and with the sunny day came the inversion (at just over 2,000'). That didn't stop the "Wednesday boys" packing in the launches - all 38 of them, 9 of which were over 20 minutes. Modesty stops me from mentioning who took longest flight honours with 54 minutes.
Colin was kept busy with checks. Bill O converted to the Vega. It was good to see Dave O (who used to be a member about 10 years ago and has been working overseas) who got back into winch launching. We were also able to welcome Brian L as new member.
Quite a day
Keesh and sunny sunday 25th march part 2
As Pete mentioned earlier, well done to Steve Gaze for converting to the Sport Vega, hope you have as much fun flying it as the rest of us do!
Phil
Keesh and sunny sunday 25th march
So why would anyone bring quiche for a BBQ? "No! More meat!" I protested but Claire was adamant. "How am i supposed to burn, err cook that?" I protested, but to scant avail. And that is how everyone came to enjoy quiche with the first club BBQ of the year. In GMT no less.
The next day dawned a little later, but was it time to get up? I had no idea if the alarm clock, phone, computer etc updated automatically or whether I was supposed to press and wind things. Finally, having decided it was time, I set off for a sunny and pleasantly warm day at the airfield with a promise to myself to visit Chris' shop for some proper timekeeping equipment!
Fresh from repairing the structural rendering on the clubhouse Steve Gaze jumped into the Vega for a type conversion.
Meanwhile the CFI was in a daze, due to the early hour I think, he had managed to rig enough seats for three of him (I'll leave the comments to you guys here) and was busy contemplating which one to try first. He did manage to make the choice and once the temp had risen he managed to soar in all of them.
In a spectacular timing miss (I think he was still in Olly era double summer time) Alan managed to fly whilst it wasn't soarable and then derig during the soaring window which lasted for a couple of hours from about 3 - oops.
Saturday 24th - Summer starts a day early
It may have been the day before the clocks "spring forward" for summer but the weather was more like June than March. Last Sunday I was glad I had my Ozee suit, this week it was shirt sleeves suntan cream. With the established high pressure came the more stable air, the inversion and the murk.
The day started with a slow launch rate but with only a few members in the morning and only circuits on offer that was hardly surprising. There were some scraps of lift on offer but it wasn't until 1:30 that anyone stayed airborne for that bit longer (Jim C in the Puchacz for 23 mins). Following Jim there were a number of flights around half an hour and a couple of over an hour. One of those being my flight in EEFy in which I got to 4,750 and took a wander to Hungerford and Newbury. Jon G was a happy bunny having got his second bronze leg and we have a new junior member (Helen, who took a TL a couple of weeks ago). Helen has the same initials as the Puchacz's trigraph so I guess it was meant to be that she should join us at Shalbourne.
The day was rounded off with a BBQ organised by Pete and Claire.
The day started with a slow launch rate but with only a few members in the morning and only circuits on offer that was hardly surprising. There were some scraps of lift on offer but it wasn't until 1:30 that anyone stayed airborne for that bit longer (Jim C in the Puchacz for 23 mins). Following Jim there were a number of flights around half an hour and a couple of over an hour. One of those being my flight in EEFy in which I got to 4,750 and took a wander to Hungerford and Newbury. Jon G was a happy bunny having got his second bronze leg and we have a new junior member (Helen, who took a TL a couple of weeks ago). Helen has the same initials as the Puchacz's trigraph so I guess it was meant to be that she should join us at Shalbourne.
The day was rounded off with a BBQ organised by Pete and Claire.
Sunday 18th March
A steady day with only limited soaring on offer. Rob J set the time to beat on the 4th launch with 21 minutes. That wasn't beaten until later on with a 36 minute flight by, guess who, yup Rob again. Grabbing as many launches as were on offer was Mark P, returning to the club after his 2+ year "rest". He hasn't forgotten how to fly :) Richard (DI thanks to a 2 way swap) was kept occupied with a couple of TLs one of whom was particularly keen, heading off with the plan to buy a book and return in 2 weeks time. 23 launches with a modest 4:13 hours flown.
Spring Sunday (11/3).
Technically spring isn't for a couple of weeks but anyone who turned out to fly on Sunday was rewarded with another lovely day, warm sunshine and light north westerly winds.
The Skylard, ops sorry Alan, Skylark was stooging about making the most of the weak thermals as was Messrs Keating and Jarvis in the Cirrus, along with the Duo flown by Bill.
Earlier the forecast looked as though we would be getting a potential cross country day but in the end it was only really good enough for some nice extended flights and that good ol' practise scraping in a weak and broken thermal.
We saw Paragliders by the score who mostly stayed towards the Gibbet, although I was unfortunate enough to have three or four join me on the ridge in front of the club.
sharing a thermal with Chris K and the Puchacz was nice, relaxing and it meant we all stayed airborne a little longer through shared sampling of the air.
A few trial lessons added to the enjoyment as did the cars parked around the field spectating. Hopefully one or two of these will have a go at some time.
The Skylard, ops sorry Alan, Skylark was stooging about making the most of the weak thermals as was Messrs Keating and Jarvis in the Cirrus, along with the Duo flown by Bill.
Earlier the forecast looked as though we would be getting a potential cross country day but in the end it was only really good enough for some nice extended flights and that good ol' practise scraping in a weak and broken thermal.
We saw Paragliders by the score who mostly stayed towards the Gibbet, although I was unfortunate enough to have three or four join me on the ridge in front of the club.
sharing a thermal with Chris K and the Puchacz was nice, relaxing and it meant we all stayed airborne a little longer through shared sampling of the air.
A few trial lessons added to the enjoyment as did the cars parked around the field spectating. Hopefully one or two of these will have a go at some time.
Saturday 10th March-spring is sprung?
Despite losing most of the morning waiting for the mist to burn away a great day was eventually had by all.
We made the most of not having any single seaters out and made good use of the Puchacz and K13's. Not a great day for staying up but many extended soaring flights were there to be had. Alan Pettit in the Skylark clocked up a credible 30 mins or so mostly not above 900ft!
Congratulations to Jon Garner for convincing Carol to sign him "Off Checks"......well done!
Not sure how many flights were flown as I did not see the log but Carol and I were certainly kept busy, what a cracking day!
Phil
We made the most of not having any single seaters out and made good use of the Puchacz and K13's. Not a great day for staying up but many extended soaring flights were there to be had. Alan Pettit in the Skylark clocked up a credible 30 mins or so mostly not above 900ft!
Congratulations to Jon Garner for convincing Carol to sign him "Off Checks"......well done!
Not sure how many flights were flown as I did not see the log but Carol and I were certainly kept busy, what a cracking day!
Phil
Sunday 4 March - planning the perfect soaring season
Well, as expected it was not quite the ideal soaring day today. Indeed when I arrived and unlocked the field gate, I wasn't sure if I would get up the field , there being quite a lot of surface water around (understatement!!). But get up ok I did, and was sat there planning a flight for myself (Snowdon O/R - my plan for the first nice day this spring - 569K) when fellow E teamer Graham arrived with a Landrover (Chris was away on duty team at his granddaughter's birthday party). This was a great relief in case of problems going back down the field.
As I said, if we can't fly we can plan, and Graham and I worked on his training plan so he now has a clearer idea of what progress he can reasonably expect to make through the summer, and how best to twist the arms of the duty instructor to make sure it happens!
For those who are in training, days like these are an excellent opportunity to ask questions that get lost on days when your head is full of flying. Make a list, pin the DI down and get him/her to explain things you're not sure about. Then you will make the best progress come the flying days.
For those who are post solo but who haven't yet made the ranks of World Champions, days like these are an excellent opportunity to make a plan for the season.
This morning Graham and I talked through things in 3 headings which you might find useful to make progress:
> badges / distances/measurable achievements - eg I want to do my XC endorsement, get my 5hours, fly my first rated comp, fly faster XC, do my 500k, do over 100hrs flying, become an instructor
> technical - eg I want to get all my post-solo development card items crossed off, improve my circuits, work on speed control in thermals, improve turnpoint technique, learn to fly the energy lines, learn to fly blue conditions
> fun - eg I want to ditch the geezer in the back seat, fly with buzzards, do task week, do someone else's task week/comp, fly Snowdon O/R, fly a 750km, nab a ride in a hot 2-seater, fly and land somewhere for coffee then fly home.
>>Of course, all three categories overlap!
The other person on the airfield, Graham's dog Bunny, was to be honest pretty unimpressed with many of my suggestions. In the end she was very glad that Graham finally came to understand that the real purpose of his being there was to take her for a walk. Which he did, just as the rain turned to snow and the field vanished in a blizzard. I slithered gently back down the field to solid tarmac, went home and made soup.
As I said, if we can't fly we can plan, and Graham and I worked on his training plan so he now has a clearer idea of what progress he can reasonably expect to make through the summer, and how best to twist the arms of the duty instructor to make sure it happens!
For those who are in training, days like these are an excellent opportunity to ask questions that get lost on days when your head is full of flying. Make a list, pin the DI down and get him/her to explain things you're not sure about. Then you will make the best progress come the flying days.
For those who are post solo but who haven't yet made the ranks of World Champions, days like these are an excellent opportunity to make a plan for the season.
This morning Graham and I talked through things in 3 headings which you might find useful to make progress:
> badges / distances/measurable achievements - eg I want to do my XC endorsement, get my 5hours, fly my first rated comp, fly faster XC, do my 500k, do over 100hrs flying, become an instructor
> technical - eg I want to get all my post-solo development card items crossed off, improve my circuits, work on speed control in thermals, improve turnpoint technique, learn to fly the energy lines, learn to fly blue conditions
> fun - eg I want to ditch the geezer in the back seat, fly with buzzards, do task week, do someone else's task week/comp, fly Snowdon O/R, fly a 750km, nab a ride in a hot 2-seater, fly and land somewhere for coffee then fly home.
>>Of course, all three categories overlap!
The other person on the airfield, Graham's dog Bunny, was to be honest pretty unimpressed with many of my suggestions. In the end she was very glad that Graham finally came to understand that the real purpose of his being there was to take her for a walk. Which he did, just as the rain turned to snow and the field vanished in a blizzard. I slithered gently back down the field to solid tarmac, went home and made soup.
Satuday 3rd March
Not a promising start to a new month with rain over the airfield in the morning. However, those few who had looked at (and believed) the forecast were rewarded in the afternoon. Behind the band of rain there was brighter weather, even if there was also plenty of wind - a day for lot of height and lots of speed on finals. Above Ham at, what will be, our Olympic ceiling I spied the Janus being tempted on-line. After a couple of circuits the Janus boys claimed they had only wanted to complete their ARC by checking deflections. One grotty band of rain passed to the north but the next lot got us. Once that passed the wind swung further south adding about 300' to the launches.
On a day that could so easily have been missed 10 folks (between them) got 15 launches and over 2 hours of fun flying.
On a day that could so easily have been missed 10 folks (between them) got 15 launches and over 2 hours of fun flying.
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| Not everyone was convinced by the new back seat technique |
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