Today would be a day when we would see an old friend back on the airfield and by the end of the day we would be saying a final farewell to another two old friends. The small group of pilots set about getting ready to fly, to achieve as much as we could before the forecast rain arrived. With a light variable wind we set up to fly from the east end of the airfield.
With the Supacat winch temporarily out of action, it was time for the old friend to make it’s entrance. After a lot of hard work by Scratch and many others, the Gus winch was towed to the west end.
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| Gus back on line. |
Although Scratch was happy that the winch was working, there was still an unknown question as to how it would perform under load during a launch. I took the first launch in K13 CCY to make sure everything was in order. A successful launch to 1000ft proved everything was OK.
John Smith was next to fly. After two well flown circuits, he was happy to relinquish the front seat so we could allow as many pilots to fly before the rain.
Our visitor David Raeburn had arrived, so it was a change of crew with BI Richard Roberts stepping in to take David for a couple of flights. David left with his certificate and very happy, although the flights were only short.
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| David and Richard ready to fly. |
Malcolm Wilton-Jones and Steve Fletcher each flew the SF27. Malcolm achieved flight of the day with 24minutes, only returning after climbing into approaching rain and beating a hasty return to the airfield.
Robin Wilson was next to climb into the front seat of the K13. During his first flight it was clear the rain was on it’s way. After landing and before we could launch again, the rain had arrived, so it was time to return the aircraft to the hangar for a thorough dry off and end flying for the day. Only 8 flights, but we flew and proved the Gus winch was back on line.
When all was packed away it was time to say goodbye to the two old friends. The stripped out chassis of the two ML winches were towed up to the scrapyard to clear the area next to the clubhouse.
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| ML1 hitched up ready to go. |
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| And ML2 follows. |
Thank you to Scratch and Phil for winching/retrieving, Gavin for log keeping and all not flying. Hopefully the unsettled weather will give way soon and allow a full day flying.
Peter Howarth
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