Dartmoor Gliding News - Saturday 18 April 2026

It was a day of changes.  At short notice the Duty Instructor wasn't available, nor were any others, so it was an authorised pilot day only.  The start was quiet and subdued with the trainees staying away.  Thanks to those who couldn't fly who came to help.  Members helping each other is what makes this gliding club work whether you are an ab initio trainee, pundit, or a hangar elve.

The Chairman detailed me off, and one of the other lucky pilots who flew, to write the blog whilst he busied himself in the hangar grappling with bits of rubber.  More anon.

Skysight forecast a nice soaring day along the south coast.  Let's get at it.

During the Daily Inspection of the winch we found that the fuse to the ground radio had blown.  The Tech Office Cupboard just had full size blade fuses as I had tried to standardise our holdings.  But, in accordance with Murphy's law the winch radio feed was a mini blade fuse.  Cue much searching and lifting of car bonnets to find a replacement.  My car does have mini blade fuses, in three separate fuse boxes no less, but fortunately I didn't have to cannibalise it as one was found.

Despite the promising forecast the weather wasn't playing ball.  The cloud base was low and two of the Saturday crew had been rained on why driving to the club.  There were subsequent light showers on site.  Eventually it brightened up and it was agreed that we would go flying.  John Allan, Phil and I were today's pilots.  Mike Bennett the winch driver.  Alasdair and David Archer would run the launch point.

Well, we made eight flights today.  The clouds were tantalising but NOT full of lift.  I took three launches but didn't get away.  Phil took four and managed a 23 minute flight on his last launch by stumbling into a 1.1 knot climb just off the wire.  John was a Jammy Dodger today (readers can feel free to provide a less polite second word to the phrase as they see fit) as he "got away" on his first launch.  He soon established himself at height above Tavistock before heading south to the better weather.

Here is John's take on the day:

Just three of us rigged to fly today; Phil, Gavin and I.

 
As there was no instructor, it was authorised pilots only.  We really appreciated the help from the few that turned up to help but sadly unable to fly. 
 

I took the second cable with a launch to just 1,100ft towards a convenient dark cloud.  I found a broken thermal and took it to cloud base at 3,000ft and headed off on my declared task; Brentor, Plymouth West (Saltash), on to Ivybridge East (twice) then back to Brentor, a total of 122Km.
 

The cloud base increased, but I took a cloud climb to 5,200ft before the jump across a blue gap to Plymouth.

 

Looking south to the City of Plymouth, the Sound and the Breakwater

Mostly cloud bases up and down the between Saltash and Ivybridge were about 4000-4500ft QNH.

Penelee Point and Rame Head. 
Cawsand Beach and Kingsand are in the foreground.

After the passage of the cold front the air was really nice and clear.  The sea past Rame Head looked like the Mediterranean.

 
After another short cloud climb to provide a better safety margin, I flew out over Cawsand to look down on Rame Head.

Rame Head and the golden beaches of Whitsand bay
stretching out to the west as far as the eye can see

Looking back at Plymouth Breakwater and Bovisand

The rest of the task went fine with a reasonably easy to read sky. On my return, after 2 hours 39 minutes, the kit had been put away and Phil and Gavin were busy derigging.

Heading home and saying farewell to the southern dockyard,
 Milbrook and St. John's lake, south of Torpoint

John Allan

 

John's flight was posted on the BGA ladder. 
Here it is shown in an IGC viewer.

A screenshot from SeeYou showing the terrain and route of John's flight

There was non-flying activity.  Scratch was up early before his shift at work and was busy in the Motor Transport hangar with much revving of engines audible.  Steve Lewis and DB busied themselves all day changing the tail wheels in three gliders and then replacing ageing or damaged tail wheel tyres ready for the soaring season to come.  Colin was working on one of K-8, GDK's wings.

After Phil and I derigged we were able to help the Chairman stamp our corporate identity on our new(ish) acquisition; Twin Astir 1, DSL.  We also have DGS logos for the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, which will be applied soon.

DGS Logo in place on the Port side. 
Lining it up was a difficult task as the Twin Astir stripe
 and lettering follow the curvature of the cockpit edges.

The Starboard side.  We are getting good at this.

The late afternoon, although a little breezier, was very pleasant in the sunshine and teasingly the cloud base rose.  That's gliding for you.

After more tea and putting the world to rights the Astir CS77 and the Twin Astir were slid back into their places in the hangar, now the tail wheel and tyre work was complete, and the hangar doors were closed for the night. 

The discussions in the clubhouse also covered the need for mini blade fuses.

After we departed for home John found a stock at home that he will kindly donate to the club.  That meant I could cancel our order that I placed earlier with that legendary Greek female warrior.  How could we ever hope to run a gliding club without smartphones and a strident woman?

Equipment interoperability problems overcome.

 Gavin Short