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| Sean and Don in the Mendips K13 |
Sean, Alan and myself met the Halesland group, and after morning briefing we set about flying. Alan and Sean are now cleared solo and have made some new gliding friends.
Don
And this is how Alan Carter saw the day.
Friday 4th January, Don invited members on a jolly to Halesland, not thinking I could go I sent him an email. No sooner had it gone, the phone rang, Sean offered me a lift, Sandra got home from work and I got my escape chit signed.
At the agreed time on Saturday, 7.30, that other 7.30, the one in the morning, the haunt of milkmen, homebound cats, fitness fanatics and idiots, Sean collected me from Exeter and I proceeded to bore him for the hour's drive north.
We arrived at Halesland in good time, followed shortly by Don who had trouble with his sat nav, the Mendips club is very close to his house so he got confused by the persistent cries of "turn round at the earliest opportunity" from the windscreen.
DI's done, briefing finished, the Dartmoor contingent led the way and were thrown into the air by 10.30 only to disappear into cloud at 800 feet QFE. Turn left, fly a short distance and bimble along the ridge in a light 8 knot SE breeze in zero sink with a good 870 feet drop to the south to the Somerset levels.
Site check done.
Now for one of Don's launch failures. I've got 55 knots at 400 feet so decision time, I'm pointing directly at the winch so no option to land straight ahead, turn left as briefed then find myself heading directly towards a glider only 20 feet lower and 100 yards ahead in circuit. Loads to think about now !! the airfield offers so many options to land, I call out my options but just hang on to see how the other glider goes, trying to keep away and inside of it's turn, no sink, still at 350 feet, oh well just a boring normal landing to the left of the other K13, now on the ground and landed long.
I gave Don the credit for planning this series of traps and challenges on purpose, it was a lot to think about and good fun too. What's more, he actually signed me ok to fly at Halesland.
The K8 flight, I pulled off, just in cloud at 700ft, flew towards Axbridge and found 2 knots up at the ridge but couldn't use it because I was at cloud base. I just played around with the ridge lift to get a feel for the site, very pleasant circuit with the challenge of 5 hang gliders sitting at 400 feet at low key, so I hovered above them for a bit, just to annoy them, then turned to fly base leg across a refreshingly flat field that gave the impression of not a lot of height, even at 350 feet. 5 minute circuit from a 700 foot launch, that'll do for a familiarisation flight.
The members at Mendips Gliding Club made us feel really welcome, we mucked in, they were great and I was sad to have to call it a day.
I'm so glad I got up early.
Alan
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