Dartmoor Gliding News-Thursday 18th August 2022

Driving to the club today there were more reasonable temperatures to be enjoyed, cloud on the moors, leaves on the trees turning brown and falling, heavy dew on my glider trailer; I thought “Is this the start of autumn already?”.

But today I was a "Thursday Tinkerer".  On Tuesday Colin and I conducted the annual airworthiness inspection and check of the paperwork of my own glider.  Just like that dread feeling in the pit of one’s stomach when your car goes for an MOT its good when it goes away following a pass.  However, there was some minor follow up work – mostly improvements that I was determined to get done.  So this Thursday I was a Tinkerer.

With the date of the BGA audit now confirmed as Tuesday 20 September "Operation Clean-up" was underway with a trip to the scrapyard before the Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, arrived on site.  The unsightly blue drums of chopped up old winch cable were taken away which earned the club a bit of money.  (Ed: Hurrah.  They reminded me of scenes from the 1985 TV mini-series, "The Edge of Darkness": When his daughter Emma is murdered, cop Craven discovers that she was in a GAIA group of activists occupied with exposing Northmoor nuclear waste storage facility for illegal activities).

Drums of old winch cable are manhandled on to Colin’s trailer
ready for the scrapyard (Ed: Mind your fingers!)

As the team were manhandling blue drums I looked around the rest of the site.  Scrap wooden parts from Colin’s workshop had been piled up ready for burning later.  Richard’s trailer was open so I looked inside and there was the piece of angle iron, “Richard’s angle iron was here”, no longer needed to support the clubhouse porch roof.

The trailer proves that galvanising is always a worthwhile process
(Ed: If not then plenty of Waxoyl treatment post construction)

Whilst looking around Richard’s trailer I noticed the custom manufacturer’s plaque and I wondered what the story was behind that.  Who was Lucy Withall?  As ever Google and Wikipedia are one’s friends:

1999 British Women's Standard-class Gliding Team

At the 1999 FAI Women's European Gliding Championships at Leszno in Poland, the British team of Sarah Harland, Gill Spreckley and Lucy Withall took the individual Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, and the team Gold.  This was the first time a national team has achieved a clean sweep of the podium places in any FAI International gliding competition.

So that’s something for Richard to aspire to (Ed: I trust you mean the gliding prowess rather than the pronouns).

The manufacturers plaque on Richard's trailer

The early birds were out of their trailers. 
 Shortly after this photo it started to rain and FUB scuttled back into its trailer

Then the Duty Introductory Flight Pilot, Hugh Gascoyne arrived with a roar of his exhausts.  The weather was not promising for visitor flying and although Hugh did his best for several hours; checking forecasts; liaising with our visitors, and crossing his fingers, but alas it was to naught as he eventually had to cancel them.

Little did Hugh know but he could have kept his foul weather gear on all day

Indeed, the day’s conditions would prove to be testing with cables dropping over the fence in the crosswind after awaiting for the cloud base to rise enough to start launching.  Throughout the day it tried to rain on a number occasions which was frustrating if one was trying to fettle one’s glider; do I put the canopy back on, do I put the fuselage back in the trailer, or do I have another cup of tea?

In between the rain I tried to get some post ARC jobs done on my Standard Cirrus.

Colin arrived, as did Chris and Karon Matten ready for the inspection of their K-10 (Ed: The K-10 was a derivative of the famous K-6 but with a different wing profile amongst other improvements).  This is part of their preparation in putting the rare K‑10 up for sale.  It really is rare.  Apparently, there are only four left in the world and Chris and Karon’s is the only one in UK.  So it you want to own a piece of sweet‑flying gliding history…..

They are also putting their T-21, an open-cockpit side by side two-seater, up for sale (Ed.  I have flown a T-21.  They are a hoot to fly and provide a real wind in the hair experience.  A great value-for-money syndicate glider.)

Chris and Karon Matten ponder the future of their rare K-10.

Colin was called away from the K-10 for some checking of K-13, FSD.  After he put things right Peter Howarth took it for the first flight of the day and put it through its paces.

Mike Jardine, the Duty instructor, arrived and the instruction began with a “set of three” with Steve Lesson.  “When to launch” had to be carefully judged as the cloud base continued to vary throughout the day.

Steve Lesson was the only trainee to receive a “set of three” from Mike Jardine

G-CFSD: “Hey, FGR, does my bum look big in this?”

A Centre of Gravity hook’s view of FSD launching

FSD launches into a humid and overdeveloped sky

Meanwhile Hugh and Mike Bennett flew some circuits in FGR followed by John Smith who flew FGR solo, again for a short circuit.

Hugh Gascoyne and Mike Bennett prepare to fly

Then John Allan flew with Mike Jardine for a simulated launch failure and a modified circuit.  Mike was obviously in the “launch failure training groove” as Andrew Downing received the same treatment and he landed ahead safely (Ed: Well done Andrew)..

As Andrew Downing and Mike Jardine prepare to aviate an apparition appears;
Robin is no longer “Missing in Action”

Then heavy drizzle set in and the field was packed up and the toys put away.  So today the Thursday Tinkerers managed some valuable clearing up and then to go flying despite the unpromising conditions.  The flight log tells the story:  Nine flights giving a grand total of 31 minutes aloft.  Were we deterred?  Not a bit of it.

Unfortunately not all got to fly which included our newest junior, Ella Barlow.  However, earlier in the day she and Andrew Downing had a detailed lesson on how to conduct a Daily Inspection on a K-13.  As they say “every little bit helps”.

Did I finish my own tinkering (Ed: I think fettling is the correct word).  No, but good progress was made.  When rain stopped play I retired to the club house and continued to review the club glider paperwork, correctly cataloguing it and storing in new box files ready for the audit on 20 September.  Also in the club house with me was Robin conducting the unsung task of working on the club flying accounts.

And that was Thursday at DGS.

Gavin Short