Flying the IS28 in the Club class Nationals with Mike Pettican

When the GCV bar opened on a lazy afternoon a day before the comp the answer was no, unfortunately after a few more beers being put in front of me and later on in the night I had finally agreed to take part in the madness. As most of the comp was hampered by the smoke from the bush fires we only flew three days, even after 5 hours in an IS28 you never want to see one again.

The first day was going to be a long task. It was an AAT to Pleasant Hills - Berrigan - Dookie and back home. We launched last to save sitting in the iron eagle for to long, once we had started we knew it was going to take a while, since only the edge of the first circle was just beyond oil tree lagoon. Once we got to the Murray we got a bit low and a bit worried so we pushed over to Corowa airfield just in case but we were able to scrap away. It seemed like it took an eternity to get to the first sector but once we brushed it we were on our way west to Berrigan by this time it was about five o'clock and it took a while to get where we were. Hitting the second sector just east of Rennie we ran back south as the day was starting to die. All we had to do was edge the last sector and run home but we were running too late and the day stopped. We made a successful outlanding north of Goorambat where thankfully Bruce Salter came and pulled us out with BXP, so in a way we got home but we were stuffed. So a lay day was in order already.

The second day we flew was the worst for us. After 5 hours in the back seat a few days before, I was still buggered but the Fearless GCV president made sure we were going to be flying today after a deal we made at the bar. Today's task was another AAT of Echuca - Berrigan - Pecheelba East. From the start we knew we were going to have a tough day. We got into the first two sectors but outlanded at Wilby. We just basically got sick of it and lost all our concentration, got uncomfortable and cramped up and it lead us to getting frustrated at each other which brought us undone for the day, but on the up side we learnt so much from it, which would make us better pilots in the long run. But the real story about this day was the retrieve. We outlanded in a wheat stubble on a total fire ban day, so the tug was not going to help us, and being it the day when the mid air happened everybody else was out helping on that. We went to the farmers house to find his son the only one there, and by the look of him he didn't have much of an idea what was going on from the look of his bloodshot eyes and his "know your mushrooms" t-shirt. We then wandered on into the village hoping to find a shop or pub open, but no we landed in the wrong town, if we had of landed at Tungamah, where the old Burrumbuttock publican now runs, we would have been laughing. We wandered into a house to see if we could use there phone, lucky for us they were ultralight pilots and agreed to let us use there phone and gave us a couple of beers. After we left there, we were waiting for the retrieve to turn up. We found the pub that had been abandoned for a long long time. Then an angel (he wasn't all that good looking) arrived in a white falcon station wagon claiming to be a traveling beer salesman by the name of Phil Henderson, who showed us what good clubmanship is all about, with a slab of beer on ice. After we sat and had a stubby outside the Wilby pub and told us what the story was we jumped in and went back to the glider and tied it down for the night, as we would have to get a team to come and get it the next day after everyone was out on the mid air retrieve. Another lay day was in order to the scorer (thanks Dennis). The next morning two car loads of us went out to pick it up out of the paddock. With a few people who knew how to de-rig an IS28 it seemed easy and we were soon on our way back to Benalla. Big thanks has got to go to the retrieve team that came out to help us especially Phil and George for bringing their vehicles.

The last day we flew was the last day of the comp. I'm still buggered if I know why we flew anyway since the weather was looking pretty ordinary but we got away. The task was another AAT (which are becoming quiet popular in club class these days) Elmore - Berrigan - Dookie. We seemed to belt along the first leg alright, we changed our speed from the first two days because we were losing out in the glide every time, we got to Shepparton and nipped the first sector noticing from 7000ft a glider in a field, what pleasure we did get out of that knowing we had beaten someone already, only to find out it was Max Kirschner in his LS4. We pushed north into the Berrigan sector where it all turned a bit sour, with the cu stopping and turning blue into still air we managed to work our way through it and nipped the second sector, knowing that we were coming home through the last sector anyways, but we started to get low, and when we were on a downwind into a strip west of St James we thought it was all over again. We hit about half a knot and worked as hard as we ever had, to make sure it was going to get us home. It worked gradually getting higher and with a northerly slowly taking us home we made sure we had plenty of height and we swore we could hear the cheer from the ground as we called "Benalla finish CQD heavy ten k……. SPEED FINISH". We had made it, one out of three aint bad in an IS28 we thought. What made it sweeter is that we came 12th for the day as the rest of the field outlanded.

All in all it was a pretty good comp bar the bushfires and I learnt a lot from flying the IS28 and flying with Mike, I think it makes you a better pilot. As the old saying goes "good pilots fly well in anything, bad pilots fly bad in everything". Competitions are great fun as well, to be social with other pilots and to see how well you fly against some of the top pilots and of course there is a wealth of knowledge and you will always learn more about this fantastic sport. Id like to thank the GCV and John Switala for lending the IS28 and for the IS28 aerotow retrieve fund. Also the pilots we flew against and to the Competition directors and helpers.

Adam "Charlie" I'Anson