Several gliders were rigged this morning (most crews would have seen the wonderful orange glowing sun rise) By 8:30 all the Australian gliders have been prepared for the day, towed out to the staging positions beside the launch points, having been weighed on the way out. Time for breakfast and last minute items to be attended to before briefing. After briefing we have a team meeting and arrive out
at the gliders just before the marshaling scheduled time. With 100+ gliders moving out onto the runway all at the same time it is a fascinating site to see. Launching is very efficiently done, the tugs get to do a beat up every lunch as the fly down to 50 maybe 100 feet to drop the ropes. Very experienced tuggies and they each do about 8 launches and very accurate landings in really short tight areas. Once the launch has finished we wait for the start of our pilots and then it is usual to go shopping for food and bits of electronic equipment. Team managers are doing a fabulous job as are the specialist team members, electronics communications weather – no that’s not three people thats only one guy (Alex) and we have a glider maintenance person (Paul) in the crew who is a yank but it is so good to have someone who can fix things.
Keep you posted regards,
Keep you posted regards,
Greg Jackson
