It’s as green as I’ve ever seen it out west. It’s never been like this since I’ve been flying. Forbes though, being in the heart of great flying country, managed to turn it on again. Dave gives us a run down from the weekend…
Well our tug master extraordinaire Steve McCarthy was up for the challenge of yet another weekend of fun flying at Forbes so with the Canberra dusty Demons leading the way it was a nice turn up of 12 pilots including some new and old legends. Grant Heaney, Franko, Dan, Adrian, Simon, Roger, Michail, Len, Guy, Trent, Barnsy, Steve & me.
With the 8000mls of rain Forbes has had in last month we almost asked Bill if we could use his Dragon fly with floats this weekend but as green and lush as the airfield was it perfectly dry to tow off. So I arrived with Barnsy and Trent on Sat morning to see the whole bunch keen as mustard. We set a goal for Lake Cargelligo about 140km away. Full credit to Steve for getting us all in the air so fast and with everyone doing great safe tows it was game on!! The wind at the BL was around 20kph So Grant suggested we fly a Triangle insted. Off to Bogan gate then Parkes and back to the airport. From the air the terrain looked beautiful so green and there was water lying everywhere you looked, but despite this there was some great lift around 800ft/min was not uncommon and base was about the 6000ft mark.
Everyone had great flights with some doing the original task and some completing the Triangle.
Steve, Grant, Barnsy, Trent and I headed back to Munjal (Trent’s Parents Property near Grenfell) to wish Terry happy 50th birthday have a few beers and enjoy Trish’s cooking. It was great night of laughs and flying stories.
Sunday gave us similar weather with lighter winds so we set a 90km triangle task to the south. Steve once again got us all in the air fast and safe and after some soft scratchy thermals around the airport the day turned on and we all headed out on course. This was even more fun than yesterday and almost everyone made it back to the airport. Lots of happy pilots with a heap of airtime and spectacular views of the wet green countryside.
So another unreal Forbes fly-in This is what its all about for me, great social flying with with a top bunch of friends and a beer or two after. Thanks to the pilots that turned up it was great to fly with you all. See you on the next One!!!
A massive thanks to Moyes for the use of the Dragon fly and to Steve for your time once again it wouldn’t happen without you. Also, thanks heaps to Terry & Trish for your hospitality.
Dave.
