Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 25th September 2022

So on a nice autumn day, with the potential for some soaring, I'm the Duty Basic Instructor.  DGS has a single One Day Course to deliver today.  However, during the drive to the club it’s clear that something is up.  In the boot I can hear my phone pinging and ringing in my rucksack.  As I park in front of the club house the phone there rings too.  I answer it.  It’s the Duty Instructor, Peter Howarth, who unfortunately, at short notice, is unavailable.  I regrettably have to cancel the One Day Course and tell Eden Bennett's mum how to rebook.  I hope we will see Eden in due course.

There is movement in the cosmos.
The DGS monolith now has an axle and wheels.

But in the autumn sunshine it was clear that we were determined to make the most of it.  There was some clearing up to do after last night's BBQ; coloured lights to be taken down, furniture shifted around and put back in their normal places.  After a little bit of final tidying up we are ready to open the hangar.

As we don't have a Duty Instructor today it is going to be a flying day for self authorising pilots only.  But we've just got six people, but then a seventh arrives.  So we had enough people to run the field whilst taking turns in flying.  I inspected the K8, FXB, and taped the turtledeck (Ed: I am sure that will increase the glide ratio by a least a point).

Richard rigged his Discus at the east end whilst Phil got the Twin Astir out of its T hangar.  The remainder helped Adam rig his K-6.

Rigging a K-6 by committee
(Ed: How is this K-6 canopy different from all the rest?)

The non-flying pilots today would be Ed Borlase and Peter Hamilton due to the lack of an instructor to run the airfield.

The K-8 and the K-6 were taken up to the launch point.  At 1010 we had four gliders at the launch point ready to fly (Ed: Not bad for a skeleton crew).  Richard gave a flying brief and detailed how we would operate.

The six amigos plus me behind the camera

Rather than "bash circuits" we decided to wait for the thermals to start.  Also Peter Howarth had told me that we should “eat cake”, the cake that his daughter Paula had made for last night's BBQ.  So eat cake we did whilst sat in the chairs by the launch bus in the pleasant sunshine.

Wot?  No cake for us gliders?

The Discus waiting for its pilot
(Ed: Note the cosmic canopy cover which will match its trailer)

“Woody” gets a polish

Adam applies Turtlewax to all “Woody’s” nooks and crannies

After his mammoth polishing session Adam and I studied a 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey map that I brought with me so that I could identify Cox Tor, Roos Tor, Great Mis Tor, and White Tor.  Later the discussion moved on to trigger temperatures and when the thermals should start.  Meanwhile Phil cleaned the canopy of the Twin Astir (Ed: Is this the first time this year?)

Look at that clean canopy
(Ed: And also the underside of the wing)

Then it was time to fly.  I took the first launch in the K-8 up to a respectable 1,100 feet, considering the northerly cross wind.  I managed to climb slowly at first, at one knot.  Then the thermal increased, two knots, then four knots, then six knots, peaking at seven knots (Ed: That's 700 feet a minute).  All this in serene silence as the electric variometer isn't working in FXB so there was no audio tone.  It was back to the old-fashioned way; feel the lift under your bum and glance at the mechanical variometer from time to time to confirm what you are feeling and check that you are correctly centred.

Near cloud base it was quite dark and I had to push south, downwind, to the sunny edge of the cloud to complete my climb.  I topped out at 3,400 feet above the ground.  I then headed north into wind, and in sinking air, until I was north of Lydford.  There I tried to break into the sunshine and find some elusive lift.  But I chickened out and turned back at 2,200 feet.  I swept back to the airfield in the now brisk north westerly tailwind.  After scratching for a bit over the scrapyard I set up for a circuit and landing on the stub runway to end a satisfying 42 minute flight, and to take "flight of the day".  While I was aloft Adam had a 12 minute flight.

By this time Peter Hamilton had left us.  Later, we were joined by Andrew Downing so we still had enough people on the ground to operate (Ed: Thank you both for the support).

We broke for lunch and Ed Borlase joined us from the winch.  It was very convivial and a relaxed affair sat in the autumn sunshine.

DGS pilots breaking for lunch

After lunch Richard launched in his Discus.  Richard pushed out over Blackdown but didn't manage connect with any lift.  But that didn't stop him from approaching low over the end of runway and conducting a perfect spot landing and rolling up adjacent to the launch point (Ed: Richard, you weren't aware but Andrew marvelled at your performance and asked how that was possible in a GRP glider).  Perhaps Richard's spot landing prowess was compensation for the shortest flight of the day so far, at nine minutes.

Richard readies for a launch and a spot landing
(Ed: Look at the shape of those wings and the winglets)

Phil and Robin went again in the Twin Astir to be followed by Adam in his yellow K-6 aka "Woody".  The Twin Astir was back on the ground in 12 minutes but Adam managed a respectable 15 minutes.  Alas a later third attempt by Adam resulted in a six minute circuit.

The watery sun and streaky sky say “It’s a circuit for you Adam”

Richard tried again and by sheer perseverance climbed.  The maximum climb rate on his averager was a measly 0.8 knots (Ed: That is just 80 feet a minute).  By the time he had finished his climb he had drifted over the moors to Two Bridges (Ed: That is east of Princetown).  This resulted in a long push back into wind to get back to the airfield after 36 minutes aloft.

The top cloud cover was now complete and not helping the thermal activity.  The occasional glimpse of a watery sun didn't presage an improvement in the soaring potential either.  So it was time to pack up and put the kit away ready for another day.

At the end of the day, after winching throughout, Ed Borlase drove the tractor for the first time and managed to reverse the tractor and the winch into the Motor Transport hangar (Ed: Well done Ed!  And thanks for winching us today).

The eight flights today totalled two hours 27 minutes in the air.  Not bad for an ad hoc team of Sunday Soarers on an autumn day.

Gavin Short