Jason "Yoda" Reid writes:

What's so special about Dalby?

I can't answer for everyone, but I do know why Dalby is special for me, it's the air time and the people that make Dalby such a great place for cross country flights. Consistently great all-year-round, good soaring conditions average height gain around 8000ft combined with great terrain and plenty of roads fanning out in all directions from Dalby township and a friendly farming communities who are amazed at what we do and how far we have just flown. I never get tired of answering their curious questions.

On an average weekend we can get around ten pilots showing up early at the hangar, eager for a good weekend of cross country flying. The most common direction we tend to fly is west towards Chinchilla 80km, it's not uncommon to fly over 100km in winter and in summer flights regularly as far as Miles 120km down the road and Delacca 160km and beyond. When you combine all that with great aero towing facilities and a good bunch of pilots (hang glider and Tug) the hours and cross country kms clock up quickly.

In case you don't know Dalby it's a medium sized town on the eastern Darling Downs in Southeast Queensland approximately two and a half hours drive west of Brisbane. Our club is situated on the town airfield (virtually right in town) and we occupy a very spacious hangar with enough room for both Dragonfly Tugs and a few setup gliders. The Dalby Aerodrome Board kindly allowed us to clad one of their existing open structure hangars for a reduced rental agreement and continue to be very supportive of our operation.

We are very fortunate to have two Moyes Dragonflies permanently housed in our hangar, one owned by the club and maintained by Blaino who is also one of our many tug pilots within the club, not forgetting Smokey, our tug master. The other Dragonfly is owned by very generous club members Bruce and Annie Crera. We have excellent tug pilots and a wealth of experience with pilots from all aspects of aviation regularly attending the club.

Now about the flying: I'm not the best at keeping records of my flying (usually just a quick note in my work diary on Monday mornings), but I do know I have easily averaged over 200 hours in less than 80 flights per year every year since flying with the Dalby Hang Gliding Club A quick flick through my diary reveals entries like - Saturday 3rd February 07, Dalby to Ambi 315 kms six hours. Took off too late and blew a record day.

Sunday 4th February 07, Dalby to Dulacca 160 kms 2.5 hours, stayed high and going faster than yesterday, but landed early for easy Sunday retrieve. Sunday 11th March 07, Dalby to Kilkivan 160 kms 3.2 hours, awesome country north of Kingaroy, definitely room for longer flights heading this way to the north coast through to Bundaber, hit convergence line of SW and SE winds with dark street continuing out of sight to the north with average ground speed of 100 kph at trim, stayed above 9000 ft for last hour pushing a long way north of Kilkivan but back tracked to Kilkivan for easy Sunday retrieve.

Saturday 28 July 07 Dalby-Blackbutt 90 kms hours, nice blue winter day to 7000ft, easy to stay high and make Blackbutt for retrieve. It's probably worth noting that these flights were on my Wills Wings U2 160 kingposted glider. Conditions are truly awesome all year.

I, like so many Dalby club pilots, have logged so many great flights from Dalby that it's starting to become hard to remember any that really stand out, but one thing is for sure, I never get bored of flying this area and I never lose the butterflies before jumping into my harness as any day could be the "Big Air" day at Dalby. Speaking of big air, in case you were not aware our club hosts a great tow competition each year in March named the "Dalby Big Air". The next Big Air is a AA Sanctioned comp and will be held between the 9th to the 15th March 2008, practice day on the Saturday 8th March. Well it's officially registered as a competition, but to the regular Dalby crew it feels like any other flying day, lots of quality cross country flying, and plenty of beer, heaps of model flying and great laughs.

I love flying Dalby and I highly recommend the experience to anyone looking for consistent inland conditions, and amazing thermals. We also have a club Web site (thanks Tex) with more info on the 2008 Dalby Big Air go to for more info and registration for the Dalby Big Air 2008.

If you need assistance with learning the art of aero towing please contact me by email at . We ask that you join the club (only $80), have current HGFA membership, an intermediate rating, suitable gear and inland experience and the ability to shout a few rounds at the pub each night. In return we will provide tow instruction for free (by SSO's), training tows at a reduced rate and a bloody good time.

If your looking for a fun weekend of flying, catching up with some good pilots or happen to find yourself in the area, your always welcome to join in on the fun, drop me an email to see when we are heading out to Dalby next, your more than welcome to join us.

Jason "Yoda" Reid took the photos also.

Starting the first of December I will be reporting from Dalby at the Australian Record Encampment.

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