The Wednesday Wavers have been busy already this week. Readers may recall that our resident doctor, Robin Wilson, had procured a defibrillator for the club. Members have been briefed, and it is deployed in the Volvo (people carrier) when we are flying, so it is readily available.
Although defibrillators talk one through the process nowadays, to be more effective DGS members required some training. That training was arranged for Monday afternoon at Lamerton Sports and Community Centre. It was challenging to get there with roadworks and diversions on the road from Tavistock to Lamerton but almost all managed.
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CPR and Defibrillator Training by Devon Air Ambulance Charity at Lamerton Hall |
The training was conducted by a paramedic from the Devon Air Ambulance. All tried their hand, led from the front by Andy. The statistics are compelling; if you have a cardiac arrest (i.e. your heart stops) rather than a heart attack, the UK survival rate is just 7.8%. If you have a defibrillator to hand the survival rate jumps to 50% - 75%.
Disappointingly 7 in 10 of the population will try and give CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) but only 1 in 10 will attempt to use a defibrillator. What 17 people from Lamerton village and eight pilots from DGS found out is that the use of a defibrillator is very straightforward. The machine talks you through every step of the way. It won't let you shock anyone inadvertently or do anything untoward. So even glider pilots should be be able to use it.
Thanks to Stevie Downing (the Nightowl's better half) for arranging this. The Nightowl will register our defibrillator so its availability (when we are flying) will be known. To find a defibrillator near you, use the Defib Finder website, which is powered by the Circuit, a national defibrillator
network, and enter your location to see nearby registered defibrillators. Until DGS acquired ours the nearest defibrillator was in at Lamerton Hall (Sports and Community Centre).
Wednesday dawned a mild, clear day that warmed up rapidly. The Wednesday Wavers were soon seen shedding thermal layers and enjoying the very pleasant spring sunshine. The weather brought a number of privateers out, so much so that the club's Astir CS77 wasn't required by the solo pilots today. At an early brief we welcomed Jake Matthews, another displaced Seahawk GC pilot, due to the hangar persisting situation at RNAS Culdrose.
Jake is not new to Brentor, he was last here eight years ago, so I took him on a quick tour and showed him the changes since then. He was scheduled to have an orientation and check flight with Mike Jardine the Duty Instructor and of course the inevitable practice launch failure. Jake is a Flight Instructor (Sailplane) at Culdrose, has a PPL and his own power aeroplane, and flies professionally for Skybus. So if you fancy a trip to the Isles of Scilly, Jake is your man.
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| The spring sunshine brings out the privateers; a Mini Nimbus, a Club 205 Libelle, and the mighty Kestrel 19 in the background. |
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| The club's popular Astir CS77 wasn't needed today |
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Mike had a good 36 minutes soaring with Julia before continuing her circuit planning practice later in the day. |
Julia was initially the only trainee on the airfield so she had Mike Jardine's undivided attention and made good use of the first flight for some soaring before taking two subsequent flight to work on her circuit planning.
The Twin Astir syndicate was active today with Phil taking Robin on three short flights whilst Malcolm made some longer solo flights in between their sorties.
Steve Fletcher was lucky enough to get away
early in his Open Cirrus:
"At first the thermals died out at 1,800 feet QFE but after about an hour I experienced better ones to 2,200 feet, and eventually 2,400 feet before topping out at 2,700 feet. Unfortunately, some
of the best thermals were close to the firing ranges that were active today. The best thermal of the lot was over the
furze swaling on Blackdown with lift of 8 up, but pretty rough, and you had to have all
the vents closed!! A great day. I could have stayed up longer but needed
feeding."
Evidently Steve's hunger wasn't that urgent as he stayed up for 2 hours 11 minutes and earnt himself "Man of the Match".
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Joining us for the day was Jake Matthews from Seahawk GC, taking a 45 minute
soaring flight to familiarise himself with the airfield and the local area. |
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| Visitor James Smith prepares for his flight with Gavin. Soaring bucket hats were very much the order of the day as the sun was quite powerful. |
I welcomed visitors James Smith and Alexandra Geldenhuys. Alex had bought James a double trial flight as a birthday present to celebrate the big day - today. It was quickly done. Earlier in the week, as duty BI, I checked my dance card to see that it was empty. However, Alex bought a voucher on Monday and booked the flights on Tuesday ready for James to enjoy them on Wednesday. They had a good drive up from Falmouth and enjoyed a relaxed day with us in the glorious sunshine.
James makes bespoke and custom modern furniture whilst Alex, who hails from South Africa, until recently was the director of her company importing olive oil from Portugal and coffee from the Caribbean. Very James Bond, who of course as the cover story went worked for Universal Exports!
James enjoyed two extended flights. Sadly the thermal activity didn't permit him as much time as I would have liked on the controls but he gained an appreciation of the sensitivity and small control movements required in a thermal. On the second flight we were to the north of the airfield and witnessed the launch of the K-13 and Jake Matthews' practice launch failure. It was stunning, literally a real bird's eye view.
After struggling to make his newly installed Flarm work Ed contacted NABOYS and they agreed with his (our) diagnosis. They will take it back to investigate the fault. Fingers crossed for a good result soon. His patience today was rewarded. Despite launching later in the afternoon he managed a 58 minute flight in EWO.
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| Ed prepares to fly in his K-6, EWO. Will his next flight be with a working Flarm? |
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| The Twin Astir emerges from its T-hangar ready to take its syndicate members aloft |
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| Malcolm's meanderings during his 1 hour 11 minute solo flight in the local area |
Mike Bennett took a couple of flights in his Libelle to blow away the winter cobwebs. Privateers Peter and John Allan flew their own gliders for some local soaring; Peter was very happy with his 1 hour 38 minutes aloft.
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The east end launch point with gliders ready for flight, before the furze swaling started |
After James' flights Alex decided that she wanted to fly too and purchased a single flight voucher. She needed no encouragement from me as it turns out that she wasn't a first timer to "Free Flight" (in gliders) as she has flown briefly at Feshiebridge, in Scotland, and had a forty minute flight at RNAS Culdose. The winch launch was however, definitely a new experience for her.
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| Alex decided she wanted to fly with Gavin too! |
Although our flight together was shorter than both of James's two flights Alex enjoyed that the Puchacz (Eagle Owl) was joined by several birds of prey while I worked hard to climb in the thermal that Ed was marking several hundred feet above us. Alas gravity won, as the Puchacz two-up, is half the weight of Ed in his K-6. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!
After the first swaling fire was extinguished a second fire was lit on Blackdown. John Allan flew into to the updraft. He commented:
"It made for a
rather different and powerful thermal, with over 10kts
in places. You certainly noticed the lift when you flew into it!!"
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| the second set of furze swaling underway |
Throughout the day John Smith continued to work on the City Bus conversion into Zack's Shack as the new west end launch point. At the morning brief the Duty Instructor told John that he could come up at any time and jump the queue. This also applied to our BGA Inspector Colin. Sadly neither took up the standing offer.
Late in the afternoon another wanderer, David Moult, arrived after having also gone walkabout in Australia (the other member who has been walkabout being our CFI, Rick Wiles). We also welcomed back David's distinctive orange toweling hat. Who can have forgotten that hat?
The Duty Instructor rose to the challenge and attempted to dust off David's cobwebs after his protracted absence. Mike is definitely getting into his Treasurer's role as he ensured that David had filled out a membership form and paid his membership fees for 2025/2026 before leaving the field.
Another David, DB, flew with both Mike and I in the K-13 and Puchacz respectively. His flight with me was a hangar landing as sadly the day was drawing to a close.
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| Steve Fletcher's view of Peter in his Kestrel 19 |
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| Peter then cropped Steve's photo so that our blog readers can admire the Kestrel in all its glory! |
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| Time for certificates and temporary membership cards for James and Alex |
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| Later I received a report that Alex was seen skipping with delight as she crossed the hangar apron when she left the site. The DGS Basic Instructors pride themselves in giving our visitors a great experience and leaving them on "Cloud Nine". |
Our tame paramedic Dave Archer rigged his K-6 in the morning and took a pair of flights in the afternoon to keep current and build confidence in his glider which still sports the Swiss flag on the tail. Swiss and German registered gliders have to have their national flags on their tails by law. The German ones are relatively discrete. Uncharacteristically, not so the Swiss which is why most British owners leave them in place as it is a challenge to remove them.
A question for our juniors. Which glider apart from Dave Archer's K-6 sports a Swiss flag on its tail and what is its Trigraph (which is different from the glider's registration)? First correct reply from a DGS junior can claim a chocolate bar of their choice from the tea swindle. My treat.
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| Who set Debbie alight? Oh, it's alright, it's the second swaling on Blackdown. |
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| The Nightowl on the prowl contemplating the intricacies of glider assembly and disassembly |
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| All the toys packed away, but the burning continues. |
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| The Port wing of G-CFXB awaiting the final cosmetic touches following a minor repair. We should be able to rig this K-8 on Saturday. Fingers crossed. |
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| A final view of the sunlit moors at the end of the day |
Today was a lovely and enjoyable spring day. The Wednesday Wavers managed 26 flights; two trainees, two visitors, check flights for a visiting FI(S), and privateer flights.
Gavin Short
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