A slow start, even for a Wednesday, yielded some extended flights for those patient enough to wait for the morning mist to clear. Alternate patches of sunshine and overcast limited soaring time and out of three gliders that were rigged two managed and hour or so. The exception was EEF which steadfastly deigned not to soar in such poor conditions, sulking around the circuit instead. Nonetheless we managed to fill two log sheets and do some useful stuff, most useful of which was Rowland going solo, well done! (Especially for providing a good excuse for an evening tipple.)
Many thanks to Peter E and Stephen for helping out with TLs and other stuff. It would have been difficult to manage otherwise.
And by the way:
"The ASW 15 had just entered the full climb of a winch launch when its pilot saw the helicopter approaching. The Board highly commended him for his lookout; presence of mind and subsequent actions."
Thus recorded the UK Airprox Board on the prompt action taken by Steve Barber in avoiding a collision with an overflying helicopter.
Not wanting to be picky (well, maybe I do). Only one pilot managed over an hour - the gravity defying Chris Keating in HAX. There were 3 others who managed more than half an hour.
ReplyDeleteIt was a day that was all about getting the timing right as the cu came through in north-south bands - bit odd given the wind was easterly. It also seemed that trying to get the time right was doomed to failure as I found out in EEF with 2 rather quick circuits. I then gave up trying to get the timing right and just took my free launch into an unpromising sky but stumbled on something that took me to cloud base at 3,100 (to claim "king of the castle" for the day). Oh yes, and it gave me one of the 30+ minute flights. The "don't even try to get the timing right" technique also worked for Bill C in his K6 from his free launch (which resulted in another of the 30+ minute flights).
I'll just add my congratulations to Rowland on going solo.