The RCGA's inaugural Taggerty aero tow was held over the ANZAC day long weekend on 24/25/26 April.  Although the weather forecast did not look too promising, participants were treated to steadily improving conditions from mid afternoon on Saturday and flying commenced around 2:00pm.  The flying site is located on private property and the owner, Steve, has prepared an excellent runway and supporting area complete with porta loo and BBQ facilities. Steve is a turbine guy so the runways are super smooth when compared to the average aero tow sites - check out the photos and in-flight video here and here . You can also chat about the event on the RCGA scale forum.

Henryk and I brought along our new "Pugnee" semi scale Pawnee tug and it was immediately put to work following its maiden aero tow flight.  Now that we have DA-100 power up front tows are only taking about 45 seconds from ground roll to release (1,200-1,500 ft when conditions allowed).  Col Collier commented that it was taking us longer to get back on the ground than the tow up to the release point!  During Saturday afternoon Paul Richardson maidened his new Reichard club Libelle which looks and fly's in a very scale like manner and having a semi scale tug just adds to the realism. Other regular starters included Garry McDougal with his DG600 and Ka8, Andy Smith - Ka6, Leon Carlos - Berkfalke, and Steve Lunney with his Salto and Kestral.  After a most enjoyable Saturday session we headed off to Alexandria for dinner at the fabled Commercial Hotel. Their speciality is chicken parmas and the variety covers more than two pages of the menu!

After a bit of rain Saturday night, Sunday turned out to be fantastic flying weather with a light breeze and shirt sleeve temperatures.  David Hobby and Theo arrived and Dave's big Cessna was soon sharing the towing duties which allowed everyone to have plenty of air time. Theo did not bring a scale model (strange) but contented himself with his HLG and F5J models.  Peter & Morgan Hill arrived and Morgan got in some good flights with his Multiplex Alpina and 1/3 scale Schweizer.  Steve Handbury (owner) had caught the scale bug and picked up a nice Southern Sailplanes Kestral in a unique all red colour scheme.  After a little re-arrangement of servos and installation of a tow release, Steve had a double maiden for his and the Kestral's first aero tow.  Big smiles and applause followed the successful first flight and I think Steve was overheard enquiring about other scalies for scale - once you get the bug!!!  Joel Pedder (DG303) and Wayne Jones (ASW22) were obviously having fun in the great conditions and the only down side in terms of mishaps was Garry Mac finding the very same tree as last time!  Unfortunately Gary's 1/4 scale K8 suffered significant damage when it hit the tree in almost exactly the same spot as his Lunak - commiserations Gaza and we hope you can manage to salvage the model.  Following a long day's flying we headed back to Alex for supplies as Steve had cleared a BBQ area in his huge equipment shelter.  The trestle table ended up covered in wine, beer, and food including pâté, dips and nibbles so everyone was extremely well watered and fed.  Even so a few die hards (was I there?) managed to keep up the banter back at the caravan park until well after midnight.

Monday dawned with low cloud and zero visibility so we took refuge in a cafe for a breaky of bacon & eggs and coffee.  We eventually headed back to the field however the low cloud prevented flying for an hour or so.  I decided to put my Tandem Falke motor glider up for a look see however it started disappearing after a very short climb so I contented myself with lots of low level circuits.  A few gaps started to appear and Dave Hobby decided to launch the big Cessna - which is still in its all white finish!  Fortunately the cloud burnt off quite quickly so towing got under way again.  Whilst there was not a lot of lift about the air was extremely buoyant as it was possible to get 15 minute flights with the odd loop, roll and speed run for good measure.  There is a small dirt mound adjacent to the pilot area and this seemed to attract a "king of the hill" competition.  During one flight Andy Smith decided to sit on top of the mound and looked very content until Henryk commented that it was an ant hill.  Never seen Andy get up so quick accompanied by the odd derisive comment until he realised H was only kidding.  During the afternoon Henryk and Dave Hobby were having fun flying and tuning up H's ASH29 and I continued to enjoy getting the feel of the new Tug and some high speed aero's with my ASH26. All good things must eventually come to an end and participants started to pack up and leave during the afternoon.  To avoid the Eildon traffic across the Black Spur, Henryk, Andy and myself had a nice diner at the Buxton pub followed by an easy drive home.

On behalf of all the participants I would like to thank Steve for making his property available to the RCGA and providing the fantastic supporting facilities.  Everyone commented that the location and amenities were ideal whilst being within a reasonable distance from home.  Although the numbers were down a bit due to the inclement forecast the weather patterns across the divide are almost always significantly different to Melbourne so it pays to get some local advice before making an unfortunate decision. All those who attended expressed a keen desire to come back again so keep an eye on the RCGA event diary for the next event.