Graaff-Reinet September Gliding Camp

Written by Administrator Saturday, 10 October 2009 17:31

Report back : EPGC gliding camp to Graaff-Reinet 24 to 26 September 2009
 

Thursday 24 September 2009

All the campers met at FAUH on Thursday morning at around 07:00 to set off in convoy for Graaff-Reinet. Some last minute changes brought Johann into the fold for which we were all happy. This enabled Ken to take along his Superfalke, ZS-GVP as Dominic could then fly with Johann in their Lambada ZS-GZR.

The flying weather en route was absolutely still air with a huge low level inversion about 40km south of Graaff-Reinet which did not bode well for gliding this day.

The Lambada left about ½ hour behind the Superfalke and arrived at the same time over Graaff-Reinet (FAGR). Ken switched off the Falke’s engine over the Valley of Desolation and thermalled up to 7200 feet for ½ hour on the north-west face before gliding in to land, so this at least looked promising for the gliders.

{click here for the full story} 

More rigging and sorting and later that afternoon Sidney in his Astir CS ZS-GOH, with its beautifully new colour scheme and sporting the sexy new tail wheel, took the first guinea pig launch behind the tug.

The wind was stiff cross off Runway 20 (tar) and the aero-tow was hairy with a down/crosswind component but they safely got off the ground and headed towards the Valley of Desolation where Sidney fell into the Valley of Hell sink. He released a little early before the ridge proper, but he was not sure of Ken’s intentions to drop him on the Valley of Desolation ridge. On landing he wisely suggested a runway change to 02 as the down/crosswind had weather cocked him off the Runway 20 on landing.

Next up was Sigmund in the ASW20 ZS-GNT from Runway 20 (tar) and a tow for 1.5km to the southern koppie near the town.

The wind was still cross and flooky and the boys were all little edgy after the previous aero-tow but Sigmund handled the tow well with the exception of some confusion on the release call. After battling in some weak lift Sigmund landed 25 minutes later on Runway 33 (gravel).

Now the wind had swung to Runway 33 where it settled and it was a very nervous Gavin’s turn in the club’s Astir CS Jeans ZS-GLH. With this current wind Ken opted to tow him to the north-west to a small ridge about 8km from the field where he was dropped off in some ridge lift just as Gavin was getting worried about his position from the airfield.

Gavin’s intentions for his first flight were merely to get his bearings and do a short circuit to get comfortable with the area and he did not really expect to find a thermal at the Goewermentskop ridge, and several others thereafter. He could probably have stayed up long enough to do his two hours but for the sun getting low and him wanted to give Dominic a chance to fly the club’s Astir.

When Gavin landed after 45 minutes, in consideration for Dominic Watson’s turn to fly, his expression of joy, relief and excitement was a treat to witness. This was one of those moments which make gliding all worth while.

Finally Dominic was towed to the same spot and hogged the last hour of sunlight and landed with as many grins as Gavin.

Unfortunately Aldo did not have a chance to rig due to sorting out accommodation and family settling in.

GNT and GZR scored a small hangar and managed to shoe horn both planes undercover for the night while the others tied down next to the tarmac apron.

The accommodation was basic, but clean and comfortable, and one could not complain at the cost of R100 per person per night. Thanks again to Aldo for organising this.

The evening braai was very social, beers a bit warm from being in the bakkie all day and at 00:30 we crawled into bed happy, full and merry.


Friday 25 September 2009

Sunny skies with signs of promising early cloud development starting but within a short span of about 15 minutes the clouds disappeared and there was not a breath of wind and a beautiful blue sky - for a non glider pilot.

Sidney and Ken were busy preparing GVP (Superfalke) for a flight when Ken pulled out a fist full of gravel from the engine cowl. A bird had built a nest in the engine overnight with mud cake on the cylinder fins, pieces of tarmac, stones and sticks, the works. At the same time a missing main undercarriage bolt was also discovered, so a temporary fix was made with an undersize non-standard bolt which was purchased in town.

Sidney and Ken went up for a reconnaissance flight in GVP and besides a few bubbles the ridges and sky were dead with an inversion clearly visible.

Sidney normally flies the Superfalk take-off to landing as he did this day, but Ken told him that he would do the landing due to the suspect undercarriage ( “Elk kan mos die ding beter as jy land”). Well what resulted from trying impress with a greaser was a bum landing and Sidney could not wipe that smirk off his dial. Shit happens.

Later the wind settled from the south and Ken again went checking the north west ridges out this time with Sigmund in the Superfalke where they switched off at the nearest ridge 8km away and after working up to ridge level and dropping off in sink to the next ridge they scraped back up to the large antennae ridge 15km from the airfield where they soared to 6000 feet AGL and then skipped the next ridge north of the airfield from where they radioed the chaps on the ground to get ready. They glided into land after a very interesting hours flight for Ken to do the aero-tows.

Sidney, Aldo, Sigmund and Gavin took aero-tows to around 5500 feet from Runway 20 (2500 feet AGL) to the antennae ridge where all had good flights, most up to 2 hours, into the sunset. Sidney climbed up to 7500 feet off the ridge, thermalled and scouted around the area for about 11/2 hrs.

GVP took one of the locals, Charls Momberg? for a short gliding flight on the ridge. It’s always interesting to see the expression on an old salt power pilots face when the engine is switched off and the aircraft continued to float and not drop out of the sky. He loved the experience. When he asked if we were still idling on motor after about 10 minutes, Ken pointed out the stationary prop blade sticking up in front of us

Aldo landed a little early with vario problems and a high approach in which the new technique of cranking the wheel brake to loose height was tried to little avail. All part of the learning curve. Next time hang out your hat!

Gavin initially had his adrenalin really going after he dropped below the ridge shortly after releasing from the tug and it was intense as he flew close to the ridge, watching the others above him, really struggling to claw his way back to the top of the ridge. Stirring the pot did not help.

After a few figure 8 turns over a bowl that was working on the east side he managed to get back to about 100ft below ridge and turned back along the south face to find a boomer that got him level with the top of the ridge. Phew and as Aldo would say - Petrol in the tank! With his nerves now calmed, the rest of the flight was fantastic. Sigmund and Gavin were later joined by a few eagles which made it really special. Later in the afternoon the sun started getting low and it started getting difficult to see each other – so Sigmund went off along the ridge to Goewermentskop where Gavin joined him a short while later, but as the ridge was too small and the lift too weak for both, Gavin headed home for the airfield.

Sigmund really enjoyed the ridge flight on this second day and it was a great experience, even though the lift was just strong enough to keep them from sinking. Lots of fun was had exploring the different faces of the ridge, which unlike flying back home in Uitenhage, as this ridge had lots of extra dimensions. Sigmund spent about an hour and a half flying up and down with Gavin and trading places for being the highest.

After about 1h40m Sigmund ventured first to the second ridge and then the first (Gowermentskop ridge) and found very very weak lift. It was then that Gavin joined him at about 400 feet higher and then Gavin headed home.

Getting low Sigmund decided to follow when Gavin was about 2 km ahead and it made for an interesting circuit having to hang around as long as possible to allow Gavin to land and also talk to the Lambada that wanted to depart for Sommerset East. In the end Sigmund made a great landing and rolled the ASW20 a good 300m down the runway to stop well short of Gavin who had seriously expedited his exit from the aircraft to pull it SINGLE handed off the runway.

Aldo decided to pack up after flying as it was not worth driving to PE and back the next day as was planned due to the impending bad weather forecast for the next day. Dominic and Johann flew to Somerset East and stayed over there for the evening to return the next day.

The evening was spent with Gavin, Sidney, Ken, Sigmund and family around a quiet but enjoyable braai and a lot earlier to bed but no less beers.


Saturday 26 September 2009

The forecast was not looking good and a strong north-westerly wind was blowing. Gavin and Ken took up GVP to the Valley of Desolation where they soared some very erratic ridge lift and eventually went over to the small ridge north-west where they had managed to climb away on the first day. The lift on the ridge was rough and powerful, but soarable. On the way back to the airfield the whole sky was buoyant at 5000 feet and at 150kph the Superfalke was not keen to come down to earth. There were clear signs of wave to the west starting to form.

Sigmund was the only volunteer for an aero-tow which was from Runway 33. The tow was dusty on the ground and very rough in the air, and GNT was dropped off on the north side of the Governmentskop ridge. The air was very rough and all Sigmund managed to find was very rough sink. When he dropped below ridge height, which didn’t take long, he hightailed it back home to beat the tug in for a landing.

The wind was 25 kph, gusting 42 kph, so it was time to de-rig and pack up and for GVP and GZR to head home before the strong forecast south-westerly headwinds winds hit the motor-gliders on the way back.

Incidentally GVP flew 8hrs on about 35/40 litres of fuel for the whole weekend including FAUH/FAGR return. GVP glided home from Kirkwood to FAUH from 6000 feet in surprisingly still air with a headwind.

Unfortunately Dominic did not have the opportunity to do his tug rating as planned this weekend as Johann was P2 on all but one of the aerotows, but he did fly a lot and quite well which was great for him. I think the camp did him the world of good too.

All in all everyone had an enjoyable camp although the weather did not play its part altogether, but at least we all got to fly and I think the break from the FAUH routine did us all the world of good and everybody gained some new and valued experience from the camp and the camaraderie was great.

In the end the decision was correct to return home on Saturday as the weather did turn foul on Sunday.

Thanks again to all those who helped to their part in putting everything together in sorting out digs, playing taxi and baggage carrier and Dominic for the Tug.

This is something we must try to do again regularly when possible. We now know where to stay and what to expect – so it should be more slick next time around. The conditions this time of year are probably marginal as it is still a time when we get cold fronts – which unfortunately stopped us short this year. A trip in the summer or even autumn may be a better idea.

A huge thanks again to everyone for the hard work, especially to Ken in putting the weekend together on the flying front and tug piloting, and to Aldo for arranging the accommodation, and to Dominic for the use of GZR.