A reasonable weather forecast, an optimistic RASP forecast and a long day
ahead meant Robin and I were in good spirits as we approached the airfield. On
arriving at the airfield we were greeted by Steve Raine who was unable to get
the padlock open on the hangar. After about 30 mins of fiddling and using his
previous employment experience he eventually managed to tease the wheels enough
to get the padlock apart. If you find yourself in the same frustrating position
the knack is to wiggle the combination wheels slightly as you push the padlock
together (apparently).
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| Approaching Roadford reservoir from my Cirrus at about 5000 feet |
Some of you may know that the road sign and along with it
our yellow sign on the Brentor Road have been flattened by something very big.
Knowing we had a number of visitors today, and in particular I had told Western
power to look for the sign when trying to find us, Robin and I lashed up what
was left of our sign using cable ties and electric fence posts. First flight of
the day was a check flight with Mike Sloggett and Steve Raine. Steve found a
thermal straight off the cable and up they went to 3000 ft (see photo). 25 mins
later they came back as Mike had a long list of others he needed to fly with.
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| Meeting of the 2 seaters. The Twin Astir towing in front of the K13 |
Barry Greene took off in his and Mike Bennet's lovely K6 and after working
hard soared off into the blue. Our first guest of the day was my friend Pete
Bernardes who flew with Mike Slogget, Pete thoroughly enjoyed his two flights
but unfortunately the thermals became elusive and all the flights in the K13
were short for the rest of the day.
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| A view down the runway towards the west |
Trevor, Phil and Robin flew their twin Astir
quite a few times around the airfield bringing a smile to the treasurer and the
clubs bank balance. Barry appeared back on the airfield after a lovely 2 hr
flight visiting Roadford Reservoir, Gunnislake and Tavistock and managing to get
to 5,800 feet. The thermals were getting hard to find by now with most people
back on the ground within 5 mins. After Allen Holland showed everyone that the
thermals were still there by working away just to the North side of the airfield
and staying a loft for 1 hour, I decided to fly my Cirrus. I worked away in the
area to the North of the airfield and after 10 mins had managed to gain just 300
feet! But then things got easier and following Barry’s advice that the Thermals
were stronger the further North you went I eventually managed to get up to 6000
feet and fly up to Roadford Reservoir (see picture) and then back down to
Grenofen to take a picture of my house before flying back to the airfield.
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| Brentor Church |
Mike Sloggett, Mark Courtney and Mike Jardine all flew various members and
visitors
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| Visitor Mike Barnades with Instructor Mike Sloggett |
The thermals remained small and weak low down but strengthened above 1500feet
and became strong over 3000feet, but some of the sink was awesome at 10 down in
places! Philip Harris and John Gaul both completed their one day courses and
James Hood an instructor from North Hill came up and flew with Mike Sloggett.
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| 3000 feet and over 2 knots up. Great stuff |
Barry had the longest flight of the day with 2 hours and Robin gets a mention in
dispatches for managing to keep the twin Astir airborne for 16 minutes in the
weak thermals. Flying went well on into the evening with the last flight taking
place after 7.30 pm, a total of 29 flights. A long day with lots of smiling
faces but mixed soaring fortunes.
A huge thank you to Mike Slogget for all his
support and to the North Hill chaps for supporting us even though the onsite
catering was lacking in meat pies CFI Mark valiantly stayed on to the end. As
always a big thanks to all the Winch drivers and most of all to Heather for
driving the retrieve all day, where would we be without you Heather?
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| A parachute to protect from a fall from the Quad? Heath and safety gone mad? |
Steve Fletcher
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