How could I know when I arrived on the airfield the the grass, which seems to be growing at an inch a day, would cause us so much grief. I decided it would not be a good idea to risk flying the Vega with its low wings so the dozen or so people who turned up were somewhat limited for choice as the Ka8 was in dock for its ARC and I had sabotaged the newly restored JMX. So I got to working my way down the training list while the others shared the Puchacz. Rob and Chris K rigged the Cirrus and with a lot of harmony and understanding it worked out quite well. UNTIL…
We found we were missing two items – to wit: one Puchacz and one Ken Hansell
It turned out that Ken had gone off the lush Rivar pastures and was looking for somewhere to land which more befitted his discerning taste.
So it came to pass that Steve B, Paul P, Roland, me and Darren set about finding enough bits to make a Puchacz trailer and then set forth to Herridge near Collingbourne Kingston. It was at this point that I realised just how much grief the long grass was going to cause us. Had it been shorter Ken would have been flying the Vega – how much easier to retrieve.
On our arrival we found that Ken had parked the Puch in the middle of a hundred acre billiard table.
Ken had sought out one of the best kept lawns in Wiltshire, home to no less than our gracious Queen’s ex racehorse trainer – the inimitable Richard Hannon. http://www.richardhannonracing.co.uk/
And so the Puch was derigged and trailered, we returned it to our humble hangar and joined Ken for a generous gift of fish and chips and ale and relaxed in the setting sun. Unfortunately by the time we were finished nobody was in a fit state to rig a glider, so regrettably that had to be left for the weekend.