Dartmoor Gliding News - Thursday 14th July 2022

Wednesday's weather (yesterday) was very pleasant, warm, but with some cloud cover and a northerly breeze.  Thursday's general forecast was for more of the same, so no oppressive heat on the airfield, which would be welcome.

RASP and Skysight forecasted a pleasant soaring day, albeit the soaring occurring a little later in the day than Wednesday.  There was potential for some cross country, alas budding cross-country flier Hugh couldn't give it a go as he was today’s Duty Introductory Flight Pilot.  However, he could only start to fly our visitors when Rick, the Duty Instructor, arrived at 1300 so until then Hugh waited and watched the sky.

So what tinkering was scheduled for this fine Thursday morning?  Gavin and Phil's gliders were still with Les Clark in Swindon so they would have to look elsewhere for jobs to be done.

Then, after a pot of tea, big wings were sighted in the trailer park; Peter Howarth’s Kestrel and Steve Fletcher’s, Open Cirrus.  Their total wing span is 36.74 metres which is almost three metres greater than a Boing 737-800 (Ed: Does that mean that a 737’s wings are lighter that the Kestrel’s wings?).

A while back we thought that Steve Fletcher’s Open Cirrus (seen here) had big wings
until Peter Howarth’s 19.0m Kestrel arrived on site.

But in the background there was some tinkering going on: some tidying of the cockpit edge of K-13, FSD; and Colin came up and the FUB, K-6 syndicate laid out one of their wings ready for some endoscopy.  (Ed: Oooh err!  Sounds painful.)

Colin, fresh from his efforts with his endoscope in the trailer park
arrived at the launch point looking for further candidates
(Ed: I had no idea that the NHS was in such a parlous state)

Two K-13s and then a K-8 were brought up the field to the east end, the wind was as forecast northerly with the prospect of some westerly in it.  Privateers brought a Kestrel, an Open Cirrus, and the Twin Astir to the launch point.

Peter Howarth was first up.  He set himself a modest cross county task:  Brentor, Okehampton, Launceston, Brentor.  

The never ending span of the Kestrel’s wings

Peter’s view to the north and Roadford Lake (in the centre of the photo)

And of Blackdown and the northern part of Dartmoor (Sourton and Okehampton)

Then Steve Fletcher in his Open Cirrus, and Phil and Robin in the Twin Astir were launched.  With no gliders coming back to earth we got visiting pilot Matthew Cook, from the Long Mynd, who was back in the West Country for another holiday, ready to fly.  We put him in the K-8 and promptly launched him heavenwards to join two other gliders that were conveniently marking a bue thermal.

Steve’s view of the intriguing patterns on Blackdown Moor

Steve managed a flight of 2 hours 18 minutes and he enjoyed views of Blackdown Moor.  He noted, that conditions were much more turbulent than when he took off.  The patterns on Blackdown Moor are believed to be formed by centuries of agriculture and mining.  Strictly speaking it is called Gibbet Hill, or sometimes Gallows Hill, which rises 1,158 feet above sea level and has a dark and macabre history (Ed: Today DGS pilots use Blackdown Moor for a much more benign purpose, as a landmark to lead them back to the airfield.  It is very useful, as at a distance the airfield blends into all the other verdant green fields and is difficult to spot, whereas Blackdown stands out as the only part of the moors west of the A386 that runs from Tavistock to Okehampton).

The Gibbet at the top of Blackdown Moor.
(Ed: Is this the last chap that left a K-13 canopy open and unattended?)

Map of Gibbet Hill

The Twin Astir Syndicate determined to get Robin’s total flight hours up to 150
(Ed: I am amazed at lengths people will go to to obtain a discount).

With the K-13s remaining on the ground for the time being there was a call for the Jeep to come and pick up the first visitor and Hugh, the Duty IFP.  The day was well underway and full of promise. 

Matthew was back down after 20 minutes so we sent him off again for 38 more minutes of fun.  Chairman Steve, arrived to see the “new Wednesday” and the Thursday Tinkerers in action.  Accompanying him in the Jeep was Culdrose visiting pilot Christopher Morris.  Welcome Christopher.

Culdrose visiting pilot, Christopher Morris,
marvels at the splendour of the DGS “Citibus” Launch point

At 1254 the Twin Astir came back down to earth after an hour and six minutes.  Malcom promptly took Robin up for a further 58 minutes (Ed: Robin, does that help your log book?).

Rick, the Duty Instructor, then arrived on site so we moved the K-13s up to the start, and instructing of club members and temporary members began.

Get those K-13s on line, the “Full Cat” instructor is on the field!

Our “new “K-13s artistically arranged

Of course, the hidden sub text is to get Rick, a former soldier,
into the “Fly Navy” adorned glider at every opportunity (Ed: Such childish things!)

There were four visitors scheduled to fly with us today.  Hugh flew our first guest Andrew Partridge, who had arrived with his family who hail from Cullompton.  Dad, Robert, already a temporary member, was with him and was angling for a flight, in due course, as we worked our way through the daily flying list.

Andrew Partridge readies himself for his flight with Hugh

(Ed: I see the DGS summer “Haute couture” collection, as modelled by our very own David Moult in last Thursday’s blog, is taking off.  Here the stylish orange bucket hat is accessorised with orange-tinted sunglasses for that coordinated look).

After enjoyable 12 minutes Andrew and Hugh landed.  Next up was Guy Sergeant who, after being briefed, was strapped in the front seat of K-13 FGR as he and Hugh readied themselves to aviate.

A clearly delighted Andrew receives his certificate from Hugh
(Ed: Note that the windsock is now horizontal in the northerly cross wind).

I was next up in the K-8.  Although I had considered that the crosswind was marginal I hadn’t factored in the effect of a northerly cross wind which would produce extra lift in the form of ridge lift.  At 150 feet during my launch that extra lift kicked in and broke the weak lift, as it is designed to do.  I adopted the recovery attitude and landed ahead up the airfield experiencing the curl over and blustery conditions when I landed in the shadow of the trees at the west end.  I decided that I would not fly the K-8 again today because of the conditions.  You might think that one minute of flight was not a very productive day’s flying but it had given me a real low-level cable break.  This ensured I was current for my Basic Instructor’s exams at Nympsfield and Aston Down, in the Cotswolds, next week, which inevitably would include plenty of simulated launch failures.

However, the cross wind was getting stiffer.  Rick and temporary member Mike Machin returned to the airfield after just three minutes.  This confirmed the earlier reports of massive sink and curl over to the south of the airfield that was encountered at the end of a 25-minute soaring flight by Rick and Mark Elliott that resulting in a west-to-east landing.  As a result flying operations were halted until the conditions abated.  Reluctantly Hugh and Guy Sergeant unstrapped themselves and proceeded back to the Launch Point to wait.

After a 25-minute pause, Rick and Hugh were sent up for a weather check.  Although the conditions looked great, with good visibility, after seven minutes they were back on the ground reporting that the conditions had not improved and, regrettably, trial flights would have to be suspended.  So apologies to Guy Sergeant, Felicity Bryant, Jesse Kane, our remaining visitors.  We look forward to you rebooking and flying with us on another day.

Rick and Hugh take a flight to check the weather conditions
(Ed: I see you have still got Rick in the “Fly Navy” glider)

Club flying continued with Rick and visiting “Full Cat” instructor Matthew Cook in K‑13, FGR.  (Ed: Ahh!  No “Fly Navy” logo on this one).  It is said that you should never let two “Full Cat” instructors fly together but no shouting was heard, they landed safely, so all was well.

Mike Jardine then flew with visiting Culdrose pilot Christopher Morris for an enjoyable 19 minutes in the testing conditions.  Chris, come back soon.  Then Peter and Hugh flew.  Their flight was a very creditable 25 minutes.

Hugh concentrating on the challenging conditions

As Hugh was flying from the back seat Peter had a chance
to capture Tavistock on his camera to the south

And the airfield to the north. 
Note how Blackdown Moor stands out from the patchwork of green fields.

Alas, the conditions, namely the northerly crosswind, were getting worse.  So it was decided that it was time to draw stumps.  Peter and Hugh were called on the radio and told to hangar land FGR whilst the other K-13 and the K-8 were towed back to the hangar to avoid hazarding them by flying again.  The K-8 is a very light glider so Andrew Downing, who hadn’t flown today, was strapped in the cockpit to add much needed safety ballast and to operate the controls if needed.  (Ed: I heard that back in the clubhouse later, Malcolm Wilton-Jones was trying to convince Andrew that as the start of the flight is when the wheel starts to move and the end of a flight is when the wheel stops moving that he should enter his “ground effect” flight into his log book as his longest flight to date?).

We made just 14 launches today in the increasingly challenging conditions.  Sadly many of our members and temporary members did not get to fly but much valuable knowledge was gained in the handling of gliders in stronger wind conditions.

“Man of the Match” was undoubtedly Peter Howarth who achieved 2 hours 55 minutes aloft in his Kestrel.  This was his longest flight from the site and the longest in the Kestrel to date.  He was encouraged to take the first launch of the day and show others how to do it.  Soon after the launch he was climbing in 4 to 6 knots of lift, topping out at 2,700ft.  He pushed north towards Meldon reservoir, but with the sky turning blue he decided to return to Brentor.  He arrived overhead at about 1,500ft.  The remainder of his flight was spent climbing at Brentor then going north and back to the airfield.  Congratulations, Peter.

In summary, the conditions became more extreme than forecast but that didn’t stop DGS and some visiting pilots from getting a great deal out of the day.  As ever, thanks to those who operated the winch, the launch tower, and carried out the other airfield operations, and especially to those who didn’t get to fly.

Gavin Short