New month. New possibilities. For several days the weather forecast had been highlighting flyable conditions for Wednesday. CFI Don Puttock had been keeping club members informed via the Forum. Initially the conditions looked almost gentle with some thermal soaring on the cards. As we got closer to the day the forecast worsened somewhat with westerly winds 15 knots+ at ground level and 40 knots+ at flying heights. This would not be a day for the K8 then but, with the wind straight down the runway, it would be flyable with care.
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| The cloudscape over Brentor Church does not show how windy it really was |
By 10:30 everything was set up ready to go. The Gold Discovery would serve as a lightweight launchpoint The quad bike was the glider tow vehicle of choice. We still have the contractors on site so the radio equipped Suzuki Vitara manned by a knowledgeable club member would control their movements to keep them safe.
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| Our lightweight launchpoint |
Flying continued throughout the day in the cold, challenging conditions but DGS pilots and trainees are well versed in this kind of flying and a great time was had by all with everyone making the circuit adjustments required look easy guided by CFI Don. Everyone who wanted to fly did so. By the end of the day we had completed no fewer that 20 launches; a very good total for a single glider day when glider handling need some extra care.
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| Steve Raine receives an "animated" briefing from Don |
Our thanks today must go to the winch drivers who demonstrated not a little skill in launch gliders in this wind profile with launches going to 1600 feet. Thanks also to the members operating as safety cover for the contractors. Our special thanks must go to Don who flew in 18 out of the 20 launches. Now that's stamina.
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| The conditions at the end of the day |
A great day.
Steve
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