There were no blogs from the weekend. After all the heat and dryness, the United Kingdom enjoyed a traditional Bank Holiday weekend: rain, heavy showers, blustery wind, and thunderstorms.
That didn't mean that the Saturday crowd was absent from their place of duty. Fuelled by Wendy's latest baking extravaganza (Bakewell cake), and my wife's banana and chocolate cake, the traditional doughnuts were scarcely touched.
Mike Jardine stood in for the CFI, who had ventured up country on the Bank Holiday weekend (brave or foolish?), and organised several training lectures delivered by Scratch and him to two of our juniors, Ed and Rowan. In between lectures they were kept busy with glider work and learning how to fit a tyre and inner tube to a 200mm x 50mm brand new tailwheel hub. And if you haven't tried doing it, it is not at all easy.
The morning was, as forecast, wet. But I had delivered various goodies to the clubhouse. First was the pair of Vertigo canopy covers for the Twins for use in very hot weather (I am sure the supplier had a sense of humour when he shipped them to me in time for this wet Bank Holiday weekend). We will continue to use the bed sheets when the Twins are in the hangar.
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| John Allan and Steve Lewis check the fit of the canopy covers while I shorten the trailing edge elastics to achieve a suitable tension |
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| John Allan demonstrates his technique for removing and then fitting the canopy cover without it touching the ground. Cue drum roll, then Abracadabra! |
The second delivery was a new TOST TOG brake hydraulic brake calliper for the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK. A set of piston seals and a calliper seal were included in the delivery to allow the original brake calliper to be rebuilt as a spare.
After lunch, the weather brightened; there was even some sunshine, and we brought HBK to the hangar from the T-hangar at the east end. The glider was filthy, and Rowan, DB, and I washed and dried it as best we could before the next band of rain showers rolled in. After a bit of hangar shuffling and installation of the recently repaired hangar belly dolly (we can't call it the Pucahcz belly dolly anymore), the elite brake fitting team swung into action.
John Smith offered up the rebuilt original calliper and checked its operation; all correct and no leaks - this will be held as a spare. Then John Allan and John Smith, aided and abetted by others, offered up the new brake calliper. This is a first-generation brake system, not the latest blue anodised Brembo-style brakes as fitted to £200,000 plus new sailplanes, so it inevitably needed some fettling to fit. After some fine tuning and adjustment, the brakes seem to work well, and the glider is ready for a test flight and release to service.
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| The new TOG brake calliper as delivered from TOST. The hydraulic brake pressure is checked in the factory to 120 bar (1,740 psi!). However, can the eagle-eyed readers spot a quality control error that would become apparent when trying to mount the calliper to the mounting bracket? |
For those who ponder these things. TOG stands for Teil O-ring Gehäuse (Teil meaning split (i.e. two halves of the calliper), O-ring to join the two parts of the brake calliper, and Gehäuse meaning the body of the calliper), all very logical and Germanic!
Last Friday we received some welcome publicity from Harry Buckingham, who flew with Phil on Sunday 13 August. Here is a clip from the ITV weather forecast. Thanks Harry.
Hopefully this is the last we will see of the airfield in this parched state. When we brought HBK to the hangar from the east end, the grass had already started to green up in many areas.
Now moving to today. The Wednesday Wavers could expect ... well rubbish weather really. Autumn has come early.
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| Skysight's windgram sums up the weather for today |
I warned our two visitors off on Tuesday afternoon that we would probably have to cancel their flights. At 0830 the Duty Instructor confirmed the worst, and I made the calls. When they have rebooked, we hope to see Colin Terry, from Looe and Patricia Udall, from Newton Abbot, very soon.
So what should the Wednesday Wavers do? The first day of school for many meant that there were no juniors needing training lectures. So we flashed up the simulator and conducted some Alpine flying for Mike Jardine, John Allan, and Steve Lesson!
Elsewhere, John Smith, and Ray set about making the support frames needed for the solar panels in the long-awaited upgrade to the DGS solar set.
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| John Smith takes a break from cutting the wooden support frames for the solar panels. |
Peter and I insulated the battery retaining bar in the Twin Astir 1 for improved safety. Peter then applied stainless steel mesh to the rear bulkhead holes so that the shelf behind the rear pilot could be used without the risk of items sliding back into the fuselage.
Surprisingly, the mesh on the rear bulkhead holes of the Twin Astir Trainer, HBK, was intact. This meant that the new Vertigo canopy covers can be safely stored on the rear shelves to await the reappearance of the sun!
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| Peter loads the Vertigo canopy covers into the Twins |
The Twin Astir wing wheel is orange. That's not normal for tow-out gear. I rectified that, and now it's a highly visible signal red. I have sourced vinyl labels to apply once the paint is dry. I received news from IMI in the Czech Republic that the second Twin Astir tail dolly has been made and will be shipped to the UK this week. Also, the defective Flarm unit from K-8, GDK, is being investigated by Navboys.
Colin asked for assistance to get K-13, FSD, off its support ropes and upright following spraying the lower flanks blue. It was placed back on a belly dolly and prepared for the top half to be sprayed white, probably on Saturday when the weather should be drier and warmer.
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| Colin and Neil taped the underside of FSD ready for spraying. |
By 1600 the rain finally stopped, although the cloud base was still low so no late afternoon flying was possible. With that, the Wavers departed early, having achieved much.
Gavin Short
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