Today's forecast was for dry weather albeit with a south-easterly veering southerly crosswind that might be out of limits, but it would certainly be gusty. Regrettably, not the required conditions to deliver the two scheduled One Day Courses so they were cancelled. But on the plus side the Saturday crew could get some flying done on one of the few dry days expected in November, albeit in challenging conditions.
I had an errand to run in the morning so when I arrived, a little later than normal, the decision to cancel the two ODCs had already been made. The winch was out on the field and the other equipment was arrayed ready for use as normal. But there was a strange stasis about the scene and the members. After I appended my name to the flying list I was informed that both of the serviceable K-13s had been taken off line. There were problems with closing the canopy on both aircraft. Colin, our BGA inspector, had been asked to come up to the club. So there would be a pause...
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Freshly laundered glider and canopy cleaning cloths ready to be returned to the club, and the launch point support trailer, following their extensive use by the Wednesday Washers
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Gliders are living things and can react to the local weather conditions. An obvious one being the moisture which can cause a number of effects including changes in the canopy fit (Ed: This also happens with GRP gliders. The Twin Astir syndicate experienced this recently. I have also experienced this. A carefully fitted replacement canopy worked well in a continental climate (Mid Germany) but in a temperate maritime climate (Dartmoor) on warm, sunny days the canopy would not close). On reflection this shouldn't have been unexpected as this was the first time we had operated our two "new" gliders from Eden Soaring in the autumn. Although we bought them last December we didn't get them on line until the spring this year.
So while we waited for Colin's arrival the members' attention, albeit a little half-heartedly, turned to jobs that could be done.
One was retrieving the fuselage of CLT form the east end (Ed: The fuselage lying across the back of the pick-up certainly was a novel arrangement but it was prompted by an unroadworthy trailer. I am sorry it wasn't caught on camera). The fuselage has been stored in the Chairman's ex- Jantar 1 trailer at the east end for many years. The wings and fuselage had been scrapped but the fuselage had been offered to a local Scout group for conversion into a flight simulator. After a lot of negotiations the Scouts didn't want it so its time to dispose of it.
Some were preparing for the Committee meeting planned for the evening. Dave Archer was working on radio antennae. And of course, there was tea drinking accompanied by a veritable surfeit of jammy doughnuts supplied by various members.
The pause provided an opportunity for ground school training for junior Ella, with
her Dad listening in. The in-flight exercise for Ella today should have been launch
failures, but the strong cross wind made it unsuitable for her first attempts
at this important exercise.
Whilst waiting, Adam turned his attentions to K-13, FSD's canopy which, with a little cleaning of the operating mechanism and re-greasing, returned its operation to normal (Ed: FSD's canopy locking mechanism is strangely sensitive to the correct level of lubrication).
Then Colin arrived. FSD was quickly cleared as serviceable and was taken to the launch point at the west end and instruction commenced. FGR's canopy did, as suspected, need some major fettling. Adam and the Chairman set to with a sanding block, and lots of elbow grease, to achieve a much improved fit. It took quite a long time to achieve (Ed: Thanks for the perseverance). When they finished Colin applied a coating of dope to seal the exposed wood of the canopy frame.
A short distance away on the hangar apron Steve Lesson wielded a can of white line paint to renew the "Bourchier
line" (Ed: Used for guiding the gliders on to the correct spot on the
hangar apron). He then set about the steps leading down to the hangar.
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| Adam Hoskin and Steve Lewis fettling K-13, FGR's canopy to ensure a good fit. Note the "Bourchier line" in its repainted glory. |
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Winter's coming. The edges of the hangar steps were also repainted to aid with safety.
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Inside the hangar the glider tyre cabinet was receiving a clear out and a drying. Somehow there had been water ingress into the cabinet which had never been seen before. A stock take was completed and some replacement tyres and inner tubes will be ordered next week.
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Little things. We have managed to standardise on a single tail wheel tyre size for the K-13s.
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During the annual inspection of CCY and GDK it has become clear than we need to order some spare parts; sleeved bearings and aileron hinges. During the day I was in contact with our supplier in Germany.
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This is a K-13 aileron operating rod bearing. Replacements are being ordered from Germany.
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With the hangar empty CCY's wings were laid out and sprayed with UV protection paint and two coats of under coat. Adam tried his hand at spraying the undercoat (Ed: It looks very smart). The club compressor initially didn't work until Dave Bourchier discovered that the thermal trip, hidden behind an access panel, needed to be reset.
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Post application of Ultra-violet resistant paint and undercoat CCY's are stored upright. The Chairman and our BGA Inspector discuss the next step to get CCY back in service.
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Now to the flying. First up was Mike Bennett for a couple of currency circuits with Rick, in the turbulent conditions. It was obviously pretty turbulent as I was duly summoned from the hangar. An experienced pilot was required (Ed: Why did the Chief Flying Instructor ask for you then?) for a weather check flight in the K-8 to determine if the conditions for were OK for solo pilots to fly the K-8. After an exciting flight in all sections; launch, downwind leg, approach, and landing, with an accompanying high work rate throughout the answer to the question was a resounding "No"!
Back to the K-13 where Steve Lesson made further progress in progressing to solo during two short flights. The turbulent conditions provided him good practice in both approach control and landings in the cross wind. There was also time for Rick to demonstrate a spiral dive to Steve. John Allan then flew with Rick twice for some currency in the turbulent conditions. He was followed by Ella who is gaining confidence in handling the controls, able to hold an increased bank angle, and experienced the effects of the air brakes at differing speeds in pair of flights.
David Archer was moved up the flying list and had to stop his work on VHF radio antennas to guarantee his flights, which were excellent: good circuits and good landings. But not before he had managed to the check the antenna installation on Andy Davey's and Martin Broadway's Libelle.
The CFI commented "All three pre-solo trainees made excellent progress today in turbulent conditions and coped well with the challenge of the low cloud base" (Ed: Well done all. Sometimes the best progress can be made on mediocre days).
Scratch was relieved on the winch by Mike Bennett. Scratch took a pair of flights with Steve Lesson. Then we moved on to request flights. Ged was given a simulated power failure at 500 feet. His syndicate's Twin Astir is away in Swindon for re finishing and so, sensibly, Ged wanted to remain current. He responded to the power failure exercise by conducting an abbreviated circuit to land safely.
Ella had another flight with Rick and then Steve Lesson also took a third flight with Rick to bring most of the trainees up to the optimal "set of three" package of flights for learning.
The day had started out sunny then clouded over, which had brought the turbulence as we started to fly. When the wind was more easterly there were a few clues that wave might be forming. A number of pilots thought they found some (Ed: Is this a case of pilots' optimism overcoming the reality which was borne out by the short flight times recorded in the tower?).
Andy and I then flew. FGR's canopy was closed and locked easily during our pre-flight checks (Ed: Thanks Adam and Steve for a job well done), Andy, in the front seat, acted as a spotter for any sign of lift after a great 1,450 foot launch. To be different we turned left, downwind, towards Blackdown where we found some reduced sink and we hoped for a longer flight. However, when we turned back to the airfield we experienced 8 knots of sink as we scuttled home across the valley, and landed after just 6 minutes of flight.
"Man of the Match" was Adam who achieved 7 minutes flying FGR. Despite the naysayers saying that it was easy to stay up when flying a K-13 solo (Ed: You have big wings combined with a lighter wing loading when flying solo) he proved them wrong by taking a second flight and staying up for 8 minutes. The last flight of the day was John Allan's third with Rick.
Today the flight times were short. We made 20 flights; a total of 87 minutes which equates to four and half minutes average. That's what you get on a south easterly day in November which are arguably our least favourable flying conditions at Dartmoor Gliding.
So faced with the cancellation of the One Day Courses, weather that could be out of limits for crosswind, and potentially no K-13s to fly, a lesser mortal would have headed home. But, as is often the case with gliding, a unexpectedly useful day's flying in challenging conditions was had by all which increased pilots' experience and maintained their currency for when the wind decides to go round to the east (Ed: The Dartmoor wave season is approaching).
As the day drew to a close the wood burner was lit for Committee members who had started to arrive for their meeting. The equipment and gliders were packed away quickly and the meeting was able to start promptly at 1700 (Ed: I am sure you were all glad of that as the meeting lasted over three hours!).
Tomorrow's weather forecast was for more of the same but with sunshine. A fantastic chance for both solo pilots and trainees to take advantage of the break in the November weather; and for Peter and Richard to deliver that training and a One Day Course. Good luck to all.
Gavin Short
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