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