This is an addendum to the normal Wednesday Wavers' blog. Richard and I went on a mission today. It was a leisurely 1000 start from Richard's house, compared to my early morning start yesterday to collect the Puchacz. We headed to Nympsfield which is home of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club for a 1300 rendezvous with two of the syndicate partners who were traveling from south Wales with an Astir CS77 single-seater GRP glider for us to view.
The team from Wales arrived 30 minutes early and after introductions we drove to the club's, very POSH, glider rack and rigged the Astir for inspection (Ed: Nympsfield has a glider rack with well spaced trailer slots, some sitting on a small patio (flag stones), electrical hook ups for dehumidifiers and battery charging amongst other amenities that DGSites can but dream. Although I didn't note a Costa Coffee outlet either in the rack or at the clubhouse so it wouldn't suit some).
Apologies for no photos of us rigging of the Astir CS77 (Ed: Did you really think they were going to take photos and risk invoking the CFI's and Safety Officer's ire for being distracted during rigging? You have got to be joking!)
After derigging and placing the glider back in its box we retired to the clubhouse. The cafe wasn't open but the seller had brought coffee makings with him so we enjoyed those whilst Richard and I perused the paperwork. All was in order. After finishing our coffees a deal was done and hands shaken.
After going back to the rack and hooking up the trailer to Richard's car I excused myself to go and shamelessly ogle the gliders that had just landed. Two Discus 2 C Turbos and one Discus 2 C FES (Ed: Front Electric Sustainer. They were all very beautiful 18 metre ships and were a reminder to buy my Euro millions ticket this week!)
Richard had moved his car and the glider trailer out of the way of the pilots derigging. When I finished my ogling I saw that he and the sellers were busy checking their phones to see if the payment of the balance had gone from and to the respective bank accounts (Ed: This must be our first glider purchase exclusively by WhatsApp and mobile banking).
With that, after the obligatory photo call at the Nympsfield gate we were on the road. The trailer seemed to tow well. On the motorway Richard set the speed for 55 mph and later progressively increased the speed to find the sweet spot that proved to be just under 60 mph.
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| The white combo was so long I had to cross the road to take the departure shot. |
So for those of you eager for a preview:
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| This was the advertisement on giderpilot.net that caught Richard's and my eye. |
The trailer had been extensively rebuilt 10 years ago with new metal work from shoulder height down. The floor had been 3/8" plywood but the seller wasn't happy with it and replaced it with 1/2" plywood this year and also remade the tracks, guides and fittings. Some three month's work. Scratch will be happy (Ed: I am sure that you can find something for him to do!).
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| The new floor is fitted |
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| Trailer fittings start to go back in |
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| The outside of the trailer was painted on the hottest day of the year (Ed: Are you sure this is Wales?) |
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| Even the wheels look spiffy (Ed: A rarity amongst glider trailers) |
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| The shiny bits ready to go back into the re-floored trailer (Ed: Good to see the glider still sporting the original Grob paint scheme) |
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| The cockpit featuring the original 70s era decor (Ed: They did things differently in Germany then. Modern safety dynafoam has been fitted underneath in lieu of the original Grob cushion material) |
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| The pilot's view. (Ed: The panel has been recut, rebuilt, and professionally wired up) |
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| In its natural element |
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| G-DDNE has taken part in competitions and many cross country flights (Ed: So who is going to fly it to North Hill for their 50 km award and part of a silver badge?) |
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| Warning: An unattended open canopy (Ed:These three photos were not taken at Nympsfield. So which runway/club is this?) |
The glider is safely located at Brentor having positioned it next to the fence in the dark with the use of head torches. We just have to wait for the weather so we can derig a K-8, rig the Astir, and accommodate it in the hangar (Ed: You might want to fly it too!). We also have to ensure that the Astir's battery connections are compatible with the rest of the DGS Fleet, its batteries, and the charging station.
This was second exciting step for DGS in two days (Ed: I have still got that Debbie Harry song reverberating around my head). A big thank you to Richard for driving today.
Gavin
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