Dartmoor Gliding News-Thursday 23rd June 2022

For me Thursday started on Wednesday.  I took my glider to Les Clark, near Swindon, for some TLC on its gel coat and a few other items.  My Standard Cirrus did not appreciate returning from Germany and spending its first winter, and several lockdowns, on Dartmoor at the bleak east end of the airfield.  After spending the last eight winters in its trailer parked inside a dry hangar this was too much to ask.

Wednesday on the motorway was totally blue and very hot so a stop at Gordano Services was in order for a break and a cup of tea.  I wondered what my gliding for the next two weeks without CNN would look like.  My musings were quickly answered by a text from Richard looking for someone to cover his gliding duty on Thursday...

Meanwhile back at the airfield a definitely non-pilot’s view
of  the church of St. Michael de Rupe, our local landmark

And so to today.  Apart from getting the kit out the “Thursday Tinkers" seemed at a loss as to what to do.  The weather forecasts, and the wind directions, were all over the place.  But the big questions were “When would the rain start?” and “Would there be thunderstorms?”  The midday synoptic chart didn’t give us any clues.

Not much detail to go on here

After fending off visitors' check-in calls for a while a decision was made to "attack what you can see ... and if it rains then we will get wet”.

Then the activity happened.  The turtle deck on K-8, GDK was re-taped.  The Jeep wouldn't start so a team of tinkerers set about it.  David Bramwell, the new owner of Peter and Phil's Astir arrived to take it away but the fuselage needed to be removed from the trailer for some reason.  Martin Broadway had got a bee in his bonnet after having rigged his Libelle early.  "Look it soarable, let’s get up there".

So Martin took the first launch at 1108 for a five minute circuit and then a second one.  Meanwhile, having decided that the conditions weren't good enough to rig his Open Cirrus Steve Fletcher took a launch in the club K-8, GDK, only to soar to 4,300 feet, near to cloud base, and then land exactly after an hour to let others have a go.  That's how it’s done (Ed: Steve, the DGS Committee salutes you for putting soaring fees in the club coffers rather than just taking a private winch launch).

Steve's view of the airfield from 4300ft

To salvage the Libelle's honour Andy was relived on the winch.  He took a launch to show Martin how it’s done to promptly land after a mere three minutes (Ed: Move along.  Nothing to see here.).

As mentioned, David Bramwell was at the club to collect Astir G-CFCJ and take back to Banbury Gliding Club where it will be integrated into their fleet alongside their two existing Astirs.  Whilst on site he took a flight with previous owner Peter so that David could add Brentor to his gliding logbook.  It took them 14 minutes to climb to 2,200ft.  They then air braked down so that David could finish his preparation for his trip back to Hinton-in-the-Hedges with the new acquisition.

Visiting pilot David Bramwell celebrating his successful purchase
of Peter’s and Phil’s Astir

By now the wind was becoming very fickle and the resulting tailwind made for poor launch heights.  By midday the natives were getting restless and vocally making their concerns known: They wanted to change ends.  From the tower (Ed: Your ivory one?)  I stated that by 1300 the wind was forecast to freshen from the south and then veer to the south west.  So we should not change ends.  Twenty-five minutes later the wind did exactly that.  Cue: Incredulous glances from our new members (Ed: So you didn't let on that your secret source is www.yr.no then?).  So no need to change ends and the launch direction was correct when Mike, the duty instructor, arrived on the field.

Meanwhile, Malcolm and Robin were on a mission to get Robin's hours up so that the Twin Astir syndicate's next insurance premium would be cheaper.  After seven circuits, that totalled 33 minutes, I was not sure that the requisite total was achieved (Ed: At this rate it would cheaper to pay the premium).

Determination: A cunning plan is hatched to try and keep Robin
in the air for longer than the day’s weather conditions would support.

Now to our visitors:

Tom Morrell arrived with his wife Sophie.  The Morrells were on holiday in Cornwall to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.  However, Tom's two flights were a birthday present from Sophie.  Gavin managed to extend Tom’s first flight to nine minutes despite a poor cross wind launch height of just 900 feet.  We wish them a safe journey home to London.

Tom Morrell anticipates his first flight with Gavin

Tom is still smiling after his second flight with Gavin,
meanwhile in the background the next set of cables
have arrived – the DGS machine continues

Next up was Bob Sturtivant, a former Royal Marine with free-fall parachute experience.  He enjoyed his short flight.  He works part-time for the Lord Mayor, and the Deputy Lord Mayor, of Exeter with a variety of roles which include chauffeur duties. 

A Royal Marine about to be flown by a Royal Navy submariner. 
Weird convergences, and not just the weather, happening on Dartmoor today.

Brent Martin and his partner, Pamela, arrived from nearby Princetown.  Brent is a caretaker for a school in the Bristol area.  Pamela managed to arrange a flight with us when Brent was scheduled to be at home on holiday.

“Brent.  Are you ready for this?”

Our final visitor to fly with me was Steve Jewell.  He arrived with his wife and seven-year old son who came to Brentor straight from school.  Steve, after an apprenticeship and twenty years as a carpenter, changed career direction and for the 12 last months has been a cattle and sheep farmer.  Sadly, our very own farmer Phil was busy driving the winch (Ed: Thanks Phil) so they didn't have a chance to meet up and chew the cud (Ed: Groan).

Family Jewell ready to see Dad, Steve, off on his flight

On our second flight, a hangar flight as it was to be my last of the day, Steve and I soared for ten minutes.  After a surprisingly better launch to 1,000 feet in the easing cross wind we not only staved off the inevitable return to earth but managed to climb 50 feet (Ed: Heady stuff!).

Then we were treated to an amazing sight.  We were positioned to the south of the airfield at 600 feet in a circuit for a hangar landing and we were thrilled to witness the spectacular sight of CCY, with Mike and Andrew Downing, launch past us and then above us for their final flight of the day.  A few minutes later we landed and came to a stop with the mainwheel precisely on the cross track.  Steve and I then moved our steed down the slope to the hangar. 

What of our trainees?  Four of our most recent members were at the airfield today.  We welcomed David Moult back from his sojourn "Down Under".  He, Steve Lesson, Alasdair Barclay, and Andrew Downing all flew twice with instructor Mike. 

Mike briefed all four trainees on approaches and landings.  A florescent reference point (Ed: That will be a high-viz vest then!) was located on the airfield.  It proved to be a useful training aid.

Steve Lesson is obviously ready for more circuit practice with Mike

Good progress was made by all and in particular Alasdair who made his first landing on his second flight (Ed: Congratulations!).  David had returned after a number of weeks away in Australia and concentrated on catching up on lost gliding time.

David Moult receiving a detailed brief from Mike.
(Ed: Or is David getting his head around that the sun will be in the south now because he is back in the Northern Hemisphere as opposed to the sun being in the north when he was “Down Under”.)

Flights by other solo pilots included Hugh in FUB, Phil in his DG 300, and Peter and John Smith in the club K-8.  John managed a 15 minute soaring flight to the north of the airfield under a leaden looking sky.

Hugh concentrates on his “CB SIFT BEC” pre-flight checks
with the Twin Astir behind ready for another launch

So the much forecast rain and thunderstorms didn't materialise.  All who wanted to fly flew.  There were 33 flights made and the "Man of the Match" award went to Steve Fletcher for increasing the club takings, sorry, I mean soaring for an hour.

On the drive home there were a few spots of rain that appeared on my windscreen or perhaps they were translucent bugs.  So much for pessimistic weather forecasts.  It takes more than that to keep the "Thursday Tinkerers" down.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 18th June 2022

 The closer we got to the airfield the worse the weather was. Low cloud and gusty wind. So, this was going to be a non flying day. 

The view from in front of the clubhouse

A quiet day then? Not a bit of it, There was a lot of activity. In the clubhouse there were several lectures. The simulator was in use by the prospective BI's practicing spinning. In the hangar there was a lot of activity fettling the fleet. 

At 2.30pm the Committee began their scheduled meeting.

How would we have fitted in any flying?

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News-Thursday 16th June 2022

Without a Duty Instructor until 1300, Thursdays are developing a certain vibe.  When I arrived at the airfield the hangar doors were shut but the “Thursday Tinkerers” were much in evidence.  Offered a very welcome cup of tea on arrival, from picking up stuff from Screwfix in Tavistock, I surveyed the scene:

• A Std. Cirrus, FCN, was out in the fresh air awaiting the arrival of a BGA inspector for its annual check (which sadly didn’t materialise).
• In a similar vein Hugh arrived on the airfield with daughter Jodie (who recently flew with us) to allow Colin access to K-6, FUB for some follow up work after its annual inspection.
• Farmer Phil and Peter were checking paperwork and opening the trailer on their Astir CS, which is for sale, and the later arrival of interested parties.
• Scratch was getting on with jobs, as he has been all week, operating from his “Bat Cave” (Aka his swanky new caravan).
• There was also “much ado” concerning our water supply, would it finally run clear?  (Ed: An important factor in a gliding club that appears to be fuelled by tea!)

While I was bringing the club glider log books up to date we welcomed back former temporary member Andrew Downing, who flew with me in February.  He had done his research and thinking and signed up for a fixed price to solo package.

This morning I stepped in at short notice as the duty IFP to provide cover for Phil.  All our visitors had no had prior light aircraft, or glider, experience nevertheless it would prove to be a busy afternoon.

First up was Christian Carson who arrived with his wife.  Christian hails from Yelverton but runs a chippy in the centre of Plymouth that caters for the late night student and matelot clientele (Ed: Sounds just up our street).

At 1300 Mike, the Duty Instructor arrived and the visitor flying commenced.

Christian receives his certificate from Gavin

Later, winch operations were paused to allow a visiting power plane to land at Brentor International.

Grumman AA5A G-OCAM about to touch down at the east end of the airfield

Our visitors, by air, David and Paul flew in from Banbury Gliding Club to view Phil and Peter’s Astir CS.  This would potentially be the third Astir CS in Banbury’s fleet.  David is their Chairman and Paul is their BGA inspector.  They arrived in a Grumman AA5A G-OCAM and departed after three hours on the ground following a thorough look at the Astir, trailer, and paperwork.  They need to report back to their committee at the weekend and will inform Phil and Peter of their decision (Ed: Good luck with the sale).

Then Matthew Whitaker, who works for Christian, and was due to be on shift in the chippy that evening took his visitor flights.  Matt has had a varied career which included logistics support for US forces in Kuwait.  He enjoys freefall parachuting and aspires to do so over the beautiful Dartmoor scenery (Ed: But not today from the front seat of CCY, thank you!).

Matt looks particularly chilled before his flight

Matt, still laid back after his flights

Mike, the Duty Instructor, who had stepped in to cover for Rick, managed four flights each with Steve Lesson and Andrew Downing.  This included practising straight and level flights with Steve, and putting together use of the elevator, ailerons and rudder for co-ordinated turns with Andrew.  Both finished their final flights with a hangar landing.  During the afternoon Andrew was also introduced to the ground handling of the gliders and how to give the commands to launch a glider.

Andrew sports his “Lawrence of Arabia” head gear
prior to Mike introducing him to the use of the controls in FSD.

G-OCAM departs for Banbury Gliding Club

Phillip Gilbert, who also arrived with his wife, was the next visitor to fly.  Phil is a farmer who also works in the hospitality/tourist sector (Ed: Are all farmers called Phil?).  Despite the static air mass (so no thermals) over Brentor he thorough enjoyed his two short flights and the chance to examine what the rest of the farming community are doing with the crops in their fields.  He was particularly taken by the information that glider pilots often look for tractors operating in fields as they can trigger thermals.

Ready for the off with Farmer Phil

Phillip still on “Cloud Nine” after his flights but probably contemplating
the 500 acres he needs to crop before the rain that’s due to arrive on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, solo pilots Martin, Peter, John Smith, and Malcolm, kept their hand in with circuits and attempts to slow their rate of descent.  “Man of the match” for today was shared between Peter and Malcolm, with a total nine minutes in the humid and muggy air.

One day that will be me!  Steve Lesson looks on as Martin conducts
his preflight checks in the K-8, GDK

Last up of the visitors was Kelly Bailey who was accompanied to the airfield by her partner.  The flight was a birthday present from her.  Kelly served 22 years in the Royal Navy in a number of roles before joining the Royal Fleet Auxiliary as a chef.  Sadly, the paltry 950 foot launches, due to a freshening southerly crosswind, didn’t allow a good enough view of Plymouth Sound to confirm that it was indeed RFA Argus at “Charlie” Buoy.  However, the verdant green of the Dartmoor countryside made up for that.  We look forward to her return when her seagoing duties permit.

Kelly and Gavin waiting for the next winch cable – “Let’s aviate”

Kelly, beaming after her flights

In summary, it had been a hot and humid day, with little or no thermal activity due to the almost continuous medium and high level cloud cover.  Despite a shortage of manpower we achieved all the visitor flights and our fixed-price-to sole trainees, Steve and Andrew had their fill, whist the solo pilots practiced their circuits in the K-8.  Special thanks to Scratch who stepped in to drive the winch and the retrieve vehicle so that all of the above could be achieved.

Once the gliders had been put away, and the intricacies of the log keeping software and the clubs WIFI network thoroughly explored, it was time to go home.  We left Scratch in peace in his caravan to enjoy the evening balmy weather and his well-deserved glass of white wine.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News-Aston Down Expedition 2022 Day 5. A Personal View John Allan

Friday 10th June. 2022

Fridays forecast seemed likely to be the best of the week.  RASP was showing cloud base up at over 3500ft and best thermal activity up until 1300hrs which worked well as Team DGS had generally decided to head home after lunch to avoid the Friday traffic on the M5.  Sam, the instructor for the week suggested another early start with a briefing at 0800hrs as we were expecting a lot of extra gliders to pitch up later due to the Nationals Competion, and it being a club day with a good forecast.

View from 3000ft looking west towards Nympsfield

First to fly was myself. Sam the instructor for the week, had kindly offered to give me an Aerotow briefing and instruction flight. I've never flown an aerotow launch before. Also by chance the very first launch behind their 150BHP Eurofox demonstrator, no pictures, but it was a very nice shiny dark blue and white, and had wings.  With 15Knots of 45 degree crosswind, Sam flew the ground run, pointing out eventualities up to a safe height for a circuit, then he handed over control.  My experience on Condor (simulator) seemed to pay off, and although quite gusty and thermic, I seemed to manage to follow the tug - at least well enough not to have him take over control!!!. I did an excercise to drop down and find the prop wash, then regain the correct position again.  Sam was very impressed with the climb rate on this Eurofox, commenting enthusiastically on the climb rate.  At 2100ft I relapsed and was nicely positioned near a promising looking cloud.  After a short climb to cloud base, we spent some time dashing along at 80Kn to maintain our height below the cloud street base.  First time in a really good cloud street, since my very first ever flight, and I must say it was a bit of a buzz.  I used the height to practice wing drop stalls until circuit height and then returned to ground.

Scratch came to join me for some photos
alongside of me in his Cirrus, FCN

On the ground Andy, Phil, and Rick had taken winch launches and soon found cloud base, and enjoyed thermals as they started to gradually built in strength during the morning. Rick returned after his hour to allow Scratch to fly in their syndicate Cirrus.  After my training flight I also launched again in the K6, keen to get in the air before we had to leave to go home.  I launched into a lovely thermal that took me up to cloud base and was soon flying up down under the dark grey flat bottomed cloud streets at around 3200ft. 

John in K6, Running along the cloud street,
with the vario giving 6 knots in a straight line at times.

Flying up around the edges of the street allowed
for another 200ft using lift found on the sunny side of the street,
or was it a convergence?

Also on the ground were Mike Bennett, who had decided not to fly today, Rick and Scratch when they weren't flying, plus one of the trainees on the course for the week, who were pretty much running the launch.  With a good forecast, and and competition starting the day after, a steady queue of top end gliders started to come online late morning., Mike and the others kindly spent the morning keeping them all in line - literally, as there were two lines, one for aerotow and one for winch launch.  I was able to land and taxi off the field safely, but close to our trailer park area, instead of blocking the landing further down the field - such is the smoothness of their grass strip.

This really capped off a great week away with Dartmoor Gliding.

A big thank you to Sam Prin the instructor, John, the winch driver, who provided us with great launches all week, along with the other Cotswold Gliding Club members that helped ground operations all week.  Also thanks for Scratch for cooking delicious food all week, and to Rick for sorting out the bookings.

John Allan

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 12th June 2022

 The forecast was for a moderate NW wind and rasp predicting soaring conditions during the afternoon, we set about rigging as necessary and setting the field up ready to fly. The winch had been left out overnight, so after a quick DI and fuelling the cables were towed out. Aircraft were towed to the east end launch point and we were ready to go.

After earning some brownie points by taking his wife to Normandy for a well earnt break, John Smith was at the club today. Four weeks since his last flight he took a precautionary check flight. After a successful flight he was cleared to fly the K8 when he chose to.

John off on his check flight.

First trainee to fly with me was returning pilot Peter Hamilton. After a demonstration, he was flying his first launches at Dartmoor. Keep going Peter, you are well on your way.

Peter briefing Peter!!!

Our first visitor for duty IFP Phil Hardwick was Fiona Chrichton. A couple of trips by the Jeep brought Fiona and supporting family to the launch point. Suitably briefed, Fiona was shown into the K13 by Phil.

Fiona watching with Phil.

Back on the ground Fiona was given her certificate and joined by her family.

Fiona happy with the family.

The next visitor, Fiona Lazarus arrived and was soon strapped into the K13 ready to fly.

Fiona all smiles.

And off she goes.

After two flights including 17 minutes aloft Fiona left with a smile on her face.

Next trainee to fly with me was Freddie Colton. Getting well through the training syllabus, it's time to get familiar with launch failures. The first flight gave Freddie several chances to finesse the recovery attitude. After a second full flight it was time to put the practice of the first flight into a launch failure. A good recovery and modified circuit shows the lesson had paid off. Well done.

Freddie concentrating ready to go.

Our last visitor Liz Gillingham arrived for her air experience flight. Although she had seen gliders from North Hill overhead near her home, she chose the views over Dartmoor for her flight. 16 minutes soaring gave he some great views of the moor and surrounding area.

Liz and Phil ready to go.

Liz and family.

Solo pilots Adam Hoskin (K6 Woody), Andy Davey (Libelle), Ed Borlase (K6 Cherry B), John Smith (K8) and Colin Boyd (K8) all enjoyed soaring flights. Longest flight Andy 2 hour 26 minutes with Adam 1 hour 22 minutes, Ed 51 minutes and Colin 42 minutes.

Adam in K6 Woody

The last two trainees Ollie Hunt and Riley Powell-Thomas were ready to fly with me. First up was Ollie. Two flights including 27 minutes soaring saw him cope with a strengthening cross wind and also handling the top part of the winch launch. Riley also coped well with the cross wind and the upper part of the launch.

Ollie ready to go.

Riley all set.

The airfield from cloudbase

K8 shared a thermal with Ed in K6

K8 nearing circuit height.

Although we came close to being short handed on the ground at one point, we continued flying without a break and achieved 30 flights. Thank you to all at the airfield today for a good days flying. A big thank you to Ed for most of the pictures.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Aston Down Expedition 2022 Part 5

 June 10th  2022

The final day had an end of term feel. Packing up, loading cars, discussion of plans for the day.  These ranged from big tasks, local soaring, to aerotow training, to going home mindful of supporting those who had instructor/IFP duties tomorrow (Saturday) at Brentor.

Rooms were vacated by 1000 to allow the incoming national's (competition) pilots to access the accommodation. The airfield had been filling up yesterday with Caravans, motorhomes, Winnebagos, cars towed behind the same, and glider trailers. (Ed: This meant that some competitors were arriving with up to three tow vehicles in their group).

We watched as gliders were rigged and water hoses applied to water ballast these high performance ships, counterintuitively to make them go faster.

I left at 1040 without flying (non-flying life getting in the way!). It was overdevloping at Taunton Deane services and it was blowing a howling gale at Brentor.

Overdeveloping at Taunton Deane and a few raindrops.
A howling gale at Brentor.

The mown grass looks nice. Well done Peter.

What of those who stayed awhile?  Rick and Scratch enjoyed some local soaring up to the cloudbase at 3,000 feet. John had two flights, again in the local area.  The first was an introduction to aerotowing in the CGC's K-21. Then he enjoyed 1hr 44 minutes in FUB.

The aerotow line up

The Brentor boy getting ready to head for Birmingham

A Std. Cirrus pilot without his toupee, ready to launch

Scratch ready for launch

Rick launching in FCN, Std. Cirrus

Unfortunately Phil's plans to go cross country didn't materialise; after a relight he too soared locally. Andy fared better and made it as far as Gloucester but the wind was steadily increasing so he abandoned his cross country task and soared locally for a long flight. The thermals were aligned south west -  north east, in streets, which worked well.

At Cloudbase

Sharing a thermal with the K6

Thank you to Rick for organising the Expedition and to all the others who played their part in making it a success.

Gavin Short