Today was a curate’s egg type of day: good in parts. We started with the usual optimism wave that accompanies a wind from the east – but there was little in the sky (or windsock) to confirm this - although some clouds were very curiously formed (see photo) - “Oh for an aerotow!” said Colin Boyd.
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| Today’s easterly wind created this very unusual cloud formation. |
Experience from the first couple of K-13 flights also cast doubt over the K-8’s ability to cope with the gusts, so it was put on the subs’ bench for the time being. Our One Day Course student, Paul Harte, was visiting from London and flew his first couple of launches with Richard Roberts. He later went on to discover use of the controls with Martin Cropper declaring, on departure, that “As soon as we’ve sold our house and moved down here, you’ll definitely see me back!”
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| One Day Course student Paul Harte with (socially distanced) instructor Martin Cropper. |
Our second visitor was Gerald Squire who, supported by his extended family, clearly enjoyed his flights with Richard Roberts (and will be able to re-live them via the video recording made by Rich from the rear seat).
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| Visitor Gerald Squire with instructor Rich Roberts. |
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| Gerald gets away with Rich at the controls… |
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| …and is returned safely to earth. |
We also welcomed new member Peter Gulyas, a solo status pilot from Hungary who hopes to go on to even greater things (albeit in imperial units) with us. Isten hozott, Peter!
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| New member Peter Gulyas conducting pre-flight checks. |
A check flight for Ed Borlase was the first opportunity to investigate whether east really did mean wave: he certainly found ‘something’ in beats between the winch and Mary Tavy, but nothing that really took the glider in an upwards direction. And for Ray Boundy it was much the same – a large pool of not very vertically mobile air over Mary Tavy seemed to be the extent of it. As afternoon approached the gusts declined and Martin Broadway gave it a go in the K-8 for 17 minutes. Peter Howarth, Adam Hoskin and Ed Borlase also took their turn, each enjoying soaring flights of much the same duration: top of the crop being Peter who, by this time convinced that thermal was winning over wave, circled his way to 2,200 ft agl and enjoyed the spectacular visibility over the local area for 29 minutes.
At the end of the day mention must be made of the winch: the Guslaunch performed flawlessly today, delivering launches with power and consistency (and no heart lurching hiccoughs at 300ft or so) to 1,200ft plus. Anyone looking at its children’s playgroup shed-like appearance would fail to believe it to be capable of such performance, and its continued usefulness is a testament to the faith and work invested in it by Rick and the maintenance team.
Thanks go to Peter Howarth who, sat in said winch, delivered some valuable winch driver training to Martin and Ed before returning to the launch point for his Flight of the Day. Thanks, Peter (all that time watching the sky from the other end paid its dividend)!
Martin Cropper
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