Saturday 20th December

Apparently a lovely day at the airfield. Sadly I was working but the forecast of a good North Westerly was accurate and those that turned up to fly had soaring flights in ridge and weak wave. Rowan was tuggie, and John Whiting was back as duty instructor after a long break.

Rowan sent through some photos from the day. Look at that sky from the tug - glorious! Nice looking view of the ridge too in the low winter sun. Great visibility for ridge flying at this point. The K13 and K21 did most of the flying, with many soaring flights, and Mick F rigged Q5 and also managed to get an hour in the air. Pretty good for December, don't you think?

 Above, John gets our visitor Peter togged up ready for his first glider flight. After a 13 minute ridge flight they went for a high aerotow and encountered weak wave as well as ridge lift, so a great introduction to gliding. An excellent day to finish off 2014, but there is still chance for more flying before 2015 so fingers crossed that we get more of the same this weekend. Merry Christmas all!

 

Saturday 13th December

A nice flying day today, with some welcome winter sun.

At dusk people started turning up for the party, Shenington and Weston-on-the-Green members. A few pre-meal drinks, with Gaynor (wo)manning the bar, then at 5pm we sat down to eat a fantastic Christmas meal prepared by Liz, with help from Mick & Jane. Lots of turkey and veg, followed by Christmas pud and plenty of brandy sauce!!

Ladies in charge!

Afterwards, we sat down to a quick talk (we were on a time limit as we were booked in at the bowling alley for 7pm) from Colin about his trip to America via Iceland, Greenland and Canada. We only had time for a brief spin through the photos - all looked terrific, and I for one hope to hear a longer version when Colin gets back from America next time.

On target a large crowd of Shenington & Oxford GC pilots headed off for the bowling alley in Banbury. We took over 4 lanes of the place, and did our stuff.....Colin turned out to be a bit good at this - the rest of us had mixed fortunes, often saved by the lane barriers (only used to be there for the kids when I last bowled!). A good (and noisy) time was had by all. A big thank you to Liz for organising the evening. It was great to see old friends and make some new ones from Oxford, and we had lots of fun. Happy Christmas everyone!

15th November

Oh dear, fogged in at the airfield. Took a call from a Gloucester pilot planning a cross country to Banbury who wanted to know what flying we were doing! Suggested an IR might be useful....

Of course plenty of people turned up expecting some flying (plus the full duty crew) so we had a jolly morning chatting in the clubhouse, with a brief interlude to move Bruno's K13 wings. Ray stood down in the morning, and Bruno supervised some Bronze training in the afternoon.

Mary had made soup, and tried to feed us it from about 11am onwards....and being greedy many of us gave in and had multiple portions. There was also a fine (if very calorific) lemon cake.

Late in the day we had a brief clearance (unfortunately a bit too late to do anything useful with) and Damien dropped in with his yellow cub to deliver some photos to the Regionals team. He did a very swift turnaround (didn't even get out!) to avoid being caught by the weather and went back to Hinton. 

Better luck tomorrow folks!

8th November

Aviation was committed today but no photos or details I'm afraid!

The evening bonfire and fireworks party that we shared with the village was a great success. Masses of people turned up, the fireworks were spectacular and Shenington PTA served lots of hotdogs, burgers etc. It was a fine evening with a southerly wind which was great considering the weather earlier in the week. Lots of members came along and willingly pitched in to help wherever necessary. Later in the evening 25 or 30 members and vistors from Weston-on-the-green enjoyed a chilli and baked potato meal. Thanks to Liz for organising the food, and all who helped with building the bonfire/setting up the fireworks.

Sunday 5th October

Oh dear...October already!! Bad weather stopped play on Saturday, but Sunday dawned fine with light South Westerlies again. We had another day course booked - this time Jordan having a course for his 18th birthday present - and we couldn't have wished for a better day to start. 

Russell was duty instructor and put Jordan through his paces all day. Mick F did some air experience flights and the rest of us flew the K8 and otherwise ran the launch point. 

It became quite thermic mid afternoon and John Rogers, Gail, Tess, plus Russell & pupil all had good soaring flights though Ian Murdoch got the longest flight in his mosquito. At one point we ran out of gliders & people - here is Shaun who was the only other person left at the launch point once we threw tuggie John R into the air!

CFI Phil did some winch failure appreciation (!) with Dave F from Bidford, and Damien popped in to say hello in his bright yellow Cub.

Mick took Liz for a flight in triple Charlie before we packed up for the day.

Thanks to our winch drivers Mick, Robin & Shaun, and to Dave H, Andy L and Shaun for helping out at the launch point. Nice also to see Colin back from America, and Lucy back from Uni on a 'flying' visit - working hard on the K13 wings in the workshop.

Sunday 28th Sept

Another nice day!! We had a day course booked so Terry Mc spent the day teaching Michael, who had been bought a day course for his birthday as a surprise by his wife! It was a great day to start, and Gail also insisted that Michael's wife Lynn got to fly too!

We kept Jaffa busy throughout the afternoon, and took it in turns to drive the winch and fly! Many thanks to Terry Mc for being duty instructor all day, and to everyone else who helped out.

Saturday 27th Sept

Weather was quite pleasant for September, and we were kept busy with lots of visitors and plenty of K8 flights. The sky looked dull to start, then picked up to be suddenly thermic in the mid afternoon. The late flyers were the lucky ones, with flights of an hour or so.

Alistair F had the K6 out, and Paul Fletcher flew his libelle, while Phil & Russell took JYR for a flight. Paul's libelle has been otherwise occupied much of the summer at competitions with Paul's son Tim - Tim came 5th in the Club Class Nationals and won the Junior Nationals this August!

We had a good day, and Liz cooked in the evening for those who were able to stay.

Sunday 7 September

The best weekend day for several weeks, in terms of weather. A warm sunny afternoon, though the sky was a bit too blue to make it a booming day.Cloudbase was 3500 QFE by early afternoon, 4600 QFE by late afternoon. 

Adam Linforth was on a day course, courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover's learning scheme. Paul Fletcher took him for an aerotow flight and then three winch launches. Two of these were soaring flights of 40+ and 50+ minutes, giving Adam chance to practice thermalling on his first day in a glider. We had to tell him that not every day was like this!

Air experience flights included Virginia Pike celebrating her 70th with an aerotow and a winch launch. A large family contingent supported her, and grandson Archie Short took a flight as well, pictured with Paul F below.

Club members getting good soaring flights included the Langlands, Carol Sheppard, Eric, Graham Paul and Peter White. Peter only converted to the K8 earlier in the week, so I was envious of his 3-hour flight - just try to bring it home before 6.30 pm next time, Peter! 

Dave Price 

Saturday 16th August

The weather looked worse than had been forecast, with a 15kt Westerly making catching low thermals difficult. We had a viable number to run the field, and provide Air Ex flights. We only did 18 launches from which the longest flights were by Dave Smith (1hr25m), Andy Moore (56m) and I managed 52 minutes. 

The otherwise uneventful day was enlivened by the arrival of an unusual visitor; Justin Wills arrived in a 1934 Schleicher Rohn Bussard. He had flown downwind from Bidford. The Bussard (BGA no.337) was originally imported to Britain by Sir Alan Cobham for his flying circus displays. It has not left the UK since, and is probably the only one of its type still flying.  Rowan gave Justin a slow and gentle aerotow back to Bidford.

Dave Price

Saturday 9th August

A brilliant day here at Shenington. The launch point was buzzing with activity. Some of the Kent visitors stayed on to fly today, with congratulations going to Chris Parsons, who successfully completed his 50km to Sackville Farm. Congratulations were also in order to some of the Kent visitors earlier in the week, namely Ian Russell for completing a 300km and Mike Worthington for also doing 50km to Sackville.

Alistair and Norman were flying their K6e, 'Ruby,' Nigel was also flying his K6 and Charles and I flew DNW, It was great to have so many K6s flying on the same day.

John Donovan set of on a task towards St Neots, having made the turn point, he had to fly via Kettering and Northampton to make it back, avoiding a large blue hole.

Smiling launch point helpers!

Charles about to fly DNW

Interesting sky over the airfield!

The club K13s and K21 were busy with two day courses, as well as trial lessons. Tim had two friends visiting, Zoltan and Balasz, both tug pilots from Husbands Bosworth, Zoltan flying his Kestrel 17 for several hours!

The tug was kept very busy all day with 9 aerotows and an aerotow retrieve to Sackville.

Thanks to the duty crew and everyone who helped to make today such a success with a total of 49 launches and some very long flights.

The day ended with a superb meal, as always, prepared by Liz for 25 people! Thank you.

Sunday 29th June

A short fast fun task that got most people back, then it was time for prize giving.

Waiting to go - tail end charlie on the grid....

 Congratulations to Mike Gatfield who won the competition this year. Very sad to see eveyone leave but hope to see them all again same time next year....

Saturday 28th June

Conditions better than the day before, but another scrub day for the pilots. We had a fabulous Mexican themed party int he evening and most of the competitors dressed up. Staff at the local Tesco were bemused by the number of people looking for sombreros.....

Have a look at Damien's brilliant photos taken during the competition week at :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tupperware_pilot/sets/72157645256469531

Friday 27th June

A picture tells a thousand stories.....

Thursday 26th June

Grid squat! We started with small tasks which then got smaller as the weather failed to improve. At one point the task setter was seen at the launch point wearing a poncho and sombrero.....plainly desperation setting in......

Eventually we scrubbed, and given the poor forecast (lots of rain tomorrow) there was a mass derig.....Back to the clubhouse for port wine tasting and cheese......

Wednesday 25th June

A fabulous looking day.A nice big task was set - one of the new variable barrel tasks where the total length was 356km but the lower handicapped gliders would fly around 300km. We went off north east to Graham Water, then down to Burbage, and back via Bicester and Shipston. Top cover made the southern edge a bit slow, but the conditions back at Shenington were terrific, and didn't cut off as expected. A great day was had by all.

Just look at that sky as we packed up....The evening was gorgeous, and we had a lovely Moroccan meal cooked by Phil Atkinson, followed by a display of Middle Eastern dancing.

Monday 23rd June

Day Three, and third day flying. Weather looked ok, but due to close down early. Task was Westcott, Lambourn, Bicester East and home to Edgehill. Sadly the weather didn't play ball and we got top cover in early - many of the gliders ended up at Bicester (some on the way out, some on the way back) and I landed at Abingdon Airfield. Five gliders got round, which was very impressive! 

Four of the gliders at Bicester went back to Shenington on dual aerotows. Damien got some brilliant video shots from the tug - do have a look on YouTube.

The grass at Abingdon

In the evening Graham gave a talk about his gliding trip to Morocco.

Sunday 22nd June

Day Two of the Regionals and another sunny day. We flew our first Distance Handicap Task from Shenington and it seemed to go well with all the gliders back. Forecast still looking good for the next few days - yippee!

Saturday 21st June

Day One of the Regionals and some decent weather to start us off. Lots of first day activity with everyone getting their kit sorted, and a very full eight acre field. 

Christine worked miracles getting us some last minute tugs when our planned tugs went offline, and we had a relaxed 192km flight out to Bicester North (ok, everyone else but me went to Bicester North - courtesy of the task setter I went to Bicester North West  and scored as a landout - pah!), Gloucester South, Deddington then home.Here is a photo from abeam of the Gloucester TP.

A good start to the week, and the forecast looks good for the next few days.

We ended the day with a BBQ and a concert from the Abingdon Brass Band.

Don Birks

We are sorry to report that Don Birks, a former President of the club, passed away last week. His funeral will be held at Stourbridge Crematorium at 1.30 pm on Friday 27th June. Don will be remembered by many as an enthusiastic member of the club and excellent instructor and will be sadly missed.

The Regionals start on Saturday!

Hello All! Off down to the club tomorrow evening ready for the start of the sixth Shenington Regionals on Saturday. Hope to see you there. If you can't make it, follow the action at : http://shenington.onglide.com/current-day.xml