Saturday 16th - Last Day of Task Week

Or should that be "2nd day of Task Week"?  A week passed since the first day but this was only the second one suitable for setting a task.  An exceptional summer and we get the week of rubbish weather - pah. 

Busy launch point at the start of the day

With a stiff 90 degree crosswind it wasn't going to be easy and it wasn't.  No headwind component gives only modest launch height with which to find the thermals rather that the 4+ down that was plentiful.  When you did catch a thermal you had to be sure to be climbing faster than you were drifting.
First 10 launches were all circuits with 2 exceptions.  Launch 4 was with new member Mike G (returning to gliding after a long lay-off) and returned after  44 minutes and visiting cloudbase at 3,900' - and practising airbrake coordination. Launch 7 (Phil and Carol in the Janus) didn't qualify as a circuit as a) it was 16 minutes b) they returned in the opposite direction to take-off.  Did I mention the 4+ sink on offer?
Following the less than auspicious start things got better (or the pilots more determined).  Making any headway into the westerly was tough.  Colin B reported passing Pewsey several times before deciding there are only so many times you can batter your head against a brick wall (or stiff wind in this case).  Finding one of the occasional magnificent streets was the trick - as John D and I did getting a K13 west of the Savernak.  Longest flights honours went to Pete S and Chris B - no idea where they got to but with any luck they will add their own tales to the blog.
A few stats: 3 flights of 2 hours or more, 6 > 1 hour and 6>40 minutes.  Total of 43 launches flying for almost 24 hours.  All 5 club gliders flying and 9 others rigged and flown.  29 people flew.
Finally, I can't leave this blog entry without thanking Ken R, Nigel B, Peter E and Richard D helping me get thorough the instruction list.  I could not have got through the list without their help.  Extra big thanks to Ken H for driving the winch all day and Colin B taking over DI duty mid-afternoon so that I could go and romp around in our glider.

Changing a trailer light bulb EASA style

One quality control supervisor, one aircraft maintenance consultant, one manufacturing engineer, one training specialist, one fitter, one (ap)Prentice. (There may have been others inside the trailer)

Monday - task week day 3

As the thunder and lightning boomed overhead we fettled gliders, trailers, winches and did some airfield gardening. With the toys safely away I thought back to the heady days of 1972 and the world gliding championships in Yugoslavia:

Day Four-Monday
The weather looks much the same as yesterday but even more humid. Separate but overlapping tasks are set with Standard Class to fly a 214-km. triangle to Zrenjanin and Omoljica, and for Open a 309-km. triangle to Elemir and Smederevska Palanka. Forecast is for weak conditions locally but strong convection and buildups in the southern area near the second turn. Some forecast. The sky over the field is covered with building clouds by the time everyone is in the air around noon. It does look dead out on the first leg. George Moffatt starts at 12:30 p.m. and follows the clouds north into Romania; this does not seem to pay off, and he works his way to the first turn in 400-fpm dry thermals. Our other pilots start around 1:00 p.m. and stay pretty much on course in moderate lift around the first turn. From the turn, George finds no more lift and glides all the way to the ground about halfway down the second leg. Ben is farther west and low, but he works around the second turn to reach a buildup to the north where he climbs to 12,000 feet in cloud to finish at 3:35 p.m., fifth best time out of the fifteen who finish in Standard Class. Hans Nietlispach of Switzerland is first for the day.

Halfway down their second leg, as they approach the Danube, the Open pilots are able to gain altitude in building clouds. The second turn is pretty well blocked by storm clouds as Dick Johnson and A. J . approach the area. Dick searches for lift but has to land at the turn. A. J. rounds the turn and lands in a field with two other sailplanes about ten miles back on the third leg.  All ships are down now except for Nick Goodhart. He has climbed his Kestrel 19 to 29,000 feet in a cloud halfway down the second leg to make his final glide from there! He rounds the second turn at 17,000 feet, takes his photo through a break in the clouds, and stretches his glide to finish in the rain before six. It has been stormy, windy, and raining at the airfield most of the afternoon, A radio mast on the tower was knocked over by lightning. One of the East German Cobras was riddled with holes from hail while flying in the vicinity and will be out of service for repairs for a day or two. Denmark’s Taarnhoj got zero points for the day because his cameras were stolen from his SHK after an outlanding.
Extract from soaring magazine.

Sunday's Task Rivar, Ashbury, Winslow and back

Pete Smith in the Nimbus, Carol and Phil in the Janus and I was in my LS7. Pete was first to launch while Carol, Phil and myself stood around thinking what a chump for launching into such an uninviting sky but after some time and some puzzled looks at each other we both realised the uninviting sky was actually working so we launched.

Carol and Phil first and I launched quickly after, established in a thermal and climbed to 27 QFE. As I’d thermalled through the start point I thought I may as well carry on and climbing up to 3400 I headed out to Ashbury, stopped at Membury for a top up, It felt very low but I was 1900 QFE. Got a couple of hundred feet there and carried on towards Ashbury. I got to Ashbury, well 5 KM to the east with a 30 km Westerly at 2100, decided I’d been a burk for not keeping to the west a little more (see Phil and Carol’s trace as to how to do a textbook TP run….), climbed a bit and nipped the TP, onward to Winslow. Pete, who was ahead had turned Ashbury (another textbook TP run) but had opted for the fall back task of Oxford South. I couldn’t possibly comment on the task-setter chaining the goalpost mid-flight without the courtesy of letting anyone else know…..How silly of us not to have picked up that physic message he sent out…. Anyway I wasted around 10/15km overshooting the TP while thermalling but got it and carried on, as did the Janus towards Winslow (the next REAL and manly TP…..) It wasn’t until I got to Oxford that I managed to get above 3000 AGL where I managed a nice 25km run towards the TP.

Turning the TP the headwind component was 30km 220 degrees and my track was 220 degrees. Had I know Pete had already turned Colonel Sanders (chicken) I would have agreed with his wise choice to change task. It was hard going and the climbs weakened. Any gain in height was eaten up by the distance pushed back due to the headwind component.  Three steps forward, three steps back.

I did manage to climb sufficiently to think of pushing forward into the greyest cloud ever which stretched all across the direction I wanted to go and pushing I decided it would be much better to land at Bicester and get a tug to bring me back.

 Barry at Bicester was very accommodating and pinged me off around Harwell and with a straight glide in I got back to Rivar, but only just. At Hungerford I was down to 1700 AGL with a 40km headwind component…

Phil and Carol were much braver but landed out near Harwell, they missed their fish and chips in the clubhouse, mine cost a fair bit in taco hours…..

BRILLIANT DAY!

Thursday 7th August - Task Week starts here!

A pilot who landed at Wroughton

His fifty K thereby did shorten

His return to the fold was really quite bold

But the trailer was missing a portion

Well done Paul P for his earnest attempt at 50k, cut short but terminating in a safe field landing. The only casualty being the mudguard that parted company with the trailer somewhere on the way back.

Even more well done Rob Jarvis who completed his Silver Distance to Aston Down.

Equally well done Justin B for gaining Silver Height.

The 'jam on it award' went to potential new member Jeremy Knight who, on his third flight in a glider, flew 56k in the Puchacz.

Wednesday 30th

I must be tough on Bill C - turn up at the airfield with a reasonable day in prospect to be faced with the dilemma "rig the Duo Discuss or the T21".  On Wednesday the answer was "both".

The day started blue, folks were staying airborne by stumbling into lift and working it.  Clouds did start to pop but going into a climb with an idea with where to head next mostly had to be revised as those clouds were no longer there.   Steve B downgraded his plan for a 300km in HZD down to 100km.  Mid afternoon conditions got significantly better - in fact about the time I returned in the LS3-17 to hand it to Colin B.  He then romped off around the Devizes/Wantage/Rivar 100km triangle.  That meant it was left to me to test fly the Vega which involved climbing to well over 3,000', thermalling, spinning and side-slipping (all to the left and the right) all within 16 minutes.  Having helped rig 5 gliders and doing a stint on the winch Perer E returned from a 7 minute flight to discover HZD needed collected from Bidford.
22 hours flown off 25 launches with 4,000 being reported the highest ahieved.

Sunday 3rd August

Busy day - several T/Ls plus returns, together with several recent new members - good to see!
Cloud base  later over 4000 feet. Jim managed 300 km (it was a Nimbus!) - Peterborough return; Phil and Carol did Bicester/Devizes. Ken P gallivanted around Wiltshire and Alan H landed out near Welbourne to 'phone a friend' to return him to the airfield  for a 'selfie' retrieve.
Locally, cloud base improved with very strong thermals AND over 6 knots sink. Later, mostly the latter curtailed flight times, although Richard with gliding visitor, Catherine, managed almost an hour for a tour of the area. Trevor, having driven all but 3 of the winch launches of the day also scratched away for a decent flight at the end of the day!
Bob

Sunday 27th Didcot's demise

Richard (who was kept busy soaring lots of two seaters all day) suggested with a telephoto lens we could survey the carnage at didcot. As I didnt have mine I decided to fly there instead, thing was i couldnt find the place and kept overshooting, ending up flying RIV-BRACKLEY-BURLINGTON-ISLIP-RIV 303. It was very good outside of the high cover and still good under it although i was a little more circumspect.

Saturday 26th

A good day was anticipated and 6 private gliders rigged.  However, they sat on the ground for the first 3 hours as club gliders mostly doing circuits.  The exception was Nigel B who was the only one to soar (not once but twice).  Then Paul P launched in the club K8 and just kept going up and up.

Paul P's progress attracting interest

That provided the trigger for the private gliders to launch.  Lots of soaring for the next 3 hours.  Carol P and Phil M claimed longest flight honours with 3:19.  Having been once round the Wantage/Devizes/Rivar triangle they decided to do it a second time but faster.  Climbs to 5,600' were on offer and some tasty streets available.
We were pleased to welcome Ben P who turned up for a Trial Lesson and joined on the spot.  Nigel gave him a taste of soaring which included seeing his home in Hungerford from the Puchacz.
It was the last chance to see an old familiar friend on the horizon - Didcot cooling towers.  In the early hours of Sunday 3 of the towers were demolished.

Wednesday 23rd

We had read the Lasham forecast, including Jon G who had taken the day off work based on what it promised - which ended with "Should be good for a fast 400-500km+. If it streets as well it will be epic!".  I'm guessing the Duo Discus that appeared low nearby deploying the iron thermal would have taken issue with that summary.  Fortunately, the engine was started well away from the village.
There was a fair wind blowing NNE so maybe the ridge would deliver until the trigger temperature was reached.  Not so, circuits were the order of the day until at 14:00 Bill O launched into a better looking sky and stuck for over an hour.  This prompted a flurry of activity but only the occasional launch got some soaring.  For those who did manage to connect, climbs to 3,900' were available and for everyone, pockets of sink of 8 down could be encountered.  Of the 36 launches only 4 managed over an hour (Rob J top dog with 1:13) and another 4 of over 20 minutes.
The folks who packed the toys away were invited to the pub to help celebrate Colin B's significant birthday.

Footnote:  Having started this entry with a dig at the forecast I feel it only fair to say that the Lasham Weather God normally is remarkably accurate most of the time.  We benefit from not being far away and so being able to take advantage of these forecasts.

Sunday 20th July 2014

Having finally worked out how to operate a calendar I arrived to find that the club was already operating, (thanks Phil and Richard for stepping in and getting things going whilst I slumbered on in blissful ignorance of the fact that I was on duty!), I leaped into the back of a K13 and had a great day's soaring. Anyone who thought that the forecast was not good needs to read the Lasham forecasts more carefully because things went pretty much as it predicted with soaring conditions and moist air for most of the day and the drier air appearing some time after 15:00 giving higher cloudbase and trips to Marlborough in a K13. Selvam arrived back announcing that there were no more thermals at around 17:00 so we decided to put things away (well no one had any real enthusiasm for much more soaring anyway). I decided that we'd prove Selvam wrong so the last 4 cables produced 3 soaring flights and a training Launch Failure, last landing somewhat after 18:00. Much fun was had by all and I look forward to the head-cam view of Ken's loop :)

Wednesday 16th

There were those who looked at the forecast and decided that it wouldn't be very good until the afternoon.  Then there were those, like Fluffy Harris, who saw there was a glider, a cable and some sky waiting - jumped into the K8 and returned almost an hour later.  Everyone who launched in the first 2 hours got plenty of soaring in (well, except when yours truly had made "special" arrangements with the winch driver).  Then the top cover, which had drifted over, cut off our thermals.  For the next 2 hours not much was on offer but a couple of folks managed to scratch out almost half an hour each.  The following half hour it got better and followed by and hour and a half of circuits.  One final half hour window in which those of us who launched worked hard at the weak thermals on offer and then back to circuits to round off the day.  I saw 2,000' a few times but never managed any better and I only heard of one person managing to go beyond that.
A busy day with 33 launches and 20 folks flying.  Chris K took longest flight honours with over an hour in HAX.  Good news was that the brake lever had (finally) arrived from Germany which Andrew B promptly fitted and JMX made it back on line.

Thursday 10th

A very pleasant evening on which to welcome the MS Society who came along for a Trial Lesson Evening.  A smaller group than planned as the warm weather took its toll on a couple of those with MS.  The folks (both those with MS and their supporters) enjoyed the great views and even some soaring (Chris B seemed reluctant to land after the launch he took at 19:08 - returning after 22 minutes).

Wednesday 9th

If you like a bit of rough this was the day for you.  After a weather check flight Colin declared it a "bronze and beyond" day for flying solo.  Enough of a north wind to tickle the ridge but thermic activity meant the ridge would not be able to be relied upon.  There was a large element of luck whether you caught a thermal or copped some of the 6 down.  About 1 in 3 managed to ret some soaring (i.e. over 20 minutes).  The stars of the day were Ken R who had 2 flights in the club's Vega of over an hour each and Trevor G with almost 3 hours in his Jantar.

Visitor's Video

A couple of weeks ago a couple turned for half day courses.  One of them was armed with a GoPro camera and took this video.

http://youtu.be/3RTayCwMaPU

A few stills from last Sunday's aero's

 Seems my video software as a useful screen capture setting!

 

 

Club Clothing

Has your club clothing shrunk in the wash?

Is it covered in rings of grease from rigging?

Have you had it since 1985? 

Is it covered in winch transmission fluid?

All embroidered with club logo. (this is navy blue and yellow)

Choose from http://www.taylorsembroidery.co.uk/catalogue.html

If you dont want to search how about one of the standards below:

    Red long sleeved rugby shirt £23

or Beany Hat £10

or Navy blue Softshell jacket £52

or Maroon t-shirt (long or short sleeve) £10 (also for some members hi-vis yellow!!)

or Rigging Apron Mocha £12

or Fleece, Forest Green £18

(prices approx depending on quantity we order)

email me with your order petejdsmith (at) gmail.com dont forget to include size and any colour options.

Sunday 6th July

Luckily the forecasted showers in the afternoon failed to materialise so we managed to get a full day of gliding in.

With the westerly cross wind launch heights were not fantastic but we were still able to get some soaring in.

All in all we had 32 flights, the longest flight was a meagre 28 minutes with the next longest flight of around 18 minutes, modesty prevents me from saying who did those!

Colin mended the leaking exhaust manifold on the Skybrid winch in double quick time which gave Jim McCormick and I a chance to test the reserve winch before the Skybrid was returned back to service.

Tony Chapman unselfishly volunteered to be ballast and the link to the  resulting video is below.

All in all a very pleasant days flying.

Phil 

Wednesday 2nd July

With a promising looking day forecast there was a flurry of rigging activity, including those "on a mission".  Justin B for Silver distance, Steve B for Gold triangle and Colin B for lots of kms.
First a short check flight and then the next instructional flight turned into a modest triangle taking in Burbage and Hungerford.  As the day progressed the cloud base increased from less than 3,000' to over 5,000 (just).  A third of the flights were 50 minutes or more (Steve B's 3:59 qualifies as "more")..  Whilst some folks were lucky enough to get a couple of the longer flights others only got short circuits.  Naff all wind resulted in modest launch heights and no chance to escape a sink hole if that's what you were launched into.  Even Fluffy Harris couldn't keep the K7 airborne for long (unlike Sunday when the Olly responded to his magic touch).
After a 3 hours in the back seat Colin had returned and offered to trade places.  I sat at the launch point at 16:30 in the LS3, looking at a not so promising sky and thinking maybe it wasn't such a great idea.  1,100' launch but found some weak lift which eventually (about 20 minutes) got me to 4,000'.  Shortly after found something to take to 5,000'.  After that it was a romp off to Newbury then Andover (left Andover at 4,000 and arrived back at RIV at the same height without stopping to turn anywhere) then off to M4 north of Hungerford for my high key.  Paul P launched a few minutes after me and also managed to scrape away and soar the K8 for an hour.  Unexpected bonus at the end of the day.
As to the "men on a mission"?  Justin landed at Aston Down to claim his Silver distance.  Steve and Colin abandoned their tasks but covered a fair amount of ground.  Hopefully they will add their accounts to this blog.

Wednesday 2nd - Silver Distance day

Not exactly the day that the 'met' promised. Cu from horizon to horizon, but top cover gradually increasing throughout the day. En route climbs below 3000ft were painfully slow and by the time the rate perked up you were in the murk at 4500ft. Access to anything north of Oxford having been blocked by a couple of dozen odd folk jumping out of serviceable aeroplanes and to the East the skies cleared for the occasional Royal gin party at Wimbledon, the only way to go was West.

Nevertheless a few of us rigged; Steve B declaring a 300k triangle (Kingston Bagpuize, Taunton) and me 200k (Gloucester, Frome). Meanwhile Justin B had decided to take his Pirat to Aston Down for Silver Distance, proving to be the only one of us capable of actually completing a task on the day.  The sky went blank for me at Gloucester and I guess the same happened to Steve when he got to Frome. So we both scampered back as the western skies turned to milk.

Reading Stephens account of local soaring conditions it appears we should have gone N, S or E - any direction but West!

However I did achieve the modest distinction of visiting Aston Down three times in one day, twice in the air and once with a trailer. Well done Justin.

Sunday 29th

First launch, straight into a thermal and off to Hungerford.  Tony C mentions that this is the furthest he's flown from the club, I comment that it's all too easy.  Off to Conholt House for a bit of sight seeing to discover it wasn't completely easy peasey - we didn't quite get there.  Some great lift on offer but it cycled a couple of times so some folks ended up with not much more than circuits.  Alan P being one in his Olly.  He then offered Rod H the opportunity to fly his hot ship and Rod soared away.  Our 2 visitors who landed out will testify that it wasn't all plain sailing.  The ASH25 did land close to the toilet block and there were reports of the P2 dashing from the glider - so maybe lack of lift wasn't the reason for their landout.

Rod trying to figure out how to stop the Olly from soaring

Carol and Phil took the Janus visiting homes - their own (Thatcham and Andover), Paul P's (Ramsbury) and a few others.  They managed to fly around the dead patches to stay airborne for 2:41 - and we thought they had called in for tea (or pea) as the Janus boys have been known to.

Plenty of folks needing the services of an instructor.  The way I found to get a break was to send Andrew P solo.  Not a first solo but the last one was 32 years ago.  He was even considerate enough to give me a decent break - 51 minutes.

Andrew seems to have left something behind (an instructor)

Surprisingly few solo pilots appeared so we were very grateful to Rod H and Graham T who did long stints on the winch and Trevor G who took over for the last part of the day and didn't fly.  Without Colin B pitching in to help out in the backseat some folks would have left disappointed.  Thanks also to the folks that hung in to the end to make sure everyone got to fly.  

Wenesday 25th

Good looking cu to south and to the north (out of reach) but we had a pretty sky on offer.  Nobody rushing to rig and launch with little prospect of soaring.  First off the block was Colin and Jonty who defied expectations and stayed airborne for 20 minutes.  From then it just got better and better.  The K8 appeared back online and Bill C proved it hadn't forgot how to soar.  Three private gliders rigged (HZD, EEF and FOT), launched and stayed airborne.  Lots of gliders to running around so a good lookout was essential.  Having run around the countryside with 5.5 knot climbs available (on the average) and climbs up to 4,800, I returned from Andover at 100 knots to swap with Colin.  After a low scrape he invented, and tested, a new mini-triangle for the club (small task for those not wanting [or permitted] to fly out of gliding range).
Bonus of the day was getting to see the fruits of Peter E's and William's labour - his restored Riley Sprite before he heads off for a Riley rally in Le Mans.

No glider pilots car is complete without a tow hitch

Sunday 22nd

The trick was to launch in the first part of the day - anyone launching after 14:00 got little more than circuits.  A modest turnout and only one private glider rigged (well, it had been left rigged from the previous day).  Just under 10 hours flown off 19 launches - 4 of those accounted for from the 2 flights in the afore mentioned private glider (the lovely LS3-17).
Visits from a couple of former members - Tony Palmer and Clive Harder.  Tony had just stopped by to say hello and asked to be remembered to those long enough in the club to remember him.  Clive took a couple of launches, unfortunately not until after 14:00 change.

Midsummer's day

A busy day at the Gibbet

Sunday 15th

Certainly a lot quieter day than the previous Sunday - maybe due to it being Fathers Day or could some have been distracted by events going on in Brazil?  No chance of folks dropping in from other clubs - with pretty much complete cloud cover and a base of 1,800 they wouldn't have strayed far from their home clubs (where hopefully last weeks drop-ins were practicing doing proper circuits).  The sun did make some brief appearances but those who had the foresight to bring their coats were wearing them.  The occasional, weak, thermal and some slight ridge lift resulted in 20+ minutes being the target for the day.  Top dog honours going to Phil+Carol and Alan P.  A good training day for those needing to refine their take-off and landings and for instructors needing to complete revalidation checks.  A modest 6 hours flown off 38 launches.

Saturday 14th June

The Puchacz resisted rigging for a while, but finally yielded to the menaces of the half a dozen people fighting with it. Rodney waited patiently for the call, but determination finally triumphed over expertise so he went off to set up the winch. Early clag and the threat of showers it seems diminished attendance, so the Puch was washed and the toys put away.

The hayfield having been cleared, the mower was deployed to tidy up the odd corners. Meanwhile attempts to free up the cam clamps on the containers had developed into a construction project.

There was no end to their resourcefulness. There was even time to make Andy a new

bike rack.

Such a shame to close the gates on a sky like that.

Thanks all those who toiled and sweated.

Wednesday 11th June

How could I know when I arrived on the airfield the the grass, which seems to be growing at an inch a day, would cause us so much grief. I decided it would not be a good idea to risk flying the Vega with its low wings so the dozen or so people who turned up were somewhat limited for choice as the Ka8 was in dock for its ARC and I had sabotaged the newly restored JMX. So I got to working my way down the training list while the others shared the Puchacz. Rob and Chris K rigged the Cirrus and with a lot of harmony and understanding it worked out quite well. UNTIL...

We found we were missing two items - to wit: one Puchacz and one Ken Hansell

It turned out that Ken had gone off the lush Rivar pastures and was looking for somewhere to land which more befitted his discerning taste.

So it came to pass that Steve B, Paul P, Roland, me and Darren set about finding enough bits to make a Puchacz trailer and then set forth to Herridge near Collingbourne Kingston. It was at this point that I realised just how much grief the long grass was going to cause us. Had it been shorter Ken would have been flying the Vega - how much easier to retrieve.

On our arrival we found that Ken had parked the Puch in the middle of a hundred acre billiard table.

Ken had sought out one of the best kept lawns in Wiltshire, home to no less than our gracious Queen's ex racehorse trainer - the inimitable Richard Hannon. http://www.richardhannonracing.co.uk/

And so the Puch was derigged and trailered, we returned it to our humble hangar and joined Ken for a generous gift of fish and chips and ale and relaxed in the setting sun. Unfortunately by the time we were finished nobody was in a fit state to rig a glider, so regrettably that had to be left for the weekend.

Sunday 8th June - a day to remember?

With reasonable soaring conditions, 3 booked trial lessons, plenty of ab initios and 3 sets of instructor checks to get through and only 2 two seaters online Carol and I were kept rather busy.

Most of my time was spent with getting the instructor checks for Steve Ottner, Carol Pike and Ken Porter completed as time was beginning to run out which would have meant that we would have been 3 instructors down but with the help of other instructors we managed to get almost everyone flown.

Unfortunately due to an active CuNim nearby we had to curtail flying before everyone had flown which must have been quite frustrating for those affected. Quite rightly the winch driver was not too keen on sending a steel wire up to the offending cloud!

All in all we flew 47 launches and despite a lot of bung pulling on my part we managed to clock up over 20 hours of soaring. Notable flights were Jim Clarke with 3:39 in the Nimbus, Ken Reid with 3:05 in the Duo and Colin Baines with 1:43 in the LS3.

The soaring conditions were not always that good as can be testified by the number of visitors that landed at Rivar during the afternoon. Unfortunately one of these visitors dropped a wing during a re-light and ground looped his glider causing substantial damage to the tail, the pilot however was a little shaken but otherwise ok.


Phil

Thursday 5th

Good call on Colin's part to move wet Wednesday to thermic Thursday.  That said, the sky looked good but the thermals proved elusive with only a couple of folks managing around an hour and Justin B comfortably getting his 2 hour flight in the bag (comfortable as in - plenty of time in hand).  The Red Arrows passed between us and Newbury several times in the day kept us to the west side of the airfield.  With lots of drift on offer in a fair westerly breeze this limited our options to drift with a thermal.  We were reward with a puff of smoke from the Arrows (unfortunately, I missed it).
The rumour that one of the qualifications for being a CFI is to have eyes in the back of your head (and elsewhere) seemed to be confirmed when Colin received a text from our esteemed CFI enquiring who was flying the club's Vega over Burbage.
Near the end of the day a passing glider popped out his get-me-home turbo and fired it up low over Shalbourne.  Bob B said to me "I hope no one in the village thinks that's anything to do with us".  Shortly afterwards I had to head home and as I was about to pull onto the road when a Chelsea Tractor turned in to the opening to the field.  I stopped to advise the driver how to proceed safely to the launch point and discovered he had come to check that we hadn't started flying powered aircraft.  A kinda variation on a Neighbourhood Watch scheme?

Colin "honest guv, it just came off in my hand" Baines flying the Shalbourne simulator.  Note the realistic airbrake lever.

good bye spring, hello summer

The last day of spring was one of those days where it tried to be soarable but it just wasnt really, by which i mean it was and we did but climbs were weak and unreliable. Colin, Phil'n'Carol and Richard rigged and enjoyed some soaring as did the K13 and Vega to some extent.

The first day of summer was much better, it started off quite tricky locally with initial overdevelopment and lowish cloudbase but as morning turned to mid afternoon the conditions got good indeed (although one member was heard to comment that 5000ft cloudbase and climbs at 5kts weren't inspiring him). I flew to Bicester and back to hand over to Jim who did the same, gliding back 53km from north of Oxford.. Phil'n'Carol flew Bic, Ban, Birdlip and Chris flew most of that, missing out the yucky bit by Birdlip. Ken'n'Bill in the Duo flew Keevil, Didcot. The club fleet were kept busy and soaring. Nice day.

Congrats to Liz who won the regionals.

Monday 26th

Sadly, continuous light rain kept the toys inside. However, the monthly guillotine checks were done under the winch shelter. The swallows are doing their 'thing' in the hangar.

Dumfries & District GC

A mini one man expedition to visit the Dumfries and District Gliding club on Sunday 18th.  This club is decidedly off-the-beaten-track - about 6 miles from the nearest (small) town, most of which is along a single track road, you come to a sign for the club

Entrance to the airfield - only 1 mile to go along the track

On arrival the winch was out and running so that looked promising.  Turns out I was only the second person to appear so it was time to retire to the club house and drink tea until others arrived. 

Slowly others arrived until we had enough (just) to operate but the amount of wind was enough to dampen sufficient enthusiasm to commit aviation.

View from the runway

The club has been through a difficult period since the MOD visited in 2011 and ran large vehicles on the runway and ripped it up so much that it's only recently that the runway is once again useable.  A small club to start with but the effect of the runway problems was to halve the membership.  A tough time but the hard core of members are ready to rebuild the club.  At the moment Sunday is the main day the members gather.  A club worth visiting and supporting.  The Galloway region is something special with spectacular scenery around every corner and such quiet roads (I saw 6 cars and 1 motorbike in my 20 mile trip to the club).

Wednesday 14th

I suppose one has to feel sorry for the folks burden by wok and unable to get out to play on such a day.  From 11:00 to 13:30 everything we threw at the sky soared away (well, with one exception).  Colin B took the LS3 to somewhere north of Bristol.  The Duo Discus (with Ken R and Bill C) only ventured off a modest distance as Bill had to head to work in the afternoon (the suggestion to "drop him off" was not thought to be prudent since he was working at Heathrow).
In the afternoon the blue hole settled in with great looking cu to the north, south, east and west.  The prospect of the good stuff from the north coming within reach kept tempting folks but only a few got lucky - Rob J in the Cirrus (on his free launch), Steve B in the ASW-15 and myself in the LS3.  Climbs to 4,800 were available and the visibility was exceptionally good.  25 hours flown off 37 launches.

Video

Latest video from the expedition  to Portmoak is here:

Phil

Open Day

An excess of wind (20 mph westerly gusting 40 mph) put paid to any hope of flying.  Even so about a dozen folks turned up from as far afield as Melbourne, Australia and Polruan, Cornwall.  Admittedly both these chaps were on holiday in the area.  We welcomed about a dozen visitors and they were shown the club fleet and winches and watched videos in the clubhouse (thanks to Rob S and Phil M bringing their laptops along).  Rob S had arranged for a fellow electric car enthusiast to big his go-faster car along which provided some interests to both visitors and members.  At 0 to 60mph in 3.7 seconds I think it fair to brand it as "go-faster".
A very good turnout of club members there to share their experience with our visitors and eat donuts.  Many thanks to all of them and those who phoned ready to appear if needed.

May 7th TLE

For our first Trial Lesson Evening of the year help members of 3rd Winchester Scouts to progress their aviation badges.  Not the best of conditions with a lively cross-wind from the west and short flights on offer.  A big group so the TLE crew were very gratefully to the "Wednesday boys" for getting our second K13 rigged and back in service.  This meant we had all 3 of the 2-seaters pressed into operation.  Fluffy Harris (who needs a windsock when Rodney is around - provided he's not wearing a hat) did his usual fantastic job on the winch.  Paul B opted for the quiet life in the Land Rover retrieving the gliders - quiet until the scouts discovered the joys of riding in our "classic" vehicle.  Rob S, Graham T and Steve B kept gliders filled and launched.  The result of the efficient operation is that we flew 18 scouts and 7 adults who all went away with a big smile on their faces.

PS most flights were either 5 or 6 minutes but Ken R defied gravity on one flight with an astounding 11 minutes

Monday 5th may

Winch cable changed

Soaring done

Nimbus fettled*

Managed to only spend 2 figures at the garden centre*

Roast dinner*

What did you do?

(* only Claire and Pete)

Saturday 3rd

Bank Holiday weekends often suffer from a lack of members and this one likely to be more so with the returning expedition participants needing to replenish brownie points.  Certainly, there were only a few of us there to setup.  However, shortly after toys ready and in the right place there was an influx and I had a long list of those looking for the services of an instructor.  I took the first launch (with a TL) - straight off the launch into a thermal to 3,000' and that's the way it seemed to work for most flights.  Most training flights were half an hour of soaring followed by creative (and instructive) ways to remove surplus height.  A few launches found the sink between the thermals resulting in circuit (Bill O claiming the prize for finding most impressive sink with a 4 minute circuit off a 1,400'launch).
We only managed to fly because Steve B was prepared to winch all day with Richard D pitching in so that Steve could at least get a flight.  Richard, Bob B and Ken R helped me work through the instruction list, without their help some folks would not have got to fly.
One Wyvern pilot appeared with his Nimbus 2A with Upavon being closed. He took longest flight of the day honours of 2:34. 
Of the 4 hangar flights 3 took an hour or more.  21 hours flown off 27 launches with a cloud base of up to 3,900.

Sunday 4th May (meanwhile - back at the ranch)

With precious few people operating on the ground, only the tireless efforts of Steve G on the winch and Pablo at one time both retrieving cables and operating the signals ensured we all got airborne - and for the most part stayed airborne. Gliders were launched and stayed that way for extraordinarily long times. I've never seen a day with so few launches and so many hours. Selvam and Graham got priority launches and duly achieved their target one and two hour flights as planned - well done both. Then two Nimbuses (ii?) flown by Jim and a visitor from Upavon, me in the LS3 and two Kens in the Duo got aloft to tour the countryside for a few hours.

Meanwhile DI Richard gave extended instructional flights to all and sundry, with soaring still active until the last glider was derigged.

The kind of day we all dream about.

Club exped - last report

As I write this most members who came up to Portmoak are now back down south.  Trevor and I are towing the remaining gliders back later today but so just time for a quick update covering the last few days of flying.

 

On Thursday the rain finally stopped around 5.30 and with the local evening flying group cancelled it was down to Shalbourne to run the airfield. With the aid of the professional winch driver and the rest of us manning the launch point Nigel took the Vega up for a 8 minute circuit swiftly followed by James who contacted a patch of lift which enabled him to stay up for 10 mins. 

 

After the early low cloud cleared Friday turned out to be a reasonable day

  and both Nigel and Paul both had their first flight in a Junior. Nigel remarked that with Paul flying it should be called a Senior!

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all a great week and I'm sure we will be back :-)

 

Wednesday 30th

Meanwhile, south of the border, Wednesday is a flying day - and a quite reasonable looking one at that.  I should maybe qualify that by saying we could see good looking cu the north, south, east and west and we started the day sitting in the middle of a blue hole.  Whilst rigging his Pilat Justin B asked me if I though a 2 hour flight would be possible and I encouragingly said "yes" but thought "hmm, depends".
Shortly after midday Bill C failed to immediately return in the K8 so Chris K pulled his Cirrus online, shortly followed by me in the LS3.  The ability to scratch and determination to do so was needed but with those, climbs to 3,200' were possible (Chris K claiming that particular prize).  Cloud base was very variable and was down 2,200' at times and in places.  Justin didn't manage his 2 hours but did do over an hour to go towards his cross country endorsement.  Having said a 2 hour was possible I felt obliged to stay airborne for at least that time and that proved to be the longest flight of the day.  In total just over 14 hours of flying was clocked up by "the Wednesday boys" (I'll skip the aka).

Club exped to Portmoak Tuesday 29th

As the locals predicted Tuesday was going to be a ridge day. With a light SW wind we were a little pessimistic  of how it would perform but at least with Cu forming overhead we had the option of having a thermal flight if nothing else.  

As  usual the gliders which were left rigged overnight were readied for flight and we towed them over to the eastern launch run which was a novelty as the last two days flying were launching from the west. This direction is amazing as at the top of the launch you are over the loch.

View of Bishop from the launch point.

 If you look closely you will see the Vega bottom right being flown by Nigel and in the top left is the Puchacz with Rod and Paul.

Nigel enjoying his first ridge flight in the Vega, the launch point is just around the corner of Bishop in line with St Serf island (in distance).

Below is a view from the same spot a little higher (and closer) than Nigel was at.

Colin, a member at Challock, showed us the workings of the jet sustainer fitted to his Shark.

The noise from this really is something prompting the CFI to ask him to start it up further away7 from the airfield next time...............I want one!

The ridge at Portmoak is truly amazing to run along and it is clear from the smiles that everyone thought this was the highlight of the week. Nigel, Jon and Wavey all had ridge flights over an hour, Paul and Rod in the Puch and Carol and I in the Janus clocked up around 3 hours apiece.

All in  all a very good day and a lot of fun was had by all and I know that some of you have seen us flying in real time on the internet.

Today (Wednesday) is a non flying day but we hope to get into lee-wave tomorrow afternoon.

Club exped to Portmoak

The first two days were not flyable due to low cloud but on Sunday Carol and I managed to get every ones site checks done so it was time for Nigel, Jon and James to give the Vega a go.
With the easterly wind soaring times were in single figures but its fair to say that the circuit out over Loch Leven was different to what we are used to at Shalbourne, a video will be posted when I get back.

Despite the short flight times everyone is thoroughly enjoying the experience of flying here. The locals are very friendly and helpful, we are effectively a club within a club and have access to a tug when we need one.....only have to ask and a tuggy comes to site to launch us!

Also they say if it gets busy they will arrange for us to have our own launch run and winch.........can't get better than that!

Paul had an aerotow check with Carol in the Puchacz and was cleared for solo aero-towing as was James Walters who had a check in a K21 with one of the Portmoak instructors.

 Even though easterly winds are not ideal Carol and I took a 2,000ft tow to explore the Lee Wave that had set up a short distance from the west face of the Bishop. Steady 2 knot climbs gave good views of the scenery below until suddenly the gap started to close in. Despite descending quickly the last few hundred feet was done in cloud so both of us gained our cloud flying rating :-)

As you can see  Rod and Maureen visited one of the many local whiskey distilleries and Rod could not resist buying some.......................... have a look at the label!

According to the locals today (Tuesday) is promising to be a good day so hopefully I will be able to report some longer flights. 

St George's Day

Driving through Hungerford on the way to the club I began to wonder if I'd stumbled on an EDL rally until I realised it was St George's Day - George Cross flags every where.  Hive of activity when I got to the club including the toilets being cleaned.  I promised Chris not to let on who did it in case his wife reads the blog.
Then it was time to fit in some flying - the steady wind down the strip promised some great launches.  Unfortunately the 1,300' cloudbase never gave us a chance to find out what might have been possible.  It didn't take long before there was no one else waiting to fly and the hangar was packed as the rain settled in.
Updating my logbook just now I discovered that I clocked up my 5,000th launch - 7 minutes solo in the Puchacz was not exactly a special flight to mark the occasion.

Unnamed Saturday

Or is it? I'm sure it's got a name, I'll have to Google that...

Anyway smith shut up about such inconsequential drivel...

The unnamed Saturday was actually quite good, the same airmass as the oh so good Friday giving strong climbs, yes the spreadout made finding a climb close to a lottery or maybe the subject of a future masterclass... But it was good fun!

EDIT Holy Saturday

Good Friday

And "good" it was.  I promised cracking launches plus thermals popping and the C team delivered - almost 27 hours off 32 launches.  I saw lift of 7 knots (on the averager) and visited cloudbase at 4,500', maybe others topped those.
Good turnout of private gliders rigged - Nimbus, Cirrus, LS3, LS7, Duo Discus and Jantar.  Only 3 on the instructor's list though and each of them got in over a hour of flying.

Great Bedwyn from a check flight

Longest flight honours (time and distance) went to Pete Smith who visited Northampton South, Chieveley and Calvert Rail Junction to clock up 320km.  The sky kept delivering all day - it took Paul P half an hour to hangar fly the Puchaz and Andrew B (yes, he flys as well as fixes gliders) took 40 minutes to hangar fly the K13 (resorting to spin and stall exercises and deliberately flying through lift).

Wednesday 16th

Colin returned from the weather check reporting "lift everywhere" and having to side-slip along the downwind leg.  The advice to his syndicate partner - "it's worth rigging". LS3 rigged and the word from Colin in the back seat was "sorry, it's as if there's been a complete change of air".  Alan P had been airborne for some time so something must be working.  Straight off the launch into a reasonable thermal which stopped dead at 2,000' by the inversion.  No matter, plenty more where that came from, or so I thought.  Nothing found to impede my inevitable descent to Mother Earth.  Launch number 2 turned into an epic scratch - half an hour off only 2 thermals, each providing a gain in height of 500', gives an idea of just how feeble the climb rate was.  All good character forming stuff I suppose.  Mine was the second longest flight of the day, beaten by Alan P with over an hour in his Skylark.  How he managed that length of time is a mystery (especially, it was suggested, given the soaring ability demonstrated on the previous couple of flying days - one wag observed that maybe he should stick to yellow aircraft and avoid blue) but impressive.
The day ended prematurely when the intermittent problem on with the winch was no longer intermittent and the starter motor gave up.

Easter

Airfield is open all 4 days #shalglide

Sunday 13th

Thirteen is considered unlucky but only for those people who didnt turn up at the airfield today with a total of 39 flights and over 20 hours of soaring time logged this was our busiest day since August last year.

The good forecast brought out quite a few private owners who were busy trying to remember how to fly their hot ships after a winters slumber, the Janus, Nimbus, Ls3, Oly, Pirat and Jantar all taking to the skies for extended soaring flights and short cross countries. The club gliders were also kept fully utilised with Daniel and Pablo up first in the Puchacz for check flights before Daniel took to the skies in the K8 and decided not to come back, twice, clocking up two flights of over an hour to double his solo hours to date and get his first Bronze leg. Mean while Pablo kept the launch point uncluttered soaring the Puchacz solo for the fist time while Phil put Justin through his paces for his Bronze flying test. Stuart obviously also appreciates a tidy launch point as he disappeared off in the club Vega and Alan proved that the surest way to catch a thermal is to decide to hangar fly and went soaring in the Oly on his fourth attempt. Unfortunately Richard brought the Ls3 back for his syndicate partner who had already absconded in a spare seat in the Janus so the airfield didn't remain tidy for long.

Conditions remained soarable until late in the day so I was able to sneak off for an hour in the Nimbus to remember what 50:1 is really like while Pete checked Graham out befrore his type conversion to the Vega ending a long day of good soaring and numerous personal achievements.

It looks like the soaring season is here.

Saturday 12/04 and Sunday 13/04

I was duty Saturday, it was grey and overcast and quite windy, but it was soarable. With no-one willing to fly with me I took the Vega, having noticed a brightening - it was quite tricky and cycling but i managed 38mins, Nigel and Stephen coming close with their soaring efforts.

On Sunday I rigged 737 along side EEF, the pirat, the olly, FOT and 383 and launched into a much better looking sky for, in formula 1 parlance, a systems check and installation lap. It was working ok up to about 3000ft so I set off north for a wander. There I found the thermals much more broken (wave from wales?) and struggled to get back, fortunately the nimbo was good for the task.

Congratulations to Graham Tanner for converting to the Vega and to Justin for completing his bronze checks.

9th April - Busy Wednesday

Lots of members turned out to play and 4 private gliders rigged.  Despite a 90 degree cross wind and the subsequent poor launches (1,200ish was what I was seeing from the back seat of a K13) thermals far from guaranteed, quite a few decent soaring flights were had.  At one point in the afternoon all 7 gliders were airborne and the launch point empty.  Chris K set the time to beat flying his Cirus for 50 minutes, which Colin B bettered by 8 minutes flying his LS3-17 but Rob J, in his Cirus, clocked up 1:13.  Mind, it wasn't easy, Colin had to take 3 launches to get one decent length flight.  Alan P decided to have a rest from short circuits in his Olly and handed over to Alan B to add a new type to his log book.  He obviously hadn't been told the Olly was just doing circuits as he flew for 38 minutes.  On handing it back to Alan P normality (i.e. a short flight) was restored.

Meanwhile at the top end of the field the phantom grass cutter was attacking some of the vigorous spring grass.
20 members flew, including Alex R one of our new junior members taking advantage of half term.  Almost 10 hours flown off 37 launches.

Wednesday 26th

Many hands .....!

We  also did a lot of soaring in a variety of conditions from ridge, to rain to thermal.

And congratulations to Jonty who was lured to the airfield following our encounter at the Gibbet (me in The Vega and he suspended under a green canopy). It turned out to be a good decision as he then flew his first solo in a glider.

Task week / soaring week / open week, an exped at home 11th August

This year we are going to hold a combined task and soaring week beginning 11th August (tasks will be set from 9th-17th August).

The aim is to make it simple and fun - there will be multiple tasks per day for the range of experience on the day set by me and you wont need any complicated gubbins to record the tasks or have to memorise overly complex rules. In fact I intend to do all scoring in the pub and the results may change with consumption of IPA.

For those wishing to do local soaring that is fine but the field wont necessarily be supervised so you will need at least a bronze and xc endorsement unless you make a private arrangement with an instructor. The same applies for pre-solo, make a private arrangement with an instructor.

Ken has kindly volunteered to winch drive all week.

I guess we'll visit the pub and have a BBQ or two after the glorious soaring weather that we'll have.
So save the date and watch out for more updates.

Saturday

A bright sunny day and the forecast had changed overnight to something a little more promising. Only 4 people on the airfield but annual checks on the winch guillotine were completed and the field set up anyway.

JPC up first flight at 10:15, 1900' winch launch and some weak but turbulent thermals. Chris was talked into rigging B1.
Second flight for JPC, strong narrow thermals to 2500 rapidly building to 5 knots to 3000' Spun down after B1 established.
Third flight B1, soaring flight and the Vega came out to play. Cloudbase now 3500'. You get the idea...

We ended up with seven people on the airfield, all flew and all had soaring flights of varying duration many of about an hour. Everyone even laid off on the launch. Chris takes the prize though with just under two hours before his toes froze.

A heavy shower stopped play at about 2pm but all the toys were packed away in super quick time to avoid getting wet with the vega landing and being pushed into the hanger just as the showers hit. All in all a very good day. Probably the best of the weekend.

Weekend Flying.

There's hope for the weekend! Sunday is looking especially ok. Moderate North Westerly, maybe blue in the morning.....Possibly good for a small task.
So time to blow off the cobwebs and clear out the mouse poop from your glider and trailer.....

10:00hrs

12:00hrs

14:00hrs.

Wavey Wednesday

Chris K and Rob J returned from the first launch reporting so scraps of 0.  Carol P took the next launch in the K8 and returned 56 minutes later, Paul P followed in a K13 and returned 55 minutes later.  That got Bob B pulling the Vega from the hanger and taking the next launch and flew for 49 minutes.  Nobody was thermalling - they were all sliding around the sky following the wave up to 3,000'.  Most got a taste of the wave but only two more flights (Chris K with Rob J in the K13 and Trevor G in the K8) got decent times (48 and 46 minutes).
15 of us clocked up almost 7:30 of flying off 24 launches - an unexpectedly good day.  All that flying plus mini-muffins (Wednesday flying is very civilised).

Sunday 16th March

What a beautiful day! OK not much cop for soaring and the wind was stubbornly at 90deg to any chosen direction, but a blazing sun shone all day. Colin managed half an hour soaring in the K8 but not much else stuck (sorry yes Nigel you did too).

Special mention to Carol, busily re-skinning the Janus trailer on his 50th wedding anniversary.

Saturday 15th

At least there wasn't any fog and the sun did appear.  With a stiff 90 degree cross wind and strong sink (6 down) a good day for annual checks.  This kept the duty instructor entertained for a while and gave the winch driver (Chris K) the opportunity to show off his creativity in producing launch failures.  Peter E flew with David N who signed up as a member - our 3rd junior member within a month.
I guess you're probably thinking "with that strong sink, there must have been some lift on offer".  Unfortunately no - well not within our reach.  With the longest flight of the day going to Chris K with an 8 minute flight, that tells you how "good" it was.

Wednesday 12th March

On entering the airfield the first challenge was to find the hangar.  The closer you got to it the thicker the fog.  The met man had promised the fog would burn off and we'd be bathed in bright sunshine so it was just a matter of being patient.  We managed to keep ourselves occupied.  While Ken H and Paul B solved the mystery of lack of power to the radio on the reserve winch the rest of us derigged JMX and moved it into the workshop and clubhouse.
By early afternoon toys were out and we were ready to fly and the launch point (at the south end) was in bright sunshine.  Problem was, from there the winch was not visible.  Waited a little longer and it appeared but orographic cloud still coming off the ridge.  Time came to take a weather check and as the winch power disappeared when I was at 1,200' half way up the field, I realised that the winch driver must have lost sight of me.  Line of cloud below me very noticeably following the ridge.  Found my way back to the launch point and we waited another hour.  Everyone who wanted to fly got a launch before canopy misting brought an enforced end to the day.  Just a dozen launches and Rob J claimed longest flight of the day with 8 minutes (which the log keeper claimed was more to taking off just before the minute clicked over and landing just after another minute clicked over).
It was one of those days that we seemed to have more problems than usual but we over came them, flew and ate donuts (thanks to Paul B filling the donut gap while Peter M is recovering).

Sunday 9th March

The sun comes out, the temperature rises and more people appear at the airfield.  Hardly classic flying conditions (inversion with limited soaring opportunities and so-so vis) but just good to be out and flying.  Bit of a queue formed for the one K13 available but Ken P (duty instructor) worked his way through the list, completing it by sunset.  The Puchacz boys (EUF) rigged and got in lots of launches.  There was also the first appearance of Justin's "new" Pirat.  Justin was one happy bunny.

Bob B was the subject of envy, provoking comments such as "that's a big one Bob", "have you seen the size of Bob's" and "how does he hold something that big steady?".  Certainly his new lens was producing spectacular results, such as the photo above.
After a 30 year lay-off from flying, Andrew P popped in to take a look at our operation, flew and joined on the spot.
Special mention of (and thanks to) Rod H who provided us with excellent launches to 2,000' for much of the day.

Wednesday 5th March

The weather app on my 'phone said it was clear and sunny.  My eyes, however, suggested there was a sheet of cloud completely filling the sky.  The sun on broke though briefly to shine on Paul P washing the wings of the Vega.  Undeterred, gliders were pulled on line and Carol P took the first launch in the K8 and returned 23 minutes later.  That remained the target to beat until, a couple of hours later, Bill C, in the K8, established a new target of 34 minutes.  The only other person to get near to that was Paul P in the Vega with 32 minutes.  Given the extra launch height available with the K8 and the time just to use that height there were those that argued that the handicapped longest flight would have been with Paul P.  The cloud cover stayed all day but out of the 30 launches 2 managed over 30 minutes and another 5 of 20, or more, minutes.
Couple of appearances on the airfield not seen for a while.  HAX was rigged and flown for the first time this year and we were able to welcome back Bill O.  Despite an 18 month lay-off he certainly hasn't forgotten how to fly.
Towards the end of the day a big fire on the hill to the south west was pouring out smoke that instead of rising ran down into the valley and up our western ridge