Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 26th July 2023

When I arrived members were beavering away to get the kit out and go flying in the short weather window that was forecast before the rain set in.

After deliberation on the wind direction and strength the Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, decided that we would take a single K-13 and a single K-8 to the west end launch point.

 

I took the opportunity of a partially unpacked hangar to apply TESA tape to the edge of FGR's canopy following the recent crack repair.  Better access will be required to finish the job i.e. when the hangar is properly empty.

FGR looking a little smarter

Wednesday Wavers eager to get going after observing the weather flight landing

A weather check with Phil Hardwick and a training flight with Matthew Stone showed that the cloud base was just 700 feet AGL and likely to get lower as the morning wore on.

The "Weather Spoons" about to launch

Matt found his flight a useful demonstration; how quickly you can be enveloped in cloud, how judging a turn and levelling the winds is challenge in cloud, and the safe us of air brakes to descend when in cloud.

Getting CCY ready for Mike and Matthew Stone to fly

"Take up slack"

How low is the cloud base going to be?

Not very high must be the answer as they swoop in to land moments later

The moors ahead are starting to be covered in cloud

With the cloud base limitation we didn't launch the K-8 but gave Steve Fletcher a "go around" practice break as part of his Introductory Flight Pilot training.

Steve Fletcher brings Mike Jardine safely back to earth after a simulated cable break

Our morning trial flight, although cancelled, came up for a look see with family since they live close by in Mary Tavy.  Phil, today's rather underemployed Basic Instructor, gave them a good show around and introduction ready for a better flying day.

So with the training shifting to launch failures John Allan was next to try his hand.  As well as the launch failure it had been a while since John had flown in a K-13

It was decided to give Matt a "go around" simulated cable break. The rain almost put paid to that but we managed to squeeze in a minute of flight before we stopped flying for the day.  The first flight took off at 0939 and the last at 1057.  This meant that the aircraft were packed away and the Duty Instructor could start his lunch in the club house at his preferred time of 1130.

Lots of things can be said about the Wednesday Wavers but one thing that is true is that they are eternal optimists.  Despite each K-13 flight reporting a lower and lower cloud base and soon limiting the flights to simulated cable breaks Malcolm strapped himself in the K-8 and willed the cloud base to lift so that he could launch.  Alas King Canute did not prevail on this occasion and after a long time in the cockpit he finally stepped out into the drizzle and helped return the K-8 to the hangar.

Malcolm Wilton-Jones exits the K-8 after his long "flight"

Malcolm, the "Man of the Match"

Unfortunately, not all flew inducing Mike Bennett who was winching throughout.  After lunch, work was progressed in the hangar, club house, workshops, and the west end launch point ready for the time that we can fly again.

In Summary: We made the most of a narrow weather window making five flights as the cloud base got lower and lower.  In a similar fashion the flight times got shorter and shorter.  Total flight time for the day was 13 minutes.  But the Wednesday Wavers were happy to fly after a wet and soggy, non-flying weekend.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 19th July 2023

The weather gods appear to be looking on the Wednesday Wavers favourably today. Rain overnight but a nice north-westerly/westerly breeze forecast with some reasonable soaring to be had.  Our privateers thought so too and fielded a DG300, a Discus, an Open Cirrus, a Std Cirrus WL, a Std Cirrus, a Mini-Nimbus, a Kestrel, a Libelle, and a K-6.

Hugh, the duty, IFP had a busy day scheduled with four visitors for trial flights.  On the other hand Mike Jardine, the Duty Instructor initially had just one trainee David Moorley to fly.  David's flying was less rusty than either David or Mike expected. 

We had a walk in from Cornwall Flying Club (power planes) who operate out of Bodmin Airfield to have a look around, prior to coming back at a later date to fly a glider.

The presence of the privateers didn't put off John Smith and David Archer taking a launch or three in the club K-8.  On John's final flight he was rewarded with 35 minutes of soaring.  By 1245 nobody, including Mike Bennett in his K-6 (Ed: Its for sale!) was staying up so I happy to continue launching gliders at the winch.

From the winch's viewpoint we seemed to operating in a big blue hole with few managing to stay up.  The sky to the north east over the moors looked glorious which was forecast to be a blue hole and not us! Later Mike Bennett relieved me on the winch while our Duty IFP continued to launch our visitors into the sky.

This is the sky that got the privateers rigging

The second wave of the privateers rigging

Pilots waiting for conditions to improve

The grid starts to form at the launch point. Andy decides to test the conditions

After lunch we welcomed Ella back after her GCSEs and a family holiday.  Despite the lay off she showed the Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine that she had not lost her touch by soaring for 30 minutes on their last flight.

Ella climbing well in 2 knots to attain 1,600ft

The cloud base starting to rise as the afternoon continues

The airfield viewed from the east (Ed.  In the north-westerly breeze the hot spot seemed to be over Mary Tavy) 

An enticing cloud street but there is a K-8 and a DG300 on approach.  Can you spot them?

Mike and David Bouchier in K-13, FSD watch Gavin join them in his Standard Cirrus

What of our busy IFP today?  At his own admission Hugh's IFP duties this year have been plagued by poor weather and cancellations so it was a delight to see him flying a full day of visitors today.

First up was David Cleeve who had driven up from Cornwall with his wife.  His daughter was unable to fly so Dad took a turn.  Two turns actually.

David Cleeve receives his certificate from Duty IFP, Hugh

Hugh's second visitor was James Richmond who enjoyed a two flight voucher which included some extended soaring.

James looks delighted with his gliding experience with Hugh.

Third up was Sam Gardiner, a local lad from Plymouth, who came to Brentor with his family.  Sam enjoyed a extended soaring flight with Hugh, who had to work hard in the conditions.

Sam receives his certificate (Ed: that sky that they have just enjoyed looks lovely)

Hugh's fourth and final visitor today was Owen Roberts who had enjoyed a military career as a parachute instructor that culminated in commanding a multi-disciplinary Adventurous Training unit that included gliding.  Alas, he never got a chance to try gliding so he was finally able to do so with us today.

A relieved Hugh with Owen Roberts, that Owen didn't decide to step out and try one our our new parachutes (Ed: He said he wouldn't!).

Flying continued until 1800 with Rick flying with David Moorley for a hangar landing.  Our CFI had made a guest appearance with the Wednesday Wavers and also flew his Standard Cirrus, and conducted some IFP training with Steve Fletcher.

Forty-four flights today made by three club gliders and nine privateers. "Man of the Match" was John Allan in his Mini-Nimbus for a flight of 2 hours 19 minutes, followed by Peter in the Kestrel with 1 hour 7 minutes.  There was a very creditable 41 minutes by the Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine who look off late in the day in the Standard Cirrus he shares with Rick.

It was a challenging day despite the promise of good soaring conditions.  The low cloud base over the airfield put paid to that.  However, It was good training trying to thermal in difficult conditions in the close proximity of other gliders.  FLARM in the club and private gliders emphasised the need for a good lookout by all pilots.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 16th July 2023

As our normal Sunday Duty Instructor, Peter, was away at the Fairford Air Tattoo we welcomed Mike Sloggett, from Devon and Somerset Gliding Club, today.  But would we fly? As ever for UK "forecasts may vary".

When I arrived Phil and Steve Fletcher were already getting the kit out.  The temperature was just 13C.  No "Europe's on fire!" at Brentor today.

When Mike Sloggett turned up there was a pause before Adam, Ed, Valerie, and Matt arrived.  After a pitch inspection and a discussion of the latest predictions of when the trough, and the expected rain, would come through (1300) it was agreed that the anticipated low cloud base and gusty conditions would not be suitable for trial flights.

“The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is.” - Yoda

Reluctantly we cancelled our three visitors and invited them to rebook. We look forward to seeing them soon.

The cloud base promised a weather window to go flying (Ed: So why are Ed and Matt just nattering rather than getting the gliders to the launch point?)

Sheer luxury at DGS.  I had my own driver to take me to the launch point (Ed: Or rather Gavin and Steve take the flying gear to the launch point)

After a weather check flight by Mike and Valerie showed that the cloud base was high enough for us to fly Steve went soaring in the K-8 for a "Man of the Match" busting 22 minutes. 

Ye olde K-13 weather check flight!

A high final turn

For a short period in the sky looked promising and Steve grabbed his chance

Steve returns to earth in FXB

Following a phone call from home Steve had to head back to Grenofen to free a squirrel that had got itself caught in a rat trap (Ed: Such are the tribulations of life in the country). Steve rejoined us later after the drama had played out.

Just two gliders were needed at the launch point today

Despite the rain to the south east Mike and Matt took two training flights.  After Matt's first flight out came Mike's "nifty black suckers",  a cunning designed piece of rubber to cover an altimeter or Air Speed Indicator. In this instance Matt would be denied the use of his altimeter.

I took a flight in the K-8 before there was a pause for another band of rain coming through.  We took the opportunity to show a walk-in family who were thinking of purchasing a trial flight for their mother/grandmother.  Adam demonstrated a winch launch to our visitors. After a show around we managed to get the prospective trial flight candidate in and out of FSD's cockpit to enable a test "fitting".

Valerie launches Gavin in FXB whilst Matt prepares for his second training flight with Mike

"All out! All out!"

Gavin climbs to 1,350 feet in FXB

The lone pilot and the lone tree.

Following Adam's flight Ed noticed that K-8 had a problem with its ASI which was stuck above zero when stationary.  A gentle blow into the pitot tube raised the speed indication to 30 knots and stayed there.  As our Bronze C candidates all know an ASI, as well as the input from the pitot relies on input from the two statics (vents).  Once the drops of water that had accumulated by surface tension on the static metal "plates" were wiped away correct operation was restored.  He then took a flight.  The ASI worked correctly and he didn't have to employ any techniques counter an incorrectly operating ASI.

I took over the K-8 from Ed Borlase and conducted my ABCD checks.  I suppose I should have anticipated that our young hipster photographer would want to add another letter or two to the ABCD mnemonic for me. In this case "Y" for yaw string. Ed had evidently been littering in the circuit.  So with the next band of rain coming in I launched without it.  Despite that important instrument I still managed to soar for nine minutes.  After my hangar landing we packed the hangar.

Back in the club house Valerie redeemed herself by making a decent cup of tea.  It hadn't gone so well in the launch point earlier in the day with out-of-date powdered milk (Ed: But you were all terribly polite about it).

Earlier, whilst we were flying Richard drove up the airfield and took his trailer back to the west end and the hangar. It transpires that after his competition at Bidford more welding is required to make it roadworthy. (Ed: So if the trailer is empty and the floorboards are up where is the Discus glider?)

The "Monolith" returns to the club house car park

After "we stacked" and the gliders were put away a few tasks could happen inside the club house.

 

The out-of-date air chart on the clubhouse wall was replaced with my air chart from last year.  There is another recent chart in the club house to replace the one in the launch trailer at the west end (Ed: Do we want an air chart at the east end launch point? If so where?)

Matt asked Mike about aero towing and received a tailored one-on-one lecture. Meanwhile, I loaded up my recently delivered Bronze C lectures on "Instrumentation" and "Key operating procedures" to the club laptop.

So in amongst the low cloud base and showers today we managed ten flights.  All who wished to fly did so (Ed: Thanks to Phil and Adam for winching).

Mike provided training flights for Valerie and Matt. Also he provided Steve with more back seat flying experience in anticipation of his IFP assessment next week, and ground school training for Matt. Thank you.

We must have done well as the transmission of the day's flight log was seen by Treasurer Andrew "Night Owl" Downing who was roused from his slumber to see "what's occurring" (Ed: Said in the vernacular of Barry Island) at the club.

Shortly afterwards we departed, leaving Adam to continue to work on the rudder of the SF-27A before it returns to service.

The air temperature had risen to a sweltering 15C (Ed: So there was no sign of Cerberus here then and even less at Lamerton stores where the temperature dropped to 14C) as I got in my car after shedding my winter waterproof.

What will Wednesday bring the Wednesday Wavers?

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 12th July 2023

Whatever the forecasts predicted today it was worse in real life.  Approaching the club I could see that Brentor Church was lost in the clouds which extended down into the valley blanketing Mary Tavy et al. Stepping out of the car at the club it was immediately clear that a thick shirt and fleece today were not enough -  it was decidedly chilly.  Has winter arrived in July?  Then the rain started.

So tea first and then members attended various jobs around the club. 

Steve Fletcher flashed up the generator so that he could use the simulator to practice aero towing from the rear seat prior to his forthcoming Introductory Flight Pilot assessment at North Hill (Ed: That's Devon and Somerset Gliding Club to you Andrew.  Andrew observed that glider pilots have an annoying habit of referring to the airfield location rather than the club operating there.  It could be worse; "I refer you to the honourable gliding club of Torridge and West Devon", aka Brentor!).  Steve also reread the guidance on aero towing in the Student Pilot's Manual and Bronze and Beyond (Ed: Now at the 30th edition).

"What? The tug released me!" (Ed: Question for our pre-solo pilots: Why couldn't Steve be flying like this in real life?)

Mike Bennett headed off to exchange our empty Calor gas and Flo-Gas bottles, sadly without success.

Warning! DGS Tea making is at risk. We are down to one method of boiling a kettle.

The new supply of  soaring hats, despite the inclement weather, were flying off the shelves with Mike Jardine and Dave Archer purchasing one a piece (Ed: Members can pay by BACS or on a flying fees envelope indicating that you want the £9 price to be charged to your flying account).

In the Motor Transport Hangar work was under way on the new winch.  The refurbished gearbox had been fitted previously.  This was the opportunity to fit the modified gear selector fork and button up the gearbox.  The specially made spacer wasnt required but it was good to be prepared.  Then the mechanical team (Phil, Peter and Richard) turned their attention to the commissioning of the brakes.  They had success with the brakes for the left and right cable drums but the prop shaft brake proved to be more of a challenge.

(Ed: Despite searching likely places we couldn't find the Sky Launch Assistant which is the display that indicates the launching glider's speed for better winch speed control. It had been removed from the Gus launch.  If you know, please tell the new winch team of its whereabouts.)

Not two "Jags Prescott" but "Three winches DGS"!

A withering look from Phil! "Have you got anything constructive to say Peter?"

Richard concentrating harder than in a Bidford regional gliding competition on bleeding the brakes

"This winch business requires a lot of thought"

In the main hangar I carefully applied fresh perspex glue to the canopy crack by the rear DV (Direct Vision) panel in K-13, FGR.  Later Colin added a small piece of  an old canopy to strengthen the repair so this crack, which was made before DGS owned the glider, won't open up again.

David Bourchier started preparing the new winch drogue chutes that Scratch had delivered earlier in the week whilst in his self-imposed period of purdah (Ed: Scratch, get well soon).  Following discussions and inspections by Colin, FXB now has a battery installation with XLR connectors.  That's four out of five in the hangar that have been so converted.  CCY was also to have been converted today but on closer inspection the cable run from the front instrument panel to the battery could do with replacing so the work was postponed.  More connectors and fittings are on order so that the remaining batteries in the Tech Office can also be converted.

The tenth club glider battery, that has been missing for a long, long time, was found today (Ed: It's amazing what you find when conducting an annual inspection of a private glider).

The rain has stopped.  A gas less Mike Bennett considers his new trailer and the need for some strimming at the east east trailer park to allow for the repositioning of glider trailers from the west end glider rack.

Steve Lewis and Mike Jardine kick off the Zugvogel IIIB's Annual Airworthiness Review with a spot of cleaning  (Ed:  The Zug needs to get out of its trailer more often as "Sunlight is the best disinfectant", with acknowledgement to Louis Brandeis, 1913).

The Zug's annual inspection gets serious as Colin inspects the tailplane after completing the first wing (Ed: The 17 metre wings are a tad heavy).

Dave Archer started an investigation into a suspected defective battery in one of the air band radios but was then seduced by the prospect of flying to go and clock up his 31st and 32nd solo flights (Ed: Bravo!).

The Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, coerced enough bodies to take a K-13 and a K-8 out of the hangar and go flying, with pilots weathering continuing sprinkles of rain.  Mike had a relatively light loading today; no trainees, one prospective IFP to fly, and one solo pilot to supervise.  So Mike had a chance to make a solo flight in FSD.  Hugh, today's duty IFP had an even lighter load as our three visitors, two after consultation, cancelled due to the weather.  They will rebook when the outlook is fairer (Ed:  How much fairer do you expect it to get? We are in July).

The rain showers held off long enough to conduct a daily inspection on K-8, FXB before proceeding to the launch point at the east end

Mike Jardine and Steve Fletcher prepare for their third IFP training flight of the day

Steve Fletcher, IFP trainee, launches Duty Instructor Mike Jardine into a soggy sky (Ed: It can never be said that DGS pilots aren't determined to fly)

Later Richard demonstrates to Steve Fletcher how to soar from the back seat

This being July in the West Country you have to be able to soar in the rain too.

Its amazing what you can see amongst the green Devon fields

Dave Archer offers a cable to John Smith in FXB

And up he goes into an unpromising sky that would produce 13 minutes of flight

Following another shower John Smith squeegees the wings prior to Martin Broadway taking FXB aloft

The sheer delight of the Duty Instructor as he gets to fly solo in K-13, FSD

Despite no visitor flights today the duty IFP, Hugh Gascoyne still gets to fly

Summary:  DGS members made the best of the day whether constrained by the weather earlier in the day or whether keeping a lookout for weathers at the launch point later in the day. In this part of the world the lead wether often isn't equipped with a bellwether "so when flying its important to keep a good lookout!"  Overall today, I feel that we weathered the cold and inclement July weather which showed that the Wednesday Wavers aren't just fair-weather friends!

Flying summary: Thirteen flights included four IFP training flights of which one was a practice launch failure. There were five soaring flights and John Smith was "Man of the match in first place (14 minutes) and in second place (13 minutes).  Special mention should go to Richard for soaring the K-13 the longest (12 minutes) in spite of the talking ballast in the front seat.

Gavin Short