I ducked into the club to get checked out in the 150 so I could get a little bit of cheap scenic flying in. I hadn't flown since January!!! so according to club rules I needed a quick check ride. Would I take P over to Maitland for the check and he could then pick up the Robin? Sure.
Nice takeoff when 100 ft off the deck my window blows open. No big deal. Check airspeed, balance, climb. Slowly reach out and grab it. I dont like my watch hanging out there. And bring it in. And shut it properly this time. Seemed closed on the checks. Oh well.
P had just set up a student for a solo nav into the Upper Hunter so the lifting of the fog was of vital interest. Willy was clear but west there was lots of low cumulus embedded in fog. It didnt look good from here, but as we reached East Maitland you could see that it was transparent enough for VFR and was dissipating in the very slight breeze from the west.
And at East Maitland, just over the top of the Model Aircraft field, P shouts look, two o'clock, model aircraft. What? Sure enough, perspective and distance making it look like a real low wing aircraft about 200 ft below our 1500 ft, a green radio controlled aeroplane. Flying straight and level parallel to our track about 200 m away. We are outrunning it (at 85kts!!) so I turn a little towards it to keep it in my view. It does a half roll then loops into a rolling hammerhead, then drops out of sight below us. We turn back towards YMND.
Nice approach into an empty circuit for 23 YMND and dropped of P while I fuelled up the Cessna. P wanted to wait to make sure the Robin started. It did after the usual pre0flight checks. By that stage all the fog-back-logged lessons and joy flights were starting up and I jsut managed to race to the head of the queue. Because of all the rain the grass taxiway was a big puddle so everyone backtracked to the detents and the 23 threshold. By the time they all arrived I completed my checks, and blasted off. The Robin two behind me.
Beautiful Saturday morning, traffic, coal trains, shopping centres, parks, sports, rivers and mountains. A lovely hour in the air.
