Sorry another update :) luck you!

We've started the fly fast course at Matamata, and we're off with a bang. Well, more of a gentle miander up north through the sea breezes as they attacked from all sides.

Although not a contest, we are testing out our new automatic scoring system - so the flights are going onto Soaring Spot as soon as the pilots upload them. See how and where we're going here:

http://www.soaringspot.com/mscff2013/

The course sees Lisa and Peter Trotter bring their coaching talents to New Zealand for the first time. We went through a lot of what we want to acheive at briefing. Flying was about concentrating on climbing well today. We'll be critiqued tomorrow on this aspect.

We should note towing is available during the week for any club members, but note, no instructors are available.

A talented bunch. At something surely.

Not So Weekly Winglet #261

I will try & keep this brief tonight.

We have been quite active since I last wrote.

The winch has continued to get plenty of use by the club and by ATC cadets. We have logged over 200 launches with one rope break & one weak link break to my knowledge. The new brake shoes fitted have been working well. The Tractor also has a new starter switch that should save having to hot-wire it all the time.

On the flying scene we have had some challenging days with mixed results. I had a landout near Te Poi a couple of weeks ago after leaving home with the words “please don’t land out today” ringing in my ear I did just that. Fortunately Bill came & retrieved me and I was only an hour and a half late leaving for Auckland for the night (rather a quiet drive too).  A review of my trace revealed a loss of over 1000’ in under 30 seconds.

More recently this weekend saw some high cloud threaten to spoil the flying but in spite of that there were several flights of over an hour, although conditions were quite weak at times. I had firsthand experience of the weak conditions having taken a 2000’ tow & then spending almost an hour at or below release height (character building indeed). The day was cut short by the reluctance of BZA to start. Despite the best efforts of all in attendance she just refused to go. Tracy even climbed on the bonnet to “check the sparkplugs” to no avail. So we packed up & towed her back by the tail to the pump & fuelled her up before trying once more to start her. This time to add to everyone’s frustration BZA decided to fire up! Who knows....

Anyway this week is the fly fast course followed by the Northern Regional Competition starting on Sunday with casual towing available throughout both weeks. I also want to remind you all about the National Competition in December/January followed by our Raglan camp, you won’t want to miss out on any of the action at either of these.

Tracy assured us she was checking the sparkplugs.

Well for those that made it to the airfield over Labour Weekend the rewards were many and varied. There were new folks to meet & mingle with. There was great weather to enjoy and on Sunday night there was good food to be had just to mention a few.

Saturday for some got started at around 8:30am to make a start on stage two of the hangar door repairs. The aim was to replace the beams that support the doors as they open. Reality was that one day was not going to be enough. One beam was sized up & promptly cut off meaning we were beyond the point of no return (insert small moment of panic). Long story short one beam was replaced by 3pm. So with not enough of the day left to do the other door the only thing left to do was to go flying. The flying on Saturday was outstanding. 7-10 knot thermals & a 5000ft cloud base meant two tow planes were kept busy all day with flying until about 6pm.

Sunday started with a strongish North Wester as the winch was wheeled out. Some 24 winch launches with a best height of 2000’. Along with the winch launches were a similar number of aero tows by both tow planes. A couple of cloud streets remained  in place all day providing consistent lift until about 4pm. The wind gradually turned more to the west which tempted a few to try the ridge with pleasing results.  Sunday roast (thanks Jan and Joan) was served to 51 people who enjoyed a great evening of fun and socialising.

Monday was dawned with a few light showers which quickly gave way to similar conditions to Saturday although with our visitors needing to pack up to head home the day was shortened slightly.

All in all one of the better Labour Weekends in recent times, largely attributable to the weather. Thanks to all who turned out to make things happen over the weekend, Neil put the winch back together after Roger arrived with the backing plate, Bill then repaired the damaged rope, Steve, Julian and the other instructors spent hours patiently instructing & overseeing the flying. Jan & Joan turned out another superb dinner & there will be a number of others that turned up and did their bit to make it into a very successful and incident free weekend.

Wednesday brought better than expected conditions even with some high cloud threatening to curtail events. Nine tows with varied amounts of success. Fin managed somewhere in the vicinity of 200km while others encountered less than pleasing results. Neil disappeared in XP (good to have her back in the air) and Filepe had his first NZ solo! Bill gave the winch and tractor both a birthday by way of new oil & filters.

This wraps up a great months flying.

Looking ahead there is a competition in Taupo starting Sunday 3 – 9 (BZA will be away so we will be winching only on 3^rd 6^th & 9^th) followed by the Fly Fast Course then the Northern Regional Competition. Rumour has it that at least two of our club single seat gliders will be flying in the North Island Regionals. If the conditions lately are anything to go by we are in for a fantastic summer of flying. Remember to keep recording your flights for the online competition & keep our club competitive.

DM.

Well we have been a busy club since I last was on here.

The working bee was a huge success with the caravan getting a long overdue tidy up. If you cant find anything in the caravan, try having a look under the seats. You will find the bats & other bits & pieces there & please put everything back at the end of the day. The hangar was swept out & the cupboards now have a back on them which means that they can be used. The clubrooms no longer have cables decorating the outside. The store rooms got tidied up. NIs trailer got a new frame to support the tailplane & it also go a safety chain to stop the fuselage from rolling back & damaging the rudder as happened recently. SNs trailer has been given a new floor as the glider fell through the floor no so long ago. Keep looking out for trailer guidelines to be posted on here for all of our fleet. The beams supporting the hangar doors will be replaced on Saturday all going to plan.

On the flying scene there have been some spectacular results rumoured from mid week winch launches the best reported height so far is 2200 feet with several launches of 2000 feet as well if my source is accurate. Where else can you get a launch to these heights for $15? If this is not an incentive to get out and try it then what is?

Looking ahead to this weekend we are being joined by Aviation Sports & the weather is looking promising. There will be a dinner on Sunday night and there is still time to let Bill know if you are coming. Jan needs to know numbers by midday Friday 25^th (tomorrow). Spaces are filling fast so make an effort to come along. Cost is only $15pp or if you are under 15 is is $1 per year of age.

One point to note from Wednesdays committee meeting is that BZA will be in Taupo for the Central Plateau competition from November 3^rd. The only launching will be the winch on the 3^rd so put that in your diaries &make a day of it.

I will leave you with a photo from Iggy. Taken just as the committee meeting was about to start on Wednesday.

Cheers

DM

Hi folks, apologies for the late notice but we have our annual inter club dinner this coming weekend.

3 course Inter Club Dinner on Labour Weekend Sunday night $15 /head. For those under 15, it's $1/year old, and under 5 free.

We have 29 attending from Aviation Sports Club, so we need a good representation from Piako. Plenty of seats available. RSVP to Bill by noon Friday so the shopping can be done.

wajvmace@gmail.com or ph/text 027 541 0948

Hope to see you there!

Hi folks, just a note we've added a link to the NOTAMs on the booking page for every day. It requires a username/password so we've created a generic one for the club.

Once logged in, select "matamata" from load favourite, then click "Submit" at the bottom of the page.

The NOTAMs are issued to notify airfield users if a runway is closed, for example for mowing. Currently there is one there to indicate the wind display indicator (WDI i.e.windsock) is out of action on runway 04.

An example NOTAM that is active today:
A1909/13   FROM: 02 OCT 2013 08:17  TO: 02 DEC 2013 22:00 EST
GRASS RWY 04/22 CTN DUE LONG GRASS 

Translation = "Grass runway 04/22 caution due to long grass" 

The 52nd Australian Nationals are underway in Kingaroy, and we have 4 New Zealand pilots flying there this year.

• Steven WALLACE flying a Discus 2b in Standard class
• Alan Belworthy flying a Discus CS in Standard class
• Sandy & John Griffin sharing a Discus CS in Standard class
• Brett Hunter flying of course a JS1 in 18m class

Good luck to them all!

Today is the first competition day, and the results are now streaming in. Keep an eye on what's happening here:

http://www.soaringspot.com/ausmulti52/

So much has happened since the last update it’s difficult to know where to start.  We have had the occasional ridge day with flights as far as Coromandel.  I even attempted to make it as far as Thames only to end up in a paddock near Hikutaia, a rookie retrieve crew was summoned from their afternoon nap & proved to be extremely capable.

The SOSB was informative & well attended by around 40 club pilots & one or two visiting pilots (or were they only in for one of Jan’s free lunches?).  Look out for the briefing notes to be posted on the website soon as there really was so much food for thought to be taken in at one sitting. Thanks Jan & Joan for organising lunch & putting up with such a ravenous, unruly bunch.

Briefing completed & lunch eaten happened to coincide with a clearing sky & very light winds so it wasn’t a difficult decision to empty the hangar & commit some aviation.  NI was rigged in no time as the winch was wheeled into position & gliders towed to the launch point.  The buckets were all in a row down the runway & don’t forget BZA, Tracey had her ready for action.  Seventeen flights of varying length were had & I believe Bill even got to try out his little box of toys in order to repair a damaged winch rope.  Down at the winch end new president Iggy was spotted nodding in approval along with Fin.

On the subject of the winch, we all need to be aware that we as a club are not particularly current with the operation.  We do not have very many current pilots or winch drivers and the working out of other procedures will take time to make the operation run as smoothly as possible.  So the committee asks that you be patient as more winch drivers are trained & pilots/instructors get the required currency and please help out where possible as we make the most of a fantastic piece of kit.

Sunday started with an extremely early morning getting up at 4am to watch the ABs beat South Africa.  Well worth the effort of dragging myself out of bed.  The hangar was opened & emptied of its contents.  Steve needed a hand to rig VC which after her visit to Auckland no longer goes round in circles.  Nobody was keen to fly as the low cloud slowly burned off so it was off to the clubhouse for lunch & coffee & talk s*#t (oops I mean important flying stuff).  Eventually the sun came out & Dom found a passenger so the day sprang into action.  Four flights for the day made it quite easy for the duty pilot to take up the offer of a flight in YL with Steve.  It was great to see the sun out & it was challenging to stay up with the thermals being very weak.  It can only get better from here.

Before I sign off I want to remind you of some of the events happening in October.  We have the instructors’ course this weekend followed by a High School group on the 15^th & 17^th.  If you can help with the working bee weekend on the 19^th or 20^th or even both days that would be awesome as some general tidying is overdue & it would make the summer that little bit more enjoyable with everything tidy & in its place.  Then Labour Weekend is looking great with Youth Glide joining us along with Aviation Sports from Auckland.  Contact any of the committee if you can help in any way.

Cheers,

DM