A warm sunny day with a strong gusty wind from the north provided very challengining flying conditions. Instructor Bob Pirie flew on manfully providing check flights and training in these difficult conditions.
Trevor managed to scrape 23 minutes flying the Jantar1. And then John Blaskett showed everyone the way to do it with a flight in the K6 to over 3800 feet. He described the lift as a smooth 2 knots in long lines. He had found wave without realising it. Well done John.
At 5:30pm Bob relinquished command to Roger Matthews who supervised Martin and Ged flying a group of Explorer Scouts from Saltash. Judging by the smiling faces a good time was had by all.
The day ended with the team putting up the removeable fence across the west end of the airfield. The fence is made up of a series of posts which fit in to sockets in ground linked together with long galvanised steel fence panels. This normally straight forward task went well untill the last panel which appeared to be 10cm too short. Some members thought that the airfield had grown ??, some thought that the (steel) fence panels had shrunk ?? . After some judicious swapping around of fence panels to take advantage of the manufacturing tollerences, the task was eventually completed. Glider pilots at their best.
Steve
DGS Safety Corner Launched
We are pleased to announce that the DGS Safety Corner website was launched today.
The ground breaking Safety Corner is intended as a single point of contact for all safety matters.
Central to this new system is the “Report Something” facility which will encourage all members to report any safety related incidents / observations which will be compiled and used to spot any trends which require attention.
The DGS Safety Corner can be accessed from the home page of the Main Dartmoor Gliding website.
Steve
The ground breaking Safety Corner is intended as a single point of contact for all safety matters.
Central to this new system is the “Report Something” facility which will encourage all members to report any safety related incidents / observations which will be compiled and used to spot any trends which require attention.
The DGS Safety Corner can be accessed from the home page of the Main Dartmoor Gliding website.
Steve
Sunday 13th June 2010
Winds northerly to start, then NW, then SW, then S. We certainly needed to pay attention. Strong thermals to about 3000ft QFE, rain arrived about 4.30.
Some interesting flying today, and a couple of gliders from Northill used Brentor as a turn point, great to see them.
The steady run of training flights and trial lessons kept us reasonably busy.
The highlight of the day was retrieving our K6 from a local field. Alan Ballard did exactly the right thing and landed out, rather than
risk a marginal glide back---good landing in a good field, well done.
Some interesting flying today, and a couple of gliders from Northill used Brentor as a turn point, great to see them.
The steady run of training flights and trial lessons kept us reasonably busy.
The highlight of the day was retrieving our K6 from a local field. Alan Ballard did exactly the right thing and landed out, rather than
risk a marginal glide back---good landing in a good field, well done.
Don
Is it just me or does Alan look relieved? - Steve
Saturday 12th June 2010
A building high pressure with a brisk wind from the NNE promised a blue day.
Early in the day there were some visible signs of wave activity but while nobody connect with it, it’s influence was apparent throughout the day.
Soaring was best in the mid afternoon with strong thermals to 2500 ft.
Lots of training today with the 2 seaters kept busy throughout the day. Andrew worked on the his Bronze tests making good use of the thermals to get the height required to complete his stalling and spinning exercises.
Steve
Wednesday 10 June 2010
The forecast for today did not look promising which is probably why the club was fairly quiet today.
This is a pity because the day was perfect for training, bronze tests etc. with a little challenging soaring to amuse the solo pilots.
David Rippon was working hard on completing his General Flying Test for his bronze which also occupied the pilots on the ground trying to guess which exercise was next. Bob and Martin were in training mode throughout the day.
The real story of the day though was the amount of work going on around the site. Tony worked the whole day on the mower repairs assisted by Bob. Dave, Phil and Steve completed urgent fencing repairs. Martin and John were working on the K6 & K8 repairs. Dave and Martin planned and started refurbishing the ML winch guillotines which they are confident will be completed before Saturday. Dave built up some new strops etc etc etc. The full list of work undertaken was quite astonishing.
If you think from the above that there must be several members called Martin, this is in fact one man who has an endless capacity and enthusiasm for work around the club.
Thanks to everyone for their efforts.
Steve
Sunday 6th June 2010
The day started with low cloud touching the top of Brentor church.
The club members waited expectantly with instructor Roger Matthews but the cloud got steadily lower until they eventually gave up and scrubbed the day at midday.
Better luck next time.
Steve
Saturday 5th June 2010
A warm day that started with mist on the airfield which gradually lifted to give a flyable day.
Deputy Chief Flying Instructor, Mark, arrived at the airfield at 7:45am to find that he was not the first. Two members had beaten him to it, hangar doors were open and the setup was underway.
A steady training day with some new visitors. Mark was assisted ably by instructors Martin and Bob.
Andrew Beaumont took advantage of the conditions to convert to the Zugvogel and had his first 2 flights in this glider type.
We welcomed University student Mathew who is hoping to re-solo with us soon.
The K13 started today with a brand new rear wheel and tyre and finished the day by having the main wheel tyre and inner tube replaced with new ones after a late puncture. It was nice to see the club members working together to change the main wheel on the runway ; not an easy task. Well done everyone.
Steve
Deputy Chief Flying Instructor, Mark, arrived at the airfield at 7:45am to find that he was not the first. Two members had beaten him to it, hangar doors were open and the setup was underway.
A steady training day with some new visitors. Mark was assisted ably by instructors Martin and Bob.
Andrew Beaumont took advantage of the conditions to convert to the Zugvogel and had his first 2 flights in this glider type.
We welcomed University student Mathew who is hoping to re-solo with us soon.
The K13 started today with a brand new rear wheel and tyre and finished the day by having the main wheel tyre and inner tube replaced with new ones after a late puncture. It was nice to see the club members working together to change the main wheel on the runway ; not an easy task. Well done everyone.
Steve
Wednesday 2nd June 2010
The day started with a warm breeze and blue sky. Cumulus started popping very early indicating the presence of thermals. Inevitably this lead to the system overdeveloping – too much cloud cut off the sun and stopped the thermals until the cloud cleared and the sun warmed the ground again.
To complicate the situation further the sea air arrived a 3pm which cooled the whole system and cut off further thermal development.
So what did the pilots make of all this?
The Jantar 1 and the Twin Astir managed flights just short of 2 hours. Several others managed flights of 1 hour.
Andrew Beaumont managed 40 minutes which is his second bronze leg. David Rippon was working on the final parts of his bronze flight tests. Philip Hardwick converted to the Zugvogel .
Dev, our summer visitor from the Long Mynd, made his annual appearance and enjoyed soaring in the K8.
We also welcomed a new junior member, James Yarde, who has already flown solo with the ATC and seemed to enjoy the freedom to explore thermals that sport gliding offers.
All of this activity was supervised in great style by Bob – Thanks Bob
Steve
To complicate the situation further the sea air arrived a 3pm which cooled the whole system and cut off further thermal development.
So what did the pilots make of all this?
The Jantar 1 and the Twin Astir managed flights just short of 2 hours. Several others managed flights of 1 hour.
Andrew Beaumont managed 40 minutes which is his second bronze leg. David Rippon was working on the final parts of his bronze flight tests. Philip Hardwick converted to the Zugvogel .
Dev, our summer visitor from the Long Mynd, made his annual appearance and enjoyed soaring in the K8.
We also welcomed a new junior member, James Yarde, who has already flown solo with the ATC and seemed to enjoy the freedom to explore thermals that sport gliding offers.
All of this activity was supervised in great style by Bob – Thanks Bob
Steve
Monday 31st May 2010
A very pleasant day, but not too many people around---probably the poor forecast put some off. A strong inversion made the blue thermals very difficult and relatively low level.
With just enough people to operate, Martin spent all day on the winch (thanks from all of us for that), Mike Stock soloed on the winch launch after 2 intensive training days, Dev spent much of his time teaching ground skills to our ab-initios
.
Colin Boyd pitched in wherever he was needed to keep things going, thanks to everyone for your efforts it was very much appreciated.
Don
With just enough people to operate, Martin spent all day on the winch (thanks from all of us for that), Mike Stock soloed on the winch launch after 2 intensive training days, Dev spent much of his time teaching ground skills to our ab-initios
.
Colin Boyd pitched in wherever he was needed to keep things going, thanks to everyone for your efforts it was very much appreciated.
Don
Sunday 30th May 2010
The day had an unpromising start (low cloud etc), and developed into a great flying day.
A lecture on winch launch methods was followed by a practical application by our trainees.
Welcome to our visitor Dev from the Mynd, Dev is a nickname because his real name is unpronounceable. Several trial lessons were flown by Martin, and the club training was busy all day.
Thermals from around 12 noon onwards, until overdevelopment in the late afternoon.
Rain showers brought proceedings to a stop about 5.30. only to clear up after the hangar doors were closed!
Don
Late news
After 3 uneventful flights in the K6, with no broken weak links. Alan Carter was signed up to drive the winch and spent all afternoon launching, almost to perfection, a multitude of happy flyers. I had a great time doing it too.
Alan
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