Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 15th November 2025

After yesterday's visit from Storm Claudia, the first order of business was a pitch inspection. The runway was in surprisingly good condition given the prodigious amount rain over the last couple of days... With the wind in the east there is always a possibility of wave and today was like that. The signs were good from the start. There was a cap cloud covering Dartmoor. The were several stationary lines of clouds laying more or less north - south. Game on.

The early view to the east - wave clouds on view

And later. The clouds have dissipated but the wave is still there

The conditions early on were somewhat challenging with the wave moving around / coming and going. This did not stop Andy Davey flying the club Astir CS77 for 53 minutes returning after he had explored the local wave system.

By lunchtime, the wave was really established and entry to the system was an easy, short, jog east from the top of  the winch launch to the edge of the cloud where a right turn had the glider climbing in smooth lift. Climb rates varied but typically 2 knots low down building to 4 knots a few hundred feet higher. Occasional patches of 6 - 8 knots were reported. The local wave system topped out at 4000ft QFE ( or 4800t above sea level). 

To the north there was a large active looking cloud which produced much stronger and much rougher lift giving entry to the wave again which topped out at 6000ft above sea level north to Sourton just downwind of Yes Tor.

Mike and I ready to launch and ...

.. a couple of minutes later established in the wave and sharing a joke

Val enjoying the view

The view to the west as we rose above the cloud

The wave later in the day

This view never gets old

Rick progressing along the primary with 6 knots on the vario

Can you spot the K13 on the secondary wave bar?

Our One Day Course candidate was Daryl Vickery who was treated to several forays into the wave.

Daryl with Scratch

Elsewhere, Adam and I spent several hours replacing the complete rudder pedal assembly in the K8. It will return to service after certification from Colin.

A fantastic winter flying day with 17 launches with an average flight time of 32 minutes (flight times were curtailed by mutual agreement to ensure everyone could fly).

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 8th November 2025

After a week of wind and rain, Saturday dawned clear and bright with  a SW breeze. We are between frontal systems with the next due tomorrow, but today we can fly.

At the early morning briefing we were very pleased to announce that we have purchased a second Twin Astir to complete our new look training fleet., The "new" aircraft is already well know at DGS, Twin Astir G-DDSL has in fact been operated for many years from our airfield  by a private syndicate. We are very excited and expect to see DSL at the launch point soon after the instructors have had some time for aircraft familiarisation. Here are a few library photos to wet our appetites

Sitting in the sun.

At the launch point

On approach

The airfield was very busy as club members strived to use today's weather window. The launchpoint was a very active place today as we worked through everyone's flying needs, a heady mix of dual and solo flying. There was a little soaring to be had if you launched at the right time with Andy Davey recording 16 and 26 minute flights in his Libelle. Alasdair Barclay posted a very creditable 23 min in the Astir. Best 2 seater flight was 17min flown by myself with today's One Day Course candidate.

Early on the sky was uninspiring

A rather tall line of clouds to the south - possible showers?

Looking for any signs of soarable conditions

By early afternoon the sky looked great,
although cloud base was less than 2000ft 

We had 3 visitors today. Lance Whitehead was our One Day Course candidate. He enjoyed his day so much that by the end of the day he had joined the club as a full member. Welcome to the club Lance. Our other visitors were Richard Harper and Jules English who enjoyed Air Experience flights,

New member Lance

Richard

Jules

We flew until bad light stopped play as we were treated to a little sunset colour.

Phew!! What a day. 45 launches. A new member. and a new two seat aircraft. Not bad for November.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 1st November 2025

 We are still getting weather fronts crossing daily with lots of rain. Today was no different. SW winds and frequent showers meant that flying needed to be carefully timed. But fly we did with just 1 K13 and 1 K8 due to the limited number of members on the field today.

The wind was almost fully across the runway at times.

Rick took the first flight as a solo; self check flight perhaps. This was followed by Rick flying with Ian King, today's only pre solo trainee. Scratch borrowed the K13 after this to fly William Stevens today's air-experience flight. Later K13 flights saw Scratch flying with Rick doing some instructor training and a flight with me to complete my annual checks.

K13 waiting patiently

And off again

Ian and Rick

William Stevens

The K8 saw some use for circuit practice until Malcolm Wilton-Jones managed to hitch a lift on a passing cloud to record The longest flight of the day at 30 minutes. 

K8 under a showery sky

Malcolm's view to the south

Definitely some lift there.

Elsewhere work continues on the Twin Astir Trainer and the simulator clubhouse extension.

The day finished with a lively Committee Meeting.

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Sunday 2nd November 2025

The forecast gave a moderate breeze increasing during the afternoon and possible showers around lunch time. A  k13, Puchacz, K8 and Astir were readied and the airfield set up to fly from the east end.

Would we be lucky to escape the showers.

As it was the first flight was delayed by a shower. Finally Misha Skochko and I launched with Misha practising rolling out of a turn at specific landmarks. His second flight was made just before a second shower approached.

Another shower on the way.

After a short break Freddie Purkiss launched in the K8 and Jamie Young launched in the Astir. Each managed extended flights of 16 minutes and 20 minutes respectively. Both flights were initially the longest of the day.  Duty BI Phil Harwick greeted One Day Course member Michael Malric-Smith. Phil gave him two introductory flights, but with Michael's experience of flying helicopters and light aircraft it was necessary to quickly place him with a Flight Instructor. Luckily RNGSA instructor Jamie Steele was at the club today and took over in the back seat of the Puchacz. By the end of the day, Michael was doing a large part of the flying.

Michael and Jamie ready for another flight.

Today also saw the return of member David Moorley after 12 months away due to various family commitments. After four flights today David was well on his way back to where he was before the break.

David happy to be back in the saddle.

Other solo pilots also enjoyed flights in the K8 & Astir. Viktor Skochko (K8), Steve Fletcher (K8 & Astir) & Ed Borlase (K8) enjoyed extended flights in the sometimes buoyant air. Steve Fletcher stayed aloft for 29 minutes to claim flight of the day.

Another rainbow viewed by Ed.

I swapped back seats to the Puchacz to fly with Freddie Purkiss preparing him for his transition to the Astir in the near future. Jamie also swapped back seats to take Michael for a flight in the K13.

The final flight lands.

A good days flying, initially dodging the showers, but ending with all happy pilots saying they were glad we made the effort to fly. Michael was also signed up as a full member and we look forward to seeing him again.

Thanks to all at the field today, including Alison who did the majority of the retrieving today.

Peter Howarth