Last Week we had a letter form Council asking for clarification of 3 simple questions. On Wednesday this week, Brian and I meet with Council to understand more clearly what it was they wanted to know exaclty. This was a productive meeting and we should have a responce to Council early next week. They indicated that the approvals wouldn’t take long, however they have a large number of approvals to process and it may take some weeks before they can process our application.

Last week we received the final set of plans for the new clubhouse from the engineers and today we entered the approvals phase of the project with the formal submission of the Development Application and plans with Singleton Council. It’s expected to take about 4 weeks to gain council approval. After today you can follow the progress of the application via the link from the Singleotn Council’s web site: http://portal.singleton.nsw.gov.au/eplanning/Common/Common/Terms.aspx

Funding from the ANZ bank has been approved and is available once we start construction. Construction is expected to begin 3 weeks after approval.

June and July have been very busy at the club with lots of construction underway. And we haven’t even started the new clubhouse yet!
Dave’s hangar now has a full concrete floor…

Damian drove the bobcat.

Mick and Aa Li have been building “Aa Li’s Bar & Grill” as an annex to their caravan.


It has already been christened with a Hogwa party.

Along with the christening, there was also a batism, or more accuately, a Mictism. Cameron got some chilli in his eye and Mick helped him wash it out.

Dave’s caravan has a new roof…

Mark kept himself warm by the fire while dreaming about summer cross-country distances.

Then there was even some flying, with some absolutely beautiful weather on the first Saturday in July. It started out cold and blowing hard, with lenticulars forming to the east. During the middle of the day the wind died and the thermals went to more than 6000ft.

Having had several meetings, phone conversations and emails with Singleton Council, they have presented a few hurdles. The first was they wanted a Land Developer to control and sign off on the entire project. Since the clubhouse and the bunkhouse are not dwellings, they now consider a Land Developer is not required. The second is they are demanding we have a toilet facility for disabled. This came completely out of left field, so now the toilet block will have one half male, and the other half female / disabled. Order forms have been signed and forwarded to begin manufacturing the bunkhouse and the toilet blocks. The deposit has been paid for the clubhouse and the engineering drawings should be available in about 2-3 weeks. By that time we will be ready to lodge the application to Council.

Watch this space to keep up to date with the progress of the construction of the new club house.

Following a ballot in favour of building a new club house last Saturday, we are in the process of confirming quotes with major suppliers and contractors. The next step is to pay deposts to access engineering drawings and prepare a DA for Singleton Council.

The committee has been working away on the plans for the new clubhouse for some time. Mostly it has been a problem finding something which we can afford which is better than the old clubhouse. This weekend, at the special general meeting, the club members voted on the proposal and accepted it.
Next we have to decide where to put it. Here is the current best proposal.

The ablutions and accomodation will be to the right of this, along the back of the current car park. This will mean that we will be able to park in front of the rooms like a motel.

The weekend started with Friday flying and recorded a total of almost 50 launches and 38 hours in club aircraft, also some personal bests. 24 launches on Saturday and 18 launches on Sunday with 8 students over the Saturday and Sunday. With the excellent weather on all three days brought out the best in everyone, from a packed house at the Saturday morning briefing to a Silver C claim by Mark Rowe (finally) and a Silver C height and 5 hours by Cameron Rowe. Dave Pickles test flew the PIC with new winglets and the first lessons for all 5 scholarship students. Thanks to all those who helped out to make this work so well, on the ground and in the air. More Happy Days to come.

D Hamilton.

Over the recent weeks the club had some very enthusiastic candidates trying their best to win the HVGC - Coal & Allied Scholarship. 5 very talented potential students dazzled the instructors with their knowledge and ability. Selecting 2 from the 5 is proving to be difficult and will certainly be rewarding for the 2 successful new students. First to show their stuff was Brad, Mitchell and Alex. The following weekend was Clarissa and Jordon. 

Unfortunately my photographer was AWOL when ready to fly with Jordon. This by no means underestimates Jordon’s enthusiasm, knowledge and ability. 

If you were listening to NXFM this morning on 106.9, you woud have heard their daredevil segment about a glider flight at Warkworth.  They’ve even posted a copy of the video on YouTube, so we can watch it here.  (Remember that she’s acting for the radio and needs to add a few screams for dramatic effect.)

Thanks to Damian for being the instructor for the flight.

Matt Hall has done his country proud yet again.  Another 5th place in only his second Red Bull race.

Matt’s performance exceeded all expectations.  He was the highest-placed rookie and beat many of the experienced pilots.  And he’s only flying a rented plane!  Most of the other pilots have modified their airplanes to suit their preferences but Matt is still flying a standard plane exactly as it came from the factory.

Matt was kind enough to give me a pit-pass for the race day so that I could come in and see how the pits are set up.  There are 16 portable hangars which are air-freighted around the world for each race.  The hangars are arranged in order of the pilot’s standing in the championship so Matt is near the front.

Click on the panorama to see a larger version.  Matt’s hangar is still hard to see because he’s so close to the front.

One of  the dramatic events of the race was a pelican hitting Hannes Arch, the championship leader, on the first lap of his final run.  The pelican was absolutely shredded and fell into the bay in small pieces.  The plane suffered a large hole in the tailplane.  This didn’t prevent Hannes from completing the course and getting third place.

The crowd wasn’t too crowded in the area I was in.  (Note the Perlan glider on the shirt.)  One of the interesting things about this kind of racing is that it’s possible for non-pilots in the crowd to understand what the pilots are doing wrong when they get a penalty.  It is obvious when the plane is too high or when it touches a pylon.