Dartmoor Gliding News - Aston Down Expedition Day Five - Friday 15 May 2026

The forecast was promising. The best its looked all week.

The final breakfast, then rigging and an extended briefing.  Well to be fair it was more of a discussion about the increased granularity of Skysight's wind forecast for the moors.  Which way would be best to go cross-country and up country; to the north of Dartmoor or to the south. Both had their pros and cons.

There was a pause as heavy showers swept through mid-morning that delayed the Expeder's rigging.

Rigging the first red K-6 (EWO)

And the second Red K-6 (DKG). This time in Ukrainian!

And some white "glass" ready for the day (a Libelle and Mini-Numbus)

Rick was first to launch.  A circuit but then Andy got away, and I saw him on Glide and Seek near Launceston.  Sadly I had volunteered to help Colin conduct the annual inspection and ARC of K-13, G-DCCY which is being prepared for rental by another Gliding Club.  We worked on the tailplane and the fuselage.

Earlier during the rain showers Rick had unpacked the new starter motor for the poorly tractor.  He compared the two and confirmed that Saturday's task would be to fit the new one.

Viktor followed Andy and flew for 20 minutes.  He enjoyed two shorter soaring flights through the day.  Allan and Phil followed with some extended circuits as did Sean and Peter with even shorter ones.  So perhaps not the easiest of days to get going.

The fuselage being inspected.

Quietly Ed stepped in to his red K-6, EWO and showed the others what could be done with a fight of 1 hr and 23 minutes.  John Osment followed with a soaring flight.  The day seemed to get going; Rick 1hr 49 mins and Peter 1hr 6 mins.

Colin and I welcomed a walk-in to the club; Steve, a former RAF ground engineer who had recently retired and was looking for a new challenge.  After giving him a tour of the facilities and describing the trial flight and membership options we hope to see him back on a One Day Course.  The cool wind on the airfield when we took a look didn't deter him as he hails from Princetown.

The tailplane, cleaned, disassembled, inspected, reassembled,
and the mylar strips, that cover the hinges, renewed.

The wind from the northeast increased during the day.  Reports of broken thermals and difficulties in wind shear started filtering back to the hangar.  As if to prove the point John Allan made an aborted attempt at a climb over Cox Tor which was down wind of the airfield.  Short on height on the return to the airfield John made a wise choice and landed in the L-shaped field.

KP safely in the luxurious expanse of the L-shaped field.  The cows were yet to arrive.

John called for some assistance as the cows at the other end of the field had become very frisky and were investigating the glider.  Alasdair left the tower and was assisted by Ed.  Between them, they protected the glider and identified a better exit from the L-shaped field that the normal one by the barn.  That allowed John a chance to go back to the club and bring his trailer and set it up in the road for the retrieve.  The other gliders were derigging when he arrived back at the club and had to wait his turn to park his trailer in the "glider rack".  So a land out, but the field wasn't as smooth as the polo field that Adam landed Snoopy in last year.  There certainly weren't any jodphur-clad well-spoken young ladies to mop John's fevered brow!  Perhaps that should be an addition to the mnemonic for in-air field selection "Wind + the six S's".  Suggestions on a post card please ....

John's land out.
Glider position in blue in the L-shaped field that continues to the right of the screenshot.
 The airfield is at the top of the picture and the normal exit from the L-shaped field is circled in red. 
 Note the large South field, in the centre of the picture is a very tempting but it's considerably
 rougher than where John landed.

John's comment.

Yes, that thermal near Cox Tor looked like it should have worked... Thank you to Ed and Alastair for the retrieve from the L shaped field.  

Colin had departed at 1400 to get ready for his gig in Calstock Arts Centre that evening.  I continued with the long list of tasks that Colin had left me.  Colin and I, helped by others, continued on Saturday (which wasn't a flying day) and finished off the fuselage work and inspected the wings.  Here is a look at the finished article. 

A pair of batteries and dedicated charger ready to go away to the new user.

Front instrument panel in after leak checking the pneumatics on the fuselage and the panel.

Rear instrument panel in. GPS antenna positioned on a repainted glare shield. 
Flarm firmware reloaded and Flarm operation proved correct.

An hour and 45 minutes later, with Alasdair back in the tower the launches started again with final flights by Viktor, Sean and Rick before Rick called it a day in the increasing wind.  Viktor was pleased with his three flights in the Red Bear.

The expeders extended their thanks to Alasdair, who you had already heard ran the tower for the day but also to John Smith who winched all day.  Thank you both.

After 17 flights on what was a difficult day for some of today's none pilots the expedition came to an end.  The gliders returned to the glider rack more quickly than if they had travelled home from Aston Down.  Of course one glider trailer got some mileage, and John Allan had to buy the beers in the clubhouse when the hangar doors were shut.  Normally the retrieve crew is well rewarded for their efforts.  We must have had a first - John's retrieve crew were all teetotal!

I almost forgot about silent Andy.  No feedback from his flight or where he went, but he did fly for 3 hours 24 minutes earning him "flight of the day".  Perhaps we, and our readers, could hear the story of his flight next time.

Gavin Short