A Day at the Races

Despite not entering the Regionals I did manage to get over for today. No one had planned to fly GYL...so what was one to do???

I enthused my daughter to be the passenger, navigator, and ballast all rolled into one.

 

It turned out to be a blue thermal and ridge day. It started with some marked thermals and weak ridge. By the time we headed out towards Maramarua it was very blue, hazy and daunting. 3 of us tipee toe-ed out from 3200ft at Thames for the 18 km run to the 20 km circle around the turnpoint.

The solitary thermal we found on the return journey got us back to the hills and heading south.

As we approached the bottom circle my passengers need to pee was greater than her need for speed.

All and all a nice day.

The other issue of note was a landing out incident by a glider with a turbo installed. To early to be really sure yet but it may fit the pattern of late...turbo/self launchers getting into trouble as the pilot gets distracted.

Unfortunately it further proves the point I made a few weeks back about BFRs and whether the focus on spinning might be misdirected.

Pictures to come...

A Family Affair

After years and years of trying I finally got some my family up in the air.

 

 

 

In to a paddock they went...

Just a stones through away from Tatua. The highest paying Dairy Company in NZ...cos they steal cheap milk from Fonterra...but that's a whole other debate.

I am reliably informed that the winglets and tailplane were removed after the landing and not during...

U get what U ask 4...

Apologies for the txt language...there's nothing much more depressing than an older fellow trying to look young and hip...think John Key. However the full spelling doesn't fit...

I asked for a copy of an old photo of the Port of Tauranga area...and within hours a photo turned up.
Thanks JR. Taken in 1977.

Going further back below is 1943...thanks Bruce.

No harbour bridge, no container terminal and associated wharf, no timber storage, no Hewlett's Road, no marina...oh and no Gliding Club. We were still in Belk Rd.

South Is Results

You wouldn't know it but the South Island Regionals are on....
Why wouldn't you know...because for reasons I don't understand the results are not published on Soaring Spot.
I know Soaring Spot is a site owned and operated by Naviter and therefore plastered with ads etc...but so what. It's where the vast majority of contest results are published and it's where most go to follow contest that are in progress. Come on guys the modern world awaits you...just look north.

So I have belatedly found the site for the results...
http://www.glidingcomps.42.net.nz/sireg2012/index.php

They are already 4 days into the contest with 30 or so competitors. It's very close at the top of the Standard/15 meter class.

Hopefully all are having fun...which is what it's all about.

Locally the X-country course continues over the hill at Matamata. Looks like reasonable weather for training with a mix of sea breezes and thermals.
Next week is the Nth Is regionals. I can't free my diary up enough to compete but should at least head over for a day or two...either in GNM or GYL (ballast will be required).

Looking for ballast...

Flying by yourself is lonely...so I needed some extra ballast yesterday. The first ballast bag took the shape of Bill Mace. And the second trip I used Pieter Bronkhorst...a new Piako member with 9 hours on the clock. Pieter had a flash iPhone thingy...hence -

A warning to any unsuspecting members found loitering about...expect to become ballast at short notice...

 

28 knots at 258 degrees...not bad for a ridge day. Doing 90 knots and still going up...120 knots tended to result in no loss or gain of height.

 

Awww...a nice sunset

 

Sooner or later it had to happen...

I finally got myself organised and went flying in our Duo - GYL.
It's not new...being a rebuilt Duo after a mishap in Omarama.
However that means the wings are new, as is the canopy.
It turns out I had flown the glider in its old configuration as GYY in Omarama 5 years ago.
The 4 differences that I can ascertain between a Duo and a Duo XL are;

The roll rate is slightly (only slightly mind) slower...
The view from the back seat is slightly less...although not looking forward but rather when you try to look behind.
The lack of landing flaps does affect your approach angle and touch down speed.
The smaller wheel locks up on wet grass...

The plus is I can add heaps of water...which is virtually impossible in the turbo version.

Strong ridge lift today. We did the Kaimai Speed Challenge in 32 minutes (as best as i could tell).
187 kph.
I'll download the track later in the week.

X-country course starts this week. Lots of activity this afternoon as gliders were being rigged etc.

Complexity...and clubs

A cocktail that doesn't always mix very well.
The issue of spinning and the requirement to demonstrate this in a basic training glider has clearly exercised the minds of our local instructors.

At first glance it appears an easy issue...
Stalling and spinning an aircraft close to the ground can be terminal...for the aircraft and its pilot. So we should know how to recognise a pending stall situation and how to recover from it...all good so far.

The complex bit is that currently the leading cause of gliding mishaps is land-out mistakes. And especially that of managing self-launching/turbo gliders when time is running short.

However not all our pilots go X-Country so are unlikely to face this problem. Further, some of our instructors only do "trial flights" and it is arguable that issues around managing passengers is the biggest risk they face...weight and balance for example...which may have caught out the pilot of the parachute jump plane in Fox Glacier last year...

We have pilots who may never fly the training aircraft each year but are required to do a BFR in one...one wonders whether it would be advisable to use a two seater more closely related to their most frequently utilised aircraft (if you can follow that convoluted sentence...)...

So I don't mean to be critical...BUT...surely being too prescriptive may have a counter-productive result. The words of the newly created rule "...an annual check flight in which flying skills including spin recovery competence are demonstrated..." might be better worded as "...an annual check flight that has regard for the likely flight skills that will be required by the pilot to be undertaken".
Stalls in turns or thermals can be demonstrated without the huge loss of height that spinning entails which then allows more time (and altitude) to demonstrate other skills...raising the turbo on the Duo perhaps...

However, with the imposition of Part 115, the airspace invasion about to happen in the Waikato, and the declining membership this whole issue might become a moot point...

Tomorrows forecast holds the possibility of westerlies and ridge/wave conditions, and perhaps some thermals added in to boot. I think the time has come for me to venture forth in GYL...or GNM...too too much choice...

Part 115...it just keeps giving...

We were assured by CAA (last year) that Part 115 would be cheap and easy implement. The Minister at the time wrote to us and confirmed it should be no more than $300 for our club to register.
Medicals for a Class 2 would be a minor issue. All was well...

Yeah right...

This from the facebook page of a sole operator who takes people flying in a Bi-plane.
"If you are over 40 the medical cost for each pilot will be $1326 per year. The annual audit maybe $3000 per year but probably more, and the Part 115 certificate about $20,000".
What CAA and the Minister choose not to tell us last year was all the underlying CAA costs were going up after the implementation of Part 115. How honest was that!!!!

Two days left at the Aussie GP. Brett's in 4th place. Will need to pull out all the stops to move up the leader board. Go go...

I've read a number of submissions to CAA regarding the attempted theft of our airspace by Airways.
All make good points. However will it fall on deaf ears?? I must admit that the modern process undertaken by Gov't and Local authorities of consultation is really code for..."this is what we intend to do...we will listen to your squawking for a while but will otherwise proceed anyhow...".

Go Brett Go

A second on Day 1 of the Australian GP...well done. And only 1.5kph behind the winner on a 320km task. Well done...well done indeed.

http://www.soaringspot.com/2012gpkeepit/results/18-meter/daily/day1.html

This is a bit late...but...

Timelapse and track from last Sunday (4th Nov)
It was a great day. Passed a number of gliders from Taupo on their last day of the Central Contest.
Light westerlies with well marked thermals.
The timelapse shows the blue hole over Tauranga filling in by 1pm.
266km 3 point triangle...although had I had declared a 300km it would have been a piece of cake to do another 40kms. I got bored by the time I got to Tirohia and headed home. Lazy really.

 

Brett Hunter and his JS1 are competing in the Aussie GP starting today.

Go Soaring Spot for results.

I'll see if I can find a better link.

Today I'm flying something...

Haven't decided whether its a big discus or a little discus but judging from the forecast anything and everything will stay aloft today...

This forecast is as good as it gets folks...
Bases of 6-8500ft depending where you are.
6-8 knot thermals.
Light winds...maybe south but with a little west influence.
Not much overdevelopment....maybe a little in the strong areas...hills etc

Yippeee

Days are getting longer...its getting warmer...

Right???

WRONG

Omarama Airfield this morning...