Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 23rd September 2026

After several days of grey mizzle, the weather brightened up on Tuesday afternoon.   So would Wednesday be flyable? Could we finish the annual inspection of the Astir CS77 and bring it back into service?  How would the upgraded solar set perform?  Lots of questions to be answered.

It looked quite promising on the way to the club.  The murk over the moors seemed to break up, and the sun came out until the last mile.  At the club, the cloud was on the deck, and heavy drizzle interrupted getting the gliders out and their daily inspections.

In the hangar, the extant items from the annual inspection of the Atsir CS77: suspected rubbing main wheel and a less-than-optimal trim system were being investigated alongside fitting an ARC certificate and a new placard in the cockpit, and renewing some faded instrument panel labels.  

In the clubhouse, I spent hours sorting the mess that is DNE's seat and its covering, the Dynafoam cushion, and Dzus connectors.  After a considerable amount of glueing with copious amounts of Evostick, I decided that the fumes had definitely put me on the wrong side of the mnemonic IM SAFE, and so I didn't venture up to the east end to fly.  Who needs a glider to do that anyway?

The DGS maintenance team (three in this picture)
tackles the problem of a suspected rubbing mainwheel

Despite the weather, the morning brief went ahead. Today the Wavers had two flight instructors, Peter and Rick, to accommodate the trainees and to optimise the use of the weather window that was due to emerge.

The sky over the airfield convinced me that the real action was to be had in the hangar,
 not the launch point

Stevie Lewis and DB drop the main wheel of the Astir CS77 to reprofile the brake shoes 

The gliders were launching from the east end, but there was other activity at the west end in addition to that in the hangar.  The "Night Owl" and Steve Lesson conferred and set the right settings on the 5kW battery pack so that the controller and battery could talk to each other, and we were off; charging even under a dull, drizzly sky.  Steve then fitted a junction box and, having bought more cable, wired up the second bank of eight solar panels.  Proof of concept was boiling an electric kettle for a well-earned cup of tea.

Steve Lesson is somewhere in this picture, wiring up the second bank of eight solar panels

At the East end, flying was underway. Peter kicked off with three training flights for Ray, while Phil flew his first visitor, Ian Barker, who hails from Teignmouth.  Ian had been a glider pilot in the dim and distant past, achieving solo status and a Silver C, and flying at numerous clubs around the country.  After careful consideration by the Duty Instructors, it was decided that he should fly with Phil.  Ian's wife, who had witnessed him fly at Challock (Kent Gliding Club), was adamant that she didn't want to fly in a glider.  However, by the time they left the site, she was warming to the idea of a glider flight.  Maybe we will see the Barkers again.

Rick flew a set of three with Robin, which involved stall exercises, and Peter flew a set with Neal.  The highlight for Neal was five simulated launch failures within a three-minute flight! 

The K-8, FXB, with a recently replaced tail skid rubber block, was in action with some of the usual Wednesday Wavers: Steve Fletcher, John Smith, Malcolm and John Allan.  Malcolm managed to conjure up lift where seemingly there was none, to achieve the flight of the day of 17 minutes.

Dave Osment's K-6 was in action, not only flown by him but also by Mike Bennett and Peter when Dave was converting to the Twin Astir.  Peter was keen to keep his instructor's solo hours up, even if it was just a circuit!

Phil's second visitor, Phil Askew from Looe, came to the airfield with his wife for a pair of flights.  The weather had brightened and warmed up, and pilots were now in short sleeves.   Visibility was much improved, allowing Phil a view along the South Coast.  Perhaps he could just about see Looe!  Phil's second flight was an extended one, in fact the second longest of the day, which gave him more time to admire the views of the tors.

Phil squared!  Phil Askew gets ready for his flight with BI Phil Hardwick

And the "Phil Airways" flight comes safely back to earth 

Rick continued Ivan's training in the Twin Astir HBK before flying Dave Osment to get him used to glass.  By now Peter had worked through his trainees for the day, so Steve Fletcher took Ray aloft in FGR to maintain his currency in flying from the back seat.  Rick, having flown all his trainees, flew HBK solo for a hangar landing

Back in the clubhouse, at the end of the day, with the hangar doors closed, we received some good news.  The British Gliding Association had ratified Andy Davey's 500 km Diamond Goal flight.  His flight from Brentor - Bodmin South West - Ashbury (just south of Oxford) - Brentor on Sunday 23 August covered 510 km.  This was the first 500 km flown from Brentor and completes the requirements for a Diamond Badge, Andy having previously been awarded a Diamond for height gain (5,000m) and a Diamond for a 300km Goal flight.  The  Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) should allocate a Diamond Badge number for Andy in the next few days.  Since 1949, some 7,600 glider pilots across the world have achieved this level of achievement.  Congratulations Andy in joining that elite club.

The Wednesday Wavers headed home on what had become a pleasant, almost balmy, evening after 30 flights made, encompassing two visitors, five trainees and great progress in bringing the Astir CS77 close to being back online.  A new battery box to be fitted on Saturday and a clean and polish of the fuselage should see it ready for rigging and a test flight. 

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 20th September 2026

Aaaaargh!!! No flying yesterday resulted in nine possible trainees arriving today, so how to manage the day was my first priority whilst the assembled members set about setting the field up. Steve Fletcher would look after the days only visitor and as two of the trainees were father & daughter Eleanor and Richard Hattersley who joined as full members today, Phil Hardwick stepped up and volunteered to fly them. This left seven trainees to fly with me, so at the daily briefing I declared there would only be two flights each to give me a chance to at least allow all to fly.

Twin Astir G-DDSL waits for a decision.

First to fly with me was Ed Nicholson. I soon realised that I would have to break my rule of only two flights. A couple of launch failures and a good circuit, I made the decision time was right for Ed's first solo.

Ed receiving his solo briefing.

Hooked on by sister Jess.

Safely back with a smooth landing.

After this early excitement it was back to the training list. Jess was next to fly with me and she is starting to fly the circuit and early part of the approach.

Jess excited after Ed's success.

Steve's visitor arrived. Ottilia Pochat enjoyed two flights with Steve in Twin Astir HBK.

Ottilia receiving her certificate from Steve.

I would steadily work through the rest of the flying list. Rowan Guest, Aiden Hughes, Misha Skochko, Ivan Foster and David Moorley. As mentioned before Phil Hardwick flew with Eleanor and Richard Hattersley.

Ivan ready to fly.

David happy to be back flying again.

Eleanor about to fly with dad Richard learning how to hook on.

With only the K8 available for the solo pilots it was a steady progress through their list. John Allan, John Osment, Sean Westrope, John Smith, Viktor Skochko and Ed Borlase each too their turns.

Viktor preparing to fly.

Ed taking a break from photography.

So a very busy day, but we got through it. 35 flights, one new solo pilot, two new members and some tired but happy pilots. A big thank you to all at the club that enabled the flying list to be completed. Not an ideal situation having to reduce the number of flights each, but at least everybody flew.

We even had an air-prox today which was caught on camera.

Two Buzzards in close formation.

Finally after everything was packed away it was time to present Ed with his wings.

Ed receiving his wings.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 16th September 2026

The Weather for the Wednesday Wavers: Wind northwesterly.  The cloud base would rise mid-morning.  The air would remain damp throughout the day, with a risk of showers that might lessen as the day progressed. So a day of circuits, perhaps with a few exceptions.

Skysight's windgram for the day.  Perhaps a tad on the optimistic side!

So why the change of weather over the last month?  Those who watch the Met Office's "Deep dive" on YouTube know that our weather is all to do with the position of the jet stream relative to the UK.  In a nutshell, we are now experiencing a "Wavy jet" which is keeping things mixed.

At the morning brief, I was pleased to announce some good news from the BGA: John Allan has had his 500km Diamond Distance claim confirmed.  That, together with the Diamond Goal (300km) and Diamond Height (5,000 metres), which had been previously flown from Brentor, John now has the full set and hence has earned his Diamond Badge.  Many congratulations and very well done.

We had a single One Day Course today.  Mark Hammond sat in the morning brief before Scratch briefed him on his One Day Course.

Mike, the Duty Instructor, had four trainees to fly, and Rick helped out and flew two more.

Mike started with Steve Lesson.  A check flight and a go-around launch failure.  We launched Mike Bennett in the K-8 and then Mark Hammond and Scratch.  Today's weather must have been a bit of a shock for Mike, having just returned from some time in sunny Greece.

While launching was underway, the Duty Instructor turned to Steve Lesson and murmured those magic words, "Would you like to try that again, on your own?"  Steve rose to the challenge and re-soloed, after along lay off.  Congratulations and welcome back! 

Many hands were required to do this. 
The bottom of the fuselage of FSD was cleaned, and the main wheel skirt reattached.

The CFI's bête noire, the Fly Navy logo, still looks smart on the fin of FSD. 
 It looks even better the right way up!

The Chairman and I worked on a "hangar project" today.  The further development of our new tow-out gear.  Mebers are getting to grips with the new tail dollies and tow-out bars for the Twin Astirs.  We are working on a second wing wheel.

Today, we turned our focus to the Astir CS77.  It came with tow-out gear, but the tow-out bar was unsuited to our field; the Twin Astir tow-out bars should work.  That involved extending the axle of the tow bar and fitting various spacers, large penny washers, and lots of nuts.  Fortunately, we were able to source all the bits we needed that had to be in M10 rather than the larger M12 size used in the Twin Astir's tail dolly's axle, in-house.  Steve and I were permitted access to DB's inner sanctum; his secret stash of parts.  After much spanner-wielding, we were ready to take the finished item to the launch point and test.  After a bit of adjustment, to allow the jaws of the tow-out bars to fit nicely, we had a workable system.

Today's "Hangar project". The tail dolly for the Astir CS77 

Or did we?  The clips on the tail dolly weren't holding it to the tail boom securely.  After much investigation in became clear that one of the threaded adjusting bolts had a stripped thread.  Back to the hangar where we found an old tail dolly and cannibalised the clips.  It was tested again at the launch point, and the proof of concept and repair were demonstrated by successfully towing the glider back to the west end at the end of flying operations.  More progress.

In addition to Steve Lesson, Mike flew with Robin and progressed the training of new member Ivan and returning temporary member Nick Maidwell. 

Rick continued Lance's training and then conducted three BI training flights with John Allan, with John flying from the rear seat.  The mix of glider types (K-13 and Twin Astir) allowed greater training flexibility.  Steve Fletcher took the last flight with John Smith in a Twin Astir to maintain his recency as an introductory Flight Pilot after having made an earlier one with Dave Archer.

The "Clubhouse project" today was the solar panels.  Steve Lewis arranged for the "Night Owl", Andrew Downing, to visit mid-afternoon.  He brought with him a 5KW solar storage battery and a solar power controller that dwarfed our current one.  Steve Lesson and John Allan will work together to get the solar panels wired up.  All ahead full on the solar project!  The only challenge is whether the floor of the clubhouse will be strong enough to accommodate the not inconsiderable weight of the battery and the solar charger.

The solar panels are itching to be wired up

A happy Michael M-S gets ready for his third flight of the day in the Astir CS77

While Michael M-S was enjoying the exclusive use of the Astir CS77 to progress his solo flights, the K-8 was earning its keep with eight flights made by Mike Bennett, as previously mentioned, Peter, Malcolm, John Osment, John Smith, and David Archer. The longest flight of the day went to Malcolm (13 minutes, but he did take three flights to achieve it), with runners-up John Osment (11 minutes) and David Archer (10 minutes).  Well done all on what was really a day of circuits.

One Day Course candidate Mark Hammond and Scatch prepare to launch

In sum, we had a late start due to the rain showers, but we achieved a lot on the field, progressing training and a re-solo in the resulting 37 flights.  We also made progress off the field.

 Gavin Short 

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 9th September 2026

The Wednesday Wavers realised that we are definitely in September; It's still dark when one gets up, and Monday night's extensive rain continues the airfield's "re-greening" programme.  Despite that, Skysight forecasted a reasonable day's flying, with an average of ten knots of north-westerly wind backing slightly during the course of the day, with thermals up to a maximum of 2,900 feet AGL.  Flying under a cloudbase, rather than eternal blue, would make for a pleasant change from recent months.

These should be perfectly satisfactory weather conditions for our trial flight visitor today: Colin Terry, who would make a second attempt to come to the airfield from Looe, having been thwarted last Wednesday by the weather.  

The Duty Instructor deployed a K-13 and a Twin Astir, together with the Astir CS77 and a K-8; with HBK held in reserve.  Would there be enough Wavers to fly them all? 

However, the early low cloud had some moisture in it.  Well, rain, really, which saw the gliders waiting after their Daily Inspection and the Wavers waiting for the forecasted clearance after their morning brief.

Despite the ensuing tea-drinking banter in the clubhouse, the CFI locked Michael M-S away in the tech office and set him his Sailplane Pilot Licence theory exam.  He emerged later having achieved an almost perfect score.  Congratulations Michael.  He then joined the tea drinkers at the table and studied the Astir CS77 flight manuals in preparation for his next type conversion.

Colin Terry and his wife arrived.  After a cup of coffee and rejigging of a planned lunch with old friends at the Mary Tavy Inn, his trial flights were rescheduled for later this afternoon so that he could enjoy the better conditions.

Meanwhile, Colin, Steve Lewis and I, continued work on FSD, refitting the instrument panel and testing it.  Also securing the plywood protection panels inside the cockpit, as we don't want to mark the freshly painted side fabric.  Colin checked both wings.  After a bit of paint touch-up, they will be ready to return to service.  The main job outstanding is the reattachment of the main wheel skirt.  A thankless task.

After a combined weather and instructor check flight by Mike Jardine and Peter,  it was time for the training to begin, with Steve Lesson first up.  Ed followed with a series of simulated launch failures.  Malcolm and Dave Osment made attempts in the K-8 and his K-6, FUB, respectively.  But it wasn't until 1300, when the conditions were visibly improving, that pilots were starting to stay up.  Andy in his Libelle managed 18 minutes in conditions he described as "difficult".

Ray enjoyed the first soaring training flight of the day.  A great milestone for him after many, many circuits in his logbook, he got to see what gliding is all about.  His enjoyment was raised even further with a landing on the stub runway.

Ray on his way to 2,200 feet for a well-deserved soaring flight

It's taking time for Blackdown to return to green

A busy launch point far below

Then it was time for the privateers to try their hands: Rick, Steve Fletcher, Andy, Dave Osment, and Peter.  After a few relights, most enjoyed soaring flights well in excess of an hour.

Steve Fletcher ponders from his Open Cirrus whether the "beach"
 at Roadford reservoir is getting bigger

Ken Basterfield, a returning DGS member and former instructor from way back, enjoyed a very pleasant soaring flight with Mike.  The sky was indeed starting to work.

Back at the clubhouse, during the extended morning tea session, plans had been hatched to progress the solar system upgrade.  The work was now underway.

Scratch and John Smith erect the solar panel support frames

John focused on attaching the carpentry after Scratch welded brackets on the roof of the glider workshop.  Conditions were now very pleasant for the work, dry, sunny, but without the heat of previous months.

Sensibly, Scratch co-opted Steve Lewis and I, to remove CCY's wing from the container.  We wouldn't want any hot welding sparks making contact with a wooden glider, would we now?

CCY's poorly Port wing safely out of the glider workshop while Scratch is welding on the roof.

During Steve Fletcher's local area soaring flight, he enjoyed cracking climbs of "6 up" on his averager for most of the climbs. The average for some climbs hit 8 knots.  His flight duration was just pipped by the CFI, Rick, in his Standard Cirrus.

Steve approaches Launceston

 Following Ken's flight, it was Lance's turn to go soaring with Mike.

Lance watches Dave Osment, in FUB, roll into a thermal and prepares to follow him

Dave, well established in the thermal 

Dave continued to soar and comfortably achieved his one-hour soaring flight, part of his progression towards gaining his Sailplane Pilot's Licence.  Congratulations.

Mid-afternoon, Colin Terry returned to the airfield, and we made preparations for his flight in Twin Astir, DSL, that looked very inviting in the sunshine.  The first flight was an orientation flight in "scratchy" conditions, but the second flight was a great soaring flight with Terry trying out the elevator and ailerons to fly the aircraft. 

Terry had flown with us thirty years ago to celebrate his fortieth birthday.  It was clear that he hadn't forgotten everything.  However, the gliders were certainly different.  Steve Lewis and I worked out that he probably previously flew in a K-7M.  So today, with a voucher bought by his grown-up children to celebrate another significant birthday (I'll let the reader do the maths), he could see the performance increase in our gliders.  This was particularly evident when the K-13, piloted by Ian, entered the circuit behind us and landed on the south side before we did so on the north side with a much more generous circuit.

Colin and Gavin before their second flight

As I escorted Terry back to the entrance after his flights the fun continued for the trainees.  Ian, Robin, and Dave Archer both went soaring with Mike.  Malcolm continued to try and get the K-8 to soar, which he only achieved on his fourth flight.  An unusual occurrence for DGS's very own "Liftmeister".  Dave's Dad, John, took their K-6 aloft only to find that his son had used up all today's lift for FUB!

Sadly, we had to tow the Astir CS77, DNE, back to the hangar.  None of the Wavers had thought the conditions good enough to try it, although the privateers had shown the way earlier.  Use it or lose it, chaps!  Its ARC is due on 17 September!

In a day that improved dramatically, after a soggy start, the Wednesday Wavers achieved 30 flights.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 5th September 2026.

Today started as a fairly ordinary late season day. The gliders were removed from the hangar and prepared for the day with workman like efficiency. This included diagnosing and rectifying a wiring fault with with battery one in Twin Astir DSL - thanks Scratch. 

The weather forecast seemed favourable with light NW breezes backing southerly later. RASP showed some definite thermal potential in what was forecast to be a blue sky. This is interesting as there was some overnight cloud cover which was eventually replaced with cumulus cloud marking the days thermals. I suppose RASP is only a forecast. The forecast ended with a celebration of Val's birthday including a cake and a rendition the traditional birthday song. I think club singing lessons would be beneficial.

The club fielded both Twin Astirs,  a K13, K8 and Astir CS77. We were joined by a Libelle, DG300 and Std Cirrus from the private fleet.

K13 G-CFGR being readied for flight

We welcomed 2 visitors today both with 2 flight vouchers. Martin Finch was up first and he enjoyed a couple of soaring flights with me. Later in the afternoon Denise Joll attended and was treated to an extended soaring flight.

Martin with me hiding in the back sesat

Denise and Husband

By 1:30pm it was obviously quite thermic and this lead to Phil Hardwick launching in his DG300 and disappearing for 2hrs 10 for the longest flight of the day followed closely by Mike Jardine in his Std Cirrus who achieved 2hrs 8mins. The club single seaters both managed the maximum time flights - set at 1 hour today in fairness to the other pilots waiting to fly.

Single seater grid ...

... needed a wider angle lens today

In the afternoon it was hot enough to need the
Twin Astir's new heat reflecting canopy cover.

Early afternoon I noticed that 15 year old trainee was being given a series of practice launch failures initially by FI Steve Moore and then by CFI Rick Wiles. The arrival of Elliot's dad at the launch point confirmed my suspicions. Elliot then launched for his first solo flight - a nicely flown circuit. Congratulations Elliot.

A relaxed Elliot with FI Steve

Elliot flying a modit=fied circuit from a practice cable break

Elliot and Dad before the solo flight.

Elliot receiving his Wings from CFI Rick

Well what a day.  A birthday celebration followed by a First Solo all wrapped around a pleasant soaring day. Excellent

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 6th September 2026

A forecast for a 10 to 15 knot south-easterly wind which may increase and veer southerly during the day caused thoughts of how long or if we would actually fly today. However the ever keen Sunday Soarers set about getting the gliders out of the hangar and setting the field up ready to fly.

With six trainees, two returning trial flight students, a one day course and a couple of pilots wanting recency checks it was going to be a busy day for the two seaters, myself and Bi's today. Richard welcomed the One Day Course Student, Alysia Maciejowska to the club. After the necessary paperwork and briefings, Richard introduced Alysia to the world of gliding.

Richard ready to take Alysia flying.

And off they go.

My trainee list started with retuning member Toby Irons. After his set of flights he was please to have completed a full flight including launch and landing.

Toby ready to fly.

Phil Hardwick would step in to fly with the two returning trial flight students. Eleanor Hattersly and Brett Makinson were introduced to the controls and also helping launch the gliders throughout the day. Hopefully they are getting a taste for gliding and may join as members in the near future.

Eleanor and Phil ready to fly.

Bret ready to fly again.

Throughout the day I steadily worked through the trainee list. Jess Nicholson, Steve Lesson, Ed Nicholson, Aiden Hughes and Misha Skochko all continued towards their individual goals. I also had a recency flight with Viktor.

Ed looking cool in the front seat.

Twin Astir returns.

K13 launches again.

While one of the Twin Astirs was not being flown Steve Fletcher took Steve Lesson for a fly around to maintain back seat recdency.

Steve and Steve all smiles.

John Osment had flown the K8 earlier, but after returning saying that was a bit rough, the K8 was parked up and not flown for the rest of the day.

John ready for his flight.

Due to time and the conditions some pilots were unable to fly today. Sean Westrope, Ed Borlase and John Smith all did their part by winching for those who did fly. Also George Purkiss helped out winching and retrieving cables for us.

Meanwhile down in the hangar, Colin was busy giving K13 FSD a coat of white paint. This glider will be looking great after the hard work when it returns to flight soon. A long hot day with 30 flights with no soaring was enjoyed by all at the club. Thank you.

Peter Howarth