Dartmoor Gliding News- Thursday 28th July 2022

 The forecasts for today were good.  Dry, light winds, 10C difference in dew point and surface temperature; strong thermals and maybe some overdevelopment.  But as I drove to the club there were some spots of rain on the windscreen.  Ignore it I thought.  Well I did until I got to the club house and shortly after arriving the heavens opened for an hour and I witnessed Mike Bennett scrambling to keep the rain off his glider’s fuselage that he had been readying for rigging (Ed: I think you should take all these forecasts with a pinch of salt in future).

Junior Ella Barlow returned to the club with Dad, Neil.  She had completed her One Day Course at the start of the month.  During the rain she started to study the BGA Student Pilot Manual and kitted herself with a soaring hat for when the sun came out (Ed: There’s optimism!).  

Then the rain stopped and the sun did come out.  So we got the gear out and fielded three K-13s (Ed: The need for the third will be revealed later).

The trio of club K-13s ready for action

Leading the way at the launch point was Mike Bennett who competed two circuits in his K6.

Mike Bennett leads the way in his, freshly washed, K-6

Then visiting pilot Nigel Brey, from the Vale of White Horse Gliding Club, took to the sky in his immaculate Pegasus 101a for 45 minutes of local soaring.  Peter Howarth took a couple of flights in his Kestrel but only managed circuits (Ed: Sometimes big wings don’t help).  Steve Fletcher managed a couple of circuits in his own “Big wings” Open Cirrus but didn’t “get away” either.  However, Martin Broadway, in his Libelle managed a satisfying 14 minutes aloft (Ed: I saw that the new TOST hook is working correctly and allowing a full launch) and John Allen clocked up 11 minutes in his syndicate’s K6.

By now our club trainees were champing at the bit for the Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, to arrive and to get in the back seat and fly with them.  At same time Steve Lewis was at the launch point taking a break from working with Colin on his Zugvogel’s wing and decided to continue Ella’s training in the third K-13.  After 36 minutes of soaring Ella was mastering the controls and is starting to fly the glider herself.  (Ed: Perhaps it was a good thing that Dad was ensconced WFC (Working From Clubhouse) and using the (free) WiFi to conduct multiple zoom calls.  “Out of sight and out of mind” and all that!).

Our junior three-month temporary member Ella, sporting her new hat,
looks delighted to fly with Steve Lewis again.

Steve Lesson was first to fly with Mike Jardine; a six minute circuit and then a 32 minute soaring flight.  His smile on his return said it all.

Steve Lesson climbing strongly past 2,000 feet at almost three knots of lift.  It’s all your own work Steve as Mike Jardine is holding the camera!

Steve Lesson and Duty Instructor Mike Jardine’s view to the north. 
Note the different perspective, from our normal view, of Michael de Rupe
(Brentor) church, bottom right (Ed: Under the reflection of the canopy)

Our first visitor was Sue Cullen, a former primary school teacher, who was accompanied by her husband, a former secondary school teacher.  Sue has tried free-fall parachuting jumping and now it was gliding’s turn in her search for retirement activities (Ed: I think that should be thrills!).

Sue Cullen about to leave the worries of looking after primary
 school children for ever as she soars into retirement

Sue Cullen, evidently on “Cloud Nine” after her 30 minute soaring flight,
receives her certificate from Gavin

Meanwhile, back at the entrance to the club activity was apace.  In the hangar David Bourchier was diligently working through our equipment and tools ensure their availability and readiness for action.  Colin and Steve were in the workshop container tending to his Zugvogel’s wing, which was one of the items thrown up by the annual inspection.

In the workshop the Starboard wing of Steve’s Zugvogel
received some delicate surgery to the trailing edge
(Ed: More” big wings” I see at DGS)

Malcolm Wilton-Jones then picked exactly the right time (Ed: He’s a canny lad) to launch into an unpromising sky to fly a 78 km triangle in 59 minutes 30 seconds.  A great feat considering the then deteriorating conditions at Brentor.  Here is his story:

I launched from the east end to 800' but into a good thermal and climbed quickly to 2,400' above site but I was drifting to the west.  So I headed for better conditions to the north-west and the next cloud provided a taste of things to come with a rapid climb to cloud base at 5,200' ASL.  This was followed by a street towards Roadford and a quick dash west to a street towards Launceston and the rapidly rising cloud bases which gave me a best height of a little over 5,750' ASL as I turned over the river bridge north of the castle.

Malcolm’s turn point at Launceston. 
Note the castle at the centre of the photo which dates from 1098 AD,
 its motte and bailey clearly visible.

Knowing that the RAF were conducting low flying exercises over Bodmin moor I headed east to Roadford where I got another very fast climb to cloud base at 5,750' ASL.

The Twin Astir in a 6.6 Knot average thermal at Roadford reservoir
(Ed: That’s a climb rate of 660 feet a minute!)

Roadford reservoir looking a little low for this time of year

Leaving Roadford Lake and heading to the east

By now I was above the cloud to the east and across Dartmoor and I headed for Okehampton but with lowering cloud bases and very little sun on the ground I decided to turn Meldon Dam and head south around the west of the ranges at Willsworthy and Merrivale which were active.

Malcolm, above the clouds, heading east

The dam at Meldon reservoir (Ed: Again the water level is low)

I was thinking about turning Burrator but when I reached Yelverton it was under the middle of a large spread-out of cloud so I chose to turn at the southern runway intersection of the old Harrowbeer airfield.

Malcolm’s turn point at the disused airfield at Harrowbeer
(Ed: That would be a good site for a gliding club!)

Now down to about 3,000' above Harrowbeer airfield and the good conditions some way to the east I elected to return to Brentor to assess the conditions, a wise move as I soon encountered heavy sink and was down to 1,800' as I got to the southern edge of Tavistock and I arrived back over the launch point at about 1,200' just 59 minutes after setting off from the first thermal south-west of the winch, having covered 78 kms.

Malcolm’s view to the south encompassing the Lynher and Tamar estuaries

I then spent an eternity scratching in very weak lift near Brentor church while waiting the for gliders to be cleared from the airfield and toyed with the idea of landing downwind as everything else seemed to be on the ground but then I saw a K-13 launch from the east end and do what appeared to be a normal circuit so decided to do the same.  I still had plenty of height so I waited for it to land and it landed very long.  I thought it was a “Hangar flight” so chose to land behind it at the east end and recover the Twin Astir onto the stub runway near the east end trailers (Ed: That was Mike and Andrew Downing landing at the western launch point as we were changing ends due to the wind shift to the South East).  The total flight time was 1 hour 32 minutes.  

(Ed: Robin where were you?  This flight would have increased the hours in your log book and there was an empty seat in the glider.  You could have passed Malcolm his sandwiches).

Malcolm’s track
(Ed: Launceston is on the left, Meldon Reservoir top right, a
nd Harrowbeer bottom right, with Brentor airfield in the middle
obscured by Malcolm’s scratching!)

The barogram of Malcolm’s cross country flight
(Ed: From the group it certainly didn’t appear to be a day where you
could go cross country and never be below 3,500 feet above the airfield)

Our second visitor was Sarah Parker who arrived with her partner Phillip Edwards.  He would be our third visitor to fly.  Sarah has recently retired from the Home Office and lives in Hatt, Cornwall.  Sarah enjoyed a soaring flight of 11 minutes followed by a four minute circuit.

Sarah Parker and Gavin go through their pre-flight checks ready
for a flight into the completely over developed sky

This, despite what it seems, is not a landout photo
but Gavin and visitor Sarah Parker, in FSD,
joining Mike Jardine’s and Steve Lesson’s thermal
which was probably triggered by a glimpse of sunshine
breaking through the almost total cloud cover.

Sarah Parker receives her certificate from Gavin
(Ed: Note the position of the windsock and how calm it is;
something is going to happen soon)

Next up was Sarah’s Partner, Phillip, who lives in Metherell, Cornwall.  Although also recently retired he is about to restart working, but now part-time, in the Pathology Department at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth (Ed: Please, no jokes about not wanting to meet him professionally anytime soon!)

Phillip enjoyed a short flight which was extended during the landing by the surprisingly strong tail wind.  After observing the tail wind, Steve Fletcher wisely decided not to launch in his Open Cirrus and sensibly took his glider back to the east end, to put it back in its trailer.

Phillip Edwards ready for his flight with Gavin
(Ed: And the subsequent tailwind landing)

After I reported the strength of the tailwind to the Duty Instructor; Mike Jardine made the decision to change ends.  But before that he took a short flight with trainee Andrew Downing from the east end to demonstrate the effect that a tailwind can have.  They landed long, at the west end, after just three minutes.  The remainder of the Thursday Tinkerers were not deterred by the conditions and we then duly changed ends (Ed: I had the stop watch running.  From the last launch at the east end to the first launch at the west end it took one hour and seven minutes).

Launching from the west end gave Philip Edwards a different perspective on his second flight.  When we landed we promptly parked the K-13 by the cross track to the hangar as there was an urgent call for me to join the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) at the launch point or my Basic Instructor (BI) Acceptance Checks.  Phillip, I hope you enjoyed your flights, sorry to have to leave you so soon after our flight.

Our CFI catches a rare Mammatus cloud formation from the west end of the airfield
 (see end note for an explanation). 
In the background CCY awaits the CFI and the prospective Basic Instructors.

As hinted at above, late in the afternoon, Mark Courtney our CFI arrived to conduct the CFI’s acceptance of the candidates that had recently finished the Basic Instructor course at Nympsfield and Aston Down last week.  Using that third K-13 (Ed: Ahh, so that was the secret you kept from us), the club members rallied round and continued to run the airfield while providing the CFI launches, and retrieves from launch failure exercises, from the western end.  When Scratch and Gavin had been thoroughly checked out they returned with the CFI to the clubhouse for a cup of tea, a handshake, and completion of the all-important paperwork.

So the club now has: a Chief Flying Instructor; a Full Category instructor, two Assistant Category Instructors; four Basic Instructors (one with grandfather rights on the former extended BI syllabus); and two Introductory Flight Pilots.  So despite the long road to get qualified as BIs (as reported in previous blogs) the message to anyone thinking of instructing is “Come on in, the water is lovely”.  Instructing is hugely rewarding and your flying will improve immeasurably as a result.

With our newly-minted BIs ensconced in the clubhouse, the flying of our final visitor, Susan Pascoe, and more of the club trainees continued.  Susan arrived with a large entourage of friends and family to watch in plenty of time for her to fly at 1600.  However, as you have heard, mother nature decided to override this prudent preparation as the wind went round to the South East necessitating a change of ends and an ensuring delay.  Susan, and her family a friends were duly ferried to the west end and patiently waited for the gliders and winch to change ends. 

Mike Jardine ready to fly our last visitor, a very glamorous looking, Sarah Pascoe

After two flights Susan and her supporters headed off to Roborough for a celebratory meal (Ed: I hope they got there in time).  John Smith then flew a pair of extended circuits in the club K-8.

Flexibility is the key word at DGS: Changing ends; Mike Jardine stepping in to fly my final visitor; and then Peter Howarth stepping in to assist Mike in flying David Archer so that Paddy could fly with Mike (Ed: anyone would think this perfect synchronicity was pre-planned).  Peter reports that Dave is close to solo; he needs to refine and fly more consistently (Ed: Don’t we All!).  His first solo should not be too far away (Ed: Keep up the hard work Dave and good luck).

Peter eases Mike Jardine’s instructing load
by letting Dave “Determined” Archer take him aloft

Alas, no one photographed Paddy, back in the saddle after an extended break, who enjoyed a couple of extended circuits with Mike Jardine.  The last glider landed at 1918 (Ed: so that’s the answer to Thursday’s quandary.  If the Duty Instructors aren’t available until 1300 on a Thursday then we fly until the evening o that everyone gets a go!)

Richard, a seasoned Basic Instructor, fresh from his winching duties
congratulates Scratch and Gavin, Dartmoor Gliding’s latest Basic Instructors

The Duty Instructor Mike Jardine passes his thanks to everyone on a very trying day for all their efforts in keeping everything going (Ed: And well deserved those thanks are too: Flying by club members and a visiting pilot; flying of our four visitors, flying five club trainees, flying the CFI acceptance checks of two BI candidates; a change of ends; and of course the winch drivers toiling mercilessly, as ever unseen, but not unheard). 

 

Gavin Short

Mammatus cloud (acknowledgement to Wikipedia)