Pinch yourself: are we still flying? Yes, we are..! Today exceeded all
expectations.
With various forecasts predicted that, after a benign sunrise, the day would
turn into either
a. heavy rain showers becoming more persistent or
b. winds
gusting from the west to over 20-25kts, we actually flew all day.
 |
| Ed Borlase captured this double rainbow mid-morning. |
OK, well,
there was a break for 30 mins whilst a shower passed through but that was
nothing like the torrential downpours that afflicted others in the locality. And
yes, we did send the K-8 back to the stables because the wind freshened and
crossed on the runway sufficient for us to be concerned, but otherwise
conditions did not become as threatening as the forecast predicted.
 |
| K-13 G-CHXP rotates in to the climb. |
And so it was that IFP (soon to become fully fledged Flying Instructor) Peter
Howarth was able to fly all our voucher visitors: Charlie Blanchard, the
amazingly light (so light that they had to fly in the back seat of the K-13) and
polite family of Josh Lai, Mia Burgon and Louis Costello and Chris Greatrex.
 |
| Visitor Chris Greatrex about to fly with Peter Howarth. |
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| Josh Lai, Mia Burgon and Louis Costello flew with Peter Howarth today. |
As cloud and energy systems passed over the site it was possible to find some
significant amounts of 'up', however these were difficult to centre in and hence
Flight of the Day went to Bob Sansom with 17 mins (most of which were spent at
or around 1,000ft agl). Steve Fletcher, Adrian Irwin, Ed Borlase, Jeff Cragg,
Joe Nobbs and Paula Howarth also managed to find lift in patches as the sun
continued to shine and wind remain within limits.
 |
Club member Bob Sansom achieved Flight of the Day
during this soaring flight just to the SE of the airfield. |
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| Ed Borlase’s view of the approach cross-field into the SW’ly wind. |
Down in the clubhouse Allan Holland arrived to present Chairman Martin
Cropper with an absolutely superb pastel painting made by former member Eric
Rodmell recording a flight to Okehampton and back that Eric and Allan made in
wave in 1997. Eric joined the club at age 77, went solo at age 79 and will be
100 years of age next month. Happy Birthday Eric!
At the end of the day we had logged 32 launches which, given that we expected
to be either rained off or blown out by midday, was not at all bad.
Martin Cropper
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