Wednesday 2nd March 2011

Happy birthday to three Brentor wives (Mrs Fagg, Mrs Keller and my own wife, Carol) and thank you for letting the lads come out to play.

We had a great turnout of mostly current solo pilots, with those needing check flights dealt with swiftly by Ged. Phil the Farmer took another step up the ladder by soloing in the Twin Astir. It was good to have Richard  Williamson with us flying and helping out energetically at the launch point - in the process lowering the average age of our Wednesday crew.

With the state of the field improving, we set up the launch point in its 'old' position at the western end (thus protecting the swampy area on the downhill side of the centre track from further damage). All landings were well into the airfield, beyond the rutted cross track. The wind was NNE as forecast, with the sun kicking off some weak thermals initially, followed by a hint of wave. Then came a flat blue period, until during mid-afternoon wave kicked in, resulting in the whole club fleet plus Trevor in the Jantar all airborne at the same time.

Eventually we called an end to proceedings due to a combination of low sun and some fierce rotor.

I'm not sure of the day's vital statistics, but they included 35 launches, some flights of over an hour, a couple of climbs to 3,000 or above, and everyone with big smiles on their faces.

Finally, happy hols to Bob Jones, who is off to Colombia, and good luck to John Howe, who is about to have his long-awaited knee operation.

Bob Pirie

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