Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 1 October 2025

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.

Skysight's windgram for Brentor

Andy's take on Wednesday's Weather: The ridge of high pressure will still be over the area tomorrow, giving us a light southerly wind. There may be some weak thermal activity early afternoon, but it will only go to about 1,500ft AGL.

So the windgram matched Andy's forecast.  Let's see what happens in the real world.

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.

 

Mike ready to launch

Neal's flights were Peter's "return to flying" package that he devised especially.  The flight package inevitably included a launch failure and also some soaring to the south of the runway over a barn that is a local hot spot.  He managed eight minutes too, but what he didn't recognise was that Peter was deliberately letting him get out of position, and Neal had to modify his circuit as he was getting low.  Neal, these instructors can be sneaky!

 

Robin flew two flights with Peter, enjoying the freedom of being "hands on" for the launch and landing, something he can't do in his syndicate Twin Astir.

 

Then it was Ken Hamblin's turn with a set of three flights, allowing him to make progress with his general flying skills.  John Smith managed to wrestle the K-8 off Mike for long enough to take a flight.

 

At this point, if readers are confused, it's understandable.  With the Wednesday Wavers' normal instructor, Mike Jardine, on holiday, as you have already heard, there was no instructor scheduled today.  So no visitors were booked as the Duty BI, without portfolio, I concentrated on work on the Astir CS7 back in the hangar.  So how come instructing was going on?  Well, Peter is a bit of a softy.  Having planned that today was a flying day for him and he wanted to rig the nighty Kestrel, the forecast didn't support his plan.  So he softened and took first one, then another, and then another trainee.  The result was a full dance card of five trainees.  You old softy!

 

The fourth trainee was Ian King, who, on his third flight, flew the whole of the winch launch.  Congratulations Ian.  Then we had a visitor appear at the hangar apron.  It was Paul Priscott who flew with me on Sunday, 20 August.  The hangar gremlins directed him to the winch so he could get a lift with the retrieve to the launch point.  Peter took Paul up to explore the effects of the elevator and the ailerons.  This was Peter's final instructional flight of the day.  

Mike checks that returning temporary member Paul Priscott is strapped in and ready for the "Duty" instructor

The Waver's started packing up and returning the aircraft to the hangar.  There, they witnessed the final assembly of the Astir CS77 after its annual inspection, before it could be moved out of the hangar to allow them to pack the hangar.

So what had the hangar gremlins (Colin, Steve Lewis, DB, and I) been up to?  Earlier in the week, Andy had effected a minor repair to a GRP fillet on an elevator hinge on the tailplane.  The elevator L'Hotellier ball was replaced.  The nappy pin on the L'Hotellier of the port air brake was replaced by the correct R-clip. The centre fitting of the canopy locking bar was moved 10 mm forward, so that the canopy now locks correctly.  The tailplane and wings were cleaned and polished. The seat was reinstalled. The glider was rigged, taped, and positive checks were conducted.  We ran out of time, so cleaning and polishing the fuselage is a job for Saturday, most likely with the hangar doors shut as Storm Amy hits us.

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.

"I have a dream", with acknowledgement to Martin Luther King's famous speech

But why do we love gliding and not power flying?  There is a simple maxim: "Powered aircraft have a fan in the front to keep the pilot cool. If it stops, he tends to get very hot and bothered."  Or to put it another way, in a glider, there isn't that noisy engine to detract from the enjoyment of our wonderful, serene flights across Dartmoor.

 

Today we made 16 flights in benign, pleasant, sunny conditions.  The "not-on-duty" instructor clocked up 12 training flights.  Thank you, Peter, but you are still a softy! 

Gavin Short