Monday 11 July 2016

Gliding 10th July 2016

It was still foggy at 1pm out at the airfield. However we got the kit out and launched as soon as it cleared. Doug instructed all day, John and Roland shared winch driving duties, giving Phil a break so he could concentrate on getting current again in KJ after several months off. Phil did two flights, almost soaring in rising air off a nearby fire.

The big news of the day was FIRST SOLO for Nick Sherlock. This was very well-deserved and just shows how important regular flying is to achieve a quick time to solo. Nick visits from Dunedin each Sunday. This week Nick brought along his hand-launched radio control 1.5m model glider, it was almost possible to soar amongst the fog!

Also flying very smoothly Sunday was Masato from Queenstown. It won't be long before Nick and Masato will be fighting over JW...

Well done again Nick!

Saturday 2 July 2016

Dingle Burn

Lake Hawea
Despite the challenging winter conditions, ERW still managed to clock up 24 hours during June. Pilots included Dave Burke, Gary and Russell towing, Jeremy Smith, Dave King, Pauline Hogue, Greg Foster, Nick with a good number of students, and myself.

On todays flight I have Emily Tyrrell with me. She is one of our Scholarship students undergoing flight training with Nick. It is great to be able to help our students to gain operational experience and for them to get an insight as to what Scenic flying is like.

After departing from Alexandra, we flew through the gorge to Cromwell. After a brief check on the runway condition, it was back in the air and climbing to our planned altitude of 7500ft. However, with the wind a lot stronger than was forecasted, we held our climb at 3500ft until we were closer to the Dingle Burn valley.

The Dingle Burn is a popular tramping area. It is a sizeable valley being over 30km long and about 2km wide. The walls rise sharply 5000ft on either side. The valley floor has a steady slope dropping over 4000ft into Lake Hawea . It’s one of those valleys that you should take care if you are flying up it.

Flying down Lake Hawea, we passed Timaru Creek. This is another popular tramping area, especially if you walk up to the head of the valley, and then cross over to the Dingle Burn.

Dingle Burn Valley