Today we hurried up to get the airfield ready so that we could wait. Early cloudbase was too low with clouds scudding by just a couple of hundred feet over our heads. To add insult to injury there was a little drizzle in the air. Not known to miss a opportunity, we used the time to re-assemle the newly refurbished club K8 and weigh it, moving it a large step forwards towards it's long awaited return to the fleet. It is looking nice and just needs a little fettling before it's ready to go.
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| Waiting to go. A shower clearly visible to the NE (left). |
There was a bit of a dilemma choosing which end to set up from. The light breeze was very variable; one minute with a little east in it; then westerly; then nothing at all. Biting the bullet the decision was made to fly from the east end. By midday the cloudbase had risen sufficiently to permit flying to start, so it was off to the launch point under some very black looking clouds.The first few flights were unremarkable with the air showing little hints bubbly lift but not enough to enhance flight times much.
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| One Day Course Candidate Donald Macrea |
Then came what was going to be the best flight of the day. Launching K13 G-CHXP with One Day Course candidate Donald Macrea, we managed to find a little area with some themal activity, enough to maintain height and eventually climb the 500 feet to cloudbase. To the north and east we could see showers. Looking south the sky was definitely clearer. With the light southerly breeze, the rising air was condensing just to the south of the airfield setting off lines of showers. Heading south we soon discovered that this edge of the clouds was very active with 4-6 knots of lift over a wide area. This allowed us to climb up the side of the clouds and enjoy some time turning to follow the uneven faces of the clouds well above the cloudbase. This was very reminiscent of flying in a convergence. All too soon the clouds were forming faster than we could avoid them so airbraking down to cloudbase was the only answer. We could stay airborne here easily for a while but the rain was growing towards the south quickly. It was pouring down on the airfield. To stay in the lift we ended up flying in the rain. There is something surreal about flying a K13 through rain at 60 knots with 4 knots up showing on the vario. As enjoyable as all this was it was time to go; Airbrakes out and a fast return to the runway. A couple of minutes later we were on the ground just as the current shower moved away to the north. Amazing.
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| Heading south, some spots of rain already on the canopy |
We had a couple of other visitors today. Elizabeth Vanstone enjoyed a couple of flights with Rick. Our other "visitor" was ex member and pilot Matthew Wiles ( Rick's son ) who enjoyed a couple before flying with Rick and one with Mike Jardine. It was nice to see Matthew again and hopefully he will be coming back soon.
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| Steve explaining the instruments to Elisabeth withh Rick in the rear seat |
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| A smiling Matthew with dad Rick |
The other notable event today was the return to flight status of the very rare Schleicher K10. This single seat wooden glider is design evolution of the K6 series that led to the very popular K6E. Owned by Chris and Karon Matten, it was flown by Rick who now has an insurance share. The flights were successful with Rick reporting very nice handling.
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| The K10 takes off in a light southerly crosswind |
Our thanks as always to all the helpers who make this amazing sport possible
Steve
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