Second launch of the day, Mark P is thrown at the sky and sticks. The K13's just stuck to circuits while Trevor G and Bob B pulled out the Vega. Bob took a launch ready to grab some of the rising air that the K8 continued to enjoy but was back on the ground within minutes reporting that he only just got back having found some 6 down (or it having found him). Mark returned after being observed practicing spins and climbing back to cloudbase at 2,000'. Everyone else continued to do circuits until Nigel managed a whole 12 minutes in the K8. A little later I made an attempt at Nigel's record (no need to be too ambitious) and managed to record the shortest flight of the day thanks to a failed weak link. Next attempt somewhat better with a launch to 2,000' and a climb to 3,000' drifting to the gibbet. Mark's record remained completely safe all day.
Richard D (as duty instructor) was kept busy and we clocked up 35 launches.
Wednesday 19th February
After the fog and drizzle cleared there
appeared a ragged cloud base of between 800 and 1400 feet which
lifted by degrees until the sky briefly cleared in the afternoon. The
faithful had broken into two cohorts, one completing the repair to
the hangar roof and cladding while the other took unusual
pleasure in squeezing every last minute out of each flight
and celebrating 12 minutes airborne as though it were a Silver Duration.
Such is midweek gliding. :-)
Having now had both
fuselage and wings recovered JPC looks brand new and handles likewise having
been beautifully restored under Andy Brind's supervision. Just how he got a
paint finish like that in the winter weather is a mystery!
And in it
I had the privilege of introducing Jonty's seven year old son to the
sport of gliding. Get your dad to bring you again in the summer
William!
Sunday 16th
After two weeks of wind and rain we get a great day - and at the weekend! Launches to 2,000+' and 4 knotters to almost 3,000'. Flights of over an hour were available for the taking. JPC came out to play for the first time sporting its newly covered wings and was much admired. I was kept busy with check flights and Ken P pitched in with test flying JPC and a visitor who immediately joined the club after his 42 minute flight. We also welcomed Allison and Geoff as refuges from Bicester where a soggy airfield stopped play. Being at the top of a ridge, having 100' difference between field ends and well drained soil certainly has its advantages at the moment. Steve T took the last launch at 2 minutes to sunset and was reminded of the need to land before half an hour after sunset. Maybe he misunderstood as he managed to land before sunset - mind that probably had more to do with one of those launch failures we practice for. At least that got Steve another entry on his post solo progress card signed off.
39 launches in total and 10:42 of flying time. 22 people flew. A cracking day.
39 launches in total and 10:42 of flying time. 22 people flew. A cracking day.
Sunday 2nd Feb
Busy day for the time of year with 27 launches and just a K13 and the Puchacz flying (a touch breezy for the K8). It wasn't until launch 16 that the challenge of a double digit flight was achieved, by Colin (11 minutes) but his victory was short lived when Carol landed a few minutes later having clocked up 12 minutes. It was then back to single digits flights until I took a 1,900' launch in the K13 and thought I might be in with a chance. Unfortunately, I descended relentlessly to 800'. Fortunately there was some very weak lift that should help delay the circuit for a couple of turns. That weak lift improved and took me to 1,400 before it disappeared (er, was lost). That was enough to take longest flight honours with 21 minutes.
Rest of January
Distinct lack of entries for the second half of January and there are people out there interested to hear (OK, well, one person had noticed).
Sunday the 19th was reasonably busy with 22 launches. Justin was the first break the single digit flight time (14 minutes), immediately followed by Carol+Claire and Paul P. Half an hour later Trevor G stepped up to that challenge and took the Puchacz soaring for a remarkable 38 minutes. Alan P brought out his Skylark for a little exercise.
The mid-week flyers clocked up 15 launches on Tuesday 22nd with longest flight honours going to Rob J with a modest 9 minutes.
Modest turnout the following Saturday (25th) even though it was clear Sunday would be a wash-out/blow-out, just 9 launches. Double digit flights (10 and 11 minutes) were achieved by those who flew with Jim C in the back seat. There were almost as many folks glider/trailer fettling. I was one such and about midday someone pointed out that someone had painted a K13 on the sky. It wasn't moving forwards or backwards or up or down - Nigel B just hung about for 29 minutes.
Despite all the wind and rain we flew on 7 days in the month (8 is the average and 10 the best) and did about the same amount of flying as 2 years ago (which was much better than last year. December was the surprise - highest number of launches and flying time for 7 years (stats further back not readily to hand). Kinda balanced off October which was the worst for 7 years.
Sunday the 19th was reasonably busy with 22 launches. Justin was the first break the single digit flight time (14 minutes), immediately followed by Carol+Claire and Paul P. Half an hour later Trevor G stepped up to that challenge and took the Puchacz soaring for a remarkable 38 minutes. Alan P brought out his Skylark for a little exercise.
The mid-week flyers clocked up 15 launches on Tuesday 22nd with longest flight honours going to Rob J with a modest 9 minutes.
Modest turnout the following Saturday (25th) even though it was clear Sunday would be a wash-out/blow-out, just 9 launches. Double digit flights (10 and 11 minutes) were achieved by those who flew with Jim C in the back seat. There were almost as many folks glider/trailer fettling. I was one such and about midday someone pointed out that someone had painted a K13 on the sky. It wasn't moving forwards or backwards or up or down - Nigel B just hung about for 29 minutes.
Despite all the wind and rain we flew on 7 days in the month (8 is the average and 10 the best) and did about the same amount of flying as 2 years ago (which was much better than last year. December was the surprise - highest number of launches and flying time for 7 years (stats further back not readily to hand). Kinda balanced off October which was the worst for 7 years.
Tuesday 14th January
What do you call the man who flew the Ka8
for the first time, practiced stalls and use of air brakes and still
stayed airborne 30% longer than anyone else?
I know what I called him, but you know him as Darren McKillop.
Awards Dinner
32 members and guests attended the Annual Dinner, admirably cooked and served by Marion and her team at The Plough, Shalbourne.
Awards of club drinking vessels were made in appreciation of services to the club or recognition of flying achievements:
Supergrafter Awards to Alan B and Bill for enormous time spent on recovering JPC,and James H for days under the Trooper.
Stropmeister Award to Paul B for keeping the launching kit up together.
Salesman of the Year Award to Jon G for getting us a double page news spread in the localrag
Big Spender Award to Paul P, for doing most chargeable flying in 2013 (I hope he can live this down with his wife)
Three-in-a-row Award to Chris K for unluckiest day(3x launch fail + 1x Airprox in three consecutive launches)
Up & Down Award to Steve B for highest and lowest(-but-got-back-up-for-a-proper-circuit) flights - 7800' in wave in the K8, and below the Gibbett on a rare ridge day
Ab-Initio of the Year Award to Justin for getting to solo/off-checks in one season.
Awards of club drinking vessels were made in appreciation of services to the club or recognition of flying achievements:
Supergrafter Awards to Alan B and Bill for enormous time spent on recovering JPC,and James H for days under the Trooper.
Stropmeister Award to Paul B for keeping the launching kit up together.
Salesman of the Year Award to Jon G for getting us a double page news spread in the localrag
Big Spender Award to Paul P, for doing most chargeable flying in 2013 (I hope he can live this down with his wife)
Three-in-a-row Award to Chris K for unluckiest day(3x launch fail + 1x Airprox in three consecutive launches)
Up & Down Award to Steve B for highest and lowest(-but-got-back-up-for-a-proper-circuit) flights - 7800' in wave in the K8, and below the Gibbett on a rare ridge day
Ab-Initio of the Year Award to Justin for getting to solo/off-checks in one season.
Wednesday 8th January
After a whole 12 hours without rain the
field had drained sufficiently to operate. Only able to pull one
cable up the hill we retrieved it where it fell; so before the
weather clamped some slick driving permitted a couple of handfuls of
launches. The ridge to the south intermittently shed
orographic clag so launch heights ranged from 700 to 2000 feet
depending upon which side of a cloud you happen to be. The lucky ones
had spectacular runs through feather walled canyons.
Running out of willing pilots before
running out of weather meant everything was put away dry, so all in
all a moderately successful day. Somehow the quality of flights
seemed to be secondary to the fact that we were able to fly at all.
2nd January 2014
The first dry day of New Year and soarable to boot!
Having made safe a storm damaged panel on the hangar roof, we received some bad news. Doughnut man had left one pack at the checkout! But tears were choked back, upper lips remained braced and flying commenced late morning.
Best flight was Paul Bryant's who thermalled off towards Newbury in a fresh SW wind, only to lose it all scrambling back to the airfield. Richard and Daren almost matched this longest flight, but the additional weight meant they were pipped into second place by one minute. Honours even I'd say.
Back in the club house the technicians were bidding for a record number of people repairing a Ka13 simultaneously. Quite novel really, five people working and one watching rather than the normal vice-versa.
Having made safe a storm damaged panel on the hangar roof, we received some bad news. Doughnut man had left one pack at the checkout! But tears were choked back, upper lips remained braced and flying commenced late morning.
Best flight was Paul Bryant's who thermalled off towards Newbury in a fresh SW wind, only to lose it all scrambling back to the airfield. Richard and Daren almost matched this longest flight, but the additional weight meant they were pipped into second place by one minute. Honours even I'd say.
Back in the club house the technicians were bidding for a record number of people repairing a Ka13 simultaneously. Quite novel really, five people working and one watching rather than the normal vice-versa.
11/12/13
They say "a picture is worth a thousand words" - I think Colin's last lyrical entry puts the lie to that cliché. The few of us who made the effort to make our way through the fog to the clear air at Rivar Hill enjoyed flights to remember - with one exception. Rowland needed the services of an instructor but the canopy's of both the K13 and Puchacz misted up (despite all our efforts). For reasons best known to itself the K8 remained clear. Three of us had launches to 2,200' taking 11 minutes to return to earth but Steve B managed to squeeze that extra minute to take "longest flight of the day" honours.
I snapped away with the camera on my phone. The pictures don't do justice to Colin's words but I offer them anyway.
I snapped away with the camera on my phone. The pictures don't do justice to Colin's words but I offer them anyway.
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