Blog

Weekend

Hello everyone,
looks like the weather is going be on the improve for Saturday with a dying Southerly and good thermals and Sunday looks nice day too.
Duty Rosters;
Tow pilot Saturday Peter Chadwick, Sunday Colin Winterburn, Tuesday John McCallister.
Instructor Saturday Kevin, Sunday Warwick, Tuesday Jenny.
Last weekend produced some great soaring.
Saturday was a little difficult to get away, so long tows were the norm to 5500ft. John McCaw landed at Brooksdale after a lot of stratching Terry and Dave Tillman flew ZF up to Lake Station while Jono and his passenger headed down to the MacKenzie with thermals reaching 12000ft. Peter Chadwick , Jerry , Graham Erickson and Grant had great flights too.
Paul did the instructing duties taking a trial flight, Brent Schroeder (2), Simon Beech (2) and a check for Rob Kerr. Edwin took took two nice ladies for their first flights.
Tim Hughes did 2 flights in OO. Thanks to Karl for being Duty pilot , Paul for a busy day instructing and to John Goddard for towing in the heat.
Sunday was a duller day without the cloud breaking.
Jenny and Sandy completed 3 flights in OR followed by Simon Beech having 2 with Jenny and Jake Bevan one too.
Thanks to Jenny and to Graham Johnson for towing and too Alan Walls for being the duty pilot.
There was flying on Tuesday thanks to Paul and Graham. Martin Brill had a couple of flights with Paul, Jono made the most of his day off in PB and also Grant had nice day in TC.
Photos: JK at Brooksdale (Thanks to Kerry and Richard Black for rescuing me)
Jono (PB) and Terry (ZF) after their epic flights.
Paul and Simon Beech circuit bashing

Weekend

Good evening,
Weather looks good this weekend with light winds, warm and some early cloud.
Duty Rosters
Instructor Saturday Paul Marriott, Sunday Jenny
Duty Pilot, Saturday Karl Ridgen, Sunday Alan Walls.
Tow Pilot, Saturday John Goddard, Sunday Graham Johnson.
Here is last weekends brief report.
Saturday was a great soaring day with thermals and convergence to 8000ft. Karl took a passenger for a great flight in OR and David Harrison had a hour or so with Paul in PR.
John launched in JK and was photographed by a keen Mountain biker on the Torlesse range (See pics include one of photographer Richard biking down the Torlesse hill) Paul and visitor Lee tried to soar the west of Castle hill Peak and ended landing at Castle Hill Station.
Thanks to Neil Alison who took a crew to retrieve them, including David Harrison and Chris. Greg (CC) and Grant(TC) had great soaring flights watching over the retrieve. Jono had quick flight in PB. Thanks to Colin for towing and to Paul for instructing and for shouting a beer or two.
Sunday saw cloud cover which stuck around for the day. 10 flights were completed. Peter completed 2 flights each with Sandy, Simon Beech and Wayne Lawson. Peter also took Martin Brill for a flight, who is returning to gliding after a long break. Rick Millane had one flight with John Goddard and quick solo flight too. Peter Chadwick rigged ZW and had a quick jolly.
Thanks to Peter Taylor and John Goddard for Instructing, John McCallister for towing.
There was also a good days flying on Tuesday which is mostly covered, but thanks to Paul for instructing, and to Graham Johnson for towing to make it a successful day
Photos Neil Alison; of Castle Hill retrieve
John. Spot OR in photo 2 and Grant in TC.
Others. Richard Goldsbury on Torlesse range

Weekend

Good Evening,
Sunday was the only decent soaring day of the weekend. Thanks to Graham Johnson for turning up on Saturday.
The day turned out very warm with a brisk Northerly, but provided good convection to 8000ft and convergences all over the hills.
Greg Tucker was busy instructing David Harrison in OR before taking a lady for a trial flight.
Peter Taylor got away early in CC and spent a couple of hours up, to the Craigieburns and theTorlesse range.
Roger Read popped in with RNK on his way back from Omarama.
Derek headed north in DK to Lake Tennyson and return, while Jerry and Mark headed North and West to the Lewis pass area.
John McCaw headed up to Shale Peak(near Hanmer) and returned via the convergence on the east of the Lees valley. Terry took Paul Marriott for a wonderful flight to Molesworth and return.
Graham Johnson and Grant had nice flights in the Porters pass area, while Greg took Brent Schroeder for 3 hrs of nice soaring up to the Craigieburns.
Tim Hughes is getting to grips with OO and had a hour and half exploring the Torelesse range and beyond.
Paul Barrett had the last tow for the day in CC and had one and half hours soaring.
Thanks to Sandy for doing a very professional as Duty pilot, to Peter for towing all day and Greg for instructing.
Thanks to Chris (Pauls visitor) who did a great job on the field assisting.
The Field is looking wonderful, thanks to Kerry for mowing all day.
Photos via Paul: of the Patterns created on the field by Kerry, JK east of Lees Valley , and Molesworth with Terry in ZF
John

Weekend

Good Evening,
Another good soaring weekend starting with Friday, having 2 Trial Flights followed by a corporate day with Craig Drummond Builders who had great day with 12 flights.
Thanks to instructors Paul, Greg,Kev, Mike O, Tow Pilot John Goddard and helpers Neil and Nigel. I have included some pictures from Martha’s Facebook page (Thanks). Rangi managed 4.5hrs in CC touring the high country.
Saturday saw Kev, Neil Alison and Neil Walker installing the ceiling Gibb in the Clubhouse while Karl and Peter Taylor took 2 BookMe trial flights. Brent Schroeder had 2 flights with Peter Taylor, and Sandy had 2 flights with Karl and one with Kev. John and Graham flew their own gliders. John travelled along the Craigieburns to Cass and along the Pukkies at up to 8500ft. Thanks to Paul and John McCallister for towing and to the instructors.
Sunday was another wonderful day, with 2 BooKMe trial flights flying with Mother, Leslie and Daughter, Eloise Gooch.(with John and Paul)
Edwin shot away in PB to the Craigeis, Oxford and the Benmores (see Pics). Terry arrived back from Omarama with Jimmi in ZF. Alan Walls had a nice soaring flight with Paul over the Benmores and Torleese range
The day developed very well and John(JK), Grant (TC) Graham (VC) and Peter Royle (CC) all soared in the buoyant air and odd thunder storms. Lift was up to 9500 ft to the west.
New Member David Harrison had a hour soaring with Paul in OR.
Thanks to Colin for towing all day and Pete and Neil for dog minding.
A very productive weekend for the club.
John

Weekend and beyond

Good Evening.

The weekend is nearly here and the first Springfield contest flying week starts.
Today was busy day with 2 BookMe flights fitted in, and 10 from the Abbott group having a outing, flying with Mike O, Kev and Paul M on a lovely afternoon.
Great effort by Graham Johnson completing 12 tows.
The Toilet shower block is completed and the Deck is just about done. (a great job completed by these hard workers including Richard Penman).
Kerry Jackson spent 8 hours mowing and making the place very attractive (Thank you Kerry).
Friday will see another Corporate group arrive and another 2 BookMe flights.
Saturday will see the arrival of participants for the week and the weather is looking great for everyone.
The Club will operate as normal as possible during the weekend to accomodate members with the available aircraft so please come on out and join in.
Roster;
Tow pilots to be advised.
Instructors; Saturday Paul Marriott, Sunday Warwick/Edwin.
Duty Pilot: Saturday Mike Marra / Scott Parlane, Sunday Lex McPhail / Scott Parlane
This is a start to an exciting era for the Club, so come on out and enjoy the atmosphere.
We will have the Barbecue up and running Saturday night so bring along a sausage or two.
Congratulations to Mike Oakley for achieving his PPL (photo building up hours from JK)

Weekend

Good Evening,
Another Weekend has passed with quite a lot of activity both in the air and on projects around the field.
Saturday saw quite a good soaring day with Rangi having a really long flight in PB up to the Bemores at 5000ft while Kevin had a couple of flights in CC. Duty pilot Neil Walker also had a good hour in YH. Thanks to John Goddard for towing.
Sunday started with 2 BookMe customers arriving for their trial Instructional flights.
Jenny and John McCaw took couple Raj and Hui for nice flights to the Benmores beyond the cloud cover.
Hui had given Raj the flight as a birthday present, and sang across the radio “Happy Birthday” to bemused listeners.
Jenny did a sterling job as instructor for the day, flying with Scott Parlane, Alan Walls and also checked out Rudi who is around for a week or two.
Rudi had good hour flying himself in difficult thermals in PR. Peter and Sandy had 35 min after a long day painting etc at the house. Graham Johnson was like a one armed paperhanger, running between the towplane and the Shower block with Grant. Kevin was working away on the new deck with helpers including Paul.
Monday also saw some flying with Kevin taking a couple of flights with passengers and Rudi back for some nice thermal flying in CC to 5000ft Thanks to Paul for doing some tows.
Kevin is quietly working away on the deck and is always looking for some help ( He will be back Wednesday) please give him a ring if you can help 0274325515.
Photos of Raj and Hui and Jenny
Scott Parlane and Jenny.
Kev and Paul and the deck.

Show Weekend

Good Evening,

Another very successful weekend with a variety of soaring conditions and plenty of work completed.
A few turned up on Thursday, a day which didn’t turn out as the RASP suggested. Jerry and Mark motored up the Waimak Gorge for some soaring on the tops.
Couple Tim and Emma had 2 flights each of their 6 flights with Greg and Kev. Jimmi Taylor installed the Vinyl in the Toilet shower block while Kerry mowed the whole airfield(great effort guys)
Friday (Show day) dawned a light southerly with some reasonable thermals. Simon Beech had a couple of instructional flights with Karl. Paul had a hour in CC and Rangi took PB for a flight to join John McCaw who managed to soar the incoming Southerly front from Hororata back to Springfield and landing just before the rain started.
Thanks to John McCallister for towing, Edwin being duty pilot and Karl for instructing.

Saturday was a scheduled working bee with a heap of work completed, including Sandy and Peter completing the gable end of the house, Jimmi, Graham and Grant continued with the Toilet shower block and Kev, Alan Walls and Terry lined the Clubhouse walls. Jill mowed the camping area.
Flying continued with a light Southery and nicely spaced thermals all over the plains to 4500-5000ft.
John, Kev and Rob Campbell flew to places like Hororata, Darfield and Oxford. Wal and son Cameron had nice flight in PB. Jill and Paul had couple of nice flights in the Twin and Tim Hughes 2 hours in CC.
The highlight of the day was Jimmi completing 1.5hrs in OR to tick off his half hour duration.
Thanks to John Goddard for towing, Rob Campbell for being duty pilot and Paul for Instructing.

Sunday saw the arrival of our first BooKMe customer, Ben (has a PPL H ) who flew with John McCaw for 50 min in OR. The flight went well with Ben getting in some nice flying and managing to thermal up to 5000ft. John McCallister took a friend for ride in the twin.
Greg took over the instruction with hour long flights with Brent and Wayne. Wal took a another Frenchman for a nice soaring flight to the Craigieburns and return.
Rob Kerr and Rick Millane both had hour solo flights in the twins.
Grant TC and Graham CV had long flights. Greg and Jill took PB to the Craigieburns later in the day. Pate Royle had a quick flight in CC later int he day.
John McCaw had a great flight to lake Brunner via Craigieburns and Mt Rolleston with thermals up to 9500ft
Thanks to Paul for towing, Greg for instructing and Grant for being a great duty pilot.
Edwin has the new website up and running and can be viewed at https://canterburyglidingclub.nz

Photos of Working Bee, Flying over the plains Saturday with Kev and JKs flight to the West coast Sunday.

Weekend

Good Evening,

The weekend started with Friday flying.
Jenny took a Friend Doug for a flight in PR followed by Jill and Hugo who had a good soaring flight.
Richard Penman is back at Springfield and had along flight in CC.
Hugo took Brent for a couple of instructional flights then took Frankie Whatiri for her first flight in a glider.
Thanks to John Goddard for towing on a Friday.
Saturday is covered, thanks to Neil Allison.
Saturday 11-Nov

We hosted a group of about 15 scouts and leaders from Ashburton who
camped overnight on Friday. Thank you to Jerry, Mark Aldridge and
Kev for arriving early to prepare and then drive the winch, get
gliders ready and then instruct. The scouts enjoyed their flights
and the great facilities. With broken cloud and the sun just
warming to trigger a few thermals, some of the later launches were
extended flights rather than just circuits.

Scott Parlane took the remaining winch cable launch. After lunch
the busy day continued: Local flights were completed by Rick Millane
and a visiting work colleague, Mike; and Peter and Sandy (PB). ZW,
ZF (Terry and Rangi), CC (Wal), UZ, DK, PY, UP all went off
exploring the thermals and convergences. Jono and Jimmi had a local
flight before Jono took one of the Scouts for an aerotow flight in
PB. Yvonne joined us in the comfort of Kraak Kontrol and helped
keep the ops running smoothly.

Thank you to Kev for a full day of instructing and Paul for towing.
Saturday Evening consisted of a great French meal prepared by Hugo and attended by nearly 50.
A marvellous night to farewell Hugo and to welcome Paul back.
I think the pictures from Edwin and John will give you a good view of this great event.
Thanks to Hugo for his hard work and we wish him well in Auckland.
Sunday was coolish day but it was ideal for Paul to do 3 flights with Ben Carlisle in PR.
Thanks to Graham for towing and Paul for instructing.

Great soaring weekend!

What a great soaring weekend! I think pictures might be the best way to describe the flying. Saturday started with a convergence leading to the Benmores to different airmass. Kevin started the day with a trial flight taking young pilot Martin Carena for a 80 min flight in PB. John (JK) and Edwin (CC) headed to Arthers Pass in thermals to 8500 ft. Terry (RX), Derek (DK) headed north, to Lake Station and return. Jerry(PY), Mark (UP) and Jono and Nick (PB) traveled to the Lewis pass in strong thermals via Lake Sumner. Neil Walker (YH), Rob Campbell (IU) and Grant (TC) had nice soaring flights.

The two seaters flying included Hugo and Jill, Rangi and Neil Walker’s Friend and Brent Schroeder had a flight with Hugo. Pilots from Lake Station and Blenheim met up with our guys mid way, including Mike Strathern in a K6E (Wooden Glider) near Lake Sumner and the Lewis Pass. There were quite a number of Paraponters flying off the Craigieburn Range. Later in the day thermals were over 9500ft. Thanks to Peter Chadwick for towing us all and to Abbey for being an efficient duty pilot. A great effort by Instructors Rangi, Kev and Hugo. Sunday started off early with Wal getting away in CC at 11am near the Field for a nice soaring flight along the Craigieburns. Scott Parlane fitted in a few flights with Hugo in PB and PR. Rangi took a trial flight (Matt Brittan) in OR and when they returned, Edwin took Tom Cameron for his first of his 6 flights.

Hugo took Uma Tuffnell (Aukland Gliding club) for a nice soaring flight. Terry, Derek, John and Pete Chadwick headed north to Lake Sumner, only to get stuck west of the Culverden Basin. John found nice convergence over McDonald Downs before flying, without turning back to Springfield with Terry followed by the 2 ASG 29s up the rear. Colin Winterburn had a nice flight in CC with Neil (YH) and Grant (TC). Rangi showed John Hudson the Torlesse Range in OR. Warwick checked out Paul Marriott and Edwin in PB to complete a very successful weekend.

Thanks to Max for towing again and John Hudson for being Duty pilot and been able to fit in flight as well.

Photos Grant in TC, Terry turning overhead Lake Station, Johns pictures over Arthur’s Pass, Lake Brunner, Lake Sumner from over 9000ft, and the convergence, Sunday.