I drove to the club with "It's the final countdown" (with acknowledgement to the 1989's Swedish rock band, Europe) ringing out loudly to celebrate the final appearance of the "Thursday Tinkerers" (Ed: You don't have any in car entertainment so does that mean you were singing! I trust that no sheep or cattle that you were passing were hurt by your morning antics).
The forecast looked good for tinkering: Strongish, humid, cross wind from the south, very low cloud base all day (Ed: The latest RASP forecast was for the cloud base to be1,000 feet above sea level). But not so good for flying. Still there was plenty of wood in the wood store for the wood burner if we got cold (Ed: Unlikely with the warmth coming up from Spain).
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| The morning view of the moors to the east. Later they would become completely obscured |
That left the AMF trailer to work on and accordingly the Fleet Manager's truck (aka the MGC GT) was carrying lengths of box steel of various profiles and gauges, wire brushes, Kurust, Hammerite (Ed: I have never seen that colour (muted clay) Hammerite before, did it fall off the back of a lorry?), and lots of 1/2 inch paint brushes. The plywood floor in the trailer had been lifted and Scratch was at the "Alert 5' with the grinding and welding gear.
Sticking with the day's Swedish theme Phil and I went to the east end and brought his "Swedish" trailer (Ed: It is a unique shape) back to the west end and placed at the top of the glider rack.
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| A Swedish trailer that houses a formerly Swiss-registered glider, now residing on Dartmoor (Ed: Very multi-culty!) |
Meanwhile Scratch was busy cutting out plenty of rusty steel from the AMF trailer. He came up for air and told us that the AMF would be a bigger project than anyone expected. Time for a mug of tea and a rethink.
Meanwhile Colin and I, discussed the recent BGA audit, which was favourable. The report is currently in draft but we have a way ahead for all the pickup points. The maintenance team is due to meet on Saturday to agree the DGS response.
Colin set his able helper, John Smith, to prepare and apply dope to CCY's wings and elevators prior to painting them.
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| Where is the Church? The cloud base was definitely lower that 1,100 feet QNH of the top of the church. RASP had the forecast nailed |
Mike Jardine arrived and handed me a Borgelt B400 electronic vario. The club is purchasing this vario from the Standard Cirrus syndicate to replace the defective Cambridge Aero in the panel of K-8, FXB. When I got home I tested the vario; it was working correctly. To test a pressure transducer vario you switch on the backup battery pack, connect the external loudspeaker, and run up and down the stairs. I was rewarded by gleeful bleeping, the 20 second averager lights, and the needle following my movements. That's how sensitive a modern design variometer can be (Ed: I take it your family hadn’t arrived home to witness your antics?).
After lunch the CFI, Rick, arrived at the club to listen to our Assistant Category Instructors practice their ground school lectures: landing; spinning, and approach control in preparation for a five-yearly assessment that will be held at our sister club, the Devon and Somerset Gliding Club, at North Hill (Ed: Good luck guys). I sat in on some of the lectures which was good preparation for the BGA Teaching and Learning Zoom seminar that I am participating in over the next three nights, which is the first step in my journey to become an Assistant Category Instructor… Whoo hoo!
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| Looking towards the South East and the scudding clouds (Ed: So this is where the monolith has ended up) |
At 1530 we had some late visitors arrive for a junior two-flight air experience at 1600. Unfortunately they hadn't phoned the club beforehand to check that we were flying today. The cloud base was now just above Michael de Rupe church and low clouds were scudding across the airfield, while the moors to the east were barely visible through the murk. So I didn't have to explain very hard why we weren't flying today. So you would expect us to promptly turn them away. Not a bit of it; I gave a guided tour of the site and the facilities, an introduction to the glider and its controls, and answered probing questions about water ballast and the different types of lift glider pilots can exploit (Ed: It’s amazing what you can learn from YouTube). Euan Train we look forward to flying you when you have rebooked.
After saying farewell to our visitors, the instructors concluded their briefs, and locked up the club. We said a final farewell to the "Thursday Tinkerers" on a slightly subdued note as despite having achieved much in the day, there had been no flying.
Finally, in case anyone hasn't got the message; from 1 November mid-week flying is reverting back to Wednesday. I am looking for a new group name for the midweek fliers. So far I have had one nomination: The "Wednesday Wavers" (Ed: That's an optimistic name, for sure). What have you? Answers on a postcard please.
Gavin Short
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