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| The
Weather
The weather was poor by the standards of
the past couple of years, but let's put it into perspective - we had
enjoyed such good conditions previously that it is easy to fall into
the trap of judging this year's weather by those standards. Had we been
first-time visitors to Sisteron we would have been thrilled at the
quantity and quality of the flying , even while chasing storms along the valleys. I think
there was only one clearly unsoarable day during our 3-week stay and even
that cleared by around 5:00pm (3½ hours before last landing). No: if we match the weather against what we might expect at home,
then Sisteron,
on balance, wins.
As for the weather forecasting: there
are a few lessons to be learned: don't always believe either the forecast
or the spin put on it by the CFI. Unless, of course, one or the other is
actually correct...
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| Once
a week, after flying is over for the day, the club continues to offer
weekly aperitifs to allow pilots the opportunity to come together and
discuss their flights. The president himself was always on hand to offer
both advice and pastis, as required. It was reassuring to know
that the club is doing its best to foster an atmosphere of friendship
(what's the French for bonhomie?) amongst its
visitors.
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Claudia
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On the Grid
One of the joys of the past couple of years has been the good
nature and commitment of airfield staff in helping to get pilots off the
ground. We have fond memories of Claudia - her duties included laying out the ropes at the start of the day, collecting them from the strip when dropped by the
tugs, hooking us on if no-one else was available, passing on pilot and glider details to the
tuggies and logging gliders down again at the end of the day, all carried out
with good humour and a smile.
We are confident that her replacement, Aurelie, will prove
to be a worthy successor (the remainder of this text has been edited in a
spirit of enlightened self-interest!)
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There was little to criticise in the airfield
operation. The really important function is, of course, the tugging and this year I
have to say that the remorquers were brilliant. As mentioned earlier, they
were friendly, helpful, flexible and provided an excellent service. As for
costs, my tow charges ranged from €30 to €50, which seems reasonable by
UK standards, particularly in light of the soaring potential of the area.
While tows are actually charged out by the minute, these costs corresponded
roughly to launch
heights of 2000ft to 3500ft.
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Le Janus
The on-site restaurant continues to go its own way. If the
owners are so inclined, they are able to produce good meals but, as we
discovered on a few occasions, if they get a better offer from, say, a
visiting coach party, glider pilots are put firmly into second place. This
is not the club's fault - they have little influence on what is effectively
a completely separate facility.
My advice would be to dine elsewhere, at
least until they get their act together.
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"so when did we order the pizzas...?"
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| On a more positive
note, le Janus also owns the swimming pool which, for legal and insurance
reasons, is open only to visitors staying at their camp site. Up until
recently, visiting pilots and families who were staying off-site were
barred, causing some friction. So the club, applying some lateral
thinking, has paid an annual rent for one pitch on the camp-site. The club
is therefore resident on the campsite, so its members (that's all of us)
have full use of the pool...
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Action in the workshop...
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SuperBob
Saves The Day
This year Dave, after a reluctant break
from Sisteron last year, came down for the full three weeks with his Pik, looking
forward to an uninterrupted spell of aviating in the mountains. He will
admit that there were one or two problems. For one thing, his engine was
reluctant to start on most days, which was a nuisance and was put down to
the rather weak and foppish local electricity supply that was unable to
charge his manly batteries.
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A more dramatic problem arose when his
undercarriage collapsed on landing, early on in his stay. Amusingly, a local club member raced up and insisted on towing the Pik off the runway (c'est tres dangereuse...),
until Dave pointed out that the hook was sitting under several hundred
kilograms of glass-fibre...After retrieving the glider, poor Dave was left
with the more serious problem of significant damage to the u/c system and facing the rest of his holiday without his glider.
To the rescue came Bob and Ken who, along with Andy, Rob and an impressive
array of tools, spent a whole day in the club's workshop devising a
solution and making the necessary temporary repairs to get Dave on his way
again. To their enormous credit, they managed it and Dave was able to fly again on the next soarable day. Terrific work by a gang of brilliant and (it has to be said) extremely unselfish people...
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| Costs
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| How
much does it really cost? For your interest I have produced the table
below, which shows extracts from my logbook and all my personal
flying-related costs that were incurred during our stay at Sisteron this
June.
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Date |
Distance
km |
Time
hh:mm |
Daily
Membership |
Aerotow
Cost |
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05-Jun-05 |
208 |
6:03 |
12.00
€ |
34.00
€ |
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06-Jun-05 |
538 |
6:52 |
12.00
€ |
36.00
€ |
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07-Jun-05 |
278 |
5:18 |
12.00
€ |
29.00
€ |
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08-Jun-05 |
361 |
6:03 |
12.00
€ |
38.00
€ |
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09-Jun-05 |
236 |
5:55 |
12.00
€ |
31.00
€ |
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10-Jun-05 |
444 |
6:35 |
12.00
€ |
29.00
€ |
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11-Jun-05 |
462 |
5:25 |
12.00
€ |
34.00
€ |
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15-Jun-05 |
339 |
6:06 |
12.00
€ |
36.00
€ |
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16-Jun-05 |
286 |
5:17 |
12.00
€ |
36.00
€ |
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17-Jun-05 |
420 |
6:08 |
12.00
€ |
39.00
€ |
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18-Jun-05 |
324 |
5:06 |
12.00
€ |
44.00
€ |
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20-Jun-05 |
285 |
4:18 |
12.00
€ |
22.00
€ |
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21-Jun-05 |
461 |
4:01 |
12.00
€ |
35.00
€ |
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24-Jun-05 |
445 |
6:34 |
12.00
€ |
53.00
€ |
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Totals |
4887 |
79:41 |
168.00
€ |
496.00
€ |
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Total
Daily Costs |
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664.00
€ |
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Club
Membership |
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66.00
€ |
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Insurance |
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128.00
€ |
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Total
Flying Costs |
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858.00 € |
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