The occurrences and happenings at Shalbourne Soaring Society. A gliding club near Andover, Newbury and Hungerford.

Wednesday 26th

Many hands .....!



We  also did a lot of soaring in a variety of conditions from ridge, to rain to thermal.

And congratulations to Jonty who was lured to the airfield following our encounter at the Gibbet (me in The Vega and he suspended under a green canopy). It turned out to be a good decision as he then flew his first solo in a glider.

Task week / soaring week / open week, an exped at home 11th August

This year we are going to hold a combined task and soaring week beginning 11th August (tasks will be set from 9th-17th August).

The aim is to make it simple and fun - there will be multiple tasks per day for the range of experience on the day set by me and you wont need any complicated gubbins to record the tasks or have to memorise overly complex rules. In fact I intend to do all scoring in the pub and the results may change with consumption of IPA.

For those wishing to do local soaring that is fine but the field wont necessarily be supervised so you will need at least a bronze and xc endorsement unless you make a private arrangement with an instructor. The same applies for pre-solo, make a private arrangement with an instructor.

Ken has kindly volunteered to winch drive all week.

I guess we'll visit the pub and have a BBQ or two after the glorious soaring weather that we'll have.
So save the date and watch out for more updates.

Saturday

A bright sunny day and the forecast had changed overnight to something a little more promising. Only 4 people on the airfield but annual checks on the winch guillotine were completed and the field set up anyway.

JPC up first flight at 10:15, 1900' winch launch and some weak but turbulent thermals. Chris was talked into rigging B1.
Second flight for JPC, strong narrow thermals to 2500 rapidly building to 5 knots to 3000' Spun down after B1 established.
Third flight B1, soaring flight and the Vega came out to play. Cloudbase now 3500'. You get the idea...

We ended up with seven people on the airfield, all flew and all had soaring flights of varying duration many of about an hour. Everyone even laid off on the launch. Chris takes the prize though with just under two hours before his toes froze.

A heavy shower stopped play at about 2pm but all the toys were packed away in super quick time to avoid getting wet with the vega landing and being pushed into the hanger just as the showers hit. All in all a very good day. Probably the best of the weekend.

Weekend Flying.

There's hope for the weekend! Sunday is looking especially ok. Moderate North Westerly, maybe blue in the morning.....Possibly good for a small task.
So time to blow off the cobwebs and clear out the mouse poop from your glider and trailer.....
10:00hrs

12:00hrs

14:00hrs.

Wavey Wednesday

Chris K and Rob J returned from the first launch reporting so scraps of 0.  Carol P took the next launch in the K8 and returned 56 minutes later, Paul P followed in a K13 and returned 55 minutes later.  That got Bob B pulling the Vega from the hanger and taking the next launch and flew for 49 minutes.  Nobody was thermalling - they were all sliding around the sky following the wave up to 3,000'.  Most got a taste of the wave but only two more flights (Chris K with Rob J in the K13 and Trevor G in the K8) got decent times (48 and 46 minutes).
15 of us clocked up almost 7:30 of flying off 24 launches - an unexpectedly good day.  All that flying plus mini-muffins (Wednesday flying is very civilised).

Sunday 16th March

What a beautiful day! OK not much cop for soaring and the wind was stubbornly at 90deg to any chosen direction, but a blazing sun shone all day. Colin managed half an hour soaring in the K8 but not much else stuck (sorry yes Nigel you did too).

Special mention to Carol, busily re-skinning the Janus trailer on his 50th wedding anniversary.

Saturday 15th

At least there wasn't any fog and the sun did appear.  With a stiff 90 degree cross wind and strong sink (6 down) a good day for annual checks.  This kept the duty instructor entertained for a while and gave the winch driver (Chris K) the opportunity to show off his creativity in producing launch failures.  Peter E flew with David N who signed up as a member - our 3rd junior member within a month.
I guess you're probably thinking "with that strong sink, there must have been some lift on offer".  Unfortunately no - well not within our reach.  With the longest flight of the day going to Chris K with an 8 minute flight, that tells you how "good" it was.

Wednesday 12th March

On entering the airfield the first challenge was to find the hangar.  The closer you got to it the thicker the fog.  The met man had promised the fog would burn off and we'd be bathed in bright sunshine so it was just a matter of being patient.  We managed to keep ourselves occupied.  While Ken H and Paul B solved the mystery of lack of power to the radio on the reserve winch the rest of us derigged JMX and moved it into the workshop and clubhouse.
By early afternoon toys were out and we were ready to fly and the launch point (at the south end) was in bright sunshine.  Problem was, from there the winch was not visible.  Waited a little longer and it appeared but orographic cloud still coming off the ridge.  Time came to take a weather check and as the winch power disappeared when I was at 1,200' half way up the field, I realised that the winch driver must have lost sight of me.  Line of cloud below me very noticeably following the ridge.  Found my way back to the launch point and we waited another hour.  Everyone who wanted to fly got a launch before canopy misting brought an enforced end to the day.  Just a dozen launches and Rob J claimed longest flight of the day with 8 minutes (which the log keeper claimed was more to taking off just before the minute clicked over and landing just after another minute clicked over).
It was one of those days that we seemed to have more problems than usual but we over came them, flew and ate donuts (thanks to Paul B filling the donut gap while Peter M is recovering).

Sunday 9th March

The sun comes out, the temperature rises and more people appear at the airfield.  Hardly classic flying conditions (inversion with limited soaring opportunities and so-so vis) but just good to be out and flying.  Bit of a queue formed for the one K13 available but Ken P (duty instructor) worked his way through the list, completing it by sunset.  The Puchacz boys (EUF) rigged and got in lots of launches.  There was also the first appearance of Justin's "new" Pirat.  Justin was one happy bunny.

Bob B was the subject of envy, provoking comments such as "that's a big one Bob", "have you seen the size of Bob's" and "how does he hold something that big steady?".  Certainly his new lens was producing spectacular results, such as the photo above.
After a 30 year lay-off from flying, Andrew P popped in to take a look at our operation, flew and joined on the spot.
Special mention of (and thanks to) Rod H who provided us with excellent launches to 2,000' for much of the day.

Wednesday 5th March

The weather app on my 'phone said it was clear and sunny.  My eyes, however, suggested there was a sheet of cloud completely filling the sky.  The sun on broke though briefly to shine on Paul P washing the wings of the Vega.  Undeterred, gliders were pulled on line and Carol P took the first launch in the K8 and returned 23 minutes later.  That remained the target to beat until, a couple of hours later, Bill C, in the K8, established a new target of 34 minutes.  The only other person to get near to that was Paul P in the Vega with 32 minutes.  Given the extra launch height available with the K8 and the time just to use that height there were those that argued that the handicapped longest flight would have been with Paul P.  The cloud cover stayed all day but out of the 30 launches 2 managed over 30 minutes and another 5 of 20, or more, minutes.
Couple of appearances on the airfield not seen for a while.  HAX was rigged and flown for the first time this year and we were able to welcome back Bill O.  Despite an 18 month lay-off he certainly hasn't forgotten how to fly.
Towards the end of the day a big fire on the hill to the south west was pouring out smoke that instead of rising ran down into the valley and up our western ridge

1st March

What a glorious first day of Spring - ideal for a wee cross-country.

Unfortunately, this XC was on foot (views of Didcot and Harwell from the Ridgeway).  Reports of difficulties getting up the airfield on Friday and an unpromising forecast resulted in a scrubbed day

Wednesday 26th Feb

This time it was Paul P's turn to throw down the gauntlet on the second launch of the day setting 19 minutes as the time to beat.  It wasn't until almost two hours later Chris K and Rob J returned in a K13 after a 30 minute flight.  There then followed a debate as to whether the time per glider or time per pilot should claim the honours.  Out of the 21 launches only 2 others flights broke into double digits (but not by much).
Mainly circuits (with a bit of bung pulling) but a pleasant day anyway.  We are hoping Peter M is making a speedy recovery as he is (and the Wednesday donuts are) missed.

Sunday 2nd March

Despite today turning out to be a non-flying day at least one member managed to get something out of his trip to the club.

Congratulations to Justin Butler for successfully passing his Bronze Theory test.....Well done Justin!


Phil