Tuesday 24 April 2018

A Fantastic Season's Kick Start

It took a while to begin, but the 2018 soaring season got a great kick start over the past few days.

It began on Friday, April 20 when at last, and after a very long winter, blue sky and cumulus finally appeared above Pendleton
Cumulus over Pendleton
Windy, it was



But despite the challenging conditions, 12 spring check flights were completed thus opening the official  soaring season.

The spring checks continued on Saturday while the hangar was unpacked. New students joined in on the flight line and got a first taste at the club's ground operations. The flight line was busy with a continuous succession of spring checks but we were able to launch Georges on his initial training flight.  Bienvenue à Julie et Georges au GGC!


On Sunday, the nice weather held and the activities began early around the hangars. Rigging, inspections and overall maintenance of the fleet was carried out.





Question? If you have 3 x SZD-55 is it called a flock or a murder of Fifty Five?


Can you guess why this guy is smiling? (Hint: There is now a new ASW-24 at Pendleton)


After a thorough inspection of the Puchacz, the club designated Polish Test Pilot went up to verify that the  aircraft from the Szybowcowy Zakład Doświadczalny (SZD) factory met the rigorous standards of the GGC

And during all this time, the mitty Citrabria kept on towing


Not all the snow is gone yet from around Pendleton 



But that does not mean it cannot be Booming!





This guy could not wipe the grin from his face....




On Monday, Martin in M7 and Karl in KB went out on a cross-country flight around the MayFly large triangle: Pendleton - MSC- Alexandria - Pendleton.
It was a blue day


But on few occasions, you could peg the vario

And while Martin and Karl were having fun with their friends from MSC, Luc the tow pilot hopped in the tractor and rolled the surface of 31.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent pics Karl.
    FYI the collective name for a group of SZD 55s is a 'mess of 55s', the asw 20 is a 'gob of 20's', for the PIK it is a 'force'
    Mike KM

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