JP is back in town and loving the flying…
First real flight back in Canberra for the year, Dave, the Thief and myself were out on Sun, 19 Apr 09, for a fly. A strong (cold!) wind made my first launch for the year something to bite into. 20 mins of ridge-soaring led to a massive thermal taking the team up past 2500 feet.
After a month long holiday in Darwin, and then down to RAAF Tindal for a temporary posting with the RAAF (where I luckily scored a backseat ride in a Hornet – bloody awesome!), I was back in Canberra for some more hectic flying.
We started out at Geary’s, but the wind was too light and south. We made the D to head up to North Launch, where we found the wind colder, stronger and more up the face. Ed and Pete later joined in the fun. Andrew launched and soared around for a bit. I was next, followed by Dave. The strong (cold!) wind made for a tricky launch.
We hung around for a bit, but the Sun wasn’t strong enough to trigger any real thermal activity. It was reading about 190C. The clouds cleared a bit, and soon we were hit by an epic thermal which took us all the way up to cloud base. It was the first time I had been over 1000 feet, so I was stoked. But it didn’t stop at 1000 feet – I topped at cloud base at about 2500 feet. 100C at this height had me wishing I had worn gloves.
Dave followed the thermal back over the ridge and a little while later he was out of sight. I played a bit around some clouds and rain, then left the cold heights to join Andrew at a warmer bomb out. The last I heard of Dave was that he was 5000 feet above Gunning and looking for more.
Andrew went and picked up Dave 65km down the track. Dave alleges he could have gone further, but apparently a mountain was in the way. Far out Dave. It’s just a mountain!
All up an amazing flight. As a new pilot I’m really starting to like thermals!
JP
