Magic Moments

Mother nature provided us great weather last week and weekend. We took advantage of it with 8 flights on Thursday, 28 flights on Saturday and another 14 on Sunday. With three weekends of flying under already under our belt this month, many members (almost all instructors) have had their annual checkout and are ready for the 2007 season.
The following description and photos from Jean-Marc Gagnon say it all...

Imagine this for a moment : you show up at GGC for your spring check out and one of the instructor asks you to give him a hand in towing the Puchacz to the flight line. The sailplane is immaculate, freshly washed up by the instructor himself. He then offers you a ride and a check out by the same token.

It is supposed to be a spring day but it feels like the middle of summer. A fresh breeze hits your face, the sun is high in the sky, you feel like this majestic falcon who did a cross leg over runway 26.

You take off behind the Pawnee, as if you were catapulted over the deck of an aircraft carrier and you have got to box this wake before 3,000 feet.

Once you are done with your spring check up, the instructor offers you a demonstration of sailplane acrobatics: three loops in a row and four wing over! You feel so lucky you did not eat what was in your lunch box after all.
Once on the ground, you get the stamp of approval in your log book, upside down! The instructor realizes his mistake, you laugh and tell him this is going to be a great “souvenir” of your first experience running in circles, upside down for a change.

Thanks for the memories, Wolfgang! There is never a dull moment with you!
Jean-Marc

GGC Fleet is Ready!

The GGC fleet is ready to go! (only the Blanik is left to be rigged/inspected)
In spite of a rather bleak forecast, a lot of spring chores were enthusiastically completed by those who came out this past weekend.

Activities included:
Both L33s and the Jantar were rigged, inspected and are ready to fly.
The rudder pedal A/D on the Puchacz was completed and it is also ready to fly.
The cockpit of ASK-13 was cleaned/tidied up.
Runway 31/13 was rolled with our custom made “groundhog crusher”
On-board paperwork was updated (including updated insurance certificates) for each aircraft.
A few more winter storage items were picked up.

After the work, gliders were pulled out and Tim and Greg (with Martin towing) even managed to get a couple of flights in before the end of the day Saturday. By all accounts it was a very productive couple of days. A special thank-you goes out to everyone who helped out this past weekend.

On another note, Mayfly 2007 is just around the corner (May 18th-21st). This fun contest is a great low stress way to see what XC flying and contests are all about. Book your favourite single or multiplace glider and get familiar with the club Colibri data recorders. Let’s hope the sun comes out for next weekend!

GGC Did Not See Its Shadow Saturday

Saturday march 31 was quite a day! The hangars were emptied by 11:00 and we started tow and glider pilot checkouts at noon. 18 flights later we called it a day!

A few pictures of spring at GGC.
Hangar in the morning:

Hangar content in the afternoon.

Sun power at work.

Watch your head, the Citabria is back...

The Canada geese too...

While the hangar was being unpacked on Saturday, your Membership Director was trying to drum up membership at the Ottawa Flying Club, from the wellspring of Power Pilots. The GGC had an informative billboard, illustrated with posters, and a continuous TV presentation of some gliding films. Ulli Weneberg had his beautiful ASW-24 prominently displayed outside the OFC Clubhouse, in full view of everyone entering. It was also an excellent venue for chatting with our RVSS colleagues as well.

Jean Marc Gagnon & Doug Laurie-Lean