“Look at that sky, it’s just perfect,” mused Colin Boyd mid-afternoon. “So
why can’t we keep any of our gliders up, then..!” he continued. Well, the fact
was that there no particular pattern to the day: lift was available from 1100
and continued late into the afternoon (longest flier of the day Roger Appleboom
landing at 5:13pm). It was, from a number of points of view, just the luck of
the draw: where and when you happened to be in the air. And getting there and
back wasn’t so easy either; the 030 at 15 kts wind forecast manifesting itself
as Northerly at 15-20 in the event, thus lengthening ground runs, reducing
launch heights and providing some pretty tricky curlover (followed by a partial
vacuum) on the approach to landing. Character building, some would say…
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Seen looking west from Blackdown, an EC135 helicopter was
‘parked’ in a field near North Brentor village all day. |
It was great to see so many people present today, and a great shame that a
few trainees were not able to fly (due in part to the conditions described
above, and also the congestion often caused by landings with no headwind
component). The strong team on hand found plenty of use for their talents in
welcoming our visitors, including One Day Course student Clive Hurford, Dan
Ferguson (and three generations of his family, all of whom were impeccably
behaved), Malcolm Hill, and that increasingly rare sighting the ‘walk in’ Geoff
Orton, whose wife thought the weather might be just right today for the voucher
she bought him for Christmas – too right it was! So spot the spelling mistake
now.
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| Our One Day Course student today was Clive Hurford, from Plymouth |
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Visitor Geoff Orton with wife and son
His flight was a ‘belated’ Christmas present..! |
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| Our 1pm Visitor: Malcolm Hill |
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| Dan Ferguson flew with Pete Howarth |
The social - sorry solo – team were much taken up with the crosswind, and
rightly so, given the expense of some of their toys and the fact that nature is
no respecter of how easily damaged your flying machine may be - however once
Roger Appleboom broke ranks in his K-6CR it did not take long for the others to
follow suit, with Roger Green his ASW-20 (see photo), Leith Whittington in his
Dart 17R and Pete Harvey flying his Std Cirrus from Brentor for the first time.
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| Roger Green ready to launch in his ASW20 |
Paula Howarth claimed flight of the day for club gliders with 19 mins in the K-8
(see photo), whilst Tony Dean also renewed his acquaintance with the old girl
(the K-8 that is…).
With Jayne Marsh and Dave Jones taking time out from their wedding
preparations to train in the K-13, and Dave Downton and Jeff Cragg also flying
duel (against the crosswind, not the instructor..!), special mention must be
made of Callum Doyle, who is our most recent Fixed Price to Solo signing.
Callum, who is very aviation minded, works for Castle Air in Liskeard (the
helicopter charter company) and will normally be flying with us on Fridays.
As the last flight touched down at 7:45pm, it wasn’t until about 8:15pm
before we had shut the hangar doors and could think about making for home –
nonetheless it had been worth it – or it certainly felt as if it had..!
Martin Cropper
