Gold!!

In my last post I mentioned that I'd passed the requirements for the FAI Silver Badge, and that I'd also completed two of the three requirements for the Gold Badge.  Well, it seems that I may have made a small miscalculation - the GFA, upon scrutinising my submitted flight trace, contacted me to advise that I had actually made a large enough climb to qualify for my Gold height gain, and thus I was awarded my Gold Badge as well as the Silver!!  As a bonus, I've also been awarded the first of my three Diamonds, for completing a declared task flight exceeding 300km.  More soon!

Super thermals, badge flights and more!

Woohooo!!!

What an absolutely amazing weekend! The weather over here in WA put on some of the best soaring conditions in years over the past week. On Friday, my mate Swain put in a huge effort and notched up a 1,000km FAI Triangle XC flight - the first ever in WA - and then capped it off with a second 1,000km on Monday! Three other pilots from other clubs in WA also completed 1,000km flights on Saturday and Sunday. It was very, very hot over here with only mild winds, and although we usually soar in the blue here we were spoiled by thermals topped with Cu's by noon every day. Thermals were very strong and were maxing out at well over 16,000ft, sometimes as high as 18,000ft.

So, what did this mean for me? A novice XC pilot with only a single solo XC flight under my belt? I went up and hammered it of course!

A harsh lesson learned

So, after last week's XC flight I headed up to the club again today to get some more flying in.  I didn't get to make an attempt on my Silver C as I had planned otherwise I'd be here to brag... unfortunately now I'm coming back with my head hanging in shame.  Read on after the jump to find out what went wrong...

Off the Leash

G'day all!

Exciting news from me today, and you may be able to guess what it is from the topic title.  Read on after the jump for more!

Family fun!

If you've been following along you'll know that last week I passed my exam for the FAI "C" Certificate.  One of the benefits this bestows upon a sailplane pilot is the authorisation to carry family/friend passengers.  When I was explaining this to my daughters, you can imagine what the immediate response was - "Take us gliding!!"  Read on after the jump for more...