Today was a complete tease. Following a reasonable RASP forecast several pilots decided to rig their own aircraft.
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The RASP Forecast.
The yellow areas indicate rising air of 400 feet per minute.
Removing the glider sink rate this should give climbs of 200 to 250 feet per minute |
We ended up with an impressive looking grid with Martin Broadway's ASW20, Steve Raine and Mike Jardine Astir, Chris Owen and Peter Harvey Standard Cirrus, Ged Nevisky and Phil Hardwick Twin Astir, plus club aircraft K13 G-CHXP and the K8.
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| The Astir with the ASW20 behind |
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| Standard Cirrus |
The weather just did not happen as forecast. The cloudbase was low(ish) and got lower as the afternoon wore on. The wind stayed mostly southerly and there were only a few sunny periods. All this meant that the promised thermals just did not really happen The best flight of the day was a mere 20 minutes by Ged and Phil in the Twin Astir. A couple of others managed to extend their circuits a little, but that was all.
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| After a long stint on the winch, Mike Bennett managed some training with Ged in the K13 |
Meanwhile in the hangar, Rick Wiles and David Bouchier were inspecting the "new" winch, an ML with less than a third of the hours of our existing one. The winch has been left unused in a hangar for 10 years or so and needs some TLC ( new bearings, brakes adjusted, new fuel and batteries etc. By the end of the day, the winch engine was running well and many parts had been inspected and a "to do" list raised.
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| The "New" ML winch |
Steve
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