Spring comes early to Shenington

The weather last week was uncommonly good for the time of year. There was some ad hoc flying midweek which included Shenington's first XC flight of 2011 to be posted on the BGA ladder - AC & LI with BID O/R! www.bgaladder.co.uk/

DS ran the day on Thursday and Geoff P filled in for Bruno on Sunday. There were also some pilots getting some field landing practice in with me in the Falke!

Remember that from next Monday (4th April) we have full-time mid-week professional instructors available for the summer season so if you need some instruction please let Eric know through the office.

Juniors get a great start to the season

We had 16 juniors turn up plus some parents.

The weather was fab.

We did 2 motorglider trips (lee ingram) and 7 winch launches (Mike Cuming and Phil Marks) plus 6 juniors got a trip in the Robin (Dave Gould) and Gillian Crabb had her first go in the Chipmunk.  Tony Tayler drove the winch.

We also carried out 2 launches for regular club members prior to the school bus arriving.

We had a superb start to the junior gliding season. weather was warm and sunny. bar and games room full after flying until late.  next week - the clocks will have changed and we will have much more daylight.

Post from Mike C.

Where were you?

Another good flying day, if a bit slow to start after last nights party! As the day brightened up so did the enthusiasm with the whole fleet, plus HVQ, out and flying. I ran the day with Gavin P and Jane as BI, although Tony T managed a couple of BI flights as well. It was good to see the K6 out and soaring again - but where were the rest of the private owners?

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Thanks also to LPCs Clive and Martin L, with Dave G providing the A/Ts. Thanks to all who drove the winch, but particularly to Robin who started the days winch driving and Bob W who did the last 3 hours after he should have been at home - neither of whom flew today!

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Congratulations to Paul M for passing his Bronze Paper and Lucy on her first winch lauch as driver under instruction. We also welcome new member Bob King who joined today.

Almost like summer

It took a while to trigger but over 4 hours soaring was available, the blue thermals working up to about 4500ft, Alan L took a trip in his DG down to Broadway, Mick F in his Discus turned Shipston, I took a winch launch into the blue and managed to get away to complete 3hr 23mins local soaring - I managed to find our house at Mollington! Had a great flight, working my around the recently modified airspace around Gaydon, flying with buzzards. There seemed to be a lot of field fires lit to help extend the soaring opportunities.

Eric and Andy L were flying their K6, Martyn Wells flying his LS8 321, Trish L in their DG, John L-C in his DG800, Dave S in his Nimbus3. Phil B had some soaring in the club's Astir, Bob also flew it later. Dave P completed his AFR with a spinning trip with Ian, and Lucy took the hangar flight with Ian to finish the day.

DW and Clive took a flight in the falke to HB for a cup of tea.

Prospective new member Dave Taylor flew with Tim D, Tim was later seen hosing the glider down!!

Thanks to the duty team Derrick S, Ian A, Paul F and tuggy Dave G.

Big Wings Go Soaring

It was a steady morning at the launchpoint with several club members opting to do some club chores before flying. The afternoon was much busier with several high performance private machines coming out to play to make the most of the weak soaring conditions that eventuallty developed after lunch including Dave S in his Nimbus 3, John L-C in his DG, and Graham P in his Lak. Rowan ran the day with Paul F assisting. Martyn Wells was out for currency Cx and I completed his AFR, which inevitably involved some soaring! Others out included Eric, Andy L, Lucy, Mary, Robin, Bruno, Derrick S, Gary (tugging in the Robin), Tim & John D, Clive, Dave H and a visitor, Jamie, from Snitterfield who completed his XC Endorsement flying in the SLMG with Lee this morning, and later converted to the Astir. The Hoy brothers were also out to play in the Chipmunk.

Ridge & Thermal

Another soarable day - as predicted. The cold front had rattled through by dawn, bringing a very unstable airmass with rapidly building Cu and the odd shower - all of which fortunately missed the airfield. There was some local thermal soaring, plus a good spell where the ridge worked this afternoon as the wind gradually veered to just North of West. DW was out doing Annual Cx with Alan & Trish, and some further flying with Jan W. Also around were John L-C, Al C and Graham P - Graham having the longest soaring flight of the day with well over an hour in his Lak. I popped in around lunchtime, after work. Bruno flew the Falke around lunchtime, then got HVQ out and treated me to a 30 min flight on the ridge.

7 Days a Week.

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It was a beautiful day for 'Day One' of the 7 day operations for the new 2011 soaring season. DW was Duty Instructor with Bruno also instructing in HVQ with a visitor from Bidford. It was blue but soarable again for a while. Those out included Graham P, Alan N, Eric, Andy S and Jane, with Rowan and I turning up later to fly the Falke. John M also pitched up in his RF-4 back from its annual at Bicester. Kath is also back for the summer providing excellent winching as usual.

Sunday Soaring

It was a soarable flying day, with 45 launches, lots of annual checks and instructor checks. I took a couple of launches and encouraged by Tony's soaring flight, I took the next winch launch and got away for 28minutes. We were launching into an cold easterly wind, and it often looked as if streets were setting up - only to disappear very quickly replaced with a large blue hole, discussions at the launchpoint suggested this might be due to some wave interference. A few others had some soaring, but with cloudbase at only 1500ft there wasn't any opportunity to fly very far away.
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Bruno got HVQ on the flight line, and helped out duty instructor Derek S with club flying after having first taken it for a spin with Mary!

Congratulations to Tony Taylor who completed his CFI acceptance checks for his BI rating. Well done also to Mick for completing his annual BI checks. Others out flying included Dave P, Lucy, Bob, Geoff , Jon C, Alistair, Dave S, Sue, Paul M and junior pilots Abbi, Michael S-G and Tom K. Gavin finished off the day with an aerobatics flight in the K21.
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John Donavan did a sterling job flying the scout group in the falke, helped by Ian for a couple of launches. Tim Donovan was also flying his Grob 109 taking one of the scout leaders for a short flight.

Thanks to Christine for towing and to Robin, Tony, Dave P and Jane for helping out on the winch, Jon C, Mike, Jessie, Lucy and the scouts for helping at the launchpoint and keeping the log.