Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 10th June 2018

With a small crew arriving at the airfield we set about getting things ready. The weather forecast showed the wind from the east again and 10-15 knots. So again there was the anticipation of wave. Gliders DI’d, winch set up and the hurdle fence down, the first launch was at 09:52. A quick launch failure for Dave Downton resulted in a long walk back from down the field. He later flew the K8 for a couple of circuits. Next up was David Westcott, who recently went solo at Aston Down and had a couple of dual flights last week endured a medium launch failure followed by a power failure. So David was ready for his first solo flight at DGS.

David Westcott ready for first solo at DGS.

Our solo pilots Roger Applebloom, Dave Downton, Ed Borlase, Josef Nobbs made various excursions into the air. The conditions always looked better than what was encountered. The longest flight of the day was Roger in his K6 with 24 minutes.

We had several visitors today. Lesley Noble and Martin Garland were on holiday from Cape Town. Their friend Ingrid Noble also came along. All had 2 flights each. Lesley and Ingrid flew with me. Martin flew with Martin. Also visiting the club to experience gliding was Charlene Nunn and David Murphy who flew with Martin

Lesley ready to fly with me. Spot the deliberate mistake.

Ingrid, thumbs up ready to go.

Martin with Martin

Charlene with Martin.

David ready to fly with Martin

One other visitor was David Westcott’s son Rory. As we strapped him in a rather nervous Rory was given gentle encouragement by both his dad and myself. Going up the launch it was obvious how nervous he was, but some gentle encouragement to look out and see what was happening was like switching a light on. The rest of the flight was fully enjoyed and we may be getting a new member in the near future. Time to sell some more pottery dad

Rory ready for his first flight in a glider

Meanwhile David had another couple of solo flights in the K13. With the light conditions and some good flying by David we decided to convert him into the K8 for a couple of flights. The first was 13 minutes, his longest flight of the day. Well done David.

David Westcott getting ready for his first flight in the K8.

Thanks to Phil Hardwick for winching and not flying. Also thanks to Roger, Ed, Joe, Dave and Martin for winching, retrieving and generally running the field.

Peter Howarth