The forecast looked hopeful. Although it has been very wet all week today looks like a period of slightly better weather with wintery showers and sunny periods although there is a possibility of thunderstorms later. Forecast wind was 8 knots from the west but at first there was no surface wind at all the windsock just hanging forlornly on it's pole. After a careful pitch inspection it was decided that we could do some limited flying if we took care with the wet runway; ie. retrieve by quad only, Landrovers constrained to the track, no turning gliders on the spot (they tend to dig themselves in ).
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| The morning briefing |
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| Towing out - not the shower on the left hand ( south) side |
We welcomed Sally Cunis who returned to complete her One Day Course. Sally took a further 3 flights today during which she made good progress at handling the controls. We look forward to seeing her soon to continue her flying training.
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| Sally wrapped up against the cold |
Right from the first flight it was obvious that the conditions were not quite as benign as the limp windsock suggested. First launch was to 1350 feet at which height the wind was 20 - 25 knots from the west. Ground level 0 knots, 1300 feet 20 knots - interesting. This led to some wind shear on the final approach as expected so a little extra care was needed with circuit planning today. Eventually the ground wind speed picked up to about 8 knots from the west
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| A sprinkling of snow on the higher Tors to the east |
The other flights today were check flights by experienced club pilots who kept today's instructor, Gordon Dennis, busy in K13-GDDMX.
Our thanks today to all those who helped but especially Heather for driving retrieve all day, and Barry and Rick for the lion's share of the winch driving.
Flying was stopped early to limit the damage to the runway and to allow the instructors to head off early to Tavistock for the Instructors Meeting.
Steve
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