Early in the morning looked unpromising with low cloud and even some drizzle over the coast. The forecast looked a little better and with a full flying programme in prospect it was off to the airfield. It looked that the early drizzle had also fallen there but the cloudbase was lifting a little and the wind was light(ish) from the NW so aircraft out ready for action.
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| Barry's Silent; A self-launching Ultralight Motorglider |
The promise of some soaring has encouraged several private owners to join the grid including Richard's Discus, Roger's ASW20, Phil's Astir and the very interesting ultralight motorglider Barry's Silent Targa.
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| Visitor Des Law waiting for his instructor (me) |
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| Visitor Phil Torr who enjoyed a soaring flight in unpromising looking sky |
Instructor Rick Wiles was in charge of the flying today and he spent the whole day delivering training and check flights to the club members and visiting pilots alike in the slowly increasing wind. We welcomed 4 visitors for air experience flying today; Des Law, Phil Torr, Andy Tettmar, and Mike Pope. Our other visitor today was Tony Taylor, an experienced pilot from the Shenington Gliding Club, Banbury who was holidaying nearby.
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| Visitor Andy Tettmar flew with Rick |
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| Visitor Mike Pope turned out to be quite adept at handling the controls. |
Soaring conditions were best described as variable but improving as the day wore on. Discussions around the launchpoint were suggesting some westerly wave causing the large areas of sink that termintated most soaring attempts. Despite all the assembled high performance hot ships, best flight of the day was by Phil in his Astir who managed to soar for 41minutes before returning to terra firma. So, with the Astir having the best flight today and the K8 last Saturday, I think that makes it David 2 Goliath 0.
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| Roger Green ready to launch in his beautiful ASW20 |
Our thanks as always to the winch drivers, retrieve drivers and all the helpers at the launchpoint. you know who you are.
The season is definitely starting.
Steve
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