Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 5th November 2014

A cracking autumn day with bright sunshine, a light crosswind from the north and some hints of marginally-productive cloud streets (as ever with the big blue bits anchored above the airfield).

A sunny day with a light northerly crosswind

Everyone present (and there were 19 of us!) should be grateful to our our resident 'sparkies' Steve and Colin who spent yet another day re-wiring the clubhouse, and to those early birds who got the kit out and the airfield ready before most of their colleagues had showed up.

The start of any flying day has its ups and downs; today's 'down' being the realisation that the upper field was full of cows, with their fodder strategically-placed just behind the winch. So it was a case of delaying the start of flying and all hands on deck to get the fence assembled. This was followed by a launch point briefing about these additional hazards to consider when contemplating landing straight ahead after a launch failure. And the 'up'?  Well, John Bolt had a big smile on his face when reporting that having stripped of the first of K7M's CLT's wings, he and Colin had found the structure to be in good condition - although a redundant mouse's nest had had to be removed.

Given that we had a long flying list and only one two-seater with yours truly in the back seat, we still managed to achieve a reasonably productive training day, with plenty of regular attendees or 'returnees', including David Rippon returning after a 6 month absence, enjoying dual flights, and Ian and Chris adding to their tally of solos. (Thanks, by the way, to Steve Lewis who, without any trial lessons to fly, provided sterling service by leading operations at ground level.)

Bob briefing prior to the first flight of the day 

Knowing that low sun and misting cockpit canopies would dictate an early halt to proceedings, and determined that no one who wished to fly should go home disappointed, I suggested at the outset that a 'ration' of two two-seater flights per person would be appropriate. In fact by late afternoon everyone had had a couple of flights and I finished my flying day by relaxing in the back seat beneath a misting canopy with Dave Bourchier proving that he hasn't lost 'the touch'.

Today's only visitor was Julie Stapleton from Torquay, a paragliding friend of Mike Gadd.  Spending the best part of the whole day with us, Julie enjoyed a couple of 'family and friends' flights with Mike, who then went on to impress his guest (if not the rest of us) by achieving the longest flight of the day ( 21 minutes in the K8 ).

Visitor Julie with Mike in the K13

Apart from the K13, the only other gliders to venture onto our soggy airfield and into the air today were the K8 (also flown by Jeff Cragg, Bob Sansom and Alan Holland) and the Twin Asir, flown by various permutations of Robin Wilson and Phil Hardwick.

Anyone contemplating flying this weekend should note that the airfield is now becoming very soggy, and to preserve its surface, we must use the quad bike for retrieves, and keep the Land Rover Discoveries on the hardened tracks as much as possible.

Finally, a further word about our temporarily restricted two-seater availability while CLT is undergoing its scheduled overhaul. With variable weather and short days, it is imperative that (within reason, because I know that sometimes situations can crop up which makes this impossible) everyone who wishes to fly should make a real effort to arrive at the field early to get the kit out, and not rely on others to do it for you. Similarly, we need people around at the end of the day to wash the gliders and pack the hangar and, of course, to light the woodburner and get the kettle on.

Today we enjoyed 22 flawless launches (albeit lower than usual due to the fence being there) in beautiful sunshine, which provided a respite from all the gales and rain of recent weeks. Let's hope that the met men on duty this weekend come up with a similarly pleasant weather package.

Bob Pirie