Brief tonight – phew I hear you sigh ........ I hate to think I am cluttering your inbox, but if yours looks like mine then you just don’t have time for a book when a paragragh will do.
Other reason for brevity is that the automatic upload of the flying sheets to Skydrive failed on Sunday night. As a result I have no idea who flew what and for how long especially on Saturday as I wasn’t there! I did hear there were around 20 launches and the day was a good one so – well done to all who partook (doesn’t look right – sounds like something from a Malaysian jungle...)
Sunday I know roughly what went on because I helped Bryan O’Brien start off his first session on the computer, and then we did it all over again after it all disappeared – I marvel at the creativity of every one of us who all seem to use a computer in completely different ways, yet still manage to create things we can send to each other!!! All good fun, and Bryan had it all balanced to a tee at days end, in fact scored a modest profit by not having change to give a cash flush customer – gets them every time – we love keeping the change - $5.00 went in the bar till Bill.
I will relate a little tale of learning that happened for me whilst flying NI on Sunday – and it carries a couple of messages. After some radio difficulties on the ground I took off and got away nicely and spent ¾ of an hour never below 5000’. All good. Then as I was steaming around near the southern threshold of the airfield, the vario went really nuts in spasms that I couldn’t stand so I turned it off – realising that it was probably a battery issue. I then spent another 1.25 hours flying by the seat of my pants and the mechanical vario – and I will swear blind I flew and thermalled better. During this time I realised that whilst I could still hear some radio transmissions, I was unable to transmit so now I had to land safely in condition NORDO. Again this seemed to really heighten my awareness and I stayed high whilst making plans for a safe arrival without causing grief to others.
During my descent down the non-traffic side I tried unsuccessfully, to contact Bryan by cellphone – he answered but could not hear me, so I gave that away and just kept looking out for all I was worth. I spotted and heard UL joining and had heard a Katana vacating, so took up position at no 2 preserving height in the circuit until base leg. With relief and a certain satisfaction I landed safely.
My personal satisfaction came from not panicking and making what I believed to be good/safe decisions when things went wrong. My big message is to the lovely person, who in October 2010 wrote on the battery I took off the charger on Feb 2013, “Battery tested and found NOT OK” – and left it on the bench with all the other batteries. @#$%^& picture steam out of ears when I saw this very faint faded scrawl on a piece of tape on the battery case. For heavens sake – if a battery is in that condition, don’t leave it on the bench next to the charger. Put it in the clubhouse with a note for Neil that it should be tested and/or replaced. ONLY HEALTHY USABLE BATTERIES SHOULD BE ON THE BENCH.
Sorry to write about me, but its about sharing experiences from which we can all learn, especially newer members. Incidentally, I am not professing to have done everything right and stand ready to be straightened out. If in doubt, ask an instructor.
Others who enjoyed the day on duty were Phil Smith on the instructors roster and Tracey in BZA. Flying were Robin Britton in NV, Julian and Chris in UL, Will in SN, Dave Dennison also in SN, and new member Felipe who flew one of the 2 seaters, plus a trial flight to kick the day off. If I have missed you out its my memory to blame, my apologies.
But it was a great flying weekend.
Cheers
PC
