Aaaaargh!!! No flying yesterday resulted in nine possible trainees arriving today, so how to manage the day was my first priority whilst the assembled members set about setting the field up. Steve Fletcher would look after the days only visitor and as two of the trainees were father & daughter Eleanor and Richard Hattersley who joined as full members today, Phil Hardwick stepped up and volunteered to fly them. This left seven trainees to fly with me, so at the daily briefing I declared there would only be two flights each to give me a chance to at least allow all to fly.
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| Twin Astir G-DDSL waits for a decision. |
First to fly with me was Ed Nicholson. I soon realised that I would have to break my rule of only two flights. A couple of launch failures and a good circuit, I made the decision time was right for Ed's first solo.
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| Ed receiving his solo briefing. |
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| Hooked on by sister Jess. |
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| Safely back with a smooth landing. |
After this early excitement it was back to the training list. Jess was next to fly with me and she is starting to fly the circuit and early part of the approach.
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| Jess excited after Ed's success. |
Steve's visitor arrived. Ottilia Pochat enjoyed two flights with Steve in Twin Astir HBK.
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| Ottilia receiving her certificate from Steve. |
I would steadily work through the rest of the flying list. Rowan Guest, Aiden Hughes, Misha Skochko, Ivan Foster and David Moorley. As mentioned before Phil Hardwick flew with Eleanor and Richard Hattersley.
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| Ivan ready to fly. |
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| David happy to be back flying again. |
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| Eleanor about to fly with dad Richard learning how to hook on. |
With only the K8 available for the solo pilots it was a steady progress through their list. John Allan, John Osment, Sean Westrope, John Smith, Viktor Skochko and Ed Borlase each too their turns.
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| Viktor preparing to fly. |
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| Ed taking a break from photography. |
So a very busy day, but we got through it. 35 flights, one new solo pilot, two new members and some tired but happy pilots. A big thank you to all at the club that enabled the flying list to be completed. Not an ideal situation having to reduce the number of flights each, but at least everybody flew.
We even had an air-prox today which was caught on camera.
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| Two Buzzards in close formation. |
Finally after everything was packed away it was time to present Ed with his wings.
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| Ed receiving his wings. |
Peter Howarth
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