Dartmoor Gliding News-Thursday 1st September 2022

It's Thursday.  So the "Thursday Tinkerers" will be out tinkering until the Duty Instructor arrives at 1300.  Right?  Not a bit of it.  When I arrived there was a hive of activity.  Club gliders were out having their daily inspection.  The winch was also out and ready, and the launch hut at the west end had been set up (Ed: I am starting to get an inkling of what is going on here).

The DGS fleet arranged for their Daily Inspections with
the quad bikes ready to take them to the west end launch point
(Ed: Ahh!  This is another clue as to what is about to happen)

Indeed, last night Richard shared the SkySight forecast for the morning on the DGS WhatAapp soaring group.  Wave!  "I love the smell of Wave in the morning” (Ed: With acknowledgement to Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now”).

SkySight showing a band of lift just to the west if the airfield.

Now the privateers were rigging: Kestrel, Open Cirrus, and two K-6s.  At the east end a Discus, a DG300 were rigged and the Twin Astir emerged from its T‑hangar.  The rest of us contemplated making tea and pondered the wave bars over the site.  

The SkySight prediction comes to life with the first wave bar over the east end of the airfield

The “glass” privateers start to rig with the wave evident behind them

Then the “wood” boys get out their toys

Rigging for the wave

At the club house Richard's trailer was discussed (Ed: One can hardly miss it!).  Adam and I were at the club on Wednesday admiring Scratch's ability to weld new steel to rust.  Just as with the restoration of classic cars restoring older trailers involves cutting out much more rust than one expects.

In terms of duration on the site, DGS’s very own monolith now rivals that of Stanley Kubrick’s
(Ed: As in “2001: A Space Odyssey”)

Let’s get going.  I found myself on the winch.  Engine warmed up.  Radio check. 

The only thing that was missing was my cup of tea.  To get up to the winch promptly I had to leave it at the club house.  I added two sugars to the freshly-poured cup and took it to Colin who was already hard at it working on the trailing edge of CCY's wing in his workshop (Ed: There’s dedication; keeping the fleet available for use whilst there is wave in the offing.  Thank you Colin, from all of us).

First to be ready to launch was Peter Howarth in the Kestrel.  Zero wind at the windsock and the launch end.  There was a medium northerly crosswind at the winch end.  So what is the rotor going to be like?  Three wave bars were visible from the winch.  One to the east and two to the west.  After thinking about it and gauging the gaps between the wave bars Peter took a launch.  Peter’s concern about potentially launching into cloud was unfounded as the cloud base was considerably higher than it looked (Ed:  It was probably the very dark grey of the wave bars that caused the illusion).  I lost sight of him immediately after he released the cable at the top of the launch and so did the launch point, but "Glide and Seek" reported him at 2,800ft AMSL and climbing at 2.9 knots, so all was well.

Peter’s view of the secondary (left) and primary (right) wave bars after his launch

I wonder how far south this wave bar goes (Ed: If in doubt, ask Richard)

After his flight Peter reported: 

"My flight was 3 hour 9 minutes (according to my logger).  Highest height achieved was 5,000ft AGL.  According to Google Earth the total distance covered was 310km (a little high I feel).  After launching I climbed in the secondary wave and spent some time between Tavistock and North Brentor.  I decided to try and transition to the primary wave and did so without losing much height.  The rest of the flight was spent on a north-south beat between Horrabridge and north of the A30 at Sourton."

Richard launched in the Discus, followed by Steve Fletcher in the Open Cirrus, quickly followed by Adam in the K-6, BVR, aka "Woody".  

Richard reported that his one hour 52 minute flight involved exploring the primary wave bar which extended some 36 km from Sourton to Ivybridge.  His technique, once he had achieved sufficient altitude, was to speed up until the variometer read zero sink and run along the front of the wave at speeds between 80 and 90 knots.

Richard surfs the primary wave, heading back to the north after turning at Ivybridge
(Ed: A black glare shield is so much classier than your previous carbon-effect sticky-back plastic one!  Remember, one should surf in style).

Steve Fletcher’s view from his Open Cirrus of the secondary (on the left) and primary wave (on the right) bars (Ed: note the east end of the airfield is visible between the two wave bars

When I drove up to the launch point in the retrieve with the next set of cables I saw that the Libelle was being rigged and that our Chairman had arrived to see what all the fuss was about and how five gliders were aloft before 1100.

Then Phil in the DG300 launched.  Six gliders were aloft.  Well, not quite.  When delivering the next set of cables I found Hugh Gasgoyne in K-6, FUB, at the launch point, eating a banana and looking a bit sheepish.  He had encountered 5 knots of sink in the "down" wave and so was back on the ground after just four minutes. 

On returning to the winch, which was now in shadow, it was clear that the primary wave bar had moved west and was now over the site.  After launching Malcolm and Robin in the Twin Astir, Hugh had another go.

Then Chairman Steve in the K-8 followed by Martin Broadway in the Libelle.  Whilst waiting for the Libelle to launch Richard landed in the Discus.  Adam called me in the winch to see if he was needed on the ground (Ed: How very considerate).  John Allan then launched in the club K-8 for just shy of four hours.  Then Steve Lesson took over from me on the winch to release me for my IFP/BI duty.

Hugh’s view of the primary wave bar, over the airfield, from the K-6’s, FUB, cockpit

Hugh’s view of Dousland with, what he now knows is, Burrator Reservoir behind
(Ed: Shame the visibility was too murky to see Sheeps Tor)

John Allan’s view from the club K-8, GDK, of
Hugh Gascoyne in his K-6, FUB, heading towards his five hours

During the day the wave bars moved west across the airfield, visible centre right

A winch driver’s delight; eight privateers aloft and an empty launch point

The hurdle fence tells the story, all those gliders are airborne

The Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, arrived at 1300 and so visitor and trainee flying could begin.  With no pesky privateers to get in the way in the launch queue it was quite straightforward to keep the launch rate up!  (Ed: Providing you remembered to come down for your next visitor).

Our first visitor was Guy Sergeant who had come up from Tavistock.  He had been to the club before but had his flight cancelled, whilst he was strapped in the cockpit ready to launch, as the Duty Instructor declared that the conditions on that day had become too turbulent for visitor flying.

So turning to today.  I was concerned that history might repeat itself that the (forecast dying wave) conditions would leave residual turbulent rotor, which is not good for flying visitors.  However, Steve Lewis told me that the conditions were pretty benign and so with that we took a launch.  After a fantastic extended flight (Guy’s two flights were merged in to a single flight) he experienced great wave lift and had plenty of time to be introduced to the effects of the controls and try them for himself.

Gavin and Guy Sergeant in deep discussion about Guy’s certificate

Eventually they look up to the camera!

Then Mike started working through his list of trainees; Paddy Cosgrove, Steve Lesson, Mark (new solo pilot) Elliott, and Robin Wilson (for some refresher training) (Ed: Robin, so over two hours in the Twin Astir wasn’t enough today?)

The Twin Astir went up again with “The Two Malcolms” for a further two hours 14 minutes following its initial two hours 10 minutes with Malcolm W-J and Robin.

Paddy Cosgrove climbing at 6 knots through 2,700 feet to top out at 4,000 feet
(Ed: Paddy is this your first taste of wave?)

Paddy and Mike at 4,000 ft QFE carefully watch Guy Sergeant and Gavin in FSD
passing to starboard and below them.

Steve Lesson marvels at the “wall of cloud” beside him and Mike Jardine, at 4,000 feet.

Our second visitor, Seth Colvin came with his mum, Nicky, from Brixham with his two flight voucher.  With Mum watching Seth and I launched.  When I had transitioned into the climb we experienced a cable break (at the winch) from which I conducted a classic land ahead recovery.  Andrew Downing was on hand to reassure Nicky that her 18-year old son, currently heading downwards over the crest of the airfield was perfectly normal and under control (Ed: Which indeed it was).  So after a long walk up the field in humid conditions we took a second flight and managed to convert Seth’s two flight voucher into a thirty-minute flight where he too had a chance to enjoy the wave.

Marine engineering student Seth Colvin and Gavin before their first flight
(Ed: A one minute cable break doesn’t count as a visitor’s flight)

Seth receives his temporary membership card and certificate from Gavin
following their wave flight

Just before Seth and I launched for a second time Adam snuck in a second flight of exactly one hour in Woody, to complement his earlier flight of two hours 32 minutes  (Ed: I think Adam is gaining a reputation as a “lift magnet”.  Stand by Malcom W-J you may be dethroned soon!). 

Hugh Gascoyne landed after a full five hours aloft and stated “I couldn’t feel one of my buttocks” (Ed: Is Hugh auditioning for the role of Forrest Gump in the DGS Christmas pantomime?).  However, no special congratulations were in order as Hugh had already achieved his Silver duration in a club K-8 at Enstone in 1996 (Ed: As the average glider pilot doesn’t have enough fingers and toes for this calculation, I’ll do it for them: It was 26 years ago).  That notwithstanding it was a good demonstration to John Allan and others how it’s done.  Preparation is the key and of course a comfortable safety cushion.

Cleaning out the cockpit
(Ed: Hugh advises me that his in-flight plumbing works well, fortunately!)

Our third, and final visitor today was Michael Whitmarsh from Tavistock.  His flight voucher was a birthday present from his daughter who lives in nearby Brentor and often sees us flying.  He had tasted a flight in a glider both at Perranporth and RAF Chivenor, the latter with the Air Training Corps, back in the 70’s  (Ed: I see you took a little poetic license in deciding that a couple of flights 50 years ago didn’t count as prior gliding experience).  So this was a chance for Michael to go soaring, and in wave, in the 21st Century!  And so we found a little wave at the end of the day (Ed: You obviously weren’t looking hard enough because Mike Jardine and Robin Wilson found it after your flight and it was still working well.  Buck up!).

Michael Whitmarsh prepares himself for his flight with Gavin.

While the visitors were being flown Mike Jardine’s trainee flight were all of a half hour or longer (Ed: You must be rattling through the syllabus with your students).

Mike and Robin’s view of the airfield from 4,000 feet.

Whilst we were waiting for Mike and Robin to return from the final flight of the day (31 minutes showed that the wave was still working) we had a chance to reflect on the gift that Mother Nature bestows on DGS pilots, namely the euphoric feeling of soaring in wave.  Thank you, Gaia, we had a great time (Ed: Gaia was the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life, similar to the Roman Terra Mater (mother Earth)).

The post wave euphoric “Chill” outside the clubhouse

“Man of the Match“ was Hugh with exactly five hours.  The following enjoyed flights of an hour or more: Peter, Richard, Steve Fletcher, Adam (twice), Phil, Malcolm W-J with Robin, Martin, John, and Malcolm W-J with Malcolm Roberts.  Congratulations to all.

We made 21 flights today; flew three visitors and made four DGS trainee flights.  Total flight time for the day was: 32 hours 40 minutes giving an average of 1 hour 33 minutes per flight, which included my one minute cable break.  Did everyone have their fill (Ed: I think so).

Special mention goes to Andrew Downing who didn’t fly today, due a prior arm injury.  Andrew helped on the ground, escorting our visitors to and from the entrance to the launch point, acting as a STEM Ambassador (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and keeping the “DGS machine” running smoothly (Ed: Get well soon so you can continue your flying training).

And so ended a great wave day at DGS that was experienced by all who flew.

Gavin Short