Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 24th January 2015

Clear blue sky with a brisk north westerly wind. Today was licenced pilots only and a small number of us decided to get the K8 out and keep our flying skills current.

Rick Ready to try again in the K8
So right from the start it was obvious that there was a bit of competition between the pilots. There was a little thermal activity and Mike Jardine who managed the longest flight at 13 minutes climbed to a dizzying 1800 feet in the weak January thermals.

Our first attempt at a group photo
Before leaving the launch point I decided that we should have a group photo. My initial effort showed the group with me in a separate frame. Rick then took a selfie of us. I wondered if this should perhaps be referred to as a groupie but have since found out that the correct terminology is a USIE. Unfortunately, neither of the photos contained Scratch Hitchen who drove the winch for us today. Thanks mate.
The finished "usie". 
After returning to the hangar, Rick donned his overalls and teamed up with Allan Holland and Scratch to remove the differential unit from the GusLaunch winch ready for some detailed inspections.

Colin Boyd and I worked on the total energy probe on K13 G-CHXP which, having somehow lost it’s end plug, was totally ineffective. The probe was carefully blown through from the underside to remove any blockages and a new end plug glued into place. We will see how effective this is next time we fly it.

Steve

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