Wednesday 10th August 2011

The day started with three 'squads' getting things moving. While one group prepared the equipment and got the gliders out, another readied K13 DMX for rigging following its ARC inspection and the splendid efforts of last weekend's shift to get most of the fettling and remedial work done. Meanwhile a third, consisting of Steve Lewis and Ged Nevisky, concentrated on repairing the generator.

Success was achieved with two of the three tasks, because we found that some very minor re-instatement work needed to be done to the K13's inspection patches, which will need the blessing of one of our inspectors before the glider is rigged. Our attention was soon focused on getting airborne, with John Howe and Will Wilson winching, and Jeff Craggs getting ever closer to discarding his winch driver's L-plates.

Vets do it... wearing long rubber gloves. Ged does it - gloveless - to DMX's mud-clogged wheel-box.
(And he still has a smile on his face.)

Only the K7/13, K8 and Pirat took to the air, with the improving weather promising more than it actually delivered (or, to be more accurate, more than we managed to achieve). However, the single seaters were kept busy, and trainee pilot Richard Clarke made excellent progress with Don. Meanwhile I was pleased to be able two add two new names to our list of solo pilots. The first was Fred Marks from North Hill, who has remained well and truly 'bitten by the bug' after a recent enforced layoff, and Dick Masters, an ex-RNGSA glider pilot who started the 'retreading' process at Brentor a few months ago and reappeared today to sign up as a full flying member. Both soloed in BVB, with Dick coping well with a 'real' launch failure on his first re-solo flight, and topping the day's charts with 21 minutes airborne on his next.

Dick Masters does his final checks before re-soloing, while Bob Sansom prepares to attach the cable

Seasonal sustenance was provided by Don in the form of a huge bag of ripe plums, and John Howe, who at this time of year dispenses cucumbers to Wednesday regulars. Meanwhile, in readiness for those cold winter days, the launch hut now boasts a custom-fitted gas stove, thanks to the efforts of Don and Chris Fagg.

Shortly after 1700 hrs. there was a 'changing of the guard' with DCFI Mark Courtenay arriving to spend the evening putting our potential basic instructors, Sean Parramore and Steve Lewis, through their paces.

Bob Pirie