Like everyone else in Canberra with more exciting things than cars in their garage, we ventured out this morning to find the car covered in dirt.

Dust storms are not uncommon in the summer months, but given the ground cover is usually as dense at it gets out west at this time of year, it’s very strange to have such an event in September.

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What does it mean?

Obviously, apart from the strong to gusty winds. It also means that there’s plenty of air getting airborne in western NSW.

Dirt rising = Air going up = Gliders climbing = Happy hangies.

The season is here boys!

It’s that time of year again boys… Andrew get us in the mood by letting us know about the first one!

Dave called me at 1230 letting me know a seabreeze was on it’s way in. I was on a course with work and would not be able to make it and told Dave to go for it.

1500 came and my course finished early. I was straight on the phone to Dave who was still waiting for it to come in. I arrived at the lake at 1630 and greeted Dave with a few loud Wilson’s. Dave instantly pointed out that the wind turbines on the eastern side of the lake were spinning in different directions. The ones further east were spinning anti-clockwise and the ones closer to us were spinning clockwise. This told us that the easterly was sitting somewhere in amongst the turbines. After about 45min all turbines were turning anti-clockwise indicating that the easterly was now at the eastern edge of the lake. It was awesome to see the turbines slowly stop spinning rotate then steadily speed up again spinning in the other direction. Out of all of this the point to note here is that when the turbines are spinning anti-clockwise the wind is east. With all the anti-clockwise action going on and the sun now about to set it on the horizon it was time to set up.

Once set up I hooked in and stood on the easterly launch facing west ready for a text book reverse launch as the westerly was still driving through the west lake edge. After a joke and picture of me ready to launch up the hill I sat down in my harness looking east to see the moist haze getting closer. Finally she hit, about 40min after all the turbines went anti-clockwise. Dave raced to hook in and we both launched. I jumped the gap south and came back. Dave stayed playing over launch and as I came back over launch he pulled off a usual perfect top landing. I then made several attempts to top land. For me the break of flying the lake over winter meant my skills at lining up the top landing needed dusting off. I approached too high and couldn’t quite get the angle of the approach correct. As the conditions were near perfect I persisted and adjusted my approach each time until I was happy then moved each approach a little lower each time until I nailed it.

An awesome 30min flight with Dave, both of us snatching the first easterly of the season. This seabreeze hunting season is going to be better than ever thanks to the wind turbines and the fact that from my driveway in Gunghalin I can see 3 wind turbines out at the lake with my naked little eyes when the sun is high up in the sky.

An awesome flight and even better company haha – that’s what the lake is all about!

Til next time – the Thief >:-)

Our favourite tug pilot drops us a line after this weeks big turnout at Forbes!

Hi Flyers

Once again the Dusty Demons shared their tow pilot with all who wanted to fly.   Thanks to Bill Moyes who once again supplied the Dragon Fly’s, Forbes Aeroclub gave us use of the club house, an extra hanger for the gliders plus BBQ and facilities and Forbes Shire gave us use of the air field. 21 hangie pilots were towed and all had a great time including the group of new tow pilots who were training with instructor Curt Warren. All Curt’s students did very well with most advancing from the tandem to their own or one of Curt’s gliders over the weekend, Jonathan was amazing on tow, a real natural.

Michael’s patience and persistence has paid off. Bringing a borrowed Litespeed which he had test flown by Cameron and Curt, a few adjustments were made,advice on flying was sought, then he put in some excellent flights. It is always good to see hangies seeking and getting the help and assistance that they need to stay safe and be better pilots. Thanks for your help guys and thanks to all the helpers on the tow line.

It was great to see so many new people join us. We had flyers from the Newcastle group with Ebbs providing the transport. We had new Canberra, Blue Mountains, Stanwell and Mudgee flyers all join us for some fun flying, we even had two girls with Kathryn and Jorj showing that girls can not only fly hangies but can do it well and have just as much fun as the guy’s.

The towing was mainly with the 4 stroke Dragon Fly towing everything from the Fun’s to Moyes Litespeeds and the Atos, the tandem and the new Airborne REV which is a very nicely made glider, a real credit to both Al Daniels and the Airborne crew.

I must apologise to anyone who found me to be a bit aloof but when I’m towing I tend to get totally absorbed in what I’m doing especially when I have the pressure of looking after newbies, I take the safety of those at the other end of the line very seriously. I also apologise for the wait on the tow line as we got a lot bigger turn out of pilots than what was expected, thanks for your patience.

A big thankyou to Curt and Louise for looking after not only your students but also the other flyers and thanks Bill Murphy, Curt, Louise and all who contributed to feeding us or providing the gear and facilities that make these get togethers possible.

I dropped into the Apex Tourist Park on the way home and spoke to the owner who has advised me that he is prepared to do a special deal for hangies on all our towing weekends. He is offering camping from $12 per night instead of $25 and will throw in free power and use of the camp kitchen facility’s. Just let Neil or Jane know on booking in that your with the hang gliding group.

Check out the park at www.touristpark.com.au or email jane@touristpark.com.au

Ph 02 6851 1929  

Anyone with tow credits can use them next time or request a refund, email me.

As usual the flying stories will be posted on www.thebomout.com and at this stage the next flying weekend by demand looks like being the 26th and 27th of September

Regards and drive safely Steve

ps: can’t tell you how good Tuesday’s weather was in Forbes or your not going to stop crying till the next Forbes aerotow.

The Dusty Demons turn out for the weekend consisted of Trent, Dave, Geoff, Pete D, Ed, Phil, Pete L, Barnsy and myself.  Trent and I turned up on Friday and enjoyed a nice flight running under a cloud street which we later worked out was probably a front that was passing through the region.  We climbed up in a climb underneath it averaging 500-600ft/min.  Once at base we went on glide east flying on the southern side of the street.

After 10km or so on glide Trent nabbed a slow climb from low when I came in underneath too low to hang on and had to land.  Trent went on to fly another 10km.  That evening when we thought about our flight we worked out that we would have probably found a lot of lift at the north (front) edge of the cloud street.  Next time this is exactly what I am going to do and yet another lesson learned in the awesome world of free flight!!!

Saturday saw the arrival of the rest of the Canberra crew along with some Newcastle boys and countless others.  The day started off slow with everyone waiting for someone to get up and test the air.  Not to be shy I hooked in and went up for a tow.  I managed to stay up for around 20min before landing.  My flight did however get every one keen and the towing commenced.  Many managed to get short XC flights in with Trent and Dave outdoing us all by flying around 80km (can’t recall exact km’s).

Sunday saw awesome conditions.  Towing started around lunch time and we were all treated to 200-400ft/min climbs to 4000-4500ft.  I was about 5th in the tow line and once in the air thermalled around the airport for about an hour.  The final climb over the airport was had with about 6 people before Pete D, Geoff, Barnsy, Phil and I went on glide heading south from the airport.  Four of us arrived at the Newell hwy low with Phil behind us in a climb.  Geoff and Barnsy arrived higher than Pete and I and thermalled up nicely with Pete and myself having to scratch to get back up.  The four of us managed to climb to the top and again went on glide.  In the end Pete and I landed 30km from the airfield with Barnsy and Geoff managing another 10-15km beyond us.  Phil had a great flight landing somewhere along the Newell hwy – I think we now have Phil keen to come out for many more Forbes weekends .  In the mean time, Trent and Dave who had towed before us all had flown around 40km.

Many left on Sunday night in order to get to work on Monday.  Nic came up on Sunday night to join Curt Warren on Monday morning to begin his aero tow endorsement.  Unfortunately the weather was not the nicest and Nic only managed to snag a tandem flight and some theory.  Hopefully we will all see Nic very soon out towing with us.  Curt was out at Forbes for the whole weekend with around 5 or 6 students learning to aero tow.  It was good to see a number of newbie’s entering the world of aero towing.  I obtained my endorsement a year ago and for me it opened up a whole new world of free flying as I am sure it will for those who join me in taking the next step to free flight.

All in all a great weekend out at Forbes as per usual.  Thanks to all who were there to enjoy this great sport.  A special thankyou goes out firstly to our Tug Master Steve who’s enthusiasm and dedication to towing us up time and time again is outstanding.  He must have made over 100 tows for the weekend!!!  Thankyou also to Trish and Terry for providing the Dusties with accommodation and for their awesome hospitality and last but not least I would like to thank Curt Warren for providing the ACTHPA with a clinic night on thermalling on Thursday night on his way up to Forbes.  The clinic was great and Curt’s white board drawings are second to none .  Thanks again Curt.

We shall see you all at the next Forbes weekend which I can’t imagine will be far away.

Thief