Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 6th August 2014

Plenty of our more experienced members – plus ab initio student Chris Jones – responded to my call for an early start. The K-8 (still on its trailer from Sunday’s field landing) was cast aside initially, with emphasis placed on getting both two-seaters airborne and earning their keep. With training flights underway, the K8 was rigged and then test flown by Martin Broadway, before providing plenty of fun for solo pilots, and more than earning its keep in the process.

With a light WNW wind and the winch in the end field, launches up to 1,500 feet were the norm, with a whole succession of winch and cable retrieve drivers sharing the workload .

Chris and I started the day with a good soaring flight in DMX, facilitating a useful programme of ab initio exercises, followed later by a series of dual flights with John Rogers. For the rest of the day, I focused mainly on my undeclared personal objective of getting three of our lapsed solo pilots – Mike Keller, Dick Masters and Chris Fagg – up and away on their own once again in the K8. This involved a fair amount of spinning, and several simulated launch failures, including one straight ahead from a great height into the empty bit of the sheep field. (Well, we do say ‘If it is safe to land ahead, do so’, don’t we?) John Bolt and Bob Sansom also soared this popular little glider.

A "flock? or squadron?" of K8 pilots. From left to right
Bob Sansom, Chris Fagg, John Bolt, Mike Keller and Dick Masters

Trial lesson Instructor Steve Lewis was busy as usual in CLT, flying with trial lesson candidates Ian Greening, Malcolm Roberts and Vernon Smith, as well as Junior Member Ross Pratt

Malcolm Roberts took his air experience flights with Ged

Vernon Smith in K7M G-DCLT

Junior member Ross Pratt waiting to go after Dick Masters helped him strap in.

The only other gliders in action today were the Zugvogel, which Alan Holland extracted from the back of the hangar during the afternoon to go soaring, and the Twin Astir, which was campaigned enthusiastically by various permutations of syndicate members under Ged Nevisky’s supervision.

A pity that there were no private single-seater gliders in action, but an upside to this situation was that several of their owners were with us today, keeping the field running and taking to the air in club gliders, including Mike Gadd introducing his father-in-law, John Wheeler , to our sport. Our ab initio ranks were slimmer than usual due to holidays.

Mike Gadd with his father-in-law John Wheeler

Operationally, it was a pleasant and productive day, overshadowed only slightly by the prospect of our having to de-rig DMX ready for its annual inspection before we headed homeward at the end of the day. In fact, the club’s favourite workhorse suffered from a punctured main-wheel tyre during the late afternoon, causing extra aggro for Vice-Chairman Colin Boyd and a small team of helpers who carried out a repair to enable the glider to be towed back from the far end of the airfield to the hangar.

Changing a K13 main wheel is a spectator sport appartently.

Usually as the end of the day nears, members tend to drift away to engage in nocturnal pursuits, but this evening a dedicated crowd remained not only to put the kit away, but to get DMX de-rigged and ready for John Bolt and David Bourchier, along with various volunteers, to carry out essential C of A inspection work tomorrow and on Friday prior to the revalidation of it’s ARC ( Airworthiness Review Certificate ). Hopefully, we’ll then have two two-seaters available for the weekend. Such voluntary effort is well and truly ‘above and beyond the call’ – and we thank you both, as well as all those other members who have committed to help you to make it happen.

Many hands make light work

Positioning the parts in the hangar ready for the workers.

Turning the fuselage upside down 

Bob Pirie