Today was the start of the Victory in Europe celebrations and a Bank Holiday. While many members were enjoying a day with family and friends, a small band arrived early to get everything ready to fly. The forecast promised a really good flying day. While it didn’t live up to expectations, and landing with a gusting wind was tricky at times for the trainees, it was still a good day with some flights over an hour's duration.
First to fly was Misha, We continued his progress,
introducing Misha to the effect of airbrakes and how it differs at different
airspeeds. Misha is progressing well with his turns and takeoffs.
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| The CFI's long walk back up the airfield |
Misha’s dad Viktor, was next to get into the front seat.
Viktor went solo in April, Unfortunately, the conditions didn’t allow Viktor to
increase his tally of solo flights. It was still a good lesson in
not getting too far downwind and landing.
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| Victor climbing strongly in the improving conditions |
Conditions were starting to improve, and on his 3
rd
flight of the day, Viktor managed to stay in the air for 18 minutes, which was
the signal the solo pilots needed that it was time for them to launch. Both
Adam and Alasdair took to the sky for some soaring flights.
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| The solo pilots try their hand |
Once Viktor had landed, Scratch (Dene Hitchen) took the K-13
up with a returning temporary member, Charlie Barnaby, who had flown with us on Sunday and
introduced him to the primary controls of the aircraft. I took this opportunity
to jump into my own glider and get some solo time in.
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| Malcolm has never knowingly turned down the chance to fly the K-8 |
When Alasdair landed, Malcolm jumped into the K-8 for his
turn to fly. I was still in the air, but noticed the thermals getting weaker. By
13:40 all the solo pilots were back on the ground with no lift to be found.
Back to training then. Newly soloed pilot Zack was the next
to jump into the K-13. The sky was looking a lot better now, and Zack was lucky
to launch straight into a thermal, and what a thermal it was, delivering 10 up
for a lot of the time.
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| The XK10 variometer excitedly sings its song as Zack and Rick climb at 10 knots (that’s 1,000 feet/minute) |
It didn’t take long for us to get to cloud base. Flying downwind from the airfield over Tavistock, we took the opportunity to look at the
"picture" and the distance to the club. When we got back to the airfield, Zack
practised some stalling.
It was at this
point that I noticed something smiling up at me from a field near the clubhouse.
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| What's that looking up at me from the field? |
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| Obviously, Brentor residents are happy with our gliders soaring overhead |
The final trainee to fly was Elliot, who continued to improve
his flying skills and revisited how different angles of bank affect the
stalling speed of the glider. Elliot also delivered an excellent landing in
what were, at the time, tricky conditions.
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| Elliot explores the stalling speed of CCY at just shy of 45 degrees of bank |
With everyone flown, I finally have to say a big thank you
to parents Nicky, for driving the cable retrieve vehicle bringing the cables from
the winch to the launch point, and James, for driving the winch and the
retrieve vehicle. Also, Scratch, who came to the club with the intention of
doing the winching, helped rig our glider and then de-rigged it
without flying it himself.
A good day.
Rick Wiles
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