Forecast: HOT, hot, hot. BLUE, blue, blue. So sunscreen, hats, and water. Lots of it.
Met Office. Amber heat warning for Dartmoor and a rare Red heat warning further up country. Elswhere on t'interweb yr.no predicted a high of 31C.
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| Met office heat warnings for today |
Unusually, we took the decision yesterday to cancel the trial flights. During the phone calls I detected a palpable sense of relief. I wasn't looking forward to delivering a One Day Course in the forecast heat either. It transpired that our visitors were aged 70, 70, and 75 years old so it was sensible call. We look forward to seeing them soon in less arduous conditions.
I had first-hand knowledge of those conditions having been at the club on Monday and Tuesday preparing our Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, for her maiden flight; fresh batteries, ARC and placards in the glider, instrument panels labelled up with John Allan's very smart "white on black" dymo tape.
On Monday it was 30C in the clubhouse and 31C in the hangar. On Tuesday it was 32C in both. Apart from a sweaty fleet manager getting through a litre of water and three cups of tea each day what was the problem? Thermal expansion. Namely, of the perspex canopies. Getting them open and closed was a significant problem. As part of the refurbishment we painted the canopy edges of HBK and I needed to carry out copious sanding to ensure the canopies fitted in the heat. I had carried out the same on DSL earlier in the year as it had been refinished and painted sometime ago by the syndicate.
It wasn't pleasant work. Hot, sweaty, with hot fingers from using the 80 grit aluminium oxide paper and then regularly hoovering the dust away. The one upside is that the solar panels were producing plenty of power and could run "Henry the hoover", so I didn't have to run the generator.
After Monday's efforts Rick requested that I checked DSL's canopies on Tuesday. They, too, were tight, and I had to work on the rear canopy. I improved it a bit. However, when I finished on Tuesday afternoon I was not sure whether we would have either Twin Astir available to fly on Wednesday.
It turned out that we could use DSL throughout the day with judicious use of canopy covers but that HBK would require more work (or the temperatures to drop), especially on its rear canopy. So we could deploy a K-13 (no canopy problems there), a K-8, and the Twin Astir HBK to the east end ready for flying operations.
The first task was to clear the sheep from the field. It's that time of year. Despite their efforts the grass is growing faster than they can eat it, so the tractor with the grass cutting deck will be in action soon. Perhaps on a cooler day!
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| Stop dawdling. Get eating! |
First up to fly was Michael Malric-Smith who had nobly stepped up. On the return leg of his Italian holiday he went via the Park (Bath, Wilts, and North Dorset Gliding Club) to collect our belly dolly that was used when I took the Puchacz, HCC, back to Heron Gliding club. Thank you Michael.
What of today's planned activities? A test flight for our Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, and the Chairman's conversion to a Twin Astir and flying from the back, and also clearing John Osment as a winch driver.
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| The front instrument panel of our refurbished Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, labelled up and ready to go |
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| The instructor's view from HBK' rear seat |
This is a first for DGS; more glass than wood on the hangar!
The first part of the day's plan didn't happen due to thermal expansion, as you have previously heard, but the rest did.
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| First flight of the day; Mike Jardine and Michael Malric-Smith |
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| Chairman Steve readies himself for his first conversion flight in the Twin Astir, DSL, with the Chief Flight Instructor. |
Today's trainees were Michael Malric-Smith, Neal Oxley, Ian King, and Lance Whitehead which was probably enough for the Duty Instructor to manage today.
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| Michael M-S continues his training. I suspect he won't get to the top of the launch on this one! |
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| We were instructed to take care of each other in the heat. Keep the duty instructor cool before Neal's first training flight |
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| Iced beer (non-alcoholic of course) at lunchtime in 32C heat |
After a set of three flights with Steve, Rick took the K-8 and managed to find a thermal and earned himself "Man of the match" with 31 minutes aloft. To say that he was "cock o'hoop" would be an understatement. Especially as he had exceeded Peter's 12 minutes clocked up on the previous flight.
Perhaps a special mention should be made for Ian King in the K-13 (with the duty Instructor of course) of a soaring flight of 12 minutes. Although when I caught up with them in the K-8, trying to formate on Ian's thermal, who by that time he was intent on thermaling downwards. That was a tad frustrating but safety separation in thermals is the paramount consideration!
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| You gotta stay cool. Michael M-S parasol in action in the tower |
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| Lance Whitehead returns from a sortie which was the penultimate flight of the day. |
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| I know it lovely under there, but perhaps it's time to pack up |
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| DSL's version of the Australian hot weather advice "Slip, Slap, Slop" to keep its canopies cool |
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| Is that FXB casting a glamorous glance at the newcomer to the field; Michael M-S' trusty 4x4 Fiat Panda? |
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| A jaded Site Manager takes a break back at the clubhouse |
The weather is due to break on Friday so perhaps the weekend will be back to more manageable conditions. I hope so!
Gavin Short
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