Happy New Year to all our Dartmoor Gliding blog readers. You may have noticed the dearth of blogs last month. The reason (Ed: It surely doesn't need an explanation) is that the weather has been truly appalling as most of the country has witnessed. It has been heart breaking to have to turn visitors away on multiple occasions. We will get to fly you!
Amid this frustration our illustrious CFI recognised the need for members to remain current so he hatched a plan with the CFI of Seahawk Gliding Club, which is based at RNAS Culdrose, near Helston. The plan was to continue to build our experience of flying a GRP two-seater glider - a Puchacz, the same as we have on loan from the Royal Navy. The Assistant Category and Full Category instructors were to take aero tows to 4,000 feet and put a Puchacz through its paces for stall and spins. Other members could improve their experience of both the Puchacz and learning how to auto tow (Ed: A launch method consisting of a Ford RAM 250 pick-up truck with a huge diesel engine, 1,750 ft of lightweight cable, and the lion's share of a 6,000 ft tarmac runway).
Saturday 6 January 2024
Today John Allan drove Dave Archer and Mike Jardine to Culdrose for their training. Dave on auto tow, Mike for spin training, and John declined the auto tow and opted to increase his experience and currency by opting for an aero tow.
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| Gliders being brought to the grid. John Allan pushes the Junior (a Polish single-seat trainer) forward |
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| A promising sky developing |
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View of the launch point bus set up on Runway 06
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Despite the low cloud base the sky looked good
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Dave Archer ready for his auto tow in the Puchacz
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John accepting the the tow rope for an aero tow
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| The launch marshal checking "above and behind" prior to launching John on an aerotow behind a Super Dimona motor glider |
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| John on tow heading North |
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| A well stocked hangar but Dave Archer (right) naturally gravitates to the familiar - a K6 |
Sunday 7 January 2024
Peter and Gavin drove down to RNAS Culdrose together on the southerly route whereas Malcolm battled with the A30 road works. That notwithstanding we arrived at the main gate at about the same time. Not much had changed at the air station in the two decades since I had flown here last.
After a site brief, a cup of coffee, an auto tow brief, and a stall and spin brief for Peter, we went flying. During the second brief we were asked whether we had auto towed before. Me: "Yes, twenty years ago here and at RNAS Yeovilton in a Puchacz, a Junior, and my Standard Cirrus". Malcolm: "Yes, forty years ago in Singapore in T-21s and T-31s!"
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| Malcolm and Peter enjoy being driven to the launch point whilst drinking their cups of coffee (Ed: Don't get used to this boys!) |
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| Malcolm runs through his checks before flying with SGC Instructor Steve Moore (Ed: In the back seat) |
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| The Puchacz sits on the nose wheel even with Malcolm's weight (Ed: Which is a consideration as part of the launch) |
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| And Malcolm is off and about to balance the glider on the main wheel when he gains elevator authority |
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A shiny launch bus. The old double decker was a rare one and was taken back by the bus company and Seahawk GC got a newer one in exchange (Ed: A bargain except for no generator to make a brew...gaspers!).
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All decked out with logos
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The Super Dimona motor glider ready to take Peter and Chris Bryning to 4,000 feet.
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Peter took a 4,000 foot aero tow with Chris Bryning to be put through his paces. They were too far away for any decent spinning photos but it was a dramatic sight!
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| Of course DGS flights were shoe-horned in around SGC training flights. This is Liam about to auto tow and then soar to 3,000 feet for 41 minutes in January on his ninth flight (Ed: Outstanding!) |
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| Steve Moore tries the front seat to allow Gavin to fly from the back seat which will be his normal position when he returns to Brentor |
Steve demonstrated the auto tow launch to Gavin and then a landing on the grass between runways 11 and 06 which proved to be very boggy (Ed: So not much difference to Brentor then). Gavin then flew the next two flights landing on the threshold of Runway 11 and the threshold of Runway 06, the latter following a disappointing 750 ft launch in the increasingly lighter wind.
The day was drawing to a close and so it was time to pack up the toys.
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A darkening sky
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| The auto tow launch vehicle (Ed: its got a very big diesel engine under that bonnet) |
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Packing up is by hand - winding the launch cable on to the drum
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The hangar packed. Seahawk Gliding Club has 2/3rds of the hangar
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| And shares the hangar with some hi tech F35Bs (Ed: Even if they are just deck handling training models rather than the real thing) |
And so it was time to go home.
Uncharacteristically my driver refused the Seahawk CFI's generous offer of a beer (Ed: Maybe next time). With that we thanked our hosts for a great day and headed back to Plymouth.
Looking ahead to Wednesday
The Wednesday Wavers are keeping a close look at the RASP and Skysight forecasts. After some dry weather and a steady North Easterly breeze we have our figures crossed to be able to fly at Brentor on Wednesday.
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| Meanwhile on Dartmoor (Eylesborough mine) on Sunday things were developing |
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A second wave bar
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| Brentor is back there somewhere, perhaps under the third wave bar |
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| The view from Mike Bennett's house in Plymouth on Monday afternoon |
Gavin Short
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