Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 11th August 2018

Early low cloud with it's attendant drizzle made this a non flying day right from the start. This didn't deter the members much and there were several groups who set about tasks around the airfield.

Early morning mist and drizzle
The Launch Hut was brought down to the hangar to allow a good deep clean and tidy up. Rick started work on the brakes on the Red Landrover. Meanwhile the Red Tractor was droning up and down the runway with mowers attached - the end of the dry spell has encouraged the grass to grow once more.

Launch Hut receiving some TLC. A new paint job is being planned for the Autumn
The headless mechanic. AKA Rick
In the club house, apart from an impromptu talk on circuit planning and approach control, the major effort was to continue with the upgrade of the Simulator which has now had a new computer motherboard fitted, facilitating the installation of a new graphics card allowing 2 more monitors to be fitted. The new monitors show the wingtip views left and right. This will facilitate circuit training and winch launch training and generally increase the immersive nature of the updated Condor 2 software. Topping off this series of upgrades was the fitting of a newer, replacement main screen which has much improved resolution.

The simulator with 3 working screens
The cloud did lift a little in the afternoon but never enough to even consider flying.

The afternoon view. The cloud is only just above the church
Better weather next time?

Steve

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