A new dawn. A new day. A new era. The Wednesday Wavers took their first tentative steps into the new world of British Gliding. We would no longer be operating under the auspices of the British Gliding Association; we are now operating under UK Law, specifically, Sailplane Flight Crew Licensing (SFCL). A lot of regulations and a lot of words, but in general terms, if you want to fly a glider, you have to have a Sailplane Pilot Licence (SPL).
If you haven't got an SPL, which includes most trainees who have recently gone solo, you will have to be supervised by a Flight Instructor (Sailplane), a FI(S). A new name for an Ass Cat or Full Cat Instructor, but basically no change. However, experienced solo pilots who don't have an SPL, for whatever reason, will also have to be supervised. Ohhh! Had our normal Wednesday Duty Instructor planned to be on holiday on the changeover day? Peter Howarth had been covering for him in his absence last week and had generously agreed to open the field today and supervise those solo pilots who hadn't yet got their SPL. Those who needed flight checks or some instruction would have to grease his palms with silver... to coax him into the back seat of a K-13 or the Puchacz.
So life goes on, right? I was today's Duty Basic Instructor; however, although I have an SPL, so I can fly, I am waiting for my SPL to have the privilege of Basic Instructor (Sailplane), BI(S), added before I can fly any of our lovely visitors. Sadly, the post lady hadn't delivered anything by the time I left for the club. PMN: She did so mid-morning. Yipee! Fortunately, we didn't have to disappoint any visitors as none were booked.
Enough of the admin and paperwork. The Wednesday Wavers were here to fly, so let's get to the meat of it. There was a heavy morning dew. Time to dig out the wellie boots. We are definitely in autumn now. A southerly wind becoming a little more westerly during the day, with some mild thermal activity, and a cloudbase rising sufficiently for us to be able to fly forecast.
Skysight's Windgram facility provides an easy-to-understand summary. For those who haven't mastered it yet the Y axis (vertical) is height above sea level in feet. The X-axis (horizontal) is local time in 24-hour format. The red line indicates the condensation (dew point) level. The black line shows the boundary level is between the atmospheric layer closest to the ground, where surface friction and heating directly influence air properties. It's a zone of rapid changes and turbulence, unlike the more stable air above it. i.e. it's where the soaring magic happens. The clouds are marked by grey.
Thermal strength is marked in varying colours and there is a decode up the right-hand axis, whilst wind direction is shown by feathered arrows pointing in the direction that the wind is blowing toward. The top of the windgram is a northerly direction for the wind. The barbs on the arrows indicate 10 knots of wind strength; multiples and half multiples are used.
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Skysight's windgram for Brentor |
After a slow start due to the misty conditions, it was decided to take a K-13 and a K-8 to the launch point at the east end. Neal and Peter launched for a weather check and confirmed that the cloud base was indeed low, 600 feet AGL. The Wavers returned to the clubhouse for an early lunch before trying again. Mike Bennett took a series of three flights on the K-8 whilst Neal continued his training with Peter. Mike was "Man of the match" with a heady eights minutes of just about soaring. The conditions were much more pleasant than forecast, with sunshine almost all day. However, despite the presence of the sun, there was very little thermal activity.
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Mike checks that returning temporary member Paul Priscott is strapped in and ready for the "Duty" instructor |
So why do we engage in this sport? This picture might explain why. Topically, it should also serve as an encouragement for our trainee pilots to work towards getting their Sailplane Pilot Licence.
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"I have a dream", with acknowledgement to Martin Luther King's famous speech |
Gavin Short
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