Leaving Plymouth under an intense, blue sky, it was easy to convince yourself that the hopeless looking RASP forecast must surely be wrong. Approaching Tavistock , however, it became apparent that the distant line of cloud seen from the south coast was a substantial cloud sheet.
At the airfield the very low cloud manifested as mist hanging in the top of the trees. The higher Tors to the east were in hiding, even Brentor Church was in hiding. A non flying day? Not a bit of it. The gliders were out and taken to the east end launchpoint ready for the clearance that someone had seen in the forecast.
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| What's missing? Where has the church gone? |
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View restored by lunchtime.
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By lunchtime the clouds had rolled way enough to enable flying to start. K13 G-CHXP was busy with our Saturday trainees, John Allan and David Archer who made good use of the northerly crosswind conditions to extend their skills. Unfortunately, their was no thermal activity to spice up the day for the solo pilot but this did not stop privateers Phil Hardwick (Astir CS) and Martin Broadway with Ged Nevisky ( Twin Astir ) taking launches. The K8 made a couple of flights but all with the same result -circuits only.
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Malcolm's view from the top to the launch in the K8
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| David Archer looking towards the low cloud |
Meanwhile, in and around the hangar Roger Green and I completed the current round of fettling of our Zugvogel 3B after it's recent ARC and repairs. In the hangar, Colin continued working his way through the club's "new" SF27 getting it ready for use on the club fleet. The instruments are now arranged in the same pattern as the other club aircraft, the electrics have been checked, the battery relocated to a more convenient position and the wings weighed in preparation for the aircraft to be reweighed new week.
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| Socially distanced lounging - K8 wings cast a good shadow |
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| The "Loneliness of the Long Distance Winch Driver" |
Steve
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