Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 1 May 2024

The Wednesday Wavers assembled to find that they had no visitors and no trainees on a  perfectly reasonable gliding day.  The privateers had obviously read the optimistic forecasts as there was a slew of gliders being rigged.

After everyone had rigged Colin called for some assistance to shuffle K-8, FXB bits.  FXB is undergoing an annual inspection and Colin wanted to make a start on some repairs to the port wing.

What of the plans for the day? 1) Conversions to glass for John Smith.  2) Back seat currency for Hugh. 3) Getting Malcolm solo in the Twin Astir again.

 

DGS pilots must know something about the weather today

Privateers rig

And are pushed back to the fence when ready

The Duty Instructor views an optimistic rigging area when he arrived on site

And noted that gliders were already at the launch point

John "Cool hand Luke " Smith poses with his steed for today
(Ed: And is perhaps mindful of a greater ambition)

But first you need to conduct a Daily Inspection before your imagination runs away with you

Soon there were ten gliders at the launch point;  three club aircraft, and seven private.  We almost had another but David Archer's addiction to fettling his Ka6-CR, DHEB prevented him bringing it on line (Ed: There was a half-hearted excuse of shorting out a main power switch I but I know Dave has a greater understanding of electronics than to have done that).
 

The day was thermic by 1100. After Mike and Hugh had proved it was working nicely Andy took a launch.  Glide and Seek showed him climbing at 3.7 knots.

 

Hugh eager to build up back seat currency with Duty Instructor Mike Jardine

The first launch of the day was to 1,200 feet

The Duty Instructor notes a developing sky

A brightening view from the east of the airfield

Hugh keeping current in the back seat for 24 minutes

Andy planned to go cross country and his chosen task was Tavistock-Launceston-Eaglescott-Tavistock.

Andy, obviously very happy to receive some sage words of advice from the "2024 BGA Instructor of the year"!

The Open Cirrus arrives at the launch point (Ed: how heavy is Steve's Open Cirrus if it needs a massive SUV to drag it into position?)

The sartorial elegance of a glider pilot (Ed: Don't forget your parachute Steve)

At the other end of the airfield where all the action happens

The lone tree and the Open Cirrus, the latter in the climb on the wire

Steve climbed to cloud base and reported very strong lift (Ed: I think he was the only one who found it.)

The view of the airfield from the west

Steve's view from cloud base (Ed: Who are you trying to impress with using a camera setting to produce "the curvature of the earth"?

The retrieve team in action

In between the privateers' flights John Smith flew in the Puchacz with the Duty Instructor for three flights which included a practice launch failure.

The Kestrel 19 on the approach

 Mike Bennett brings his Club Libelle back to the airfield

Later, after lunch I took the K-8 up for a longer flight to practice my speed and bank control, course reversals, and general handling skills.  The lift was working better to the north of the airfield (Ed: As Steve had found) where I climbed to cloud base at 2,800 feet, with the XK10 peaking at 6 knots on occasion.  The cloud top cover on the south side of the airfield provided more testing conditions and hence the need to hone one's thermalling technique.

Hugh readies himself for a launch in the Club Libelle
(Ed: I've given you bigger wings in the photo to see  if you can achieve more than a circuit!)

We had a first at DGS today.  John Smith, converted to glass (GRP) in the club Astir CS77 (Ed: This was the first glass conversion at DGS in a DGS club glider.  All previous conversions had been in private glass gliders or had been conducted offsite).

John looks very pleased to be in a glass machine (Ed: SF-27A anyone?)

The Kestrel 19 sporting her new all weather nose cover (Ed:  So no more beautiful embroidery on display of the glider's registration then?  Although I will grant you that Vertigo covers are a bit posh!)

In the afternoon we got a call from Andy. He had landed out safely in a field east of Lydford and needed retrieving (Ed: In 2024 its no longer a telephone call to the launch point to report in and give the latitude and longitude or grid reference, but a WhatsApp message with one's location in what3words, even to the extent of giving the location of the gate to the field).

John Allan hooked up Andy's trailer and headed off to get him.  The Libelle only needs one retrieve crew because its so light.

 

Andy had set himself the task: Tavistock-Launceston-Eaglescott-Tavistock.

 

This is his recollection of the flight:

 

Although this was the task I had planned but was not sure if it would be possible looking at the weather.  I took the second launch of the day and immediately contacted a thermal and climbed to cloud base at 1,800ft, so not good enough to go cross country.

 

I explored the sky for a while then manged a climb to just over 2,000ft and crossed the start line heading to Launceston.  I turned Launceston at 2,500ft and headed towards Eaglescott.  When I passed Roadford Reservoir I had not had a decent climb since Launceston,  and with a foreboding sky in front of me I decided to abandon the task.

 

My flight computer said I should get back to Brentor at minus 12 feet so one small climb and I would be home.  I headed for the first likely looking cloud.  There was nothing.  Then the second cloud.  There was nothing. The flight computer now said that I would arrive at Brentor at minus 320 feet. I was now looking at fields just 7 km from Brentor.  At 1,200 feet I had chosen my field. There was just one more likely looking cloud and the vario flicked to 1 knot of lift but as I turned the vario showed sink. Overall the trend was down. OK, lets land.

 

On the downwind leg there was 2 knots on the vario. As I turned for the diagonal leg the lift immediately went to sink and so I continued the turn on to the base leg, then finals to complete the circuit to land.

Andy's Libelle looking resplendent in his chosen field (Ed: Looking at the view of the northern moors you can see that his field isn't that far away from Brentor)

John Allan collected Andy and returned him, and his glider, to the club.  Club flying had continued without interruption in their absence.

When we came to pack up we were interrupted.  K-13, FSD had obviously had a sulk at the Puchacz getting all the attention and decided to deflate its main wheel.  Colin in his van pumped it up but on the cross track leading to the hangar apron it deflated again.  So a decision was made to change the wheel, for one of the ready-made-up spares, on the track.  Complications with angles, heights of raising, and the uneven track meant that it was a protracted evolution.  Thanks to Peter and John Smith it was finally changed (Ed: And the sum total of the Fleet Manager's paltry role was to make the teas and coffees and offer the workers a small pot of grease).

The Karrimat came in useful for alfresco wheel changing as Peter gets to grips with the problem.

Shades removed, John Smith also gets stuck in to the FSD main wheel change.

The Wednesdays Wavers are back in action: 27 flights and over 9 hours of flying; Malcolm cleared solo in the Twin Astir again; several more members getting to grips with the Puchacz; John Smith achieves the first DGS transition to glass; a cross country, a land out, and a retrieve by Andy; and a nice pootle about in the K-8 for me!  This is despite the optimistic forecasts being quashed by the persistent top cover preventing direct sunlight falling on the ground.

Andy's cross country achieved "Man of the Match" with a flight duration of 2 hours 38 minutes followed closely by the "stay high over the airfield" efforts of Steve with 2 hours 23 minutes.

Gavin Short