Sunday 28th October 2012

After yesterday's sapphire clear Saturday we had hoped to be able to post some pics of a similar Sunday - but oh no, this is Dartmoor and, as they say, expect the unexpected. 

So with Don tweaking the net curtains in the clubhouse and plotting a run to the ridges in the strong westerly the actuality was that both cables launched (yes, all 2 of them) resulted in the K-13 entering cloud at somewhere approaching 300 feet (well, a third of that on the second flight) before the spots of rain turned from intermittent to continuous - still it enabled members Dave Parker and Roger Appleboom to stay current in simulated launch failures. 

The return to the clubhouse found Sam Deeks busying himself on the simulator, pronouncing it to be 'really useful' in enabling him to balance turns using the rudder pedals (as opposed to the l/r buttons on his sim at home) - yet another accolade for the simulator - it's surprising that other clubs don't seem to have latched onto the benefit it can bring on non-flyable days. 

So the rest of the day was spent in the gliding equivalent of a jousting match, with Roger A posing Don imponderable Bronze C problems, which Don then parried with equally imponderable replies until eventually Roger had to 'submit', to yet another opportunity to hear Don's brief on how to get NOTAMs via the AIS (when we all know that the easy peasy way is with Sky Demon Lite...)  

Outside the car park resembled a second hand car sales lot with a mystery Audi 6 taking pride of place.  As our photos show, it's in concourse condition, got personalised number plates, very good tread on the tyres (well, the o/s/f at least... a full instrument panel (including CD player with gliding Country and Western music already installed) and a well used tow ball.  The one (careful) owner seems to have a problem starting but once ticking over has now problem going forever without stopping.  Any offers? Foursprung Dirk Ticktock.

For Sale - Audi A6 1 careful owner ( and Trevor )

( for those that do not know - the A6 belongs to club member Trevor who finally made his car break down after years of neglect - Steve )

Martin Cropper

Saturday 28th October 2012

Winds fresh northerly with the windsock flicking around between northwest and northeast. The skies were gin clear and the temperatures fresh!

Welcome to Anthony Bradford and David Sharp who joined us for a day course.

In the end, we used just one glider all day which flew over 20 flights, with each landing testing the pilots cross wind landing skills. Just a little too challenging for our early pilots.

Thanks to Rick and the winch team for working so hard to keep the flying going, good to see Mike Gadd having a go at winch driving. DMX vanished off to Dunkeswell for its annual review thanks to Martin Smith.

Meanwhile the Green Party started levelling the ground by the trailers, hard work but definitely worth it.

The woodburner was “fired up” turning the clubroom from a fridge to a cosy retreat. We now need more logs.

Don’t forget the clocks go back tonight.

Don

Friday 26th October 2012

Club member Mike Gadd and I have been discussing lee wave flying and how we might forecast good wave conditions. Mike lives very close to the airfield and today this was useful.

This morning Mike was out walking on Gibbet Hill ( Blackdown ) which is the hill immediately to the north of the airfield. He noticed that there was a definite wave slot with some signs of lenticular clouds above and he sent me these photos which I thought might be of interest to a wider audience.

View from Gibbet looking south - Cox Tor on the left - the airfield is just out of shot to the right.
Wave slot and lenticular  above

View from Gibbet looking SSE - Cox Tor on left 

 Interestingly the RASP wave forecast shown below shows this wave ( yellow and red colours). It also shows that the potential wave bar runs all the way to the north coast. I wish I could have flown today to find out.

RASP wave forecast for 0900 BST.

Steve

Wednesday 24th October 2012

The appalling Wednesday weather that's followed me around during recent weeks, punctuated by an unflyable 400 ft cloudbase day at Lasham last Sunday, continued today despite early signs that conditions might become not only flyable, but soarable. To add to the gloom, early attempts to fill the clubhouse kettle were thwarted by a temporary absence of water. It later transpired that the farmer (our landlord) was grappling with a leak 'somewhere in the system'.

As happened a couple of Wednesdays ago, the day started with a light easterly wind, lowish cloud over the airfield, even lower cloud over the moor, and a tantalising gap in between. So having encouraged the small group present to get their own gliders rigged and a couple of club gliders to the launch point, I was up and away with Richard Clarke, whom we were pleased to have back with us after a six-months layoff.

During the first launch, we released early to avoid entering cloud, then reached out tentatively over Mary Tavy in search of wave, while Richard got the feel of the glider and performed a surprisingly rust-free circuit and landing. Second time around we managed a full height launch, then engaged in some rather more ambitious wave and thermal hunting - finding but a whisper of the former over the valley and only a few turns-worth of the latter back over the field at low level. The flight concluded with a pre-planned and well-executed downwind landing. Well done, Richard. It's always a bit intimidating to try to pick up the pieces of one's training after a layoff - but if you can now maintain the momentum by attending more regularly, that elusive first solo won't be long coming.

Whilst we were airborne, Steve Lewis was entertaining our trial lesson visitor and his wife from Boscastle. But disappointingly, the weather socked-in and that was the end of flying for the day. Fortunately Barry Green, Mike Gadd and Andrew Beaumont had not yet got their wings on, so it was simply a case of wheeling their gliders back into the trailers.

Back at the clubhouse and hangar, our new vice chairman, Colin Boyd, and treasurer, Steve Raine, were showing signs of relishing their new roles. While Steve appeared to be joined at the hip with Dave Rippon - firstly being trained as a winch driver and secondly getting to grips with members' flying accounts - Colin rose to the challenge of getting essential chores done by carrying out a much-needed service of BVB, then sweeping the hangar apron, and finally clearing a blocked drain. (On reflection, 'rose to the challenge' may not be totally accurate, because as usual, wherever there was work to be done, there was Heather with mop in hand and a big smile on her face urging everyone onward.)

Bob Pirie

Sunday 21st October 2012

With four instructors on hand we were well prepared for the One Day Course and 6 trial lessons that were booked.  In the event, it was the club members who, for once, got the benefit of the day, and, whilst no-one went home disappointed, there was plenty of opportunity left in the sky that could have been exploited by others. 

A quick look at the weather forecast was enough for me: Easterly 16mph wind: Game on, and Nigel Williamson's photos give a vivid account of how the day looked from the cockpit of the K-8.

Nigel's view from the K8 heading South

Let's look at the stats - out of 23 launches: Yours truly - first to launch for 60 minutes in the air to 3300ft covering Lydford Woods to Tavistock golf club, 2 stalls 2 spins back on the ground before 1200;  Roger Appleboom flying his "new" K6 (after Don Puttock had made a test flight) - 2hrs 45 minutes to 3500ft during first flight on type; Colin Boyd (K6) – 2 flights of 30 minutes plus to 3500kft; Martin Broadway(ASW20) - 2hrs 30 minutes and Silver Height gain claim to 4700kft; Trevor Taylor (Jantar 1) 3hrs 33mins around the 3 reservoir triangle (must be 50kms plus); Alan Holland - 1hr 50 minutes 'in the blue'; David Jesty - a number of flights with club/prospective members all 20 minutes plus and Mike Sloggett flew with the 3 trial lessons (thanks, Mike, your support is always appreciated).  

Lower cloud over Mary Tavy

It was not all easy, the wind shifted through 180 degrees, as did the wave, but for most it was a matter of taking a launch with no crosswind (how often can we say that??), get into the wave (with minimal rotor), and treat the clouds like a ridge, flying on their upwind sides; in certain sweet spots (which moved very little) the vario would scream away at 6, 8 or even 10 up (well, so Nigel says...). 

Right turn Nigel

On their return to base, with the sun going down, those old sages of the sky (Trevor Taylor and Alan Holland) could not believe that (in a now northerly wind) they found strong lift in the valley between Blackdown and the site. 

If you were looking for Silver Height, or Distance, or the ability to get crystal clear photos the way Nigel did, today might well have been the day for you.

Martin Cropper

We are lucky today to have a 2nd opinion on events - This is how David Jesty saw things.

With the promise of a busy day and good wave-soaring conditions we got all three two-seaters out nice and early. Thanks to Don for helping out when he should have been elsewhere (and Pauline for her tolerance and the doughnuts) as a distinct lack of club members would have made getting launched impossible.

At the beginning of the day and no one for me to fly with, Don suggested I take my first flight-on-type in the Bocian. Slightly unconventional, difficult to handle on the ground and slow to respond, Don has been our CFI for a couple of years now. Nonetheless the flight in the Bocian went well, with Mike Sloggett in the front, straight into the wave gaining sufficient height to spin and then having to side-slip to lose height as the airbrakes weren't effective enough to overcome the lift.

Roger looks proud of his new acquision

Roger Appleboom took his first flight in his newly acquired K6 (but only after Don had thrown it around the sky to check the wings stayed on), staying airborne for nearly three hours. Not bad for a maiden flight.

Roger in the K6 ( as viewed by David in the back seat of the Bocian )

A number of trial lessons and two visitors from Usk kept the two-seaters reasonably busy and a few private gliders came out to play in the afternoon.

Although the wave collapsed locally at 1500 for about an hour, further north it continued nicely. Then it reformed straight off the end of the field continuing until after it got dark. Another five hour duration flight day not utilised!

What a fantastic day. Thanks to all who helped

David Jesty

Saturday 20th October 2012

With the light wind just east of south it was a quick change ends and on with the show.

The warm autumn sunshine initially seemed to promise some quiet circuit flying but by 12 o’clock there were some likely looking clouds and suddenly everyone was soaring under impressive cloud streets. The 2000ft cloudbase and gin clear air made the coast to coast view absolutely stunning. Later in the afternoon, the views across Whitsand Bay with the low sun shining golden off the sea was enough the make even me wax lyrical. ( It’s a pity that I didn’t have a camera in the glider ).

Andrew Beaumont prepares the K8 for some afternoon soaring.   

Meanwhile, in the clubhouse the new committee held their first meeting which seemed to go on for most of the afternoon. In the hanger, Rick Wiles assisted our visiting diesel fitter to complete the work on the Gus launch winch engine which was running again by the end of the day.

The cloud streets still looked this good at 5pm. 

With the sun sinking in the west, and after supervising the packing of the hanger, the instructors made a quick exit to Tavistock for the Instructors Meeting and a fish and chip supper kindly supplied by CFI Don.

Steve

Saturday 13th October 2012–The Standon Hill Caper

“The winds westerly 15kts. How about we try Standon Hill?” says Don.

“Are you nuts?” I reply, “It’s going to be bloody cold stood in a field waiting for the retrieve and they will probably scoff all the nibbles at the meeting before we get back. Oh well if I must.”

So off we go, it’s four miles to the ridge so we need to get as much height as we can, it’s a good launch and we end up at 1450ft. Immediate turn to the right trim for best glide and on our way.

I have a very good look at the fields on the way, there’s a good chance we might need one if we don’t make it.

With a tailwind 15-20kts we have a groundspeed of about 75kts so it isn’t long before we reach the ridge, we arrive at an indicated 800ft which is below the top which means we only lost 650ft on the way out but we will probably need 3 times that to get back because of the headwind.

Don takes over as we approach the ridge. My brief is to have fields picked out as we go.

Approaching the ridge at about 45deg, the vario is still showing down till we’re almost on the ridge then comes that lovely bleep as we start to go up, we turn along the ridge and get steady lift all along the beat,( heart starts beating again, I think it’s been stopped since we dropped the cable)

As we beat up and down we’re getting to know how the ridge works and I am studying the fields.The ridge works quite well, steady lift between 1 and 4kts and there are 2 or 3 fields available.

Now up to over 1100ft and time to look a bit further, we fly to the south end of the ridge and into a large bowl, the lift is really good here and we try circling, it’s probably a thermal being kicked off by the bowl, climb up to to 1450ft (back to launch height) but are being blown downwind so we decide to fly north to see what’s working that way.

As we work north all we get is small bits of lift and reduced sink but at least we’ve hardly lost any height. Eventually we end up under a cloud street near Widgery's Cross, the bad news is it’s not working very well and there are several heavy rain showers heading straight for us.

We decide to chicken out and head for home, so we head west under the street to hopefully pick up any lift and to take us to the west of Blackdown and again pick up some lift off there.

Only one problem as we turn around the edge of Blackdown. There is a heavy shower between us and the airfield.

We have been slowly losing height all the way back and are now down to about 800ft. Only one thing to do; go straight through the shower and hope for the best, I have been picking fields all the way back but as we go into the shower with the sun ahead everything disappears completely, and with the glider steadily sinking not a nice feeling.

We pop out the other side of the shower with the airfield still over a mile away and down to about 500ft the angle doesn’t look good and I am desperately picking fields. However, we pick our way along the edge of Blackdown and arrive at the airfield at 300ft. (heart starts beating again after stopping for the 2nd time).

Wow what a Flight !!!

Ged Nevisky

Wednesday 17th October 2012

The likelihood of a non-flying day (crosswind from the south gusting to nearly 40 knots, heavy showers and a sodden airfield) failed to deter an amazing turnout of 20 members who convened in the clubhouse, in good spirits and full of enthusiasm following last Saturday's 'fun day' and Extraordinary General Meeting, at which our new Chairman was elected and the committee beefed up with the appointment of additional members.

Steve Raine set proceedings off on a tasty note by serving a delicious cake his wife had made to celebrate his Bronze 'C' -  a gesture which we hope will become a precedent to be followed by other pilots as they progress up the ladder.

The cake went down very well. (  I was obviously not quick enough taking the photo )

But hardly had the last crumbs been consumed than, as a new committeeman and Treasurer, he soon found himself being bombarded with comments and suggestions from enthusiastic members. Meanwhile our Field Treasurers, Dave Rippon and Robin Wilson, were once again observed tearing their hair out over unpaid flying fees and despairing about what to do about visiting pilots from other clubs who leave us with unpaid bills.

Reminders of last weekend included plenty of left-over nibbles (still surprisingly non-soggy despite the wet weather) and yet another exciting video-clip from Ged's mobile phone camera, giving us a glimpse of his and Don's antics as they explored ridge-soaring opportunities deep into Dartmoor in BVB.

Studying the map to find out where Don and Ged went.

Once a non-flying day had been confirmed, a few members left us in search of domestic 'brownie points', but most of the team stuck around - and got stuck into various jobs.

The serial 'multi-tasking' Dave Bourchier made progress with seeking quotes from local engineers capable of renovating winch rollers, while Chris Kaminski came all the way from North Devon to progress the changeover of the Pirat's instrument panel. Trevor Taylor (with additional 'high-tech' expertise from Colin Sanders) after an abortive attempt last Saturday, at last succeeded in removing a stubborn brake drum from the T21 trailer.

Then a whole gang of us converged on the Twin Astir's T-hangar in the swamp at the SE corner of the field to de-rig the glider and put the fuselage onto its trailer.Sadly the aircraft's undercarriage recently succumbed to a muddy rut on the landing area, which concealed a sizeable boulder. So the glider is having to be taken off-site for specialist repairs.

Using pilots to hold a fuselage onto a trailer? Straps or ropes are much less trouble

As a personal observation, anyone with doubts about the health and enthusiasm of Dartmoor Gliding Society should have been around last weekend or today.  If the atmosphere and attendance can be like this on a non-flying day, just imagine what it will be like when the wave arrives.

Here's to this weekend - and to next Wednesday!

Bob Pirie

I hope to have a "How I did it" post and video of the Don and Ged's latest foray to the hills for the blog soon.

Steve

Sunday 14th October 2012

Weatherwise a good day with lighter NW winds. The prospect of heavy showers later.

The first part of the day was tied up repairing a puncture in the K13 tail wheel---thanks Dave B and Roger A for getting that done.

Well done to Steve Raine, bronze C now all signed up.

After yesterdays busy day, today was really quiet. Steve Raine ran the winch with instructors only in the gliders until Alan Holland appeared and could supervise and take over winch operations. Thanks guys.

Mike Sloggett had spotted I was alone and came to offer instructor support, Mike then spent the day looking after trial lessons----thanks Mike.

Shrek and Roger Appleboom kept their hands in, the thermals were very weak and so nothing much to report on that front.

Rain eventually stopped play.

Don

Saturday 13th October 2012 – DGS Fun Day & EGM

Right from the off today had a real carnival atmosphere around the club. Will the weather play ball? Well mostly.

The wind was light westerly and this strengthened throughout the day. The forecast “occasional” showers were initially very heavy and very frequent but did die away somewhat as the day progressed.

This did not deter our hardy pilots and some early flights were fitted in between the showers until one particularly heavy shower encouraged everyone to return to the clubhouse to enjoy the BBQ which was organised by Sandra, assisted by Heather, and actually cooked by Bob Pirie.

Bob Pirie attending to the BBQ

After everyone had had their fill it was back to the airfield to take part in the “Good Landing” contest. Judge John Bolt scored everyone’s efforts for the accuracy of their circuit, approach, roundout and landing run – very professional. In fact the only thing missing was a public “phone in” to the help the judge ( or is that just television? ).

A stunning rainbow framed the contest flyers.

The soaring opportunities were really quite limited except for instructors Ged and Don who took the next step in the “Ridge Flying” project by flying to the tor to the north of Cox Tor ( Standon Hill?) from where they managed to climb back to their launch height before continuing along the ridges to the north eventually returning to the airfield 45 minutes later.

After the gliders were washed and put away, the members all assembled in the clean and warm clubhouse for a light buffet prior to the EGM where Martin Cropper was voted in as the new chairman and after which the Good Landing contest results were announced and the prizes given out.

New Chairman Martin Cropper

The Good Landing Contest results were

Solo
1st   Martin Broadway
2nd  Barry Green
3rd   Rick Wiles.

Dual ( handling pilots listed first )
1st   Rick Wiles with Heather Horswill
2nd  Mike Jardine with Sandra Buttery
3rd   Dave Wallis with Don Puttock

Martin Broadway receiving his prize from Sandra

We owe a special vote of thanks to Sandra for all the work she put in to making this a great club day.

Organiser & Club Secretary Sandra ( right ) with Heather 

Steve

Wednesday 11th October 2012

The arrival of a south easterly with hints of wave stimulated prompt arrivals and setting up of the airfield, but low cloud over the moor and the airfield - despite a tantalising gap in between -  put paid to our high hopes.

Very low cloudbase over the runway with wave slot to the east

Eventually I took a launch in DMX to cloudbase and straight into lift  at 500 feet.  But with the cloud descending and visibility deteriorating, I landed and it was back to the hangar for DMX, BVB and the K8 - and then into the clubhouse for the team (apart from Phil and Andrew, who headed off to Nympsfield to collect their Astir ready for the arrival of autumn wave at Brentor).

Although depressing outdoors, the atmosphere in the clubhouse was upbeat, with 'Stoker' Ged firing up the woodburner, Marigold-clad club secretary Sandra sprucing up the premises ready for Saturday's 'fun day', and club members 'bending the ears' of our potential new chairman, vice-chairman and treasurer respectively, namely Martin Cropper, Colin Boyd and Steve Raine. Now all that remains is for the sun to shine on our 'fun day' - and for a good turnout by members both during the day and at that evening's EGM.

The smoke is evidence of Ged's handiwork with the woodburner while the BBQ receives some attention ready for Saturday

It's our club. Let's enjoy it - and support it!

Bob Pirie

Saturday 6th October 2012

With a NE wind and gusty conditions, Dave Wallis continued his 'refresher course' getting back into gliding after a prolonged break. We ticked lots more boxes on his progress card and he proved he hadn't forgotten how to do it by soaring for half an hour in an interesting combination of thermal, wave and ridge lift.

Flying was temporarily halted when the Twin Astir's wheel retracted at an inopportune moment, (i.e. while landing) blocking the field. About eight Chiefs and no Indians came to help and eventually the aircraft was towed on its cradle, avoiding the numerous bogs, back to its hangar for Ged to investigate.

Indians towing the Twin Astir using a complicated rope harness devised by one of our resident yachtsmen

In the reducing and veering wind, Shrek (back after a break of a few months) performed a couple of good launch failure recoveries. The second one was at a very awkward height but he correctly chose to land ahead, skilfully using the boggy patches to dramatically reduce his ground run, stopping by the winch before the ground starts to slope downhill. He then re-soloed, managing to eke out some soaring in the dying thermals.

"Shrek" looks pleased with himself after his re-solo

Another very pleasant autumn day's flying and thanks to all who helped.

David Jesty

Meanwhile down in the hanger there was lots of engineering noises ( hammering, grunting and head scratching? ) as the Guslaunch winch had one of it's cable drums removed to permit the brake system to be serviced. After approx 25years of service the only faults found were a couple of stiff pivots ( fixed with an application of copper grease apparently ) and a broken return spring.

The Guslaunch hub assembly with just the brake shoes attached.

Many thanks to Rick Wiles, Alan Holland and Dave Bouchier who gave up the whole of their Saturday to work on this and to Martin Smith, Colin Boyd and Sean Parramore for their additional help.

Steve

Wednesday 3rd October 2012

Returning from sunnier climes to rain falling on a rutted and soggy airfield - with Steve Lewis's 'trout stream' in full flood - it was gratifying that several members turned up ready for whatever the day had to offer.

Inevitably there was an air of concern regarding club management issues - which have put such a strain on our secretary, our small, dedicated committee and the membership as a whole - but hopefully a turning point will be reached with the election of a chairman in a week or so's time. For a while there was a temptation to brew tea and fire up the wood-burner, but then the emphasis switched to what the club is really all about - namely gliding - or, failing that, enjoying each other's company while getting on with some of those essential chores which are always waiting to be done.

As an act of faith (or to be more truthful, to make room in the hangar for Martin Broadway and me to help John Bolt carry out the annual inspection on our ASW20F in the dry), the K8 and BVB were extricated and the latter DI'd and towed out to the east end launch point, with winch and cables also checked and ready to go. But then some heavy showers kicked in for a while, so it was afternoon before the first of a total of 10 launches was achieved.

With Ged kindly filling in for me with the instructing, Dave Rippon and John Howe driving the winch and Colin Boyd running the launch point, the emphasis was mainly on solo pilots keeping current. Our only student for the two-seater today was Shrek who, after a lay-off of several months, did three refresher flights in BVB. Ged reckons it should only take one more session until re-solo. So keep up the good work, Shrek!

Finally, our thanks to Dave Bourchier for spending the day attending to a variety of technical tasks, including hand-crafting a brand new axle for a K13 mainwheel.

Bob Pirie

Sunday 30th September 2012

‘Testing’: that was the word of the day: ‘testing’.  As a Southerly 15kt wind blew 90⁰ across the runway (the forecast was for SW’ly) and the clouds barely scraped over the top of the tors, it would have been a testing day for launching, approach and landing in any event, but for yours truly it was also the day to be ‘tested’ following my recent Assistant Cat course at Portsmouth (there is no way you can simply attend a course with the BGA, be stamped ‘satisfactory’ and go on your merry way – your home club CFI always has to give his final ‘blessing’). 

In this case the ‘blessing’ took the form of four flights: a lesson involving reduced ‘g’ and the different ways it may be encountered, an ultra low level launch failure (winch induced – thanks Nigel), a high level cable break with turn (self induced), and a flight with Bloggs (the perennial student) in which he decides to point the ground just as we’re approaching the final turn.   

However, after 90 minutes or so of launches dedicated to me, it appeared that the ‘blessing’ had been achieved (or Don had just got fed up); and so it was time for new member Sam Deers, Shrek (who had reappeared after a summer in Dorset dispensing ‘bonhomie’) and, of course, Nigel the winch, to fly.    Which they duly did, until cloudbase started swallowing the glider at 800ft, and with 3 out of 4 cables being swept over the boundary we decided it was time to call it a day.   

Thanks go to Don (and Pauline, for interrupting their holiday to help with my acceptance flights), to Nigel for winching (not sure that’s the correct spelling for what he does) to Dave Bourchier, Colin Boyd and Sam Deers for their assistance at the launch point. 

Martin Cropper.

Saturday 29th September 2012

Brisk NW wind, 3/8ths cloud cover. Game on.

The weather and soaring forecast looked reasonably favourable. We have had some interesting flights with this kind of weather.

I flew with Ben Whillams, a temporary member who had returned to begin flying training. By the end of his first thermal soaring flight he was able to  turn the aircraft with a reasonable amount of style. Recently re-joined member Dave Wallis continued his retraining with Ged. They managed to climb to 3000 feet and took full advantage of the opportunity to revisit spinning. A later flight saw them practicing cable breaks. A re-solo soon perhaps?.

Instructor Ged and Dave Wallis discussing the outstanding training card items. 

The solo pilots made good use of the conditions with Alan Holland flying the club Zugvogel for 1 hour 14 minutes to record the best flight of the day. Hot on his heels was Barry Green in the Fokka 5 with a flight of 1 hour 4 minutes.  Both of these flights were terminated by the pilots choice, not the lack of thermals.

The Fokka 5 waiting to go.

Other news around the site saw Mike Gadd and David Bourchier fitting a new steel shoe to the front skid on G-DBVB; the Zugvogel trimmer being refitted by me, Alan Carter and John Bolt renewing the SF27 C of A, and Chris Kaminski working on the new instrument panel to the club’s SZD PIrat which we hope will be back in fleet service soon.

Steve