OUR FINANCIAL DILEMMA

Written by the Editor on behalf of the committee, based on a brief from Treasurer, Graham Anderson

Tugging rates are calculated on a basis of budgeted (estimated) hours and allow for the accumulation of an "engine rebuild fund". Normally this fund should increase as the hours on the tug’s engine increase. At the time of the club budget in April 2000, MIV had done 1540 hours meaning we should have had R80000 in the engine replacement fund.

NIG was purchased for R209000, financed in part, from the engine repair fund of MIV. Additional loans were secured from members. These loans are now being paid back as funds become available, with 12% interest added. NIG was purchased with an estimated 1000 hours remaining on its engine, so its engine fund should be R60000, but as the club did not run up the first 1000 hours, the engine fund for NIG is zero.

Coupled with this zero-balance tug engine replacement fund, the committee had previously decided to self-insure all the gliders. This decision was aimed at saving costs and enhancing club income to help facilitate the repayment of the NIG loans. However, not only have we subsequently suffered a total loss of one glider, the glider self-insurance fund, which should currently be standing at approximately R18000, has been exhausted in order to facilitate loan repayments.

Both engine replacement funds therefore, and the glider self-insurance fund, stand at zero, as all club income from aircraft usage is being channelled into the repayment of the R123000, plus interest, in loans. So far R30000 has been repaid, and the committee deems that it is better to pay back the 12% interest loans as a matter of priority, rather than have money standing idle in a savings account earning substantially less than 12%.

Currently there is only enough money available in the club accounts to run our operation on a month to month basis, with surpluses being utilised for loan repayments. At the current rate, it will be two years before all loans are repaid, during which time the club will have zero accumulated funds in hand to cater for any urgent repair or maintenance work. Added to the loan repayments, an unexpected and marked decline in glider and tug usage has reduced income, a new trend that could not be foreseen when purchasing the second tug, and something that appears likely to continue, unless an innovative way can be found to stimulate flying activity.

Further expense has been a R17800 purchase of covering materials for the K13 GHB rebuild.

What is the effect of this on the club? The net result is that the club is severely at risk, financially speaking. This risk is due to possible unforeseen expenditure on either or both of the tug engines. Further risk is possible repair or maintenance work on any of the gliders. While both engine funds as well as the self insurance fund stand at zero, we could need between R80000 and R120000 at short notice should something go wrong with either or (worst scenario) both tug engines. In the event of the club needing this money at short notice, the only way of raising it would be through a sudden and forced sale of some or other club asset, ie. an aircraft. While most of us are feeling the adverse effects of the present economic climate, we also know from experience that such a forced sale would almost certainly necessitate our selling price to be substantially lower than market value (whatever that might be in these precarious and uncertain times).

Bearing in mind that R93000 is still owing to members from the NIG loans, it seems unlikely, and unreasonable to expect, that members will be in any position to extend further indefinite period finance to the club, so additional loans are not viewed as an option.

The first option is obviously to sell NIG, thus realising capital to repay the loans, replenish the engine fund for MIV as well as the glider self-insurance fund. At first glance, considering the drop-off in glider flying, this seems reasonable. But the reasons stated further on show that this is not an ideal solution, as even with its low utilisation, retaining NIG offers important advantages to the club.

The second option is to realise capital by the judicious sale of one of our other under-utilised aircraft. GHB excepted, the only club aircraft which are being "fully" utilised are GOK and MIV. All others are being used well below budgeted hours and below the "worst scenario" expectations. As already stated, while NIG also falls into this category, its sale is not deemed by the committee as advantageous. The primary reason is its usefulness in keeping the club operational in the event of MIV being incapacitated, as has happened in the past. Members will recall prop strikes, tail wheel failures, undercarriage strut failures and the many engine-related and time consuming problems that we have had over the years. MIV will also require recovering before its next annual inspection, another enormously expensive and time consuming job which has not been provided for financially. Thus keeping NIG as a back-up tug will ensure the continuity of the operation, guarantee club income as well as provide continuity of training, which if halted even temporarily, could cause a serious loss of membership and resultant loss of income.

The most under-utilised of our aircraft are the Cirrus GIG and the Motorfalke UUA. GIG, due to it’s age and condition could not be expected to realise more than about R55000 maximum, if indeed a buyer could be found at all. The previous Std Cirrus offered on the South African market (now owned by Rien de Muijnk) took over a year to sell.

The sale of UUA is therefore the option most favoured by the committee. For a number of reasons which it is not the aim of this article to discuss, unbudgeted maintenance on UUA cost the club in excess of R22000 during 1999. Much of this was spent on an engine rebuild and mandatory modifications. There were also numerous instances of propeller damage which have necessitated replacements and repairs. Notwithstanding this expenditure, UUA continues to be little used by the majority of members.

The expenditure on UUA could be justified if a broader section of the membership was using it. However, the history of its hours flown on a month to month basis indicate that it is seldom used, apart from a small number of cross-country training flights and the occasional short passenger and recreational flights by a limited number of members. It is not used by a broad section of the membership.

The committee is not unaware of the value of UUA in cross-country training, especially as well-trained glider pilots are less likely to damage our uninsured club ships when they eventually venture across country away from Worcester. But this must be considered in perspective. The judicious sale of UUA would go a long way to providing capital towards the urgently needed tug engine and glider self-insurance funds. Club income from flying the remaining aircraft could then be used to repay the outstanding members’ loans while maintaining a positive bank balance. This proposal would not be under consideration by the committee if UUA was well utilised and was being afforded the level and consistency of care by the members such an aircraft requires.

As the committee wishes to implement the most attractive deal possible for the members, the most beneficial option appears to be the disposal of UUA to a syndicate of five to 10 club members, who could take over ownership of UUA, but also agree to hiring it back to the club on those few occasions when it is required for cross-country training exercises. In this way the club would retain some limited use of UUA, relinquish the onerous maintenance burden and MOST IMPORTANTLY, re-establish a positive cash fund to cater for the coming tug engine replacements, the mandatory recovering of MIV, as well as any serious repairs which could be necessitated to the club gliders.

Failing this syndicate option, UUA could be disposed of to a single club member or other interested party. While this could, in the worst case, result in the loss of UUA to the club altogether, the committee has received what it considers a fair cash offer from a member, who would in the short to medium term be prepared to keep UUA at Worcester and make it available, under certain conditions, for club cross-country training. In the absence of a suitable syndicate being formed as a result of this article, the committee is desirous of pursuing this next-best option while the offer still remains open to the club.

Before any actions are taken, members are asked to please advise the committee in writing of their support or opposition to the proposed syndication or direct disposal of UUA. In making your decision, please bear in mind the existing financial committments to members as well as the forthcoming MIV expenses, and also that a firm cash offer for UUA exists. The cash inflow that will result from this sale will go a long way in ameliorating the serious financial position in which the club now finds itself.

While the committee is relying on the majority of the members for support with these proposals, those members who remain opposed to the committee’s proposals regarding the disposal of UUA are asked to employ lateral thinking in finding an alternative solution to the present situation. As the committee has not yet committed itself to any definite course of action, this input is considered vital.

THE NEWS

Peter Wooley

April brought an early gift of WAVE, and the Easter skies above the Worcester valley were massed with wispy lenticulars. If only we could get the ATC's as enthusiastic as we are about Diamond Height gains.

THE WINDS OF CHANGE!

A recent change to top-level club management is the appointment by the committee of a new Chief Flying Instructor. After many active years as CFI, André Leeb du Toit has stepped down and is succeeded by Andrew Roos.

André originally took over as CFI from Mike Pascoe and in this role he has put in an enormous amount of time over the years, both on the administration as well as the maintenance fronts. André was responsible for running many of our well-know ab-initio training courses over the years, something that has brought the club numerous new members. With Mike Pascoe’s help he produced the comprehensive club manual "Cloudbase", certainly a "first" in South African gliding circles, and something which the Soaring Society would like all South African gliding clubs to adopt. This is a big feather in the cap for the Cape Gliding Club, and Cloudbase will be a lasting symbol of André’s dedication to training and to the club flying operation in general. We owe a lot to him for his efforts.

The all-new flying panel now comprises Andrew Roos (CFI), Nicholas Oberhofer (ACFI), Sven Olivier (Safety Officer) and Rien de Muijnk (CTP). As Andrew was already a member of the panel, this leaves a vacancy which will have to be filled soon.

On achievements, it's congratulations to Louis Moore and Garth Milne for going solo in January and April respectively. Louis has since converted to the Single Astir GUC. Congratulations also to our "returned" members, Trevor Stacey and John Howard, who have re-converted onto the Singles. Ari Cotton has re-soloed on GUU after a five year break. Well done all of you!

To the rest of the pupil pilots: just hang in there and try and attend regularly - it will be your turn soon enough!

It's a big welcome to new members Alewyn Burger (15), Alain Jaques, Clement Johannes, Chris Muller and Willie van der Westhuizen. It's good to see that Maurice "Bomber" Jackson has rejoined after so many years. On the day he joined, Bomber flew in to FAWC in his newly completed 180hp all-metal RV6. Over a year and a half of full time work in the construction, but what a beautiful aircraft.

More to do with flying. Reinhold Lawrenz has just returned with his DG500M from northern Namibia where he flew together with Helmuth Fischer in his Nimbus 3DM. While Reinhold made many flights of 500km and over, the prized 1000km one remains to be conquered.

Congratulations to Randy Cullen on the acquisition of the ASW 20, GNN. We wait with anticipation to see what Gerhardt and Rudi (together with Rico) arrive with at the field next!

The useless information department says that the April Krautkoerant was posted to 95 members and e-mailed to 97. That's quite a saving on printing, postage and envelope licking. Unfortunately the editor's painstakingly prepared double column layout is destroyed in the conversion to HTML format, though this is perhaps a small price to pay. We are hoping that the e-mail proportion of members will increase still further.

More offspring has arrived - congratulations Helmuth and Claudia Schuster on the recent birth of little Nicola. But will she fit on the parcel shelf of the Grob 109? Perhaps a very tiny safety harness will do the trick!

Gerhardt Waller has been busy for weeks now, working away at Worcester installing improvements to the ablution block drainage system. Unfortunately the old system was never intended to cater for the growing number of permanent residents we now have at the airfield (six at last count), so more expenses are looming as the committee considers the installation of a pumping system to discharge effluent from the overloaded soakaway. Thanks for all your work, Gerhardt!

On the ever present theme of reorganisation, the application for the Soaring Society to become an Aviation Recreational Organisation (ARO) was handed to CAA on 12th April, and the outcome is expected any moment. As I have said in a previous Krautkoerant, this is a major move that will have a direct affect all of us in the club.

SA Soaring magazine: Bob Allison has had to give up his editorship of the National magazine, SA Soaring. This is due in part to his other commitments on our behalf in liaising with, NASCOM and SATRA on matters of airspace and RT. Thanks for your efforts Bob. The new editors are Rod and Liezel Mortimer, who you can contact at mortimer@mweb.co.za.

New certifications by the SSSA are Gold Distance and Diamond Goal for Rika Olivier, and a GPL for Rien de Muijnk. Reinhold Lawrenz is now an Official Observer.

It's disturbing to see that as at the end of March, all our aircraft except MIV (the tug) and the Twin Astir GOK, are running well below the hours aimed at in our budget. It remains to see whether the committee will make the unpopular decision to increase the flying rates still further, or the equally unpopular decision to dispose of one of the under utilised aircraft, as for reasons you all know, this situation cannot been allowed to continue. The committee is responsible for managing our assets so it's their move.

An important new slot making its debut in the Krautkoerant this month is Waai Hoek, the column of our recently appointed Safety Officer, Sven Olivier. I'm grateful to Sven for his input on this subject, as safety is by far the most important aspect we can cover in this newsletter. Hopefully Sven will make this a regular feature.

Members who have served time on the committee will be familiar with the name Fred Smart, the insurance broker with whom the club has had an excellent working relationship for round about the last 20 odd years. I'm sorry to have to report that Fred's wife Pat passed away recently, and the committee, and I'm sure many other members, offer Fred their sincere condolences.

Other bad news is that nearly all the club rates have had to be increased as from the beginning of May. The new list is on the notice board, in the Duty Pilot's book as well as on the Internet web site. The main points are that both tugs are now R10.75/minute, the trainers and Singles are R1.25 and GOK is R1.50/minute. Pax flights in ZS-GOK will be R250 for 30 minutes and UUA is R3.00/minute engine on. Membership subscriptions have increased to R65/month. Please check out the new tariff list to avoid getting a shock on arrival of your next statement.

Finally, a tip for those eager pilots who are wanting to get their aerobatic ratings on GOK: it's usually advisable to keep the pointed end going forward as much of the time as possible...

BILL SCULL

Another long-time benefactor of the gliding movement has passed away in England. Bill Scull started gliding in 1954 while with the aeronautical engineers AV Roe. In 1958 he became an instructor, and CFI of the Avro club in 1965. In 1966 he began making his living through instruction. From 1967 he operated at Lasham, one of the leading gliding centres in Britain. He was a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, became the British Gliding Association's National Coach in 1969, and was appointed as the BGA's Director of Operations in 1978. He contributed widely to gliding magazines, compiled the BGA CFI's handbook, and authored the authoritative book, Soaring Across Country.

THE MARCH 2000 AB INITIO COURSE

André Leeb-du Toit

Another successful training course was held from Monday 27^th to Friday 31^st March 2000. It was a pleasure to have so many younger pupils. The weather was fine and no days were lost due to high winds or rain.

The course was attended by Alewyn Burger, Chris Muller, Clement Johannes, Willie v d Westhuizen, and Alain Jaques (Clement and Willie for the second time.) Existing club members who also attended were ‘FC’ du Toit, Thomas Lawton, Kylie and Trevor Stacey, Garth Milne and Peter Middelton. Alewyn, Chris, Clement, Willie and Alain all joined the club at the end of the course.

On the Friday afternoon Prof. Garth Milne (of the recently launched South African satellite fame) flew his first solo. Garth will be on sabbatical in Delft, Holland for 8 months from the beginning of June. He tells us about his field of study a little further on.

Some course statistics: 25.6 hours of tugging and 73.4 hours of gliding tuition were flown. This represents 137 flights!

My thanks go to the instructors, namely, Paul Bailey and Andrew Roos (part time) and Martin Grunert, Nicky Oberhofer and Hans Jordan (full time).

The two full-time tug pilots were Rien de Muijnk and Sandy Hultberg with Alan Procter assisting on one of the days. My thanks to them all for the hard work they put in.

And most important of all, my thanks to the "Catering Couple", namely Marieta and Ron Aston (the WW2 Stirling and Lancaster bomber pilot who did the course some years back, meeting his future wife, Marieta, at the same time!). These two did a splendid job and kept us all happy and well-fed during the week. I am sure Ron was glad to go home for a rest! Thanks also to Rico for the use of his TV/Video.

TO DELFT FOR EIGHT MONTHS

Garth Milne

Between June and next February, I will be on a sabbatical leave at the Simulation and Control Division of the Faculty for Aerospace Engineering at the Technical University of Delft. After close to 100% focus on the systems design and programme management of the Sunsat project at Stellenbosch since 1990, I will be using the ‘reprieve’ to explore my interests in flight control and simulation, and the extraction of stability and control derivatives (aerodynamic parameters) from flight tests. I will also be participating in existing research projects at Delft, including a micro-satellite activity they are starting.

My early engineering experience was as in analogue and RF electronics and electro-optics. Some of the applications required significant aircraft integration and extensive flight testing. During this activity, I worked with guidance and control systems specialists, and became interested in computer simulation, and the theory of guidance and control, and took numerous graduate courses in this area. During later work and studies, I became interested in the design of flight tests, and the extraction of design information from test data.

My Ph.D work was on identifying stability and control derivatives of a NASA-Ames CH47 helicopter during hover, and resulted in some specialist software tools. Some of the papers I studied were from the flight test group at Delft that I will be working with during the sabbatical. This will be a great opportunity for me to work with specialists in this field, and test ideas and software. Delft has its own flight test facilities, including an instrumented Cessna Citation experimental aircraft, and also has its own full motion flight simulator!

I teach feedback control theory to engineering students at Stellenbosch, and have found that students benefit from trying to ‘fly’ computer simulations of systems where various sensory outputs are made visible to them. There is nothing like the experience of trying to hand-control different ‘plants’ to make students appreciate how difficult some systems can be to control. The ‘double integrator plant’ is very difficult to control if no lateral velocity information is perceivable (such as a car in thick mist).

Observations of my own difficulty and that of other pupils to master aerotow has similarly been of great interest to me. The pilot is essentially a feedback control system that regulates the glider position relative to the tug. Making an automatic controller, given the necessary measurements, is a trivial task, even in a first controls course. However, without feeding back the rate of tug motion, a position controller will oscillate. I believe that emphasising to pupils the need to zero the rotation rate of the tow rope whenever they are not totally ‘in control’ will help enormously in speeding mastery of aerotow. The interesting parallels in car driving illustrate the same concept, and are discussed in an article I am working on. The piloting aspects of aerotow is one of the areas of interest to Delft and me, and modelling and verifying aerotow dynamics may prove to be an interesting area of research.

Being in control of an aircraft (solo four times now!) gives a feel and insight that is difficult to obtain just from mathematical models and telemetered measurements. I want to thank all in the CGC that have provided the great organisation that has enabled me to realize the long-term goal of going solo. I am looking forward to the time in Delft, and hope to continue gliding there, and hope that when I return, it will be possible to instrument a glider to continue with some of this research.

TO RIO WITH A GLIDER (PILOT)

Craig Fussell

For the purists who want to read only gliding just skip this one...

Some things in life just have to be done! Gliding is obviously the one, and competing in an ocean crossing is another (depending on what blows your hair back of course!) It was decided in mid-1998 (after a good sail and few bottles of wine), that the 2000 Cape to Rio was the one to exercise that desire to cross the Atlantic. It should be noted that of the six crew members discussing this possibility, none had in fact crossed an ocean, one had a skipper’s ticket, and the others (including myself) were just hackers and had close on no real experience to talk of. Great start!

However, with the necessary time and training, which is why little was seen of the Fussells at the airfield last year, we were competent enough to qualify our entry, and happy enough with each other to spend that amount of time out at sea in each others pockets. We were given the option of starting a week early, as were the other slower cruising boats, one we gladly jumped at. Ziton Odyssey, skippered by Richard Chase (Piper Cruiser ZS-VPB and ex-CGC tug pilot) and his merry crew were packed and ready to go only minutes before the start. It was essential to note that no corners were cut in the food and beverage department! We decided that the few extra kilo's saved by going "mean" would not alter our progress at all. This proved to be a good decision, especially when we compared our rations to the miserable portions of "cardboard" issued to the serious racing boats.

Although we were all on a strictly equal shift rotation on helm, as deck hand, cook and cleaner etc, we each had a primary function to fulfil. Rich was skipper, I was navigator, Graham (as a qualified vet) the medical officer, Greg was sail trim tactician, Rob the submerged container spotter, and Ian was in charge of spiritual well being (an important function with the amount of sponsored booze on board).

We were blessed with a 35kt south easter to start, which maintained for three very busy days. Not much sleep was had while sea legs were found, especially with the tricky conditions. After the busy start we settled into the shift cycle and had all the Atlantic challenges to keep us busy. The weather was particularly unpredictable, and resulted in some pretty big seas and damage to various boats. 20 boats retired, six returned to the west coast for damage repair, and one was lost at sea (all crew safely rescued). However, the traditional trade winds did not play ball, a factor that did not affect us too much as our ignorance levels were particularly high as first time competitors.

For those lucky enough to experience the true beauty of Atlantic sea life, sunsets, full moons, stars etc, I'm sure you can imagine there are some unforgettable moments. The mental stability of all was inversely proportional to the amount of days spent out at sea, and grown professional men were reduced to exploiting good solid "kid" behaviour in the interest of the crew dynamics! Ever been caught as a middle aged man doing a "wind and rain" dance?

It took us 28 days to complete the crossing (unlike the winners who took 11.5 days), and let it be known that a serious run of parties followed. Rio is a wild place, where party animals can feel quite at home. Jeannette, and three other "gals" joined us at the finish and kicked up their own storm by arriving four days before us! A holiday down the Brazil coast was then taken to settle the partied-out bodies, and re-establish normal sleep cycles. At least I haven't been woken up recently at three in the morning for another bloody sail change!

In summary, a fantastic trip, a superb experience, and one I would like to do again!

"WAAI HOEK"

Sven Olivier

Having spoken to the editor, I cleared the way for a contribution from your newly appointed Safety Officer. I pondered whether one could not introduce a more original name than Safety Corner, for what I hope will become a regular feature. Translating "corner" into Afrikaans, I came up with "Waai Hoek".

Unfortunately, I must report that as Safety Officer I have already been quite busy. Three incidents are at the moment under investigation and I have not yet reported on these to the Soaring Society. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to discuss these incidents in other than the most generic fashion. The first involved a hard landing in GUU, the second a tug having to avoid on take off a glider on the ground being towed into its path, and thirdly a beat up, followed by a landing with face-off between the glider and back tracking tug. These three incidents have one thing in common - they all involved highly experienced pilots whom all of us hold in the highest esteem.

On a far more serious note, members will know that we have had a serious accident resulting in serious injuries to one of our members, and the totalling of a glider. At Bloemfontein Gliding Club they have had one fatality and in another instance have broken a K7. All of these accidents happened in recent months and it must be the resolve of all of us to do all we can to prevent such occurrences.

Let us all remember that gliding may be one of the safest forms of aviation, but it is still a darn dangerous sport. Birds have mastered the art of flying over a period of, if one can believe The Magic of Flight, 10 million years. We, the human race, have only been at it for the last 90 years. Let us also remind ourselves that this sport only remains attractive and pleasant for as long as we avoid accidents.

As I firmly believe that accidents do not happen in isolation, that there are often contributing factors (most of which will only become apparent upon careful analysis), and are often preceded by a number of warning signals (if recognised), I believe that it is important to monitor ourselves and in that process prevent incidents evolving into accidents. As a step in that direction, I will be calling on the duty pilots on the first working day after each week end to get their feed back on the day's flying operations. I must stress that this is not a policing action - as I am a poor policeman - but an attempt to pick up those small incidents which do not warrant an incident report, but which, if left unattended, will ultimately return as the unwelcome visitor. In this regard, I equally invite members to please inform me of any safety aspect which they may feel should receive attention.

As part of the endeavour to ensure safe operations, the Club will have to conduct a safety audit within the next few months. This follows from the new dispensation in terms of which we assume the responsibility to oversee the safety of our own operations. Members may recall that such an audit was conducted in the past, but I, as I am sure many of the members, if not all of us who did not take part in that exercise, do not know what it entailed, nor do we know where we fell short. As safety is everyone's concern, I will be inviting members to take part in an informal "pre-audit" audit. For example, on the safety aspects relating to winching, I will be approaching Paul Bailey or Boet Coetsee to complete the section pertaining to our winching operations. It will not take any effort for each section to be completed individually, and it will have the benefit of alerting members to the safety aspects of our operations and hopefully contribute to a general awareness of, and concern with, safety.

I have also been tasked with setting up a safety seminar. In this regard, I have ordered two video tapes from Thomas Knauff, whom those of you who peruse the Soaring magazine will know is a world record holder. I will shortly announce a date (somewhere in June) and a venue for those videos to be presented.

Please remember that safety is concerned not so much as complying with rules, but rather with your own knowledge that you are flying safely. If you are flying unsafely but out of sight, you may feel that you will never get caught - let me assure you that Mother Nature will catch up with you sooner or later, as the same laws of physics apply irrespective of where you are (or who may be observing you, disregarding for the moment Schröder's cat in the latter instance).

AN APPEAL! GLIDERS NEEDED!

The SSSA is making a strong appeal to glider owners to offer their gliders for use by overseas pilots who wish to take part in the Gyps Africanus pre-world championships at Mafikeng at the end of the year. Many overseas pilots would like to avoid the crippling expense of bring a suitable ship with them, and there are many different ways in which these competition pilots could recompense the lenders - either in monetary terms or by some reciprocal arrangement whereby you could exchange the use of your ship for the use of their glider, use of a car or even for accommodation overseas. Anything from an LS4 upwards (any class) would be suitable so please contact Carol Clifford as soon as possible if you are able to assist on telephone 011 615 2461 or e-mail bobcar@global.co.za.

HOW SHALL WE COMMUNICATE IN FUTURE?

Professor Helmut Morsbach *

Well, if the Club goes international and operates around the clock, legitimate worries are being voiced that exotic languages such as Serbo-Croat will soon be spoken around the hangars, making communication difficult (see Peter Wooley's recent Krautkoerant contribution).

Therefore, the extraterritorial keeper of the Krautlanguage (currently operating out of Japan), is honourably suggesting the following:

THE CAPE GLIDING CLUB COMPELS EVERY MEMBER TO USE ENGLISH ONLY!

However, with its large Kraut membership, the other possibility is, of course, the use of German. As a suggested compromise, English spelling and pronunciation will gradually be improved, and the Club will accept a five-year phase-in plan which will finally result in "Gliding Club English". This is how it can be achieved:

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". This will be sertain to make for more sivilised behaviour in the club house sentre. Then the hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k". This kould klear up konfusion, and klarify konvoluted konversation. Konsekwently, konsistent instructions about the kleaning of mud-kaked Kape Gliding Klub Kanopies and Kokpits kan kommense more easily.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". In this kase, kompleks words like "fotograf" and "barograf" will bekome triumfantly shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach a stage where more komplikkated changes are possible. The Klub

will encourage the removal of double letters, which have always been a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e" in Kraut Klub Komunikations is disgrasful, and they kan be removd. By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" wiz "v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinashons of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis und evrivun vil find it ezi to komjunikat viz eech ozer.

UND ZEN ZE BIG DRIM VIL FINALI KUM TRU!!

ACHTUNG! VE VILL BE RITINK UND SCHPEKINK "KKL", ZE ONLY PROPER LANGWATSCH FOR ZE KRAUTKLUB!

WHEN IN WAVE...

Peter Wooley

If you were to say to many of the newer CGC members, "today there's wave!" or "today there's thermals!", guess which one would cause more of a "rilling"? Don't ask me why. Possibly the feeling of invincibility when sitting so far from the terrain?

Though the Worcester wave sometimes occurs in mid-summer, it's primarily a winter phenomenon, being caused by the regular frontal north westers. As this season approaches, many pilots will be looking forward to "the smooth stuff", and some of you may never have had the dubious pleasure of wave flying before. The following basic precepts for wave flying in and around the Cape Town TMA are therefore regurgitated for both the novices as well as the more experienced wave flyers (who may have short memories). Wave beginners please note as well that you must have a prior, official "wave clearance" from the CFI or Senior Instructor before venturing high up into this particular phenomenon.

Radio procedure: As the TMA begins at FL85, you are going to have to open with the controller on 119,7 by 8000' at the latest. Only attempt to enter the TMA if your radio is A1, you have an operational transponder, and you know exactly what you are going to have to say to the controller on the radio. NEVER enter the TMA without permission from the controller. Please don't embarrass your fellow pilots with non-standard and garbled radio procedures - we hear it every year. You could get the whole club grounded in the process. By the way, you will have to speak English to the Air Traffic Controller!

Transponders: Remember that the Terra transponder takes a full 10 minutes to warm up to operational temperature, so it's a good idea to switch it on before take off. Before opening with Cape Town Approach on 119,7, set your altimeter to 1013 and refer to you height in Flight Levels. Try to be snappy with you replies and when asked to "Stand by", do just that, as the controller could be busy with aircraft on other frequencies which you can't hear. If you don't understand what the controller says, the phrase is "Say again". I was once somewhat confused when asked to "Recycle squawk". I didn't know what that meant or what to say or do. Only now I know that with a Terra transponder you can't recycle squawk anyway! If asked this, tell the controller that you can't do it but will switch the unit off and then on. Remember to reset the squawk code after you do this. Know what he means to give an "Ident", and which is the Active and which is the Standby display on the unit. Radio procedures are clearly laid out in Chapter Five of Cloudbase - read it. If you've advanced to flying in the wave, you ought to have your own copy!

Oxygen: The rule is simple - start breathing it at 12000' - if there isn't any, don't go above this height. Whatever you do, don't listen to idle talk from experienced members of how they soar to 17000' without O₂ "just for a short time". This is irresponsible and while you can be replaced with another member, the plane cannot. Remember to open the O₂ valve and check the bottle content before take off. Make sure you have the mask and that you understand how the system works before you arrive at Vic Peak or worse still, at high altitude with your finger tips all blue and your thoughts confused! How many litres per minute do you need?

And then? In the unusual event of being allowed up to a good height in the TMA, what are you going to do next? Personally I'd probably just descend again and file for a Diamond height gain. If you do feel brave, don't forget to ASK the controller prior permission before you can cruise off to "such and such" a place. And with clearance, much more is possible - the facts are stranger than fiction. Herbie Oberhofer flew from Table Mountain to George airport solely in wave. The late Heinie von Michaelis flew from Table Mountain to Albertinia in 1960-odd. More recently Graham Anderson made it one way from Worcester to Oudtshoorn, as well as out to sea past Hermanus and back to FAWC. Peter Farrell has done a supersonic 200km triangle past Elgin and Ed Verpraet has visited Cape Hangklip. Alan O'Regan landed out on a return trip from Betty's Bay. Cross wind is fine, but long downwind trips usually return to FAWC by road, so make sure your crew is mustered before you go.

So when ATC are accommodating, the possibilities are there, and "the manne" do get around in wave sometimes. As you can see, for the brave and clever pilot, the possibilities are endless, but don't ask me for advice on going places in wave, because I share neither of those attributes!

ANNUAL AWARDS

• Gliding advancement contribution: Alison Hultberg
• Best club member: André Leeb du Toit
• Best instructor: Andrew Roos
• Best pupil: Quinton Hoole
• Best tug pilot: Rien de Muijnk
• Maintenance award: Andrew Lightfoot
• Best non-gold C cross country: Rika Olivier
• Most meritorious flight: Peter Wooley
• Pilots' award: Peter Wooley

GARIEP 2000

It's already the fifth month of the year and time to start thinking of those "easy" cross countries, as well as those 1000km "big ones".

Peter How will running the Gariep camp from 10th December to 13th January inclusive. Like last year, it will be an "at cost" non-profit affair, with everything laid on. The daily airfield cost is R120 with aerotows at R15/minute subject to fuel price increases. Before you start to grumble about the daily cost, just bear in mind the recent fuel price increases and that it covers all the following: Suitably powerful tugs, tug ferries, tuggies' accommodation and food, airfield maintenance (including water points, grass cutting and fire control), airfield helpers and most importantly, a dedicated daily weather forecast and briefing (on a long flight it's essential to know what's predicted to happen, say 400km away at 1500hrs).

Gariep falls in the optimum weather zone, is free of restricting controlled airspace, and has glider-dedicated runways which will not shake your ship and instruments to pieces.

A wide range of accommodation is available, including camping, with prices which should suite all pockets. A camp deposit of R500 is required by the organiser by 30th November

Please address further queries to Peter How at afriair@cis.co.za or phone him at (011) 805 1491 or 083 265 0581.

THE UNENDING REFURBISHMENT OF ZS-GHB

This is a story about our beloved K13 and four Cape Gliding Club members. To avoid embarrassing them, we will call them Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was some important recovering work to do on GHB, and Everybody thought Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it but Nobody did. Somebody got angry about the situation because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody would not get involved. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when in actual fact Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

A LETTER...

Sir

Saturday 15/1, bright and early at the field, Ed having his breakfast while the Teutonic Knights are still reclining on their bearskins, the Kirby’s busy getting the out the Twin Astir, not another soul about, when I was approached by a first time visitor to the club, "von Chermany aus"!

I promptly recruited him to assist me with hauling out GTO for a wash and DI. It was rather embarrassing when he pointed to a patch under the port wing, where assorted strips of plastic insulation tape had become unstuck, fluttering in the breeze, revealing a rather large hole. To add insult to injury, he didn’t seem very impressed with the rest of the bird either – which sported makeshift patches all over the fuselage including a large area where the paint had peeled off. It looked like something the cat dragged in, especially standing next to the almost pristine Twin – it appears like a poor relation. Nevertheless, it does (did) fly.

Just as well our visitor never got to see the real jewels in the crown, reposing in their respective receptacles. It wouldn’t have held water to tell him "Ja well no fine, after all, this is Africa and a Third World Country".

Circa 40 BK (before the K series, as in ASK) when the Grunau Baby was a high performance machine, we always had a role of fabric, quick-drying dope, pinking shears and a brush – to effect immediate running repairs. Plastic insulation tape is the pits. "Sies!"

Saturday 22/1 – thanks to Sandy’s kind donation of approximately half a role of aluminium tape, which sticks like that other stuff to a blanket – we stuck the rest of the crate together and flew.

I feel anyone with enough balls to fly this kite should get a substantial discount.

K Samson

Aka: Sammy ("The Moaner")

ANOTHER LETTER...

RUNWAY REMINISCENCES

Now that I have learnt to write a little again, my commiserations to Sammy. It takes a while, but ultimately it comes back. In our lingo: Halt' die Ohren steiff! Spoke with him at length when I caught him at home and found him in good spirits. Sammy and I are the only remaining foundation members, well before we built that famous gum pole at Koelenhof in '49, and before the White House Hotel meeting in Long Street. This venue became ultimately a quasi-whorehouse in the mid sixties.

Saw Sue Beatty (that's our Betty Rowell's daughter) to do some reminiscing. Sue married Peter Dinkerlacker in November '99, bought a 27' wooden boat and they are about to set sail for the Caribbean via St. Helena and other South American coast cities. Thereafter, she will probably follow her helicopter piloting career around those waters.

We spoke about Betty's Book, very good reading! Betty attained the club's first soaring flight in the Grunau Baby in 1950 at Koelenhof.

Having just read the book, who walks in but Mike and Jenny Pascoe to visit me. More memories! Remember the van Rhynsdorp Camp in '51? It took me two years to do my "C" (I think that's 5 minutes above release) at that venue, also in the Baby. Thank you, Mike, for your book and all those reminiscences. What a capital effort, how much research! What possessed you to do this undertaking? Perforce I had to enjoy the days of slogging and my active days to my last project with the Motorfalke (the last rebuild of the Motorfalke after the kids stole it from Fisantekraal and crashed it near Robertson in '88, Ed). I enjoyed my last solo flight with hand controls in the Goevier GCN (derivative GOEppingen 4). My last log entry was P2 with Nicky in the Twin Astir GOK last May. And since then my club account has been in the red - sorry Graham - I mistook the symbol.

I digressed. I wonder who will write the annals of the Club for the next half century? Only sorry that the pregnant goose (the old club Swan logo) was not passed on to posterity. Heinie (von Michaelis) took such pains to depict it as a graceful swan! An original is in my possession, dedicated to the Minimoa (George Able Baker) on the side panel of the cockpit. The stick with wooden spoiler knob (no plastic in '36) is attached to this panel. It adorned Heinie's studio as a memento with a dedication "Opfer muessen gebracht werden". These sacrifices remind us of subsequent Club fatalities, to the memories of Bill Bean and Tim Biggs.

I would like to donate this panel & stick to the club, to the memory of the Flying Swan. Who knows, it may be revived, that's where it really belongs. Committee please contact me if you wish. My name and phone number have been struck off the club list. (we've put them back now, Giso!)

Having had my say - like a voice from the past - I had to read from the last Krautkoerant that the AS-K 13 has been revived. I guess some 20 new members don't even know what she looks like. I saw her for the first time in a large crate. The Transocean Liners agents phoned me in 1970, what to do about this box? The manifest describes it as an aircraft, how can we handle it, the hold is too small? (or the crate too long). I was five minutes away from the Duncan Dock and was able to supervise the unloading. Short story, we lifted the bird tail first.

I believe we re-covered her on two occasions. The first time, painted with a 5 litre can of Plascon alkyd enamel, courtesy the makers (gone seem to be the days where we could bum when we could). The second time, must have been in the early 80', when I discovered aliphatic polyurethanes after re-spraying my own bird, ASW 15 GGV (courtesy Bayer systems). Graham sprayed the ASK13 under the supervision of young Felix. Those bloody gnats! The bright colour drew them like a magnet. "DON'T" I shouted, we'll wipe them when the wings are dry! And indeed, they disappeared without trace.

We sprayed in the open behind the hangar. The re-covering was undertaken in a matter of a few weeks, the hardest task being the removal of layers of Schleicher filler on the D-box. Pat Beatty recommended cadmium chromate (Glatex 8 anti-corrosion primer PU twin pack) on the firm surfaces, not necessary so much for the filling properties but for the sanding process.

On both occasions we used common-o-garden CALICO at minimal cost, the biggest expense being the butyrate dope and special thinners. Who speaks of R17 000 for the cost of the covering material? This shook me. The wise men who did these recommendations should re-cost this aspect!

I hear mention of "the latest technology". We don't need to cover a Pitts Special?! Nor do we need her gilded with a few microns.

By comparison, the Motor Falke UUA covering with light weight SECONITE for the whole bird cost some R900 odd plus rosin plus acetone, something less than R100, after the big rebuild of the right hand D-box. The whole operation took eight weeks with one and a half manpower. All right, this was 11 years ago. But she looks alright to me? So what’s wrong with something not so super expensive and high tech? Lets put this into some perspective even allowing for inflation by a factor of three. Enough said, but it can’t be very rewarding for those who put a lot of effort into this bird while she languishes in Stellenbosch.

I'd like to be with you guys more often, but...

Faithfully, Giso (von Peteresdorff).

"Just for the LOVE of flying" by Betty ROWELL Beatty, ISBN 1-891118-00-5

Obtainable from Cherryl Pocock, 434 8456. She does have stock.

JA WELL NO FINE!

MORE ON FINES...

REQUEST TO OUR SOCIAL MEMBERS

The electronic age brings with it untold benefits, even for our club. One of these is being able to bring members the latest newsletters and notices in instant, easy to download electronic form, saving time, copying and postage costs. Our present database of Social Member e-mail addresses is very small, and I’m sure many of you social members are by now e-mail connected, though we at the club don’t know about it yet. We are therefore appealing to all members who have e-mail, but are not yet on the club’s list, to please advise the Editor of your e-mail address right now.