After following the weather pattern over the last week it appeared that Saturday 18th October 27, 2003 had great potential to be a fabulous day for flying. An intense low with two fronts one heading North and the other South was being sandwiched between two highs that covered the remainder of the continent. Temp trace indicated the thermals would go above 10,000ft. The wind was strong 20kts on the ground coming from the North.
Mark advised to take a reasonable high tow, releasing at 1900ft and climbing to over 6,000 in my first thermal of the day. The following 3 hours I spent cruising to the West over towards Morgan and down to Swan Reach in thermals averaging 8.7 on the Borgelt. Best climbs were at times better then 10kts and even under the full cloud cover of the front climbs to 11,250ft were possible.
Observations of the flight: Another memorable flight offering total enjoyment, early in the day a week trough to the South proceeded the frontal systems but with strong upper head winds and loads of sink around I was not venturing there. Graham Francis reported he might have contacted to the South of the airfield lift that was being pushed up by the trough. What a totally relaxing experience, don’t you just love spring...gj
GregJ
- Wednesday, November 12, 2003 at 18:56:39 (CST)
Sunday the 29th September 03 emerged as a beautiful crisp sunny morning with a thick cover of frost on the ground. Until 10am the aerodrome had very little wind, however with a couple of fast approaching cirrus bands moving in from the west this was a sign of things to come.
The wind had picked up to around 15kts with the cross wind slightly favoring Rwy 02. At 12:25pm as a band of cirrus moved through John Hudson provided me with a tow to 2200ft. What a treat it is to fly the Discus VH-GHP, this glider has recently had its annual inspection and looks and feels like new, thanks again to the workshop Craig & Mark. If members have the availability and a few basic skills I am sure they could do with a hand to complete inspections of our Club gliders.
The first hour was spent thermaling in 4 knot thermals up to 4000ft. They very broken and elongated sometimes contactable by pushing into wind or searching slightly down wind, it was difficult to fly up wind to the North West of Waikerie as heavy sink areas (8kts down) required large course deviation to find areas of less sink.
The second 1-½ hours was exhilarating yet challenging. During the afternoon a trough followed by the tail end of a cold front (sandwiched between two highs) moved though Waikerie. This variable weather produced very unstable conditions with 8 to 10kts of lift to 8500ft, above 5000ft the thermal were wider and rougher than a mid summers day.
From observing the cloud formation sheer wave was evident, pushing up wind through the vertical streaks of cloud (rotor?) did not leave enough height to contact the tertiary wave pattern. After the variable weather patterns had moved through searching upwind in the direction of Morgan I found widely spaced late afternoon trigger sources were producing 4kts to 4000ft. After 3 ½ hours of this totally enjoyable experience it was time for me to land.
Observations of the flight: Windy day with several layers of wind sheer, elongated thermals that required chasing, lift was cycling as weather patterns changed, there were periods when it was necessary to fly to another area (sunny spot) to find lift, strong and rough thermals, water ballast would have been useful, for anyone lucky enough to contact the wave over the aerodrome Diamond height was possible but only for about an hour, I would have liked another glider or two for company...gj
GregJ
- Wednesday, November 12, 2003 at 18:52:56 (CST)
The October newsletter is here: welcome to Mike Valentine, members' flying days, more of Bernard's ridge tactics, and other news.
WGC-October-2003.pdf, PDF file, 154k
Craig
- Tuesday, October 14, 2003 at 10:01:25 (CST)
The September newsletter is here, with more of Bernard's article on ridge lift and other news.
WGC-September-2003.pdf, PDF file, 154k
Craig
- Monday, September 08, 2003 at 16:15:50 (CST)
Here is the Club newsletter for August 2003. Photos this time!
WGC-August-2003.pdf, PDF file, 82k
Craig
- Thursday, August 07, 2003 at 16:20:22 (CST)
Here is the Club newsletter for July 2003.
WGC-July-2003.pdf, PDF file, 34k
Craig
- Thursday, July 03, 2003 at 16:05:43 (CST)
And here is the newsletter for June 2003.
WGC-June-2003.pdf, PDF file, 34k
Craig
- Thursday, July 03, 2003 at 16:02:33 (CST)
The Australian National FAI Club Class Championships will be held at Waikerie in January 2004. WGC will be hosting the event with assistance from SAGA. Details will be coming to this site.
(announced a couple of weeks ago)
Pete
- Tuesday, June 03, 2003 at 18:23:26 (CST)
More happens at Waikerie than what's on the Recent News page! Here's a list of the badge claims made at Waikerie this season. Well done, everyone!
Pete
- Tuesday, March 04, 2003 at 19:01:27 (CST)
Saturday 25th January - Peter Page, John Marsh and myself flew into Waikerie from Port Augusta in a Cessena arriving at 9:30am after a very smooth flight. I got my Nimbus 2 prepared with 100Litres of Water and launched at 2pm as the Cu's starting popping to the east of Waikerie. The day needed a trigger temperature of 41 degrees which we reached at 1pm.
I decided to go east first and headed off to Pirlta then Peebinga then Morgan then Woolpunda then Waikerie. A total of 504km in 4hrs at 125km/hr. I stayed above 10,000ft for the entire flight and my best height was 14,000ft.
The temperature was a lovely 8 degrees as compared to 46 degrees on the ground. A trough went through that night and the next day was much cooler and with climbs to only 3,000ft predicted, we decided to fly back to Port Augusta.
Peter Robinson
- Tuesday, January 28, 2003 at 17:44:38 (CST)
I spent 2 days at Waikerie at the weekend for a total of 4 hours flying. The flights were not spectacular by some standards but for a pilot who has not decided whether he is a cross country pilot or a local soaring pilot, a 3hr 140km triangle on Saturday with a maximum height of 6000' is a significant (albeit slow) flight.
Peter Page
- Monday, January 13, 2003 at 12:13:43 (CST)
We've had some hot days in the Riverland, with thermals going amazingly high. Morgy took this photo of his altimeter indicating about 17,000 feet on Monday 16 December. Apparently it was cold, and apparently he was very close to getting a Diamond height gain under Cu.
Pete
- Wednesday, December 18, 2002 at 17:01:58 (CST)
The Basic Cross Country course went well again. The weather didn't give us any "huge" days, but that's not what the course is about. Dirk Seret flew all three legs of his Silver C. Rod van den Brink flew the five hours and height gain parts, but the weather near the turnpoint wasn't playing the part and claimed three other avid aviators.
Jim Kelly has sent in a collage of his photos of the week - the PDF is worth a look. Thanks Jim! It's 1.2 MB in size (maybe 5-6 minutes for a modem), and you may need Acrobat Reader to open it.
Pete Siddall
- Saturday, December 07, 2002 at 19:26:09 (CST)
South Australian Gliding Association has just completed its training week at Waikerie which follows on from the winter lecture program for coaches.
Thanks are extended to Bruce Taylor who came at Regional Coach Catherine Conway's request, and flew with many of the coaches.
The airfield was a busy place with the basic cross country course also on, and some classroom exercises were shared.
In addition to the flying where people tried to apply the techniques introduced in the classroom, Friday saw thermal, thermal wave and lee wave combine. Highest went Bernhard Eckey & Dave Hichens in the ASH25, with the cooperation of Melbourne Centre to climb to 17,500'.
A number of pilots flew to and from their home clubs (Balaklava, Adelaide, Adelaide Hills) with their sailplanes before, during and after the course.
The dinner on Saturday night saw certificates and recognition or encouragement awards handed out.
Thank you umpires, thank you ball boys. (the Waikerie crew who provided support, food, and keep the centre in shape to handle these sorts of influx)
Emilis Prelgauskas
- Monday, December 02, 2002 at 16:59:53 (CST)
It's getting hotter, summer is nearly here, and the club is preparing for the season.
Mike Maclachlan is taking in the local setup: he will be resident tuggie/instructor for the summer.
Herr Fritz flew with us for a week. Anders is here, and has prepared the ASW-22 and done some flying. On Monday he flew Notts Well - Loxton wheatbunker - Pelican Point - Waikerie. Another day he reached 8000 feet in wave.
Pete
- Friday, November 15, 2002 at 22:02:37 (CST)
Waikerie International Soaring Centre
Waikerie, South AustraliaOFFICE ADMINISTRATOR - WAIKERIE INTERNATIONAL SOARING CENTRE
Expressions of interest are invited for the above position. This is a full time permanent position responsible for the organisation, management and operation of the business office of WISC. As part of the WISC team it maintains all the financial, staffing, booking and office systems and provides advice to the CEO and Board of Directors on all aspects of these operations. It also undertakes secretarial/treasurer duties for the Waikerie Gliding Club and WISC Boards of Directors. There are close working relationships with both staff and customers and flexible working hours are required to satisfy the non standard and seasonal nature of operations. If this position appeals to you contact John Ryan on 08 85412644 or email: wisc@riverland.net.au for further details.For Basic and Advanced Cross Country Course information, please read the Events Calendar page.
Mark Morgan
- Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 12:13:01 (CST)
June 25th 2002
The shortest day of our year has just passed. This means the days will only get longer now to afford pilots more flying. Over the last weekend we were visited by the Sporting Car Club of South Australia. Some 50 beautifully restored sports cars from Porche, Jaguar, Corvette and to the Mini Cooper S were all to be seen when the club stopped over during their annual weekend tour. Many members enjoyed flights with others having to come back on the Sunday to have their flight. Comments about a revisit were in the wind on their departure.
The sky has shown quite a number of active wave days which is a little unusual for this time of year. As a matter of fact I have just ventured outside to photograph the approaching moving wave! A number of cold fronts have moved through which had some of the members a little excited about the prospect of frontal lift. The cloud formations that accompanied the fronts were quite spectacular!
Mark Morgan
- Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 12:11:21 (CST)
June 13th 2002
Mark Morgan has been out with a digital camera taking cloud pictures. If you know Morgy, you'll probably guess what kind of clouds take his fancy.
Pete
- Clouds 10 June, 16k
- Sunset in May, 206k
- Thursday, 13 June 2002 at 17:01:02 (CST)
May 4th 2002
The warm northerly air streams mixed with the upper moisture had a very uncharacteristic few days peaking with 9,800 foot cloud base on Saturday which worked well into the late afternoon.
A couple of members along with an exasperated group of British Pilots had a ride on the strong vertical currents available. You should have been there!
This has been the warmest May in Australian history since early last century. The very low rainfall this season has now seen the halt to the water flow of the River Murray in this area. We are all hoping for rain soon to feed the thirsty, dry countryside.
Mark
- Friday, May 10, 2002 at 09:10:31 (CST)
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