Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 30th March 2022

 The forecast for a light north westerly with a 3 to 4 star rating on RASP gave hope for a good day. The assembled owners were soon pulling fuselages out of their trailers and rigging.

Frantic activity at the trailer park.

Unfortunately the weather hadn't read the script and the airfield became enveloped in fog which looked that it was set for a good while. Unperturbed the gliders stayed out, as ever glider pilots are optimistic that the weather forecast would have an element of truth in it.

Shrouded in fog.

Eventually at about 11:30 there was evidence that the weather was brightening up, so we began towing the gliders to the east end launch point. First into the K13 with me was John Smith. This was a dual purpose flight to check the general visibility and a condition check flight for John to fly the K8. A good flight deemed both aspects to be OK.

Next into the K13 was David Moult. David was introduced to his first stalls and continued practice with coordinated turns.

David ready to fly,

We were joined today by Trevor Williams who was here for a one day course. Richard Roberts was duty BI and after initial briefings took Trevor for his first flights.

Trevor and Richard all smiles.

Due to a poor horizon it was deemed no advantage to continue with Trevor's flights. Richard took Trevor to the clubhouse and simulator for some confidence boosting flying. After some good benefit, Trevor is looking forward to returning and putting his improved skills into practice. We look forward to seeing Trevor back soon.

K13 G-CFGR appeared at the launch point for it's inaugural test flights at Brentor. Colin Boyd and Jamie Steel were tasked with these important first flights.

G-CFGR getting ready.

And off they go.

As it was discovered G-CFGR was the glider that Jamie was first sent solo in, Jamie relived that moment with another solo flight after everything was deemed OK after the test flights.

What about all those private gliders that were rigged at the beginning of the day. K6 FUB was flown by John Allen and Mike Bennett, DG300 HME - Phil Hardwick, Twin Astir DSL - Malcolm W-J, Steve Fletcher - Open Cirrus CGY, John Smith and Gavin Short - K8 GDK and Ed Borlase - K6 EWO with varying degrees of success. The longest flight was claimed by Steve with 23 minutes.

K6 pilots John & Hugh.

ED in K6 EWO

A day that promised a lot more, but we made the best of what we could. Dartmoor Gliding now have three serviceable K13's to be used as required.

DGS K13's queued for launch.

Thank you to all at the club today who achieve 29 flights in a shortened day due to the weather.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 26th March 2022

With the wind in the east there was every possibility of some wave today. If you haven't come across the term Wave (or Lee Wave) before, when conditions are right and the wind rises over a range of hills or mountains then the atmosphere can bounce forming vertical waves to great heights. Glider pilots search out these conditions. At Dartmoor Gliding the wave is accessible from the top of the winch launch in an easterly wind.

I arrived a little late after work this morning to see K13 G-CFSD releasing at the top of the launch. By the time I got to the launch point Instructor Mike Jardine was on the radio from FSD reporting that he was in wave at 3,500 feet and climbing. A quick look around revealed K13 G-DCCY waiting for me and my visitors later in the day. Also at the launch point was new member Davis Moult who had flown with me on Wednesday for a controls lesson. I quickly got David in the front of CCY and off we went. The rotor (turbulent airflow under and between lee waves) was very apparent on the launch. Releasing at 1,400 feet we were immediately bouncing around the sky as we pushed forward towards Mary Tavy. Luckily the rotor had us climbing on average and very soon we contacted the wave where the lift was smooth (with a capital "smoo"). The lift built rapidly peaking at 7 knots average and a few beats north and south had us at 6,000ft above the airfield. It has to be said that the visibility was poor, the long period of high atmospheric pressure had trapped a lot of smoke and dust under the inversion. The upside of this is the beautiful red sunsets and sunrises that we have been enjoying recently.

David had a great view from the front seat of CCY

The inversion was obvious at 6,000ft

We were were able to explore a little reaching Burrator to the south and Princetown to the east all in zero sink. To the west a little we were joined by the SF-27A that was climbing strongly, but all to soon it was time to go back to meet with today's visitors. The initial decent was uneventful but as we got down to 2,500 ft over Mary Tavy we encountered very active rotor. Our circuit started from there with lots of speed to remain in control and the final turn was made over the top field at 1,400 ft. for a 65 knot approach which is best described as character forming. Total flight time 1 hr 11minutes.

Whispering along at 6000ft

John took this view of David and I in CCY

Unfortunately I had to make the decision not to fly our visitors today, the conditions were just too rough. Mike landed in FSD about 10 minutes later and with the increasing winds and turbulence on the  approach the decision was made to suspend all flying.

John Allan landed a minute later in the SF-27A after topping out at 9,000ft for his Silver Height and a flight time of 1 hr 36 minutes. 

John's View of Meldon Reservoir

Just over 9000ft

John looks pleased with his efforts

So that left 3 gliders aloft. An hour and a half later Richard Roberts landed in his Discus. Instead of going to great heights he had been exploring the extent of the wave system for a flight time of 2 hrs 40 minutes during which he discovered that if he stayed at 5,000 feet or so the wave was strong enough to give him zero sink at 120+knots in the smooth air. I think that is called playing Richard.

Next back was Steve Fletcher after a flight of 3 hrs 34 minutes during with he had climbed to a maximum of 11,800 feet near Okehampton which will hopefully give him Gold Height.

Steve's View over Plymouth

Looking over the inversion

11700 ft above the airfield

The last glider back was Malcolm flying solo in the Twin Astir. During his 3 hr 39 minute flight he planned and flew twice around a quadrilateral course Okehampton, Gunnislake, Burrator and Princetown for 292 km with a maximum height just over 9,000ft QFE.

Looking toward Roadford

The Tamar Estuary fades in the haze

Burrator Reservoir

Just after 4 pm the wind on the airfield suddenly disappeared and the roaring easterly became a mere zephyr. Encouraged by the change Mike Jardine and David Archer took a flight in K13 CFSD, expecting a gentle ride. Mike's report stated that the rotor and turbulence had started at about 30 feet on the launch and didn't let up a all all the way up to 4,000 feet and back. This flight only lasted 15 minutes so must have been very dynamic indeed. After this we washed and put away the gliders.

All safely back in the hangar

This was not the end of the day however. At 7 pm lots of members descended on the Clubhouse for the AGM. After acceptance of Last years minutes and this years Financial Report Ged Nevisky stood down from his role as Director after many years of service. The committee was strengthened with the election of Gavin Short and Peter Howarth as Directors. This brings the total number of directors to 6. Steve Raine was once again confirmed as Treasurer and I was re-elected as Chairman.

So what a day. Only 9 flights but a Silver and a Gold Height claim. Whew! 

Steve Lewis

  

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 23rd March 2022

 Arriving at the airfield there was a lot of activity rigging private aircraft and setting up the airfield in anticipation of one of the first soaring days of 2022. A moderate easterly wind which was due to moderate as the day went on alongside an improved RASP forecast overnight backed up the keenness to get going.

The first aircraft arrive at the launch point

After the morning briefing it was time to get flying. First into the K13 with me was David Reckitt who is progressing well with coordinated controls and undertook some turn reversals with good results.

David Pleased with his progress

Next into the K13 was Paddy Cosgrave who is undertaking the early stages of circuit planning and using the airbrakes on the approach.

Paddy looking forward to flying

Our visitors arrived ready to fly with Steve Lewis. Father and daughter Anthony and Amy Sanderson. Both had good flights and left with smiles on their faces.

Amy with dad in the background waiting for Steve.

Next on the trainee list was Mark Elliott. Mark is nearing solo, but after his three flights realised that more regular flying and general finesse is required to achieve his goal. New member David Moult flew with Steve Lewis to go through some upper air exercises. A 19 minute flight soon had him turming the glider and managing to maintain a heading.

K6 FUB was at the launch point and flown by syndicate partners Mike Bennett, Hugh Gascoyne and John Allen. The longest FUB flight was claimed by Hugh with 40 minutes. Other solo pilots Malcolm W-J (Twin Astir DSL), Steve Fletcher (Open Cirrus CGY), Scratch (Cirrus FCN) all had flights of various times, the longest of which was Scratch with 1hour 30minutes.

A new sleek machine appeared at the launch point. It was the first outing at DGS for Phil Hardwick's newly acquired DG300 (HME).

Phil ready for his first flight in the DG300

After some careful familiarisation, Phil took off for his inaugural flight. Returning after 37 minutes was very happy with his purchase.

DG300 viewed from the K13.

Another solo pilot, Richard Roberts brought his Discus V5 to the launch point. He disappeared for 2hour 38minutes for a 100km perambulation around Devon, visiting Roadford Reservoir, Burrator Reservoir and Yelverton.

Richard taking off.

Roadford Reservoir

Burrator Reservoir

Yelverton

The final trainee to fly with me was John Smith. After a quick launch failure practice he was cleared for a solo flight in the K13. This was followed with a conversion flight in the K8.

John happy to be in a single seater.

A good day flying with 33 flights and some very happy pilots. Two new type conversions, a 100km flight and other soaring flights. Not bad for a March flying day. Thank you to all at the club today who helped keep thing moving and sorting the usual gliding problems.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 19th March 2022

Today, Skysight forecasted wave to the north of the site stretching as far as Sourton.  The wave initially would start at just over 1 knot peaking at almost 5 knots at over 8,000 feet potentially topping out at 19,000 ft.  Exciting stuff.

Ever the optimist I loaded my parachute, glider batteries, and other gliding gear into the car.  On arrival a beautiful clear blue sky greeted me.  The Met Office and other forecasts were predicting reasonable winds, some less than twenty knots straight down the runway from the east.

But RASP, which was forecasting Sodom and Gomorrah for most of the previous week, had the wind speed nailed at 35 knots with much higher gusts so the club members were limited to work inside the club house or the hangar.

The view of the airfield from the cross track. 
Azure blue all day with a little haziness later on, but bitter with the wind chill.

Walking around the trailer park, it was too windy to open trailers up let along rig gliders which was frustrating as I had several trailer and glider related jobs to do.  The good news was that the ground was firm and dry whereas a few days previously it had been a quagmire.

But it was bitter in that wind and the gusts sometimes took one’s breath away causing members to retreat into the clubhouse and enjoy mugs of tea in front of the roaring wood burner.

You could tell it was windy as the Flettner Ventilator
on Mike Bennett’s trailer (centre) was actually turning.

So there was much “hangar flying” and discussion which covered weather forecasting sites, oxygen kits and the merits of constant flow versus pulse-demand systems, and many wondering how we were going to fill the day.

Then to an entrance that blasted cold air into the clubhouse Obi-wan Kenobi (Colin) arrived, resplendent in orange overalls having just stepped down from his speeder, his shock of white hair all akimbo.  Once suitably energised with a bourbon crème biscuit and the promise of a mug of tea, he crooked a little finger and enticed his (BGA Inspector) Padowan (Adam) to the hangar.

Their mission was to plan and fit Flarm and a radio to the K-8, FXB.  Which is currently de-rigged  After much thought and consideration of options, and more mugs of tea provided from the clubhouse, a plan was concocted.  By the end of the day the mission was complete.  

K-8, GDK will be the next to be fitted with Flarm and radio.  Now that the plan for FXB worked it would not require the rigged glider (GDK) to be taken off line (Ed: Ineed to order some more radio microphone speakers and power supplies as the technical team are outpacing my ability to supply them with parts). 

Back in the clubhouse tea-drinking calm had resumed until the door flew open once again (Ed: It was doing so on its own in the wind anyway) and so entered the Chief Flying Instructor (Mark) (Cue: The Imperial March) and an instructor from North Hill (Steve Westlake) (Ed: Welcome).  The latter took up residence in the front seat of the simulator to act as “Bloggs” and the Introductory Flight Pilots (IFPs) were put through their paces and tried out their patter as prospective Basic Instructors (BIs).  

As Steve worked through the candidates, with Mark hovering over their right shoulder (Ed: Scratch, is this a defect on the Virtual Reality headset?) watching every move, Make Jardine was then sucked in to the rear seat for an extended session as part of his five-year Assistant Category Instructor review.

But before this started, and during, the CFI leapt into action on Operation Spring Clean.  He chivvied the members in to looking at the state of the clubhouse, that they were complacent, and this was a poor first impression.  Come on, we can do better than this.

Paint pots were moved and stored.  Rubbish and redundant furniture were thrown out.  Bookcases and tables repositioned to let light flood into the clubhouse.  The K7 canopy blank was stored safely in the rafters (Ed: We need a volunteer to market this for sale).  The reading library was boxed up and the geriatric selection of gliding books was whittled down to a relevant number of pertinent tomes and the table was clearing.  Flying logs and policy documents files in a bookcase.

The CFI then started skating on thin ice, and in breach of union rules, when he started wielding the hoover.  Don’t worry Mark your secret is safe with us.  We won’t tell Mrs C!  (Ed: you just have).  Later his performance was assessed by the clubhouse Shop Steward (Heather): “Amateurs never remember to empty the hoover before use.  It works so much better with it empty.  Tch!  Amateurs!”

All hands to the pumps. 
The CFI broke union rules and wielded the hoover.

Activity was conducted at pace and it’s a surprise that the IFPs could hear their BI patter let alone think.  If you can keep to the patter when Colin is thrusting a radio in your face and asking technical questions then you will survive Bloggs’ best efforts to ruin your day in the air.

Elsewhere on the airfield David Archer continued with the project to improve radio performance by installing better antennas for both our ground and air band radios.  This will cover both the launch bus and the launch hut.  Stirling work Dave.  He is also ensuring that we can safely use the fin antennas in our gliders when the air band radios have been fitted by Colin and his team.

Back in the clubhouse came lectures from Mike on preparing for your first cross-country flight and an impromptu lecture from me on Flarm and how to use it.  I will follow up with a PowerPoint lecture for the other members who were, in Henry V’s words, “gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here”.

After a rolling lunch between cleaning efforts the activity abated by mid-afternoon and we were able to survey our new surroundings: A clean, well-organised, uncluttered, and respectable club house.

The noticeboard area was cleaned
and the (very) old gliding books are ready for disposal.

Light and order now welcomes visitors.

The day’s tail enders relaxing in a comfortable,
spacious, and welcoming clubhouse.

Meanwhile our Chairman enjoyed the end of the day by ridge flying
 in the mountains with his left hand,
whilst his right was reserved for more important business

Despite all the activity inside there was something of interest outside.  On the previous Wednesday the pickup had been jet washed to clean the underside of much mud and dirt.  The lance wielder decided to play a joke on Colin who invariably on a non-flying day parks van in front of the hangar.

The joke dawns on Colin.

Well today Colin got the joke today.  The right side of his van is spotless.  The left side is the opposite.  So next Wednesday he is going to park it the other way around in the hope that the joker will have pity and jet wash the other side of his van.

So a day of much wind at the airfield, almost eclipsed by the whirlwind of work, and training, in both the clubhouse and hangar.  Well done all.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 5th March 2022

 The forecast did not show any rain, That was the good news. The forecast (and actual) wind was 10 knots just east of north strengthening as the day progressed. With the wind chill, the temperature seems to be a few degrees above zero. The club members responded to the temperatures with several one piece old weather suits and enough woolly hats to carpet the hangar. Launching was from the east end where the wind was directly across the runway.

Looks nice from here but it was cold

We welcomed 2 One Day Course candidates, father and son David and Lundy Webb from Paignton. Both enjoyed their introductory flights with  Gavin and Scratch respectively. Dad David and Gavin claimed best flight with 8 minutes and a 150ft height gain. However, the wind was strengthening and, along with gusty conditions aloft, it was decided to delay the rest of their courses for another day.

Lundy with Scratch

A least we could complete the paperwork.
Gavin, Lundy, David and Scratch

We also welcomed a new member today. David Moult who has some previous flying experience with microlights, came to have a look, stayed all day, and left as a fully paid up member. Welcome to the Club David.

New member David complete with required woolly hat

Club flying was mostly confined to the K13s except for Richard who had rigged his Discus lured by the little bit of east in the wind (hoping for wave maybe?) and the 4/8th cloud cover ( has to be thermic doesn't it?). In the event he managed to equal the longest flight of the day at 10 minutes. Better luck next time. At least the exercise involved in rigging and derigging will have health benefits.

CCY makes another approach

Ever hopeful Richard in his Discus

John Allan surveys the view during his 10 minute flight

John was definitely climbing.

Another enjoyable day.

Steve