First Flights in the ASW-15

Over the Canada Day weekend, I made it out to the Edmonton Soaring Club for a couple days of soaring.  Both days were weak with low cloudbases.  I did not fly very far but had a chance to try out the ASW-15 and figure out its handling characteristics.  As I had heard, the all-flying tail is quite sensitive.  Other than that the handling was straight forward with pretty good low speed aileron authority and enough rudder.  I am looking forward to flying it more.  June 30 flight  July 1 flight

Edmonton Soaring Club

PW-5 Fying in Edmonton

After a long winter the Edmonton Soaring Club has started up and on Sunday, I managed to get down and do some flying.  I did my two annual check flights and then looked for a single seater to fly.  The PW-5 was sitting in the hangar and after giving it a good wash and ensuring the paperwork was complete I took off at 6:15pm.  It took me awhile to connect but once I did it was very enjoyable.  I had to accustom myself to the thermalling technique that it requires. The last time I had flown a PW-5 was in New Zealand but only ridge flying; the last thermalling flight was 2007 in Ontario.  The PW-5 has a small rudder so it can be difficult to roll into a thermal.  If a normal coordinated turn is used, the nose will turn only very slowly.  I found that using full rudder and keeping the ailerons neutral (to avoid aileron drag pulling the nose the other way) was the most effective way to initiate the turn.  A little bit of opposite aileron helped as well but not too much otherwise it got too unstable.  After staying pretty close in I landed just past 8pm as the day was starting to end.  Sunday OLC

Monday was forecasting thunderstorms with 60% probability but this is normal for a good soaring day in Edmonton.  I had not prepared for a cross-country flight and was scrambling in the morning to make a 5V power supply for my GPS.  I took off at noon, just after Bruce Friesen.  I did not find good lift right away and started from the airport below 3000ft AGL.  I then found my 5V power supply was not only not charging my GPS but discharging it quickly.  I unplugged it and kept the screen off for most of the day when I did not require it.  After that, I ran into a 5 knot thermal and had a great run east.  I had to stop short of the turnpoint I was planning because a large storm cell was heading northeastward toward me.  I did a bit of scrambling to the southwest and eventually headed north.  As I reached Two Hills I noticed the cell had been following me and there were no clouds behind me anymore.  After pushing a bit more to the north I decided to head home to make sure I got back before the weather crapped out.  My GPS was also very low on batteries.  Bruce kept flying for a couple more hours so there was definitely more soaring to be had.  300km is the longest flight I have done in a lower performance glider like the PW-5.  I had always wanted to do one in a SZD Junior at SOSA but never completed it.  Monday OLC

Jan 24 to Feb 5 - Waipukurau & Kawhatau

For the past two weeks the Wellington Gliding Club participated in two gliding camps which I was invited to join in.  The first was an air cadet camp in Waipukurau.  We towed two DG1000's up from Paraparaumu, one in a trailer and one behind a towplane piloted by me.  Waipukurau is to the north-east of the north island and is shielded from rain by the mountain ranges making the weather much warmer and drier. On the Monday however, it did rain and we were forced to start Tuesday instead.  From then on the weather cooperated and my four students managed to fly around 9 times each; not enough to solo but enough to give them a good grasp of the basics.  Immediately after the camp I headed up to Kawhatau.  Kawhatau is just north of Palmerston North on the Ruahine ranges.  The camp is hosted by the Manawatu Gliding Club and we stayed in one of the member's family's farm house.  Named 'Te One' it is made of ancient native timber.  The airstrip is on the side of a hill and the runway has a slight downslope making landing interesting at times.  The Manawatu members were short of instructors so I was used in the backseat of their Twin Astir on occasion.  The club also had a nice looking Ka6CR that I had my eye on.  Both of my parents owned a Ka6CR and I have been interested in flying one of them for a long time.  I first had a quick flight at the end of a day in it and was the only one who managed to soar.  The light wing loading helped me squeeze the last of the dying thermals from the mountain tops.  The next day I rigged it in the morning and was invited to join a group of pilots down to the south end of the Ruahine range, a turnpoint named Wharite.  The group I went with consisted of a DG-200, 2x ASW-20 and an ASW-15 so I was quickly left behind.  The cloudbase got lower as the ridge got lower and the lift was not working as well after I turned the turnpoint.  I got a bit nervous at one stage but then connected with the Umutoi ridge and was back up to a comfortable height.  The Manawatu club was happy to see their Ka6CR flying cross-country as it has not done so much recently.  The camp ended with lots of rain but I really enjoyed the experience and the camaraderie after the flying.
Ka6CR flight on OLC

Soaring in New Zealand

Dec 24 - Christmas Eve Flight

In the morning of Christmas Eve the sky was dark and there looked like little hope of flying.  The weather had been much the same for the past two weeks.  I rode into town on my bike to get some groceries and the traffic was back to back as you would expect on Christmas Eve.  My ride home to the airfield was tough as I had to dodge traffic and fight a 30 knot gusting 50 knot headwind.  One of the gates at the airport had lost a panel from the strong winds.  At 3pm I was contemplating watching a movie when I heard a knock at the door.  Vaughan Ruddick was there saying "let's go flying".  At first I thought he was joking but had a look up at the sky and saw it had brightened up.  We had to search for a tow pilot and thankfully Laurie came out for us.  We got going just after 4pm and the ridge was booming.  We had an easy run up north to the edge of the Palmerston control zone.  The controller asked us to hold as he had approaching heavy traffic.  The line of traffic got bigger and we had to stay in the same spot for 20 minutes.  Passing through the zone the ridge gets lower and unusable and the wind picks up.  You have to use bits of thermals and compression waves to get by.  I was happy to have Vaughan, a three time New Zealand champ flying as it was very difficult.  There are a lot of windmill farms along that stretch and we had a close look at all of them.  When we made it to the next main ridge the cloud base was lowering.  Soon Vaughan made the decision to turn around.  We had to scrape through the Palmerston control zone again but after that it was clear sailing.  We got back to the club and were going to head south towards Wellington but Vaughan noticed the wind changing off the ridges to the south.  After testing the ridge to the south Vaughan decided to call it a day.  In all it was a good flight and a nice early Christmas present.  The OLC distance was 257km and speed was 112km/h.  The speed would have been much better had we not been stopped for 20 minutes at Palmerston.
OLC Flight Info

Christmas Eve Flight

Coming to New Zealand

This winter I will be flying at the Wellington Gliding Club at Paraparaumu, New Zealand.  On my flight over I went through Vancouver and Bangkok each having a half day to look around.  On my arrival in New Zealand I had a quick stop at the Wellington Gliding Club then went down to Omarama, one of the meccas of gliding.  On my way I stopped in Blenheim to meet up with my friend Luke who I had met during Joey Glide in Australia a couple of years ago.  He works at the vineyards his parents own.  He gave me a tour around and I ended up helping him out with some of the work so we could take off and visit the aviation museum in town.  After that I traveled down to Omarama.  There was a regional contest going on there.  I ran into a few gliding friends I had previously met at different contests.  Wilson, another friend I met during Joey Glide a couple of years ago and Devin who I met in Finland during the JWGC in Finland.  I had a quick flight in one of the Twin Astirs.  It is not cheap flying in Omarama so I kept it at that.  I may go down later with some of the fellows at the Wellington club.  Afterward I went to Queenstown.  It really is a beautiful town but the downtown is extremely touristy.  I rented a bike and had a nice ride around the mountains.  Next it was back to Paraparaumu to get my power pilot license validation.  The Kapiti Aero Club which is on the same airfield as the gliding club has a Super Cub with the original 95hp Continental C-90 engine.  It was good fun to fly and I had a nice look around the area.  The paperwork for that is in the mail and my glider instructor rating is now valid.  Now the work begins.

Coming To New Zealand