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.
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| 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.
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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..!
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| Trainee Simon Vallance prepares to launch with Martin Cropper. |
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| Returning to solo member Ray Boundy has a ‘cunning plan’… |
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| 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.
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| John Allan preparing for another early solo flight in the K-13… |
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| …getting it balanced on the mainwheel… |
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| …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
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