Dartmoor Gliding News - Aston Down Expedition Day Three - Wednesday 13 May 2026

The title might be a bit misleading because it was a club day at DGS as well as a staycation expedition day.  Who would have thought that taking a staycation would throw up such problems when blogging.

Mike Jardine was the Duty Instructor and Steve Fletcher the Introductory Flight Pilot, the latter while on expedition!  See, I said it would get complicated.

What wasn't complicated however, was the weather.  I didn't need to check the forecast.  It was very blowy and showery at home when I put the bins out first thing this morning.  Mackle the cat was shooting in and out of the front door and zooming round the garden like, well like a cat on speed.  He could detect the change in weather and that it might be stormy today.

At the club there was no cooked breakfast as it was a normal club day.  Yes, as Mackle the cat had sensed, it was blowy and as expected the windsock was horizontal.  The wind was down the strip and whilst it might have been possible to fly the strength of the wind was forecast to increase.  The Aston Down expeders weren't rigging their gliders and the Wednesday Wavers declined to get the club gliders out of the hangar.  Later in the morning the heavy rain and hail showers sealed the deal.

The "DG boys" (Michael M-S and Lance) were busy in the clubhouse going through, and starting to understand, the extensive documentation of their new toy.  Their interest in the airworthiness of their glider and understanding of the documentation is praiseworthy.  If only other pilot/owners took such interest.

The new Treasurer was busy dealing with expense claims and working with the Membership Secretary on the enrolment of a new member. Yay!  Further details anon.  The Company Secretary was making preparation for the voting in of a new Director.  All this normally goes on behind the scenes, but it was good that members were exposed to it.

 When not dealing with membership Neal continued sorting the clubhouse and getting rid of old "stuff" that we no longer needed. Spring cleaning in May!

I took a moment to update my pilot and glider log books.  Always worth prioritising when the Chief Flying Instructor is "in da house" before working on the silver height claim for Jamie Young from Saturday.  All the evidence was clear he had achieved it by a large margin.  Unless Richard Roberts can counter the claim then at 15 years old he is the youngest DGS pilot to gain Silver height (1,000m/3,281ft gain in height).  Congratulations, Jamie.

So that left jobs underway on the site.  First up, which had been planned a while ago was the annual inspection and ARC of Mike Bennett's Club Libelle, G-DDVM.  The trailer was manoeuvred out of the glider rack and then paused before bringing it on to the apron.  This allowed space to be made in the hangar by removing the Astir CS77 and K-8, FXB.  The later which needed work on its total energy system.

The annual inspection went well with a few minor pickups.  However, the Air Speed Indicator on test was found to have a leak.  It was so severe that Colin asked me to check with our back-up test equipment; a calibrated ASI and syringe.  It confirmed Colin's diagnosis using his electronic test equipment.  A replacement ASI will be ordered.  A half share (£4,000) is available in this great GRP glider, please see Mike Bennett for details.

Inspecting, cleaning, and "lightly" regreasing the trailing edge air brakes. The Port wing is upside down in this photo.

 

The Starboard wing, the right way up, showing the aileron and trailing edge air brakes in the foreground.  The tailplane in its cradle awaits inspection

The fuselage and trailer when the sun came out and made the work light superfluous 

A wet apron after another heavy rain shower

What wasn't visible was the work that was going on in the Motor Transport hangar.  On Tuesday the tractor with the winch wouldn't start.  After much noisy banging and grinding the culprit was the starter motor.  However, when opened up it was a mess.  It was well beyond a simple clean up of the rotor commutators and brushes.  After living on Dartmoor for many years it was scrap!  The directors authorised the purchase of a replacement.

After his recent tour de force on the centre and cross tracks the Site Manager surveyed the east end with a view to establishing a glider paddock (where gliders could be let rigged overnight) for the summer months utilising the now redundant hurdle fence panels.

The recent test flight of the K-8, FXB threw up some instrumentation problems that needed sorting.  Previous testing revealed a mechanical variometer working incorrectly and leaks in the Total Energy system.  John Allan got stuck in to the faultfinding.

Tailplane removed and a small trestle to raise the fin to John's height, while DB looks on.

 

The test gear allowed the leak to be narrowed down to the fin tubing, fin connections, or perhaps but unusually the Total Energy probe itself.

A high-powered maintenance team (Chairman, Deputy Chief Flying Instructor, and a Flight Instructor) refit the tailplane after the work was complete (I just greased the mounting spigots!)

The rudder will go back on after the access hole made at the rear of the fin is made good with an aviation plywood patch fixed with Aerodux glue.

After lunch, I coerced the "DG Boys" to install the remote speaker for the Tasman Variometer in the rear of the Twin Astir 1, DSL.  This was designed to be a training exercise for them to get used to working on gliders before they laid hands, apart from with a polishing cloth, on theirs.  They did a good job and Mike Jardine was pleased with the results (he had previously opined that the audio tone from the variometer in the front panel wasn't audible in the rear).  Lance also drafted the Form 205 for Colin's approval.  Great work guys.

After the pundits studied the weather forecast for Thursday the CFI made the call "No flying tomorrow".  To compound my disappointment I received a message from home that I had received a Penalty Charge Notice.  Southampton City Council's notorious "Bus Gate" scheme had claimed another victim.  My pain was lessened slightly when I read that Southampton City Council had collected £160,000 in fines from the "Bus Gate" whilst making the city moredifficult to navigate.  So I wasn't the only one confused by the signage.  My nephew's wedding at the weekend was great, but I won't be going back to Southampton any time soon.  Airspace is easier to understand than Southampton City Council's traffic measures.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Aston Down Expedition Day Two - Tuesday 12 May 2026

The order of the day was a cooked breakfast; Full English with mushrooms.

While waiting to start flying John fitted a better loudspeaker for the electric vario in the Twin Astir Trainer.  It arrived yesterday at my home, but we didn't find it until late in the evening. The postie had popped its through the cat flap in the back door into the utility room! 

Ten gliders gridded.  Then after the obligatory tea break back in the clubhouse it was time to go flying.  Andy winched initially then the rest of the grid was launched by John Allan.  Neal came to the field to help and ran the tower throughout the day.  Many thanks Neal, it is much appreciated.

The grid, currently seven in the photo that increased to ten.
 It proved to be a very efficient method of launching the privateers.

The wind was from the north-west as it was yesterday, but the darker clouds made way for lighter, white, almost promising looking cumulus.  It was time to go flying.

The grid started to launch at 1145.  Those who were at the head of the grid got the best flights; Rick, 1 hr 41 mins, and Phil 1 hr 18 mins.  Both admitted that the conditions, including wind shear were challenging. 

Tail end Charlie's view of the back of the grid. Let's get going!

Peter had a couple of attempts in the mighty Kestrel.  I soared for over an hour and shared a strong thermal with Rick.  Cloud base was almost 4,000ft QNH.  Soaring flights were enjoyed by Andy and Sean.  Steve Fletcher shook off the winter cobwebs in his Open Cirrus with a long flight.

My view of the Hamoaze, Plymouth Sound, and Tavistock in the foreground. 
No one tells you how difficult it is to take a photo through the DV panel with a smartphone.

The K-6 boys found the strength of the wind and the gustiness in the thermals a challenge.  Today's K-6 King was John Osment who managed 17 minutes.

With the wind strengthening and dense cloud cover shutting down most of the thermal activity, all had their fill by 1400.  Viktor managed ten minutes in his Red Bear on his third flight in difficult conditions.  Well done.

Viktor and the Red Bear return

Phil and I helped John Osment derig K-6, FUB, at the east end of the airfield.

Meanwhile, CNN waits patiently to return to its trailer at the west end of the airfield.

Throughout the day there were discussions on what we could do during the week.  Another gliding site might be an option perhaps for aero tow instruction and practice.  The weather might deteriorate during the week; the weather forecast for Friday was initially bad and then came good.  Should we go elsewhere on Friday or stay at Brentor?  Decisions, Decisions! 

In fact in all boiled down to "Should I stay or should I go now?" (with acknowledgement to The Clash).  Yes we are an old bunch for that song to come to mind. The single was released in 1982 and was a number one hit in 1991.

Fourteen flights on day two of our staycation.  What will Wednesday, which will also be a club day, bring?

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 9th May 2026.

The forecast for several days had been suggesting wave. Looking at the atmospheric sounding it was clear that today would not be a super high day possibly 4-5000 ft. Wind was just south of east. Mike Jardine had jumped in to provide instructor cover as the others were getting ready for their Aston Down adventures.

Right from the off it was obvious that there was wave ( more accurately Mountain Lee Wave ) and not just a single hydraulic jump but a proper wave system with bars showing up down wind of us.

Wave clouds over the airfield

One of our pilots, John Allan, had this to say.

First off, straight after the morning briefing, and into an optimistic sky showing signs of wave activity was Andy Davey.  Almost immediately he released the cable, we heard him call on the radio to say he'd contacted wave at the top of the launch.  A few minutes later I followed with a nice 1600ft launch.  I could feel the rotor earlier in the launch, but towards the top, the smooth feel of wave was immediately present, giving 2 knots of lift on release, then quickly moving 4.  

The wave was interesting and changed quite a lot as time went by.  It was sometimes a puzzle to reach the next layer of lift, but 8200ft above sea level was the maximum we found.  I was pleased to find young Jamie Young enjoying a wave cloud that was much more like a convergence at 6000ft or so.  Quite bumpy at times, with hot spots of turbulent lift.    With around 8000ft it was an easy glide with not much sink to Hatherleigh, then after regaining height again, to Plymouth, Okehampton East, looking down on the huge array of tents at the Ten Tors encampment at Okehampton Camp, and then finally going back to Saltash.  

What a great day, where almost everyone managed to find wave, or at least some soaring when the wave finally died around 3pm onwards.

Plymouth looking across Devonport and the Hamoze

View across the Plym

Tavistock

Soaring the wave clouds
(like a bird soaring a cliff)

Flying up the side of clouds never gets old

Looking east over Plymouth from Saltash

Thanks to Mike Jardine, in the back seat of the Twin Astir, many of our trainee / early hour pilot had a chance to sample wave flying for the first time. He completed 7 flights all together until the wave stopped. This is a tremendous effort given that he would have had to contend with the rotor ( read heavy turbulence ) during each flight. Thank you Mike.

All together there were 5 privateers totalling 13:23 hrs the longest of which was John at 5:07.

Club flights were controlled to 40 minutes each to allow as many as possible experience the conditions. 15 year old Jamie managed to bag his Silver height during his flight in the Astir CS77.

These are Instructor Mike Jardine's notes

Ian and Lance both managed heights of over 5,000 in the wave, new heights for their log books. The conditions also gave Michael M-S the opportunity to gain the necessary height to complete his spin training.

Air brakes were required to descend through today’s wave and thermals. 

Lance still climbing at 5000ft QFE ( 5820ft AMSL )

The club fielded the Twin Astir and the Astir CS77 today. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time we have fielded all fibreglass aircraft. That's progress. The second Twin Astir will join the fleet soon.

What a fantastic day.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Aston Down Expedition Day One - Monday 11 May 2026

This was due to be our annual expedition to the Cotswolds.  After a lot of communication between our CFI and the CFI of Cotswold Gliding Club we sadly came to the conclusion we wouldn't travel north. This was due to a number of factors including a potential shortfall of winch drivers and other support, at Aston Down.  In past years with a permanent instructor during the week and our own self-help it has worked.  Unfortunately this year CGC didn't manage recruit a permanent Flight Instructor and so our ability to operate throughout the week was in doubt.

So we agreed on a staycation or perhaps that should be a "Home Expedition".  No travelling up the A30 and M5 on Sunday just the need to turn our trailers round the right way so we could rig at Brentor today, Monday.

As well as the 11 pilots scheduled for the week at Aston Down we opened the field to members too.  Mike Bennett and DB came up for some fettling of his Club Libelle and DB made up some strops.  The day started well with Rick offering cooked breakfasts to get us in the expedition mood.

The weather looked flyable, but would we get showers in the afternoon?  Rigging was a leisurely affair as there was no rush.  The sky was initially not promising.

John Allan managed to get the latest Flarm firmware downloaded to the LX7007 flight computer in the Astir Twin Trainer after much experimentation with leads and laptops.  I downloaded the Flarm of the single Astir, HME, so I could process one of the files to support Jamie Young's claim for his Silver height (a height gain of 1,000 metres), that he achieved on Saturday.  Congratulations Jamie.

As to the flying; John Allan winched.  Phil ran the tower.  Eight private gliders were ranged at the west end.  Rick kicked off the flying just before 1300 and was rewarded with a thermal straight off the wire to enjoy a soaring flight of 44 minutes.  Good news for his solo hours as a Flight Instructor.

The expedition begins. Rick launches into a dark sky

And up he goes.

Alas, the weather lived up to the more pessimistic forecasts for the rest of the afternoon.  Thick cloud, moist, and at times quite cold in the northwesterly breeze.  So it was circuits for Sean, Peter, Viktor (who was enjoying his first DGS expedition), John Osment, Ed and me.

A trio of K-6s and Rick's Standard Cirrus

Ed brings his K-6, EWO, back to the field

With the drizzle setting in we packed up at 1600.

Of course when the expeders were derigging the sun came out in between the bouts of drizzle.  Well it's a start.  We had got our gliders out, had a shake down, and we made 11 flights.  Let's hope for better weather during the week.

The red K-6s were the last to be put away

Gavin Short 

Dartmoor Glding News - Wednesday 6 May 2026

It was a day of new faces at Brentor for the Wednesday Wavers to meet and greet.  We welcomed:

Matt Miller, a Royal Navy medic, who is curious about gliding and might be tempted to buy a Navy Flying introductory voucher to try it out.  He hails from Plympton.

Phil Hayward, a former power pilot who was booked to fly with us last week, but the high winds put paid to that.  So he made a second attempt at the trip from Dartmouth to DGS.

We were also excited to welcome Christoph Welster, a glider pilot from Germany.  Christoph is a member of a gliding club near Cologne.  He flies cross-country in a Nimbus 4D or an LS8.  Currently, he is on an extensive road trip with his wife Hanna on a tandem-bike.  Their continental road trip started in the Canary Islands in February and arrived in the UK in Portsmouth by ferry earlier in the week.  They arrived just as the Wavers were leaving.  Steve Fletcher offered to show them around, but they declined and made their way to their campsite.  Maybe we will see them on Saturday?

I was the Duty Basic Instructor and Mike Jardine the Duty Instructor.  The weather had changed since last week.  Of course, it had.  There was a Bank Holiday weekend since then so that meant rain.  Indeed, there was rain was forecast today perhaps at 1100, 1400, or 1500... but before then it was predicted to be a thermic day with SkySight and RASP particularly optimistic.  Cue an early brief.

As well as continuing his solo flights David Osment was keen to get signed off as a winch driver.  The K-8, FXB, needed a test flight before returning to service, and the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, need its Flarm Firmware updated.  Not an easy task.  Our other club gliders just need a SD card or USB stick to transfer across the new firmware.  Not so with an LX7007 flight computer.  It needs a laptop, the Flarm tool software, and a serial to USB lead then a custom Flarm lead with an RJ12 connector.  This is pre Bluetooth technology!  Luckily we have an IT expert on site, John Allan, but he didn't quite crack the problem today, but he now knows what to do...

Today there were five trainees, two visitors, and three instructors as well as BIs and IFPs so progress through the flying list would be rapid.

Not a very promising morning sky for the Wavers

After the obligatory check flight and then practice launch failure
David Osment is cleared to fly solo again.

After an introduction and show around the club Matt Miller didn't need much persuasion when Club Secretary, Steve Fletcher asked him "Do you want to go flying then?"

Matt and Steve about to launch in the Twin Astir 1, DSL.

One Day Course candidate Phil Hayward had a great day; flying, an extended soaring flight with plenty of time on the controls, witnessing the launch tower routines, handling gliders on the ground, acting, launching gliders from the tower, and witnessing the "power and the glory" of the winch, all before the rain set in and the time he needed to depart for band practice (I forgot to ask what instrument he played).  We hope to see Phil again very soon for him to make use of his three months' temporary membership following his course.

Lapsed power pilot Phil Hayward about to start his One Day Course with Gavin

After recent southerly winds the visibility aloft was poor

And ominous looking to the south-west and further west over Kit Hill. 
It remained like that all day.

Mike and Sean spot the Twin Astir, with Steve and visitor Matt Miller,
as it manoeuvres to join their thermal

Sean climbing.  Does that look like a weight off his shoulders?

 Matt enjoyed his flights with Steve Fletcher one of which was a nice soaring flight. 

Matt Miller receives his completion certificate,
following his Navy Flying introductory package to gliding, from Steve Fletcher

The FXB's test flight by Steve Lewis revealed some snags with the instrumentation

Chairman Steve gets to grips with the Total Energy probe
whilst chasing leaks in the pneumatic system.

Neal readies himself for his second flight

Why the long faces chaps?  Ahh, "the symptoms of a stall and incipient spin training" sortie coming up!

 While there was lift around it transitioned from classic thermals to something else; convergence.  Andy had mentioned at the brief that there might be convergence to the north of the airfield.  To observers on the ground it didn't seem likely, but it pays to listen to the gems of information at the morning brief so you know what you are encountering in the air.

 

This is John's story:

No photos today.  All I have is a trace showing the nice convergence line.  After an initial climb in a thermal I followed the line of a strong dark cloud street going west past the airfield.  On seeing the typical rising clouds (danglies) of a convergence, with clear weather beyond the northern edge of the street, I moved to the north side. I was now climbing above the cloud base running along the vertical edge of the street with about 1-2knots up, sometimes a little more, always closely following the edge of it as it twisted and turned its way west.  That was between 2,200 and 2,500ft above the airfield (blue in the trace) until it ran out just south of Launceston, then with a few detours I followed it back again.  Sometimes its worth turning if you pass an obvious rising cloud, and you get a few knots of extra lift, but typically it's better to just keep feeling one's way along the band of lift, so long as you are climbing, or at least not losing any height.

John's flight trace of his flight in the convergence.
Andy tried a different approach on his second flight, eventually climbing to 5,000 ft QNH and enjoying 1 hour 26 minutes of flight.

Andy's trace of his flight in his Libelle, callsign M (Is Andy a James Bond fan?)

At around 1430 the sky was getting darker, the cloud base was starting to lower, and the air felt damp.  Unsurprisingly, the flights became just circuits.  The drizzle started to get heavier and the cloud base came down to launch height.  So after a flight with Neal at 1520 the Duty Instructor called ENDEX (since we had so many naval and ex naval personnel on the field today he used a term that they would understand)!  Post Note:  There was torrential rain in Callington while we were packing up so that murkiness over Kit Hill had developed during the day to something more substantial.

During the post flight clubhouse discussions, and setting the world to right, my phone was buzzing away with gliding questions?  What was the pilot load capacity of the Puchacz that we recently handed back to Heron Gliding Club (Royal Navy) and whether K-13 was available for use.  Well, once it has had an annual inspection and the newly made instrument panels go back in - well yes.  A price was mentioned.  Fingers crossed, although we will be sad to see the old faithful go.

CCY's newly made front instrument panel

And the rear panel displaying John Osment's recent handiwork
Twenty-nine flights today in conditions less than forecast.  Despite that it turned out to be a cracking day for the Wedensday Wavers.

Gavin Short

 

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 29 April 2026

It was Groundhog Day for the Wednesday Wavers.  The wind was forecast from the east, great, but it was too strong yet again.  Just like last Wednesday with powerful bursts of rotor from time to time.  So no flying, and we didn't have to wait for the Duty Instructor to arrive to be able to declare that. 

I was today's Basic Instructor, so I phoned our One Day Course candidate early; Phil Hayward from Dartmouth.  Despite the clear blue sky I had to gently break the news to him that the wind was too strong and gusty for his course, and so he would have to rebook.  Imagine my surprise when Phil said that he was expecting my call having consulted MAVIS (the Met Office Aeronautical Visualisation Service) and Form 214 (Spot winds/forecast chart of upper winds and temperatures at low levels).  All was revealed; Phil has a Private Pilot's Licence and went on a gliding course at Bicester a while ago.  He was close to being sent solo, and is now thinking of taking it up again.  Phil, we look forward to seeing you soon.

This Wednesday we had something to keep us busy.  The new Site Manager, John Smith, had hired a jack hammer and a self-propelled roller for the week to repair the centre track.  The track gang had been busy since Monday and had made great progress.  It was hot and physical work under a relentless sun in a clear blue sky on Monday, but a cooler in the wind and cloud cover on Tuesday.

Jackhammer and scrape!

Then fill

Cue a very proud Site Manager with
his boy's toy to roll things flat

Many hands make light work

The Secretary's arty "Into sun shot"

Waiting for the roller to compact the next repair

Today in the morning the main track was finished, and the track gang broke for a well-earned lunch.  Colin joined us in between his repairs of the air brake box in GDK's wing.  I took a break from clearing out old papers and junk from the tech office whilst Neal enjoyed the bright sunshine and fresh air.  Early on Viktor had been here cutting and cleaning a piece of angle iron for repairs to his trailer.  He also helped me fit a new dolly wheel to my trailer.

After lunch the Wavers turned their attention to the cross track leading from the hangar apron to the runaway.  The strong easterly wind kept the workers cool despite the bright sunshine.

It was too windy to open the hangar doors so several planned jobs couldn't be done.  However, that didn't stop Dave Archer conducting some risky fettling on his K-6.  Ian Mitchell arrived from North Hill to conduct the annual inspection and ARC of Peter's mighty Kestrel.  The fuselage was pulled out of its trailer and carefully aligned to the wind which still had a surprisingly large amount of north in it.

What a sky.  At the "glider rack" Peter and Ian inspect the Kestrel.

More "Chain gang" than "Track gang"!

The cross track gets some attention and now includes drainage channels to minimise the winter erosion from water streaming off the airfield.

In amongst all this Lance managed to make progress on signing off on club introductory briefs and also had a ground school lecture with the Duty Instructor.

By late afternoon the Track Gang had completed the work on the cross track and put the tools away.  The "Track Boss", perfectionist that he is, put out a call for Navvies on Thursday to finish off the job. He had spotted work needed on the hard standing and frontage of the clubhouse.  It will look good when it's done.

Today, we had wind from the east.  The Wavers long for it but as in life sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.  Let's try for some convective lift next time and a chance to get the gliders out.

Gavin