Gliding

Date: 10 February 2019

Front seat passenger list:

• Dave F
• Shannon C
• Sean F
• Deb B

Not the typical outing for an avid group of 4WD enthusiasts. Dave however, has always had an interest in flying small powered aircraft. After some flying he did in New Zealand last December, he put up the idea of trying out gliding instead.

Not known by many, is that flying has been an interest of mine since childhood. Such a suggestion got immediate and willing support from both myself and Shannon.

Initially planned to be a “boys day”, this needed variation after mentioning it to Deb.

Given that Dave and I have both seen how fearlessly Deb points her Patrol down tracks we “mere males” look at thinking “not today”, it really was no surprise at all that Deb wanted in on the gliding too.

So back in early February Deb’s Patrol was loaded up with the four of us and we headed for Beverley.

A hot day with clear skies meant a few bumps getting airborne – yet more importantly, it also meant good thermals.

Deb’s ride the DGZ is the same glider as used by Christian Grey to take Anastasia Steele flying at the end of one of the 50 Shades movies. A really useless piece of information to all us blokes, but Deb did know the scene in question, and I suspect a few others may too!

While Shannon looks on and Dave tries to work out how to get his GoPro into the cockpit, “Mike” in the striped shirt (pilot for my flight) supervises my being strapping in.

With more than 30 years flying experience, Mike’s “day job” is as a 737 Captain and Flight Instructor with QANTAS.

It was quite a surprise literally three days later to get tapped on the shoulder going through security at T3 by Mike in his QANTAS uniform!

Despite a car load of GoPro’s, Deb I think, is the only one of us that actually took any pictures in flight.

Overall it was an absolutely amazing experience. Although the flying bug isn’t going to bite like it did back-in-the-day, everything 4WDing and camping is still the favoured recreational pursuit.

We will from time to time still have a fly now and then, with Dave, Shannon, Deb and anyone else that’s interested. Perhaps a powered aerobatics flight next time!

The day concluded with dinner at a Hogs Breath where we were joined by Cindy F, and Lisa, Luke and Leah C.

Sean