Wednesday 19th September 2012

The blue sky and light NW wind looked promising. Was this sent to mock us? We were unsure whether we would be able to fly due to problems reported on both winches from the weekend crew. The Guslaunch has a head gasket fault and requires the ministrations of a diesel fitter who is booked for tomorrow. The ML winch has a somewhat mysterious lack of power particularly at low revs.

However, in true DGS style, most of the Wednesday stalwarts turned up with the intention of getting some of the work done around around the airfield even if they could not fly.

Steve Raine, Robin Wilson and Bob Sansom headed out to the runway to pick up the 3 full lengths of scrap winch cable which have been languishing on the north track for a couple of weeks.

Steve, Robin and Bob - the DGS scrap cable gang.

Roger Applebloom was assisted by myself and John Howe to trim back the branches of one of the oak trees that have grown to overhang the trailer park.

Roger in lumberjack mode.

Ged Nevisky, assisted by Dave Bourchier took a look at the ML winch problem. They cleaned through all of the fuel system and adjusted the throttle linkage. As they could find no further faults, it was decided to try a couple of test launches and by 1.30pm we were ready to go.

Dave and Ged mount a two pronged attack on the ML winch

We flew 2 test launches in the K13 with me as the handling pilot and Ged as observer. The launches went exactly as expected so the winch was signed off as serviceable and went on to perform flawlessly for the rest of the day.

The day was definitely good enough for some local soaring. Ged checked out Trevor in the Twin Astir who then launched again with syndicate partner Robin Wilson to reappeared 1 hour 31 minutes later with big smiles on their faces after the best flight of the day. Everyone flew, some more successfully than others but everyone had fun.

Steve Raine was very keen to record another half hour bronze leg flying the K13 and pushed things a little too far and ended up landing in a field adjacent to the airfield. The field selection was good and Steve landed perfectly safely. Alan Holland, Dave Bourchier and myself spent the next hour and a half retrieving him and the glider.

Steve and K13 safely in his field

K13 on the trailer ready to return to the airfield

The day finished in good spirits in the clubhouse with Steve Raine providing a round of beer as the customary penance for landing out.

Steve