Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 14th October 2026

Well, we are halfway through October already, but the autumnal feel didn't deter the Wednesday Wavers.  Unfortunately, the forecast of a gusty, full crosswind and low cloud base throughout much of the day curtained any hope of flying.  As the Duty Basic Instructor, I had to phone today's visitor, Michael Tappenden, who was ready for his One Day Course and let him down gently.  He hails from Sparkwell in Plymouth, and we hope to see him soon when he rebooks.

Skysight nailed today's forecast but omitted the heavy rain just before lunch. 

The real weather was worse than forecast.  When we arrived, we were in fog.  Then there were some tantalising glimpses of blue sky, then the low cloud base materialised.  Then to reinforce the decision not to fly, there were some heavy, prolonged showers between 1100 and 1200.

So it was going to be a day of jobs around the club.  But John Allan had some gliding-related activity.  A while back, Steve Lesson had noticed on Flightradar24 a power plane landing on a farm strip some miles to the north of the club.  Using the simulator, he found the landing strip had a steep slope and that it was not viable to land in the Duo Discus that he was "flying".  He concluded that it would have been possible to land in his own glider, a Mini-Nimbus.  He continued to investigate other fields as possible landing options in the vicinity.

The simulator was put to good use with the Chairman tackling the local task in a Duo Discus. Yes, in real life the Duo's cockpit is slightly different. 

John Osment had produced a pair of exquisite main wheel axle end caps for Twin Astir, DSL on his lathe at home.  Peter and Steve Lewis fitted them, and John checked the dimensions on the other Twin Astir, HBK, so he could make a second set.

Val should be happy with the results of her efforts.  Two sparklingly clean DGS vehicles.  Bravo.

Earlier, I investigated the front instrument panel in DSL for several things that had been bugging me.  The Turn and Slip switch was poorly labelled, and there was a mystery broken switch.  I discovered that the Turn and Slip didn't work, nor was it fused.  However, getting access proved a challenge, so Steve and Peter took over.  As ever, a simple job on a glider took four times as long as you think.  The errant switches and the defective Turn and Slip were removed.  We await the delivery of an 80 mm blanking plate and suitable fasteners from Navboys to make the panel look smart again.

The heat-reflective canopy covers were removed from the Twin Astirs, aired and put away for the winter.  They won't be needed again until the spring.

Colin turned his hand to K-13, CCY's wing in his glider workshop.  

Colin meticulously scarfs in, glues, and clamps the new trailing edge in CCY's port wing. 

The plan is to retain the AMF trailer that we had previously earmarked to accommodate the Puchacz.  As regular readers will recall, we handed back the Puchacz to the Royal Navy so that conversion work stopped.  It was decided that the AMF trailer would make a much better trailer for our K-13 than the original trailer that came with CCY from Mendip GC.  So the team, led by John Smith, set about the task of preparing it.

Peter and John Smith offer up the new floor panel to the AMF trailer in preparation for it accommodating a K-13 securely.

New floor, ramp, and dolly tracks in the correct position. 

Next, the wing spar supports/clamps, visible in the photo above, need improving.  That will mean welding.  Let's not forget a welding sentry this time for the sake of both the trailer and the welder! 

In the clubhouse, the Duty Instructor, Mike, delivered some training lectures for Jamie McCullum.  Jamie worked through some of his glider training card, and John Osment and Scratch led him through his club orientation card.

During the day, support frames for the solar panels received some more creosote.  Earlier in the week, our new solar system received some tweaks, and now the generator will charge the 5 kW battery at a decent rate when the generator is running rather than providing just a trickle charge.  We are learning all the time, but the indications are that it will be a good system.

Then there was some serious engineering underway in the hangar.  At the Astir CS77's last Airworthiness Review Check (ARC), it was discovered that some of the threads on the tailplane locking bolt showed evidence of some minor stretching.  This is a typical area of wear in GROB gliders.  Although serviceable, it was decided to replace the tailplane locking bolt and fittings to ensure the glider enjoyed a long service life in our hands.  I had received a replacement from LTB-Linder in Germany.

Colin invited Jamie to witness and participate.  Perhaps there were too many spectators and differing opinions... too many cooks etc.  Despite that, the parts were changed over, and Jamie was introduced to thread mechanisms, the correct use of circlips, washers, stress indicators, the use of non-freezing aviation grease, and the correct assembly of L'hotellier control fittings.  All good stuff for a young glider pilot.  After several trial fittings, everything was lined up and went together and came apart as designed.  Happy that threadlock and witness mark paint had been correctly applied; duplicate checks were conducted and the tailplane taped ready for a test flight. Whoahh!  The job is not done until the Fleet Manager writes the Form 205, a rectification sheet, and attaches the EASA Form 1.  Tomorrow's task then...

The Astir CS77 looks resplendent with its new tailplane locking bolt, which of course you can't see now that it is fitted!  The Wavers can attest that the new locking bolt is very shiny under that white GRP. 

With the main jobs done, I could turn to my own instrument panel and indulge in a bit of fettling.  I mounted and threaded a longer lead (USB A  to USB A socket) to allow the download of flight traces and the upload of firmware to the newly fitted Power Flarm Core.  The Wavers were in an advisory mood following the work in the hangar, with lots of vocal ideas on how a rectangular slot should be best made in an instrument hole blanking plate.  I ignored their helpful advice, got the job done in half the time, and put my tools away.  During this, Scratch was able to update us on the work in the Motor Transport hangar, preparing the manual winch for the long-awaited automatic control.

Hangar doors shut, calm returns to the fleet after a myriad of activities during the day.

For those Wavers who had travelled from Plymouth and negotiated the extensive diversions due to Goosey Fair in Tavistock, as well as those Wavers from other directions, it had been a productive non-flying day.  As we relaxed in the clubhouse, the banter flowed.  Try as we might, we couldn't convince Dave to rig his K-6, Debbie, and attempt to make use of the very dark cloud street running directly across the airfield at an estimated height of just 850 feet above the airfield!  Maybe another day.

Saturday and Sunday are likely to be high-pressure days with a cold northerly wind.  Winter is coming!  Wrap up warm.

Gavin Short