Saturday 30th October

Clear skies, a good turnout - the day looked set to be a good one. Then the pre-halloween spell kicked in. Pajero had to be helped out of the container with a push and then a tow start. The prime mover engine on the bus winch refused to start - left for a quiet 10 minutes it then co-operated. When removing the filler hose from the gas tank clouds of LPG erupted and there was nothing we could do until the tank emptied itself and froze everything nearby (including Chris K's thumb). Over tea and bacon butties the theory was formulated that a ladybird had got lodged in the valve preventing it from shutting and tha pumping some gas in should clear it (there was a reason for suspecting a ladybird!). The theory proved to be sound (the blockage was cleared (but unproven if the culprit was a ladybird). Naturally, the bus engine refused to start (this time there was access to hook on jumper leads). Winch put in position, glider and caravan in position - we were raring to go. Towing out the cable, just short of the launch point, loud ping as the weak link broke on one cable - yup, drum overrun and a snarl-up.
So, we finally got to fly and Steve B flew the K8 to set the standard with a 15 minute flight and Peter E and myself were kept busy flying our keen new members. Just over an hour later Graham T showed me his soaring skills in a 38 minute flight along the sunny side of a cloud street. I sat in the back seat and enjoyed the autumn colours and the view of the showers to the south and east of us. To confirm we had broken the spell we also picked up a new member - Andrew Farrow had a trial lesson at the begining of the month and came back to sample some more and decided to join us.
Thanks to the C team, especially Chris K who fixed each problem encountered and then drove the winch for 20 of the 22 launches.

Halloween - Sunday 31 Oct...spooky...

...in spite of the hour change, it still wasn't fully light.....the field was so quiet it was spooky...but wait... what are those shadowy figures I see waiting at at the gate as I arrive?





Are they the ghosts of trial lessons past?

The undead (now then, now then!) waiting tirelessly for soarable weather?

Zombie ab initios marching inexorably towards the duty instructor baying for blood?

Souls of long departed glider pilots who roam the world restlessly howling for the days before the malign god EASA ruled the skies, sucking the heart out of our thermals?









Or have the committee just let the grass get a little too long?





Thanks to Chris for making me laugh out loud when I arrived in the gloom of this morning to see the lights flickering in their eyes.

Soaring Sunday 24th October - in thermal!

Again a lovely autumn weekend day with thermals and a light northerly wind. A quiet start suggested sunday lie-ins but the launch point got progressively busier. 185 was the only private glider to rig but the club gliders were kept busy with soaring, annual checks and beginner lessons. Colin repaired the "new" Pajero so we are back to a full compliment of vehicles.

Wed 20 Oct

Another splendid day for October. No private owners rigged, but the four club aircraft were kept busy, amassing over 11hrs between them off their 24 launches, reaching over 4000ft again.

Sunday 17th - cold at 4000'

It was great to find two new members at the launch point as we walked the gliders down. We'd thought that we'd only need one two-seater but that soon changed with Peter Elison easily distracted from removing sheep 'residue' from the private Puchacz to fly one of the new members and a couple of trial lessons.

Rob Jarvis and Chris Keating had decided it would be a Ka8 day and Rob duely proved it with the longest flight of the day with an hour and seven minutes. Meanwhile Graham Tanner took me to cloudbase at 4000' above ground where it was distinctly chilly. Well it is October.

I could have done without encountering the wing of the Puchacz on my way out of the hanger at the end of the day. Many thanks to those who patched me up. You'll be pleased to hear the wing was completely unharmed.

Visit to Parham Saturday 16th

After our little trip to Eden didn't quite go to plan we thought we would finish the week off with a day trip to Parham.




A 1000ft aerotow was all that was needed to get us onto the ridge which was working quite well, and so we set off to see how far we could go.








Rod flew his Swales for a couple of hours of so but seemed to prefer to stay low to scare the rabbits (just like at Eden last year!)






All in all not a bad day, great fun on the ridge and i'm still current on aerotow!

Maybe we should organise a return trip with a club two seater?

Sunday 17th October

A very pleasant day with little cumulus around and thermals to cloudbase at 4000ft. Not bad for an autumn day.

Saturday 16th October

After the early morning low cloud cleared we were hopeful for some ridge action, alas the ridge was too westerly and too slight for the NNE 12kt wind, but good launches allowed training progress and annual check opportunities. Welcome to the 2 new members who signed up today.

Thanks to some hard work, the guys refurbishing the other K13 (JPC) have made significant progress and the argument over the final colour will soon be due.

Wednessday 13 October

Slow start with no one desperate to get launched. Steve Barber did the decent thing and offered to take the first launch and we held a sweepstake on what height he would meet the cloudbase. We were pleasantly surprised to see that he got almost to the top of the launch and then started soaring, achieving 17 minutes. A few flights later Rob Jarvis moved the bar up to 30 minutes. After several more folks just doing circuits Paul Prentice went along with Rob in the K13 to observe the master of soaring. Not much chance to observe soaring technique in a 6 minute flight. So then Rob went to with Paul (this time in the Puchacz) to see how he faired. 48 minutes later (longest flight of the day) a triumphant Paul returned. Highest launch of the day was 2,100' in the K8.
In total 24 launches of which a quarter were 30 minutes or more. A much better day than any of us had expected (plus the usual Wednesday donuts that Peter Mason feeds us).

Saturday 1st October

With Saturday being a reasonable day sandwiched between very wet days (and the weekend being declared a 1 day weekend) we'd expected a good turnout. We did have a strong turnout of TL's but a modest one of club members. Low cloudbase limited flight times with Paul Prentice taking the honours of longest and second longest flights (10 and 11 minutes). A record held until after 15:00 when Steve Barber jumped in the K8 after his marathon session on the winch and he soared away for a whole 17 minutes. No one else was able to crack the 10 minute barrier. 30 launches in total with TL's accounting for a dozen of those and annual checks for another 7.

Thursday 30th - 100 year old birthday boy takes to the skies!

Wednesday slipped a day this week because of the somewhat wet real Wednesday. I was able to take my neighbour for a Trial Lesson for his birthday - his 100th birthday! Not only his first flight in a glider but his first in any sort of small aircraft (30 seater being the smallest aircraft flown in previously). Many thanks to Rob, Paul, Peter, Alan B and Chris K for turning out to make the day possible (with Colin and James in reserve but working on things to keep us flying).
After our visitor (and his family, friends and photogaphers from the Newbury Weekly News) departed there was a hottly contested "keepie-up" challenge. With not much more than a 1,000 cloud base (occasional gaps to sneak through) the benchmark was set at a whole 8 minutes. This stepped up in 2 minute increments, topping out at 18 minutes

Sunday 26th - Ridge day!

The few that turned up enjoyed playing on the ridge trying to distinguish between ridge and thermal lift. It was good to welcome a former member who was getting to grips with winch launching. Between the few of us and a couple of TL's we manged to get 16 launches out of the day.