Yesterday’s Storm Arwen brought winds of 45+ kts, bringing down trees and power-lines locally (one advantage of the club being ‘off-grid’). Today the contrast was astonishing and those who spotted that prediction were rewarded with an almost completely benign NNW’ly airflow: just right for our busy visitor schedule, trainees and those who needed to get back into the single-seater domain.
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| In the distance the once dormant Great Mis ‘volcano’ appears to have erupted back into life… |
First of our visitors to arrive were father and son team, Frank Buttery and Paul Kershaw: Paul having driven down from Birmingham THIS MORNING (now there’s faith in the weather forecast). Paul enjoyed his two trial flights whilst father Frank also revelled in the views of Roadford lake, and Shebbear (where he now lives) whilst revealing that he had achieved his ‘C’ badge (ie. had gone solo) three times, initially with the Air Cadets. Subsequently becoming a powered pilot, he took a keen interest in the use of the rudder pedals to achieve balanced turns, and also in being able to fly with us, not necessarily on his own account, but in company with a safety pilot.
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| Visitor Peter Kershaw (from Birmingham – today!) prepares for flight with Gavin Short. |
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| Former Air Cadet ‘C’ pilot Frank Buttery is ready to get back into the air! |
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| Three-way handshake between Gavin, Peter and Frank. |
Next up was Margaret Hellyer, only 80 years young, who came to us from Plymouth with her daughter and granddaughter for a birthday surprise (the nature of which, although on her ‘bucket list’, was not revealed to her until two hours prior to the event!). She certainly enjoyed her two slightly extended flights taking in the Dartmoor scenery and views to Plymouth Sound. Thanks are due to club members for helping to ease Margaret out of the cockpit in dignified style after her second landing!
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| Margaret Hellyer receives her certificate from Gavin. |
Our final visitor was Chrissie Edwards who arrived with her husband, Paul, and extended family. Chrissie works in a dental practice in Plymouth and particularly enjoyed the clear views of the Saltash rail and road bridges which are within sight of her home.
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| Chrissie Edwards is the happy recipient of her certificate from Gavin. |
On the singles front, John Allan eased himself into our second K-8, GDK, in order to compare its handling and performance against sister-ship FXB (all seemed well: without rising air they both deliver 6, 5 and 4-minute flights!) Rich Roberts converted onto the SF-27, with its all-flying tail (a feature unnecessary in his much more modern Discus…) As the afternoon drew on those who flew later seemed to gain the advantage in the form of some reduced sink to the north: thus Peter Howarth, Phil Hardwick, Ed Borlase (K-8), and Steve Fletcher (SF-27) vied with each other to make use of that pool with as little use of the control surfaces as possible: Peter Howarth and Steve Fletcher gaining first-equal honours.
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’Praying or Planning?’
Peter Howarth surveys the sky prior to his award winning flight |
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| …and away he goes! |
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| “Hey, you, get orff my cloud!” K-8 and K-13 pass over the Launchpoint. |
Trainees taking advantage of the calm conditions were Mark Elliott, Freddie Colton and currency stay-in-toucher Ray Boundy. Using our revised Supacat winch settings all trainees were able to gain 1,200ft+ on their launches (Ray managed 1,300ft!) thus giving them plenty of hands-on-stick time: in Mark’s case for circuit planning and for Freddie to move onto slip and skid exercises as part of his upper-air handling competency, whilst also trimming at the beginning and end of each flight.
Martin Cropper
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