After the annoying and feckless unpredictability of youth, many find the more
measured, dependable nature that comes with age to be a great relief after those
earlier, annoying, traits. Returning to the club on Sunday by towing his glider
down the length of the runway just as we were about to call "Up Slack!" on the
second cable, Trevor Taylor proved that, even after a prolonged absence, he can
dependably be relied upon to be just as annoying as he was when he left us over
a year ago! Thankfully, (although it felt like it..!) the delay didn't prove
long enough to prevent Roger Appleboom from launching into a cumulus dotted sky,
which eventually yielded him a flight time of over 3hrs 15 mins.
Earlier in the day we had welcomed Sophie Castle, with her family, from
Exeter as our One Day Course student. Sophie flew 6 launches with IFP Richard
Robert and Duty Instructor Peter Howarth, whilst her family explored the
delights of Tavistock's Sunday Market. By the end of the day she was piloting
DMX herself, using stick and rudder together, to the surprise and delight of the
family upon their return..!
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| One Day Course student Sophie Castle receiving her pre-flight briefing from IFP Rich Roberts |
The day started, and remained, as predicted: high pressure centred over Wales
delivering a light, warm, south-easterly; no likelihood of wave but some
scattered, broken cu in prospect.
Trainee pilots Dave Westcott, Ed Borlase, Phil Selwood and John Knight all
found it to be a classic glider pilot's day: difficult to start with ('was that
to the right or left?'), a struggle to centre in the thermal ('don't let it push
you out!'), to increasingly assured lift above 1,500ft before being vacuumed
towards cloudbase between 2,500-3,500ft. For our solo pilots the clear, not
over-populated sky proved difficult to resist - particularly the challenge posed
by the low hanging 'fruits' that was richly compensated for by the easy flying
once you had got into 'the zone'. Flight of the Day went to no, not the
aforesaid Roger Appleboom, or Adrian Irwin, who managed 1hr 10 mins in the
Zugvögel, but most definitely to Pete Harvey who, launching in his Std Cirrus a
little before 1545, and landing at 1758, secured the 2hr soaring flight
necessary for his EASA Licence. Well done, Pete!
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| Visitor Michael Hughes was treated to a 24 min soaring flight with Richard. |
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| Visitor Alfred Lloyd, who flew with IFP Rich Roberts. |
Other pilots achieving notable flights included visitors Alfred Lloyd and
Michael Hughes (24 mins with Rich Roberts), club member Paula Howarth who flew
from the back seat with instructor Dad Peter up front and, reluctantly, it has
to be said, Trevor Taylor who, in company with Rich Roberts (but no serviceable
ASI), spent almost an hour soaring in the Twin Astir. Apparently they judged the
speed by poking their fingers through the DV panel – if you can believe that…
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“You’ve got the glider on back to front!”
Paula Howarth tries out the back seat while Instructor Dad Pete rides up front. |
So at the end of the day what did we have? Frustratingly, we were one launch
short of 40 but, with an overall flight time of 12 hrs 31 mins, which equated to
an average of 19 mins per flight. Thanks go to Dave Downton for getting us off
to a good start in the winch, to Adrian Irwin for relieving him, and to Roger
Appleboom for taking on the mantle after his 3hr plus flight. Thanks also go to
Colin Boyd and his Apprentice as, with a cracked rib found in the port wing of
K-13 DMX, they again found themselves working on Monday and Tuesday in order to
have it ready to fly on Wednesday. Good job they’re not feckless, unpredictable
or annoying (well, not all at the same time…)
Martin Cropper
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