The last few weeks have been wet and our grounds have had a lot of rain.  We need it, but it does affect our operations - in particular how we handle takeoffs and taxi-ing.  While everything is lovely and green, we need to make sure that as much as possible we avoid taxi-ing over any puddles or standing water.  Roy, our dedicated grounds keeper, does a great job of moving our taxiways and runways around to keep them working all year, we need to help him out by sticking to the marked taxiways and if you notice anything getting muddy, please let us know ASAP.

PLEASE STAY OFF THE BRAKES unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!

We also need to use soft field take off techniques, in our training aircraft this means getting the nosewheel off the ground early to reduce rolling resistance and using our recommended flap settings.  In the Jabirus that's a 1 stage takeoff, in the Warriors and Archers, two stages.  If you're not sure, we can show you how, just book an instructor for a quick sortie and we'll get you proficient. This is a great technique to know about, as many country strips are grass, and being able to do a good soft-fielder can be the difference between making a trip go-ahead or not.

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