Sun 25th July

Bob said: Despite a humid start, thermals up to 5 knots were available to 3000 feet. Sadly only two gliders were out due to the lack of attendees. However, the Sport Vega again earned its existence!

Stephen said: By the afternoon it was possible to get to 4,500 before things started to get murky (I only managed 4 on the averager)

(copied from yahoo)

Saturday 24th June

Good conditions abounded at Rivar, with plenty of soaring, strong climbs and high cloudbases: I chose to head north to Milton Keynes by which time the return was through an area of greyness left being as good conditions retreated to the east. I ended up at Thame with 7 other gliders. Thame weren't operating but that didn't stop us operating 3 tugs; retrieving to Dunstable, Booker and Bicester! It stayed soarable at home, such is life!

June Stats

The good news is that this June was the best for 3 years (stats not so readily available before that). More launches and more hours flown (probably more km's flown but those don't get recorded). There were 16 days we flew on - most days in a month this year and the same number as June last year (only 10 the year before). 365 launches (307 last year) clocking up 179 hours (131 last year) means the average flight time increased by 4 minutes to 29.
Starting with "the good news is" implies that there's some bad news. Well, there's a bit of "not so good news". The total number of launches for the flying year (i.e. starting October) was 1,823 at the end of June - that's 66 less than the same time last year (3.5% down). However, total flying time flown was 672 hours and that's 50 hours more than last year.
I'm a bit late with this posting and we are now well into July and it's looking like this year will be well short of the same month last year. With any luck the course week will help narrow the gap.

Wednesday 21st July

The Shalbourne Local Soaring Society were out in force today with a handful of gliders rigged plus the complete club fleet kept busy. I'm not sure if anyone went anywhere much, but broad grins all round were the measure of the enjoyment. For my part I finally got around to flying the Vega. All in all one of the nicest gliders I have flown and a fantastic addition to our fleet.

Colin

Sun 18th - Peg w/e

You should have been there - glorious mid-July thermals - actually that's what we were wearing against the cold howling drizzle that persisted all morning.
At 1pm when the only people there were the Peg-fest crowd and the Puch CofAers (too few to run the field) we scrubbed the day which resulted in an immediate clearance, sunshine and probably some nice thermals we could have gone soaring in.

By then however we'd made good use of the day and done some xc prep, some trace analysis from the previous days flights, map study etc etc - and made friends with pilots from other clubs who say they will be back. So, a useful day - but flying would have been better!

Liz
(posted by Steve)

Sat 17 Jul - Peg w/e

Chris's invitation for Pegase owners to come and play at Shalbourne was accepted by a couple of others. Unfortunately, it was a bit of an awkward wind (90deg cross and 15kt) which made it difficult for those not familiar with our site. However, once launched, it was possible to soar away and the usual suspects wandered off - including Ken R taking the Vega to Devizes and back for its first XC. Others decided not to battle upwind, contenting themselves with several hours' local soaring.

Vega

After speaking with some of the instructors, and others who have now flown the Vega, I have decided to lower the limit on who can fly it.
From today the limit is now Bronze but certain members who have not quite gained their Bronze badge as well as Bronze badge holders can now convert to the Vega if they can meet the following conditions:

1) Demonstration of two or three consecutive fully held off landings in the Puchacz (solo or dual).

2) Demonstration of the ability to keep the wings level from "All out" until stopping after landing (wings MUST only touch the ground after the glider has stopped).

3) Must read the briefing notes and have their Logbook countersigned by the Duty Instructor to confirm they have read and understood them and have been cleared to fly following the check flights.

4) It is the members duty to prove to the Duty Instructor they they are current by producing an up to date Logbook. No logbook no fly.



So far all those who have flown the Vega are more than happy with it.
Yesterday I took a launch and released at 1200ft and quickly thermalled down to about 1000ft. I contacted a good thermal which took me to 4,400ft averaging 3 -4kts. A quick flight into wind along an energy line to Burbage followed and I only lost 800 ft getting there, on the return leg I only lost 500 ft. Back over the airfield I pulled full airbrake and maintaining 70kts descended at something like -60 degrees with the speed steady. Also when landing reciprocal (towards the hanger end) closing the airbrakes low to the ground to extend the float did not cause the glider to drop suddenly but just gave an increase in speed, very reassuring! Oh yes, it also has a new battery fitted as well.

So if you are Bronze, or not far off, get yourself checked out to fly the Vega as I'm sure you will enjoy it.


Phil

Puch ready, Vega news

The forecast was for poor weather; it might have been wrong, so a few of us went to the airfield. We would have flown, (2500ft launches would have been on) but we were so few and things needed doing. The Puch repair/inspection was completed and it is now rigged and ready for test flying, etc. etc. The hangar was repacked, now all aircraft are rigged.

The popularity of the Vega led us to make sure that it can be extracted from the hangar with minimum effort, so it is now neatly parked in the space left by the ME7 - this is much easier than trying to put it where the Astir used to live. Please note it is secured with a trestle under a wing, not a tyre on a wing. Peter Mason kindly presented us with wing covers for it. To prevent damage to the wing covers please remove them after the a/c has been removed from the hangar and place them along with the canopy cover in the brown laundry basket provided. Put them back on before pushing the aircraft into the hangar.

The Vega flew a lot over the weekend and in the process picked up several hours worth of bugs. The standard `bug test' tape contains 20 bugs per metre and can typically be expected to reduce the efficiency of a laminar flow wing by about 10% at best L/D. When I cleaned the leading edges today there were more like 20 bugs per inch. So the last person to fly the a/c may well have thought he was flying a Ka8. Let's get into the habitof keeping it clean!

Great lift enjoyed by a few (July 11th)

I arrived this morning to find the field had been set single handed by Chris with his Pegasus at the launch point ready to take the first launch. He was almost the last to land, having been to Ely and back (320km).

Back at base even complete novices were managing 3 kt climbs with others reporting 9 kts at times. What a day but where was everyone? Only 10 members enjoyed some of the best conditions of the year.

The Vega clocked up another 3 hours to add to the 4 hrs 30 mins (11 different pilots) achieved yesterday. Its certainly proving to be a popular addition to the club fleet.

Midweek Maintenance (Wed 8 Jul)

As happens from time-to-time, even in 'Summer' the day dawned grey with a total overcast which did not clear until late afternoon. With a good breeze to produce high launches these were excellent conditions for Ab-Initios (Trainees) to learn to fly a circuit and land safely. Lacking a supply of Ab-Initios we set to on maintenance tasks.

Cable tow-out gear was transferred to our new (to us, previously owned) Pajero. Make sure to calibrate the altimeter at DI. When driving have due regard for the inclinometer! NB: Like our previous Pajero, the automatic pre-heat is inoperative; there is a toggle switch which must be used for a few seconds before a cold start.

The telephone line was rewired - the outside (old-fashioned) bell is difficult to ignore! Please answer with "Shalbourne Gliding + your name". If you cannot answer the query, apologise, write down the contact details and promise to call back.

I saw our Chairman mowing grass, the Treasurer clearing rubbish, fitting a shelf in the ladies' and fixing the cooker. No doubt, other work was done unseen by me or you.

The Skybrid Winch brakes were adjusted: no excuse for gear pulled into rollers now! Please re-check pull-out tension after a few launches - it needs to be a bit higher than on the Tost Winch.

We are a DIY Club. Instruction is FREE! YOU must make a contribution. If you are able to service our equipment and aircraft please contact the Equipment or Aircraft Oficers. Otherwise, the Airfield Officer needs members to clean, mow and re-supply our facilities.

Sunday 4th July

Just enough folks turned out to operate so we pulled out just one K13. Ken P (as DI) did a weather check followed by flying friends who Stuart T had dragged along. Half of the remaining folks (i.e. 2) took a launch and the toys were put away. Coming off the wire at just over 2,000 I flew straight into wind in weak lift and was barely making progress over the ground.

North Hill update

As Chris said it was a difficult day on Saturday, in fact my launch was immediately after Chris' first and because I was towed behind the Pawnee and he was towed behind the Rotax Falke I actually came off tow about 20 seconds after him, he turned downwind to where it looked 'better' and I headed into wind to where it looked like something might eventually happen. Neither option proved fruitful, however, being upwind I had the ridge to fall back to and that kept me airborne long enough to wait for a thermal whereas Chris had little option but to take a relight. This just demonstrated something about the conditions - one wrong decision and you were on the ground.
Having scraped away from 800 feet before the start I set off on task (NHL-STU-FRO-NHL - 181km) fully expecting a landout. Heading downwind conditions slowly improved and after a couple of low scrapes I picked up a cracking climb at STU and for the first time was able to even contemplate the idea of finishing. The optimism didn't last long though and after a reasonable run to The Park things got worse again and after rounding FRO I had my second real scrape away from 1000 feet before heading in the general direction of NHL and towards an obvious line of spreadout and showers. A couple of reasonable climbs on the way and I was into the rain and for the second time on the task looking at Merryfield as the likely end of the flight, with wet wings and water streaming up the canopy I couldn't turn at much under 60kt so thermalling had to wait until I was through and had blow-dried the glider! Through the rain and into a sea-breeze front with good lift and once at cloudbase sticking my port wing into the cloud and careful flying got me to 700 feet above cloudbase with clear downward, forward and starboard visibility. Off the end of the front there was a decent climb to final glide.

Of the field of 15 only 3 (all pundits) got back (plus one who motored home) and the provisional results for Shalbourne pilots were:
Novice - Steve came 2nd
Intermediate - Chris came 1st (despite penalties at turning points due to NAV settings)
Pundit - I finished 3rd

Shalbourne has, therefore, relinquished its place at the bottom of the league!

Saturday 3rd July

A classic English soaring day: that's to say thermals formed, overdeveloped and spreadout which made getting away tricky. It looked better up country, Jim zoomed 737 up to Norman Cross (I have no idea where that is either) for 300km out and return whilst the Janus and Duo also went somewhere. Closer to home Richard claimed a 2hr xc endorsement flight and Steve G escaped from the winch for a bronze leg.

Phil test flew the Sport Vega and then opened it up to the proletariat. James H obviously liked it more than the blown Pajero turbo and completed an hours soaring in it.

In the evening the impromptu BBQ, organised during the week, was enjoyed by all; the only casualty being a single sausage that was much enjoyed by the dogs.

A tale of extremes from Northhill

Sat-Sun was the penultimate round to the interclub between 5 clubs. While the weather to our east was looking fantastic, things here weren't quite as good. The skies looked less than promising with dark spread out to our north and northeast.
We briefed and fairly short takes were set for Novice, Intermediate and Pundit.
We watched the skies and the starting gate opened at 11;30, everyone carried on watching the skies. I had a chat with Tim Robson with the view that it would be better to sneak off before the air took a turn for the worse (it was already looking poor!) Tim agreed it was a sound plan so I took an aerotow to 2000 feet and had a wide look around the skies to get a 'feel'. I landed 20 minutes later not getting a single turn in rising air.
The second launch half an hour later proved much better and Tim had already launched a little time before my second re light.
I started my task, the first turn point Shaftesbury. It was hard going, but with a lot of deviation, back tracking and parking; waiting for the skies to change I made it to the first TP. I scratched towards my second TP Taunton, got a couple of great climbs and occasionally saw the needle off the clock. Again there was a degree of deviation required to stay in the air. On track to the TP the air turned horrid and 45km out from the TP I was at 800 feet QFE looking at the farm I thought I'd be landing in. I carried on scratching at a little lift I found and eventually worked my way back up the cloud base at 2900 feet QNH.
There was a foul black street heading in my direction and nothing else, but after trying a similar street earlier and finding nothing under it I was hesitant to give it a go. As there was nothing else I decided to have a bash; at least I'd land out a bit closer to home if I landed out.
Good job I did, I got to cloud base, headed on track and the cloud worked like a hooker on overtime! It sucked and I got a tremendous run of about 35km skipping along the bottom of the street at speeds varying from 70 to 90 knots- all the time loosing no height at all.
I got near my TP but by this time the air had changed once again and not for the better. There was a mid layer and nothing to indicate any lift once I turned for my last leg and home. I only needed 2500 feet to make it back but apart from a little very weak lift there was nothing. My altimeter showed +100 feet, then 000 feet then minus 100, 200 and 300 feet and I landed just after the TP.
I couldn't have done more to get further and was pleased although any land out always makes my heart race.
Getting back to North hill I learnt that every one in the intermediate class had either landed out or fired up their engine and an initial check looked like I'd won my glass.
Problems with the log download meant we couldn't look at my trace but we worked it out and sure enough I'd gotten further than anyone else.
Eventually we downloaded my trace and my heart sank, the ClearNav had turned for the next TP too early and it looks like the TP radius had reset itself to a large diameter on a recent software update.
So from first to last in a few minutes is sickening, made worse by all the hard word I'd put in getting around a difficult task.
Next time I will check and double check!
Still a great day and a big thank you to Tim and Jo for retrieving me (again).

Chris

Wednesday 30 June

An unpromising start was followed by excellent soaring. Big clouds produced large areas of weak lift. A search often found four knot averages, with cores of seven knots, to over 4,000 ft.

James has been camping at Rivar Hill and we hope to see his Pirat flying soon.

The Vega acceptance flights should be carried out at the weekend.
The Puchacz, trim tab cable and tailplane release, repair should be completed soon.

Next weekend Tim, Chris & Steve will be representing us in the Inter Club League at North Hill. I will try to post the results here as they become available.