The small group of assembled pilots started setting up the airfield to fly from the west end. The forecast gave a light northeasterly, veering southeasterly and possibly ending up southwesterly during the afternoon. Although the rasp forecast gave favourable conditions late morning, we initially had no private gliders rigged. A club K8 and K13 were DI’d and towed to the launch point.
The CFI tried to sneak disguised up to the launch point.
 |
| Mark Courtney sneaking to the launch point. |
 |
| Mark Courtney and Peter Howarth ready to fly. |
 |
| Steve’s view of Roadford Lake in the distance. |
The only solo pilot on the flying list requiring checks was Martin Broadway who started getting ready.
 |
| Martin & me ready to fly. |
After Martin’s first flight, the wind had read the script and we now had a tail wind at the launch point. It was time to cast the spell Aerodrome Reversus and change ends. After a fairly swift change, towing gliders to the east end and the winch moved to the west end we were ready to start flying again. Martin had three more flights with me including launch failure practices and was cleared to fly solo again.
Andy Davey launched in his Zugvogel, only to return 6 minutes later. He took a second launch and managed to get away for flight of the day 1 hour 31 minutes.
 |
| Malcolm launching the K8 |
Malcolm took a flight in the K8 only to return after 6 minutes. He later took a flight in the K13 for 14 minutes. Gavin also flew the K8 and managed a flight of 1 hour 5 minutes. Finally Martin had his first post lockdown solo flight in the K8. With the forecast showers all around the airfield and everybody who wanted to fly, it was time to end the days flying. Only 16 flights, but a productive day.
Thank you to everybody who were at the airfield today and contributed to a successful day. Thank you to the winch drivers who put up with all the launch failure practices, especially Phil Hardwick for winching and choosing not to fly.
Peter Howarth
No comments:
Post a Comment