Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 13th May 2018

Driving to the airfield in bright sunshine brought thoughts of a good days flying with good company and the usual banter. As I was the first to arrive, I unlocked the hangar and clubhouse. First task was to fire up the tractor and cut a couple of strips on the north side of the track.

A few members were arriving and we set about readying the aircraft and field for the days flying. With the quads low on fuel, Martin was dispatched to Tavistock with the jerry cans. Our one day course Francis Colling and shortly after Roger Lucas arrived. Roger is a pilot from Camp Hill who is down on holiday with his family and managed to get a day pass to come and fly with us. After briefing Francis and Roger, the field was ready and we started flying at 10:57.

Francis Colling ready to fly. Hope to see him again soon
Roger Lucas. Our visitor from Camp Hill.
I first flew with Francis, but unfortunately he had to leave unexpectedly. Hopefully he will return soon and complete his course. Next up was Roger who had a couple of check flights and familiarisation of the area. He then had a solo flight in the K13 and a flight later in the K8.

We had two other visitors today for trial flights. First was Junior Allen who flew with me. The next visitor was Peter Bourne who flew with Martin. Both left with smiles on their faces having had 11 and 14 minute flights respectively.

Junior Allen ready for his flight with me.
Peter Bourne ready for his flight with Martin.
Our only trainee today was David Westcott who flew with me. Off the top of the launch we managed to find some lift. With some encouragement from me David managed to climb to 3500ft. Having briefed on the ground before flying there was only one way to use this height. A demonstration of a spin from a low slow final turn and recovery was repeated with David handling the recovery. We followed this with a demonstration of a spin off a failed winch launch. A couple of stall recoveries we were soon back on the ground after a 39 minute flight.

How about our solo pilots. Leith continued to add to the clubs funds with a longest flight of 8 minutes. Dave Downton consolidated re-soloing last week with a couple of flights in the K8. Ed Borlase had his first soaring flight of 33 minutes in the K8. Josef Nobbs took off in the Zugvogel at 12:30. He finally returned after 3 hours and 5 minutes with the excuse of he didn’t realise how time had flown by.

View from the winch. Let’s hope for more skies like this.
Thanks go to Dave Downton and Martin Cropper for winching, David Westcott and Ed Borlase for retrieving. Only 22 flights, but a good days flying.

Peter Howarth

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