The weather watchers will have noticed the almost stationary high pressure to the northwest of Scotland which has given us a protracted period of settled weather, a blessed respite at the end of a damp August. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise as I headed from east Cornwall to Brentor to see wave clouds and majestic lenticulars stacked two deep in the Tamar Valley (or Borden Valley to be more accurate) which is way back from the lee of the hills of Dartmoor.
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The photo doesn’t do justice to the size of the cap cloud
that appeared at times as a massive roiling wall spread
across the full width of Dartmoor. |
At the club a huge cap cloud dominated the moors and wave bars abounded overhead the club. But alas the delicious promise of wave flying didn’t materialise as the forecast 8/8th cloud cover built throughout the day. Although for some there was some soaring (or perhaps more correctly scratching) to be had.
The lack of soaring was probably a good thing as today was planned as (hopefully) a final training day for the trainee Introductory Flight Pilots (IFPs), namely Phil, Scratch and I. So routine pre-solo training would not be available but licenced solo pilots were welcome. Sometimes, just sometimes, we have to put a focus on other areas of pilot development. Apologies to our pre-solo pilots.
Hugh was accompanied by his teenage son, Harvey, who came up to gain a taste of ground operations. Welcome Harvey, we hope that this is the first of many visits.
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K6 rigging.
(Ed: Not sure if Harvey realised the reason that he was
invited to the airfield was to help his Dad rig his glider!)
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| Following its annual inspection and airworthiness review we welcome back CCY. |
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| HXP ready for extensive IFP training as the wave bars are stacked back across the airfield. |
I took the first set of three flights with Rick: Low launch failure – land ahead; Awkward height launch failure – land ahead; Blip in the power delivery of the winch – land ahead. But that wasn’t the exercise planned by the instructor. It was meant to be a high launch failure followed by a modified circuit: Ooops!
Phil took the next set of four and was put through a similar set of exercises. But before Phil’s first launch Malcolm tested the air (at the top pf the launch) in the Twin Astir but was rewarded with a circuit of 5 minutes. No thermal activity yet (not that the IFP trainees would have a chance to notice!)
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| The long walk up the field of an IFP trainee accompanied by instructor “27,000 steps today” Rick. |
Meanwhile after the test flight of CCY by Peter, following its annual inspection and some work, Hugh and Peter then took a further test flight of 16 minutes to prove the accuracy of the airspeed Indicators (ASIs) in the front and rear seat.
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| Hugh and Peter returning from their test flight in CCY. “Both ASIs are working perfectly”. |
Then Scratch had a set of four IFP training flights. Intensive training is good but the myriad thought processes crammed into the minute or so of a flight with a launch failure, that you know is coming, can scramble the brain.
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| Scratch runs through his pre-launch checks with “Bloggs” who is sitting in the front seat. |
A tourist from Haarlem, the Netherlands, turned up enquiring about the chance of a flight. Unfortunately we couldn’t guarantee one so after a long chat he wistfully left the airfield to continue his holiday with his family. Vaarwel. Tot ziens!
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Colin surveys a changing sky as the visiting Dutchman looks on
before returning to his family in the car park. |
Malcolm then took his new toy (to him) for a second launch and the longest flight of the day at 1 hr 25 mins. It was also the highest flight of the day at a dizzying 2,100 feet above the airfield. Persistence and flying very slowly is the name of the game.
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Thoughts of a dejected-looking ground crew:
“I just know I won’t see Malcolm again for hours!” |
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And to prove the height of the day from the cockpit of the Twin Astir
(Ed: The rest of us use GPS data loggers to show the
details our flight rather than multiple panel “selfies”) |
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Malcolm’s view of the airfield that records the IFP trainees’ long walk back
to the launch point (at the bottom of the picture). |
Inevitably launch failure training leads to delays in the proceedings, as gliders and cables are recovered, sometimes from over the fence (Ed: the cables that is unless you are talking about DMX on Sunday’s outlanding in the “L”-shaped field), and cable tangles at the winch drum. All of which leave gaps in the proceedings just big enough to slide a private single-seat glider into the launch queue. Mike filled that gap in his K6 and flew for 13 mins before Hugh just topped that with a 15 minute flight in the same glider.
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| Mike considers his options before a well-deserved launch. |
After three sets of IFP launch failures Rick took a break and had a couple of flights, just circuits, in the newly-syndicated Standard Cirrus. It put a smile on his face.
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The start of the day with the Standard Cirrus almost fully rigged for later action.
Sadly the wave bar had dispersed by then. |
Meanwhile, Peter Howarth took our “hangar technician”, Dave, for a couple of well-deserved flights in CCY. That left just enough time for a further IFP training flight a piece for me and then Scratch. My expected high launch failure went perfectly and after the long day of training I was rewarded by the words “You are ready”.
The gliders and equipment were put away before we retired to the club house for “reflection” and the signing of the paperwork. A total of 24 flights today which was an achievement considering the amount launch failure training that was conducted. Thirteen of those flights were IFP launch failure training flights with a giddying 16 minutes total flight time. In the club house it was a joy to watch my fellow IFP trainee’s “1,000 yard stare” start to dissipate as they relaxed.
Finally, on behalf of the IFP trainees, I would like to thank those members who turned up on a Bank Holiday Monday to help get our training done. Thank you, it is much appreciated. The IFP examinations are planned for September… Wish us luck.
Gavin Short
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