Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 9th August 2023

Today I was late on parade due to a meeting at Coethele National Trust property that ran on. I shouldn't have worried as the cloud base at Brentor was low and it was drizzling so I wasn't missing much. When I finally got to the club the Wednesday Wavers were at the east end, having fielded a K-13 and two K-8s. Despite the low cloud base, they had started flying temporary member Graham Bassett with Mike Jardine.  Graham had flown with us on a trial flight in May and had come back to make use of his three month's membership (Ed: Did he think that the weather was going to be better in August?).  He enjoyed a set of three flights, one of which was a soaring flight, and then left the site with his family just as I was arriving.

A misty start with no sight of Brentor church

Later the church of St. Michael de Rupe peeks through the tree line at the west end of the airfield

Two K-8s fielded at the east end of the airfield

Around midday the cloud base had climbed to 1,000 feet

Various pilots tried their hands whilst waiting for the conditions to improve.  Mike Bennett took a check flight (practice break) prior to flying his new Libelle.

The new kid on the block: A 205 club Libelle. The differences from a normal Libelle are; high wing, T-tail, non-retractable undercarriage, larger cockpit, and a hinged canopy (Ed: So completely different from a Libelle then, really!)

Mike and Hugh, proud owners of their Club Libelle (Ed: Their very pretty K-6, FUB is up for sale)

The launch point on a "quiet" Wednesday

We welcomed back Canadian visiting pilot Roger Spall who flies both powered aircraft, gliders, and is a friend of Phil Hardwick. Roger was was visiting family in UK.  He took two flights with Mike Jardine and helped at the launch point and ferrying visitors around before heading off the next day to Italy prior to returning home to Toronto (Ed:  A normal day at Dartmoor International then!).

Visiting Canadian pilot Roger Spall gets reacquainted with a K-13 prior to his flights

Despite the cloud base slowly rising there were still patches of low cloud

No sign of the horizon

The lack of a horizon made speed control challenging

Later in the afternoon breaks in the cloud and occasional glimpses of the sun saw a scramble for the single seaters both club and private.  Mike Bennett and Hugh had their initial flights in their Libelle.  Type conversion, especially when its your new acquisition, is always a nerve-racking affair.  With time, practice, and familiarity both Mike and Hugh will wonder what all the fuss was about (Ed: Keep at it! DGS members are ready to support you throughout).

Syndicate teamwork; Hugh waits to offer up the cable after Mike completes his pre-flight checks

"Cable checks, please"

Mike readies for launch; "Does my bum look big in this Libelle?"

A more conventional view of the Libelle's launch

Hugh gets ready to have a go (Ed: Note rear hinged canopy)

A Hugh brings the Libelle back to earth; Initial impressions - "Its slippery, light, handles nicely, but the trailing edge air brakes aren't as effective as those on a K-6".

Steve Fletcher underwent more IFP training which involved more practice launch failures (Ed: Good luck next Wednesday at North Hill. Fingers crossed).

Mid afternoon we welcomed new junior member Matthew (14 yro) and his family who had come up from Plymouth.  Matthew had recently enjoyed a week's flying at Sutton Bank (Ed: For the "Night Owl" that's Yorkshire Gliding Club) launching by both winch and aero tow in a K-21 for a total of 2 hours flight time.  Buoyed up by the experience and not deterred by a week of mostly poor weather in Yorkshire he decided that he wanted to join his local gliding club - and that is us! Welcome to Dartmoor Gliding Society, Matthew.  We hope you make the most of your summer holidays with us.

New junior member Matthew is ready to fly a K-13 for the first time with Instructor Mike

After three flights Instructor Mike recounted how they had conducted coordinated turns and after four attempts Matthew had successfully mastered the trimmer (Ed: Great progress Matthew).

Wily Pete (no not Willy Pete, that's something else entirely) took a crafty little launch and managed to soar in K-8, GDK for 14 minutes to claim "Man of the Match" (Ed: Interestingly the only other two soaring flights were at the start of the day.  Conditions can be fickle on Dartmoor).

Back at the hangar, Sean Westrope had co-opted Colin to inspect his new (to him) K6e (Ed: That is the all-flying tail version of the K6).  They found quite a few issues to keep them busy today and over the next few days.  Colin and I considered the intricate instrument panel and agreed that this the first time that either of us had seen a remotely operated McCready ring (a geared extension rod) on a mechanical variometer (Ed:  Our Bronze C candidates would benefit by having a look at it and consider its operation in indicating the "speed to fly").  The wings have yet to be inspected (Ed: Fingers crossed).

Today would have been a good winter's day of flying. Shame that it's almost the middle of August!  However, we achieved 28 flights having launched the first one at 1240 and the last at 1840, so not too shabby considering the number of practice launch failures carried out.

Gavin Short