wave. Both Peter and Sarah tracked north to south in about 1-2 knots and it was very smooth air in a narrow band of lift. Peter reached 6,000 ft and Sarah climbed to 5,500 ft. The winds at this height were 58 kph causing a bit of drift. Pete said while flying at 60 knots he was doing a ground speed of about 45 kph. There were three bands of wave and they were punching into quite a strong wind to get upwind to the next band. Peter Paine flew in the Astir 77 (KYS) but didn't manage to contact the wave. He found some very weak lift and stayed up for nearly 2 hours. At about 3,000 ft the air turned fairly rough which was about the height where the wind change from easterly to westerly occurred. The Twin Astir did a couple of launches before the AGM. The first passenger was Liz Chidlow whose daughter-in-law, Liz, had bought her a flight as a Birthday/Mother's day present. Liz enjoyed it so much that she asked her instructor, Nigel Baker, if she could stay up for longer than the usual 20 minutes. Nigel found some lift and they climbed up in that and were able to have a fly over Waikerie township much to Liz's delight. The flight lasted 30 minutes giving her ample time to enjoy the view. The second flight was another local resident, Mark McLean who is working north of the river on an olive plantation. Mark has had his gift voucher for about 18 months and this was his first real chance to get the flight in. He was taken up by David Conway from Mt Barker, one of the gliding club's coaches. Before flying the Twin Astir, Nigel took an old friend of his, Kevin Sedgeman, flying in the Dimona. Kevin was Nigel's Chief Flying Instructor back in 1976 and now, at 83 he is still flying his Sunbird which he built. Along with Keith Jarvis, Kevin also designed and built the Joey and the Jumbuck. The AGM started a bit later than the planned 2.00 pm. There was a bit of doubt whether there would be enough people for a quorum, especially as Peter and Sarah were still wave flying. However, when we finally got together at 2.30 pm we found there were enough people attending, especially when David and Ray Lawley turned up just as the meeting was beginning. The AGM was a quiet affair with 18 members attending along with John Hudson the President. John was pleased to report a significant improvement in the financial position of the Club due to the sale of a tug, the Competition, Performance week and Social club activities. He also acknowledged the contribution made by Banrock Station Wines who were the main sponsor of the Club Class competition held here in January. He emphasised that the main focus of the Club at the moment must be towards increasing the local membership as this is where the future of the Club lies. There have been no serious accidents this year and the Competition in January was a great success. The Social Club report is on our website. Next January the Club hopes to employ a full time instructor and tug pilot in order to cater for the Japanese pilots who like to come to Waikerie at that time of the year. Membership is about the same as last year with approximately one third being overseas members. Some have left and some others have joined. It was very good to see three of our young pilot members, Ray Lawley, Aiden and Dion Baker at the meeting. The Election of Committee Members proceeded and the following were elected: President John Hudson Vice President  Craig Vinall Secretary Graham Francis Treasurer Not appointed but will still be done by Craig and Peter Page with Stuart Skevington learning about it from them. Committee Allen Hudson and Peter Page remain with Ron Brock and Peter Robinson stepping down after a two year term. Peter Paine and Stuart Skevington were elected in their place. SAGA Rep Sarah Allen The meeting ended at 4.30 pm after which Ray went for an instructional flight with David Conway in the Twin Astir just before dark. Jean and Marie Hudson cooked up a delicious meal for the members in the evening, after which John Hudson gave an excellent lecture in the clubroom about airspace. There was quite a busy day on the airfield on Sunday. John Hudson was the tug pilot. Ron Brock took the first flight in the Twin Astir with a friend, Samantha, who is staying with the family. Towards the end of flying he came back to take Tiffany Greig for a fly around. Peter Robinson and Sarah went for a flight together in the Duo Discus (DDH) for almost an hour after which Peter took Peter Paine for a short flight followed by Peter Robinson's wife, Sue for half an hour. Graham Francis took a launch in the Astir 77 (KYS), Aiden Baker flew it about 1.30 pm then Graham had another flight after Aiden. Peter Paine flew the Hornet (GMU) for a short flight. Unfortunately there was not any lift around today, so all the flights were fairly short. The Duo Discus was again in demand when Peter Robinson left us to go home, so David Conway took David Lawley, Sarah Allen then Ray Lawley for flights. Some maintenance was done around the club and the lawns were mown and areas at the pie cart and some long patches on the strip. Just as the hangar doors were shut Bevan and Pam Thompson (Jones) turned up with their son Brett and his wife Trina. They had a look round the hangar then caught up with Damien O'Reilly who is in the workshop this weekend still sanding down his Stemme. Saturday: 7 flights - 9 hrs 52 mins flying Sunday: 16 flight - 5 hrs 8 mins flying Ann Woolf - Monday, June 06, 2005 at 12:41:26 (CST)

Gliding News, 8 May 2005 Saturday was a quiet day with a cool south easterly blowing and not many thermals. Bill Mudge flew his son Andrew for a couple of flights in the Twin Astir, a flight with Ray Lawley, David's son, then a check ride for David who took the Twin on a solo flight later in the afternoon. Some of the club members from the 1960s may remember Brenton Dolan who used to come up to the gliding club with his father Lawrence who owned a fruit block in Loxton. Brenton learnt to fly here in those days and went solo at the age of 16. He came up on Saturday with his son Josh and they both took a turn around the sky with Bill. Lawrence was a club member 1960-65 and Brenton from 1962-65. Brenton and Josh now live in the Eastern suburbs of Adelaide at Lea Brook. Another visitor here this week is Hiro Yamada who has been a club member for a few years now, but work commitments have kept him away since early 2002. He now has a new Nimbus 4DM and has been flying it around our skies with Mark Morgan in the week and Rudi Gaissmaier this weekend, brushing up on his flying skills and learning to fly a new aircraft. He leaves us on Wednesday to return to Japan. There was more activity on Sunday with Cathy Conway as our duty instructor. She flew in with Sarah Allen in a light aircraft as it is easier to get here by flying than to drive from Mt Barker. Sarah had a flight in the Discus (HP) for 26 minutes, but the air was very stable with the odd very weak thermal about. Nigel Baker came up for the day with his sons Aiden and Dion. He took Rudi for a flight in the Dimona then later in the day he took Michael, one of Cathy's young sons, for an instructional flight in it. Michael can reach the rudder pedals in the Dimona, which he is unable to do in a glider until he grows a bit more. After check rides in the Twin Astir both Aiden, David and Stuart Skevington went solo. David in the Twin and Aiden in the Astir 77 (KYS). David actually had the second longest flight of the day of 25 minutes. Well done. The Discus (HP) was flown by Stuart in the afternoon who we have only seen flying the Astir before. I think this may be the first time he has flown this aircraft. Cathy's other pupils were Ray Lawley who had a couple of flights and Dion who had the last one of the day. John Hudson was our tug pilot for the day whilst on Saturday Rob Pollnitz came up to fly the tug. Bernie Konopka arrived in his new second hand car. Looks good... He flew the Astir (KYS) for 16 minutes. Being so stable, no one was able to stay up for long in the very weak thermals. Totals for the weekend were Saturday: 7 flights and 2 hours of flying. Sunday 14 flights and 2 hours, 51 minutes. Ann Woolf - Sunday, May 08, 2005 at 21:42:26 (CST)

April newsletter "Out of the Blue", the club newsletter is available here (PDF, 110 kbytes). The Annual General Meeting is coming. How to get your Independent Operator rating, and David Pietsch's recent talk on using oxygen. Greg Jackson - Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 12:30:09 (CST)

"You should have been there!" Well maybe not!! April 3rd. I was sitting at my work desk Sunday morning doing some paperwork. I noticed the CU's starting to form. The wind was quite strong from the west and it had rained a little the night before. This all balanced up to unstable conditions so I reached for the blower a gave Brocky a stir. Another phone call to Lloyd to see if he could give me a launch about midday. All was in motion. As I made my way up to the hangar about 11.00 am the sky was looking better & better. Did my check over and loaded some water in to smooth out the bumps I was expecting from a sky that looked like this. As we towed down to the launch point the sky was rapidly over developing. The aim was to launch off sealed 26 so Ron could make a motor launch and I could run his wing. As Ron got into the cockpit it started to rain a little, "What are we doing here!" was the comment coming out of the LS4 cockpit! Anyway he warmed it up and flogged off down the strip and into a turbulent sky. I jumped in the 19, strapped in, did my checks and gave my son Terry the thumbs up. It was blowing quite well by now as Lloyd throttled up. I reckon my main wheel turned maybe three times before we left the ground. It was quite turbulent close to the ground. Radio from Ron indicated there was little lift around close to the airfield that he could find. I bunged off at 2,200 and headed toward a couple of straggly looking CUs a little to the north. The wind was very strong above 1,000 ft. The lift was weak and the drift strong. "Why am I here" I asked myself. It probably had something to do with not flying my jinker since Jan 26th. The game plan now was to survive as there was developing cloud heading our way but not let the drift take us too far downwind as to get us out of glide of the strip. Not good, not good! Thinking, recentring, calculating. Lift was gone, 2,200 on the clock, time to move either into wind or closer to the field. A cloud a little distance to the north west, no, it'll most likely put me out of range of the field so no go. Ron was already on his way over to the town in the upwind position. Some bad luck on the way in the clear, 8 kts down put him straight into an engine start to survive the situation or land. Wind up the rubber band and go for better looking sky! Meantime I was getting rained on. This I felt was the end of me as my performance was going down the tubes very fast and making for the strip was the best option in my mind. Just at the north end of the strip I picked up a decent bubble triggered from the cliffs. I worked this for a couple of turns. 1,400 ft now. I noticed a dust line brewing running east-west. Looks like a cold front stirring up a lot of dust. "How are you going" came in over the radio. My reply, "Trying to make my way south west toward the dust line that seems to be forming. I'll either make it or it'll be a very interesting landing" was my reply. "Well you had better try and get over here" came the reply, "I'm over the cemetery in 10kts up!" Ron reported. "I hope you can make it over". The lift is gone now and it's time to go. I would either make contact with the lift line or go into circuit shortly after. I was definitely not going to run my height down in these conditions and cut my landing options short. 1,200 feet now and just over the airfield, bubbles starting! Looking better! Close to the face of the clear air and dust everything picked up, 6kts, so I turned westward along the line. Immediately the field slipped away beneath me as the wind was now from the south, south west at about 30kts or so I guessed. Very soon after initial contact I slipped too far into the dust and the lift dropped to sink so I quickly moved back out into the clear air. I could not afford to lose it now or it would be straight back to the field with the height that I had. Here it comes again, moving around a little then she hit the stops! Smooth air, "Going up anybody!!" Ron was already at 4,000 feet zooming along out over Sunlands somewhere. The cloud formation was definitely spectacular to see (guess who had left his camera back in the car!!) Trucking along at between 80 kts or better I was climbing still quite well as Lock 2 slipped beneath me on my north side. The front is still moving very fast north eastward. I have to keep a check on my position, height and glideability. It is going to be either come back along the line and then make into wind back to the field or make it through the front somewhere out here and track cross wind back to home. 4,300 feet now, contour flying along the cloud edge at better than 80 kts most of the time. Every now and then it was necessary to fly out into the weaker lift or disappear into the cloud above as the lift was so strong. Always keeping an eye on Brocky as to what he was up to as well. Cadell just went past out to the left in the dust and Big Bend is underneath us. Thinking now of the cut and run time X distance from home and height available. This is just too good to leave but leave it we must. A big gap in the frontal cloud appeared, exit stage left I think! A bit of sink as we made through the line and then into more static air. There was a cloud level formed at about 2,000 feet. I set my track at about 45 degrees upwind of home. A few calculations in my head and I think I have overstepped the mark here. Brocky was lower and ahead of me down around the lower level of clouds and getting nothing or sink. He thought I had "bought the farm" and would be looking for a paddock soon. Meanwhile I was much higher as I had purposely made max height before jumping through the gap. As I sank down closer to the lower level of small scattered clouds I found that by running along the top of them I was finding a bit of lift, no sink or very light sink. So I tiptoed along the tops of these little clouds as my plans where to outland at the race track at Ramco. As I moved along quietly, the track was approaching, it was now directly in my upwind position as I was over the golf course. Decision time, 16.5kms to home with 2,500 feet under me into a 30 or 40kt cross wind or land at the track. More thinking I'll head more for home and see what the air is like and leave the decision at the last chance to turn back position. After couple of minutes, yep, I'm safe for home. I pushed on for home quietly. There were more small Cus forming up wind of the field. As I tracked in over the strip at 1,200 I pointed south and started running the small Cus coming in from the south. At 40kts ASI the GPS stopped registering forward speed. This will be an interesting landing!! Graham Francis' voice came over the radio wondering where I was. Happy to report that I was just upwind of the field and will be down in the not too distant future. Turned for downwind now at 1,000, get to the end of the strip and make a base / final turn, increasing speed now to 80kts, deploy minimal brake and monitor progress. Too steep an angle, back to 70kts, looks good! Quite turbulent in the flare area, keep the speed up, touchdown, maybe 15 to 20 foot ground roll, all stop. Brocky's in a right downwind as I look up out of the cockpit, and Graham was making his way over to me. Yep, that was great! It had a bit of everything. Thanks Graham and Damien, for coming out to assist with the ground handling. I wrote this article not to give anyone a rocket they missed a good day because it wasn't! It was meant to give less experienced pilots an idea of the inflight decision making that is required in adverse and changing conditions, as well as just flying the plane and on top of it all enjoying what's going on. I am glad I made it home, as I thought I was for a paddock for sure! I know after I arrived home, some other pilots on field at the time though Brocky and I had both lost it because we went flying on a day like this. I had not seen a day develop like this before. The changes during the day were staggering. We were back on the ground by about 1.30pm and within an hour the sky had redeveloped into cloud streets from the south. "Time to get the jinkers out again" I joked to Brocky!! Mark Morgan - Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at 16:40:02 (CST)

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