Krosno

My gliding division of Warsaw's aeroclub is buying a new winch. The old, Czechoslovakian made Herkules H4 will be replaced by a Moto-Hurt Ropczyce WS02 winch. This is the reason of my trip to Krosno. Because it is very much expected at EPBC we want it to be flawless when it arrives. If it would arrive and there would be any problems with how it works.. I don't even want to think of what they would do to and with us...
I picked up a friend after noon and we headed for our ride to Krosno via Ropczyce where we joined the rest of our "team" and had a look at the winch, got to test the systems and the way it drives. We then parked it on a gun carriage which took it to the airport in Krosno with us. We parked it at the airport and headed to the place that we where going to spend the night. That's how Thursday ended.

Friday morning, first thing after breakfast we directed ourself to the airport. The day surely started slowly. We took one Puchacz out and prepared it for flights. Meanwhile the winch guy got a basic tutorial of what and how. The plan was ambitious, very ambitious. We wanted to do 100 test runs. All in all we finished at 41 and ~2,5h of flight time. I did 8 flights during which I spent in the air 30 minutes. As there wasn't any other goal than to test the winch, we practiced a bit short and steep approaches and the accuracy of our landings.

I should also add a 20 minute flight on-board An-2 because of a problem with the winch that needed to be fixed. That'd be my first An-2 experience. FAN-TAS-TIC!
Summing it all up, we came up with a list of things that needs to be repaired or adjusted before we'll take the winch to Warsaw and present it officially to the rest. I would love to thank all the people that helped. Thanks!

Inside the winch

 One of the first departures

2014.03.30 A nice weekend... with gliders

Last weekend I began to fly again. 4 flights on Saturday, all four with an instructor. Sunday was spent at home and the second airport on other stuff.
This week it all was supposed to start on Friday afternoon when flights were supposed to be done. And so it happened, although only behind the plane as there was no one to sit behind the winch. No flying for me that day :( Saturday came with fantastic weather, but, I volunteered earlier during the week to spend it at an open day of one of Warsaw academies. We took the PW-5 after 7am and arrived at the place we where going to have our stand after 8am. All was set till 9. The thing kept on going for the entire day with children going in and out of the glider, a couple of people asked question about availability and prices of passenger flights (yes, we do offer ones like that also) and other things more sophisticated than "what does this do?". The event finished after 5pm and I was home after 6. Not bad.
That night we changed time to daylight saving time what meant an hour of sleep less. After all - it helped the next day.
Sunday morning - at the airport from 9am. All good except the number of two-seater gliders - just one, and plenty of people wanting to fly on it. It was flying time for 1 Jantar std3, 1 Astir, 2 Juniors and 1 Puchacz. The last one made over 40 flights that day, 5 of them with me, 3 solo ones. This resulted in the end of my period proceeding next steps to the license. Last flight landing at 7:03pm with the sun behind the clouds, almost over the horizon (sunset: 7:06pm). Even though I had to wait 6,5h for my first flight of the day it sure was worth it! Hope to get on with new things soon. And maybe some "older" spotting action will follow.

SP-3782 Puchacz, view on Bielany district.

Sorry for poor quality, phone made, lack of light.