“Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3” the Tannoy used to say: except in this case Test 1 was the wind strength: up to but not exceeding 15 kts; Test 2 was wind direction: N’ly, but not the NE’ly that was forecast or the high pressure over Northern Ireland would lead you to expect; and Test 3 wind behaviour: which was consistently fickle: the first set of trees on initial approach causing turbulence, the second set during finals causing a lee but still sufficiently strong to set aircraft to the south. That these three tests existed was, of course, obvious to our pilots but still provided a worthwhile challenge for them as they approached from the west.
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| Requisite early morning cuppa before getting the toys out. |
Rich Roberts was our IFP for the day, and Ed Banyard his One Day Course student. Ed had previous power experience and was keen to retrieve his skills however, after a couple of acquaint flights of the local area he decided, in view of the strength of the wind at height, that far more value would be gained by returning at a later date. He seemed to enjoy his time with us, however, and we look forward to being able to provide some decent hands-on-stick time in future.
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| Today’s One Day Course student Ed Banyard with IFP Rich Roberts. |
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| And away they go in K-13 CCY. |
In the club trainer Ed Borlase, after a short layoff, and being subjected to the requisite ‘awkward height’ simulated launch failure, returned to solo status. Next in the front seat was Freddie Colton who, thanks to the revised winch settings giving us launch heights of 1,200ft, was able to undertake the airbrake change in attitude exercise, plus practicing his turn co-ordination in strong wind conditions before a return to the circuit was necessary.
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| New member Freddie Colton sets off with Martin Cropper on a training flight… |
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| …and returns safely to the airfield. |
There then followed a procession of solo pilots keen to maintain currency: Martin Broadway, Adam Hoskin and Peter Howarth, who all commented on the mental and physical effort required to meet (and surmount) Tests 1, 2 and 3 above.
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| Busy scene as one K-13 gets away whilst a second is prepared for launch. |
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| Adam Hoskin brings K-13 CCY home to roost. |
Flight of the Day went to Rich Roberts who, with Ed Banyard, at around midday spotted a line of energy (cloud street) stretching to the north which he managed to exploit for a full 13 minutes (a second attempt by Rich to do exactly the same later in the day met with abject failure as the cloud disintegrated during the launch!) Special thanks of the day go to Gavin Short who, with the rest of the Short family having received his coronavirus booster the preceding day, decided not to fly but winch: thanks Gavin.
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| Today’s NE-SW cloud street: just photoshop in a K-13 and you’ve got today’s Flight of the Day..! |
A day in which, with those three tests setting the challenge, pilots were able, with a little mind over matter, to demonstrate that they were up for it and prove their own abilities.
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