Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 18th July 2021

If your name was John, then you were able to fly with me today. With only John Allan and John Smith at the airfield today it was going to be a fairly leisurely day for me. Depending on which forecast you looked at it was either going to be a no flying day  or as the ever optimistic pilots a good chance to fly from about 11 O’Clock. After the first shower arrived it looked like the former, but skies started getting brighter as it passed, so game on. A brisque southwesterly wind left the single seaters at the hangar and the two K13’s towed to the east end launch point.

Optimistically the aircraft out of the hangar

First into the K13 was John Allan for three circuits followed by John Smith. Both gained valuable experience coping with conditions of higher winds and more turbulence than usual. Each had further flights later in the afternoon.

First visitor to arrive was Matthew Findlay who flew with Hugh Gascoyne.

Matthew Findlay and Hugh after their flights.

Hugh’s next visitor was Peter Starcevic who was soon briefed and was off to enjoy his flights.

Peter Starcevic with Hugh.

Kelvin Rusling, a power pilot was next to arrive. After a recent illness, Kelvin was on a fact finding visit to see if he would be able to fly the K13 with a view to joining as a new member. After a quick flight with me unfortunately it was deemed that the physicality of control positions and access it would not be possible for him to fly with us.

Kelvin Rusling after his flight.

The steady stream of visitors continued with the arrival of Steve Tupper. Richard stepped into the back seat to fly with Steve.

Steve Tupper with Richard.

The final afternoon visitor was Suzanne Doidge who arrive with her family. A bit of an adrenalin junkie, she was soon briefed and was off on her first flight with Hugh.

Suzanne Doidge getting settled in the K13 by Hugh

Several showers were seen passing the airfield, but luckily we were able to keep flying. Malcolm and Phil decided to have a flight in the Twin Astir and disappeared for 29 minutes to claim flight of the day.

During the afternoon the modified pick-up was brought back on line with the new cable release mechanism.

The new cable release mechanism.

Although the trial proved successful, a few minor changes were identified. Scratch and Phil will work on these over the coming days to complete the modification.

Mike Jardine arrived to fly with the evening visitor Mohammed Khouribich who after a couple of delays left happy with his flight.

Mohammed Khouribich ready to fly.

All visitors were ferried from the clubhouse, briefed and looked after by Gavin Short. Thank you and well done Gavin for the sterling work. Also thanks to everyone who enabled flying to be done, although the day started with the likelihood of no flying.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 25th July 2021

A promising day, as many agreed, with cloudbase expected to rise above 2,500ft agl by mid-afternoon, at which time RASP was predicting 3-4 stars, with a light north-westerly breeze.  

“I thought they said ‘give us a hand clearing up some canapés’”
mutters Martin Cropper on discovering that the words were ‘cleaning’ and ‘canopies’..!

First of our visitors was John (Nick) Crick, who was flown by IFP Rich Roberts.  For us on the ground it’s often the reaction from the family that’s the most telling as, after two flights – the second being 11 minutes – rugby-shirted John grasped them all as if he’d just scored the winning try in a cop match!

Visitor John Crick receiving his pre-flight brief from IFP Rich Roberts.

Rich’s second customer was Mike Campion who, with his partner, have run a pub in Plymouth for 25 years but, secretly, Mike has always wanted to re-live his ATC days (more than 25 years ago) and get back into the air in a glider.  Well today that dream came true – and Mike now has his flights recorded in his ATC Record of Service to prove it! 

Mike Campion about to re-live his ATC days with Rich Roberts.

And demonstrating once again that the best things come in pairs our third visitors were husband and wife team Malcolm and Anthea Fisher, with Anthea getting the better of the deal with a 15-minute promenade via Blackdown, although Malcolm also seemed quite happy with his slightly shorter (4 mins) time aloft.

Husband and wife team Malcolm and Anthea Fisher flew with us today.

Anthea looking totally relaxed…

…as away she goes in K-13 HXP.

The first of our soloists to get away was Ed Borlase, in his immaculate K-6 DQS which, on their second flight, took him to 1,700ft agl during 21 minutes in the air.  He described the flight as “Very satisfying, but extremely challenging, requiring all my concentration to stay within the narrow lift.”  But why so?  In truth, the day did not turn out as expected: the sky resembled more a bowl of sweetcorn soup (but without the sweetcorn) than a classic English summer of blue and white, with layers of grey cloud preventing the sun from getting through and heating the ground.  Once a gap occurred, however, the heat could be felt and thermals did develop.  Which is what happened just as Steve Fletcher was about to launch.  Noticing the fact, Steve steered his Open Cirrus immediately upon release towards the tiniest of grey cumulus and was rewarded with some steady lift to 2,000ft plus, taking Flight of the Day at 32 minutes.

Ed Borlase in K-6 DQS accelerates during the ground run…

…and quickly gets into the sky.

Without the benefit of the Open Cirrus’s huge wingspan, and the disadvantage of a body in the back, our trainees had to be content with circuits for their flying delight.  That’s not to say there was no benefit to be had: Mark Elliott practiced mushing stalls, new member Geoff Cole got his hands ‘dirty’ with his first touch of the stick for 25 years, and Ray Boundy achieved a total of 14 minutes in the air, every one of which being a small but irrefutable step towards his return to solo.

New member Geoff Cole, from Sourton (pronounced ‘Sawt’n’),
prepares to fly with Martin Cropper.

Thanks go to Andy Davey and Phil Hardwick for winching, and to Peter Howarth for keeping the launchpoint safe whilst others did their aviation thaang! 

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 24th July 2021

Setting off for the airfield this morning things looked hopeless. There was very low cloud and drizzle blanketing the south of Dartmoor. Arriving at the airfield, still hopeless with very low cloud covering the whole sky. Strangely the members were fairly upbeat. They had been studying all the available forecasts and were hanging onto the RASP forecast which suggested a soaring window mid afternoon.

There is a minor problem with the canopy fit.
The technical team are looking into it

The morning and early afternoon were filled with members getting on with a dizzying array of tasks. Colin, Adam, Gavin and Scratch were working on CCY which is offline for it's annual C of A and some TLC including improving the canopy retaining system. Mike was tidying up around the site engaging help when required. John was involved with the Atom base station software and seems to have it working. Heather was painting doors in the clubhouse. In fact, there was so much going on that I lost track. Thankyou everyone.

Lunch came and went, with the sky still looking hopeless but by about 2pm there was a tiny patch of blue sky and the cloudbase looked high enough to at least allow a launch. Game on. The airfield was readied with the winch at the east end ( the wind was light from the NE ). NE wind! at DGS! must be wave then. The forecast soundings suggested not but experienced DGS pilots just adopt wait and see approach.

Happy to be flying. Simon and Mike getting ready

Simon Vallance climbing towards the 2200ft cloud base

Some interesting cloud formations

Malcom and SF27 being recovered by Adam

First launch 3pm in the k13 followed by Malcom in the SF27 who found weak wave to 2200ft. The best soaring was found later after the sun had warmed up the ground somewhat. Pilots launching around 5.30pm found the air "fizzing" with thermal bubbles. With careful use these bubbles would lift the gliders to the 1800ft cloud base. Occasionally some of the bubbles grouped together ( wave influence? ) to give a 4 to 6 knot ride up to the cloudbase once more. In places lines of weak wave could be found the help with the overall fun. 

Mike and John chatting before John's solo flight

John on approach

Marmite sandwich john?

Me sky watching while waiting for cables

Simon looks happy with his day

Longest flight of the day was by Malcom in the SF27 at 1hour 16 minutes. Notable soaring flights were posted by Steve Lewis (K8), Mike Jardine and Simon Vallance (K13), Scratch and Heather (K13).

So from a hopeless start, great fun was eventually had by many. The members optimism was not misplaced after all.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 21st July 2021

Today’s forecast was for the heat to continue, but RASP was showing a good chance of soaring for the afternoon. Despite the good forecast there were only two trainees and recently solo pilot John Allen needing to fly the K13. First in the K13 was John Allan for a quick check flight before adding another two solo flights to his logbook.

John Allan ready for another solo.

Next in the K13 was John Smith. Two good circuits and a launch failure practice shows that he is getting close to joining the solo pilots again. Following on from John, Simon Vallance took over in the front seat. After a 33minute soaring flight and a shorter flight, Simon was happy with his progress.

Simon’s view of the airfield.

With a few more members at the club the launch point was a little busier.

Assembled aircraft at launch point.

Also joining the assembled aircraft were the two Standard Cirrus’, Gavin Short CNN and Scratch FCN. Both had flights of 1hour 5minutes and 1hour 21minutes respectively.

Scratch’s view of Tavistock.

Other notable flights were Phil Hardwick (Astir FCJ) 1hour 39minutes, Hugh Gascoyne (K8 FXB) 1hour 46minutes and Malcolm Wilton-Jones (Twin Astir DSL) 2hour 15minutes. With so many aircraft soaring John Allan stepped back into the K13 and had his first solo soaring flight of a very creditable 1hour 9minutes.

John launching for his soaring flight.

After Scratch had landed in the Cirrus he offered me a chance to fly it. Having not flown a Standard Cirrus for 30 years, I jumped at the chance to relive some good memories.

Peter Howarth in Std Cirrus FCN.

At 4000ft heading west.

I arrived back at the airfield 1hour 11minutes later for FCN syndicate partner Rick Wiles to witness my landing. Rick had arrived to carry on working with Phil Hardwick and Gavin Short towards their IFP qualifications.

A good day flying with several flights over one hour giving an overall average of 30minutes per flight. Thank you to everybody for their help around the airfield and an enjoyable day.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Thursday 22nd July 2021

Today we were faced with the kind of decision that would have a high court judge reaching for their tea leaves in bone-china: whether to fly first (making use of the benign conditions early) and de-rig K-13 CCY later, or make use of the workforce whilst they were still fresh and fly when conditions might have become more gusty.  After tea all round (made with tea bags, in earthenware, so no help there) and some general chit-chat about solar panel controllers, inverters and capacitors (guess who?) it was decided to de-rig the K-13 first.  We could then, at least, fly until whatever o’clock suited us, rather than face an onerous chore at the end of the day when ‘the workforce’ was more interested in returning home.

 Gavin Short’s photo of the retrieve vehicle gives a good idea of today’s sky.

The problem above was made all the more perplexing by the fact that the wind was in the east.  And east means: wave – almost certainly (well, sometimes…)  And so, with an afternoon kick-off/pushback/first over Peter Howarth got proceedings underway with a test flight of our old friend K-13 HXP, returning it to earth without mishap.  

Peter Howarth praying that all goes well in the test flight for HXP
whilst John Allan provides the Formula 1 grid umbrella.

Training then began in earnest with recently soloed John Allan who, having attended all week, was deemed now to be ready for conversion to the K-8 (ie. more simulated launch failures…).  John Smith then followed in continuing his progress to re-solo (a cause for some trepidation to Peter Howarth, as every time John re-solos, “the country seems to goes into lockdown!”)  Next in the front seat was Simon Vallance who, with a light touch, found what could be described as the top of a softly blown-up pillow across the common to the south (OK, an area of reduced sink) which lifted the glider slightly for prolonged periods, but never developed into wholesale upward movement.  Ray Boundy, ever the optimist, struck out to the left for his second and third launches (“Well no-one’s tried that…”) using the ridge on the northern boundary of the airfield, but to no particular advantage, other than in providing some variety in his circuit planning and execution.  In the midst of all this Peter Howarth took the K-8 for a career defining, ‘watch & learn’, masterclass of…17 minutes. Now as we all know, if Peter can’t find it, it ain’t there..!

 Trainee Simon Vallance prepares to launch with Martin Cropper.

Returning to solo member Ray Boundy has a ‘cunning plan’…

Simon Vallance soaring in reduced sink.

Those who prefer to read Tee-Fi-Fo-Fum grams over ‘War & Peace’ would have noticed that today’s sounding gave a strong inversion at about 1,500ft, no cloud, and a wind profile of decreasing speed with height and so, theoretically, no wave.

One thing we did find, however, was an increase in turbulence during the approach (which can only have had something to do with some form of rotor).  Easily flown through if expected and with some weight and ‘keel’ to the aircraft, but not the sort of thing you would wish upon someone flying the ‘waffer-thin’, sensitive, K-8 on their first flight and approach, it was decided that we should postpone John’s inaugural encounter to another day – which, given the amount of prep/briefing he had made/received, he took remarkably well – as compensation taking a last flight of the day in the K-13 with relish, making a perfect final approach and fully held-off landing.

John Allan preparing for another early solo flight in the K-13…

…getting it balanced on the mainwheel…

…and off he goes..!

Especial thanks today go to Gavin Short, who winched for us throughout, and to Ray Boundy for training with him (including launch failures).  And thanks are also due to the whole team for derigging K-13 CCY, in hot conditions, without conflict or impatience, whilst the sky above was beckoning with opportunity.  Also, it was nice to see Colin turn up just as we had finished moving CCY’s fuselage into its space-saving resting place in the hangar/workshop.

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News-Tuesday 20th July 2021

Another day with little prospect of soaring until midday caused the assembled members to look for any tasks to be carried out around the club. Scratch started Tractoring and Mowing the airfield. To give him a break Phil took over until a couple of the castor wheels decided they did not want to play. So today we had to do Engineering.

Today we did Engineering.

Meawhile Scratch had started to strim around the fuel tank.

Today Scratch did Strimming.

Colin Boyd arrived to complete the repairs on HXP ready for it to be rigged, test flown and returned to the fleet.

By now our resident soaring pundit, Malcolm Wilton-Jones was getting itchy feet to go flying. Although the forecast was not promising we got the K8 out and set up ready for him to fly. Promptly after launching he was soon climbing away. I decided to join him in the Astir, but failed miserably with only a 5minute circuit. Phil Hardwick took over in the Astir and was also soon climbing away after launching.

Phil ready to fly.

Malcolm returned after 1hour 23minutes and Phil after 1hour 10minutes.

Thank you to Scratch for winching. Another hot day tomorrow for a full day’s club flying.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Monday 19th July 2021

The forecast of high temperatures, light winds and a low RASP star rating probably resulted in a lower turn out than expected. With little prospect of soaring until after lunch aircraft were got ready at a leisurely pace. To enable some flying during the morning a call was made to recently solo pilot John Allen. Although it was his first day back at work after a two week cycling holiday he jumped at the chance to come flying. A quick check flight deemed him fit to add another three solo flights to his total. He even managed a 26 minute soaring flight.

John off on another solo.

K13 launching into a blue sky.

Astir FCJ and Cirrus CNN rigged ready to fly.

Malcolm Wilton Jones took off in the K8 for a flight of 1hour 12 minutes. He was followed by Steve Fletcher in the Open Cirrus for a flight of 1hour 45minutes. Other notable flights were Peter Howarth in the Astir 31 minutes, Gavin Short in the Cirrus 1hour 12 minutes and Martin Broadway 31minutes in the K8.

K8 launches.

Thank you to Scratch for most of the winching and everybody else at the airfield who made the best of a very hot day and some soaring in the blue thermals.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 18th July 2021

 To many obtaining bronze means coming third: it’s a podium finish but you’ve been beaten by two others.  In gliding the successful completion of the Bronze ‘C’ (‘C’ for ‘Certificate’) says that this pilot is more than someone who can just point a glider around the circuit as gravity draws it back to earth: it is a rite of passage, the only certificate in gliding which involves a written exam (75% pass mark throughout 12 stages), and a practical air test (today flown with Full Cat instructor Rick Wiles).  So those who thought they’d made it by being sent solo need to think again: to explore all that gliding has to offer there is a need to demonstrate understanding, competence and safety before the pilot can break from the apron strings that the club has provided so far.  And today this was the case for club members Mike Bennett and Ed Borlase who, having recently passed their written exams, now had to contend with the practical.  At least the weather was supportive: high pressure, light south-easterly wind, blue sky and thermals, and a sharp-edged horizon.

 Bronze C candidate Ed Borlase with examiner Rick Wiles.

 Bonze C candidate Mike Bennett preparing for flight.

But what about the rest of the club?  Trainee Simon Vallance fired the starter’s pistol with a 26-minute soaring flight, which took him to 1,700ft before appearing to peter out.  Newly solo-ed John Allan then managed to hold his own for 15 minutes or so, following which Steve Fletcher and Peter Howarth both got the better of the inversion to remain aloft for over an hour apiece, only to be trounced Adam Hoskin who achieved a creditable 1:41 and 2,900ft agl maximum height to be awarded Flight of the Day.  All three said that, once you had got above a certain height, there seemed to be plenty of lift to the south of site, between Tavistock and Peter Tavy in particular.  Returning soloist Ray Boundy also achieved a soaring flight, but by the time new member Peter Gulyas came to fly conditions off the top of the wire had become stable – very stable… That’s not to understate the value of the day, however, with 29 launches achieved (including six simulated launch failures) and in excess of four hours soaring ‘in the blue’.

Simon Vallance about to go soaring (although he doesn’t know that yet!)

New solo John Allan about to undertake a check flight with Martin Cropper.

Check flight completed, John Allan is ready to go.

Thanks go especially to Phil Hardwick for bearing the brunt of the winch driving (he later had two flights in his part-owned Astir) and to other members of the team who logged and retrieved gliders from all corners of the airfield.

And how did our two Bronze candidates fare?  You’ll have to await the verdict from the CFI!

Martin Cropper