Dartmoor Gliding News – Wednesday 13th November 2013

A big thank you to everyone who heeded the call and came along earlier than usual to get K13 DMX rigged (after 10 days or so on its trailer), before we got down to the more important business of flying.We are particularly grateful to Vice Chairman, Colin Boyd, for delivering what he promised and getting the glider's main pins fettled in time for today.

'Get em Flyin!' is becoming a sort of Wednesday battle cry, and today not only did we get DMX, the K7M and the K8 out and airborne, but a group of enthusiasts even dusted off and flew the Zugvogel, for the first time since August, I believe. The next challenge? To get the Pirat components off the floor (where we left them more than a month ago), rigged into something resembling a glider, and then  C of A'd.  After all the hard work that a small group of enthusiasts put into upgrading that aircraft, it would be wonderful to get it on-line again.

Robin Wilson waiting in the Zugvogel

But back to today's antics. After a gung ho start, things went off the boil for a while while Articles of Association were debated, a few cable breaks occurred,  cables were dropped over the fence and a 'vintage' knot in one of the winch cable parachute ropes had to be 'Bouchiered'.  (You won't find this word in any dictionary, but to be Bouchiered means "to be subjected to much tutting and tooth sucking, then being taken forcibly into the hangar, cursed, attacked with sharp and/or heavy implements and eventually returned to service with a wry grin.")

Gliding is all about people.

 Apart from a soggy airfield and a steady crosswind demanding plenty of layoff, it was a very pleasant flying day. Thermals were non-existent, but by the time we wrapped things up around 1600 hrs to wash down the gliders, 34 launches had been achieved, including training flights for Adrian Pike, John Rogers, Steve Fletcher and Jorg Beasley; rear seat flying in DMX for Mike Gadd and Phil Hardwick;  a couple of trial lesson flights for Tony Williams, and umpteen solo flights in the K8 and Zug for the rest of the team.

This brings me to the most rewarding aspect of the day as far as I'm concerned, which is that we had no less than 20 members present (about a third of Dartmoor Gliding Society's full flying membership).  And to paraphrase someone else's remark: "Isn't it great that there are so many pilots present, keeping current, flying safely, and having fun."

Today's instructing team consisted of Steve, Ged and yours truly. However, the real work was done by Phil and Dave Rippon in the winch (aided by Colin Boyd); Andrew Beaumont and Bob Sansom on cable retrieve and John Howe in the tower.

The late afternoon sun lit up the clouds. 

Finally, we were pleased to be joined, at the end of the day, by Leith Whittington, who stuck his head above the parapet and clarified some of his thoughts regarding the Club's new Articles of Association which he has put so much effort into drafting.

Overall, a pleasant and productive day.

Bob Pirie