Would I...could I...should I...

Try to forecast this weekends weather??? Seems to be the kiss of death to do so...

But here we go...
Easterlies will be the general pattern. Therefore it won't be a Kaimai Classic day.
Not too strong but enough to make things interesting...
Some cloud, bases 3000ft, weak thermals.

Probably OK for some local flying but it will probably cycle quite quickly so be prepared to move...often.

I'll watch from the ground...GNM isn't back for another week or so...

Advanced X-Country course is advertised on the MSC website. http://msc.powersite.co.nz/news/
Looks like being another good week this year.
They are planning to fly from sites other than Piako if the weather allows...a big if.
I'm in...except for one day where work intervenes...as always

Correction

After a bit of advice I would like to superimpose "hero's" with "martyrs"...
I'm sure they will be looking forward to all that the after-life promises...

From gossip central...

Out of the swirling mists of time and those dark places where things go "eeeek" comes a new team of super hero's to save the club...OK OK a bit melodramatic...

But the natives are restless and talking of strange plans to grow membership, drive enthusiasm and replace the patio chairs...more to come...

When enthusiasm meets autocracy...

Enthusiasm is usually the loser...and so it was today.
The willing Aussie who put his hand up to organise Duo training over the winter finally gave up...

A bit of background...the training schedule for the Duo was over engineered just a bit.
Seems we wanted lots of ratings...Duo rating, X-Country in the Duo rating, motor in the Duo rating, how to put the tail wheel on the Duo rating, and so on.
The upshot is very few people have actually got all the way through the program. Especially considering the cost..
Actually I thought a X-country rating had nothing to do with any particular glider but rather an ability to do the x-country thing...land-out, find the trailer etc
And those who already had a Duo rating, and a X-country rating needed to go through the whole process again...no thank you. However I digress...

A nice e-mail came out a few days ago...Duo ratings over the winter...a bit of flying stuff, a bit of ground stuff etc etc (probably still over-engineered but heading in the right direction).

Sadly it seems some don't like delegation...so he gave up.

Reminds me of the days when I edited the newsletter...but that's another story....

So you think you want to import a glider?

It must be cheap...little demand, very low US dollar (any lower and the US of A might disappear off the world stage...like the Romans, Greeks and Brits did before them), and second hand means some of the depreciation has already been met...

Here's a nice one...
$50,000 US

BUT - in NZ you will need a transponder - $3000.
You will probably need to pay GST.
You will need to pay freight from the US to NZ.
Some-one will need to pack it in a container...or you might like to fly up to the US, suffer 4 hours in immigration whilst you prove you are not a terrorist etc etc
And while the US dollar is at an all time low it's still worth slightly more than the NZ monopoly dollars.

So what does this all come to???
$90,000NZ at the very best but more likely a bit more as the CAA will want it's pound of flesh, and something will need fixing once it arrives...

And yet if a very good ASW27 came up for sale I'd be interested...

Maybe wave...

Just maybe...before the showers return later in the afternoon.
The wind will be strong enough...but it maybe too unstable.

However it would be a good day to test the Speed challenge task. strong WSW winds all afternoon. So long as you avoid the showers...and the low cloud base...all's good.

The little Discus is in Auckland...so I'm out for the count.

The great CableAir sellout...

The DG400 is for sale, as is a share in the RV4 and the Tecnam...
Plans must be afoot...
Maybe a new self-launching Ventus 2CM perhaps...
A JS1 perhaps..

Matamata Soaring Center Site

Up and running...ready for the spring speed challenge, the advanced and normal X-Country courses, the Regionals and the Nationals.
It'll be all go this summer...and there is some suggestion of a weak El Nino...

http://msc.gliding.co.nz/

Thanks to Tim for the leg work.

Once the summer starts the weather forecasts I usually do on this blog site should also appear on the MSC site as well...as will David Hirst's - with a bit of persuasion...

And the rain has stopped...the sun is out...who'd want to be in Cairns or London or Fiji???
It's so nice here...til Thursday

One glider pilot in...one out...

Most trusted Kiwi's....
"New Zealanders no longer trust sportspeople and are now putting their faith in scientists" (NZ Herald)...well about bloody time...

But next in line..."the Flight of the Conchords comedians and a celebrity chef"...ahhh but the chef in question is/was a glider pilot...no wonder we trust him...all the glider pilots I have ever known only speak the truth...
"I climbed away from 300ft"
"I went all the way to Mt Ruapehu and back but my logger mysteriously didn't record it"
"I only landed-out cos I needed a pee...otherwise I would have won..."

A fashion designer at number 7...who on earth trusts a fashion designer?? They are up there with marketers and 2nd Hand glider sellers...

However no sign of our All Black Captain...but no Aussie's either...

However we should be thankful no one trusts the right-wing religious nutters that so infect the US of A...Miss Palin comes to mind...Jerry Falwell perhaps...Pat Robertson even (who predicted that Oct 1982 would be the End of the World...but we are still here...trying for that elusive 1000km flight)...

Cancel the Saturday forecast issued last Saturday...it was hopeful, optimistic fluff...
And not surprisingly Jim Hickey, Ken Moon, or yours truly didn't make the most trusted list either...go figure.

Maybe...just maybe...

Next Saturday might bring a break in this weather cycle. Looks like a much stronger W/SW upper air flow without a large Low dominating the central Tasman.
However between now and then it's time to focus on water sports.

I'm trying to get enthused I really am...I've even been issuing Duo ratings...just like I would issue Janus ratings, or X-country ratings...
But with a work schedule that's piling up, GNM in Drury, and the rain, I could be convinced to take up tiddly-winks....

Anyone know a National coach????

10,000 ft wind speed and direction...

Replace the Shyhawks with...

Ventus 2c's....well the Aussie's are anyhow....

http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/local/news/general/glider-coup-will-bring-defence-dollars/2197992.aspx

Expect to see more of this...

This is what a completed Speed Task looks like.
The very first competitor did the task in 36-37 minutes.
And that was on an average day.

The Gate is open...

A waterlogged LAK completed the Speed Challange task is 36minutes and 18 seconds yesterday. Excellent effort. An average speed of 89.8 knots or 165.8 kph...just short of the 15m record.
So could a 18m Discus or Ventus do better??

As an aside...a waterlogged discus landed out at the Te Aroha Racecourse...

ASH

Not the glider kind but the volcanic type.
Happened to walking along the beach on the Napier foreshore yesterday morning at 6.30am...a stunning red sunrise...pity I didn't take a camera.
Likewise the view from the plane on the way down on Monday as the sun set was equally as impressive.

What wasn't as impressive was the que to get on flights as JetStar and Qantas cancelled.

GNZ AGM and other 3 letter acronyms...

Wellington lived up to all expectations...it rained, it blew, it wasn't very warm, and flights were cancelled.
Despite these inconveniences, or maybe because of them, we had fun anyhow.
Caught up with people, learnt a bit of new stuff, got a job to do, and I think we added some value to the gliding community as a whole.

The job - to continue fleshing out the Role of National Racing Coach, how to develop a squad of upcoming pilots, and how to fund all this.

The new stuff - the excellent youth camp held in Omarama in Dec 2010. Stunning stuff.

Trusts...we have plenty of them in the gliding fraternity...too too many to my way of thinking. Work is progressing on this front...although we can expect a reaction quite soon. However the future of the Trusts are bound up somewhat in how we plan to further our progress in the International Racing scene. To that end Dane Dickinson has produced an excellent overview of the success (or lack thereof) albeit a bit euro-centric...and yours truly has responded with a plan for Coaching and Pilot Development that might see us more closely aligned to the West Island.

If this all seems a bit cryptic be patient - all will become clear over the next few months.

Off to see if I can get into Napier airport.

Bugger the rain...I'm going for a spa

Weather Forecasts

So Metservice is going to charge for the MetFlight service.
Currently it's free and all you need is a logon password.
Admittedly I very rarely refer to the MetFlight service as the NOAA T-phi graphs and RASP are far more relevant to gliding. So it'll be no loss to me...

CAA claim it will save $100,000 per year.
I could suggest there are far better ways for CAA to save $100k per year. Dropping this whole Part 115 review would be a good place to start. Not only has this flawed process cost Gliding NZ plenty of time and money but CAA have been at this for 5 years or more...with no end in sight. Remember these are the highly intelligent bureaucrats who wanted us to carry an axe and fire extinguisher in a glider...cos we persist in carrying those highly explosive pee bags with us...

And let's not start on Airways...

How should we communicate?

An e-mail arrived late last night...9.03pm to be precise.
The club's newsletter was attached...how very nice.

I opened the attachment...scanned through it in a couple of seconds, closed it and went off to bed.

By this morning the e-mail was buried below 15 other E-mails that turned up during the night...which means in my MS Outlook set-up it's off the front page.

What are the chances I'll print it out??? Fairly small given the volume of stuff that needs printing and the constant frustration at the amount of paper we use...besides mentally I'll assume I can always go back and find the E-mail (how often have you tried to do that?)...

So what are the chances I'll go back and read the bits I missed or update my calender from the roster???

What are the chances anybody else in my household will read it???? Essentially from now on no-one else in this household will have any idea what's happening at the local club...and neither will any visitors who had in the past picked up a copy off the coffee table.

I understand that the club wishes to reduce it's costs...although by shifting the cost to the members in a global sense doesn't achieve much....
If we are going to put the Newsletter on the club website then we may as well just send out an E-mail with the link embedded and be done with it...

In may ways the website could be the solution...just keep up-dating it with stuff, rosters, photos, reports etc and drive members and the public to it...we would, of course, need to do away with the silly password protection on most of the content.

But I go back to the central question...how do we wish to communicate with members, how much of the newsletter printing was actually a promotional activity?? Of all the adverts, posters, newspaper articles and brochures it's possible the little old newsletter was the best printed promotional activity we ever did...but without a marketing plan we'll never know...

I would humbly suggest (or even arrogantly if it helps) that if the enormous cost savings from not printing and posting the newsletter were applied to the website we might recover some lost ground...

And yes, I'm being resistant to change...it's because I'm older than 30...which the vast majority of the club membership also happen to be...

Annuals

GNM is in Auckland getting it's annual check-over. Thanks to Paul for dragging it up there before he dragged his ASW20 back to Tauranga.

I'm picking that next summer;
with the speed Challange every second weekend,
the Regionals and Nationals in Matamata,
and an advanced soaring course to be held in Matamata as well,
the mighty Discus won't be spending much time in Tauranga.
I also note the DG400 is for sale.

It's going to have an empty feel to the hanger next summer.
Hopefully some other locals will take up the challenge and invest in a glider of their own...cos there is going to be a huge crush for the LS4...

With the dollar so high against the US, and the Euro, imports from overseas must be looking good value. There seems to be a few ASW27's coming up...an excellent 15 meter glider...best I've ever owned.

I guess if I was bold I'd swap the Discus (and some cash) for an 18 meter glider...but that might be a few years away. Currently the Discus is a great option given it qualifies for the Club Class Nationals and is still competitive (although not with me at the wheel) in the Standard Class.

Lastly, there had once been a suggestion that Airways charges for General Aviation were not supported in statute...we were going to get a refund. Not surprisingly that came to nothing...you don't beat Gov't Bodies that easily...however the bigger picture is..."if we don't want or need Air traffic Control and the IFR/Airlines do, why should we pay anything...".

So where's winter???

May was a hottie...average soil temperature of 12.2 degrees.
There will be some who think that's cold however last May's average soil temp was 11.5 degrees and the year before that it was 9.3 degrees. That's a whole 33% warmer than 2 years ago...

What does this all mean for gliding??? I haven't a clue...although we haven't had a westerly day in yonks (if you exclude last Saturday) and there is no more in the forecast. We have had rain - 1240mm's so far for 2011. Twice last years total to the end of May.

I've given forecasting away until better weather resumes...about September.

However if I look at my logbook, and the number of long distance flights completed out of Tauranga, a La Nina summer is good for grass growth, ducks and umbrella salesperson but crap for gliding.

I heard a rumour the Duo has done 50 or so hours total since December. That's 10 hours a month. That's positive cos when we go to sell it in 25 years time it will only have 3000 hours on the clock.

Matamata Soaring Center AGM was held last Sunday at the local clubroom's. Ironically the Tga representative was missing... Full support for the Speed Challange. All we need is enthusiasm and the weather to play ball...not too much to ask.

We received a short update on the micro-light towing on the North Shore. All positive so far...tows OK and cheap to run and maintain. Full years data will be illuminating...I am increasingly of the view that this will be the way of the future. What with the cost of maintaining 50 year old technology, the reducing supply (and therefore the rapidly increasing cost) of leaded AVGAS, noise, and the sole purpose use of a Pawnee or cub. The argument is getting increasingly persuasive...don't you think???
The first causality of a move to a Rotax (or similar) powered tow plane will be end of towing large 2-seat gliders out of Tauranga. So maybe a center for gliding at Matamata, with it's long runway, no ATC, and no airspace issues (at least for the first 4-5000ft).
Maybe having to make a decision to take the day off and driving for an hour will force a greater level of commitment. "Now I'm here I'm definitely going to go X-country."

Look at that!!! I've used up the 30 minutes while Shortland Street, Campbell Live and Close up are on. Most excellent.

Remember...Always treat your neighbour like some-one who lives near to you...

Planking...

Just found the idiot who started this trend....