Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 23rd October 2021

 The forecast wind direction today was southerly going south westerly but strengthening. Initially the airfield was set up to fly from the west end under the 8/8 low cloud cover but after the first 8 launches the decision was made to change ends. This caused a delay of 30minutes while the airfield was reorganised. Just 30 minutes!! almost like a Formula 1 pit stop.

CCY waiting for a new wheel and tyre.
No they were not try to fit that car tyre in front of the glider

Dave Bourchier fitting the new tyre to the wheel

We started out with just K13 G-CHXP and the SF 27. Removing K13 G-DCCY from the hanger it was apparent that the main wheel tyre need changing. A simple task you would think but the aircraft had different ideas and some ingenuity and hard work by several members guided by Fleet Manager Gavin was required  before CCY join us at the launch point, Well done chaps and thankyou.

Strong cross winds under a grey sky

The 8/8 low(ish) cloud cover gave no hope of soaring and that's how it turned out; just extended circuits at best. Gavin's was the longest at 7 minutes, flying solo in a K13.

We welcomed 2 One Day Course Candidates today. Lisa Clemo and her partner Darren Sandover managed 2 flights each before the wind strengthened beyond limits for Course flying. They will return another day. Lisa was initially very apprehensive so took her first flight in the back seat of the K13 but after this was happy to fly in the front seat. This took real courage. Well done.

Lisa in the back seat for her first flight

Darren just waiting for an instructor

The ever strengthening winds put an early end to all flying but not before Mike Bennett, John Allan and Dave Archer had tested themselves in the K13 with Rick in the back seat. 

Mirrior, mirror on the wall .......

John Allan launching with Rick

Dave Archer in disguise

And we should never forget the winch drivers

Steve Lewis

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 21st October 2021

 As yet another rain shower swept across the airfield (and the cloudbase lowered, and windspeed increased, thus summing up today’s weather story).

Richard Roberts (who else?) decided that now was just the right time to hitch-up the gold Range Rover Discovery, which had been providing a perfectly adequate eyesore for newly arrived visitors for some time, in preparation for its journey to the scrapyard.  With no electrics, engine, or emergency triangle available this was a risk-ridden exercise, but with the steady hand of Peter Howarth at the wheel of the pick-up, and Ed Borlase on quick reaction alert to provide an emergency brake if necessary (in the shape of a spare tyre), all, fortunately, went well, and the Disco should be taken to its final resting place on Wednesday.  It has to be said that, unexpectedly with its automatic transmission, the gold Disco has served us well over the years, providing a stalwart tow-out service, a fearsome fan and heater for the elder brethren, and amusing gotcha for wing-walkers as the auto-tickover cut in at higher than your average walking speed.  It will be sadly missed.

Peter Howarth guides the gold Disco from its long-term resting space
towards its next (and final) horizon.

Right hand down a bit!” Rich Roberts steers the Disco
while Ed Borlase is ready – if needed - with the emergency brake (spare tyre).

And so, with the low-level alarm screaming at us from the biscuit barrel (chocolate Hob-Nobs having been consumed to extinction at an afterburning rate), we decided that this was what success would look like for us today, and turned off the lights in the hope that the PVT panels would find enough sun to enable the Wednesday folk to switch them back on.

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 17th October 2021

 Pantomime season came early to Brentor this year.  As the day dawned bright and clear (in contrast to recent mornings), and sun cleared condensation from the canopies, we confidently marshalled the gliders down to the east launchpoint ready for a busy day’s flying programme only to find – “It’s Behind You!” – that banks of cloud had rolled in from the west almost down to church tower-top level… (ie. 200ft agl).  So what to do?  Wait, tch, tch.  Once again, we had visitors and juniors to fly so there could be absolutely no risk of entering cloud during the launch.  That delayed us until about 1130am but, with the sun beginning to get through and blue holes becoming established, from that time on the air did begin to dry and conditions improved.

First up was junior member Ollie Hunt who, despite this being his third time at the club, was about to experience his first launch.  Three flights later, having taken the controls in two of them, his expressions of delight (mainly about the launch) and beaming smile to his Air Cadet amigo Riley Powell-Thomas told their own story.  

Our IFP today was Phil Hardwick.  Phil’s first customer was Lee Collard (see photo).  Second up was Tony Wakeham, with whom Phil managed to eke out a full 8 minutes in the air (conditions improving…)  

Our first visitor was Lee Collard,
who flew with IFP (and photographer) Phil Hardwick.

Phil’s second customer: Tony Wakeham.

Back on the trainee line (yes, we ran two lines all day) our second junior member, Riley Powell-Thomas leapt into the front seat of HXP.  Having already flown a couple of BI flights with Rich Roberts, Riley was keen to show Ollie how it’s done!  And after a trio of launches he too had handled the controls in pitch, including that all important first stall, and so at the end of the day there was - nothing to choose between them..!

Our third visitor posed a bit of a problem – no, opportunity.  As a long-time (albeit lapsed) PPL holder, Phil felt that just showing Andrew McCarthy the local sights from the air was not really going to ‘scratch the itch’ and that a more qualified instructor was needed.  Send for Peter Howarth!  Peter, who had been winching quite contentedly for the last 90 minutes (changing the odd setting here, tautening the odd loop there…) was, fortunately, very happy to oblige, (swapping places with Phil) and took Andrew for two flights, with Andrew at the controls for part of the time (rudder? Wassat??), the second being for just short of 11 minutes (conditions improving again…)

Longstanding PPL holder Andrew McCarthy flew with Peter Howarth.

The trainee two-seater was then taken (in turns) by two returning to solo members, Ray Boundy and Karon Matten, who ably demonstrated that they can still fly, like falling off a log..!  

Returning to solo member Karon Matten surveys the south-western slopes of Dartmoor.

Peter Howarth continued in the visitor hosting role, with Rachel Bird finding her perch in the front of K-13 CCY for three flights, following which she declared that she was ‘off to the top of the church’ in order to watch the gliders whilst enjoying a (very late) picnic lunch.

Rachel Bird also flew with Peter, before venturing the Brentor church for a picnic.

Maintaining currency, we then persuaded Martin Broadway to part with some of his own (currency, that is) by hangar flying HXP (CCY having already been flown to the west end by Karon Matten in her very first hangar landing).

So had it been a ‘good’ day? Well doubtless there have been better, but it was certainly a very good day for Riley Powell-Thomas who, in company with Martin Cropper, bagged Flight of the Day at 16 minutes, experiencing his first ever thermal from 650ft-1,000ft agl: gliding in its truest sense!

Thanks go to Phil Hardwick on only his second day of duty as an IFP (learning curve steeper than a winch launch…), to Karon and Chris Matten for providing some ‘grunt’ (and comms) whilst our juniors get trained up, and to Peter Howarth for flexibly filling in to fly an ‘old and bold’ aviator once that need had become apparent.

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 16th October 2021

 Arriving at the airfield in thick fog I was amazed to be told that up to 5 minutes earlier the sky had been clear. The gliders were already out so there was nothing for it but to have a cup of tea and wait. Meanwhile we had plenty of time to discuss the forecast wind direction. The consensus was for SSE at 8 knots. Airfield set up and then wait some more.

Getting the gliders out in the sunshine

And 5 minutes later

Time to wait

Eventually gaps started to appear with a little sunshine. First flight at 12.09 revealed that although a full height launch was achieved there was still a lot of lower cloud about. Another half hour wait and the sky had cleared nicely. 

Cloud base rising from the launchpoint

That's more like it - game on

We welcomed 2 One Day Course Candidates today. Economics Professor  Julian Jameson flew an initial familiarisation flight with IFP Gavin Short before flying the rest of his course with me except for the last 2 flights which were conducted by Mike Jardine. Julian enjoyed several short soaring flights and was making a really good job of flying the glider by the end of the day. 

Julian waiting with Gavin

Julian and Gavin on approach

Julian and myself at the end of the day

The second One Day Course Candidate was with  junior Jimi Hammonds. Jimi's familiarisation flight was with IFP Scratch ( Dene Hitchen ) and then he flew the rest of his course with me. A mix of extended circuits and soaring flights gave Jimi plenty of time to get to grips with the controls. Smiling faces all around.

Jimi and Scratch ready for the first flight

And returning to the airfield

A what of the rest of the flying? Cloud base remained mostly around 1300ft QFE ( above the airfield ). this came as a bit of a surprise to at least one SF27 pilot who launched to 1350ft. Most flights were extended circuits with some managing a little more. Longest flight in the SF27 was Malcolm Wilton-Jones at 40 minutes with Gavin just 2 minutes behind at 38 minutes. Longest 2 seater flight was John Allan ( with Mike Jardine ) at 27 minutes.   Last flight of the day was just before 6pm by which time the dew was already forming once again.

Looking down at the runway from today's cloudbase

K13 G-DCCY coming to share your thermal

End of the day? Not quite. Apart from putting the gliders, winches and vehicles away, The 2 K8s were swapped around with FXB being put in the storage container while GDK was moved to the hangar. Elsewhere, the hurdle fence was reinstalled.

Getting GDK's wing out of the container

Swapping gliders around seems to be a team sport

A good day.

Steve 

Dartmoor Gliding News-Wednesday 13th October 2021

The high pressure system centred off the northwest coast of Cornwall would give us light and variable winds today. RASP was giving a short window of possible soaring early afternoon.

Two K13’s and the SF27 were DI’d and towed to the east end launch point. First to fly with me was Mark Worsfold. A gin clear view greeted us at the top of the launch with a view of the fog laden Tamar valley.

Our view towards the Tamar valley.

With no signs of instability in the air we were soon back on the ground. Two launch failures later, one of which was a real weak link failure, was well handled by Mark. He is well on his way to re-soloing after a break of two years. After a quick check flight, John Smith was cleared to add to his growing total of solo flights. He will be ready to convert to the K8 on its return to the fleet.

Our first visitor, Julie Ruffles arrived with her son. New IFP Phil Hardwick was on duty today. He soon settled into sorting the paperwork and briefing Julie for her flights.

Julie Ruffles looking forward to her flights.

Phil's next visitor was Jeff Jacks who arrived with his wife. Jeff was keen to fly, but his wife was more nervous about the flight.

Jeff and Phil ready to go.

Our final visitor was Margret Medway. All visitors enjoyed their flights on Phil’s first full day as IFP

Margret ready to fly.

Ray Ellis returned to the club to exercise his temporary membership. He enjoyed his previous flights with Hugh and just wanted to relive the experience with a couple more flights.

Ray on his previous flight with Hugh.

Although the sky looked more promising at times, the solo pilots seemed unable to benefit from the conditions.

Scratch (Cirrus), John Allan (SF27), Hugh Gascoyne (K6) and Malcolm WJ (SF27) all had extended circuits only. Th exception to this was Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus) who somehow managed 36 minutes to claim flight of the day.

Steve’s view at cloudbase.

Overall a day that promised more than it delivered, but for mid October we were grateful to be flying. Thanks to all at the club today for your help.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Sunday 10th October 2021

 “It’s entirely up to you…” were the concluding words of the brief from the winch driver who, having laid the cables from east to west, as instructed, delivered the news that the wind was now more from the west at the winch end than the east.  To say that the Duty Instructor’s thanks were slightly hesitant at this news might be described as an overstatement.  Having already waited over two hours for cloudbase to lift above the church and the wind to settle, as predicted, in the north-east, clear direction had been given to take the gliders to the west end and set up the old launchpoint in readiness for a busy day’s flying.  Now we had a pair of cables, plus a clutch of gliders, at the wrong end of the airfield, just as Gavin Short could be heard effusively welcoming our first visitors to “Dartmoor Gliding”, inviting them to take a seat!  And so we decided to ping off two K-13s, one with Peter Howarth solo, the other with visiting reciprocal RNGSA member Richard Lovell-Burt flying dual, down to the other end, whilst the long-suffering team packed everything up (including visitors) and proceeded to the east end.  A good start!

 Visitor Luke Portch with Gavin Short.

Visitor Tiffany Gale, with instructor Gavin.

Tiffany’s partner, Andrew Symes, with Gavin.

Ross Simmons gives a thumbs-up before flying with Hugh Gascoyne.

Once underway, in promising conditions, business proceed apace.  Gavin took our fist visitor,  newly promoted detective Luke Portch, into the air in K-13 CCY, while Richard L-B was given some check flights in HXP.  Hugh Gascoyne then took over the rear cockpit of CCY to fly his F&F visitor, Ross Simmons, with an impressive soaring flight of 18 minutes, while the training focus shifted to new junior member Freddie Cotton.  Gavin then resumed the rear-seat position to fly with visitor Tiffany Gale who, with partner Andrew Syms, had travelled from Falmouth to fly with us, while Ray Boundy maintained currency in HXP.  New to Sunday trainee Mohammed Khouribich rounded off the trainee roster, while - a bit later than expected after his spell on the winch - Peter Howarth converted to the SF-27.  Peter remarked that “once you’d got past the twitchiness of the all-flying elevator, the SF is a sleek wooden ship…very nice to fly”.  Richard L-B then took the last cable by soloing HXP, concluding with a hangar landing.

RNGSA reciprocal member Richard Lovell-Butt
ready to go with Martin Cropper for a check flight.

So what of those ‘promising’ conditions?  Our photos show some nice looking cu which, at height, seemed to be aligned NE-SW (see first paragraph…).  Whilst managing a flight of almost 1½ hours in his Discus, Rich Roberts’s verdict was “with cloudbase at no more than 2,300ft agl, and inconsistencies in where the lift was around the clouds, it was not an easy day,” (he just failed to add that, having failed to fly yesterday, he enjoyed every difficult minute of it!)  

Rich Roberts’s view from 2,300ft looking SE,
with Blackdown to the left and the airfield in the right middle distance.

Just as we were packing up we were reminded that this is, indeed October, as some clouds to the north ‘waved’ us goodnight (see photo).

An October ‘wave’ goodnight from clouds in the north.

Thanks go to a small and somewhat inexperienced team today, in particular to those who recognized the need and took time sympathetically to train up our newer members.  Most especial thanks, however, are due to Peter Howarth who, having extricated himself from the winch, then ‘volunteered’ to run the log and signals in order for Ray Boundy to fly, before being able to fly for himself.  Thank you, Peter.

Overall we achieved 26 launches which, from a 12 o’clock start (at the ‘right’ end), wasn’t too bad.  And if in future you hear someone on the airfield concluding a statement with “It’s entirely up to you...” you may expect those words to be succeeded - in short order – by the commission of a capital crime!

Martin Cropper

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 9th October 2021

Here we are, once again, in season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Today started with a mostly clear sky with some alto cumulus cloud high up, orographic cloud covering the higher parts of Dartmoor and the river valleys hidden in thick, white fog. There was a heavy dew which made the grass on the runway very wet. Whilst this is probably good for the grass it is uncomfortable for any unwary pilots not equipped with waterproof footwear. Personally, I discovered that my waterproof shoes no longer are.

Early Morning looking east with the tors hiding on the cloud

The weather forecast gave light easterly winds early in the day, swinging around to the west later as the remnants of an old cold front passes over. This lead me to think that there are old fronts and cold fronts but old, cold fronts? Perhaps I should get out more.

The day started with Rick and I flying together for my annual BI check flight. For check flight read practice cable break. With that out of the way it was on with the flying programme. Today we welcomed One Day Course candidate Jeffrey Cane. After briefing, Jeffery had an initial flight with IFP Scratch and then completed the rest of his course with me. By the end of the day Jeff was really getting to grips with controlling CCY with a delightfully light touch. Smiles all round.

One Day Course Candidate Jeffery Cane 

Scratch (Dene Hitchen ) enjoyed himself flying our air Experience visitors Ric Rothwell, Ben wheeler and Jane Coghill. 

Ben Wheeler

Jane receives her Certificate from Scratch

Ric Rothwell with family (and Scratch)

And what of the flying? Early on it was soarable under the occasional black bottomed cloud. Cloud base was only about 1400 feet above the airfield and could be reached with 5 or 6 circles from a 1000ft launch height. This did provide some entertainment with Adam Hoskin making the best of it with 25 minutes in the SF27 just beating Steve Fletcher's 24 minutes also in the SF27.

Looking over the west end launchpoint with some low, dark clouds
which provided some soaring possibilities

Early afternoon, with the "Old Cold Front" approaching, the wind swung around and the decision was made to change ends. 45 minutes later flying recommenced from the east end but the soaring was over. Did this stop the fun? Not a bit. The search for lift is always enjoyable. Pilot John Allan used the benign conditions to convert to the SF27. Well done John.

John ready for his first flight in the SF27

A satisfying, autumnal flying day.

Steve