I hoped, as I opened the curtains on that day at the end of the summer, that the weather forecast had been accurate. Thankfully it had. Blue skies, light winds from the west, temperature around 19C. What more could you ask for on this special day in the life of the GFC. Today was like no other day in the year, today was Competition Day.
As I approached the club I could see that there were some others there ahead of me and the aroma of the bacon and sausages wafted out through the open door; someone was busy. You could feel the anticipation of the day building as the banter had already started. Who was going to win the glide? Where will the treasure hunt lead us this year? All of these questions were being thrown around and of course there were lots of theories as to the answers.
Preparations were in place for the day’s events well in advance and there was great secrecy about the treasure hunt. Each year the winners of the treasure hunt have the pleasure of compiling the hunt for the following year and certain clues were always thrown out but most of them bogus; anything to put people off the scent; this year was no exception. The clues varied form “oh it’s an easy one this year” to “ watch out for the red herrings”. The treasure hunt could take anything from thirty minutes to perhaps an hour depending on how quickly you solved the clues and with this in mind the first of the teams were getting themselves prepared. Each team has a pilot and a navigator. Generally this means that a person having a private pilot licence would take a student with them as navigator and so include as many members as possible for this competition. There is some paper work to be sorted out and lines drawn on maps to help follow the clues. As usual, this year the compilers were going to make us work for the prize. The first of the teams headed off and the banter started up again. Which direction were they heading and so on; but of course the air traffic controllers had been alerted to the event taking place and would be using code numbers for locations so that other participants listening to the airport radio on the ground couldn’t figure out the route.
More and more members were arriving and the breakfast was still being served up; what was left of it. Other refreshments were available for everyone to help themselves during the afternoon. As the other teams were preparing themselves for the treasure hunt I saw that someone was getting a list organized for the other competitions. This has to be well co-coordinated as it meant that one of the instructors would position themselves alongside the runway to judge the following competitions and they could be there for some considerable time. There were three competitions for them to judge; firstly the Timed Circuit which required the pilot to state, before he took off, the duration of the flight from wheels off to wheels on the runway. There was always a second person in the aircraft with a watch to time it. Secondly, the spot landing which required the pilot to land the aircraft as close to the line as possible and thirdly, the Glide, which brought the aircraft to 1500 ft above the runway where the throttle was closed and they had to glide it down to the runway without putting in the power. People were arriving back from their circuits and the bragging has started “I was about 5 seconds off my time” says one person and they received back “well I was only 4 seconds off “ and so on the day goes. All of these three events are for the PPLs but so that the students don’t feel out of it they also have a competition. This again, is judged by one of the instructors, by bringing one student at a time for one circuit and judge them on their performance from take of to landing. Each student is judged according to their standard as some may have only started where others could be close to doing their PPL test. Everyone got in on the day and the weather held up for us.
As the competitions came to a close the day certainly did not, it was only beginning. The Barbie was fired up and the baked potatoes were cooking slowly amongst the coals. Soon the aroma of the burgers and chicken pieces permeated out through the clubhouse from the back and everyone gathered around and helped themselves. All of this washed down with a nice cool drink from a keg or bottle. Galway Flying Club, like so many other clubs I’m sure is blessed with an abundance of musical talent and on that day all of our musicians brought along their instruments. The party really got started and I could tell that this, like so many of the other nights held in the clubhouse, was going to be a night to remember. The day’s events in terms of competitions may have been over but the winners would have to wait until the end of November to find out the results. As you can imagine the banter continued and the anticipation of the results was nearly better than the competitions themselves.
We all look forward to the Annual Social which is held at the end of November as it is the culmination of all the years flying. This is always a wonderful event where the long awaited results of the Competition Day are announced. Other presentations are also made on this night such as The Duty Pilot of the Year and The Club Person of the Year.
