For those poor unfortunates who weren’t able to make the end-of-year festivities pool party at Cath’s place yesterday, here’s a run-down of the awards that were handed out at the event
- Harley Award (most meritorious cross country flight) – Derek Spencer for his truly epic543km flight in the MotorFalke earlier this year. The Falke is designed neither for speed nor comfort so flying that far that slowly in that aircraft was a mighty effort of endurance as well as skill.
- Duncan Award (most improved pilot) – Leigh Stokes deserved the award since he’s not only been making huge strides in competition flying throughout the year, but he’s also recently qualified as both an instructor andas a coach!
- Winch Engineer’s Award – Leigh Stokes earned this for his tireless efforts on all three of our winches. Anyone who’s flown at Stonefield this year will likely be well aware of how much work he’s put into the winches.
- Wildlife Award (destruction of flora & fauna) – Leigh Stokes. The kangaroo he collided with on the road to Stonefield on his way home from an interstate flying camp does not.
- Wheels Up Award – Eddy Au who rolled his car on a straight dirt road (with no other traffic nearby) on the way to Stonefield. So he “literally” landed with the wheels of his car he was upward when they should have been downward.. Eddy couldn’t be there to collect the award in person so Cath received it on his behalf.
- Can’t Keep It Up Award (cross country disappointment) – Leigh Stokes and Teal as a team effort. It was Coaching Week, the weather looked magnificent, and a 200km cross country task was set. Did they achieve it? No, they did not. They landed just outside of Eudunda, approximately 25kms from Stonefield.
- Creative Rim Award (destruction of wheels, suspension etc.) – Cath Conway for her efforst with exploding tyres and trailer destruction.
- Keeping It Up Award – Simon Hackett, for his support in enabling AUGC to acquire the Janus two-seater.
Simon Hackett was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Adelaide, and AUGC had been asked to present it to him. This award is awarded to AU alumni who have enhanced the reputation of the University through outstanding service to the community or who have made an outstanding contribution in their chosen fields. In Simon’s case, he was awarded it in recognition of his contribution to advancing the IT industry, including involvement in bringing the internet to Australia in the late ′80s, and through his company Internode, launching Australia’s first ADSL2+ broadband service. Simon was also awarded AUGC Life Membership for his ongoing support in keeping us flying. Over the years he has assisted us in getting both K13s, both K8s and the Janus, as well as being supportive in all sorts of other ways. Finally, Simon was also made Patron of AUGC as a “thank you” to recognise just how much he has contributed to our club in so many ways.