WHAT'S NEW AND WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON

Peter Wooley

Unfortunately none of the committee members have seen fit to add their thoughts to this July edition of the Krautkoerant. Strange considering the rather serious leader article in the last issue entitled Our Financial Dilemma. To my knowledge the dilemma has not yet retreated into the shadows, but perhaps it's left the committee feeling slightly subdued. With certain members demanding that the constitution be amended to reduce the executive powers of the committee, you can’t blame them for feeling beleaguered. The constitution was drafted many years ago and is indeed a very sound document that has stood the test of time. As such it should not be tampered with lightly, especially not on the whim of a few dissidents who may be driven by personal prejudices. Any thinking person who has served on a committee for any length of time would agree that attempts to emasculate the committee in any way can only lead to inefficiencies of management. Our committee members put in an enormous amount of time and effort and what they don't need is their terms of reference curtailed. What they do need is your support. But then who said democracy upholds efficiency?

Nevertheless, those club members strongly opposed to the sale of ZS-UUA can relax, as due to the committee’s indecision, the generous cash offer for UUA has been withdrawn. Can it be that the “financial dilemma” (admittedly my own terminology) is not as bad as was originally indicated? I believe it actually is, and that left on its own it won’t simply “go away”. At the end of the day, my gut feeling is that if anything is to be sold, it will be the “new” Citabria tug, ZS-NIG. We had a meeting to ratify that the membership definitely wanted it, now maybe we can have another meeting where the membership can declare that they definitely don’t want it.That's democracy. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun but I don’t think so.

On a different subject, at last count there were 107 addresses on the Krautkoerant e-mail list. If anybody is unhappy with the way they receive the simplified (html) KK, will they please contact the Editor so we can try and make some more acceptable plan for them (Peter, 487 2451). It's essential to have your feed-back, as it's my job the give you the newsletter that you want.

It's a big welcome to Jaap le Roux, who lives at Doringrivier, not too far from the airfield. Also recently joined are Chris Parker (from Magalies Gliding Club), Graham Vincent and Ian Mc Guigen. Enjoy your training and your flying, and don't ever be shy to ask questions.

Hilary Emerson, Lorna Roos and Mark Williams have resigned.

Congratulations to our newest achiever, Louis Moore, who on 27th May endured five hours in scrappy ridge lift on Victoria Peak, thus gaining his Silver Duration. Not content with that, he went on to do his Silver height gain shortly thereafter in June. Quinton Hoole was not so fortunate with his Silver Distance attempt on 27th May - he landed out in a beautiful green field just upwind of the Worcester dump! A truly valuable exercise for him in any case. As I always say: "Never give up!"

Important news is that the long-awaited designation of the Aero Club has now been confirmed by CAA and published in the Government Gazette. As far as I know, the application of the Soaring Society to become an ARO has not yet been finalised.

To celebrate the end of Jeanette Fussell's final medical specialist exams, the Fussells staged an informal get-together in the clubhouse on Satur­day night 27th May. After an interesting day which proved too unstable for wave formation, a good time (and a late night) was had by all there - thanks Craig and Jeanette! This month's prize for determi­nation and dedication to gliding goes to Thomas Lawton, who amid all the noise and frivolity of the Fussell party was observed studiously busy with a gliding text book!

On the acquisitions side, Craig Fussell has just become the proud part-owner of the Kestrel ZS-GII. Con­gratula­tions! Do you know what all those little levers and knobs in the cockpit are for? (incidently Craig has also just notched up another Comrades Mara­thon - well done).

And more... Sandy Hultberg has disposed of his ASW20 and bought a half-share in a certain ASW19.

Quinton Hoole is the latest member to join the "home" owners at the airfield - he has just bought the Coachman bakkie-top caravan from Peter Clemence.

Graham Anderson has acquired one of the small T-hangers from Rudi Schurkes, and Sven Olivier's hanger is finally a reality. So one way and another, much wheeling and dealing has been going on at FAWC. Please remember that Dave Starke is the liaison person between our club and the WFC, so please approach him should you have any airfield development proposals up your sleeve.

A persistent though "icky" subject has been the overbur­dened drainage system at the airfield village. Thanks to the ingenuity of David de Beer, with help from Sandy Hultberg, a pump and pipeline have been installed to convey excess waste-water to a remote spot in the veld. Thanks chaps, your efforts will effect an annual saving of thou­sands of rands in club operat­ing costs.

Another useful innovation is the launch point "moon buggy", or RRV (call it what you will). This VW Beetle-derived vehicle is purpose-made for towing gliders onto and off the runway, thus reducing the work-load on members in clearing the runway more quickly for air traffic and speeding up our turn around time. It is equipped with tow hooks front and back, an air band radio, an enor­mous wire basket for picking up ropes and dollies (glider type only), as well as a huge rear-view mir­ror to help avoid those gliders without hooters. The idea was orig­inally conceived by Dave Starke, and the actual design and construc­tion was carried out by Rien de Muijnk and André Leeb du Toit, who spent many months bringing the pro­ject to fruition. Rien also provided the basic VW floor pan, engine and run­ning gear. Thanks all of you, a truly com­mend­able effort in the true gliding club spirit.

News from "The Levitts" in summery England is that Marisa has been flying a 1950's PZL Mucha, something that Graham describes as resembling an airborne version of those troublesome end-products the members' dogs are in the habit of dotting around the lawn. She landed it out some weeks ago about 20km from base, but no trouble, over there you just call up the tug on your cell and it comes to retrieve you, as not only are 90% of the fields landable, they are also "aircraftable"!

Graham should finalise his course soon, and vows never to study anything ever again!

Congratulations Reinhold Lawrenz who has just become an Official Observer.

Here are some interesting operational points from Magaliesberg to consider: They close off their flying list for pupils at 9.30am - I bet that gets things mov­ing. They then allow a maximum of one pax flight for every two instructional launches, and limit the daily number of pax flights to eight.

In the interests of safety (yours as well as that of other pilots) please observe the activity on run­way 12/30 when walking or driving over it on the way to or from runway 15. It is used, especially for power training. You won't be popu­lar (or possibly even alive) with a C172 on your bonnet.

Your gliding instructor is bound to have told you (in jest of course) that any landing from which you can walk away can be considered a good landing. But do you know what constitutes a great landing? One after which you can still use the aircraft again!

(LA)WAAI HOEK

THE SAFETY COLUMN

Sven Olivier

Three safety issues for this edition:

FIRSTLY, Radio Communications: There have been various incidents, all of which resulted from inad­equate (as in none) to inappropriate (as in late) radio calls. Two examples will suffice. No names and no pack drill - but perhaps you will recognise yourself in what follows.

Incident one: In the circuit, an RV6 - (probably gyrat­ing around at 140 knots), a single seater (num­ber one to land), the Motorfalke (clearly number two to land) and a K7 trainer (number three or four - depend­ing on the RV6). Well, what is wrong with this picture? Nothing much - except the Motorfalke has not made a single radio call. Fortu­nately, both the RV6 and the K7 observed the Motorfalke and planned their circuits accordingly. Every­body landed as they should have, and you may say "so what". Well then, answer this. The Motorfalke pilots apologetically stated that they were inadvertently on the wrong fre­quency. Did they not observe the RV6? If so, why did they not call him? Would they then not have found out that they were on the wrong frequency? Presumab­ly they would have surmised that he was perhaps on the wrong fre­quency and have changed to either 126.5 or 123.4 to advise him of the correct frequency, and thus have estab­lished their own folly. Moreover, did they not hear the glider landing before they did? Surely they observed him? What did they think? That his radio was not operat­ive? The above train of thought again finds applica­tion. What about the trainer behind them - should he not have realised what their predicament was? Why did he not call them?

Incident two: A glider, since the engine of this touring motor glider - as opposed to a SLMG (self launching motor glider) was switched off, I apply the term glider, ends up on final approach simulta­neous­ly with a powered aircraft doing a long final in a spot landing competition (possibly, it must be added, without having done a complete circuit). The pow­ered aircraft has to abort his (perfect) approach and is (justifiably) quite upset. Again there was a lack of radio com­munica­tion. The power pilot clearly and unequivo­cally did announce his inten­tions at least five min­utes out (on return from his rally task) and called both base and final (I heard him). It is not clear whether the glider pilot made all his calls.

The problem: A lack of communication.

The cause: A failure to realise that we share the airspace with other pilots who are entitled to us telling them where we are and what our intentions are.

This applies equally to the circuit as it does to flying Vic Peak or Dasklip. How many of us tell those who are already on Vic Peak that we are approach­ing from Rawsonville and will shortly be joining at 3400 feet? Are they not entitled to this knowledge? Will it not make Vic Peak safer for all of us? Should we not tell those at Vic Peak that we are now at 8000 feet and departing for Slanghoek? Would not only those at Vic Peak, but also those at Slanghoek benefit by such knowledge? May I delicately point out that the foregoing radio calls are, in fact, obligatory, and you can hear similar blind calls being made all the time by powered aircraft.

The solution: Please make your radio calls, not only in the circuit, but as required by your license.

SECONDLY, Ridge flying and cloud. May I prevail on all of you to exercise extreme caution when flying the ridge, particularly when it's shrouded in cloud. Gliding can only hurt, maim or kill you when the glider hits an obstacle - either the ridge or another glider. You can not avoid hitting either if you fly to close to the ridge or are obscured, even partly, by cloud. There is no way that a collision can be avoided if two gliders flirt around on the edge of cloud. PLEASE DO NOT DO IT.

THIRDLY, something especially for the SLMG's. I have observed a number of excursions by SMLG pilots which either appeared to be low, or by their own account, were quite low. There is great advan­tage to having the engine - but with it must come a strict discipline - not only as to when the moment has arrived to start the fan, but also as to the prepara­tion to do so. In the latter regard I ask the follow­ing: When last have you deliberately set up a circuit, extended the prop and then done a landing? (yes, without starting the motor!) If the answer is "a long time ago", or "perhaps never", why not give it a try? That exotic glider with a 40 or 50 plus glide angle (depending on what your are flying) turns into a less than farcical Grunau Baby with an L/D of 7 or less, with the dead prop. Out there in the wild you may find yourself with only two to three minutes to learn to fly a com­pletely new glider before you have to put it down into an unknown and untried field, at an unknown altitude. Do not do that to yourself.

FINALLY, on the subject of communication, the recent mid-air collision (some would call it a splat) between an Extra 300 and a Lear Jet in the States says so much – you are never alone up there – and if you remain silent, you’re as good as invisible to the other traffic. As glider pilots we sometimes ridicule all the chatter the power guys let loose on the RT when airborne, but it’s precisely this chatter which could, and in fact does, save lives.

FLY SAFELY!

BACK-SEAT DRIVING

Andrew Roos

This is the first of what I hope will become a regular column in the Krautkoerant which will cover Flying Panel issues.

I would like to start by expressing my admiration for André’s immense contribution to the club during his tenure as CFI, and my gratitude for the support he has given me as his successor. His are large boots to fill, and all I can say is that with the help of the Flying Panel, the instructors and all the members I will do my best to justify the position. Please don’t hesitate to approach me should you have any con­cerns, criticisms or suggestions about my perform­ance as CFI – this type of feedback is essential if I am to grow in the position.

One of the most important issues for any aviation organisation is airmanship. For me, airmanship is fundamentally about respect. It is respect for those who share our airspace; respect for the equipment we use; respect for the laws of aerodynamics which bear us aloft, but which will kill us if we do not respect them.

Respect for those who share our airspace means looking out before pushing onto the runway – remember that it is the pilot’s responsibility to ensure that the circuit is clear, and s/he must not allow the ground crew to push on before confirming with them that there is no conflicting circuit traffic. It means advising others of our intentions, and listening (and when appropriate, responding) when they advise us of theirs, so as to avoid potential conflicts. It means looking out for other aircraft – not occasionally, or just before turning, but con­stantly, so that it is as much a part of our flying as the continual control movements needed to main­tain level flight. It means not flying so close to cloud that although you may be able to see other gliders, they cannot see you. It means not entering con­trolled airspace without permission (call well in advance - remember that if you are flying at FL85 you are already in controlled airspace). It means in a hundred other small ways being courteous to those we fly with.

Respect for the equipment we use means cleaning the glider properly before the day’s flying (a new club member and I recently gave GUU a good clean – it was thoroughly dirty and I can only think that other instructors and pupils had been flying with­out first washing the glider properly – this does not mean just running a damp cloth down the leading edges!) It means being diligent during the DI, and correcting any minor faults found before flying the glider. It means ensuring that gliders are towed to the holding point safely – particularly on windy days, when the K-7 should have someone in the front cockpit and someone holding the tail up to reduce the angle of attack, as well as a wing walker. It means ensuring that the gliders are properly parked and attended on the runway, and that hanger doors are not left open on these windy days.

Respect for the laws of aerodynamics means not flying low and slow. It means not doing shallow over-ruddered turns which are an invitation for the glider to spin. It means not exceeding the glider’s placarded limits – including minimum and maximum weights (yes, if necessary you must refuse to allow an overweight pupil to fly in the K7), VNE and other airspeeds (remember that the VNE on GJJ has been reduced because it is carrying additional weight from repairs). It means not doing shallow final approaches which leave you no options if you hit unexpected sink. It means maintaining sufficient airspeed while ridge soaring to avoid being stalled by an unexpected gust or turbulence.

So why should we do all this? The obvious answer is to be able to enjoy our wonderful sport without risking our lives and the lives of others. But I think that a deeper reason is to show respect for our­selves and for our calling as pilots. Learning to fly aircraft is not like learning to drive a car. It takes considerably more skill and aptitude. Not everyone has the ability to fly – it is an achievement to be proud of. And by exhibiting good airmanship we help to maintain the good name of Pilots every­where – we show respect for our wings.

OXYGEN BASICS

Cornelius von der Heyden

As my previous article in the August 1998 Krautkoerant was perhaps too technical, here's the same topic but set out from another, hopefully more "hands on" perspective. Reading it carefully and remembering it could save your life some day.

Before strapping on your oxygen system, which if you're not into latex or bondage can be pretty uncomfortable, it might help to know why you need all that plumbing anyway.

At basics, it revolves around the two gasses Oxygen (O₂) and Carbon Dioxide (CO₂). Oxygen is essential for your cells, especially for your brain cells, if they are to function normally. A working brain is useful to have; the men among us all know how wrong things can go when we stop thinking with our brains and start using other organs!

Oxygen occurs normally in the atmosphere but as we ascend to greater altitudes, a drop in ambient pressure occurs and less oxygen is therefore inhaled for consumption by our cells. The absolute limit for all glider pilots flying without supplemental oxygen is 13000'. Hypoxia (the technical term for oxygen starvation of cells) occurs much in the same way as drunkenness. You cannot tell when it's time to stop as your brain has lost the ability to analyze critically. As an anaesthetist, one of my main tasks during and after an operation is to avoid hypoxia in my patient. Despite the use of some pretty nifty gadgets, things can still go wrong so don't be a fool and believe those old wives' tales of blue fingertips and such quackery.

Carbon dioxide is the other significant gas. It does not occur naturally in the atmosphere (only about 0.003%) and is produced by our cells as a waste product, to be exhaled by our lungs. Now we all know about the body's other waste products, and carbon dioxide is no different. It is also pretty nasty stuff! Too much of it in your system and you might as well cork yourself and be sold as cham­pagne! The way this gas builds up in our system is by a process called rebreathing. Instead of inhaling fresh bottled oxygen from your supply (with no CO₂ in it) with each breath, you can with certain malfunc­tioning oxygen systems, inhale your own stale air which contains this waste carbon dioxide. It is the same as rebreathing into a closed plastic packet. Some of us tried that trick at school to induce fainting in order to be sent home! If that happens in a glider with all that latex strapped to your face at 28000' you can imagine the end result, especially since Miss Teacher is not there to look after you in your coma! Again, there is no warning of this dan­gerous rebreathing as you are slowly numbed by the carbon dioxide. Impercep­tibly you lose your judgement skills. Why do you think champagne is so successful on a date?

That then deals with the two problems we can encounter when using our oxygen supply - hypoxia and excessive rebreathing.

A brief description of the types of oxygen systems will help to understand how we can avoid these lethal conditions. There are four arrangements of oxygen systems:

Constant flow, Diluter, Demand and Rebreathing:

Some systems incorporate two of these arrange­ments in an attempt to get more time out of the limited volume of the oxygen bottle.

The simplest system, as is found in the Twin Astir and Cirrus, is a combination of the constant flow and diluter systems. Constant flow means that your face is continually bathed in a flow of oxygen, even when you are not inhaling. These systems require a mini­mum flow of FIVE litres per minute to work efficiently. Never exceed this minimum or you will rebreathe carbon dioxide with its attendant dan­gers. This system is thus very wasteful, as at these high flow rates your oxygen tank is soon exhausted. In an attempt to save on the oxygen, the diluter is added to the system. This is the gauge that needs to be twiddled to read the altitude at which you are presently flying. At lower altitude (13000' to 20000'), breathing 100% oxygen is an overkill, so at these altitudes the diluter entrains surrounding air into the 100% oxygen from the bottle to reduce it to lower values. Thus the flow rates are still adequate (about 5 litres/minute) but only a portion of this comes from the tank, so it lasts longer. Above 20000' you MUST breath 100% oxygen. Above this altitude the diluter no longer dilutes, if you have set it correctly. If however, you have set the wrong altitude, then you will already have become hypoxic. This system therefore requires vigilance and is not failsafe, so you have been warned.

The other type of system, as found on GJJ, is the demand rebreathing type. This is more complex mechanically, but it saves on oxygen and thus you get more time out of the bottle. "Demand" means that it only flows oxygen when you inhale - you literally have to suck open the relevant valves (like the DV of scuba diving gear). Oxygen is being saved as it is not being blown at you while you don't need it. These valves can get stuck so check the system with a few breaths before take off. To further save on oxygen, the "rebreather" component is added. This is the rubber bag attached to the mask. It catches your expired air which still contains fairly high concentrations of oxygen for you to inhale with the next breath. Thus you save your bottled oxygen. The snag is the waste, your carbon dioxide, that you also expire with each breath. Rebreathe too much of this and you start feeling like cider. To prevent this, the bag needs to be flushed regularly with fresh oxygen (a bit like a toilet). The design minimum flow for this flush is also five litres/minute. So look for the flow change on your system and set it appropri­ately.

That's the simplified theory, here are the even simpler rules:

1. Strap on the latex by 13000' at the very highest.
2. Set flow on all types of systems to a minimum of five litres/minute (marked as "high" on some sys­tems).
3. With the diluter type systems (looks like a small altimeter) continuously re-set the displayed altitude to coincide with your current altitude. 
4. With the demand type systems check functioning before take off by taking a few breaths to see if it feels OK.
5. Always start a wave flight with a full tank of oxygen. Even a full bottle doesn't go far.

Hopefully this will help you to understand one of the inherent dangers of high altitude flight. Stick to these simple rules and the fantastic view from up there need not take your breath away.

SMALLER NOT SO GOOD EITHER!

Trevor Johnson

As much as I have the greatest respect for our eloquent editor, I feel I must question some of the perceptions and views of our future as a club, as he has so eruditely put forth.

First of all I must agree wholeheartedly that to turn the club into a fully blown business, with the sole objective of making fast bucks, exploiting tourists and anyone else who's gullible enough, would be a big mistake.

While it is true that many overseas gliding resorts do exactly that, and very successfully too, they have many more prospective and existing mem­bers, as well as more visitors, and thus can have several full time instructors, tug pilots and helpers, who can make a full time operation viable. How­ever, the feedback I've had is that making use of these facil­ities is very costly and only for the well heeled in order to be viable on an on-going basis. On the other hand, I do not believe that downsizing would be the answer. That would only spread the ever upwardly spiralling cost over a smaller base and make gliding a very costly sport and recreational pastime.

We must recall what our constitution says about our main objec­tives. Our very existence is to pro­mote gliding to all members of our community. Some of the very successful commercial pilots I am acquainted with, come from low income fam­ilies and through gliding, have worked their way up to reach their goals.

As I see it, with a fully paid-up fleet of gliders and two tugs, the only way to go is to promote, recruit, advertise, give displays and thus renew interest in gliding. This will build up better utilisation of the equipment. The overheads on gliders such as insur­ance, annual LSI's and general maintenance stays the same, whether the glider is flown or not.

I did note my learned colleague's statement about our 'tatty fleet'. This “tattiness” is mostly cosmetic and could easily be rectified by a couple of work teams. (Ed: Yes, but who will do it?)

I consider the K7 and K13 still to be excellent trainers which are tremendously strong and safe, as recently proven in the unfortu­nate incident involv­ing GTO. The Twin Astir is now in pretty rea­sonable condition and is quite acceptable for most PAX flights. The three singles are in equally fair condi­tion with only minor work necessary (to my knowl­edge).

The Motorfalke is, in my opinion, one of the finest teaching tools for outlandings, circuit planning, landings, cross country flights and most of all, it promotes safety in all these aspects of flying. For this reason alone, we should never ever consider selling her even if she costs money. What value can you put on the safety of numerous graduate pilots? Both our tugs are in good condition.

So, to sum up - why downsize?

What we really need is to 'upsize' in utilization and make these aircraft start paying for themselves.

I am sure we've all noticed the decline in flying over the past two years when there are only a handful of people and gliders at the launch point, and it’s sometimes a battle to get assistance just to launch. How different it was just a few years ago! Then one had to wait in a queue to launch and everyone wished for an extra tug plane!

We must analyze what has caused this decline. One of the reasons must surely be the ever rising costs. These days, just one flight for the weekend could put one out of pocket to the following amount:

Total:        R615.00

This adds up to the substantial amount of R2 460.00 per month or R29 520.00 per annum! This is certain­ly not chicken feed and is probably one of the main reasons for the decline in flights. To counter this we should encourage lift clubs with more people sharing their vehicles, with at least four people travelling per car. This would reduce travelling costs to R90.00 per person.

In opposition, my learned editor, I further pro­pose that the winch be fully supported by all club mem­bers. The winch runway should now, after a long and protracted period, be properly fixed, so that all gliders can make use of it. And yes, I do think that on a reasonable day one could get away off a winch launch. This would reduce towing costs to R30.00.

Incidently, I would like to see more safety related articles from our Flying Panel in the Krautkoerant.

Editor's comments: Thank you for you input Trevor - your startling figures emphasize that our sport has become, unfortunately, very expensive. Your point regard­ing the need to increase glider utilisation vexes us all - the problem is how? As a flying club, the more actual flying we do the bet­ter, both for our per­sonal satisfaction as well as the club’s overall well being. Your com­ment on the financial commitment of the "private owners" to the sport is also one often overlooked. Now it just remains for you to dem­on­strate how to get away consistent­ly off the winch for those cross-countries – all eyes on Trevor this spring!

WHY WE GLIDE
BUT
WHY WE DON’T GO ACROSS COUNTRY

Peter Wooley

Man's desire to fly is age-old. But why do we persist in wanting to fly gliders, especial­ly? Is it because we want to make life difficult for our­selves? Cheap­ness used to be an attrac­tion, but it’s no longer the case. So why not power? It’s so much more easily avail­able, closer to home, less of a demand on our time and energy, more useful. "No" we say, power is too noisy, smelly, the machines vibrate too much, and perhaps it’s just too easy, except of course when it all goes quiet up there.

While the duration of power training to PPL can be very quick, depending on how much money you have to throw at it, learning on gliders it is never a quick fix, always a labour of love.

But some people have an insatiable and enduring desire to emulate the birds, free of a power plant, relying purely on the energy nature provides. So they invest lot of time, a lot of effort, and now­adays, a lot of money too, and sweat it out on the hot, gritty, wind blown and bug infested flight line at the local gliding club. Eventually at solo stage they discover that rather than having arrived some place, they've hardly begun to scratch the sur­face. Which is one of the attributes which keeps the real enthusi­asts committed to gliding. Little do the "new" pilots realise it at solo, but if they will only perse­vere and achieve one or two significant cross country suc­cesses, they will find them­selves hooked. Hooked, because by this stage they will have realised the inexhaustible Aladdin's Cave of soaring possibil­ities which has opened for them­ after those first cross coun­try successes.

So isn't that why we do do it? But now, why do we clip our own wings so?

Many don’t partake in cross country. At least at Worcester. But I'm sure most of them would ulti­mately like to. I myself battled for years, never getting any further than Robertson or Wolsley. I just couldn't do it. And like a thermal, you can't buy yourself a cross country flight. So why this long delay? We all do the 50km or 100km mini­mum for the GPL, but once with a Silver “C” in hand, that’s often as far as it goes in the Valley of the Vines. And the vines play a big part in this, make no error.

Ask and you will hear half a dozen fairly valid rea­sons why we don’t disappear on lengthy cross countries from Worcester. The most common answer you'll hear is that the instructors don’t teach it, and those pilots that do fly cross country are bashful and don’t talk about it much (perhaps you don’t ask though?). But it's difficult to teach the practicalities of cross country soar­ing without actually doing it at the same time. I've heard that Helmuth Fischer used to do some marvel­lous lead and follow instruction, even going as far as landing out when his "pupil" landed out, but you need a dedicated and able instructor to teach like this. But lack of instruc­tion is not a reason for our scant achieve­ments, and neither is plain "lack of confi­dence".

Others say it’s the poor weather, lack of a proper understanding of the weather, or the limited time allowed in club ships.

It's not that the many aspirant cross country pilots lack skill either, far from it. I believe there is only one real reason why we don’t fly much cross coun­try dis­tance from Worcester, and that is Fear of Land­ing Out. What?! The Gauties and Free Staters can’t believe this. Komaan man! Are we Capies chicken? Well no, not actual­ly. We just don’t want to land in a vine­yard, orchard, or some "rock and bossies country" like the Knersvlakte. At the end of the day, and from per­sonal experience, I believe this to be the single import­ant factor that leads to cross country resis­tance amongst CGC pilots. Think about it. Converse­ly it’s also the reason why in compari­son, the self-launcher pilots do man­age such consist­ently good distances – they don’t consider the land out factor, they have simply eliminated it with an engine (and an awful lot of money!)

So now we have established a reason, let’s find a way around the problem. And there are simple practi­cal ways, and you don’t need a better ship, new instruments or a self-launcher either. Those with their new or soon to be got cross coun­try ratings, can start getting excited!

In reality, Worcester is not a beginners paradise for cross country soaring. There are no Red Indians, but still much of terrain is hostile. To the uninitiated and inexperi­enced pilot who is busy concentrating on keeping his ship aloft, there seems almost nowhere to land between Wolsley eastward along the Langeberge to beyond Heidelberg, except at the proper airfields. Even in the middle of the valley. That's at least how it seems.

But in order to achieve something, you must have a plan. First you must decide on your routes. Study the maps and decide where you want to go.

Step one is to spend time system­atically stooging around these task areas in the Motorfalke to study the terrain careful­ly. Be prepared to invest the R3.00 per minute, it will pay huge dividends later. Careful terrain scrutiny from the air will reveal a com­plete­ly differ­ent pic­ture for land-out possi­bilities. Get to know the terrain intimate­ly.

Step two is to simply take time to drive the area in your car. Take the whole day - cruise down to Swellendam and inspect the fields. Take a trip along the N1 through the Hex River valley up into the Karroo as far as Touws Rivier. Do the same in the Tulbach valley and through to Porterville. Down on the ground, under no pres­sure, it will look quite differ­ent. Consider the prevailing winds and com­mit the good landing fields to mem­ory. Better still, mark them on your task map. This may sound simplistic, but it will all pay hand­some divi­dends in confidence (and safety) when you eventually set out on that Gold or Dia­mond dis­tance attempt from your home airfield.

In flight, the idea is not to be over-concerned by the ever-present possibil­ity of having to make a field landing. When you are confi­dent that there IS an open place to land, you will be much more relaxed in the cockpit. The more relaxed you are, the more mental energy you will have to devote to your actual soar­ing.

This is not to say there aren’t unlandables like the Agter Witzenberg and many other areas, but you should always avoid these unless you are very high (trying to emu­late the feats of the self-launcher pilots could land you in trouble!) But you will soon see, on the way north west, once you’ve made it past Wolsley, there’s wheat from Tulbach all the way past Porterville and Citrusdal. And the Sandveld beyond is just like its name implies, sandy fields. This makes a 300km out and return in aver­age spring weather a real possibil­ity, and you need not be under any particu­lar pres­sure with regard to speed. And similarly to the east.

There’s never been a 300km Gold Distance or Dia­mond Goal claimed from Worcester in the history of the club - so your success could be the first.

I’d love to see some claims for Gold and Diamond dis­tance being flown from Worcester. It's double the value of achieving it up north. Competi­tions aside, cross country soaring is essen­tially what our sport is all about and there’s no reason why you shouldn't fly all your badge legs from the home site. No achieve­ment has any real value unless it's been attained with a struggle, and it's the extent of the struggle that determines the actual value of the achieve­ment.

The com­mittee and CFI will probably want to lynch me for this article, but why not plan to go for your Gold or Diamond leg this coming spring! With the basic skill and confi­dence, plus the correct prep­ara­tion, you can do it!

As an incentive, I'm personally offering to pay the tug and glider fees of the first successful member without a gold "C", who flies a pre-declared Diamond Goal flight beginning and ending at FAWC in a club Single, before March 2001.

DIAMOND HEIGHT: STILL POSSIBLE FROM FAWC!

As I always say: "try and try again!" What an awful worn-out old cliche, but yet so true (if only I had pos­sessed this knowl­edge when at school). After literally YEARS of trying for that elusive Diamond height gain, it all came together for the KK Editor when he achieved FL210 recently, from a low point of about 2500'.

What can I say that could be of use to you? Apart from having the right wave weather, I think it important to choose a time of low air traffic (as in scheduled flights), and tell the control­ler you want per­mission to climb just in that spot. That way he does not have to keep tracking you all over the sky, and directing traffic accordingly. Obvious­ly too, your RT pro­cedures and transponder oper­ation must be spot-on if you want ATC co-operation.

A big "THANK YOU" to the ATC chaps who were on duty at Cape Town International at the time, for making a very "Happy Chappie" of the pilot of ZS-GKS!

SSSA/FAI BADGE CLAIMS

Those claiming FAI badge legs should know that there is a new application form and that the tariff structure has been altered. As we seem to be with­out a "Badge Officer", I am prepared to act in that capacity in the mean time, so you can submit your badge claims through me, Peter, at 487 2451 during office hours.

ELECTRONIC PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS

Should you wish to pay your account directly into the club account at ABSA, please get the details from Barbara at 976 5164. BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE DEPOSIT SLIP IN THE SPACE HEADED REFERENCE. Otherwise how will Barbara know who the deposit is from?

CLUB GLIDER MAINTENANCE

Did you know that there are "managers" in charge of overseeing the care and maintenance of the club gliders? They are:

GOK - Robert and Dulcie Brandon Kirby
GJJ - Quinton Hoole
GUC - Alison Hultberg
GIG - to be re-allocated soon (any offers?)
GUU - Andrew Lightfoot
UUA - André Leeb du Toit

Andrew Lightfoot is the overall Maintenance Officer. Please approach the relevant "manager" as soon as you notice anything on any of the club ships which needs care or improvement.

SOMETHINGGREAT TO THINK ABOUT:
THE CAPE GLIDING CLUB
2000 BLOEMFONTEIN PERFORMANCE CAMP

Danie van Niekerk and his merry men and ladies at the Bloemfontein club have generously agreed once more to host our official club performance camp.

There will be accommodation on the airfield, camp­ing on the airfield, our tug, the Singles, as well as the Twin. A time for your 50km, a time for your 500km. And what about the big ones as well?

It's also hoped to provide some cross country train­ing in the Twin. Interested members should contact the organisers, Nicky Oberhofer (685 2681 a/h) or Jacques Willig (713 0194 a/h) for more details or to book your glider and slot. Definitely the cheapest performance camp available over Dec/Jan.