We Attended the Dannevirke Dawn Raid Last Month Which Was a Good Trip Although It Was A

July, and into the second half of the year. The days are even stretching out a bit which is good for winter morale. We’ve had a good rain which has lifted the growth a bit. Rick is working hard to get our cattle through. He is having to resort to grazing them on the runway paddock behind a hot wire. They are very well behaved at this stage.

We attended the Dannevirke Dawn Raid last month which was a good trip although it was a little windy. Not unusual for Dannevirke.

Once again the CHB Frogley Cup team did an exceptional job and we increased our lead in the competition. The final round will be at Hastings Dawn Raid on the last Sunday of the month. Another strong showing from CHB will see us in possession of the Cup again. Dannevirke have been caring for it very well over the last year but it really does look more at home in our trophy cabinet.

Sunday last was the Wanganui Aeroclub’s Dawn Raid which is held at Flat Hills airstrip at Hunterville. Unfortunately the Waipukurau airfield was under a blanket of fog with occasional drizzle although those who made it to Flat Hills found a fine frosty morning over there. We had to make do with a nice cooked breakfast at the Hatuma Café.

The AGM was held last Thursday. There was a very good turnout on what was a pretty miserable windy night. (The weather station at the clubhouse measured a max gust of 59knots at around 1700. That’s the strongest gust I’ve seen recorded) Rick Gunson was elected as the new president. Chris Dooney as a new vice President and Phil Gray as the new Club Captain. The balance of the committee remains the same with those retiring by rotation being re- elected. The only change being Barry Gollan not making himself available for re election as a vice President.

Phil Gray, as the new CC is the contact now for aircraft bookings. His cell phone number is 021774317. Any ideas for activities or trips away, share them with Phil. One trip already talked about is an over nighter to Raglan. I for one have never been there and there has been at least 2 previous trips there cancelled due to bad wx. It may also be an opportunity to catch up with our new friends of the Gordonton Microlight Club.

It’s been a reasonably busy month flying wise with students.

Derek Simmons went solo in the Rans, my 2 CHB College students, Jonty Anderson and Rueben Hansen have started their circuit training and are both going very well. We will have to time their training with their birthdays as both are still under age for a first solo. Simon White has returned from Japan where he was checking out his squash crop going to market and has a first solo imminent. Ross Hatfull is beating up the circuit doing solo consolidation in the Rans and is about ready to move on to some advanced exercises. Lea Giblin is keen on an aerobatic rating which we can’t issue because we are not a Part 141 org, but she can do the training with me as I have aerobatic instructing privileges. One of the anomalies of the rules. She has spoken to the Waikato Aeroclub who will issue the rating.

My Dannevirke students are also busy flying and hopefully I’ll have another ready for a flight test with Wayne Harrison from Hawera, very soon. A number of the Dannevirke Flying Club are heading for Oshkosh at the end of the month. They have a great 3 week trip planned. Will have to lean on one of them for a report in next month’s newsletter. Oshkosh is on my bucket list.

The Piper Tomahawk, WRB, from Dannevirke is being parked at the Waipuk airfield for the next 3 weeks while her regular pilot, James Last is away at Oshkosh. She will be available for anyone who wants to do some time in her with me. Let me know if you are interested.

The next Dawn Raid will be at Hastings on Sunday 31st July. Put your names on the board or let me or Phil Gray know. As mentioned previously, this will be the last round of the Frogley Cup so get some practice in.

Hawera is having their Dawn Raid on Sunday 14th of August. We usually try to go to this one as well.

After a 5 year journey, the Juno spacecraft locked into an orbit around our largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter, on Independence day this year. The feat has been likened to nailing a hole in one in a golf hole in San Francisco, from a tee shot hit from New York. Not bad!!.

Initially Juno will be in a 54 day orbit descending later to a 14 day orbit. The information sent will take 48 minutes to reach Earth. The first close in images and data are expected to released towards the end of August. The main aim of the mission is to find out the composition of Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere and maybe ascertain whether there is a rocky core. It will also capture data on Jupiter’s 4 main moons. In particular the icy Europa where the best chances of life in our solar system outside of Earth are expected.

Interestingly, at the end of the mission, the juno spacecraft will be purposely crashed into Jupiter, in case it accidently crashes into Europa or one of the other moons which may risk introducing contaminants from Earth.

Do some research of your own. This is very exciting.

Some trivia for you:

1797

First parachute jump. André-Jacques Garnerin dropped from about 6,500 ft over Monceau Park in Paris in a 23-foot-diameter parachute made of white canvas with a basket attached .

1852

First dirigible. Henri Giffard, a French engineer, flew in a controllable (more or less) steam-engine-powered balloon, 144 ft long and 39 ft in diameter, inflated with 88,000 cu ft of coal gas. It reached 6.7 mph on a flight from Paris to Trappe.

1908

First airplane fatality. Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge, U.S. Army Signal Corps, was in a group evaluating the Wright plane at Fort Myer, Va. He was up 75 ft with Orville Wright when the propeller hit a bracing wire and was broken, throwing the plane out of control, killing Selfridge and seriously injuring Wright.

1910

First licensed woman pilot. Baroness Raymonde de la Roche of France, who learned to fly in 1909, received ticket No. 36 on March 8.

1912

First woman's cross-Channel flight. Harriet Quimby flew from Dover, England, across the English Channel and landed at Hardelot, France, in a Blériot monoplane loaned to her by Louis Blériot (April 16). She was later killed in a flying accident over Dorchester Bay during a Harvard-Boston aviation meet on July 1, 1912.

I’ll give you some more next month.

Never annoy a woman pilot!!

That’s all from for this month.

Take the Spoon Out Of the Sink.

Ross Macdonald