Dartmoor Gliding Society - Wednesday 8th July 2026

Another blue day with some heat, up to 25C, with light southwesterly veering westerly winds.  Skysight had the maximum soarable height as 2,100 ft AGL whereas RASP had four stars.  So what would the Wednesday Wavers find?

Firstly, a busy day with visitors: five two-flight vouchers (three adults and two juniors) and a single flight voucher, so the duty Basic Instructor (me) would need the Wavers' help to lighten the load.  Speaking of load, the Duty Instructor had four trainees to fly and Morien Steinhardt, a trainee from Seahawk GC, who joined as a junior full member after a gap year in the far east.  Welcome Morien.  So a full dance card for the Duty Instructor as well.

It dawned warm but moist which was reflected in the views of low cloud encountered while driving to the club.

The view east on the A390 at St Anns Chapel.  Where did the moors go? 
 Yes, I was parked when I took this photo.

Peter's view from Southway.  Where is Brentor church?

There it is (on the left).  The Chief Flying Instructor managed to find it.

With light variable winds forecast the obvious choice was to set up at the wider east end with initially five club gliders. Training commenced at 1030.

Ian King and the Duty Instructor prepare for the first sortie of the day

And away they go into the clear blue sky. 
The view of the launches would be the same throughout the day.  Blue!

The next trainee was Michael M-S with a set of three, including a simulated launch failure and some soaring.

Michael M-S demonstrates the hand signals he used in his driving test in 1973

Our first visitor was Paul Bridgman from Totnes.  As he towered over me, it occurred to me to ask him his height!  6 foot 5 inches (or 1.96m as we say in the 21st century).  That height would be a no, no in a K-13 but after a trial fit in the Twin Astir, DSL, all was well, and Paul could fly with us.  An extended circuit was the result as the day was not yet thermic.

Paul Bridgman gets settled in.

It was good to see Robin again and the CFI took him up for a set of three in HBK.  I think there is a trend here with Rick being very magnanimous and volunteering to fly people from the back seat when he isn't the duty instructor.  It appears that the CFI likes our new acquisition to the fleet very much.  In amongst those flights Dave Osment took a pair of launches in K-8, FXB.

Robin tries out the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, with CFI Rick

The next visitors were the 18yro twins Sperry brothers; Sam and Finn, visiting relatives in Ivybridge for the week whilst on a family holiday from Massachusetts.  In amongst their school studies they are keen yachtsmen and dingy sailors.  Dad and elder sister were keen to try their hand but sadly our dance card was full today.  Maybe the next time you are in the UK?

Twin Sam Sperry gets ready for his first flight in a glider in a "Twin"
whilst the old man of the sky looks on.

Sam enjoyed two flights the second of which was an extended soaring flight while "scratching" over Blackdown.

Michael M-S takes the first thermal of the day to 1,500 feet QFE.

While Michael M-S was busy soaring over Blackdown, Instructor Mike looks back at the airfield

The Duty Instructor then moved on to Ed for a set of three training flights.  Although there was some soaring to be had most pilots were back on the ground after a short circuit which led to long launch queues and our busy visitor schedule was starting to slide right.

Peter, in the K-8, looks down on Sam Sperry and Gavin
scratching over Blackdown in their soaring flight

Jamie sought to emulate Peter's K-8 soaring flight, but in the Astir CS77 but sadly only managed a circuit.  Suddenly there was a new glider on the launch point - Ka-6 CR, FUB.  Suitably briefed by the Duty instructor and supported by Dad, John, it was time for another type conversion for Dave Osment and a chance, finally, to fly his own glider.

Dave Osment gets ready to fly his K-6, FUB for the first time, and he soared it too!

Later his Dad took FUB, and soared for 27 minutes to show Dave how it's done.  Familial rivalry at Brentor?  Surely not.

Rick then flew with Morien in HBK.  All new experiences for Morien.  After a year off he was naturally rusty and slightly intimidated by the "tiny" airfield and lack of options compared to RNAS Culdrose's capaciousness and military length tarmac runways.  Welcome to real gliding from a winch rather than autotow (Note: Following the closure of Seahawk GC there is no site in the UK that offers autotow, which is launching on a wire using a big US diesel RAM 350 pickup truck, or V12 Jaguar, roaring down a military runway to get one airborne).  A nice entry to have in your log book.  Meanwhile, the old man of the sky, John Smith, soared for 21 minutes in the blue.

Now Finn Sperry had a chance to fly with me.  As well as sailing Finn is interested in aviation.  Sadly, mother nature provided us just a pair of circuits whereas his brother had managed to soar.  Would there be any familial rivalry later?  Who knows?  More importantly, would either of them have a chance to try gliding elsewhere in the world during their forthcoming gap year?  We hope so.

The second "twin in the Twin".  Finn Perry preparing to fly in a glider for the first time. 
Yes, it was a bit different from his grandfather's float plane.

With the visitor schedule sliding right Peter kindly stepped in and flew Alan Berry in our flagship, HBK.  Alan had come the shortest distance to the club today; Tavistock.  After an introductory flight Alan enjoyed some local soaring on his second flight.

Alan Berry ready to fly with the BGA's 2024 Instructor of the Year

Our next visitor was Robert Didymus from Saltash whose opening line was that he had flown gliders from this airfield 55 years ago.  I'll let that sink in.  55 years ago.  Bob as a 15yro would retrieve gliders when they landed and tow them back to the launch point using a tractor.

He was a member of the Albatross Gliding Club that predates Dartmoor Gliding Society.  The club had three winches and flew a T-21 (side by side open cockpit glider).  A long circuit was a launch followed by a 360-degree turn and then landing, typically three minutes.

Bob Didymus about to be amazed at the performance of the Twin Astir
 following his previous experience of an open cockpit, side-by-side, Slingsby T-21

Bob was full of stories.  It would have been great to hear the full history of the Albatross GC, but time was pressing, and we needed to get flying.  A couple of circuits but the performance, the glide angle, of the Twin Astir was mind-blowing for him.  Bob had never been that far out over Blackdown and still be within easy gliding range of the airfield.  He was also amazed that 16yro Zack was soaring high above us for 53 minutes whilst we made short two flights.  Bob, please make use of your temporary membership, and come back on a better soaring day and have some real fun.

There were training flights for Seahawk GC member Chris Morris and our membership secretary Neal.  While Malcolm had a turn in the K8.  Sadly the "liftmeister" didn't find any today as the sun got progressively lower.

Former Seahawk GC member Morien Steinhardt about to take
his third flight with Rick and make his first hangar landing

The last visitor was Stephen Butler.  Apologies for no photo but it was getting late, and hangar landings had begun.  Stephen's wife bought him the voucher (psst: for the big 40!) but sadly she couldn't be with him to see the flights.  Stephen hails from Lydford.  In fact, he can see Blackdown from his house so it was novel to see it from the air.  He leant about the grisly history of Gibbets Hill atop Blackdown, and how highwaymen on what is now the A386 from Tailstock to Okehampton, were dissuaded from plying their trade.  We finished the day's flying with a hangar landing, coming to a stop right on the cross track.  The airfield seems much bumpier in a Twin Astir than a K-13!  Stephen helped with returning the gliders to the hangar.

With all the gear packed away it was time for the Wednesday Wavers to disperse.  But there was a bit of humour to be had at the Deputy CFI's expense.

Back at the clubhouse Peter proudly models his £3.70 bucket hat from Trago Mills. 
Could this be a new line of merchandise for the club?

And with the hat removed he demonstrates that he ready to join the blue rinse ladies in Southway.  So maybe we need to purchase some pre-laundered denim hats instead.

A blue and hot day which I think the forecasters underestimated the temperature.  I am sure the real temperature reading started with a 3!  Low launch heights in the calm conditions and little thermal activity to be had, made us run late.  We thank our visitors for their patience. 

Forty-two flights, but only seven soaring flights, six visitors, another type conversion, and the two Twin Astirs in regular use.  Oh, and the airfield had a haircut.  Thanks Scratch.

Postscript: While the Wavers were busy today DHL made a large delivery at my house.
  All will be revealed on Saturday.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 5th July 2026

I'm not sure whether it was due to a possible long late night for some or the email requesting trainees to limit themselves attending due to no rostered instructor yesterday, but I ended up with one trainee. Although one more would arrive later it would be a relatively easy day for me. This would allow more time to look after our french visitors (more later).

The morning greeted us with low cloud which would hang around longer than any forecast predicted. The first flight eventually happened at 12:03. A weather check to see the cloudbase was actually high enough to fly.

Let's see how high the cloubase is.

Cloudbase about 1000ft so let's fly. Ed Nicholson settled in the front seat for an initial set of two training flights.

Ed looking out on one of his flights.

We handed the K13 over to Steve Fletcher who was looking after our visitors. Steve's account of his day:-

Today we hosted Isabel and Mark, her Camera man, from a French TV company making a documentary about Peter Lanyon an artist who used to fly gliders in the 1950s and 60s from Perranporth. His abstract pictures hang at the Tate modern in St Ives and were inspired by his love of flying. He was tragically killed in  a gliding accident in 1964 in Taunton. They filmed our flying operations during the day and Steve Fletcher flew the camera man for 2 flights to get aerial footage giving a commentary as they flew. Steve also gave an interview explaining how a glider flies and how the pilot controls it but how Steve’s description will translate into French we will probably, and luckily, never know! The crew were very grateful to us hosting them and enjoyed their day. The only question they asked Steve was what the yellow button on the top of the K8 control column was for, he kindly explained that this was for the machine guns! Hopefully no damage was done to Anglo French relations.

Filming a launch.

And a landing.

Mark ready for the aerial shots.

Steve gets wired.

With not many trainees, Ed stepped back into the K13 for some more training flights which included a go-around launch failure, landing in a different direction and the last flight a land ahead launch failure which served as a hangar flight.

Ed (in case you don't recognise his face) happy with his flights.

Having painted the benches outside the clubhouse, Val came to the launch point to have three flights with me. Those approaches and landings are coming along. Keep going Val.

Val getting ready.

Val looking out.

A few solo pilots were also trying their luck, but conditions were not as per forecast and only circuits were achieved.

Johns and Ed taking it easy.

Thank you to all at the club today. I think we maintained international relationships OK.

Peter Howarth.

Dartmoor Gliding Society - Wednesday 1st July 2026

Northwesterly 8 knots, max 18C, and partially cloudy.  A pleasant summer's day.  RASP forecast of 1 1/2 stars.  Not brilliant, but flyable nonetheless.  Ops normal for the Wednesday Wavers.  Three club training gliders and two club single-seaters were available.  No privateers rigged following Andy's forecast that showed no cross-country potential.  We had three visitors booked: a one-day course and two single flights.

First order of business was to welcome Dave Osment with CCY in its trailer back from North Hill.  While the normal flying preparations were underway Steve Lewis and Dave coordinated the transfer of CCY from its old trailer to the twin-axle AMF trailer.  This will allow Scratch to re-rivet the aluminium roof panels on the old single-axle trailer. Interestingly all the roof panels were pockmarked with dents from a hailstorm in its past.

After a slightly earlier brief the Wavers set up at the east end.  The first flight got away at 1105 with a check flight and practice launch failure for Dave.

Next up was chef Oliver Gill, from Kingsbridge, who was here for a One Day Course.  He had never been in a light aircraft or a glider before so he was looking forward to the experience.

Chef Oliver ready for his first taste of real aviation.  An entrée perhaps?

Lance takes a pair of flights in the Twin Astir Trainer with Mike. 
Lance, with a shirt like that, has Scratch told you when he flew a glider in Hawaii?

Oliver had a set of three flights with me.  The conditions were a bit soggy and not conducive to soaring flight, as predicted.  However, we held our own against "Hot shot" junior Zack in the single seat Astir whose flights were much shorter than ours, and that's not accounting for my demonstration, followed by attempts by Oliver, of the effects of the elevator and ailerons.  We broke for lunch and a chance for Oliver to try the ground handling and launching of the gliders.

Dave Osment after a check flight and a simulated launch failure takes the K-13 solo again.

Interspersed with the One Day Course flights I had a chance to deliver a trial flight each to Georgia Bennett and her father, Chris.  Georgia is gardener in a community garden in Plymouth and Dad is almost retired as a plumber working on submarines in the dockyard.  Modestly he gave me this self-depreciating description of his job.  With insider knowledge I know that he is actually a skilled maritime pipe worker or pipe fitter.

Dave Archer injects some humour into the preparations for Georgia's flight. 
Out of picture was her mum looking on earnestly.

While Georgia and I were flying, the second of the "DG boys", Michael Malric-Smith, took a pair of flights in the K-13 with the Duty Instructor.

So where are all Dave Osment's flights; a check flight, a launch failure, and a solo flight in the K-13 leading?  Well, the Duty Instructor had a cunning plan: Type conversion to a single-seater, the K-8.

Dave ready for his type conversion to a single-seater, the K-8.
The natural progression from the front seat of the K-13.

Nine minutes later (Note: Three times as long as Zack's first flight) he landed to warm congratulations from Dad, John, and the rest of the Wednesday Wavers.

So, it had been a long time coming, but Dave is now a solo pilot in a single-seater at 35 years of age.

Dave's first flight in a glider, a K-13, at Sandhill Farm (Vale of White Horse Gliding Club) in 1995, aged 5 years.  Who is the youthful looking "Dude" in the front seat?

Just to prove it wasn't a fluke he took a second flight in FXB and soared for 21 minutes.  Welcome to real gliding Dave!  This what it's all about.

While Dave was taking his first K-8 flight canny Malcolm snuck into the sky in the Astir CS77 for 25 minutes of soaring following a circuit an hour before.

Time for Chairman Steve to continue his type conversion to the Twin Astir Trainer.  A 22 minute soaring flight in the back seat, with Peter, allowed him to get his "eye in", before the obligatory practice launch failures; a land ahead and a challenging "go around".  Mindful of the extra performance and weight compared to a K-13 Steve acquitted himself well and was cleared to instruct in HBK and DSL.  Hurrah, and well done Steve.

Georgia's Dad, Chris Bennett, prepares for his flight with Gavin

The day turned thermic.  This allowed former PPL pilot Phil Hayward to enjoy what must be his longest glider flight to date at 32 minutes.  It's amazing how much training can be done in a long flight.

Phil Hayward on his soaring flight, climbing at 1,900 feet QFE

Then it was time for an old dog to show a young pup new tricks; John Smith soared in the Astir CS77 for a minute shy of an hour... match that Zack!

Colin came up to the launch point and gave me an update on progress on the annual inspection of K-13, FSD.  After some initial work on a wing he will turn his attention to the fuselage.

Oliver and I started the second half of his course.  We made up for a poor launch (800ft) in the fourth flight with two long soaring flights to round off his course.  By this time Dad was in attendance and we chatted.  Meanwhile, Oliver went with the retrieve driver to witness launching from the winch driver's perspective, then we bade father and son farewell.  Hopefully we see them again.  If not then a chef at the Victoria Inn in Salcombe can rustle you up a nice steak, perhaps with a pint of Tribute or Proper Job, for you to enjoy while you visit the South Hams.

It was time for the rest of the Wavers to go soaring.  Ed Nicholson with Mike in the K-13 for over thirty minutes.  With Mike not in its cockpit, old hands Steve Fletcher and Phil Hayward couldn't resist the temptation of shiny HBK and took it aloft for 42 minutes of mutual flying.

The K-13 gives Phil and Mike a bird's eye view of Mary Tavy
#and John Smith in the Astir CS77 below. Can you see him?

Ed Nicholson and Mike in the K-13 encounter
Phil Hardwick and Steve Fletcher in the Twin Astir, HBK

The K-13 obviously revels on looking down on "glass" gliders attempting to soar. 
This time its on Oliver and Gavin in the other Twin Astir, DSL.

Not to be outshone by his son, John Osment soared in the K-8 for 38 minutes while Peter flew the Astir CS77 for 25 minutes.  The flight hours were starting to stack up on this 1 1/2 star day.

Phil Hardwick and Steve Fletcher, climbing at two knots, enjoy some soaring together
 in the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK

Once Zack in the K-8 is launched from the runway the whole fleet will be airborne.  A great sign of a soarable day. If you look very carefully you will see the other Twin Astir and the Astir CS77!

Zack was determined to make his mark on the day.  He chose the K-8 and clocked up an hour and a minute aloft to his "rightful" claim, as he saw it, to the flight of the day.  But he didn't count on canny Malcolm who soared the Astir CS77 for 67 minutes before hangar landing it thereby pipping Zack by six minutes.  See what I mean about being canny and snatching the "flight of the day" away from Zack.

Robin and Phil ready themselves for a mutual flight.  Not in their old syndicate's DSL but in HBK.  Robin sampled how the other half live before returning later to DSL and soaring with Peter.

Whilst the Twin Astirs were being Divas in the air and the field today, the real work was occurring elsewhere with long soaring flights for Raymond Staines and Ian King in the K-13 which added much to their training.  Dave Archer after all the assistance he provided me with the visitors, thank you Dave, made a circuit and a hangar landing in the K-8.

Scratch and Michael M-S took the last aircraft at the launch point, HBK, for an enjoyable soaring flight and hangar landing at 1723.

A summer's day on Dartmoor.  As forecast, it took a while for the thermic activity to get going but when it did, there was fun to be had.  Most of the thermals were a bit "soggy" (as the air mass was still quite moist), but there were some good climbs to be had.

Almost all had had had their fill by 5pm, and we packed up at a reasonable hour.  The Wavers are finding hangar packing easier with "Wood" at the back and "Glass" at the front.

Thirty-eight flights, three visitors, a type conversion, a first soaring flight for one member, the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, is now in regular use, and training continued.  Seventeen of those flights were soaring flights amassing a total of 9 hours 15 minutes with an average flight time of 32 minutes.  Not bad for the day's one and a half star RASP rating.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 24th June 2026

Forecast: HOT, hot, hot.  BLUE, blue, blue.  So sunscreen, hats, and water.  Lots of it.

Met Office.  Amber heat warning for Dartmoor and a rare Red heat warning further up country.  Elswhere on t'interweb yr.no predicted a high of 31C.

Met office heat warnings for today

This would be a challenge for the Wednesday Wavers and for our visitors which would include a One Day Course and two trial flights late in the afternoon. 

Unusually, we took the decision yesterday to cancel the trial flights.  During the phone calls I detected a palpable sense of relief.  I wasn't looking forward to delivering a One Day Course in the forecast heat either.  It transpired that our visitors were aged 70, 70, and 75 years old so it was sensible call.  We look forward to seeing them soon in less arduous conditions.

I had first-hand knowledge of those conditions having been at the club on Monday and Tuesday preparing our Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, for her maiden flight; fresh batteries, ARC and placards in the glider, instrument panels labelled up with John Allan's very smart "white on black" dymo tape.

On Monday it was 30C in the clubhouse and 31C in the hangar.  On Tuesday it was 32C in both.  Apart from a sweaty fleet manager getting through a litre of water and three cups of tea each day what was the problem?  Thermal expansion.  Namely, of the perspex canopies.  Getting them open and closed was a significant problem.  As part of the refurbishment we painted the canopy edges of HBK and I needed to carry out copious sanding to ensure the canopies fitted in the heat.  I had carried out the same on DSL earlier in the year as it had been refinished and painted sometime ago by the syndicate.

It wasn't pleasant work.  Hot, sweaty, with hot fingers from using the 80 grit aluminium oxide paper and then regularly hoovering the dust away.  The one upside is that the solar panels were producing plenty of power and could run "Henry the hoover", so I didn't have to run the generator.

After Monday's efforts Rick requested that I checked DSL's canopies on Tuesday.  They, too, were tight, and I had to work on the rear canopy.   I improved it a bit.  However, when I finished on Tuesday afternoon I was not sure whether we would have either Twin Astir available to fly on Wednesday.

It turned out that we could use DSL throughout the day with judicious use of canopy covers but that HBK would require more work (or the temperatures to drop), especially on its rear canopy.  So we could deploy a K-13 (no canopy problems there), a K-8, and the Twin Astir HBK to the east end ready for flying operations.

The first task was to clear the sheep from the field.  It's that time of year.  Despite their efforts the grass is growing faster than they can eat it, so the tractor with the grass cutting deck will be in action soon.  Perhaps on a cooler day!

Stop dawdling. Get eating!

I took the first shift on the winch accompanied by John Osment who was keen to complete his winch launch training.

First up to fly was Michael Malric-Smith who had nobly stepped up.  On the return leg of his Italian holiday he went via the Park (Bath, Wilts, and North Dorset Gliding Club) to collect our belly dolly that was used when I took the Puchacz, HCC, back to Heron Gliding club.  Thank you Michael.

What of today's planned activities?  A test flight for our Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, and the Chairman's conversion to a Twin Astir and flying from the back, and  also clearing John Osment as a winch driver.

The front instrument panel of our refurbished Twin Astir Trainer, HBK,
labelled up and ready to go

The instructor's view from HBK' rear seat

There was a new look to the hangar when the Wavers unpacked it. Two Twin Astirs and an Astir CS77 in front on a K-13 and K-8.

This is a first for DGS; more glass than wood on the hangar!

The first part of the day's plan didn't happen due to thermal expansion, as you have previously heard, but the rest did.

First flight of the day; Mike Jardine and Michael Malric-Smith

Chairman Steve readies himself for his first conversion flight
 in the Twin Astir, DSL, with the Chief Flight Instructor.

Today's trainees were Michael Malric-Smith, Neal Oxley, Ian King, and Lance Whitehead which was probably enough for the Duty Instructor to manage today.

Michael M-S continues his training. 
I suspect he won't get to the top of the launch on this one!

We were instructed to take care of each other in the heat. 
Keep the duty instructor cool before Neal's first training flight

Iced beer (non-alcoholic of course) at lunchtime in 32C heat

After a set of three flights with Steve, Rick took the K-8 and managed to find a thermal and earned himself "Man of the match" with 31 minutes aloft.  To say that he was "cock o'hoop" would be an understatement.  Especially as he had exceeded Peter's 12 minutes clocked up on the previous flight. 

Perhaps a special mention should be made for Ian King in the K-13 (with the duty Instructor of course) of a soaring flight of 12 minutes.  Although when I caught up with them in the K-8, trying to formate on Ian's thermal, who by that time he was intent on thermaling downwards.  That was a tad frustrating but safety separation in thermals is the paramount consideration!

You gotta stay cool.  Michael M-S parasol in action in the tower

Lance Whitehead returns from a sortie which was the penultimate flight of the day.

I know it lovely under there, but perhaps it's time to pack up

DSL's version of the Australian hot weather advice "Slip, Slap, Slop" to keep its canopies cool

Is that FXB casting a glamorous glance at the newcomer to the field;
Michael M-S' trusty 4x4 Fiat Panda?

A jaded Site Manager takes a break back at the clubhouse

The Wednesday Wavers achieved 20 flights today.  Despite the oppressive heat and humidity training continued.  Chairman Steve's instructor conversion to the Twin Astirs is now underway and John Osment was cleared as a winch driver.  Congratulations John.

The weather is due to break on Friday so perhaps the weekend will be back to more manageable conditions.  I hope so! 

Gavin Short