A mildly enthusiastic forecast had the privateers rigging today. Alas, I was the Duty Basic Instructor and my dance card was full with five visitors scheduled, so I couldn't rig. The visitor numbers for today had crept up over the last few days now that the sun has come out (Ed: Long may it continue).
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Early risers! Privateers ready to rock and roll.
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Ten members attended the morning brief; light southerly winds, Merrivale range active, launching from the east end, and RASP was showing 2 stars however the consensus was that the "top cover" (Ed: High cloud that would prevent the sun from heating the ground) was a concern.
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Out comes the Mini Nimbus
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| The "flappy" boys engage in a little show and tell |
With the privateers rigging, other club members prepared the Puchacz, a K-13, G-CFSD, and the ASTIR CS77. I took the opportunity to remove the two small access panels on the nose wheel of the Puchacz to have a good clean out of the mud and grass (Ed: Hopefully we don't need to do that again for a while). It proved to be an easy operation; a great design by PZL/Allstar gliders. Thank you. The main wheel has greater access and was straightforward to clean without removing any access panels. The recently re-seated tail wheel tyre was clear of grass. Positive checks done, Daily Inspection booked signed, let's go flying.
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The mighty Kestrel (Ed: All 19 meters of wing span) arrives at the launch point
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First up to fly with us today was Peter Holloway who hails from Bath but was enjoying a holiday in the local area in his motor home (Ed: A timely booking Peter. We hope to see you again).
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Peter Holloway, our first visitor of the day ready to fly with Gavin
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John Smith runs the wing for Peter's first flight
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The southerly wind, although light, was only producing launches of 900 feet that increased later in the day to a whopping 1,000 feet. Finding any thermals was a inevitable challenge (Ed: And don't go north. There be sink!)
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Peter receives his three-month temporary membership card and a DGS Certificate
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And still the privateers arrive. Phil with his DG 300
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Next up were work mates, Andy Kendrick and Shaun Kelley, from Barnstaple. They work in a factory that makes medical filters (Ed: So you couldn't find a witty connection to gliding. You are slacking!). Andy had always wanted to try gliding and Shaun agreed to support Andy.
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Mike and Andy Kendrick ready to fly
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Andy's work Colleague Shaun Kelley ready to make his first flight with Gavin
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That didn't stop both of them enjoying their flights. The Duty Instructor, devoid of trainees (Ed: David Moorley is recovering from an operation on his wrist and nobly manned the tower for the whole day), jumped at the chance to fly Andy.
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The certificate hand over to Shaun with the Astir CS77 as the back drop
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The drogue parachutes make a statement. Slava Ukrani!
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Mike demonstrates a spot landing to Andy
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We then had some more trade for Mike in the form of Royal Navy veteran, Peter Washburn. A naval communicator who served, amongst other drafts, in the RN COMCEN (Ed: Communication centre) at Mount Wise, in Plymouth. He and his wife came for a "look see" a while back and then he bought a two flight voucher, booked on line, and they enjoyed a very pleasant spring day with us.
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Peter Washburn sets up his GoPro to record his flight (Ed: who said than only youngsters can handle technology?)
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Wings level. Mike Jardine about to take would be power-pilot Peter Washburn aloft
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John Smith took some more flights in the Astir CS77. Unfortunately, the first was a self-induced launch failure which John handled well. On the next flight, determined to do better, he made the soaring flight of the day of 11 minutes (Ed: Shouldn't that be averaged out across his two flights to 6.5 minutes?)
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Its almost three o'clock. Time for Andy's afternoon nap.
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Due to a late minute cancellation there was a pause in the proceedings. I handed over the Puchacz to the Duty Instructor so that David Archer could continue his glass conversion flights.
Eliza Sale was my last visitor today. She had made the long trek from her parent's house in Peter Tavy, down in the valley, to fly with us. The flight voucher was a present from her Dad to mark a change in career path from supporting the film industry to horticulture (Ed: She means gardening). She lives in London and enquired about gliding clubs in the vicinity of London (Ed: London Gliding Club at Dunstable or Booker Gliding Club at Booker for choice).
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Our final visitor of the day, Eliza Sale ready to aviate
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Eliza told me that her Dad had also bought a flight voucher for her mum, so we look forward to seeing Eliza's mum on Sunday (Ed: Eliza's Dad: Keep hitting the "Buy a Voucher" button on our website!)
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Eliza was obviously very happy with her flights today (Ed: Complete with some photos on the air to show her parents that she flew!)
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Malcolm, who had watched and waited, chose his moment and flew a six minute circuit to a hangar landing. The "Liftmeister" confirmed what the privateers already knew. The top cover had killed any chance of soaring and they made preparations to take their steeds back to the trailer park and derig, having not flown. Peter Howarth hangar landed the K-13 as did John in his Mini Nimbus. Mike Bennett chose to tow his Club Libelle back to its trailer having made a couple of circuits earlier in the day. Colin arrived at the launch point, after working on FXB's wing, and flew with Mike Jardine.
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Colin gets to grips with the Puchacz (Ed: Colin you do know its made from glass fibre and not wood don't you?)
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| The instruments sum up the day's conditions |
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The Puchacz was abandoned, "somewhere on the airfield", after Colin's hangar landing
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So the day didn't live up to the forecast. The top cover won. Although it was quite warm the sun couldn't heat the ground enough to produce any usable lift. Most of the privateers didn't try a launch after carefully watching me trying to soar with the visitors. But we did achieve 24 flights. John Smith, David Archer, and Colin increased their experience of flying "glass".
Gavin Short
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