The Met Office had issued a Yellow weather warning for the South West today; Wind and heavy rain. They weren't joking.
I arrived a shade before Peter and this was the scene (Ed: See below) at the main gate as I opened up and let him drive in. Then generator on, kettle on, and wood burner lit whilst we waited for Mike Jardine, the Duty Instructor.
Yesterday, Mike and I cancelled today's visitor flight which was apposite as Philip Bindon was due to travel from Weston-super-Mare to be with us. Philip, we look forward to meeting you when the weather is a tad more clement.
On Mike's arrival there were no trainees to receive ground school training so the three of us conducted some advanced ground school: 1) Current BGA licences versus the New Sailplane Licences and the significance for instructors; 2) Preparations and experiences of Assistant Category BGA Instructor training; and 3) A discussion, and a show and tell, on the operation of the Centre of Gravity hook (Ed: Or "release" in TOST language) operation, namely a TOST G 88. The latter topic is worth a lecture in the New Year for operators (Ed: You mean pilots then!) and maintainers alike. There was also a continuation of the discussion held last Wednesday when Don Puttock visited.
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| There was a lot of surface water coming off the field |
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| And plenty coming out of the drainage pipes and into the culvert that runs beside the road |
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| Fuselage work. The new plywood sheets are just visible. |
Cleaning continued and the seats and the battery shelf were re-installed. Instruments were checked for accuracy. Mike conducted a squelch (Ed: This is a proper technical term: Squelch is a circuit that suppresses the output of a radio receiver if the signal strength falls below a certain level) setting survey to improve our radio performance. He was partially thwarted as FSD's squelch check would have to wait until the front instrument panel was reinserted to allow electrical power to be routed to the radio.
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| Peter checks for any play in the aileron hinges of FSD's starboard wing |
Colin did allow us a lunch break and we had a chance to speak with an old band member of his, Gareth, who had seen Colin's van on the apron when passing and called in. Earlier Richard had arrived with his glider trailer and slotted it into the glider rack following some tlc up country. Before that our Field Treasurer, Robin, had arrived to get the latest data he needed to prepare the flying accounts at the end of the month. Andrew, our Treasurer designate, and was given a detailed background on the ways of the DGS Committee (Ed: Was Andrew still awake by the end?). He made an erudite observation on the volume of tasks, many unseen, that had to be undertaken by many individuals to make the club work. Some are conducted on site, away from the airfield, but many are conducted remotely to keep the gears of DGS turning.
Back in the hangar other gliders received some love. The battery retaining bar in K-8, FXB was insulated with heat shrink to improve electrical safety (Ed: In the same way you don't want to drop and spanner across the terminals of your car battery you don't want to allow a metal bar to touch a glider battery terminals). CCY's radio microphone bracket was closely examined and a simple, but effective, improvement was agreed.
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| Obviously the Fleet Manager didn't get the memo on car colour for next year. |
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| Richard rests after giving Andrew, our new Treasurer to be, a Vulcan mind meld to transfer the strategic plans for DGS |
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| Peter continues his wing inspection of FSD; tap, tap, tap! |
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| Peter reaches for that elusive bolt while Colin checks FSD's rear altimeter and ASI for accuracy |
By 1500, we had had our fill of jobs so it was time to lock up and wend our merry way home whilst wishing for fairer weather in the New Year. So today it was the Wednesday Whittlers who were, piece-by-piece, getting the jobs done to keep us flying. Bravo Zulu to all involved (Ed: The combination of the Bravo and Zulu nautical signal flags, i.e., Bravo Zulu, also referred to as "BZ," is a naval signal, typically conveyed by flaghoist or voice radio, meaning "Well Done" with regard to actions, operations or performance).
Saturday 31 December will be the last DGS flying day of the year. See you then.
Gavin Short
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