Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 28th January 2023

The weak remnants of a frontal system are overhead today. This has given 8/8th cloud cover. The wind is very light from the north to absolute calm. Flying conditions are smooth the downside of which means no source of lift. A good day for practicing cable breaks and circuits. With both Mike Jardine and Rick Wiles on the airfield today we were able make best use of the 2 K13's

Mackenzie Maclauchlin ready to fly with Mike

The most notable flights today included instructor revalidation flights with Mike Jardine, Steve Lewis and Dene Hitchen ( Scratch ).  Mark Elliot used the conditions to convert to the K8, his first single seater.

The K8 waiting for Mark Elliot

Then came the main event. Steve Lesson took his first solo flight today. This is a big step in every pilot's flying career. Well done Steve.

Steve Lesson getting ready for his first solo

All out and ...

.... off he goes

Steve receiving his wings fron CFI Rick

A great training day.  36 launches achieved.  A first solo, 3 instructor revalidations and an aircraft type conversion.  

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 25 January 2023

The weather gods were teasing us after two flying days by presenting us with a grey and damp Wednesday.

To be fair, Skysight had been forecasting today's weather consistently for a while; the dew point temperature and the air temperature would be over overlapping each other for most of the day.  And so it was; misty and foggy driving in from Cornwall with the River Tamar obscured by fog looking across from St. Anns Chapel and when descending in to Gunnislake to cross the New Bridge (Ed: That's a bit of a misnomer as the bridge was built in AD 1520) I was greeted by a wall of fog.

But as I approached the gliding club Brentor church became visible above the fog.  The runway was clear for about an hour until the Duty Instructor, Mike "Jonah" Jardine, arrived and conducted his pitch inspection. Then the mist and then fog rolled in and stayed there the rest of the day. 

This is the tantalising sight that encouraged Mike to go and inspect the airfield (Ed: In the end it was just a  piece of "Fool's Gold").

When the dew point altitude is less that the altitude of the airfield you get this throughout the day

Lots of jobs were soon under way after members had been suitably fuelled with tea and doughnuts.  Trailers were moved into position, or repositioned to the east end, to improve access and make ready for a new glider that is expected on site in February.  All I can say now is that it is glass, it is very shiny, and it has flaps (Ed: Oh, you tease). After these trailer movements the DGS trailer map was updated to allow our treasurers to collect the correct amount of trailer rent.

Our new (Ed: To us) winch was also repositioned in anticipation of fitting the repaired gearbox when it arrives in February.

A optimistic privateer airs his trailer

The main job today was filling a large skip with all the accumulated scrap and to get it taken to Sanders and son, our local scrapyard (Ed: As well as paying us for our scrap metal the scrap yard is a known thermal source not far from the end of the runway).  This work was directed by Mike Bennett, our site manager, who separately took a load of aluminium to the scrap yard in his van.  There was a sweep stake on how much weight in ferrous metal we had actually collected.  (Ed: Hopefully we can publish the results next week).

After a lot of work we filled the skip.  So how much in kilograms (Ed: Kgs, because we are all thoroughly modern at DGS) of ferrous metal did we collect?

The debris by the skip was not broken glass but inch-thick ice.

Meanwhile some of our trainees enjoyed another cup of tea and a ground school lecture in the club house (Ed: I note that conveniently the wood burner was chucking out plenty of heat by then!).  It was good to see logs being moved to the ready use locker outside the clubhouse from the log store (Ed: I have seen the forecast cold snap in February so we will be ready).

The hookloader drags the skip on to the the rear of the lorry.

In the hangar Colin was directing work on K-13 FSD, which is nearing the end of its annual inspection and Airworthiness Review Check.  There was other work taking place in the glider workshop too.

In the clubhouse Guy Balmer was getting to grips with the simulator.  It was clear that his real life training has not yet progressed to landing (Ed: Condor 2 has some impressive and realistic "terminal" sound effects).

Mike chats with the driver of the 12 tonne Hookloader "Phoebe Margaret" before he departs the site.

On the hangar apron the yellow cable trailer was washed down and one of the safety wire stays was replaced.

DGS dressmakers in action.  Colin, Hugh, and Phil (obscured) work on the fitting of K-13, FSD's new skirt

Later in the afternoon after finishing the new harness installation in K-8 GHK, and some ironing (Ed: I promise I won't tell your wife) of ceconite fabric and dope application on a repaired elevator, I ventured into the hangar to be greeting by a strange sight.  I just had to ask the question...

Q: Why is there a shoe on the tailplane of FXB? A: Because its on a trainer flight (Ed: Groan!)

The site cleared of scrap. (Ed: Its looking good).  Just some ice remains.

The winter storms have taken their toll on our ATOM antennas (Ed: The ATOM receives electronic conspicuity signals, such as FLARM, and retransmits them and also put the data on the internet for aviation applications e.g. Glide and Seek, Flight Radar 24)

The final Wednesday Workers packed up and left at 1500.  Leaving plenty of time for those who wished to partake of the wee timorous beastie this evening:  There may have been some of them scuttling about in the fog today but we didn't see them (Ed: Have you been at the whisky already?  You are mixing up your Scottish animals!).

To get those who do partake into the mood here is the first verse of the traditional address:

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm.

Fingers crossed for a weather window on Saturday to fly. (Ed: While we are in a wishing mode, and we fly German gliders, we will add the German equivalent expression "Thumbs pressed" for good luck).

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 22nd January 2023

Yes we are back. After yesterday’s first flying day of the year, the Sunday soarers were keen to get back into the air. With no planned visitors, one K13 and the K8 were taken to the launch point. First flight was myself, solo in the K13 to shake off the cobwebs ready for the days instructing. With the fence down, this enabled shorter landing runs which enabled a quicker turn around with the small crew assembled.

Sean Westrope was the first trainee in the K13 with me. Having not flown since November 2022 today was spent bringing him back up to speed with coordinated turns, trimming and speed control. Hopefully regular flying now will see him progress with his training.

Sean receiving some advice.

K13 arriving back.

The second trainee to fly with me was Matt Stone. After the first flight to get back into the swing of things it was time to put into practice some of the lectures received over the recent wet weekends. After his six flights during the day, Matt was flying the top part of the launch and also flying the approach. He achieved his first landing on the fifth flight. The last flight resulted in a launch failure which added his first demonstration of a land ahead launch failure. Well done Matt.

Matt doing his pre-flight checks.

The third trainee to fly was Robin Wilson. Three flights were spent shaking off the cobwebs and included a demonstration of what energy is available when you land with flying speed. More flare next time Robin.

Robin looking towards the snow topped tors.

A much drier airfield.

Solo pilots, Richard Roberts, Ed Borlase and Phil Hardwick took turns in the K8 to shake the cobwebs off.

Richard and the K8 returning.

Looking over Blackdown towards the northern tors of Dartmoor.

K13 in a overcast sky.

Thank you to all who were at the club today keeping things moving allowing us to get back to what we all enjoy doing.

Peter Howarth

Dartmoor Gliding News-Saturday 21st January 2023

High pressure is in charge so the seemingly endless frontal systems with their wind and rain are now just a memory. Today started out cold with a SE airflow and what looked like a cap cloud over the higher tors to the east which extended all the way to Mary Tavy to begin with. This cloud slowly withdrew to the east as the day wore on.

The Cap cloud early in the day

Cap cloud ? Easterly wind ?? Must be a wave day then. Well not exactly. There was no stable layer under an inversion low down and the wind did not seem to increase much with height. Flying, though, you could detect areas of reduced sink where the wave should be and this provided the solo pilots in the K8 some entertainment as they tried to extend their flight times. The best of these was Adam Hoskin with a 15 minute flight closely followed by 14 minutes from Gavin. Not exactly soaring, more like falling with style ( Buzz Lightyear fans please note ). The K13's only managed to extend their circuits to about 7 minutes but they did have their training exercises to do.

Who would think that this quiet launch point would produce 38 launches today? 

The airfield remained usable all day and was not as wet or muddy as might have been expected. This was just as well as by close of play we had completed 38 flights. Good going.

Gavin's Cirrus airing in the winter sun

Apart from the club training load which was relatively light today we welcomed several visitors. One Day Course candidate Robert Howe flew with me and our second One Day Course, Mathew Foster flew with Scratch ( Dene Hitchen ). We had a late visitor fitted, Valerie Keily who had a couple of  Introductory flights with Gavin.

Robert waiting to fly with the photographer ( me)

Mathew with Scratch

Valerie receives her Certificate from Gavin 

We also welcomed today a visitor from a local magazine, Rosemary Best who was visiting to put together an article about Gliding on Dartmoor. After spending lots of time taking photos and talking to members Rosemary flew with Phil in CCY. 

Rosemary waiting with Phil and ...

...off they go

Into the climb towards an endlessly blue sky

And back to the launchpoint.

A very good winter day.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 18 January 2023

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): We almost went flying.

A frosty and snowy start to the day saw members from Cornwall and Devon arrive but few from Plymouth.  It wasn't until the evening that I discovered the reason why: The roads in Plymouth hadn't been gritted (Ed: That's a genuine reason so you can stop calling them city softies now).

Approaching the club there was evidence of at least two Cumulo-Nimbus clouds (Ed: Thunderstorm clouds).  So the conditions were thermic but not in a good way.

Heading to Brentor in the early morning light (Ed: Easy driving then with no Plymouthians on the roads?)

Looking towards the moors with one of the Cu-Nims in sight

I was the first to arrive so I was on gate opening duty

A pristine white apron.  The "Bouchier line" was obscured

I know we are often critical of the weather forecast but the Met Office had the day nailed. Cold, blustery, squally NW wind with GS and SN showers (Ed: That is the Met code for "small hail and snow pellets - Granite Snow and SNow.  Fortunately there wasn't any GR; Hail >5 mm or Granite Rain)

The Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, Peter and I conducted a pitch inspection.  We encountered two snow showers, a biting wind and soggy ground where the snow was not frozen during the walk to the east end and back.  The conditions were genuinely not conducive to Robert Howe's One Day Course so I turned back back to the club house early to telephone him and cancel his course (Ed: For the fifth time no less.  What is it with the weather?).  We hope to see Robert on Saturday.

Ominous dark clouds surround Michael de Rupe church

A watery sun appears over Tavistock as the next bout of weather rolls in

Snow showers shroud the east end as the pitch inspection team approaches (Ed: Is that a lone Hugh I spy in the distance?)

According to the Met Office this prolonged spate of westerlies has been caused by the Polar Vortex some 50,000 metres above the North Pole in the Stratosphere.  There is a chance of a SSW - Sudden Stratospheric Warming that could cause some easterly winds in UK (Ed: Bring it on!) 

After the instructors returned we decided not to get a K-13 out, for members to use, for the sake of the runway.  So with Colin's arrival we set to on aircraft maintenance on a number of aircraft.  The one good thing was that with a higher dew point the aircraft didn't have condensation on them so it was easier (Ed: And more pleasant) to work on.

Lots of jobs were attended to. Some of which were captured on camera.

The Maintenance Team prepares GDK's ailerons to receive the replacement hinges which are on back order from Germany (Ed: Gosh! Its all go at Brentor International.)

Phil is introduced to the delicate art of applying Super Seam dope to Ceconite fabric on FSD's elevator.  Colin: "Use yer finger mate!"

Later in the day the snow on the apron started to melt

Out of camera shot I fitted a set of new snazzy harnesses to GDK with some final finishing off needed on Saturday.

In conclusion, we almost went flying for the first time this year but it was not to be for the "Wednesday White-outs".  The last of the Maintenance Team wrapped up at abut 1530 and enjoyed a drive home n the daylight.

Roll on Saturday.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 4 January 2023

Happy New Near from the Wednesday Wishful Thinkers for there were plenty of wishful thinkers at the airfield today.  For once it wasn't raining and it wasn't very windy but unfortunately the torrential rain over the last few weeks has left us with a very soggy airfield and so there was no consideration of flying.  So  Phil, the Duty Basic Instructor, had to cancel Robert Howe's One Day Course yet again (we will be able to fly you Robert, but not just yet, but when the weather gods allow us to).

It was to be a day of small jobs around the airfield including updating the gliding log books with the club gliders' hours and launches (despite what you might think of last month's appalling weather the club aircraft flew for over 17 hours and enjoyed 102 launches).  All of this was music to the ears of the outgoing Field Treasurer (Robin) and the Incoming Field Treasurer (Malcolm) who were conducting their handover.  Inevitably there was paperwork to be raised for FSD's annual inspection and the follow-up report from the BGA Audit last year needed to be drafted.

There was work to be done on the aircraft in the hangar but Colin was absent, laid low with a bad cold/lurgy/season flu or some other exotica.  When he answered the phone I didn't need to ask him if he was coming up to the club as he sounded that hoarse and croaky (Ed: We hope you get well soon despite the national Lem-Sip shortage).  However, we got the go ahead to invert FSD's fuselage so that the underside could be worked on.

The Libelle syndicate fettling and considering the errant tailplane bolt (Ed:  Is this a New Year's resolution by Andy to be shy and retiring?)

In the clubhouse there appeared to be few New Year's resolutions evident with jammy doughnuts and home made pasties in abundance (Ed: For those pilot's concerned with fine dining I did offer DB a plate for his "Oggie".  He didn't have to eat off a tray!)

Peter and Gavin prepare FSD's fuselage for inversion with the placement of a strategically located wooden block (Ed: How did gliding clubs manage to exist without ty-wraps)

The three wise men observe a thing of great beauty (Ed: Is Scratch strapped in there getting some more aerobatic time in?)

An action shot of Peter washing down the underside of FSD (Ed: This isn't a hairy-chested macho pilot shot - the water was warm!)

We decided to remove the main wheel which proved to be a good decision (Ed: John clearly loves getting his hands dirty!)

Elsewhere The site manager, Mike Bennett, and his workers were rounding up scrap metal for disposal at the local scrapyard (Ed: So last year's "Operation Clean Up" has left its mark on our members psyche!)

 

The Red Disco in action with a suitable trailer (Ed: Is this another trailer on site that I didn't know about?)

DB secures an impressive haul onto the trailer.  Farewell CLT  (Ed: What do you mean "Farewell CLT" you aren't old enough to remember CLT when it was flying)

Malcolm was invited to give an ad-hoc lecture on wave which was very informative. Andy Davy added an impromptu explanation of "Skew T" graphs and what they can tell us about the potential for wave.  Today's graph looked promising but with a strong wind at height from the west the "Lee wave" should be to the east of Dartmoor.  And there it was overhead Ashburton with predicted lift of up to 7 knots rising to in excess of 23,000 feet.  There was a secondary wave under the North-South A25 airway (base at FL65), but still usable.  Looking at "Glide and Seek" no one seemed to be making use of it.   Indeed our sister cub at North Hill appeared not to be flying today. Oh for a motor glider or a glider with a turbo to hop around the top of the moor and exploit the lift (Ed: Keep playing the Euro millions then).

Smiles all round in the club house (Ed: But Malcolm hasn't started speaking yet!)

Malcolm reveals his secrets: Mountain Lee Wave on Dartmoor

Which naturally led to our resident "Skew T" expert explaining the conditions that can lead to wave (Ed: there is a silver cup in shot.  Is that why the conversation turned to who was going to be awarded the wooden spoon  this year?)

With the lectures and lunch over some made tracks for home.  I for one had to take delivery of a package that the courier had apparently left on my doorstep (would I get home while it was still dry). I also had pay the invoice for spare parts for FSD, identified during its annual inspection, so that they could be shipped from Germany.

The outlook is for more mild, wet and windy weather so expect several future outings by the Wednesday workers before we get aloft in 2023! (Ed: Look on the bright side you are getting £30 off your water bill for saving water in Cornwall, so that Colliford Reservoir could refill.  That should buy you three launches).

Gavin Short