This competition day was held at Wardell, 8 miles south west of Bathurst, where the Club had held competition days many years ago. For various reasons, the Club had returned to Raglan in recent times, but the return to Wardell proved very popular with members. Fifteen braved the bleak conditions to try their luck in competing on a one way only uphill strip. The strip is mainly used for agricultural operations, but I must say that it is a better class of ag strip and I would not suggest that members try landing on some of the other strips used for super spreading.

The first task was a short field take-off and this was carried out quite well. The flight manual states that we should use 10 degrees of flap, hold on the brakes while increasing to full power, release the brakes and accelerate down the slope until we reach 50 knots, rotate and climb at 56 knots. When clear of obstacles, retract flaps and resume normal climb. Some tried to lift off too early (a reasonable reaction with the trees looming up), but not a good technique as you can’t do too much manoeuvring or climbing with a very low air speed. The acceleration at that point with the steep slope was very rapid and it didn’t take much longer to get to the correct rotation speed of 50 knots.

Probably the main problem with the 500 ft circuit and the emergency landing as well, was orientation. Quite a few lost sight of the strip and flew some unusual circuit patterns. Most approaches and landings were ok and pilots were aware of the need when landing on an uphill strip to have that little extra speed to “flare and fly”. This is necessary as the change in attitude in the flare is significantly greater when landing on an uphill slope.

The instrument flying was reasonable, but I was disappointed in the steep turns. Few were prepared to have a good look out before rolling into the turn, the angle of bank was rarely maintained at 45 degrees and in most cases the aircraft was out of balance. Once again the secret is to look outside (not head down looking at instruments) and getting your cues from the attitude of the aircraft to the natural horizon. Any changes in attitude will be picked up much more readily looking outside the cockpit. You should be able to feel whether the aircraft is in balance or not and apply the appropriate amount of rudder. Always remember that more rudder is required when making turns to the right. Turns to the left are helped by the engine torque, which in turn, then opposes turns to the right.

The emergency landings were all successful, but cockpit checks were for the most part incomplete and clearing the engine was rarely carried out.

Best on the day was Peter Ticehurst with 66 points from Errol Chopping on 63 points and Ed Collins on 62 points.