Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 13th March 2016

A typical day at the gliding club: turn up early, find loads of people already there and the gliders out, the windsock refusing to indicate the wind direction so decide to change ends as this being the least convenient option.

Busy scene at the start of the day.

Get launchpoint to west end of the airfield no probs but then, after only 50 metres of movement, the winch sags into the mud and stubbornly refuses to budge. Cue for at least 10 people to gather around and point, whilst Roger Appleboom extracts one of our prized ropes from the hangar to enable the tractor to tow remotely from the track. This solved the problem and the onlookers had no option but to get the gliders up and going.

All Stand Around and Point:
Many members give their advice on how to get the winch out of the mud.

Today, with no trial lessons or introductory flights booked, was unusually sunny, warm and settled with a steady north-easterly breeze. Just right for the daffodils to come out. And so they did, all requiring check flights before they could move onto their various solo mounts. Inevitably this meant simulated cable breaks, and so thanks go to the winch drivers and retrieve crews who were involved in recovering the cable when it went over the (pristine new) fence. Sadly, on a site as narrow as ours, with crosswinds a common feature, recovery of the cable will always be a part of the Brentor 'adventure'.

Yes, you read it right: the wind was north-easterly. So was there any wave? Well, depending on the time of your launch there was some, but nothing you could really make sense or use of (qv. Allan Holland's mid-afternoon 58 minuter – he couldn't work out the wave, but took almost an hour doing so..!) But there were thermals: thermals that went to 2,800ft at 6-8 kts in parts, which Roger Appleboom in his K-6 used to claim Flight of the Day at 1 hr 2 mins. There was also an inversion and haze which presented a challenge to those who are used to a clear horizon.

Paula Howarth prepares for her first flight in the K-8.

Roger was only one of a happy band of solo pilots who made best use of the K-8 and Zugvögel all day to regain currency. Achievement of the Day, however, has to go to Paula Howarth who, after resoloing in the K-13, and after careful briefing from her instructor father Pete, took to the air in the K-8 for the first time. Well done, Paula. On return to earth she said she was crying – tears of joy! Makes it all worthwhile, really...

View towards Brentor Church during the last flight of the day with Josef Nobbs.

So as the clock struck seven and we shut the hangar doors, with 40 launches (and landings) completed and all flown who wanted to fly, we could justifiably conclude that, for mid-March, it had been a good day. And the ground is beginning to feel firmer underfoot.

Martin Cropper