Dartmoor Gliding News - Richard's 492 km

Wednesday 4th July 2019

New out and return (almost) distance record set from Dartmoor Gliding Society.

Nothing worse than declaring a x-country and doing a five minute circuit around the airfield so..... I have got into the habit of trying to keep a low profile about what I am doing . In the morning weather/safety brief each day I say I’m going x-country and leave it at that.

I had planned the task at home a few days prior.

Tasks were -

A- Bicester 512km
OR
B-301km to Chicklade in Wiltshire

The day looked to be good on arrival at the club. With small bits of cumulus forming about 10am,my only worry was ,would it go blue late in the day making it hard to get back to Dartmoor.
The issue with a big task out and return is that you have to have good soarable weather over a massive area. (Remembering we live in the U.K. this only happens a few times a year, let alone the south west with water on three sides.

With the glider stocked with all the equipment, food,drink and task A programmed into the Oudie and flight computer I launched at 1215.

Low down conditions were broken and hard work but above 2800 feet QNH was much easier. I took one climb to 3800ft and went through the start line. Conditions were good until about Taunton when the climbs were a little slower.

Push on I thought, if the forecast were to be believed it will get better the further into the country you get.

Cloud-base was definitely 1000ft higher.

I found better thermals slightly south of track (4-6knot average) and that took me over Glastonbury

The aftermath of Glastonbury festival 2019

I continued into the 10 knot headwind and stayed relatively high so to avoid any low points this far out. I then routed over the north side of Swindon as it looked like it had much more sun on the ground.

The metropolis that is Swindon

Listening to the aircraft radio while on a x-country can be a double edge sword. You get information about weather condition around the country if you want it or not! At this point a few pilots were talking about areas blueing out and a few saying they only had 80 km or 120 km to run to finish the tasks they were on.
NOT what I wanted to hear at 3.30 pm still on the way to my turn point 257 km from home

Good old dad was the plan C for the day (Landing out and having to de-rig the glider and trailer back home)

Due to my previous planning I had a rough idea using the RASP software I would need to round the Bicester turn point at 330-4pm to have a chance of getting back. I managed to turn at about 4.15 pm

It’s then I felt how far away I was from my home club. But......positive mind set required at this point, I now had a 10 knot tailwind helping me.

Bicester airfield from the south west looking north east

The route back was much the same but the gaps between the clouds seemed to be getting bigger. I started to think about the amount of energy left in the day and what speed I had to fly. It’s funny how lack of day makes you want to fly faster but the security you get from being high makes you want to fly at max glide. This results in procrastination at every opportunity, you know what you should do but it’s hard to put speed on and throw the height away you just gained.

The sky with flatter clouds - still a long way to go

So back into Somerset I took a detour just at the end of the Mendip gliding club ridge. Looking ahead at the sky and the Somerset levels I did consider landing, using the club as an option I pushed west and contacted a good climb. By my calculations it gave me a good chance of making Devon and Somerset gliding club so I pushed on.

Same when I got there at 6.15 pm , using them as an option I pushed west, found a climb and worked out how far I could get. The sky really was looking very soft by now and I thought this could be the last glide straight into a field. Still the road retrieve for my dad would be shorter at least.

I got a weak climb around Tiverton and flew to just northeast of Okehampton. This really was the last throws of the day as it was now after 7 pm!!! Half a knot climb here 1 knot there. I got to a height that gave me final glide but no margin for error and no circuit height. I knew with a north easterly there was likely to be sink in the way back and the land out options are not that great if your are low and rushing the decision. So with a field selected I had one last search for a climb that just prolonged the agony.

Wheel down , checks sorted, in I go. Landed and safe rang for a retrieve. I walked to the nearest house (google maps makes this so much easier than when I first started flying) found the owner first time and the husband and wife were very welcoming and said they had another glider land a few fields away several years ago from Brentor!!!  I pointed out the must mean they have very nice fields for us to all land in them.

Friendly farmer just north of Okehampton, great field, decaying sky

Below are the highlights from the BGA ladder information

492km flown (my furthest flight - yes it did feel like a long way)

7h on task 7h 25m in the air (my longest flight)

Oh and a new club record!!


My biggest points on the BGA ladder (check out https://www.bgaladder.net and join in. )


Yes it did feel a very long way

Thanks to all the helpers but especially Pete Howarth for taking on my instructor duty for the day to release me for what we saw as an epic day, and my Dad for the support, tracking me on spot the glider, sandwiches and tea on landing and retrieve driving to get me.

Home by 11.00 pm

Just EPIC.......

Note to self - Next time take off 30 min earlier, fly faster, land back at Dartmoor. But what’s 8 km between friends?

Richard Roberts