Dartmoor Gliding News - Aston Down Expedition Day One - Monday 11 May 2026

This was due to be our annual expedition to the Cotswolds.  After a lot of communication between our CFI and the CFI of Cotswold Gliding Club we sadly came to the conclusion we wouldn't travel north. This was due to a number of factors including a potential shortfall of winch drivers and other support, at Aston Down.  In past years with a permanent instructor during the week and our own self-help it has worked.  Unfortunately this year CGC didn't manage recruit a permanent Flight Instructor and so our ability to operate throughout the week was in doubt.

So we agreed on a staycation or perhaps that should be a "Home Expedition".  No travelling up the A30 and M5 on Sunday just the need to turn our trailers round the right way so we could rig at Brentor today, Monday.

As well as the 11 pilots scheduled for the week at Aston Down we opened the field to members too.  Mike Bennett and DB came up for some fettling of his Club Libelle and DB made up some strops.  The day started well with Rick offering cooked breakfasts to get us in the expedition mood.

The weather looked flyable, but would we get showers in the afternoon?  Rigging was a leisurely affair as there was no rush.  The sky was initially not promising.

John Allan managed to get the latest Flarm firmware downloaded to the LX7007 flight computer in the Astir Twin Trainer after much experimentation with leads and laptops.  I downloaded the Flarm of the single Astir, HME, so I could process one of the files to support Jamie Young's claim for his Silver height (a height gain of 1,000 metres), that he achieved on Saturday.  Congratulations Jamie.

As to the flying; John Allan winched.  Phil ran the tower.  Eight private gliders were ranged at the west end.  Rick kicked off the flying just before 1300 and was rewarded with a thermal straight off the wire to enjoy a soaring flight of 44 minutes.  Good news for his solo hours as a Flight Instructor.

The expedition begins. Rick launches into a dark sky

And up he goes.

Alas, the weather lived up to the more pessimistic forecasts for the rest of the afternoon.  Thick cloud, moist, and at times quite cold in the northwesterly breeze.  So it was circuits for Sean, Peter, Viktor (who was enjoying his first DGS expedition), John Osment, Ed and me.

A trio of K-6s and Rick's Standard Cirrus

Ed brings his K-6, EWO, back to the field

With the drizzle setting in we packed up at 1600.

Of course when the expeders were derigging the sun came out in between the bouts of drizzle.  Well it's a start.  We had got our gliders out, had a shake down, and we made 11 flights.  Let's hope for better weather during the week.

The red K-6s were the last to be put away

Gavin Short