For those of you who listen to Classic FM will know that they are very keen on ‘smoothness’, with themes such as ‘Smooth Classics at Seven’ being er, well, classic... Well today, Sunday 1st September was Smooth Sunday, a day when the new Supacat winch delivered super smooth launches into super smooth lift (well, for some, anyway) whilst our visitors were ferried to and fro in smooth softness of the recently acquired Jeep people carrier. All we needed was a slush puppy machine at the launchpoint to make the overall smoothness of the experience complete...
 |
First launch of the day with the new Supacat
(see K-13 against cloud in right of photo) |
We were lucky enough to take Mr ‘Smooth and Safe’ himself: Safety Officer ‘Scratch’ Dene Hitchens on hand to instruct our lead winch driver Dave Downton in use of the Supacat. Dave was subsequently able to pass on ‘the knowledge’ to Allan Holland and Phil Hardwick, and will eventually train up the rest of the Sunday Soarers’ winch drivers.
 |
Allan Holland (left) about to board the K8
on today's flightline |
At the launchpoint, our visitors fell into two categories: vouchers and those who had been cajoled into flying ‘Friends and Family’. In the former division fell Josh Breslan, a quarry worker from Exeter who is taking PPL lessons with a view to becoming ATPL, Neal Jolly who is best described as a ‘serial Sunday re-booker’, having been prevented him from realising his dream on at least four occasions due to the weather, and local husband and wife team Karen and Ian Higginson, from Yelverton. In the latter were Ilona Ziaya, a PhD student friend of Ed Borlase, from Plymouth, and Billy Cowell, a hang glider compatriot of Roger Green, from Cornwall.
 |
Power pilot Josh Breslan being briefed
by Martin Cropper |
 |
Neal being presented with his certificate by
Instructor Peter Howarth |
 |
Visitor Karen Higgson is ready to fly with
Roger Green |
 |
Karen and Roger soaring under cumulus
to the north of the airfield |
 |
| Karen's husband Ian ready to fly with Roger |
And as for the flying, once the Supacat had smoothly slung you up to 1,200ft (on the short run), what did you find..? Well it very much depended on when you launched as instructors Peter Howarth and Martin Cropper found, launching into a clear blue sky had them back on the ground within 10 mins or so, whilst those who launched beneath active dark grey cumulus were like the Duke of York’s men: when they were up, they were up; Roger Appleboom achieving 41 mins, Allan Holland 1hr 5 mins, Phil Hardwick 1hr 6 mins and Steve Fletcher 1 hr 11 mins to bag Flight of the Day, returning to report – you’ve guessed it – smooth lift all the way to 3,000ft cloudbase and similar lift all the way around the locality.
 |
| Visitor Ilona being briefed by Roger Green |
 |
Former hang glider pilot Bill Cowell
was Roger's F&F guest |
 |
When he's not fixing 'em he's flying' em
Inspector Colin Boyd about to aviate
With Peter Howarth |
Thanks go in no small measure to Scratch for breaking his normal routine to come up on a Sunday to train our Supa smooth cat winch drivers, to Phil Hardwick for being today’s ‘seen it, sort it’, and to Ed Borlase for taking the superb photographs which accompany this report. A good day out at the park…
Martin Cropper
No comments:
Post a Comment