Ivan Passes His Final test

Ivan Jackson has passed another milestone in his aviation adventure. Peter Weissenfeld reported today that Ivan has completed all the requirements to be awarded his unrestricted RAAus Pilots Certificate. Ivan completed his final solo navigation flight today. The flight from Horsham to Boort, then Hopetoun and back to Horsham was flown successfully with one just the one short stop off at Hopetoun. Well done Ivan. Ivan is pictured with PW before one of his earlier flights in the club's Jabiru.

Photo Archive Project

Do you have any old photos from the clubs past. I am starting a project to digitize any photographs that can help tell the history of the Horsham Flying Club in its current form and its past incarnations as the Wimmera Soaring Club and the Wimmera Sport Aircraft Association. It is my goal to scan good quality photographs to provide a lasting visual record of our history.

So I'm after photographs of people, events, aircraft and the places that have figured in the club's history. If you have photos to share please bundle them up carefully and put them in the office at the club for me to collect. I will take good care of them. It would also be helpful to have some short notes to identify the photo, what it's of and who is in it.

My end goal is to be able to produce a pictorial record of the club and its people. This may be in the form of a slide show on a disc or maybe even an short documentary. Anything is possible, but nothing is possible if we don't have the images to go along with the story. Here is an example.
Who knows what this photo is about? Who is it it? When did it take place? Why are they pushing a glider sideways up the road? How did they do that? There is story here to be told and the archive project will try to tell these stories. I actually know a fair bit about this 'event' in
the club's history. It was not your normal outlanding retrieve.

So there must be more photographs out there, please pass them on so they can be preserved. The can be prints, slides or negatives. I am also interested in old Super 8 film, VHS and DVD video.

Also part of this project will be the recording interviews with members past and present to provide a and audio visual record of the club. So to contribute to the club's archive contact Michael Hogan by telephone on 5025 8997 or 0409 028 895.

Dadswells Bridge 2007

Ross Carroll has sent out the proposed dates for the Dadswells Bridge, wave and ridge flying weekends. The dates are June 9, 10 & 11 (the long weekend), July 14 & 15, August 18 & 19 and September 20, 21, 22 & 23. More information will be available as we get closer to June.

Griffo's 50th Birthday

Mark Griffin our humble Treasurer and expert tug pilot is calibrating his 50th birthday on Saturday 21st April at the Horsham Aero Club rooms from 7.30pm. Supper will be provided and drinks are available at bar prices or BYO. Please RSVP to Mark or Karen by Friday 13th April by phone to 5382 0007, 0427 887 311 or 0427 030 728. You can also respond by email to griffkaz@bordernet.com.au

Birchip Sports Aero Club Fly-In

The newly formed Birchip Sports Aero Club will be holding a fly-in at Birchip aerodrome on Sunday 22nd of April. This club are in the process of establishing themselves. They already have had a hangar on the aerodrome which was donated to them and are moving an unused Police station onto the aerodrome as a clubroom. They are also trying to obtain a Jabiru type aircraft for members to fly. Our members are encouraged to support this fledgling group of flyer's and attend the fly-in. Hopefully the Jabiru will attend, maybe the Janus can motor over and a number of members could travel by car. The Birchip boys and girls put on a very good BBQ, just ask PW, Max, Allan and Mike

Next Club Meeting

The next club meeting will be held at the clubrooms on Saturday April 14th from 7.00PM. The April meeting reverts to a 7.00pm start as we move back to Eastern Standard Time. The minutes of the last meeting held on Saturday 10th March have been distributed to club members with this Fly Paper.

Horsham Week 2007 Results

The Horsham Week competition has come and gone for another year. Six competition days were flown over the eight days of the competition. Thanks are due to those members and their partners who provided assistance with operations and looking after the domestic arrangements, feeding the troops, cleaning the toilets, emptying the rubbish. The multitude of things that need to be done to make the week the success it continues to be. Once again through the hard work of a small number of people we have been able to add to some much needed income to the club coffers.

So on to some details of the actual Horsham Week operations. There were 9 aircraft competing in Open Class, with Jack Hart from the Beaufort club overall winner. Jack flew a DG400 and accumulated a total of 3942.5 points. Second was Tony Tabart in a Ventus 2c 3889.8 and Aaron Stroop on 3766.1 points in an ASH25.

The 15 Metre Class had another 9 gliders. Peter Busken in a ASW24 was the eventual winner on 3996.5 points from Bill Hatfield in a LAK17/15 on 3635.1 points and Gary Stevenson in a ASW20b with 3566.6 points.

Standard Class had 12 entries and was won by David Wilson with 3764.7 points in a ASW24. David was followed by Jaroslaw Mosiejewski in a DG300 on 3677.7 points and Wayne Mackley with 3641.3 points in his LS4a.

There were 8 gliders in Sports Class which was taken out by Noel Vagg and June Nakamura in a Janus with 3281.2 points, then John Lee in a Janus on 3041.3 points and third place went to Graig Dilks in a Super Arrow with a total of 2854.6 points.

So there were about 38 gliders for the week. The week was about normal for Horsham Week, some days were good, others not so good, but everyone had a good time all the same.

The following is a summary of the week from Bruce Cowans 'Horsham Week 2007' web site. The tasks flown, the daily results and final results are all available. So go to; http://www.printerschoice.com.au/horsham2007/Results.htm and check out the details of the week.

There is also a photo gallery with over 150 photographs taken during the week, so if you have the time and the band width why not have a look at the people and highlights of Horsham Week 2007. The address of the Photo Gallery is; http://www.printerschoice.com.au/horsham2007/horshamPics/index.html

Saturday 3^rd February, competition day 1. A great day for the first day of Horsham 2007. A hot day and a late start, with many not starting the task until 3:30pm with good height. Heights up to 8000' were achieved on task, although distance between climbs was large.

Sunday 4^th February, competition day 2. The winds were stronger than on Saturday, with higher temperatures required to achieve good heights in an ever warming airmass. The start was later than on Day 1. A shorter task was set, with good climbs to 7000 feet in the later part of the day. Most pilots had a good day out on task.

Monday 5^th February, competition day 3. The day started out very well, with strong climbs to 8000 feet and good wave above that, some pilots started above 9000 feet. A 218km task was set due to an expected cool change in the afternoon and strong winds before that. Unfortunately the change came through earlier then expected and most pilots outlanded, with only a few of open class finishing. An earlier start and longer legs made the difference today!

Tuesday 6^th February. A Run Task was set for the day, however due to very strong southerly winds the day was later canceled. The pilots meeting was held instead.

Wednesday 7^th February, competition day 4. Conditions were better than on Tuesday, although the winds were still strong. The same task as Tuesday was set. Some high cloud coming across during the day made for interesting flying, however the Run Task was great fun and really enjoyed by all.

Thursday 8^th February, competition day 5. Windy again today, this time from the south, and only low altitudes available. The first leg was completed by many not seeing more then 3000' AGL, with broken thermals that were hard to work. Most pilots scratched around the course.

Friday 9^th February. Today was simply too windy, and after sports class was launched, the day was canned due to high winds and poor conditions.

Saturday 10^th February, competition day 6. The last day of the competition. A Run Task was set into a strong southerly day. There were some cues, which kept Old Bill Hatfield happy! - But the day was cycling fast, and if you got low you were out. It was a day that reshuffled the points table.

So another Horsham Week has finished. Again thanks to all the people who made the competition possible. Lets all look forward to next year. Another chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

The Things You See At The Aerodrome

Doug Brooke sent in some pictures of a recent visitor to the aerodrome. It makes even the 'Elvis' helicopters look small.

The Holden Blimp refueled and flew a couple of laps over Horsham on Monday 12^th February while on the way to the car racing at Adelaide.

One final picture of the Holden Blimp. It's a pity we can't tow a big banner behind the tug that says 'Come Gliding at Horsham' or something a bit more catchy.

Another Test Passed

Ivan Jackson, a recent solo pilot in the Jabiru completed his flight test and hour requirements for the issue of his RAAus pilots certificate on Sunday 14^th January. Congratulations Ivan and well done. Ivan will now be moving on to his cross country and navigation training.

T31 Re-Rigged After Re-Paint

The T31 (which was the club's first glider) was rigged at Horsham last weekend after being repainted by Jo Luciani. This was a job for performed by members of the Vintage Glider Association. The whole operation went very well, there was only a bit of blue language coming from the mouths of these elder statesmen of the gliding community. Max hope to use the T31 for publicity purposes before it is de-rigged and shipped off to the Gliding Museum.

Pictured are Max Hedt in the centre, John Ashford to his right and Allan Patching to his right. They are all smiles now, but earlier the language! More pictures of the T31 can be found in the Photo Gallery of the club's web page.