After almost a month of no flying for the Saturday crew, it was nice
to arrive to the club with bright skies and calm winds.
However, despite
the recent sunny spells during the week, the airfield was still very
wet from the prolonged periods of rain we experienced last week, and we had to take as much care as possible to avoid damaging the field.
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| Early morning un peeking through the trees... |
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| ...and the view of the airfield |
After no flying on Wednesday or Sunday, it was going to be a busy
day. Nine solo pilots were due to fly today, whilst the Duty Instructor had a quieter
day with only three pre-solo students to fly.
We extracted the
gliders from the hangar and DI’d the Astir CS77 and a K-13 before
taking them up to the west end. Rick Wiles gave a
thorough briefing of how we would operate today. The K-13 would be
launching and landing from our runway to minimize damage to the
airfield, whilst the Astir CS77 would continue as normal.
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| Rick admires the view towards the south and the Tamar Valley engulfed in fog, whilst Ed flies |
The southerly wind gave us a full crosswind, sometimes we did have a
tailwind component, but it was fairly light although stronger at
height. The absence of any thermals gave a laminar airflow throughout the entire day.
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| Val and Rick about to take off |
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| The K-13 coming in to land |
Navy Flyer Jake Hayes, who is a trainee at Middle Wallop (Portsmouth Naval Gliding Centre), came to pay
us a visit whilst in the area. Never having flown from another
airfield, he enjoyed two flights with Rick and stayed for the remainder
of the day to help out.
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| Firstly, a briefing with Rick... |
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| ...and strapped in, getting ready to fly following a further briefing |
Rick had to make a dash at 3pm to meet his third grandchild for the first time, who had arrived the previous evening (Congrats Rick!). Luckily, Chris Bryning,
the CFI at Seahawk Gliding Club at RNAS Culdrose came to fly with us today. After having a warm-up flight in the Astir CS77, Chris helped Rick
with the instructing, flying with those pilots who needed to fly dual, and he then ran the field until sunset when Rick departed.
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| Chris happy to be flying again, at Brentor |
Elsewhere, work continued on the Twin Astir Trainer after arriving
back from its beauty treatment at Les Clark's glider workshop.
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| David Bourchier recommissions the hydraulic brake system in G-CHBK |
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Rick sneaks in a quick flight in the Astir CS77 before promptly
disappearing for grandfather duties
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John Allan about to launch for a second flight
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As the sunlight quickly started to fade, it was time to put the
toys away. A total of 29 flights today from just two aircraft. Sixteen flights for the Astir CS77, is this a new club record for the number of
flights it has flown in a single day?
A big thank you
to those who helped today to ensure a smooth and efficient operation,
especially to Chris who volunteered to run the airfield for the rest
of the day when Rick had to depart. It’s always nice to have flying
this late in the year.
Jamie Young
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