Wednesday 25th

Those who turned up early with a view to getting the field set-up before it got too hot were thwarted by a bent and bruised winch that need some TLC before if could be used.  It was, therefore, just before midday before the first launch.  Colin took the Puchacz to explore the land beyond the green mist (i.e. he flew under the Olympic ceiling to the unrestricted area - and returned!).  Paul P set the benchmark for longest flight at an hour.  Steve B and I rigged our gliders (both struggling to get the wings on - lack of practice?).  I was not encouraged when Steve B returned in cHZD after 5 minutes.  However, the winch driver was kinder to me (thanks Paul) and delivered me straight into a gentle thermal that carried me up to our current limit of 2,500' from where I set forth.  Cleared the restricted area and straight into a thermal.  On to Calne, pausing to climb and attempt to take piccies of a crop-circle.  Climbed above Calne to just over 5,000 and headed home.  Distinct lack of lift coming back - first hint of anything just south of the Savernak.  Slowed right down to gain a couple of hundred feet then nose down to return back under the Olympic ceiling at spot on 2,500 with 100 knots on the clock.  Wonderful when a plan comes together :)

I'm pleased to report that Steve B's 2nd launch was much more successful and resulted in the longest flight of the day at 1:19.  He had no trouble keeping below the Olympic ceiling as he sent time at 700' (plus ridge height!) near Burbage picking fields (which, he avoided having to find out how good his choice was).
The Wednesday "Progress Group" was missing a few of the regulars but it did mean that Jim Mc and Selvan had lots of opportunity to practice circuits and landing on a just about perfect evening for doing so.

Sunday 21st July, blue, hot and difficult.

It was the first day for a while it was good enough to go XC, Saturday too was OK but I was working.
Jim was flying the Nimbus so we agreed on a short XC; Elkstone Sackville Ashbusy and back home.
Just over 300km.
Now just to get things straight, it's as well not to try to keep up with Jim Clarke, he's actually really very good. Next don't try to keep up with a Nimbus in an LS7, especially when flown by James Clarke, see previous sentence....
It was difficult conditions with the occasional cumulus popping, but get it wrong and by the time you got to the thermal it was collapsing. The working height was around 3,500 MSL give or take a little and it was slow going.
We both took the first two turn points but then the air seemed to collapse around me which, at this time was about 4pm. Struggling I got past Milton Keynes only to land straight into a field of ling grass and clover.
The people were lovely and very helpful but it was still about eighty miles from home. Have I ever said what a terrific guy Richard Dann is??? He turned up a few hours later with my trailer and helped me fetch the glider out of the field.
We got to Rivar at about 10pm and we didn't even get to have some food.
Richard I owe you a big fat pint and a meal.
Jim got back due to superior piloting and bloody long wings. Mostly piloting to be fair.
My ClearNav shut down and wouldn't start just past Sackville so I was reliant on chart and Oudie, god bless redundancy in moving maps!
I also tried my latest pee system. Why I don't just urinate myself and save with all the flipping faffing I just don't know.
So once again I didn't get back but it wasn't easy at all. Should I give up or keep trying, just harder?
See you up the field!

Sunday 15th

The last day before the green mist descended and stops us getting too high for a month.  The Olympic map came into force the day before but the zone limiting our vertical progression only came into force on the 16th - phew!  Not only was it a flyable day (not something we've been able to take for granted this "summer") but climbs to 4,500 were available - if you launched at the right time.  A very cyclic day, only 10 of the 40 flights managed more than half an hour.  Four private gliders rigged (Janus, Duo Discuss, LS7 and the Nimbus) and were all reward with extended flights - though, most had more than one attempt to get away.  The exception was Jim C in the Nimbus who disappeared off for the best part of 3 hours - no idea where he got to.
At the end of the day we made the mistake of asking Trevor G to take the last launch to get the Vega to the top end of the field.  Off the wire and away he went.  With the aid of airbrakes he returned 20 minutes later to report the last cycle of the weather and it was now booming - he knew we were all standing around the hangar waitng so kerbed his natural instinct to soar.

Different kind of LIFT!

On Friday Peter kindly brought his crane along to the airfield and we transferred the Tost winch from the back of the bus onto the new trailer. Thanks are also due to Colin for his help.

There's some jobs to do before the winch can be used again, such as plumbing in the new LPG tank, a bit of wiring, putting the mudguards on, etc. 

Now, who wants to start the rebuild of the bus?

Congratulations!

A really big 'well done' to Liz sparrow who won her recent competition.

You're a super star!!!

Pete and Claire's gliding holiday

As you may be aware Claire and I take a gliding trip every year to another club. This year we had booked last week off work - here's our daily account, it was a bit different as we booked on a course and got to try some different types:

Sunday: Arrived and got a quick recap on the Junior including how to rig before having a couple of hours getting used to them in the morning. In the afternoon we took to K21s with an instructor for the first session of our course.
Monday: Much the same, a specialist session on the Junior in the morning with some advanced drill in the K21 with instructors in the afternoon. Much stronger conditions today, almost at the limits.
Tuesday: This time a specialist session on the DG500 including lead and follow, Claire and i took one together in the morning, but landed out a couple of times. The afternoon saw us complete a practise race in the DG500, I think we did ok but it wasn't scored.
Wednesday: Morning free session in the DG500 practising going round a course.  In the afternoon the course had lead and follow in LS4s on the agenda, again some land outs buts lots of fun. After the leader had finished we kept going for another hour.
Thursday: Quick free session in the DG500 in the morning before daring to take out the Nimbus 3D together - returned scared for lunch. Afternoon, another lead and follow in the LS4s to complete our course, no land outs this time.
Friday: Late start for some aerobatics and advanced flap settings in the DG500 with an instructor along side - lots of land outs and a long distance covered during the flap training! In the afternoon a competitive race with Claire and I again in the DG500. A bit slow at the start but we recovered to finish 7th out of 14.

Claire after a land out.

Claire cranking the DG500 into a strong thermal.

Into July

Well, that was a miserable June with the lowest number of launches for June for 5 years (and we had the extra Bank Holiday) maybe summer is waiting for July.  Nope, in the first 2 weeks more non-flyable days and Trial Lesson Eveniings cancelled.  However, despite the weather, we managed to fly on the following days

Thursday 5th

No flying for the Wednesday boys but Phil moved the Progress Group to Thursday and they managed to squeeze in 16 launches in the evening (that included several training launch failures - well, this is the "progress" group).

Saturday 8th

On a positive note - 26 launches, but when the longest flights were 33 and 18 minutes this was hardly summer flying.

Monday 9th

Kintbury Scouts visiting for a TLE (after had their evening cancelled the previous week because of the weather).  A prompt 18:00 start and an excellent ground crew resulted in 21 scouts flying with one cable to be tided away.  Deservedly taken by our TLE co-ordinator Graham who was rewarded with a great view of the sunset

Wednesday 11th

One of those "interesting" days that adds to ones life experiences (i.e. difficult strong cross-wind  day).  Mainly circuits with a few extended flights.  Outstanding flight of the day was a 43 minute one from Chris K taking the the duty instructor along for ballast - lots of laughter on that flight.  The Progress Group discovered just how much circuits may need to be modified with high final turns and landing across the runway.

March Winds, April Showers (June 30, July 1)

Saturday 30th June

A gusty SSW wind kept everyone on their toes, whilst the base wind wasn't too bad, there were strong gusts coming through, requiring high, close circuits and steep approaches with plenty of speed.

In the morning 30min flights were the norm as the strong thermals were just about useable, in the afternoon, as the wind and turbulence built, they became less useable and staying aloft became much harder.

Sunday 1st July

We all awoke to blue skies and what in terms of 2012 was a positive forecast (ie you might be able to go somewhere), however it wasn't to be and a line of Welsh showers* set up from Reading to Bristol. By the time they had cleared we had changed a winch cable but Richard's weather check flight resulted in reports of serious vertical shear and the toys going away.

*A "Welsh shower" is a period of continuous rain interspersed with torrential downpours. It is normally found on expeditions** to Talgarth, Denbeigh etc.

**For clarity, expeditions over the Severn Bridge are highly recommended.

Sunday 24th - what a waste...

... of a good afternoon.  Don't complain about the weather mucking up the flying if you don't turn up for an afternoon when the sky is looking glourious.  Yes, the day didn't start very promising and it is a bit breezy but it was forecast to improve in the afternoon and it did.

Not enough members turned out to operate the field, so our American visiting pilot was not able to sample the delights of a winch launch.

Bit of mowing done around the clubhouse - only another 69 acres left to do.

Wed 20th - a good day ahead?

Good forecast.  Go to the airfield and rig. Sky full of good-looking cu. Launch straight into a 6kt thermal to 3000ft.  Great, it's a romper, let's do a 100k for starters: ChilBoltoN - LASham - HUNgerford.  Er... getting low and not even at Andover, sky that way not so good any more, but looks better towards LASham, so let's do LASham-DIDcot instead.  Got low again but climbed away and made LASham OK, but turned round to look North, and West - sky had really gone bad again.  Looking doubtful I could get home, best hope was back towards Andover. It did work, but only just - land-out averted, fortunately.  Meanwhile Chris and Chris were doing a lead-and-follow round LYNham and WELford, but apparently that wasn't a romp either, though Trevor reported good conditions Lambourn way later. 

There were also several local soaring flights of an hour or more, in total about 20hrs soaring and 400km by the dozen or so members available.  So all-in-all it was a good day, if not the absolute romp promised.

Sunday 17th Part Duex

Rigged, followed Pete (above me). Followed Pete more (still above me). Got low at Cheively, slight poop on how low I was with no lift, asked Peter to call if he found a climb (still above me) scratched and got high enough to get back to Rivar landed and changed underpants. Big job done...
It would seem the first thermal was a freebie, the rest you had to work for. Still it was flying, just  not far. Rivar-Cheively, Newbury, Hungerford, Rivar. Depressingly small.

I did have my daughter, son in law, as well as Grace and Daisy turn up at the airfield. to wish me a happy fathers day. Priceless.

Sunday 17th

Pulled kit out, rigged, begged map, watched a couple of launches, pulled on line, climbed off the wire, blasted down a street towards chievely, fell off street at chievely, below glide for home, begged back up, blasted down street to Rivar, scratched in the rain with club 2 seaters, went to another street, climbed, headed off down the vale, climbed at PEW, next cloud at DEV, glide, scratched, then stonked (muppet), set off to wantage, scratched north of Malborough, then stonked (muppet), glide round Wantage, home down street, quick top up, finish, wheel down, landed, derigged. Done.

Saturday 16th

AA Milne's Owl might have described today as "blustery", and surely it was. But no houses fell down. The Puchacz syndicate took bits out of the inside of the wings and then put them back in. Just for good measure they cut some holes and then immediately repaired them.

Chris and I did some plumbing, no not a new Italian tiled customer restroom at the clock shop, but inside a wing - we're gliderpilots see...

Phil and Carol polished the Janus - CFI quote "I find polishing 20m wings reasonably relaxing."

Well funny you should say that...

Wed 13th - a pleasant surprise

At 10.30 I was sitting at the computer looking out of the south-facing window at an overcast sky (as forecast) thinking, "no hurry today".   Finished what I was doing, put a few tools in the car for an odd-jobs day at the club, drove round the corner where I got a view to the north... "Look at that sky!!!" Blue peppered with little cu. Turned back home, grabbed the parachute and chart and headed quickly to the club, met a few other members with similar stories, got rigged and flew.  OK, so I messed up and got low with only just enough height to scrape back home, whereupon Peter took the glider and did it right.  As did several other people, with several flights around the hour; Paul got the hour he needs towards his next endorsement.  It wasn't especially easy and at least one of our pilots was saved by a passing Duo (was that you Liz?) which had also got a bit low and was just getting away again, but it was vastly better than we expected, a real fillip in a gloomy spell of unseasonable wind and rain.  Another case of "if the forecast is poor, go to the airfield and rig...."

Saturday 9th. Almost forgot.

I've had many request to post another landout sign.....

Also it was very picturesque.

Although I'd misjudged the grass, thinking it was grazing I found out two feet from landing it was silage/ set aside.

 No harm done and we were very careful to drive around the endge of the field and to disturb the field as little as possilbe.

Saturday 9th June, Lasham Regionals

Well the Lasham comp is now over. Some of the pilots flew 2 of the 9 days while us mortals flew only 1 day, yesterday.

I got up early about 05:30, looked out of the window to see Wave clouds all over the place. Drat I thought, it was sure to muck up any thermal activity.

We set our sailplanes on the grid, got a task; (the A group) Lasham, Midhurst, Calne, Didcot and back to Lasham.

Midhurst wasn’t too bad but turning back was a hard long slog and getting back near Lasham at 1200 QFE made me magnetise towards the landing strip to the east of the field.

As it happened I scraped away and was joined by many other gliders having similar ‘niggles’.

I gathered up my thoughts and concentrated on getting towards Calne. First I got to Kingsclere Mast, found another weak thermal and got a little higher leaving the mast behind, punching forward I found another weak climb and punched forward leaving the Kingsclere mast behind. Groundhog Day came to mind but on the third attempt I got to Rivar where I had another low save.

A change of direction and tempo was called for so slowing a little I took a more conservative course and made my way towards Marlborough. Unfortunately I scraped away and eventually landed at Liddington. I’ve drove past that part of the world many times and since gliding I’ve always thought it would be nice to fly the small ridge there in a westerly. Well it’s not, Ok the ridge works but I didn’t want to be that low waiting for a thermal to pick me up. Doesn’t always work.

I landed, headed towards the farm, made my apologies and was greeted by very friendly farm staff at the stables.

I got retrieved by my friend Steve and we were back at Lasham by 19:30.

A great day but many landouts.

Saturday 9th June

With the wet and blustery conditions of the last few days behind us Saturday was a refreshing change. We still had 15 to 20 knots of almost dead westerly flow to deal with but after placing a few limitations regarding levels of experience for solo and a briefing about flying too far downwind during the circuit etc we got off to a good start.

Initially cloudbase was around 2500ft but quickly rose to over 4500ft as the day progressed. Good climbs were reported and many extended flights were flown. Due to the cross wind launch heights were understandably reduced but if you were lucky to be launched within easy reach of a good area of lift then you could extend your flight quite easily, time it wrong and a quick circuit was the result.We even managed to deliver a 30min trial lesson!

As the day progressed the sky became filled with comp pilots from Lasham, no doubt grateful for our fleet of thermal markers. Jim McCormick and I in the Puchacz had 6 of them sharing one of our climbs!

All in all plenty of soaring flights were flown and those not quite solo were treated to cross wind landings.

Thanks to Steve Ottner and Richard Dann for helping me instruct when a developing cold threatened to curtail my flying.


Phil

Sunday 10th

Sounds like a good day was had by many at Shalbourne yesterday; I was flying our syndicate Duo 620 in the Regionals A group - 328k down to Midhurst, up to Calne, down to Wincanton, up to Malmesbury, and back to Lasham. All this in a 25kt westerly... and yes, the sea air did come in and make the west end of Pewsey Vale difficult, and ditto down to Wincanton and double ditto back to Malmesbury. After that we had the wind behind us so the lack of Cu was not quite so worrying?!? What felt like a nightmare flight turned out to be 2nd on the day - and if I'd had any idea it was still a race, I wouldn't have overcooked the final glide so much... Anyway, doubtless you'll hear and see more from Pete and Chris about their doings yesterday. Today was a lovely quiet morning, if somewhat overcast - excellent for training and for clocking up solos without a howling gusty cross-wind, however only James H, Graham and I - and a cheery swallow or two - were there to enjoy it. A bit of post-flight analysis on what happened yesterday and why Graham found it difficult to centre the thermals, and how I very nearly collected an airspace penalty were followed, once we'd imbibed enough tea, by a discussion on potential first gliders and then a scrub. Hasta la vista!

Regional Competition. Lasham.

Pete and I have been at Lasham for the 2012 Regional Comp.

Unfortunately it's been wet, overcast and mostly non-flyable. Yesterday, Monday, saw us all grid with Pete flying a DG505 with James Ewence in the A class, while I was behind waiting in the B class.

We waited, had tea, waited and eventually got to the grid and waited. First they scrubbed the Nationals. They lobbed the Regional A group into a rather bleak and grey sky at a little past 17:00 hrs BST. This was after a heavy downpour which soaked all.

Eventually the A group made a start but under such a terrible sky it was inevitable that they were not going to all make it back. [Pete:my version below!]

Pete and James did terrific stuff but landed out near their first turn point. 

[Pete: We launched at 17.04 and the air was thermic just to the north of the field, but the start just to the south wasnt, that wasnt much of an issue though and we head off north picking up some sort of convergence line running from aldermaston to hungerford and climbing well under it, trouble was the the tp was in dead air (this WAS an issue). We glid to a patch of brightness hoping to pick something up and sneak round the back - wrong plan! We should have just glid into the tp and out again directly. Having called ken from 1000ft, we landed in what looked like a strip but wasnt, at least 10km past the turn at six thirty, 5 gliders got round!]

It would seem Pete has joined the sign post club.

I received this on my phone about 20:30 hrs. 

[Pete: we had thought we had landed at a strip, it wasnt so we decided to open Abingdon International Airport ]

Ken Hansell has been camped out helping all of us and earning his keep with the retrieve yesterday. (Not that he's getting a sausage for helping but we do appreciate it!). [Pete: please note sausages keep being offered and declined]

Today Tuesday has been scrubbed and it doesn't look good until Saturday now. We will see!

Chris

Monday 4th June

With the Jubilee celebrations in full swing members attention must have been focused elsewhere but those who did come out to fly were rewarded with some surprisingly good soaring.
First launch was at 11:00 and the last at 18:17 and despite a brief spell of flat conditions mid afternoon we managed some 28 launches clocking up nearly 8 1/2 hrs of  soaring. If you allow for the period of yellow bung pulling (must stop doing that!) the flight times were not bad at all.
Carol won the honors with an impressive 56 mins in the Puchacz getting to 3000ft over Hungerford with Richard Greenaway a close second with 52 mins in the K8.

Congratulations must go to Mark Patterson for re-soloing after more than a two year lay off and for getting back in to the K8.........well done Mark!

Other notable happenings were Nigel Burt starting his BI training and Richard Greenaway being signed off by Trevor to drive the winch.....no excuse now Richard!

We did keep a good look out for the comp pilots from Lasham who were initially set to route nearby but it seems the conditions were not so good over that way. We only managed to spot a solitary big winged thingy passing overhead on its way towards Marlborough as we were packing the hanger at 18:30 so maybe the expected task had changed. [Pete: Per Chris' post above all classes but the regionals A were scrubbed. All 100 gliders were set to go but a shower came through and whilst we waited for the air behind to cycle time marched on. With not enough day left to launch the 15m class nations (they have a minimum task length of 160km) they could only get the regionals A away with a hope. A couple of open class guys launched to get some flying in, i think you saw a Nimbus 4DM which had self launched and had got up to Lyneham before returning (with some help from Mr Rotax)]

Phil

Whilst at Sutton Bank Paul Prentice was signed off for Aerotowing...............here is the video of his first solo Aerotow.

Sunday 27th at the club

It's days like this that one wishes we had the option of (occasionally) taking an aerotow or turning the field through 90 degrees.  With the easterly wind launch heights were modest leaving insufficient time to find the lift.  Only 1 person managed launch directly into a thermal and so was able to wander around at 4,000 to 5,000 around the countryside in the Vega.  We did see lots of gliders passing overhead at great heights - grrrrrr. 

The day started blue (with a NE wind) but the good stuff appeared from the south and the wind veered to the East.  Mid afternoon the blue crept in from the south, the wind also moved to the south and we changed ends.  With the dead sky came a couple of Lashamites unable to make it back home.  With those 2 pilots plus some refugees from Wyvern and a couple of unbooked TLs appearing the visitors outnumbered the club members.  Very pleased to welcome the Wyvern chaps who's help at keeping things running and putting the toys away was much appreciated.

I took a launch shortly before 18:00 and much to my surprise managed to deliver a full 30 minute TL in what looked like dead air by gently milking the almost imperceptible lift.

Many thanks to the few club members who turn out and kept us flying with a special thanks to Nigel and Trevor for their long stints on the winch and Jim C who delivered 13 instructional flights.

Saturday 26th

Report from Bob B:-


Today (Saturday 26th May) produced a howling South-Easterly making it unwise to risk cables falling to the west.

However, there was furious gardening at Rivar Hill - topping the new forest of hogweed in the middle of the field. Unfortunately this will need chemical attack as the roots will be impossible to remove, so it will be back in a few weeks. It was suggested that Jim should load up his Nimbus with agent orange and waterbomb the area.





We were pleased to greet our new full flying member 'Kes' to the club.




Thanks also to Jim who entertained us with a talk and discussion about circuit planning.

Sunday 27th May. What a day.

Cross country flying is ok, well it's better than ok, for me it's great, pushing oneself to your own personal limits and getting across country as efficiently as you can is fantastic but I have decided, strictly on a personal basis, to add a different dimension to my cross country escapades. I have therefore introduced cross country sign collecting.

The idea, and it has the seed which could become more popular as people realise how enjoyable it is, involves flying away from your launch point and taking a photo of the nearest signpost you can find.

Here is a beauty I collected on Sunday, isn't she lovely?!

I've collected quite a few the last year or so but I've been somewhat hesitant to publicly air my passion for signs. One of my greatest finds was this little gem.

My flight was great and (for me) no shame in my landout at Little Rissington airfield.

The guys there were very welcoming and helpful, and when I'd arranged a retrieve and turned back up at Little Rissington at 21:30 they turned out to open the gates.

(Earlier)

As I thermal'd above the airfield, joined by a couple of Ventus and LS8's  I sctratched away thinking that if I landed at least I'd have some company, but after a while, as well as being a bit lower I realised they were all popping their engines.

I've mixed feelings about engines but the overriding feeling is jealousy.

How happy I was to see them turbo'ng away from certain land out while I turned finals and landed on a very nice runway.

A little later a gent from Aston Down landed at Little Rissington, unfortunately without putting his wheel down and on the runway. Very unfortunate to see but it does make the biggest Morse code I've ever seen and looked like this -... ..- --. --. . .-.

Until I landed out I was having a great day, fantastic runs with great air, well that was until the air changed and it all went to custard.

Sutton Bank: At Last We Fly

OK, so strictly speaking, Wednesday was not our first flying day.  Sunday, Carol and Phil worked away at getting everyone site and/or aerotow checked.  Tuesday, a few flew but only the Janus (Carol & Phil) and the Nimbus (Jim) did more than simply descend; Paul took his first aerotow solo and Jon took his first aerotow for 20 years.  However, on Wednesday all who launched soared.  Gliders (between ourselves and the Stratford club there were quite a few) were positioned in readiness to go on-line to the south of the clubhouse and pilots hung around or drank tea in the clubhouse waiting to see if it really would “pop”.  Before that could happen we changed ends and all the gliders returned to where they had been overnight.  I say “changed ends” – we moved half way along the runway and pointed in the other direction.  Not much wind to speak of but what there was was on our back.  It did mean we were launching over the white horse and one suddenly had lots of height if a low cable break was encountered.

“Enough of the ground manoeuvres, what about the flying?” I hear you ask. Hm, maybe the less said about that the better. With cloudbase between 1,800’ and 2,000’ and the most reliable area of lift above the bank there were a lot of gliders trying to cram into the 1,400 to 1,800 band in a limited area – not many of them Flarmed and the visually picking out gliders wasn’t that easy. Easy enough to stay airborne, most folks came back when neck muscle strain got to them. James W and Richard D exercised Sutton Bank’s Astir and Discus (respectively).


With the warm, long evening alfresco dining was the order of the day. We gathered in Thirsk’s market square where fish & chips and Chinese takeaways were on offer which were then taken to a select spot on the banks of the river. James W, having misprogrammed the turning point, ate his takeaway further upstream but on the homerun (for the pub) we meet back up with him.

Sutton bank Exped 3

I spoke to Phil this morning who said they're all having a great time. The weather is a mixed bag but they're hoping for an improvment which looks supported by the Met.

Obvoiulsy Paul Prentice is missing the creature comforts of home but seems to be muddling through. Perhaps he's inspired to do some ridge runnning, maybe he dropped his lucky 50p, either way I doubt that the young lady noticed Paul the Ninja creep up behind her!

Sutton Bank Exped 2

from http://www.ygc.co.uk/wordpress/


Sarurday 19th.  Rain in the morning and low cloud for the rest of the day kept the gliders in the hangars, while the cool and moderate N’ly flow kept the pilots in the clubhouse, although a couple chose to fly in sunnier skies on the simulator.  The club welcomed pilots and gliders from both the Shalbourne and Stratford GCs with the hope of better conditions for the  new week starting on Sunday.

Sunday 20th.  The moderate N’ly flow continued, but the day was dry and the cloud, although low, provided sufficient gaps to allow flying to commence at 1030 hrs and continue until 1730 hrs, during which time around 30 ATs were flown.   The conditions provided some  navigation challenges,  but no one got lost.  The visiting pilots from Shalbourne and Stratford took the opportunity to get airborne with 16 launches in their own gliders, Messrs Harris and Elison putting up the longest 2 seater flight of the day as conditions improved a little in the afternoon, 27 minutes in their Puchacz, just beating the 26 minutes of Messrs Pike and Greenwood in the Janus.  No YGC single seaters were flown, the 2 K21s and the DG1000 providing flights  for the rest of those wanting to fly, including Tony Dury who made use of his Learn to Fly package to have 4 flights with John Marsh in the K21, the longest being 21 minutes.   2 pilots managed to find sufficient lift to exceed an hour in the air, Barry Kerby having 1:27 in his LS8 via a series of short cloud climbs, the cloud base not increasing much over the day.  The last flight of the day saw Bob  Calvert make use of a downwind convergence to soar for 1:07 in his Discus.

Sunday 20th May

ERIV 201145Z 010 10KT 9999 OVC007 10/08 Q1009 

That's METAR for rubbish!

Sutton Bank Exped

Phil has asked me to add this to the blog. Apparently it was to sort out a small problem with the Puchacz, it was the smallest hammer in Rod's toolbox.

Sounds like they're having fun at Sutton Bank. I went to work again today.........

Saturday 19th

'Vaguely Soarable' is how Met God David Masson forecast the day, and indeed vaguely soarable is what it turned out to be. We did our first vague soaring on the first flight when the gloop cleared enough to fly at around 11am. We flew through the rest of the day and it was soarable for most of that time, with a mix of soaring flights, cable breaks, checks and investigation of glider behaviour near the stall. Lovely to see Mark Patterson firmly back and not far off resoloing; lovely also to see John Day back and determined to get himself back to solo. Meanwhile we flew two trial lessons - I hope they'll both be back - and those in training/improvement got down to some hard work on training and improving. The only thing missing was the rest of you - we had only enough people to operate one glider at a time for most of the day. Don't waste the facility you've paid for - get out and get flying! And the DI apologises for having to slope off a little early - even I was fooled by the weather into thinking we'd be packed up by 5.15 when we did the last flight!

Sunday 13th (the other day)

So, everyone made a bee-line for Saturday.  Some of us knew our glider would be occupied and went flying on the other day of the weekend (and not all that many of us).  Well why would anyone pick Sunday when the Lasham weather guru said "nothing spectacular - rather lingering cumulus base 3000-3500ft" with 2 kt thermals?  Well, the friend of Selvam's who I took for a TL mid-afternoon seemed to think that joining a thermal shortly after launching that took us to 4,800 with the vario bouncing between 8 and 10 was spectacular - but then it's easy to impress folks taking a TL isn't it.  In this case he'd been to L many years ago and didn't quite make solo so he did have some experience to compare with.
OK I will admit earlier on it wasn't so easy all day and not everyone managed to get away and some took more than 1 attempt.  Even so 9 of the (modest) 19 launches had a decent length flight (between 1 and 3 hours).  I don't know where folks got to other than Pete (180k but then his Nimbus was back in its trailer by the time the best conditions arrived) - oh, and me.  Between Colin and myself EEFy clocked up over 5 hours.

PS I'm not trying to take a pop at the Lasham forecasts - they are very good and I do appreciate being able to see them.  It just goes to show that the weather does what it wants to do.

Saturday 12th May 300km later

After waiting for some decent weather we were finally rewarded with light northerlies on Saturday. RASP looked good; the met gave a good report so Phil and I decided to pop around a 300km flight, each in our single seat gliders. We were (if time allowed) going to shove on an extra task if we could but the essence of the task was Birdlip, Rushden and back to Rivar.

We decided on as early a start as possible, that way we’d have the opportunity to add a further task on if we wanted.

Having got to the field and the dawn of crack we found James Hunneyman had beaten us to it!

We fettled, snapped wings on and generally got everything set and were ready to launch early.

A little later, having sent off the K13 we decided it was worth launching and took to the sky.

Leaving Rivar at around 2500 feet we tiptoed towards Gloucester each taking it in turns to both lead and follow. I was constantly frustrated with being out climbed in the thermals by the LS3 but it was pointed out a little later that both the glider climbs well and Phil scratches like a dog with Psoriasis.

The sky towards Birdlip cycled and not in a way you’d like, turning to a scraggy horribly and grey mass. I got low and ended up scratching for the little lift there was next to Kemble. Hearing people on the radio sounding grateful for a half knot climb I realized I wasn’t the only one low and about to land. At 830 feet above the ground I finally latched onto a weak but stable climb, which took me both back up into the air but more worryingly across a forest of trees. It’s strange how you focus when so close to a mixed deciduous forest with a small escape field at either end. Up I went with the thermal eventually building into something much better and having called to Phil to carry on track.

I sulked a little for letting myself get low and headed towards Birdlip some 17km ahead. Rounding the TP I refocused and headed onwards to Rushden and with a good pace started chomping away the km’s.  After a while a familiar voice came over the radio asking how I was doing. I told Phil I had 85km to run to Rushden. To my amazement Phil said he had 110km to run! I wondered where he’d been and how on gods green earth had he sneaked behind me at Birdlip but it transpires he also got low getting the TP, of which the two Kens in the Duo Discus turned back from, Phil had  lost a lot of time there.

I do like a little schadenfruede especially when I later learned that Phil was watching me above the forest and flew away as he didn’t want his day (and 300km) spoilt by watching me land in the trees.

The day and the air got better and better and once we’d turned Rushden it was a relatively smooth run back for the last 125km, well that was until Phil got to Didcot and thermalled around the chimneys but even so managed a very respectable final glide of 40km at 62 knots and the best climb at Didcot averaging 5.5 knots with the vario hitting over 10 knots in places.

What a cracking day. [edit: by pete: shame you dont know which one - changed sunday in your title to saturday muppet!]

Alchemy, Pure Alchemy (12May)

 CFI Phil congratulates Nigel on his 5hours and his Silver completed

Our newest silver pilot Nigel congratulates Phil on his Gold Distance flight. 

Also congrats to Jon for his 2hour xc endorsement leg.

A busy day of soaring - nuff said.

(originally posted by Pete.  Re-ordered/posted by Steve)

Sunday 6th May

Arrived at the club to find Janus, LS7 and LS3 rigged under a very grey sky - what did they know that I didn't?  The Janus was first out of the slipps and when it came back to earth after 7 minutes I concluded that it wasn't really worth rigging.  Hm, got that wrong - next attempt it returned after an hour and half, via Swindon.  Guess they would have stayed airborne if Phil and Carol hadn't pressing matters to attend to.  Connecting to lift wasn't a foregone conclusion with only 11 of the 25 launches flying for more than half an hour.  Cloudbase got to 4,000' and longest flight was 1:52.

The second man in space...* (5th May)

Bob said we'd be packed up by 1.30. We all agreed...

At 5 we were looking up at Steve B in the K13 diminished by height to a mere speck.

In between we all went soaring, ok so cloudbase wasn't great for most the day but there were good climbs out there. I think Bob spinned (span/spun just doesn't sound right) every foot he gained back down again. Darren's daughter showed me how to soar on her first flight, just as well as i couldn't manage it today and everyone else had at least a half hour flight.

*on this day in 1961 Mercury-Redstone 3 carried Alan Shepard in to space.
His flight lasted 15mins, well down the leader-board of today's flight times.

Sunday and I didn't fly (22/4)

Alas I had a poorly stomach, I could have flown if I were thirty seconds away from a loo, which is quite difficult in a glider.
Still, all was not lost as I put this together as a promotional video which  hopefully give people who've not experienced gliding a glimpse of why we are all addicted to it.
Let me know what you think.

Chris (PP) B

As classic as last Sunday... (22/4)

...which as you know was a classic example of a windy but storming 500k day. I too have a tale to tell from that day and I'll digress from today's post to tell it here - I got a cold over Easter that was very slow in departing, but by Sunday I thought my ears were up to it. Took off, and similar to Chris, lobbed off to the Downs for a run to Lewes and back. It's so pretty on a nice day, the south coast - rolling hills, turquoise sparkling sea with cute sailing boats on, that sort of stuff, although this is the first time I've rund the Downs on a ridge day and so spent significantly more time looking at grass(= rolling hills, of course) rather more closely than usual. Back to Butser, and after a low point invonveniently close to the Southampton airspace, found a good run back past Lasham where I climbed to cloudbase... and found that my ears weren't ok at all. Had to give up and land, and couldn't hear anything much at all for an hour. Still, at least my electrical and hydraulic systems (geddit) worked correctly, even if the pneumatics was a bit dodgy!

 So, back to today. As I stood on an empty airfield surveying the glorious scenery in warm sunshine, I wondered if we'd have another day like yesterday when it seems everyone decided the weather was rubbish. Wrong - Ayala passed at 4500' having had up to 8kts. I'd received a sick note from Chris PP Bessent, get well soon Chris, but slightly ahead of 'E'Team No3 Graham came Selvam, keen to take advantage of the day and add to his 15 or so launches, then Rod. A small flurry-ette of further arrivals helped us get things going, but it was a slow start to the day - always a problem when showers are forecast.

Note to newer members (and everyone else) - if there's ever a day when showers are forecast, get there early in order to maximise flying ahead of the showers. As I say, today was another classic day. Unfortunately it was a classic showers-come-in-and-ruin-the-day-completely day. Have you noticed how big showers seem to sit pretty still for a while, not really coming your way, and then when you turn your back they gallop up at lightning speed (how mized a metaphor was that??) And so it came to pass. Not, however, before Selvam and Keith both took me soaring in the K13, thus offering a masterclass to the K8 which failed to stick. And Richard, having been baulked of flying on his duty day yesterday, unleashed his inner meanie on James H through the medium of annual checks.

Then, just as we were really enjoying ourselves, rain stopped play. Ah, 'E'Team weather...

yet more about sunday....

I write this sat on the banks of the Elbe, 80p pint of Urquell in hand looking up at the remains of the days 5000ft cu. Mountains rise majestically in the distance and the bar maid is quite simply gor... Sadly I haven't been flying, the hotel isn't communism's finest (i have been issued my single bar of carbolic soap by the stern receptionist) and Steti is all an eastern bloc industrial town conjures in your imagination - the paper mill blocks the views of the river. It does have wireless so I will write about Sunday to pass the drinking of the last of the first pint!

The day had spreadout, the forecast had said it would. But I was over Abingdon at 2500 and needed some more for final glide. I drifted ever closer in the 20kt tailwind towards a scraggy bit of cu beneath the grey. It boosted me onto glide and I set off for home.

It was an interesting day getting here, 5kts to 6000ft was tempered by a strong wind, thankfully the mighty nimbo has legs enough to make up for talent deficiency and the first leg up to Finmere had gone ok - some long glides using energy lines but at the tp it was looking grey. I glid in, rounded it and looked south - the lift looked a long way away towards Oxford. I set off at best glide. When i got there (the lift that was a long way away) I had picked a field and was wheel down on a downwind leg, but I got a knot and scrapped back up. Boosted by the now tailwind tp2 at Bullington Cross was easy with the best lift and greatest cloudbase. I turned north and set of for tp3 between Oxford and Bicester (Isley), of course the spreadout was heading remorselessly south and now this TP was all grey doom, again I glid in but this time running past it to the only promising cloud. It was snowing but working well and I climbed up and glid south to Abingdon.

The wireless has died so I'll post this later on!

Sunday......a little more :-)

Sunday provided those who turned up with some very good climbs. Flights above 4000ft were the norm with some quite good climbs.
Pete Smith flew RIV,FIM,BUL,ISL,RIV for 300.5k in the Nimbus but I only managed 140K before failing electrics, freezing temperatures, the strong desire to have a pee and deteriorating conditions around Bicester tempted me to fly back to Rivar.

Once back at Rivar I had a flight with Helen Forrest in the Puchacz and straight off the launch we contacted a strong thermal which took us all the way to cloudbase at 5300ft. For the last 2000ft of the climb Helen was flying the Puchacz herself which really made her day, in the end we only came down because it was so cold!

Great day but sooo cold!


Phil

Sunday. (15/4) And this little piggy went wee wee all the way home.

What a day of promises and hopes. RASP looked as though it was the best day of the year, which for many it was.

I decided to pop down to Lasham and get a high aerotow to allow me a quick drop down to Butser hill on the west end of the Southdowns. My cunning plan was to fly the ridge to Lewes and back to Butser, then to make my way towards Gloucester and (hopefully) beyond.

I watered up filling the wings with about a hundred and fifty pounds of water, updated my ClearNav with current airspace and waypoints on the grid at Lasham (thanks Nigel M for the use of your memory stick) and took a glide down to the Southdowns. I remembered to keep Basingstoke somewhere behind me so I knew I was off in the right sort of direction. In no time at all I got to Butser and flew down the ridge crossing Steyning and on towards Lewes. It was peaceful and I didn’t see another glider- for a while. On my way back towards Butser I couldn’t see anything other than gliders! They were everywhere, below me, above, by the side of me; I didn’t order this when I took off.

Once clear of the Southdowns and heading back towards Rivar which I’d put in as a waypoint, and trying to keep well clear of Southampton airspace I found the conditions great, strong thermals but also strong sink. I pushed into a 20 knot headwind, albeit with a battery that died within a couple of hours of being switched on; I shut down all but essential stuff and made my way across the countryside eventually getting to Hungerford where they sky wasn’t at all what I’d expected.

At this point, and having drank a lot of water I decided to have a mid air crisis and on relieving myself found I wasn’t at all relieved as my ‘plumbing’ system had gone horribly wrong. At height the temperature was just above freezing (don’t worry well get back to the plumbing saga), so my feet were like blocks of ice, my vent for the cockpit was firmly shut and I was faffing about with the electrics trying to make sense of what’d gone wrong. It was not a moment for good karma in the cockpit.

Now, after my incontinence break I was rather damp around my mid-drift and getting colder by the minute.

Rivar hill was beckoning, it would have been so easy to let down into the field, probably to be welcomed by my good friends and flying buddies with a degree of sympathy and understanding of my unbelievable misfortune and series of unfortunate events.

Ok, so the truth, and I’d expect nothing less, would be everyone falling about calling me ‘Chrissy Pissy Pants’, which is what I was. They almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to help me push the glider to the launch point due to laughing so I kept with the half knot thermal and decided to drift back to Lasham where I could land in a far corner of the field and creep surreptitiously to my car, there to sit for a while with the heating on and my arse pressed into the dashboard.

I got back to Lasham, landed in a far flung corner warmed up in my car and retrieved my glider.

After a chat with Liz and others I drove back to Rivar to finish my day off smelling like an orthopaedic chair in an OAP’s home.

It was great!

Great day out and four hours flying, oh and an unexpected boil wash with extra fabreeze!

Wednesday = Funday

After launching the first 3 gliders there was a trip to the hangar to collect the remaining 2 club gliders.  First flight was 54 minutes so a good start to the day.  Showers could be seen all around the airfield.  Fortunately only one dumped on us - the hail pounded down and sardines was played in the caravan, the 3 gliders airborne managed to avoid the shower.  Folks returned with tales of 10 up (and 10 down).  The vis was excellent.  The 2,500' cloudbase at the start of the day rose to 4,000' in the afternoon.  Peter E reported a climb to 5,000' up the side of a cloud - that was on the longest flight of the day (over 2 hours).  Prior to that he'd had flights of 10 minutes(ish) so perseverance (and his free launch) paid off.  Most members got a decent soaring flight.  Last launch of the day abandoned when the sky started to growl.
30 launches and 14 hours flown and donuts enjoyed.

Saturday 7th

A day when sensible folks would stay at home and restock brownie points - fortunately, we had enough members not that sensible (or members of the duty team) so we were able to fly.  We started with a "guess the height of cloudbase" competiton - turned out to be better than anyone guessed at just over 1200'.  While some of us were flying (well, launching and coasting back to earth) John T and Steve B made progress on the new launch point caravan.

New winch chassis has arrived!

Today Rod Harris and myself collected the newly fabricated chassis from Newbury which will be used to mount the Tost winch from the old bus chassis.

With the help of James H we managed to manhandle it off Pete Ellison's trailer and into the garage. Next stage is to give it a good coat of primer before being given a top coat prior to assembly. I think James has the painting in hand but if you feel like helping please get in touch with James first.

When this job is complete we will no longer have to worry about maintaining a prime mover for our back up winch which is a great step forward.

Thanks to Rod for the use of his Sprinter, Pete for the use of his trailer and also to James for designing the chassis.

Phil

Good Friday? Sure was!

With the promise of a good day's gliding and with the help of the early birds and the Puch's new one man tow out gear the first launch took to the skies at 9.50.

At 10:10 Jim McCormick and I managed a 34 minute soaring flight and for the next 4 hours extended flights were the norm with 5 flights having in excess of an hour.

Paul Prentice flew a short soaring flight in the Puch and upon landing commented that the ridge was working so well he managed to fly in zero sink for quite some time before realising he had not turned on the vario!

Two XC flights were flown, Chris B in his LS7 loaded with water flew Devizes, Newbury and Nigel Burt (aided by Paul P) flew a more modest, but no doubt just as enjoyable, Hungerford, Great Bedwyn flight in JPC.

We also had a visit from Upavon's DG1000 turbo. The two pilots phoned up first to ask if they could come over and sit in the Vega as they were looking for a glider that the could fit into as both being well over 6 feet tall glider selection was something of an issue.

Some time later the DG landed and the pilots duely tried the Vega for size. At this point I blagged a flight for one of us in the DG and after much arm twisting (OK so Rod jumped at the chance really) Rod was soon in the front seat with Upavon's Alex Watt in the back. After a while showing Alex how to soar our ridge Rod finally brought the DG back.

A short while later the DG took a launch and after moving off a suitable distance started up the turbo and disappeared back off to Upavon.

All in all a realy nice day's flying and with 37 launches i'm sure our treasurer is happy as well :-)

Phil

Google street view

Sweet!

Easter flying.

Well, it's Easter, the schools are out, some are thinking of a short holiday and some of flying. Typically the forecast looks like its a bit of a mixed bag and, for the little knowledge I have of weather, it looks vaguely soarable on Friday in the south with a fairly early start but with lower cloud pushing down from the north by around midday. Probably still soarable underneath for a while but looking rubbish by 3pm.

Wind of 330/ 11 knots on the ground and 335/ 15 knots at height will help with decent launches, and the ridge will either help keep you aloft or kick off a thermal or two. Also worth keeping an eye out for paragliders if you are mucking about with the ridge, especially Coombe Gibbett end just don't trust them to stay there.

Not worth watering the gliders but worth getting them out.

Phil has promised a big easter egg to the best cross country flight, which could be distance, speed or best place to land-out.

Wednesday 19th

Forecast not at all encouraging but a sufficient number of "Wednesday boys" turned out anyway.  It felt as if we had returned to January but sometimes you just have to get your bum off the ground.  Steve B brought on-line the new caravan that he and John Turk have been working on.  Steve set the longest flight target early on - only 12 minutes but no one else was able to match it - well not until the last flight of the day which had the benefit of a 2,000' launch .

Sunday 1st April. April Fool?

We got off to a good start with some early soaring under little cu, which fooled everyone into thinking it was going to be a cracking day.  But after a bit the cu disappeared and soaring got harder, with quite a few relights needed.  Pete said it was rubbish, and could only stand it for 3hrs.  A couple of gliders from somewhere else came by calling out good climbs, but they were obviously only baiting us as they only ever did a couple of turns then moved on.  But towards the end of the day, Steve (recently converted to the Vega) got over an hour in it,  and Graham did as Liz had ordered yesterday and got a bronze leg with over an hour in the Ka8 just back from Annual.

Saturday 31 March. Tea needed drinking.

Let's see now:
Mon weather: CAVOK (cloud and visibility OK)
Tue weather: CAVOK
Wed weather: CAVOK
Thu weather: CAVOK
Fri weather: CAVOK
Sat weather: 8/8 stratus at 400ft
Sun forecast: CAVOK

Any guesses whose duty day it was today?  Anyway, Graham dutifully turned up to support his instructor, and was sent away so he could come back tomorrow and get at least one leg of his bronze badge.
Did he succeed?? You'll have to read tomorrow's blog.

Wednesday 28th - Another Sunny Day

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.

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.

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

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.