Dartmoor Gliding News–Saturday 6th September 2014

Looking out of the house this morning I was hardly able to see more than a 100 meters or so. This is bad news but as I had two One Day Courses to run it was off to the airfield with no great expectations.

The early cloudbase was very low indeed but the airfield was readied and the aircraft inspected and fettled in the hope of some flying later. While all this activity was going on the local cloudbase began to rise. The visibility to the north and south was poor but in the immediate vicinity of the airfield the cloud dissipated so, on with the flying programme.

A busy launch queue

The start was a little bit later than usual but with great efforts from our members and visitors alike the launch rate  was quite respectable. My two One Day Courses were father and son Chris and Jake Bennett. Jake had the first 3 flights and with each one it was obvious that the air was becoming more buoyant. Chris was next and on his first flight we managed to scratch out an 18 minute flight always below launch height. After one more circuit flight Chris and I were away and we completed his Course in one glorious soaring flight of over an hour during which Chris flew us all over the local area. Jake was champing at the bit when we landed so off we went for another soaring flight. Great fun

Father and son duo Chris and Jake Bennett

Meanwhile, the solo pilots were enthused enough into get into the action. After a circuit flight, Astir owner Steve Raine launched again to soar for 2 hours 16 minutes to complete his Cross Country Endorsement. Steve has previously completed his Bronze “C” so is now a qualified pilot. Well done Steve and welcome to the world of the licenced pilot. The other notable solo flight was Mike Keller flying his syndicate K8 for 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Tired but victorious, Steve Raine our newest licienced pilot

And what of Instructor in charge Ged Nevisky. He worked all day in the K13 flying initially with Max Jones ( son of member Chris ), then with Chris. Ged also flew with Karl Andrews who returned to us after an absence during which he changed jobs. Ged and Karl soared for 55 minutes during which they were able to work their way through all the spin and stall exercises.

Max Jones still smiling after landing

Elsewhere on the airfield Rick Wiles was to be found working away on the ML winch. We also welcomed David Bourchier back after a few weeks of absence. David came specifically to help Rick produce rope strops to replace the wire ones we normally use. The rope strops are for use with the single seat aircraft which require a blue weak link.  Thanks David.

An excellent day from the most unpromising start

Steve