Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 28 December 2024

Dunkelflaute.  Its never ending isn't it?  High pressure over the UK with the air temperature and the dew point very close is bound to lead to foggy conditions.

Heathrow and Gatwick were fogged in today and we were NRI (No Rated Instructor).  But that didn't stop operations by Mike Bennett, DB, John Allan, Steve Lewis, Colin and I, pleased to be out in the fresh air after Christmas.

Mike took the opportunity to burn some rubbish.  After all it was the only way we were going to get a thermal today.

Dartmoor Gliding's very own "Firestarter" in action

The heat was too much for some

CCY's trailer, with K-8, GDK safely secured in it after trailer's conversion, needed to be moved to the east end.  But there were a couple of things to do first; John and Steve fitted a pair of stainless steel number plate brackets to the rear door and I removed the instrument panel and the safety cushion from GDK's fuselage.  It proved to be a remarkably easy operation as a K-13 trailer is quite spacious when accommodating a K-8, so there was no need to pull the fuselage out to gain access.

Following its conversion CCY's trailer can accommodate either a K-13 or a K-8

Trailer hooked up and ready to go, a tea break was called for, and while we enjoyed our break I colour-coded the ASI on GDK's panel.  Its becoming a recurring theme.

Tea drunk, four of us headed up to the east end with the Jeep towing the trailer.  The airfield was quite firm due to the lack of rain.  A positive point from Dunkelflaute!  The firm ground made for easy access and straightforward parking of the trailer.  On the return journey eagle-eye Steve spotted a fallen strop.  Well to be accurate he retrieved it from the open gate leading to the south field where the farmer had left it!

Trailer parked.  Now to chock the wheels

The Chairman checks the securing arrangements

This made more work for DB, in the hangar, who had been focused on the Puchacz's main wheel.  New taper bearings have arrived, unfortunately they are at Adam's house.  In preparation Colin knocked out the old outer races from the wheel.

Evidence of littering at the airfield.  These were retrieved from the fence near the hangar apron. 
The Libelle and K-6e owner will remain nameless to spare his blushes.

Then Colin, Mike and DB turned their attention to a utility trailer that has seen better days and inflated its tyres before hooking it up to Colin's Green Chariot.

After lunch (turkey and cranberry sauce rolls of course) the drizzle stopped for half an hour.  This allowed John and I to open our trailers, check our gliders, and indulge in a bit of fettling.  John wants to add an artificial horizon to his glider; an App running on a smart phone.  He needed to determine where to fit it.

All intact.  A reassuring sight after the recent storms

Yes, John is in there.  Steve provides helpful location and fitting advice.

Meanwhile Mike got the hoover out in the clubhouse.  Careful, Val might object!

The drizzle started again.  The trailers were duly closed.  Mike and DB had already departed, as had Colin, and I followed closely after that which left the die hards (Steve and John) to secure the airfield on completion of today's operations.

 

With that Dartmoor International ceased operations for the night.  Heathrow and Gatwick eat your heat out!  A strange comment perhaps.  As way of explanation my neighbour's husband's flight to UAE from Heathrow was delayed by fog today.  She couldn't understand it as she saw me leave home this morning to go flying....

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the readers of our blog.  The wind is forecast to swing round to the east, Dunkelflaute will be gone, and so we hope to be airborne again early in 2025.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 18 December 2024

The forecast was uninspiring; low cloud, misly in the morning, and heavy rain in the afternoon with the wind building from the southwest.  Added to that the airfield was very wet.

The hangar doors were still shut when I arrived and I found the Wednesday Wavers drinking tea in the club house with a single light on from the solar set.  That gloom seemed to set the scene and it took a while to get our enthusiasm but then we set to with a vengeance.  Poor weather be dammed!

The Duty Instructor, Mike Jardine, led trainees Neal and Geoff through an altimeter lecture while I colour-coded the Puchacz's rear Air Speed Indicator.  Sounds easy applying coloured tape to the glass face of an ASI.  But when the rear instrument panel forms part of the canopy it's not so easy.

Gavin tries to remember what flying the Puchacz from the back is like!

A colour-coded ASI (the instrument on the far left)

A team retrieved the old Red Land Rover Discovery from behind the glider rack and took it on its final journey to Saunder's scrapyard.  A useful job that netted us more that £250 in scrap value.

Out near the road Mike Bennett led a determined team repairing the fence to the left of the entrance, replacing fence posts, and tensioning the fencing wire as required.  

Peter and I worked on CCY's trailer which Richard Roberts had started converting to be able to take a single seat K-8 or a K-13 that it was designed for.  The wing spar rests were fettled and secured.  We felt quite pleased with ourselves but there was more to come later.

Colin arrived and needed help with the Puchacz to rotate the fuselage to allow him access to the undercarriage as part of its annual inspection.  This proved more challenging than anticipated.  Turning the Puchacz's fuselage with its huge fin is a challenge.  So initially Colin accessed the main wheel, and its hydraulic brake system, from underneath and then the team laid the fuselage on its side.

The Puchacz before it was rolled onto its side. For the concerned reader plenty of soft sofa cushions were used!

The main wheel of the Puchacz.  Thankfully fitted with a standard tyre and tapered wheel bearings that could be easily adjusted as part of the annual maintenance.

DB beavered away in the hangar making strops for winch launching, only to be interrupted by the derigging of GDK and the rigging of FXB.  It was time for FXB to spread its wings after the package of work that "Colin's Padowan", Adam, had completed on the fin post and other areas.

We took the opportunity to weigh FXB's wings as we intend to check the Weight and Balance of our K-8s carefully before our juniors start flying them, which is going to be quite soon.

Hangar partially emptied.  FXB's wing removed from CCY's trailer and ready for weighing.

The battery box arrangements in the K-13s were reviewed.  Neal undertook to make a 3D-printed battery box so that the K-13s have the same simple battery securing arrangements.  He also measured up for a small stop to be fitted to the the canopy frame of the Astir CS77 to make opening and closing it easier.

The derigged GDK replaced the wings of FXB in CCY's trailer.  A little bit of work saw GDK's wings, fuselage and tail plane secured in the trailer.

A waiting of Wavers ready to move GDK's fuselage into the trailer

Gently does it

Meanwhile FXB was carefully taped after rigging, the instrument panel fitted, a fresh battery installed, the electrics and ASI were checked correct before fitting the canopy.  Thanks to John Allan, Dave, Steve Fletcher, and our resident doctor Robin, who breathed life in to the ASI and declared FXB alive and ready to fly!

The gap in the hard standing alongside the clubhouse  allowed us to move John Osment's trailer containing his newly acquired Standard Cirrus into position.  This will allow John, and son David, a chance to effect repairs to the underside of the trailer.

Little and large.  A Standard Cirrus and a T-21 trailer.

A late lunch and various wavers tried their hand at the simulator.  Opinions varied as to the effectiveness of the recent improvements.  What is not in debate is that the short cut keyboard and Victor's idea of 3D-printed instruments driven by stepper motors will make it more usable.  For those of us in the varifocal stage of life it will give us a chance to actually read the instruments.  Useful when instructing!

As a final job for the day we then moved the trailer alongside the fence as it was deemed too wet on the field to take it to the east end.  A good call as during lunch we realised that we hadn't fitted the canopy  and by now the rain was hammering down.  A job for Saturday then.

With that the Wavers started to dissipate into the heavy rain.  More jobs are planned for Saturday on the Puchacz and other gliders.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 14th December 2024

The high pressure which brought the easterly wave during the week has moved away leaving us in a westerly airflow with it's attendant frontal systems. The wind today was NW 7 to 9 knots. Would there be any lift? The chances seemed fairly low but the ridges may help.

Today's grid.

Rick's trainees today were Zack and Jamie. Jamie did a check flight, a practice cable break and then flew his second solo flight. John Allan made use of Rick's quiet list to start some practice at flying the K13 from the back seat.

Jamie looking focussed

Most flights were circuits but a combination of ridge lift from the north side of  Blackdown and a passing cloud street allowed Andy Davey to soar the K8 for a day topping 20 minutes before returning to the field. Well done.

Some interesting clouds. Westerly wave perhaps?

The showers that we could see to the west for most of the day passed by the airfield without touching us so we ended up with a dry day. I was going to say pleasant day but it was a little cold for that.

K13 getting ready again

K8 hangar flying at the end of the day

A good training day.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 11 December 2024 - Getting my gold height

Further to Wednesday's blog John Allan passed me his account of the day.  So here it is with more wonderful cloudscapes for our readers.

But before we get to the gliding, for the English Literature fans amongst the blog readers, of which there are at least two, I need to put Mark Twain's quote "There's gold in them thar hills" into context.  It's a misquote.  He supposedly got it indirectly from a Georgia assayer, Dr. Matthew Fleming Stephenson, who said, “there’s millions in it,” to keep locals from heading to California for the Gold Rush in 1849.  The phrase later became corrupted to the well know phrase above.

There is gold to be found in many places and mines on Dartmoor but in very small amounts (which matches the number of gliding height claims made over Dartmoor).  The largest yields were from the quarries at Merrivale, Princetown Prison, and Vixen Tor which on a fine day would all have been visible to John in his Mini-Nimbus.

Where you can find gold on the ground on Dartmoor

Cornish miners, and also some from Devon, emigrated during the gold rush and more generally for a better life. The California Inn is 14th Century free house and restaurant at California Cross.  The pub and crossroads are reputed to have got their name from the throngs of people who would meet at the coach house to take the stage coach to Plymouth and catch a ship heading west to the New World.

Anyhow, now to the bit you've been waiting for.  In John's words:

After nearly three weeks of poor weather, and a week of WhatsApp chatter and anticipation, Skysight and RASP both aligned and were showing a promising Dartmoor Wave forecast over the airfield.  But, would the wave manage to open up slots to allow us to get high?  With a very early start, we set about getting all the equipment out in the dark, Andy and I rigged as it got light, Phil was flying the Twin Astir.  No gaps in the cloud initially, so we adjourned for a cuppa, to warm up and a briefing. 

I had so many clothes on as it was forecast to be very cold at height, that it took me a while to get comfortable in my glider.  I needed be able to reach everything I needed during the flight, which proved tricky so stuff was jammed in either side of me. Chart (QFE, QNH and SPS noted on it), water, phone and spare battery for it (backup navigation), thick gloves, sun hat, woolly hat, sunglasses.  USB Logger turned on.  Brentor set as GOTO in the main navigation computer.

I launched at 1008 hrs,  I had spotted signs of a gap with a sliver of blue sky showing through the clouds to the north.  I pulled off at 1,400 feet cloudbase and headed left and back over the church where it had looked like there would be lift from the ground.  Finding turbulent lift, I just kept feeling my way along the obvious dark line of wave to where sunshine past Blackdown showed on the ground, indicating a gap.  I couldn't climb much, until the blue sky appeared above me, then started climbing up with misty clouds either side, but in sight of the ground either side below.  As I climbed it revealed an amazing other world of sunshine and I found myself at the bottom a large "valley" of clouds left and right with clear sight of the ground on the valley floor, all the way to Lydford ahead of me.  With figure 8's on the west, rising air, side of the valley, I climbed in strong smooth wave airflow, between 4-8 knots up.

 

The "Valley". The wind is from the right.

At about 4,000 feet, I could see over the eastern ridge of cloud, upwind to another gap in the  cloud "valley" upwind.  This meant I could push forward to the primary wave bar to the north east. Time to put on my cannula for oxygen,  I checked that it was pulsing as it should when set to start at 5,000 feet.  

John keeps an eye on another gap in the clouds near Lydford to ensure it doesn't fill in and disappear

Initially I had 4 knots up, roughly overhead the A386, North of Lydford and just downwind of the highest part of Dartmoor.  The lift gradually decreasing as I climbed.  I had in mind a goal of Gold Height 11,500 feet (a "safe" figure that allows for a 1,600 feet launch).  When I reached this, I still had 2 knots up.  Both visible slots below me had remained stable in position and size.  If anything they had opened slightly.

John tops out at over 13,000 feet AGL while heading south east

It was warm enough for comfort, no sign of icing and my oxygen working nicely, so I decided to go a bit higher.  At 13,300 feet (14,000 feet above sea level) the lift was down to less than 1 knot.  I couldn't go searching for anything better as I had to stay close to the slots below.  A radio call said they thought the clouds had closed in a bit.  My slots seemed the same, but I descended back down anyway, I'd achieved my goal.  I was taking care to stop every few thousand feet, to let the airframe warm up.  I had some slight misting that froze in the first phase, easily wiped off with a cloth.  Opening the vents a bit and facing the sun quickly sorted that.    

As I approached the gap, at the bottom of the valley of clouds, I did a few figure 8's and held my height to give me time to think through a plan.   

I knew exactly where I was.  My navigation moving map was already set to GOTO Brentor, 8 km away, out of sight due to my height, but I was at the northern end of the slot, so maybe 6 km from the end of it.  I made a radio call to check cloudbase, 1,350ft, not much change.  I picked two reasonable looking fields I could see below just in case!!!  Landing checks, undercarriage down now, airbrakes checked that they were not frozen shut.

 

John at the northern end of the wave gap

I set off down the middle of the slot, and dived down until below the cloud as I reached the end of the slot.  Wow, back in the real world of green and relative darkness below the cloud and inversion.  I reached high key still at 1,100 feet.  A club K-13 and Andy in his Libelle were nearby and looked to be climbing.

 

John view's Andy in his Libelle "M"

Wave lift under the cloud base was still working and a slot was opening up near Peter Tavy.   Andy had radioed to say he'd got above the clouds, so I went back up that slot and met him above the clouds.  We flew up a valley of cloud taking some photos on the way, to my original slot and descended down through it.

 

Formation wave flying with "M"  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very happy John in his Mini-Nimbus.  Gold height in the bag!

What an adventure, and a satisfying flight.  Thank you to all the instructors and other pilots like Andy, Phil and a Richard who offer their excellent advice and helped me achieve a flight like this.

 

John Allan

John has also made a compilation video of his and Andy Davey's aerial photographs and videos. 

Dartmoor wave on Wednesday 11 December 2024

 

Here is John's flight on the BGA ladder with a barogram - the highest flight in the U.K. in December so far.

 

 John's flight on the BGA ladder  with more photos of his gold height flight.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 11 December 2024

 "There's gold in them thar hills".   Mark Twain 1892, The American Claimant

The Wednesday Wavers were out of bed early having listened to the forecasts of wave due to the brisk breeze from the north east all week. 

The satellite view on "windy"

Steve Fletcher's view from Grenofen.  "Null points" for photographic composition.

Andy Davey arrived at 0700, with John Allan shortly afterwards, to get the kit out and the rig their gliders.

Wave bars visible at the club but note 8 Octas cloud coverage

Other wavers turned up early, including our visitors, so we had an early weather and field brief.  We welcomed two visitors today; crew members from submarine HMS Audacious after several attempts, they had been previously thwarted by bad weather and short notice duty changes, finally made it to the site. 

Andy took three early launches but failed to connect with the wave which was definitely there.  Mike with trainee Neal Oxley also failed to connect.  There was evidence of rotor and some ridge lift, on the north side of the airfield, but gaps in the cloud coverage remained elusive.  With the stiff wind it was cold (yes, the snowflake symbol had appeared again on my car dashboard).  The humidity was high causing glasses, canopies, and camera lenses to mist.  Later in the afternoon the leading edges of wings and tail planes were noticeably damp with condensation.

Anthony Reeve prepares to go aloft with Gavin

First up of the navy fliers was Anthony Reeve who flew with Gavin.  Hugh was the duty IFP today but he had a head cold and wisely stepped back from flying members of the public.  Anthony and Gavin had a good launch to 1,600 feet AGL but were just under the cloud base and canopy misting was a problem.  They were in wave but had to air brake down twice to prevent them climbing into the cloud.  They couldn't see or reach a suitable gap in the cloud.  It was an enjoyable but frustrating 15 minute flight.

The runway from the east.  There was a workable band of lift from here
south to the Peter Tavy static home park.

Steve Fletcher enjoyed the delights of the Astir CS77 twice and managed 24 minutes on one of his flights.  Peter Howarth and John Smith also tried their hands.

Big Dave helps navy flier Reece Nicholls prepare for his flight

In between their flights with Gavin both Anthony and Reece witnessed the launch of gliders from the winch end.  I should note that Hugh and Peter did sterling work launching us all day in what must have been a cold and drafty winch cab.  Thank you for your efforts.

Reece and Gavin ready to launch,  Yes, all the extra layers were needed in the biting wind.

Phil and Robin enjoyed a couple of flights in the Twin Astir before letting Malcolm have a go.  A good lookout was key in these conditions and FLARM proved its worth helping pilots to maintain their situational awareness.

Blackdown.  There was some lift here but difficult to exploit as you were sucked into the cloud.

Neal had a warm up flight with Scratch before continuing with Mike and enjoying a set of three training flights which provided him with some challenging conditions.

Gavin hands over the certificates and congratulates Reece and Anthony on their flights

At midday we received a delivery from Torbay (shh, wait and see) and Scratch took the driver, Christopher Gray, for a thank you flight before driving him back to Torbay.

Mary Tavy under the full cloud cover

Mike then shifted targets and flew with Alasdair before flying Neal again.  Then Neal was flown by Steve (Neal's log book must be filling up quickly!).

Good news travels fast.  Radio calls announcing that Andy on his fourth launch had connected with the wave and had climbed through a gap in the cloud to the bright sunshine above, joining John Allan who had already been up there for over an hour and a half.

Andy's view in the dazzling sunshine (Yes, he did remember to take his sunglasses)

Andy's view in the wave

Andy encounters John Allan in his Mini-Nimbus, "KP"

 

More views of the Mini Nimbus in the wave

John's view of Andy's Libelle "M"

Andy manged just over an hour in the wave.  Before then John had managed to climb to 13,295 feet AGL (14,129 feet AMSL) and landed after 2 hours 31 minutes.  An initial analysis of his logger trace shows a height gain of 12,241 feet which comfortably achieves the gold height gain of 3,000m (9,843 feet).  His main climb in the wave averaged 1.8 knots which eased to less than 1 knot at the height of his climb.  Congratulations John.

On of the slots in the cloud downwind of John's position, east of Lydford and looking east.
There was another slot in the cloud of similar size directly beneath him

John's view to the south

A glory seen by Andy

As the wind abated in the afternoon the K-8 was brought up to the launch point.  However, after a very turbulent approach in rotor, which had got stronger in the lighter winds, the Duty Instructor didn't allow it to fly.

Duty Instructor Mike flying from the front seat with Hugh Gascoyne,
 or was it Richard Roberts?  The poor visibility didn't allow him to enjoy the view.

Back at the clubhouse the duty instructor is seen continuing crank out the circuits,
oblivious to the achievement in the wave above

Those flights were with Dave and exposed him to the rotor conditions on the approach.

And the K-13 on final approach to the airfield

The wave bars continue behind the Astir CS77 at the end of the day

31 flights on a cold day in mid December for most but a glorious day for some.  Great team work got some of our members into the wave proper despite the almost total overcast and enabled John Allan to achieve his Gold height.  Congratulations.  That is the last piece of his Gold badge.  There is the potential for more gold mining on Dartmoor!

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 7th November 2024

 Storm Darragh is with us today this is giving very strong winds but thankfully no rain. Cloud bases are low, So another non flying day.

How windy was it?
Using Zack as an inclinometer

It was decided that there would be a break in the lectures this week and the simulator was set up for am bit of competitive fun; a timed race Brentor - Roadford - Lydford - Brentor start height 2000ft. Although Junior trainee Zack was offered a handicap  3000ft start he shunned this and started at 2000ft and managed to win the day with a race time around 21 minutes. I will save the blushes of the other competitors by leaving them unnamed. - but you know who you are.

Plenty of work going on around the site, Rick was repairing the MT hangar door catches, Scratch was removing all the brushes from the generator ready for replacement ( if we can track down some spare parts). In the car park there was a small but beautifully formed team replacing the fences. 

Fencing in the car park

Our lean, mean staple hammering machine

Steve