Sunday 27th September

Another good day following a cold clear night. John W & Rowan stepped in to cover the afternoon instructing as we were short of a DI team. Alex flew with Rowan, and recent solo pilots Leslie & Patrick both had flights with John practicing thermalling. Leslie was very pleased to follow up with her first solo soaring flight! After spending much of yesterday driving the winch, I'm glad to report that both Eric & Paul M finally got into the air in their gliders. Our visitors enjoyed their flights and we flew till early evening.

 

Forecast looks good for the rest of the week so don't hesitate - get some soaring done while you still can! Winter is coming.......

Saturday 26th September

A real bonus of a day for September! The day dawned sunny, bright and cold which promised good thermals. As we expected plenty of visitors for trial lessons and a day course, we took DVX & CCC up to the top hangar field to get started together with the tug. Paul N and John W were on duty, with Eric, Andy, John R on the winch in turn, once Eric & Alistair had installed the new roller on the right hand drum! Clouds started popping late morning, and the private gliders came out to fly.

Alistair took HJD off soaring, John R got the day record of 4 hours in EPU, Gary and Graeme Hudson (stop press - Graeme is hoping to get back into gliding and is looking for a glider) went off on aerotow in KHC, while Robin and then Gail flew G2. John Le Coyte went off in the DG800, whilst Gaynor was running a very successful 'Macmillan Coffee Morning' down at the clubhouse. Various members sloped off for cake, and then Christine brought more cakes & coffee up to the launch point for the helpers - definitely an improvement on our normal bus catering! 

Where did all the gliders go??

All of our visitors managed a soaring flight - the day course couple both had a long flight, and showed lots of enthusiasm! During a break I took CCC for a long flight - conditions were great, up to 3,600 (cloud base at the time) in less than 10 mins off the winch. It went bluish locally for a short while but even then the wisps worked well. Paul Mucha turned up mid afternoon and very helpfully relieved Eric from the winch, finishing the day's session. Patrick turned up in the afternoon and had a late long soaring flight with John W. My hangar flight of DVX with Rowan turned into 40 mins of local soaring watching the shadows lengthening over the ridge & furrow. It was a gorgeous evening, in tune with a very enjoyable day.

 

....and there was still cake down at the clubhouse!

After flying a gang of us went for a curry to celebrate Gary's birthday.   

Sunday 20th Sept

A very odd day! It was sunny in town but foggy elsewhere (M40 was closed briefly), and the team didn't get started till late morning due to the mist/fog and low cloud. A nice start with sunshine, the promise of thermals and a few people in shorts/sandals. This didn't last sadly! George very kindly stood in for Phil M as DI, and flew with Alex Phillips while Clive, Tim & John W helped out with our Trial lesson visitors. Club members slotted in with solo flights.

Leslie, back from France and addicted to gliding as ever, had a few solos, and we has some visitors from Oxford GC who had come to try aerotowing. Patrick & Leslie have wasted no time learning how to drive the winch, and both helped out yesterday. Longest flight of the day was flown by Alisdair in the K6E, and after that there were mainly extended circuits. Here's hoping for better weather next week.....

Sunday 6th Sept

A cracking day at the airfield! Forecast said it would be blue, but with a cold night and a warm (ish) day we were hoping for thermals anyway. Gavin was Duty dog, and when I arrived the kit was all out and ready to be taken to the eight acre. Danny C, having not flown for a while, was first up in DVX with Gavin, and they had 15 minutes off the first launch. This was enough to get the rest of us moving and I went next in the K8, and after an initial scrabble found it progressively easier as the clouds built up. Cloud base wasn't high - it moved from c1800' to 2200' over the hour, but the vis wasn't bad, and the thermals were plentiful. I could see Danny & Gavin having a long soaring flight under neighbouring clouds. Rowan in C2, and Alan L in HMB both took to the air late morning and had good soaring flights. Alan went down to Nympsfield and back, reporting that cloud base got no higher than about 3100' - at Nympsfield the encroaching sea air was hitting the prevailing wind and making conditions quite poor.

Back at Shenington pretty much everyone who flew, trial lessons and club members, had decent soaring flights. The K8 spent most of the day in the air. Steve T took it after me, then Bill Gordon converted to the K8 and had a couple of good flights in it to consolidate. David S had a long flight in the later blue conditions, and even the hangar flight was fun, getting back up to aerotow height off the winch. Gavin kept Danny very busy (and exercised!) with a succession of launch failure practices, so the flying is obviously going well!

A big thanks to Andy and Eric who drove the winch all day without flying - their launches were great, and their help as always was much appreciated. A very enjoyable day all round.

DIY continued....how many gliding club members does it take to fit a dislodged flue pipe??

   

Friday 4th Sept

The thinker:

Eric contemplates the results of a misguided attempt to drive the buggy with DIY supplies between the two club building!
....to be continued!