Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 25th August 2021

With the prospect of a reasonable days soaring, it was no surprise to find an early group of private owners already rigging when I arrived at the airfield. Having completed rigging we set about getting the airfield and aircraft ready to fly. With an easterly wind we set up the west end launch point.

K13’s at the launch point.

Our latest IFP, Hugh Gascoyne, was kept busy with our visitors today. First to arrive was Chris Wood from Plymouth.

Chris receiving his certificate from Hugh.

The next visitor was Peter Cresswell.

Peter ready for his flight.

The final visitor was  David Barnatt who had done a lot of power flying in various guises. Today he would sample his first experience of flight without an engine.

David and Hugh all set.

All three visitors left having experienced a soaring flight of at least 30minutes. A total of nearly 2hours for Hugh’s logbook. Well done Hugh.

Trainees Simon Vallance and Mohammed Khouribich both gained some valuable lessons. One of Simon’s flights resulted in a demonstration of a low out of position circuit. Mohammed first flew with me and later with Mike Jardine improving on control coordination and getting to grips with the trimmer.

Having thought they had bought the first two seater Libelle (or fighting to get in) Andy & Martin decided to take turns in the Libelle. Martin Broadway (Libelle JEU) achieved 1hour 12minutes. Andy Davey (Libelle JEU) 1hour 23minutes.

Who told you this was a two-seater?

Our other solo fliers all had various degrees of success. Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus CGY) 2hours 13minutes. Richard Roberts (Discus HLS) 2 hour 1 minute. Richard achieved a 100km circumnavigation of Dartmoor during his flight.

Richard’s view of River Exe and South Coast

After an earlier check flight John Alan was allowed to fly the K8. With no other takers for this aircraft John was told to stay high and try to achieve his 1 hour flight for his bronze C. He returned after 2hour 14minutes. Not only getting his one hour flight, but snatching flight of the day away from Steve Fletcher. Well done John.

John’s view towards Plymouth Sound.

A good day flying and achievements made, Everybody left with smiles on their faces. Thank you to all at the airfield today for their help in achieving 32 launches.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 22nd August 2021

It’s great, isn’t it when, without prompting, everyone seems to be singing from the same hymn-sheet?  Well, milling around the trailer park/rigging area this morning, that was the case as all appeared to agree that: “This cloudbase is going to shoot up after 10 o’clock” and “It’ll be a light north-westerly, straight up and down the runway”, and “RASP gives it 1½-2 by lunchtime”.  It generates a sense of corporate optimism when everyone, armed with the same information, is driving towards the same target. The pity was, however, that the words on the hymn-sheet didn’t match the tune struck up by the weather.

 Line-up of single-seaters awaiting a break in the cloud.

First to launch into the ‘light north-westerly’ was trainee Mark Elliott, who moved on today to flying the entire launch.  Well done, Mark.  Then came Geoff Cole, who discovered that the wooden paddles in the nose are there for a purpose, integrating the rudder into his turn co-ordination.  

Trainee Geoff Cole and Martin Cropper waiting for the up slack.

Then it was time to fling a flock of (well, four) single-seaters into space, with Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus CGY) being at the front of the grid.  Steve said: “As the sky started to look like I might stay up I took a launch. Normally when I come off the wire, I like to put the undercarriage up and trim the aircraft before searching for lift, no time for all that as I was launched straight into a 4-knot thermal. Undercarriage and trim were sorted as I established myself in the core. Straight up to cloud base at 2,000 ft and I was away for 1 hour and 5 mins landing after the thermals started to break up.  A little milestone reached as I passed through 200 hours in gliding during the flight”.  Well done, Steve!  Would that all subsequent flights were as good as his.  

Ed Borlase gets back into the groove in the club K-8.

K-13 HXP on approach from the east end.

Peter Howarth and Rich Roberts gave it their best, with 45 and 25 minutes apiece, but the sky and conditions did not meet their early promise, as the wind swung to the north and the sink increased to 4-6 kts down.  That didn’t prevent Andy Davey from chipping in a very respectable 29 minutes in his Libelle later in the afternoon, or for Ed Borlase to get back into the groove in the K-8.  John Smith maintained currency whilst Ray Boundy (bit of a dark horse) found some strangely stationary, but at times strong, lift just to the south of the site which enabled him to ‘hover’ at around the 1,100ft mark for 14 minutes.

Andy Davey looking for promise prior to launching in Libelle

...and away he goes!

With everyone flown by a relatively early 4:30pm, and no change being evident in the sky (no-one enjoys flying around in 4-6 down with an occasional quarter-circle of half-up) we decided that we had reached the final chorus of this particular day’s hymn-sheet, and put our books away, grateful for a safe and enjoyable day in each other’s company.

Exemplary parking demonstrated by the Tavistock 'Model' Flying Club,
as observed by Peter Howarth.

Directions to the airfield by air: find the scrapyard on the right

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 21st August 2021

If you looked at the various weather forecast for today staying in bed would definitely have been a good choice. Low cloud, rain, more low cloud, more rain and a gusty southerly crosswind. But that was the forecast and DGS members know that the only way to be sure is to turn up and have a good look using the Mark 1 Eyeball.

And so it was, that a small ( but well formed ) crew turned up at the airfield to test the forecast. It was raining until 9am followed by low cloud but by 12.30pm it had risen enough for flying to commence.  

Simon waiting to launch

A couple of our Saturday trainees took advantage of Instructor Mike Jardine and the 1000ft+ cloudbase and started flying some circuits in the lively but manageable southerly crosswind.

The cloudbase remained stubbornly low

Dave Archers view

After watching the action for a while the solo pilots could resist no longer. Malcolm took a launch in the K8 to record best flight of the day at 15 minutes. His comments on the flight follows

"I jumped in the Ka-8 and launched to 900' in the 90º crosswind but under a dark cloud which  obliged with about zero sink and a few bits of half up and after a few minutes I got to 1,000' and it started to become 1-2 knots and I soon reached cloudbase at the dizzy height of 1,250' . Headed back into wind under more dark clouds but no more lift was found and I was soon back on the ground for 15 minutes. "

Malcolm

There's no truth in the rumour that
Malcolm took a long time over the pre flight checks
waiting for a certain black cloud to arrive over the winch

Finally ready to launch

As the afternoon continued we could see the next front (trough??) heading our way and we just managed to get the gliders and equipment put safely away before the rain started at 3.30pm.

We made the best of it

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 18th August 2021

 Today would be a tyreing day (more later). With low cloud over the airfield, it was decided to delay setting the airfield up until later in the morning. The cloudbase was forecast to rise late morning allowing aviation to commence early afternoon.

After morning teas and coffees, Colin arrived to continue work on K13 CCY.

CCY receiving some TLC as part of its ARC.

With the cloud starting to lift it was decided to DI the aircraft ready to fly. K13 HXP was first out of the hangar. It was notice that the rear tyre was flat, so a spare was liberated from the spares cupboard and fitted. As we removed K13 DMX from its trolly, it was found that the main wheel was also flat. It was pumped up, but during the DI it was noted that the pressure was slowly dropping. A slightly lengthier wheel replacement was undertaken. A later inspection of the replaced wheel by Dave Bouchier found no reason for the deflation. It has been inflated to the correct pressure and replaced in the spares cupboard.

Finally at 13:05 we started flying. Hugh Gascoyne and I took a weather check flight to confirm the cloudbase. A full launch to 1100ft, confirmed that flying could progress. First to fly with me was Mohammed Khowibich, who after his three flights was using the elevator, ailerons and starting to coordinate the controls,

Mohammed happy to be in a glider.

Both Simon Vallance and John Smith flew with me making good progress with their individual aims. Our first visitor today was Paul Jefferies. Paul flew with Hugh Gascoyne.

Paul presented with his certificate by Hugh.

The next visitor to fly with Hugh was Ann Barnfield.

Ann ready to go.

Alongside the two-seat flying, the solo pilots maintained currency in the K8. Steve Fletcher, Mike Bennett, Scratch, and Gavin Short all took turns for a quick circuit. After a quick check flight with me, John Allan added another three flights in the K8 to his ever increasing total. Phil Hardwick, Malcolm Wilton-Jones and Robin Wilson took off in various combinations in the Twin Astir.

During the afternoon, my daughter made a surprise visit to the airfield to wish me a happy birthday.

Paula on her surprise visit.

Late afternoon Mike Jardine arrived to fly with the evening visitor. 18 year old Jack Wilcock enjoyed his three short flights including a hangar flight. Last flight of the day was Hugh in the K8 and with a meer 10 minutes achieved flight of the day.

Jack and Mike ready to fly.

A late start, but 33 flights achieved everything was safely packed away at around 7:00pm. Thank you to all at the airfield today who helped achieve a steady launch rate.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Aston Down Expedition 2021

 As much as we love flying from Brentor it is sometimes good to get out and fly from somewhere else. Peter Howarth, Andy Davey, Phil Hardwick and myself decided we would return to Aston Down again this year for some soaring and hopefully cross country flying. On Sunday the 9th Phil and I went in convoy while Andy went via North Hill to pick up his Libelle and Peter drove straight from Plymouth. 

Arriving mid afternoon we decided not to rig until the following morning as the weather wasn’t great. 

Monday 9th August - 

Mainly over cast skies but with cloud streets running WSW. Time to take a launch! Yours truly was volunteered to try first and whilst I was still pondering whether to go or not my three fellow friends duly pushed my glider to the front of the queue and smiled at me!

So off I went with a good launch to 1450 feet, with messy thermals low down which came and went throughout the day I managed to get up to cloud base at around 3500 feet and follow the cloud street to Nympsfield. 

Approaching the cloud base which was at 3500 feet

Great stuff, until I got to Nympsfield, where there was blue sky and no lift to be seen anywhere, just sink. I landed after 2 hours and 5 mins after exploring the local area. Whilst I had been enjoying myself the weather back at Aston Down kept changing with broken thermals replaced by nothing.

Andy took off just after me and got away going East reaching  Cirencester before returning back with enough height to ensure getting back to the airfield against the brisk head wind. A flight of 2hrs 24mins.

Peter launched a bit later into what looked like a reasonable sky. The thermals were narrow and difficult to use. After a short flight and another of 38 minutes he returned to give Phil a chance to take the Astir. Phil decided on a local flight and getting a reasonable height and staying out of the Kemble ATZ he had a good look at all the  British Airways Boeing 747s lined up and landed after 55 minutes.

Tuesday 10th August - 

The weather forecast for today was more promising but saw another grey cloudy sky with cloud base around 2500 ft but with some very strong thermals. A difficult day for cross country given the low cloud base meant we were searching for lift a lot of the time, but there was lots of it. Whilst I set off to try and reach the Severn Estuary Andy headed slightly further North for Cinderford in the Forest of Dean. 

After launching Peter was soon climbing towards cloud base at 2300ft and flew around the area before deciding to push into wind to the west and head for Nympsfield. Having got there he turned back to Aston Down and arrived back at 1500ft. Another climb back to cloud base and he decided to repeat the trip to Nympsfield but pushing a bit faster flying over Hampton Fields.  

Minchinhampton and Hampton Fields

A lot more aircraft traffic in the area kept us all on our toes with some interesting climbs with other gliders. When back at Aston Peter flew around the area before landing after a flight of over 2 hours.

Andy, Libelle and lunch

Andy has a cloud flying qualification which enabled him to go on to instruments and fly into cloud. Andy described his flight as absolutely fantastic ….” 

” At  2500 feet the lift increased and with no other glider in sight or showing on flarm I went into cloud where the lift increased and I climbed to 4200 feet before being spat out the side of a small cumulus.  I came out into a large area of clear sky with some much bigger and developing cumulus to the west. I flew towards a developing cloud that was tall but fairly narrow arriving at 3200 feet. Checking flarm and seeing no other traffic I entered the cloud and finding the core climbed at a steady 4-6kts as I passed 6500 feet the thermal got considerably rougher with the Vario off the scale.  At 7200 feet it got very rough and I headed out of the cloud climbing a further 500 feet on the way. I burst out the side of the cloud and what confronted me made all the hard work worthwhile. I was above the great majority of the clouds and the view across the Seven Estuary and into Wales was fantastic. With this much height I decide to head for Cinderford  but just short of Cinderford my flight computer showed I was under glide to get back to Aston Down so with a good looking cloud on track I took another cloud climb to 5500 which gave me plenty of height to get back to Aston.

Being able to cloud fly turned what would have been a very high work load flight probably within the local area of Aston Down into a fantastic flight with plenty of time to relax and enjoy the scenery which is so much better from high up.

Is it worth learning to cloud fly definitely YES. 

Should you do it NO! I want the clouds to myself, sorry”.

Andy’s view from 7500 feet above the clouds)

I never did reach the Severn Estuary even after over 3 hrs of trying but I did get to watch a polo match from above!

My View of the Severn Estuary from below the clouds

Phil took over the Astir and had a great local flight looking around at the pretty Cotswold villages.

All in all a good day ending with a beer in the club house garden….

Wednesday 11th August - 

Originally Wednesday had a RASP forecast of 4 to 5 stars but the day dawned overcast and the RASP gave a depressing 1 or 2 stars for short periods of time. I had a problem tyre on my trailer so with little hope of flying we took the wheel off and I booked a slot at a local ATS to get a replacement. Phil had a trailer lighting issue so used the morning to check things out. Not thinking I would stay up for long and knowing I had to get to Stroud for 2 o’clock I took a launch just for the fun of it but after scrabbling around for a while I got into some good thermals but again with a low cloud base a cross country was not really on. After 1 hr I realised I had to get back to the airfield if I was to make the ATS appointment. After another 25 mins I was on the ground. Moral of the story being book a later appointment just in case there is a chance of a flight!

View of the local area

No one, including me, expected me to get away, so there was then a rush to get the others airborne.

Phil changing his mind and deciding to launch sooner rather than later

Peter had a flight of 1 hour 19 minutes in weak thermals drifting the length of Aston Down and a little further down wind to cloud base at 2000ft with average climb rate of about 0.5 to 1 knt. A flight which Peter described as “hard work but equally rewarding as the previous day for different reasons”. Phil had the longest flight of the day at 1hr 33mins but by the time Andy flew the thermals had given way to sink and he managed the shortest flight of the trip at just 10 mins.

Aston Down Airfield

Thursday 12th August 

- dawned the same as Wednesday but cloud base was between 1400 and 1600. 

Looking at my calendar I realised it was 6 years to the day that I came for a trial flight at Brentor and enjoyed it so much I restarted flying after a nearly 35 year break!

My 6th year anniversary flight

Even though it was never going to be a great flight I felt the need to celebrate this fact and managed a 24 min scratch under the low clouds. Phil launched soon after and had similar experiences but master aviator Andy decided it was not worth taking his covers off and opted to winch. 

Peter flew later and with thermals being blown out due to the stronger 15 knt wind, he could only manage a flight of 10 minutes.  He then took a busman’s holiday and spent the rest of the day helping with the course and club flying.

Sitting in the club hut over some excellent Fish and Chips from the local chippie and looking at Friday’s forecast we decided it wasn’t  worth staying for another day  and packed up and returned home late Thursday to miss the holiday traffic. 

The team photo

Summary.

Across the 4 days the 4 pilots clocked up a total of 20hrs and 47 mins, not bad given the low cloud and strong WSW winds. 

Best distance flight was Andy to  Cinderford and return.

Best Height gain was Andy to 7700 feet

Longest duration was me 3hours and 3 minutes.

We all agreed that we had a great time, enjoyed the flying and each others company and cant wait for our next adventure. 

Steve Fletcher

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 8th August 2021

The weather gods were benevolent to us today – for whilst they kept their intentions hidden from the Met Office weather forecasters – at least they let us fly.  Later.  Not until after we had gathered, observed sombrely the low vapour laden sky, become irritated by the rain beating on the veranda roof interrupting our conversation, and finally succumbed to the inevitable ground school presentations whilst tweaking the net curtains for signs of an (unexpected) improvement.  

A couple of hours later, walking the wing of K-13 HXP down to the east end of the airfield, it could quite clearly be seen that banks of grey cloud were being herded away up and over the moor swept by a blue, fresh sky intermingled with white cumulus: a cold front, surely?  Of which there was no mention in the forecast?  Ah well, “attack the target you can see…” (as they say).  

Geoff Cole was the first of our trainee cadre to launch – straight into rising air taking him to over 1,600ft agl, thus providing valuable time for him to consolidate his aileron plus elevator work and move on to inclusion of the rudder.  In a gradually freshening breeze, Simon Vallance then took to the air where, on his second launch, he too found rising air directly over the winch and with which he tenaciously maintained contact until, being drifted east across the airfield boundary, he pushed back into wind to find another surge in energy.  By repeating this process three or four times, he achieved a very well-earned Flight of the Day at 18 mins.  

Target for tonight: Brentor church, where Richard’s son was married.

As the wind continued to freshen (there was less dangle in the windsock) it was Ray Boundy’s turn in the front seat.  A multi-talented chap, he decided to detach from the first launch as it appeared to enter De Lorean velocity, thus doing the instructor’s job for him!  Following an up-field landing he was rapidly re-flung into air, albeit a little more sedately, but nonetheless to 1,200ft in the almost perfectly runway orientated wind.  

Visiting pilot Richard Lovell-Butt, with Martin Cropper.

It was then time to welcome Richard Lovell-Butt, visiting from Portsmouth Naval Gliding Centre, into the front seat of the K-13.  Declaring that his son’s wedding had taken place at Brentor Church some 15 years ago, there was nothing else for it but to conduct a beat-up photo-recce of the church and its surroundings (see photo).  Richard (a BI and one-time Asst Act) was then given the opportunity for a second flight, this time with conduct of the K-13.  Ending the day with a follow-up launch failure to consolidate Ray Boundy’s skills, we concluded that, on a day when no flying had been widely assumed, we hadn’t done badly, at all.

Richard’s view of the church, and adjacent Iron Age settlement.

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 4th August 2021

After the recent unsettled weather, a RASP forecast promising up to 4 stars and a light south westerly wind led to a lot of activity rigging gliders in the trailer area.

Some of the aircraft being rigged.

Two K13’s and eight private aircraft were towed to the east end launch point. First to fly with me was Simon Vallance. Three flights including a 12 minute extended circuit saw him honing his approach control and landings. Two more flights in the afternoon included a 29 minute soaring flight to 2500ft. My second trainee was John Smith. Three flights including a 29 minute soaring flight and a launch failure practice saw John progressing towards re-soloing.

Discus soaring well below the K13.

Richard Roberts was kept busy today with three visitors. First to arrive was Robert Leigh.

Robert ready for his flights with Richard.

Shortly after Freddie Cotton arrive for his flights. After being shown around the K13 by Mike Bennett, Richard briefed Freddie and they were soon away for two flights including a 20 minute soaring flight.

Freddie and Richard waiting for cables.

Freddie enjoying the view on his soaring flight.

The final visitor was Adrian Noyes. Having watched gliders as a boy on the South Downs, he was finally going to enjoy hi lifelong ambition to fly in a glider.

Adrian looking forward to his flights.

K13 takes off again.

Whilst the club flying was progressing the private owners took turns to take to the skies. Phil Hardwick was first in Astir FCJ for a flight of 1 hour 31 minutes. Mike Bennett (K6 FUB), Alan Carter (SF27 FWH) and Martin Broadway (Libelle JEU) all had short flights whilst conditions were not as good. As the afternoon progressed the conditions improved. Gavin Short manage a flight of 38 minutes in Cirrus CNN. Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus CGY) 1 hour 6 minutes. Andy Davey (Libelle JEU) 1 hour 28 minutes and Richard Roberts (Discus V5) 1 hour 25. During his flight, Richard visited Burrato Reservoir and the River Tamar.

Burrator Reservoir

River Tamar.

Flight of the day was claimed by Roger Green. A flight of 2 hour 28 minutes in his ASW20 FRW.

Plymouth West and Tamar bridges.

With so many private owners flying today we managed to keep thing moving at a steady pace thanks to those on the ground retrieving aircraft and launching gliders particularly Steve Lewis who didn’t fly. All had a good day flying and left happy.

Peter Howarth