HGFA Skysailor Magazine

30 SKY SAILOR May | June 2018 2017 XC Expedition News 37th Rotax Maintenance Course Another course has been completed at Caboolture over the weekend of 3 to 4 February 2018, with eight first-timers and one refresher attending. Organised by Mark Gentry from Caboolture Microlights, the classroom part of the course was set up in the new Club Rooms, thanks to the Caboolture AeroClub and the practical elements of the course were carried out, with kind permission of Perry, and Anthony who donated their Airborne XT-912 and X-Air 582 respectively. Carole MacNally Addendum: Ascent H2 Mini Variometer A word of caution following the good review I gave the Ascent H2 mini variometer (SkySailor July/ August 2017). Whatever you do, don’t drop the device on the beach – sand grains get into the edges of the four corner buttons, resulting in jammed buttons – which is what happened when I dropped my PG risers with mini vario attached on the sand when unhooking. Perhaps not everybody is as careless as I am, but it’s a little bit fiddly to dismantle and clean, you’ll need a special driver to undo the screws. When you have separated the halves, the buttons will drop out – then you’ll find that the buttons are not all the same, but two mirror-image pairs. So make sure the buttons go back where they came from on reassembly. Alternatively, secure with sticky tape on the display side before dismantling: You’ll then be able to remove and replace buttons one at a time. Be careful when separating – there are tiny wires joining the motherboard to the speaker. If you need to get rid of residual sand grains, you can use a compressed air canister available from electronic stores. Other than that – still a great little device. Rob Holmes NSW State Titles In February the NSW State Titles took place at Mt Borah near Manilla. Over 45 pilots descended on the small town for a week’s competition. After five tasks, Ollie Chitty (UK) won the competition on his Moyes RX5 Pro, with Scott Barrett in second place and Jonny Durand coming third. Scott Barrett took the NSW State Title home. challenging landing once the higher wind pushed to the ground. A quick discussion over the radio between the air and the ground, and Pete decided to go for it. As soon as Pete turned, like a pair of lemmings, Ben and I dumped trimmers and turned and burned after him. Common sense prevailed on the ground and no one else launched. We covered the 72km in 48 minutes with a maximum ground speed of 116km/h. Every second of that flight our eyes were constantly scanning trees and dams for the first sign of increasing wind speed at ground level. I can’t speak for Ben or Pete, but it wasn’t exactly a relaxing flight. Then in the distance, approaching fast, so fast Pete nearly overshot, was Jeff in the landing paddock, fire going with coffee hot and ready. It was a very welcome sight, and a huge relief to see the smoke from the fire drifting lazily upwards. As an aside note: In a recent discussion, it was suggested that slower wings are more efficient cross-country machines due to their better fuel consumption. I think, its like driving a Hyundai Getz across the Simpson desert because it has better economy that your 4WD. Sure, it will use less fuel, but mostly because it won’t make it. For PPG XC the key is get in the air and cover as much ground as possible before the air gets gnarly. An extra refuel stop is inconsequential compared to not making any headway. So, what did we fly? ➲➲ Andrew: Freshbreeze Polini 86 & Paramania GTX24 ➲➲ Justin: Freshbreeze Polini 190 & Paramania GTX24 ➲➲ Pete: Forbes Industries Trailblazer Polini 190 & Paramania GTX24 ➲➲ Brendan: Kangook Ros125 & Paramania GTX24 ➲➲ Ben: D3 Moster 185 with a Paramania GTX24 ➲➲ Marc: Nirvana 230 with ‘the other wing’ – Marc now flies a, you guessed it, Paramania GTX24. As always, a huge thank you to our support crew, Peter T, Captain Kirk and Justin G. These trips wouldn’t happen without them or the at home support from our wonderful partners. What’s next? 2018 is the biggest Paramania Australia Expedition yet: 1500km in 15 legs over two weeks. Andrew and I will be flying our new Freshbreeze X-Light two-seater trikes, if you can come and join us for the whole flight or maybe just a leg or two. There are limited places available to jump in the X-Light passenger seat for part of the trip. Final planning is done and we should be able to offer six pilots supported positions for the journey. As a Paramania Australia event preference is given to Paramania wing pilots. If you keen get in contact: Justin Shaw, 0407 884351 or see [www. paramaniaaustralia.com ].