Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 10th July 2019

Early arrivals were hard at work removing the fence and moving the winch into the top field. As others arrived the gliders were taken out of the hangar and readied to tow to the east end. With the forecast of light W/WSW winds and RASP giving 3.5 stars for early afternoon we took both K13’s and two K8’s to the launch point.

First flight was a test flight of DMX following completion of the recent ARC. All went well and it was cleared for service
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Both K13’s at the launch point.

We welcomed one day course student Chris Down. After a briefing in the clubhouse by Roger Green it was time to get acquainted with HXP.

Chris and Roger ready to fly.

Early flights by Roger/Chris and Martin Cropper in the K8 showed that there was lift available despite the high cloud cover. Chris enjoyed 5 flights, 1:37 and had plenty of hands on the control time.

Our other visitor was 85 year old Basil Hulatt who had been given the trial flights for a birthday present.

Basil getting ready to fly with me.

The grid became rather crowded with the arrival of private aircraft. Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus), Andy Davey (Zugvogel) and Phil Hardwick (Astir).

Our other trainees John Smith and David Archer flew with Martin and myself improving their skills ready to solo in the near future. Also occupying the front seat was Barry Green. Some power failures and launch failures gave him chance to sharpen his flying ready to go solo soon.

After recently being cleared to fly solo, both Bob Sansom and Robin Wilson were allowed to fly the K8. Both achieved extended flights of 23 and 21 minutes respectively. Bob’s first flight was a cable break which was well flown.

Bob back in the K8 (sorry no photo of Robin)

The airfield and Black Down

Other notable flights were Steve 2:11, Andy 1:33, Malcolm 1:03, Hugh 1:00 and Martin 0:36.

Thank you to Heather who retrieved all day. Also thanks to winch drivers and all helpers for a good day flying.

Peter Howarth