Gliding 28th December 2015

The day prior was pretty stable and the forecast was the same. However Pete, John and Phil decided to give it a try. Just as well we did, for the day was quite good. Russell towed KG and KJ off the seal runway and into a good thermal. Pete away last but soon caught up. John and Phil explored the Dunstans but it was too early and nothing much was happening there. It looked better south so Pete and John headed down the Garvies finding an OK climb, then glided across the Nevis to the Hectors (nothing doing...) so stretching the glide somewhat eventually found climbs well into the Mataura headwaters in the Eyre Mountains. We passed overhead Wakatipu Areo Club's new airstrip, easily seen just to the south of Kingston.

Thermals in the Eyre Mountains

Pete visited Mavora Lakes, John settled for a glimpse and we turned homeward bound to Hectors (still dead) and continued below the tops northwards on the western side of the Remarkables. ZQN was not home on 125.75 but we raised them on 118.1 and got permission to transgress airspace if needed. We finally got a good climb to glide home across the Nevis and after further poking about we landed about 6pm.
Phil had a good 2.5hrs flight, Pete and John flew about 4hrs. Thanks to Russell for towing.

Sunday 27th Dec 2015

It was almost too hot to fly, Alex got to 33C today. However we got some soaring done. First off was Nick Sherlock and John in JW, towed by Gary in ERW. Nick had some good flying practice, pretty much getting to grips with the (large) amount of rudder needed in the Twin Astir. His aerotow was pretty good too considering it was just is his 3rd flight, plus the bumpy day. The greenhouse effect of the Twin's canopy made it just too hot inside and we landed after 40 mins, both feeling a bit seedy!

There was no problem staying up locally. John was airborne about 230 in KG, followed by Phil in KJ. A local (blue) convergence gave good climbs to the slightly cooler air at 7500'. However above this a strong northerly and the generally stable airmass made it hard to get far out of the basin. There was definitely some wave about too. There was one small cloud south of the Old Man Range otherwise it was blue and very clear. In between tows Nick Taylor took over ERW, busy with local scenic flights. 

The heat got to us after a couple of hours so we landed for a cold beer...

Maneville - Club Trip

ERW has been serviced and has flown 4 hours so far this month, with Greg Foster, Dave Burke and myself all having flights. Nick is away to Stewart Island this weekend, which will add a few more hours.

Flying across Foveaux Strait, or Cook Strait can be an interesting experience. Without any land reference, good navigation is required and a secondary reference such as NDB or GPS should be used.

When I did my PPL cross-country at the tender age of 22, my flight was from Paraparaumu, north of Wellington, across Cook Strait to Omaka, through the mountains to Nelson, and back across the Strait to Paraparaumu. All went well until the last leg across Cook Strait. Low cloud had set in and all I could see was a circle of sea below me. Suddenly, the drone of the engine was interrupted by a radio call.

"CXI, Wellington Radar. Do you have enough fuel to make it to Chile"

"Negative" I replied

"Then change heading to 355 and report when you have visual contact with the Kapiti Coast."

A bit checky, but I would have had Student Pilot on my flight plan. I had of course added my variation instead of subtracting it, which lead to a 40 degree error, and flown across the approach path into Wellington Airport.

Todays club trip is to Mandeville, and I will be flying with Dave Mitchell in his PA28-160.




Mandeville

Our plan was to depart Alexandra at 2200hrs (11.00 local) and meet up with two other planes at Mandeville, one from Te Anau and a C180 from Tapanui. From the COFC we had Nigel and Dave Mitchell, as well as Dr. George Giddings and myself. George has just moved to Alexandra and flies his own PA28-140.


(Photo – Nigel Refueling)
Leaving Alexandra right on schedule, we climbed to 2500ft and flew down the valley under a cloud base of around 3000ft. Visibility wasn’t great, but improved during our 35 minute flight, and before long, we were on final for 27 into Mandeville.


(Photos – Dave at the controls of EIC, Landing at Maneville)
To greet us was the Operational Manager, Laurel Officer, who would be our tour guide today. What a fantastic place. There are two workshop areas. In the first one, we were shown several aircraft from the 1930’s being lovingly restored. The second workshop assembles and manufactures parts for new Microlight aircraft. I was simply blown away by the skills and workmanship demonstrated at this outpost in New Zealand.


(Photos – Restoring a 1932 aircraft, Assembly line for Microlights.)
After the tour, we had a chance to socialise with our Southern pilots over lunch at the Café, before returning to Alexandra. What a great day, and a nice way to finish our club flying for 2015. We hope to have many more trips planned for 2016, so if you have places that could be of interest, let Nigel or Dave know and we can add them to our calendar.


Happy flying
Stephen Morton

Gliding Weds 9th Dec 2015

It was forecast blue and stable and that's what it was. However John was still keen to fly so Phil winched him up. It was hard work staying airborne with the strong inversion and westerly above. John made it to Northern Dunstans and down towards Roxburgh.

Gliding Sunday 6th Dec 2015

It was a cracker day so we started early. Phil launched John and new member Nick in JW, and then winched up Pete in LP. Doug arrived to launch Phil in KJ.

John and Nick thermalled away, eventually finding weak wave above the the airfield. It was ideal training, plenty of time for Nick to learn stick and rudder skills. Later they headed to the Old Man, climbing to about 11,000' in dying wave, returning after a couple of hours.

Nick in JW

Meanwhile Pete was off out east to R+Ps, Hawkduns and Remarks for a great flight. Phil also had a nice long soaring flight. John had a late start but managed a couple of hours too.

ERW - The Nevis

It’s good to see that the plane is being well used over the last month. Despite the endless windy days during November, ERW still managed to clock up 25 hours in the air. Nick, Gary, Greg, Dave Burke, Russell, Aaron and myself all had flights.

It’s also great to see the club supporting our youth. The scholarship has had a good response and has created an interest from our young community. There are also plans in place to support student pilots who are financially independent, but would like help with their aviation exams.

The following is a report on today’s flight.

The Nevis
As a teenager, my brother Peter and I would earn a bit of money by mustering for local farmers. At that time, it was all done on horse back. The big muster for the year was always the Nevis. While I had mustered cattle on the flats, I never got to do the back country. Today I was on my way to have a look around and see what I had missed.

Departing on schedule from Alexandra, my first stop was Cromwell. We have had around 200 sheep grazing on the aerodrome for the last month and I wanted to check it out. The maintenance being done on the strip is starting to pay off. After a couple of really smooth landings it was back in the air and climbing to 7000ft.
(Photos - Fraser Dam and Highland Park

The Nevis valley has quite a history. A major settlement became established in the gold mining era of the 1860’s. It’s been farmed by the Brown’s for many years, but more recently it has been in the news because of a proposed Dam by the Pioneer Electricity Company being opposed by Recreational fishing groups.
(Photo – Nevis Gorge. The site of the proposed Dam)

The valley is difficult to get into, even by air. You need at least 5000ft cloud base and using the gorge is tricky. At the entrance is the reporting point for Queenstown Airport or if you use the transmission lines route, there is a dog leg that has confused a number of pilots. It is completely closed off by road for at least four months of the year.

Once there, the valley opens up to a hunters paradise. On the western side are the Hector Mountains, rising to almost 8000ft. There are several tributaries. The two main ones are the left and right branches of the Doolan Creek.
(Photos- Left and right branches of the Doolan Creek)
 
If you are looking for a bit of mountain flying just 10 minutes away from the Alexandra airfield, this is the place for you. And if you have visitors over Christmas, try a round trip to Wanaka or even better, over the Hector Mt. and drop down into Kingston.

Happy Flying

Stephen Morton

　

Gliding 29th Nov 2015

The "Dr Jacks" modelled sounding for Sunday looked fantastic...thermals to 10,000 all over the place and no wind. The reality was somewhat softer, but it was still a good day.

We met early. First off was John giving Allen a check flight. Then it was Pete, Roland and John in their singles with JW slotting in between. Doug flew a trial flight (Nick) who was really keen and we hope to see him back. Ami had a long soaring flight with Doug and finally Allen flew JW solo for an hour or so before departing back to Wanaka in the Citabria.

Pete flew to Garston and over to the Blue Mts where it got difficult. He landed at Roxburgh.Roland and John headed over to Rock and Pillars, also having OK flights.

Thanks to Russell for towing us in ERW.

Kakanui Range

 

Macraes