Dartmoor Gliding News - All Blogged Out

You might think that blogging is easy. Here's Gavin after his blogging week at Aston Down.

All Blogged Out

Steve

Dartmoor Gliding News - Friday 24 May 2024 - Aston Down Expedition - Day Five

The day didn't dawn bright and sunny, but overcast and with light winds as expected, but not from the predicted southwest.  What was not expected was that RASP and Skysight were showing that the day would be very bitty with potential showers killing the lift.  So, decision time over breakfast. We waited for the morning brief, but for some of us the Duty Instructor's take wasn't convincing enough.

Mike, Peter, and I decided to pack up and derig and we were on the road a shade after 1100.  The latter two had Duty Instructor and Basic Instructor duties on both Sunday and the Bank Holiday weekend, so a decent recovery day would be most welcome before then.

Gavin hooked up, trailer lights checked, and ready to roll

A lonely "peanut", still in his pyjamas, after all his friends had departed (Ed: John's Mini Nimbus has the bigraph "KP" on its tail)

Andy and Phil were timing their moment to head off to Talgarth in Wales.  Rick wanted to stay for some more fun before going to stay with a relative in Oxford for the Bank Holiday weekend.  Scratch and Val had another appointment with the DG500 before taking Scratch's caravan back home in the Bank Holiday and half-term traffic this afternoon.  Finally, John, was going to make the most of it by staying until Saturday.

Farewell to DGS Aston Down Expedition 2024

For the Brentor convoy, apart from a delay on getting on to the motorway at Junction 13 and the inevitable slow-going around Bristol, it was a good run.  At Taunton Deaane services, in response to a message to the DGS Aston Down 2024 group, Scratch replied that conditions were booming.  An inspection of Glide and Seek revealed just the K-21, the tug, and John's Mini Nimbus at the launch point. John had just come down after a local soaring flight.  No sight of Rick, Andy, or Phil in the air and accepting that we couldn't see Adam (Ed: When are you going to fit your Flarm to Woody? It won't hurt.) we'll call Scratch out on that statement!

John had two flights today:

 

"My first was a first solo launch by aero tow in the Mini Nimbus. I pulled off at 2,000 feet into a reasonable cloud street. Most of my 1 hour 21 minute flight was spent avoiding a large rain shower that eventually killed off the lift for most of the afternoon.  I took a winch launch at the end of the day, managing 17 minutes scratching for lift close to the airfield".

The view from the Mini Nimbus

Rick had 23 minutes soaring in the local area.  Scratch and Val flew twice in the DG 500 for 12 and 21 minutes.  Adam (Ed: Still in stealth mode) flew for 10 and 29 minutes.

Aston Down airfield from the west

Turning up the hill from the main road to the club I had a strong sense of home coming; sheep penned and farm hands shearing them, members of the MG Car Club out in their pre--war open-top sports cars, and later on the way home farmers cropping their fields.

Whilst unhitching and parking our trailers in the "Glider rack".  We noted Sean's Libelle trailer was parked along the fence ready to fill the space that should be vacated shortly by the massive T-21 trailer (Ed: Now it's not raining I am sure we can collectively make short work of getting the second axle secured and the trailer mobile again for it to travel to the east end).

Phil reported from Talgarth, South Wales:

Good driving 
Good weather 
Fingers crossed

The trailer park at Talgarth (Black Mountains Gliding Club) with the main ridge (Ed: Y Das to Hay Bluff) behind

No group culinary extravaganza to report on tonight.

Finally, a big thank you to Mike Bennett for organising the Expedition, corralling members to come, booking accommodation and tent pitches, producing victuals for breakfast, lunch and dinner (Ed: Don't forget cooking breakfast every morning and feeding the Staff Instructor too).  Michael, you are a star.  Thank you.

Here's hoping for better weather for the DGS Aston Down Expedition 2025.

A summer soarer's view of the airfield

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Thursday 23 May 2024 - Aston Down Expedition - Day Four

An early morning look out the window confirmed what we had expected, the rain had indeed stopped during the night.  What remained was solid cloud, but there was the promise of the cloud base rising as the wind backed to the west.

The Expedites have a confession to make to our readers.  At dinner last night, we watched the telly as it was put up on the big screen in the clubhouse (Ed: Tssch! Tcssh!).  However, there was a reason why we were watching BBC Spotlight to see our very own Val on screen talking about her experiences and advertising the National Womens' Go Gliding weekend on 8 &/9 June.  From the chatter on social media, it has proved to be a hit.

More details are on our website Women Go Gliding

Today we would be launching to the west on Runway 27 and that there would be a tug at the start of the day.

We had to rig the gliders after the 24 hours of rain, so we were at the launch point slightly later than normal.

Rigging the Cirri

The Kestrel 19 heads out

I get nominated for an aerotow check flight early on.  All was fine, and I was cleared to aerotow on my own.

Gavin prepares for his aerotow check flight (Ed: Canny move to be ready for DSGC's Eurofox coming to Brentor)

Val and Scratch had a chance to aerotow in the DG500.

Before Val's and Scratch's flight, Val switches "off" her Go Pro

Val's view of the Eurofox tug

Phil ready to launch

The Cotswold's Irish pundit whispered in Andy Davey's ear that the ridge was working at Nympsfield so he should aerotow to Nympsfield and drop on to the ridge.  Nympsfield was available to land on and get a winch out of, if necessary.  Andy got himself prepared both mentally and physically for his flight.  He got to the ridge and explored it and made use of some thermals heading up to over 3,000 feet.  After a flight of 4 hours 9 minutes, he returned to Aston Down (Ed: Epic flight, Andy!).

John Allan and Rick launched on the winch.  John made it to Nympsfield using thermal lift before heading on to the ridge.  There was some confusion as to which ridge was working (Ed: Apparently the ridge wasn't discovered until 25 years ago, so it's not that clear).  Rick made it to Nympsfield but was then "caught in a tractor beam" heading inexorably downwards as his Standard Cirrus wanted to go home (Ed; The syndicate bought it from Nympsfield).  He noticed that Nympsfield had the winch cables out, so he strolled to the office and paid for a launch.  Once aloft again, he made it back to Aston Down.

Peter took the Kestrel into the air and soared locally for 47 minutes.

Phil took an aerotow in his DG300 and later a winch launch for some short flights, followed by a flight of 39 minutes at the end of the day when the air became turbulent (Ed: It was thought that this was caused by wave setting up in south Wales).  Canny Adam in his K6-CR managed 91 minutes of local soaring.

As to my flight, I ended circling down for a lovely held off landing.  Then the main wheel dropped in to a rabbit hole.  On pushing the glider out, the tail skid came off.  So, a job for the afternoon.

After taking the glider back to the trailers and putting them to bed, Adam and Gavin helped the Air Cadets with their evening flying.

Andy on aerotow: Nympsfield ridge here I come

The DG500 waiting for his girlfriend (Ed: do you mean Val?)

*

The Duty Instructor continues to deliver

Tonight's culinary extravaganza was a BBQ grilled on the clubhouse balcony: Burgers, sausages, steak, grilled liver, and onions (Ed: There was a little coleslaw and potato salad to try and resemble a balanced diet).

It looks like the wind back further from the west to the southwest and lighten for tomorrow.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Wednesday 22 May 2024 - Aston Down Expedition - Day Three

No brief today. No forecast required.

It rained all night and then all day

The morning provided a chance for our resident XK10 expert (John) to test my purchase for the club.  He declared it a lovely vario in nice condition.

An XK10 vario and a PZL vario (Ed: A useful addition to the DGS fleet)

A few late entry photos were submitted from yesterday.

Hugh and the Club Libelle yesterday. A proud man.

A glider pilot is born (Ed: You mean "Two gliders, Sean"?, with suitable acknowledgement to John Prescott)

The promised lecture from Wednesday's Duty Instructor didn't materialise, so to avoid cabin fever, six glider pilots headed to Gloucester to try some go karting.  A good time was had by all (Ed: I hear there was no competitive nature to the afternoon, despite Adam lapping the instructors and achieving a lap time just two seconds short of the establishment's lap record).

Val stylishly dressed, ready to race with the champions

The DGS team (Ed: Who can you recognise?)

Val mixing it with the boys

Glider Pilots; NASA Astronauts, or a bunch of loons from the South West?

Apparently after three 15-minute sessions it was all too much for one of our instructors who had to retire to bed, on return, for a nap (Ed: Well he does get up at a ridiculously early time in the morning so what do you expect?).

Hugh said farewell to us and caravanned it back to Lydford, Devon.

Tonight's culinary extravaganza was a curry cooked by Instructor Sam and the sous chef was our newly qualified Sean.

Silence at last as the expedites concentrate on Sam's chicken curry

The evening was spent reviewing the weather forecasts, none of them agreed, so we would have to wait until the morning.

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Tuesday 21 May 2024 - Aston Down Expedition - Day Two

Phil joined us today with his DG300 having been unavoidably detained by his daughter's wedding.  But before he arrived, we had the morning brief; no NOTAMS to worry about and little to look forward to, with plenty of dense cloud cover all day.  But we would give it a go and set up on runway 03.

The club had a trial lesson at 1030 which was an aerotow to 3,000 feet.  Sam, the Duty Instructor, found some wave at 2,400 feet and managed to climb at 1/4 knot. He had to abandon the climb when the wave gap in the clouds closed.  That set the scene for the weather for the rest of the day; a door slammed shut!

After the tug landed, it wasn't available for the rest of the day (Ed: A planned evolution rather than a defect), which put paid to Scratch's plans to fly Val again on an aerotow in the DG300. So Val ran the tower, having built on her experience yesterday and advised by Sam to be firm on insisting the name of the pilot for the log (Ed: Her maxim - No Name, No Fly!).

Andy's Libelle "M" awaits its moment

There was a lot of looking at the thick cloud cover and wondering.  Rather than thinking about it, Hugh managed 36 minutes of scraping in very weak lift.

The focus of the day was Sean's conversion to his Libelle.   Once again, he flew the K-23 to get in the groove (Ed: at 22 minutes, that's a long groove, Man!).  Then he flew three flights in his Libelle.  He achieved a 17-minute flight in very weak lift on his second flight. On his third flight, he had to release early due to the cloud base. He later remarked that you had to fly the Libelle accurately, otherwise it would let you know that you weren't and would grumble (Ed: Like a wife, did you say?). 

Sean happy to be in his Libelle at last (Ed: And on an airfield rather than sitting in his garage going Brrrm, Brrrm!)

Adam helps Sean prepare

Take your time, Sean. No one is waiting.

"Cable on please"

And off he goes

There was a lot of waiting on the ground today

Sean, oblivious of the photographer as he runs through his pre-flight checks

Sean's steed safely back on the ground

In other flying later, Hugh managed to fly for 18 minutes and Mike 14 minutes in their Club Libelle.  Val and Scratch flew in the DG500 for a short flight, launching on the winch. Later, Andy managed 35 mins and Hugh 35 minutes (Ed: Wow Hugh, trumping Andy!).

Scratch flies Val (Ed: Note the murkiness of the sky)

Peter prepares to break a blue weak link on the ground run.

A plethora of pundits offer their advice to Peter on how not to break a weak link on his second attempt

Phil's DG300 waits forlornly, but didn't fly

At 1630 spots of rain started so we finished flying took all the gliders back to the trailers to derig and put in their boxes, or dress them in their pyjamas (Ed: You mean put in the trailers or their all weather covers).

The convoy assembles ready to drive to the other end of the runway and the trailers

My Standard Cirrus was the last in the line to go home

An arty shot of CNN (Ed: You were obviously bored while waiting for the last flight of the day to launch)

Today's extravaganza was John Allen's chilli and rice (Ed: We heard that the BGA has approved his Silver distance (50 km) and hence he had completed his Silver badge. Congratulations, John).  The expedites then duly celebrated, courtesy of the case of red wine left over from Phil's daughter's (Rachel) wedding (Ed: Thanks Phil).

So a relatively quiet day but a big milestone for Sean (Ed: Congratulations Sean).

Gavin Short

Dartmoor Gliding News - Monday 20 May 2024 - Aston Down Expedition - Day One

Sunny and blue came the dawn as forecast.  Nothing much was expected to happen in the morning, but after lunch it was meant to be quite good.  But not as good as RASP forecast for Brentor - six stars, the maximum.  Had we come to the wrong place?  Should we pack up and go home and fly at Brentor (Ed: Then reality hit us like a bucket of cold water.   We would have to derig the Kestrel.)

The pundits consider the weather

As to the flying, it didn't quite live up to expectations.  Adam sneaked in a couple of hours in the local area before it was meant to be soarable.  The DGS fleet launched from 1400. I was the tail end Charlie for the task; Aston Down - Avesbury - Uffington White Horse - Aston Down (106 km). I climbed to 3,000 feet and set off on the local 100km task. Soon I was abreast the airspace around Highgrove House.  The clouds felt soggy and weren't working so at 300 feet below the glide path I skedaddled back to the airfield and landed after a straight run in.

Rick managed a bit further on the task but experienced the same conditions.  Peter in the Kestrel set an alternative task out to Cirencester and then Nympsfield and home, some 48 km (Ed: On the way back from Cirencester, his flight computer said that he was on final glide and he hadn't even turned Nympsfield). 

Andy had a bit better luck but also abandoned the task. Mike had a short flight and then handed their Club Libelle to Hugh who had a flight in the local area. He set himself a task of Nympsfield and Birdlip of 45 km.

Mike and the Club Libelle

Adam's K6 wants some of the action too

Peter's view of Nympsfield (Ed: Through his DV window)

Peter's view from the Kestrel near Cirencester

Meanwhile, after a second round of lunchtime sandwiches to fortify him, Adam took off for another 3 hrs 15 mins Ed: To add to his morning flight of 1 hour 48 minutes).

DGS gliders ranged at the launch point

Yet more DGS gliders at the launch point

Little and large.  A Libelle and a Nimbus 3DT

Scratch had check flights in the DG500 for both aero tow and winch launch to fly from the rear seat.  He then flew with Val for over an hour in lumpy thermals (Ed: Not good for your back then, Val?).

Cooo!  Look at that view Scratch.

In the meantime Sean had cracked in another 90 minutes in the Aston Down K-23 persevering by scraping away from launch height for ten minutes in 1/2 up, eventually getting to 4,200 feet AGL (Ed:  You must be nearing the conversion to your Libelle, very soon).

Mike helps Sean get ready for his flight in the K-23

Andy's other Libelle "M" (Ed: Envious Sean?)

Let us pray.  Gavin retrieving the IGC logger trace of Sean's Silver height that he achieved on Sunday from the K-23

A pair of Cirri tucked up for the night

John's view of the day:

"I Made it past the M4 and round Avebury, but then it looked very uninviting to the east, so I went back northwards and round Cirencester church instead and across past Nymsfield, making a slightly different undeclared task of 100Km."

John navigates by the Motorway network (Ed: Are you sure that is the M4)

John rounds Cirencester church (Ed: Ensuring that he really does turn the correct way point. Electronics eh?)

John's trusty Mini-Nimbus back on terra firma

Club gliders being walked back to the hangar

Instructor Sam continues assessing Aston Down's Ben for his Bronze C

Tonight's gastronomic extravaganza was Rick's sausage curry with naan breads and poppadoms.

"That was the day that was!"

Gavin Short