When I arrived at the airfield early arrivals were hard at work setting up. The forecast for a light northwesterly and rasp showing improving conditions late morning, with a maximum star rating of 4, gave four private owners confidence to rig. The club K8, SF27 and a K13 were all towed to the launch point.
We were joined today by Wendy Knight who was here to try the delights of gliding on a one day course. After her introductory flights she flew with me for some hands on instructional flights. Although she found the launches a little nerve wracking she enjoyed the freedom of flight that gliding offers. By the end of the day she thought gliding was not really for her, but had really enjoyed the day and the friendly welcome that DGS offered. Her partner Paddy, who flew with us back in 2005, was intimating that he may return to take up the challenge of learning to fly with us sometime soon.
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| Wendy waiting for a cable. |
The solo pilots David Westcott (K6 EWO), Hugh Gascoyne (K6 FUB), Steve Fletcher (SF27 FLZ), Gavin Short (K8 FXB) and Malcolm Wilton-Jones (SF27 FLZ) all enjoyed flights, the longest was Hugh with 1hour 19munutes during which he ventured north of the A30 and visited Roadford reservoir.
The trainees today John Allen, Simon Vallence and Mark Elliott all had good flights. All had new additions to their record cards towards their individual goals.
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| Spot the glider soaring aloft. |
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| John Allen concentrating on a good circuit. |
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| Colin and Malcom discussing he SF27 electrics. |
Achievement of the day must go to Phil Hardwick (Astir FCJ) who was gently cajoled into attempting an out and return to North Hill. He took off at 12:52 and was soon seen climbing away and disappeared away north. Although he had a low point near Crediton where fields started looking imminent, he managed to find a thermal to climb away. Phil eventually landed back at Brent Tor after a flight of 3hour 7minutes and a distance of 136km. This got him flight of the day, achievement of the day and his 100km diploma. Well done Phil.
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| Lydford village |
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| Nearly home, Meldon reservoir. |
Thanks go to all at the airfield who kept things moving including Colin who kept busy at the launch point but didn’t fly. We achieved 27 flights and some happy pilots especially Phil.
Peter Howarth
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