Shenington Flying Reports

Gorgeous For Gliding

2012-03-06T19:51:00.004Z

Neil after his hangar landing.

Beautiful weather for March with light winds and blue skies provided an excellent training day. Bruno ran the day flying 2 early training flights with Neil A, who then re-soloed. Neil flew further solos during the day including the hangar flight for DDB at the end of play. Craig P, who discovered the club as a result of our recent Whittle Jet Day, had a great introduction to gliding, flying in ideal "first day" weather with Jane on his Day Course, so much so that I'm sure we'll see him back for more. Mick F flew some solos on DVX whist Bruno carried on with Susie S-W and Scott T. Terry T also turned up and and flew 3 solos. 23 flights in all, plus John M in his RF-4 motor-glider.

Summer Ops: Day 1 - Super Soaring at Shenington

2012-03-05T21:23:00.007Z

Bruno & Neil Climb Away From The Edgehill Ridge In DDB

Shenington Airfield

Day one of Summer Ops for 2012 and what a day! A bit blustery, but super soaring with a brisk NW'ly providing ridge lift easily accessible from one of Kath's expert winch launches. The ridge in turn acting as usual as our main trigger for 3-4kt climbs to 4000ft (I saw one at 5.2kt on my averager!!!).

Spring Skies

Soaring The 20!

Bruno was busy in DDB providing excellent soaring training for Neil A and Peter B. Private owners out today included Eric flying Cosy Pyjamas (K6e CPJ), John L-C in his DG, myself in my ASW20 (first day out at SGC this year not instructing - hurrah) clocking up 2hr 30min. The 25Kt wind at height made it tough to get anywhere although I managed a bimble to Gaydon and Banbury (and abandoned an attempt to get to the Cotswold Edge) whilst Graham & Lee managed to punch into wind in the Nimbus 4, but eventually unfortunately but safely ended up in a field near Southam to claim the first land out of 2012! All in all, a great start to the season! Don't miss the next soaring opportunity, keep up to date with the soaring forecasts at http://weatherton.blogspot.com/

Eric On My Wingtip

Soaring Above The Castle at Edgehill

Towing DDB Back To The Launchpoint

Saturdads at Bloxham

2012-03-04T13:36:00.001Z

With the kind agreement of the K6 syndicate Clive, Robin and Jon took a K6 and rigged it in the car park at the Butterfly Meadows Childrens' Centre in Bloxham this Saturday. This was timed to coincide with the monthly "Saturdads" session, where dads bring their pre-school age children for a morning of play (and the odd bacon roll for the dads). The keen interest shown by dads and kids alike is shown in the photos. We promoted the club and handed out leaflets. We hope to see a number of the dads signing up to air-ex experiences and, you never know, possibly becoming future club members.

Post from Jon Cartlon

Winter Ops: Midweek Update

2012-03-01T19:13:00.001Z

Wed - Aerotowing through the breaks in the 1500ft cloud was an amazing sight. Phil Z and Martin Lawence completed their aerotow section of his AFR but the day was called short to lowering cloudbase.
..
Thursday - Lovely blue sky and nil wind, Martin Lawence completed his AFR with a few winch launches whilst Al Cook and Graham Paul flew the Nimbus and John l flew the DG800. Later in the day engineering expert Scott Taylor also flew 2 launches. Great day you should have been there.
..
Lee

A great day for February.

2012-02-26T20:00:00.003Z

A great day for February. Benign conditions, ideal for training, lead to us having 33 launches of which I did nearly half. Thanks to Tim Donovan for helping out with the instructing. and Jane, Phil and Paul who helped with the winching.

Graham P

Whittle Jet Open Day

2012-02-25T23:59:00.000Z

What a great day!
A quiet moment (there weren't many) at the Midland Air Musuem display in the clubhouse on Saturday. It was good to see so many visitors, from near and far - we got through a lot of tea and cakes!

Over the last few weeks Mark Hampson has surveyed the airfield and its various sites and compared his findings with the original plans. The result is these fantastic new drawings of the site with the remaining buildings and hardstandings marked in colour. We plan to give these a permanent home soon, somewhere in the clubhouse.


There was a large audience for the flight of the jet

...and we all wanted a close up view afterwards.....

A perfect day for viewing the old control tower during a 'guided tour', following the airfield plans.

The Jet...

2012-02-25T23:55:00.006Z

Photos by Clive S

Videos by Ian A

Photos from our open day...

2012-02-25T23:53:00.000Z

Remembering The Pioneers

2012-02-25T23:00:00.003Z

An artist impression of the Pioneer running the Edgehil Ridge

Beautiful blue skies set the perfect scene for our 70th Anniversary Whittle Jet Open Day. It is with pride that we remembered this element of the secret history of aviation and the part our airfield played in it.

The Gloster E28/39 Pioneer W4041 - the Whittle jet - had first flown at Cranwell in 1941. Edgehill was then selected as the base for secret flight tests due to its proximity to the manufacturer's Gloster and Power jets. It is interesting to note that the first flight tests of jet engines were conducted by attaching the jet to the rear fuselage of a Wellington bomber - strapped to the tail cone. A hanger was built to house the jet in secrecy on the aerodrome perimeter between Christmas Corner and Shenington turn (near where the John Deere buildings are now). The jet made its first trial taxi on February 4th 1942. Flight testing began and it flew successfully until March 24th when part of a turbine blade broke away in flight and an emergency landing was made on the airfield. Flight trials of the Gloster were resumed in June 1942.

As well as the open day events we had our busiest club flying day so far this year. Duty Instructors were by Paul N & Derrick S with Tez as LPC and Dave G tugging. Lots of club members were out and enjoying the fine weather, getting current and some even managed a bit of soaring! Refreshments were on hand all day, splendidly run by Mary and Jane.

Sir Frank Whittle

We also had a fine 10 minute display from Tony Hooper with his model jet aircraft (the only other jet to date to fly from the airfield) to everones delight. There was also interest from the press with a visit from the Stratford Herold. A big thanks must also go to Jan A, Mark H, Tess W and all the other club members who organised the event.

It was to our delight that we had a clubhouse full of interested visitors the whole day ranging from interested locals to long established aviation buffs. We are particularly indebted to the representatives of The Jet Age Museum and The Midland Air Museum who both brought excellent displays and exhibits to our event and to Barry Jones for his excellent lecture this evening. We are also much indebted to Eric Kaye, life-long local resident and author of the book 'THE STORY OF RAF EDGEHILL', who was just a small boy when the RAF appeared at Edgehill, for all his expert assistance and unstinting enthusiasm.

The season has begun...

2012-02-19T22:28:00.000Z

Paul M (right) receives the SGC CFI's Award for 2011

Post cold front conditions gave good ridge and thermal lift providing a cracking day with lots of soaring, 3 K13s working hard, plus a K8 out and several private owners rigged with Graham flying over 100km+ in his new big-wings with Dave F from Bidford as P.2!

Gavin in the back seat again!

Lee was DI but sloped it on to yours truely so he could get the new Falke sorted and test flown. Bob W and I took the first winch launch and pinged onto the ridge which wasn't really working at that point, but at least it was a cheap (pre-11am) launch! Jan was LPC and Robin kicked off the winching with Paul M and Dave L-M also doing stints later on. John D was tuggy. Lucy took over as LPC for the PM stint and did an excellent job on her first outing in the role. Gav and I conducted his AFR and had a great soaring flight down the ridge and away in thermals to kick off the days soaring. Alan & Trish soared their DG300. Gary & Tim went off soaring for 1:40 then Gary swapped with John in the tug so JD could fly the 500, taking Lucy for a trip.

Others out flying included Gail, Terry T, Andy L, Derrick, Clive, Eric, and Geoff.

Eric quickly moves his K6e off the landing area after his flight

Lots of flying, lots of soaring, good times and beers in the bar to finish.

THE PROFESSIONALS ARE BACK AT THE END OF THE MONTH...

...HOWEVER, THE SEASON HAS ALREADY BEGUN!!!

Derrick's Day

2012-02-16T11:04:00.000Z

Just a brief update on flying to day, a good day with some 7 members
enjoying good but cloudy weather and a light WNW wind 10Knts. All the
members enjoyed either extended ridge flights or got themselves checked
for re solo and some AFR checks.
Clive and Eric had the K6 out and were able enjoy to ridge lift for
four 20min flights.

Brian Hucker got back in harness again after a bit of time off.

My personal highlight of the day was watching with interest Clive and
Eric putting the new covers on their K6. I can't see though why Clive
had a red triangle stitched to the tailplane cover. Perhaps it was
remove before flight alert?

Overall a lot of fun which completed a good week of ridge flying,
weather forecast suggest Sunday as an even better ridge day, don't miss it.

Derrick

Posted on behalf of Derrick S

More fun on the ridge!

2012-02-15T20:01:00.002Z

Bruno and Tony prep for a ridge flight

Bruno ran the day. It was a second good day for ridge soaring with Dave L-M getting the longest flight of the day clocking up 1 hour and 36 mins in the Ka8. Others out enjoying the soaring were Robin, Christian, Bob K, etc. with Martin L, Colin, Scott, Lee, etc organising ground maintenance.

Build it and they will come...

2012-02-14T19:54:00.004Z

Tuesday turned out to be a cracking good club day, the busiest mid-week day we've seen this winter. When Phil B pitched up at mid-day he thought it must be a Saturday!

Passing Edgehill on the way out to the Water Tower

Jane J was the first to arrive and she and Robin set up the winch whilst Bob K and I set about unpacking the hangar with the help of Peter and Henry from Haddenham.

Jane then drove the winch for much of the day before getting in Q5, once Mick had finished with the Discus. Colin and Bruno completed the paperwork on DVX, then Bruno and Graham P completing the test flights and Graham's AFR. Graham then instructed in DVX with Martin J and Henry.

Lucy Looks Out

The ridge was a bit "soft" to start with, but it picked up well after lunch and the last couple of hours were ballistic with easy trips all the way down to The Water Tower at the far end. I even managed some "ridge-running" with Peter B on my last flight and in all I completed 9 flights for AFR and ridge training, including an excellent 20 min ridge flight with Lucy followed by an excellent short field landing in the Club House Field with only a bit of verbal coaching from me.

It's a long way back!

Bob K set a personal soaring record on the ridge with me on the first flight of the day, then improved on that later this afternoon on his second flight. Others out included Christian, DaveL-M plus Alan and Trish flying their DG300, with Trish getting the longest flight of the day! It was also great to see Don Puttock who popped in to drop off his motor-glider.

Certificates and Awards for 2011 Season

2012-02-11T23:59:00.007Z

First Solo Certificates (new for 2012) awarded to club pilots who have gone solo in the previous 12 months:
Michael Selby-Green,

Richard Allen,

Nigel Clarke (Motor-glider)

Alistair Frier,

George Mahon,

Bob King,

Charlie Milward,

Sven Goffart

BGA Club Ladder Awards:-th in the BGA National rankings for kms flown (19,561km in 99 flights) in 2011out of 67 participating BGA Clubs.th on overall points (103,000 points)

This year showed our club rising to 11

- Average flight distance = 197km

- 13

- 14 SGC pilots took part compared to 4 previous year.

This is brilliant, so why not add your flights in 2012.

BGA National Distance Ladder for a pilot who has flown the most KMs in UK during 2011:
Graham Paul (10,276km)

Shenington Distance Ladder:

Graham Paul (10,276km)

BGA SGC Open Ladder:

Graham Paul (14622 points)

Winner of SGC Local Height Ladder with a flight from Shenington:

Rowan Griffin (gain 6,129ft at Shenington)

Winner of the BGA Height Ladder for an SGC from any site:

Graham Paul (gain of 7,600ft at Aboyne)

Winner of the BGA Wooden Ladder (& 6th place on BGA National Wooden Ladder):

Bruno Brown (3029 points)

CLUB ANNUAL AWARDS

Shenington Gliding Club’s Highest Acheiver:

Graham Paul

SGC Best Flight Award (awarded to member who flew the most meritous flight of the year):
Bruno Brown & Gail Jackson for declared 200km O/R in K13 HVQ

Far Point Trophy (awarded to the member who, in a flight originating from Shenington, lands the furthest straight line distance away in a glider):
Eric Lown, 161km

Most Improved Pilot (awarded to the member who has made the most progress in their flying during the year):
Sven Goffart

President's Triangle (awarded to the member who flew that fastest handicapped speed in a pure glider around a 100k triangle set by the President, currenlty EDG-BIC-NOS-EDG or reverse):
Ian Atherton

Geoff Webster Memorial Trophy - Clubman of the Year, (awarded to the 'clubman of the year' who in the committees opinion deserves recognition for helping the club run smoothly):

Kath Barnes

Paul Gibbs Trophy, Service to Shenington Gliding Club (awarded to recognise outstanding service to the club, usually over a long period of time):

Mary Meagher

Paul Gibbs Memorial Scholarship (New Award awarded to the member who in the committee's opinion is most deserving of a bursary towards their flying training at Shenington):

Lucy Wootton

Spring Soaring Week Trophy (New Award awarded to the member who scores the highest number of points in one day during the Spring Soaring Week):

Clive Smith

CFI's Achievement Award (selected by the CFI for the club member who in the opinion of the CFI deserves recognition for flying achievement and/or in aiding flying operations):
Paul Mucha

CFIs, Ice Pilots and Brilliant Bash!

2012-02-11T23:19:00.010Z

Today we hosted the Annual Regional CFI Conference with John Garrett (Thames Valley SRE) and Andy Miller (SRE SLMGs) presenting on a number of topics including BGA Annual Safety Report, EASA Licencing and Cloud Flying in the post-EASA environment. Big thanks in particular to Liz and Mick who provided an excellent spread for lunch arrangements, and many delegates complimented the club on the refreshments and on the excellent New Briefing Room facilities...Thanks to everyone that has helped SGC achieve such substantial progress over the last couple of years, you have done us proud.

More importantly, despite the bitingly cold weather we had a productive flying day with Ray as DI assisted by Geoff and Phil. Brent was LPC, Gary was tuggy and Robin did most of the winching providing some excellent "evil sim-power failures" for training purposes! Nigel C passed 2 more of his SLMG PPL ground-school exams. Others out included Martin L, Richard, Mary and myself.

Tonight we met up at The Whatley Hall Hotel in Banbury for the clubs Annual Dinner where we enjoyed good food and good company with some new faces and old friends form far and wide. Certificates for achievements and club trophies were haned out, which included a focus on the new solos, the BGA Ladder, and 2 new club trophies awarded to encourage soaring achievement and cross-country flying. Clive's Band provided the entertainment and a good time was had by all. Thanks to Jan for organising this year...volunteer(s) for next year please!

How many CFIs does it take...?

2012-02-11T12:48:00.002Z

Pictures taken at the Regional CFIs conference showing off our new briefing facilities and Liz's excellent culinary skills!

Photos by Mary Meager

Andy Miller updating us on EASA

Dave Bullock, Ray Brownrigg & Dave Watt

Mike Fox, Jane Nash, Andy Roch and Pete Stratten

A room full of CFIs, DCFIs, REs and a National Coach

Liz preps the refreshments

SRE John Garrett

Teamwork, Tows and Terrific Times

2012-02-03T22:09:00.003Z

Dave G ready for some towing...it's a piece of CEKE!

A fantastic bright winters day and there was a good mix of flying to be had. I completed Lee's Year 3 Instructor Check in DDB. Meanwhile Tim D flew with Bob K in HVQ, Bob flying solo later and making a lovely landing. Jane organised getting the K8 out and it proved to be the most popular glider on the field completing 12 flights with Jane, Gail, Terry, Clive, Derrick, Robin (who also did some Falke-ing) and Tim all taking trips in her. I continued in DDB with Peter B completing his SGC BI acceptance and AFR, Dave S spin Cx to complete his AFR and flew 2 A/Ts with Clive S to work on his BI patter prep. Derrick and Dave also flew the G109 for a trip round the Cotswolds.

At the end of flying the team rig DVX

After flying the team all pitched in to help Colin rig DVX and switch round some aircraft in the workshop and derig the K21 for its annual. Special thanks must go to Kath who drove the winch all day. We than retired to the bar for a well deserved beer!

And the K21 is de-rigged for its ARC inspection

Good-bye G-OFER

2012-01-29T19:20:00.009Z

Paul Noonan (or is it 'Pot Noodle'?) was Duty Instructor and Charles S was the morning Duty Winch Driver. There was a good turnout of folks and we got things rolling early with the intrepid DI taking a solo weather check in DDB. The low cloudbase, however, meant it was prudent to wait a while longer to commence flying proper, so when Clive W (visiting from North Hill, Devon before his upcoming BI Course with us in March) he was just in time to grab a cup of tea in the clubhouse and meet everyone.

G-WAVY with DDB at the launch-point

President Phil with Robin J

Clive W from North Hill with 'Pot Noodle'

The weather finally improve around lunch, by which time everyone was itching to fly. The K8 also came out and did a number flights with pilots including Clive S, Robin and Mick F. Martin L flew with PN in DDB, as did our visitor, who found our friendly welcome so much he decided to join! Another success for "the friendly gliding club!"

Clive S started his BI prep with me. Tim and Gary flew G-WAVY for a bimble round the Cotswolds. Young Christian popped in later and grabbed a quick flight. Phil B flew DDB solo and then relieved Charles on the winch so that he could take the last aero-tow behind Mary's beloved Super Cub, G-OFER, flown by Dave G before she leaves us for her new home at White Waltham.

Finally, I couldn't resist a final good-bye buzz down the ridge past The Castle and round the local area in the aircraft I "cut-my-towing-teeth" in way back in the '94, so I claimed the final flight in G-OFER, with Tess W joining me for a lovely 20 minute trip.

Paul F launches DDB whist the K8 tows back on line

G-OFER

Good-bye G-OFER... Fly Safely, Have Fun!

Tonight President Phil shared his widom from twenty-plus years of flying at Shenington about the potential hazards of our site entitled "When the wind blows..." Everyone there learned something worthwhile.

Soaring into the New Year...

2012-01-27T15:52:00.005Z

Graham rigs his new big wings.

Preping the K13.

Nigel solos the Falke.

Alan slices the Haggis.

It’s been a long time since the last flying report, so here’s an update of some of the things that have been happening over the Christmas period and into the New Year.

Robin J flew the last flight before Christmas with a trip in the Falke on Christmas Eve.

More flying between Christmas and New Year included Clive taking the last flight of the 2011.

Graham took delivery of his new Nimbus 4DM (how long are those wings) and he and Al have made several test flights and achieved some winter wave and thermal soaring! Incidentally Graham won the BGA Distance Ladder for 2011 flying well over 10,000kms! The New Year’s Eve party was fun with a quiz organized by Lee. Our landlord, Joe, and pals popping in for a seasonal beer!

The weather for 2012 has remained pretty decent for the time of year so despite short days and misting canopies there have been a number of decent flying days with our hard runways and ridge allowing us to operate when some of our neighbours are waterlogged.

Pilots have been working on their AFRs with some ridge soaring to boot! Mick F and Paul D are now both back on line for BI flying and Nigel B has gone solo in the Falke! We also had a great Burn’s Night with Alan L cutting the haggis and treating those present to a recital - now a Shenington tradition!

Last Monday Mick, Liz, Keith, Peter B, Martin, Dave L-M and I had a great day trying to stay up a very soft ridge with Martin L , Dave and Mick also flying the club Ka8. Peter B managed to lock his keys in his car (Doh!) so we ferried his spares up from Haddenham in the Tug where his wife met us to hand them over!

Winters Back!!!

2011-12-12T19:39:00.005Z

A picture of Bob Winters' back!

A cold clear start to the day with a moderate South Westerly and bright blue skies that brought out a number of folks. John & Sue were still here after the weekend festivities and Bob Winters was back to get current again after a couple of months off.
Bob and I did a few circuits and a PLF to knock off the rust, then he took up DVX for a solo. Also out was visiting pilot and recently qualified BI from Thame, Peter Bryant. Peter plans to do some mid-week flying with us and we hope to see him doing some A/X instructing with us next summer. Eric was also out helping and later he flew the hangar flight, plus John L-C flying his DG. Gordon B also popped in from Long Marsden in his Rotax Falke. Others around included Lee, Christine, Phil M, Phil Z and Scott.

Early Birds...

2011-12-11T21:45:00.003Z

Paul Noonan ran the day, and lots of folks turned out to make an early start and reap their rewards before the weather turned, which indeed it did as the forecast front came in. Meanwhile, the Leamington Volunteers were out selling vouchers at the Yuletide Fair.

The Legend of the Christmas Feast.

2011-12-10T23:25:00.008Z

The sky was blue and cold, and much flying was enjoyed. Then retirement to the bar for the start of Christmas cheer, afore the famous feast began upon the seventh bell.
This was a Festive Day and we call'd it the Christmas Feast of Shenington.
    All that joined this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
    And rouse him at the name of Shenington.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
    Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
    But he'll remember, with advantages,
    What feast he did that day. Then shall our names,
    Familiar in his mouth as household words -
    Meagher, Furesdon and Gould,
    Milligan, Le Maistre, and Wootton - and many others too
    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And a Christmas Feast of Shenington shall ne'er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remembered -
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
    For he to-day that drank this toast with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition;
    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
    Shall think themselves accurs'd they could not join,
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That dined with us upon that Festive Day.

Bath O/R

2011-12-07T18:57:00.005Z

Heroic effort by Graham Paul and Al Cook who took a winch launch in their Duo Turbo and flew down the Cotswold Edge to Bath and back, though they did admit to using the 'iron thermal' a couple of times, so no points on the ladder. Still, excellent use of the weather to perform a rare winter cross-country flight from Shenington.

Well done guys.

Cold - But Still Fun!

2011-12-06T18:25:00.002Z

Tim stealing the K6e!

A frosty start! Jane J was out early, as was Dave L-M, and were preping the kit when I arrived. 'Duty Student' Martin J was back for the second day on the trot for, as was Tim D. Dave G provided an aero-tow for Jane and I to go spinning for her annual BI Checks, after which we did some winch launches. Dave L-M experimented on the ridge scratching out a short soaring flight from frankly quite difficult soaring conditions with the wind weaker than yesterday, as did Eric in his K6e, before offering Tim a flight in his pride and joy, only to discover that Tim liked it so much it was difficult to get it back! Rain stopped play at 3pm, but I think we got what we wanted out of the day.

On The Ridge Again...

2011-12-05T19:07:00.001Z

Derick ran the day with Tim assisting. Special Thanks to Dave L-M who started the winch driving and Keith taking over later. The wind was on the hill again and a number of folks were out taking advantage of the soaring to top-up their airtime before Christmas. DVX was out with for instructionand solo flying. Mike C was ridge-running in his Duo, John L-C flew his DG-800 and Phil B & I were operating XXI so I could fly with a couple of prospective course instructors for next year and show them our 'spectacular' ridge. A nother good winter soaring day at Shenington!

Challenges & Opportunities!

2011-12-04T15:10:00.007Z

Dave Price starts work on his Bronze with Bruno.

Bruno was DI, Dave Price was LPC and Paul M drove the winch. Graham P helped Mike C rig the Duo for a trip to explore the Cotswold Edge, meanwhile Dave P started work on his Bronze with Bruno. It may be winter, but there's always opportunities to progress and challenges to meet. Tomorrow looks like another ridge day...see you at the launch-point!

Ridge, Wave and Aerobatics

2011-12-03T20:42:00.005Z

Graham P was Duty Instructor with Tez & Mary sharing LPC duties and Charles S winch driving. The wind was on the hill and a superb soaring day with ridge and wave. John D was out flying the K21 with Lucy and Paul M wave soaring at 4000ft+ and teaching aerobatics. 20 flights were flown with an average duration of 27 mins totalling just under 9 hours - not bad for December! Other out enjoying the soaring included Derrick, Paul F, Alistair F, Christian, Gavin, Robin, Tim, John R, Tess, Dave L-M, Terry T, John L, and Eric flying his K6e and gaining the longest flight of the day at 2:11.

Bob Goes Solo!

2011-12-02T23:12:00.000Z

Bruno congratulates Bob after his first solo in HVQ

Bruno ran the day flying with Charlie M and Bob K. The weather was great for the start of December and Bob flew his first solo before lunch. Also out were Robin flying the Falke. I flew with Gail to complete her annual BI Checks and AFR, and Mark H who then flew solo after a 6 month break.

Wonderful Wednesday

2011-11-30T10:59:00.003Z

November is often a woefull month for gliding weather in the UK, but this year we've had some really good days, including last Sunday's classic ridge day. Today was another good club day with Derrick instructing and a number of keen club members out to make the best of what was on offer, including young Christian who, deprived of a school day due to strike action, took the opportunity to cycle to the club and further his flying education!

A Good Training Day

2011-11-28T22:29:00.002Z

Another productive day. I covered the instructing, with Richard A flying a good check flight after a few weeks off and then flying solo. Martin J also had a number of productive training flights. Also out were John M flying his RF4, and Tim & Derrick flying their G109. Special thanks to Lee for driving the winch, and Scott & Phil Z who helped out at the launch point this afternoon to enable us to get the most out of the day.

Ridge & Thermal

2011-11-27T19:05:00.006Z

Whilst Jan, Clive and Gillian selflessly manned the SGC stall at the Banbury Christmas Market we were all enjoying soaring the ridge. Lee and Gavin ran the day with Robin starting off the winch launching, with Jon C taking over later on once he had flown. The ridge was booming and there was super soaring available from dawn 'til dusk. Trish and Alan L had their DG300 out and both enjoyed soaring flights with even some ridge enhance thermals popping off! Others out enjoying the soaring included Kris from Oxford GC who flew a K21 for the first time, Nigel C, Christian, Suzie, Gail and myself. It was one of the best ridge days in ages - if you weren't there, you should have been!

Friday Fun

2011-11-25T16:00:00.000Z

Bruno launches Charlie on another solo flight.

Another good training day with Bruno course instructing again and authorising the airfield. jane came out to keep current on aero-tow with Dave G flew the tug. Others out flying included Robin and Gail flying the Falke, Phil H in his Bolkow and course members, Bob K and Charlie, who concentrated on winch launching and getting up to 1700ft thanks to the stiff westerly wind and Kath's expert winching. Shame you couldn't make it!

Phil H lines up his Bolkow BO-207 for take-off.

Brunoexplains wave formations to Charlie whilst Bob gets ready to fly.

Nice for November

2011-11-23T21:06:00.006Z

After several days of murk the high pressure gloom had shifted this morning and Derrick S was Duty Instructor and keen to make the best of the day along with with several other club members out to keep current and work on their AFRs. Dave Gould provided the Aero-tows for Keith M, Eric L, John L-C, with Brian H and the others also doing some winch launches and, most importantly, all enjoying themselves.

Report from Keith Marchant.

More blue skies

2011-11-17T19:24:00.004Z

Bruno and Clive prepare to launch

Off into the wild blue yonder

Paul takes control

Other out flying included Dave L-M, Derrick S, John R, with Lee and Scott in the Falke.

Winter Achievements!

2011-11-13T22:20:00.006Z

Blue Skies

Clive takes the back seat

It was fantastic weather for November with the early morning mist clearing before 9am. When I arrived at 08:55 only our duty BI Jane Jervis was up and busy, already preping the launch point bus and putting out the winch. New junior member, 14 year old Christian (who signed up yesterday) soon turned up having rode in on his bicycle from Shutford. Robin and Clive also appeared and helped to set up the airfield. Robin preped the Falke and offered the spare seat to our new recruit, which Christian eagerly accepted.

How do I see the tug round those ears?

First glider flight of the day was an A/T with Clive in the back seat of DVX with me in the front making a start on his BI training and completeing his AFR and Pax Carrying Endorsement. John D flew the tug. Brilliant blue skies and by 11:30am lots more folks were appearing, and lots of flying was crammed in to the next 5 hours, and we could have done more if we'd been able to start sooner! I flew with Geoff P and Mike C to complete thier Year 3 Instructor Checks and AFRs. Tim D, Gail, Alison, Lucy, Charles, Jon C Tez and Paul N (aerobating the K21 as usual) were amongst the others out enjoying the sunshine. Star of the day, however, was Nigel Clarke, who completed his NST and Field Landing Checks with Lee to finish off his Bronze Badge and XC Endorsement.

9 Days A Week!!!

2011-11-09T09:02:00.008Z

Whilst most of our neighbouring clubs have 'moth-balled' their midweek operations for the winter, we've been out flying on every occasion the weather allows. Indeed, we have enjoyed some useful flying on all of the last nine days, proving that at Shenington 'Winter Mode' does NOT mean hiberanation.

Fri - It was a day for the Falke, and Robin was out flying in the clear spells between the showers.

The Bonfire

Sat - Paul Noonan ran the day which started rather dull, but picked up during the afternoon enough for some flying followed by our Bonfire and Fireworks, and John D's "JAR Party" with the barrel of Hook he'd provided. A good night was had by all.

Wonderful Autumnal Colours

Sun - Super sunny made it a fantastic autumnal day for flying and taking in the spectacular autumnal colours. Bruno and team ran the day with Dave P as LPC and Roddy in the Tug. I flew with Paul N to complete his AFR and start work on his Full Cat work-up, and Derrick S to combine his AFR and currency checks now he's back from Spain and available as a mid-week instructor to encourage mid-week club flying.

The Castel Inn at Edgehill in the autumn sunshine

First solo for Charlie

2011-11-03T20:19:00.002Z

Our first week of mid-week winter ops continued to go from strength to strength with Dave Perkins providing club instruction with Suzie S-W and Eric on Wednesday. Thursday saw an intensive day with Bruno flying Bob K and Charlie M. Charlie had a particularly memorable day and flew his first solo this afternoon in HVQ - Well done Charlie!

Bruno congratulates Charlie on his first solo

Now to concentrate on Bob...

HVQ ready for action again!

Back to GMT

2011-11-01T22:17:00.002Z

The weather is still providing some decent opportunities for productive flying.

Saturday saw Geoff P and team getting in some strong wind practice for number of folks and making the most of the daylight before the clocks changed back to GMT.

Martin enjoys the outstanding view with visability to beyond Didcot!

Sunday started poor but Lee and team hung on for the late clearance and squeezed in a couple of hours before sunset stopped play.

Monday and Tuesday; I was off work and was club instructor. Martin J made the most of the opportunity and is now romping through the syllabus with practice launch failures on Mon and some stalling and spinning on Tue. Lee drove the buggy and the tug - not simultaneously! Terry T also took a quick winch launch. The Falke is now back on line and after being test flown by Tim D, Robin and I took it to Enstone for fuel. Sven then also got a short trip. Meanwhile Tim D hitched a ride down to Wing Farm in the Chippie with Dave G to retrieve G-WAVY. Thanks for help on the field to to Lee and Sven, and particularly Robin for acting as duty winch driver for the last 2 days, allowing the club to operate.

Professional Results...

2011-10-28T19:05:00.007+01:00

It was the last day of our Summer Schedule and it was another super autumn day with blue skies and unseasonally mild temperatures. Bruno ran the day with Kath on the winch for the last time in our "Summer Ops" for 2011. Quite a few folks came out to play and make the most of the conditions, including Suzie S-W, Robin, Sven, Tony T, Bob, Steve W, Charlie M, etc. Even Phil Z was out and flew his Astir! It was a real bonus for those who turned out and between them they ran it like an well-oiled machine and clocked up an awsesome 62. YES, SIXTY-TWO launches!!!

Well the the challenge is set and the weather looks good for the weekend with 16C predicted tomorrow! So come on guys and gals.There's still one day left before the clocks go back - time to get out there and get cracking before the winter sets in!

Next week sees the start of the SGC Winter Schedule, but remember we are open for 7 day ops all year - it just takes some volunteers to fill in the gaps and we can make the most of our fantastic club facilities every day. Mon, Tue and Wed next week are all planned to be flying days. Keep look out for my Monthly CFI Report which has some news of some exciting development for the winter season and keep in touch with the weather page http://weatherton.blogspot.com/ so you don't miss a good day and come and join in.

Infectious Enthusiasm!

2011-10-26T18:51:00.006+01:00

Another wonderful day, with some great flying for late October - I think the photos speak for themselves!

Terry ready to go!

Robin in the K21

John briefs Sven on Aeros in the new launch point Bus

Trish and Alan

Jane and Terry clean Q5

Fun and enthusiasm

2011-10-25T21:54:00.004+01:00

Yet another good flying day full of fun and enthusiasm! Those out included Bruno, Jane (BI), Robin, Eric, Suzie S-W, Tony T and Sven, who converted to the Astir. there was also a family of AX visitors who all had a great time.

Showers broke up the flow a little during the afternoon, but we managed some aerotowing in between. I was pleased to fly G-OFER again and do some tows after a few solo circuits to get in the swing. Colin and Dave G continued to work on the Falke, whilst Lee, Scott, Jan, Gillian, etc ploughed through some other club tasks.

More of that breeze, please!

2011-10-24T21:57:00.005+01:00

Another breezy day meant more high launches. Bruno instructed with Kath on the winch. New member Tim L, Martin J, Alex G, Lucy, Gail, and John L-C were just some of those out for instruction today, with some flying solo including Lucy and Sven - well done! Several other members were also at the club working on a variety of projects...a brilliant turn out for a Monday in late October with 38 launches flown!

Caught in action: John L-C doing some work

Blustery But Fun!

2011-10-23T21:27:00.013+01:00

John D was Duty Instructor, and helping hin run the show were Jane as BI, Roddy as Tuggy and Glen as LPC. The new launch point bus was out again and working well thanks to the efforts of Lee and Scott who have put in so much work over the past few weeks to complete the conversion for airfield ops!

Paul D was out to fly with me for his annual CFI BI Cx, starting with a tow to 3000ft for some stall/spin revision followed by some winching. Later I also flew with Tony T and had some more cracking winch launches. However, John D did most of the instructing including a number of flights with Sven (over again from Germany for a few days) amongst others. It was a moderate Southerly and we were achieving high winch launches, with John D securing the day record at 1700ft flying solo in the K13. John and Tess W were also out and John W took Lucy for flight and managed to 'ride some energy' to extend the flight a little.

Gavin turned up later, he and Paul F having successfully completed their Ass Cat Completion Courses this weekend at Dunstable with RE Andy Roch. To finish the day Gav and I took a winch launch to around 1500ft and managed to 'hover' into wind at min sink with the wind slowly blowing us backwards over the ground until we were able to 'energy dump' into the top field to complete a circuit without turning! We then ended up buying a round for a "Shenington First"!!!

Breezy - But Busy!

2011-10-22T21:48:00.004+01:00

Another busy autumn day at the airfield - 53 flights and some pilots still finding lift at 5 pm.

Ray and Lee flew with club members while Phil and Paul worked their charm on a succession of Air Exs. Fliers included former club member Mike Nelson, who has had a few flights since re-appearing at the club's 21st birthday in June, new member Zoe, plus some of this year's regulars - David, Alistair, Lucy, Nigel at el.

James Sigley flew as P2 in an unidentified source of zero sink just east of the airfield while his father, Brent, worked the same area in a K8, one hundred feet higher. It's a family affair.

Thanks, as ever, to the LPCs and winch drivers who kept launching us until dusk.

Report By Paul Duffy

Boomin'...Yum! Yum!

2011-10-18T18:36:00.007+01:00

Eric gets ready to launch!

Super soaring with the ridge booming...Bruno led the way in DVX, soaring off the wire with Suzie S-W and Niel A - who both had a wonderful time. Eric has just bust a thousand hours on gliders, but there's no stopping him as he was also out flying his K6e. A shorter soaring flight in the morning was followed by an hour and a half this afternoon in one of the most fun non-XC flights he's ever had from his very best winch launch at Shenington, which saw him make 1800ft thanks to Kaths expert winch skills.
,,

Tomorrows forecast looks even better with the wind bang on the ridge and thermals to 3000ft+, so don't miss your chance to get that 5 hours!

First days of autumn...

2011-10-15T23:04:00.001+01:00

Summer may have gone, but the start to autumn is still providing some pleasant flying days with soaring opportunities. There have been several NW'ly days with the ridge working and even some thermal soaring opportunities. See Graham P's trip down the Cotswold Edge on the 6th Oct. http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=34603

Lucy and Dave P after a soaring Cx flight

Bob P preps the Capstan

Dave P ran Sat with the aid of Paul F. DVX came back on line and was test flown by Paul F, before being released to service much to Martin J's delight. The winch was busy all day (thanks to Phil, Eric and Clive), and the blue skies provided excellent opportunities for high tows for stall/spin training flights (thanks to Phil M for manning the tug). There were several local soaring flights in the blue conditions which kept the temperatures up enough for shirt-sleeve order. Eric and Clive flew their Ka6, John R his DG and we had the Ka8 busy with both K13s, the K21 and I got out HVQ out to mop up some instructor Cx/training including Phil B's Annual BI Checks - Happy birthday mate!

Last days of summer...?

2011-10-01T11:57:00.000+01:00

It was the first day of October and the whiff of suntan lotion was in the air. The weather this week has produced a genuine Indian Summer and, for us office and classroom-bound members it was even more of a bonus that it lasted until the weekend.

Saturday saw DDB and HVQ working their little dope-and-fabric socks off as club members and Air Exs turned up for flights. Despite the lack of any real soaring opportunities - the longest flight was 30 minutes by Eric in Cosy Pyjamas - there were close to 50 launches. Achievements of the day included Alistair adding to his log of early solos and Lucy re-soloing. The final flight - Mary Meagher and Tim Donovan - landed after sunset.

Thanks to the team of winch drivers, LPCs and instructors - no individual mentions in case a name is inadvertently missed out - we had an well run, thoroughly enjoyable day. Nothing noteworthy in the way of distance and duration, just one of those very good, easy-going club days.

Report by Paul Duffy.

Indian Summer

2011-09-30T16:27:00.001+01:00

Following Dick's departure (thanks for another productive season - take the rest of the year off!) it was Bruno's turn to run the week, and he brought the summer back with him. The high pressure settled in and allowed lots of productive flying. I spent 2 days at Bicester being put through my paces for my BGA 5-Year Instructor Refresher training, but despite my flailing attempts I scraped through, so you still have a CFI...doh! Back at Shenington Tim D helped with some mid-week instructing, and Alistair Frier was sent solo by Bruno - well done!

The good weather looks set to stay for a few more days, so come and have fun while the sun shines and enjoy the autumnal colours whilst you can.

That was the Bank Holiday Weekend, that was...!

2011-08-29T22:24:00.004+01:00

Saturday saw the TA back with us for their weekend camp and more A/X flying. Derrick ran the day aided by Phil B and Lee. Lots of flying with some local soaring available made for a very successful day.

Sunday was run by Paul N (subbing for John D) with the aid of Phil M and Dave P - again a busy day with lots of folks out flying.

Bank Holiday Monday saw the start of Bruno's '2-weeks on'. Despite grey skies and cool NW'ly winds there was again lots of local thermal and ridge soaring. Several AX flights were flown by me and Mick F whilst Bruno ran the show and took care of Michael on the first day of his weeks course plus club check rides, etc. The K6e syndicate was out to play, as was President Phil in his Skylark 4. A good days soaring was had by all.

President Phil and Course Instructor Bruno in club power struggle!!!

That was the week, that was...

2011-08-26T23:55:00.001+01:00

Don Puttock ran the week, and there was lots of flying and plenty of soaring opportunities available, especially on Monday which saw us with a very light NE'ly and good soaring conditions allowing me to fly my furthest distance this year of over 400km in around 6hours. Details at: http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=34011

Newmarket

Evesham

Meanwhile Bruno Brown, Bob Playle, etc. were having a great time at the National Two Seater Comp. http://2sc.os-bo.co.uk/

And Graham Paul was competing in the Dunstable Regionals.

http://dregionals.onglide.com/current-day.xml

Interclub Results...

2011-08-21T23:27:00.001+01:00

Sunday 21st
I wasnt around, but it looked like a good day, congrats to new full member Sven in completing his Bronze GFT and Bronze exam.
The interclub at Hinton seemed successful even though everyone landed out. Below is from Gavin;

Hi All,
[here] are the results from the Hinton Interclub Rerun

Class	Club	Pilot's Name	Glider Type	Glider Ident	BGA Points
Pundit	Banbury	Andy Preston	Discus	W4	494
	Bicester	Ian Smith	Nimbus 2,b,c	W20	1000
	Shenington	Rowan Griffin	Std. Cirrus	C2	778
Intermediate	Banbury	Carole Shepherd	DG100/101	DG	520
	Bicester	Paula Aitken	LS8 (15m)	D4	477
	Shenington	Alan Langlands	DG300W	HMB	800
Novice	Banbury	Stuart Johnston	LS4	452	406
	Bicester	Jon Verrill	ASW15	846	395
	Shenington	Eric Lown	K-6e	CPJ	101

As you can see it was a three way tie. I do not have the final scores for the season but as far as I can tell Bicester won the Midlands Interclub league this year and should be competing in the National Interclub Final..

Thank you to everyone who participated this year and also to those who helped to organise our Shenington Interclub weekend. A thank you also to those of you who supported our intrepid fliers in other ways, by dragging them out of far flung fields (sometimes by tourch light) for example. If there was a prize for the best organised and run Interclub weekend I think we would be hands down winners every year, thanks to Alan Langlands and the team, who bring the same precision and dedication to our humble event as they do to the regionals.

If you did participate and you enjoyed it we would have accomlished our primary objective, which has always been to have fun!

Keep flying away, and keep safe. Next year ...
Gavin

2011-08-20T23:05:00.001+01:00

Friday 19th
A busy day with Dick, Bruno and Dave Perkins, 44 flights with a bit of soaring - and congrats to Eric who did an amazing flight in his K6 to East Anglia, landing at Rattlesden thereby setting the goal post for the Far Point Trophy (furthest landout from site in a glider) see his flight here http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=33949. Meanwhile, Graham flew 311km in his Lak.
Bruno, Chris P and others went to fetch DDB's wing from Bicester and it was rigged and ready by the end of flying.

Saturday 20th
We welcomed the Sporting Bears fund raising group, with 18 flights a big thank you to instructors Dave Perkins, Paul Fletcher, Paul Duffy, and to John Donovan for flying some around in the motorglider. Nigel Clarke did a stunning job as LPC (anyone who wants to learn this job needs to pitch up on his day and see how its done properly!), and Gordan Clarke helped organising the paperwork and glidex. Thanks to Rowan for towing and Andy and Bob who drove the winch - the turn around with a seperate tow out driver was superb. We actually achieved cables arriving with no gliders on the launch queue! And the new bus was given a run up to ferry people to and from the club house. As the visitors were all petrol heads, they all thought this was a bonus - I think they were counting the types of vehicle they had been in that day! All our visitors had a great time and an evening BBQ and we hope to see a few of them come back again. We raised around £700 for the club and the fundraisers made around £50 for charity. Thanks again to all the club members who helped, we couldnt have done it without you.
Pictures to follow...

1500KMs from Shenington!

2011-08-16T11:01:00.006+01:00

Inevitably, the first day after the Regionals turned out to be a cracking XC day, with 4 of us clocking up around 1500km between us. Graham squeezed in the first 500k of the year from Shenington in his Lak before the front hit. Al C did 426k, I clocked up 320k and John Rogers (who did the aerotowing this morning and also offered to cross crew for me with Jane - big thanks) sratched away off the wire around 12:00 and still managed to clock up 250km in his DG100.

Dick ran the day with Eric winching and Jane helping after flying her Discus.

Regionals Week 2011

2011-08-12T15:19:00.005+01:00

More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tupperware_pilot/sets/72157627224616123

Shenington Regionals

2011-08-06T18:13:00.002+01:00

Catch up with the goings on at the Shenington Regionals Competition 6th - 14th August http://shenington.onglide.com/, daily blog, photos and twitter feed.

You should have been there...

2011-08-03T22:55:00.010+01:00

Moreton-in-the-Marsh

8.8kts on the averager! (Best seen was 9.3Kt!!!)

Mon, Tue, Wed...What a fantastic 3 days of soaring weather with lots of XC (see BGA Ladder) and far too many "You should have been there..." stories to recount here. My highlights were gaining my best ever climb rate in the UK with litterally "off-the-clock" lift and seeing 9.3kts on the averager, and a climb with 3 Red Kites near Enstone - just magical!

The club held the race event for Phil Brennan's running club with great success and they literally drank the bar dry!

Lots more excitement to come next week with the Regionals.

There will be ad hoc club flying throughout the Regionals, similar to weekends running on a first-come-first-served basis club, with Dick and Kath here to facilitate, but no bookings due to the flexible nature of the event.

Come and join in the fun flying and social events.

Busier and busier!

2011-07-31T18:37:00.029+01:00

G-OFER is back in the air after her extended refurbishment...and boy did we need her! Thanks to Colin H and Dave G for all their hard work.

Saturday saw blue skies and scattered Cu, which brought out most folks and there was much soaring to be had. Graham P (Lak) and Al C with Dave H P.2 (Duo) set the standard with both gliders completing a 440km task. John D flew the DG500 and both took Andy L and then Bob W for 2 hour plus soaring flights with beaming smiles all round. More big smiles from Tom K who completed his 2-hour XC Endorsement leg in the club K8 and newly solo Richard Allen, who got both Bronze legs in the K13. But the biggest grin was from visiting pilot Peter Bryant from Thame who landed out at Sheningto having achieved both his 50k and 5 hours to complete his Silver, having completed his XC Endorsement training only 2 weeks ago with us under the coaching of Bruno Brown!

John M was out for a spin in his Robin and kindly popped in from Bicester just incase anyone needed a tow, but Gary B was busy putting G-OFER through her paces before handing over to John R, when he and young Lucy took up the call to road retrieve Paul N from near Northampton!

Ray and Phil ran the day with lots of help from both our club and our BFGC visitors, with Rowan taking over the airfield for the AX group which we flew from 3pm. BBQs all round.

Richard Allen after his first solo a couple of weeks ago, with instructor Dick Skerry

Sunday was another XC day with lots more soaring and another big AX group with the duty crew and additional helpers doing another sterling job. Make hay while the sunshines...!

Congratulations to John Whiting who claimed a day win on Wednesday at Hus Bos and earned an overall 5th position in the Midland Regionals flying his Discus.

Vintage Silver!

2011-07-28T22:08:00.001+01:00

A good flying day with lots local soaring. Those who flew XC included John R in his DG100 and whilst the usually brave Lasham pundits whimped out Al C & Graham P (suitably attired for the beach in Hawaiian shirts and shorts) flew to the Isle of White and back in their Duo. Also, congratulations to Dave, visiting from Bowland Forest, who flew his Silver Distance to Sackville Farm in his vintage Skylark 3!!!

Al Cook's BGA Ladder comments:

Initial run down past LAS tricky, the climbs only getting better as we headed towards the coast. Coasting out was fun. On the IOW sea air was in as far as Sandown with Cu only in the centre of the island and to the north. Picked a nice 3kt climb in the sea breeze to take us back over the solent. Dropped the ball at Newbury and had to start the engine. Graham Paul acting today as tactician, statistician, beautician, dietitian* (delete as applicable)!

See trace at:

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=33149

Go Soaring, Go Shenington!

2011-07-26T10:24:00.006+01:00

As can be seen from the analysis of BGA Ladder traces by Paul Jessop, featured in the latest S&G, Shenington sits in the middle of the best area for thermal XC Soaring in the UK with the peak area roughly between Great Malvern - Basingstoke - Cambridge.

So don't miss out - come visit, either individually or on an exped. There is still some places available in our Reigionals 6th - 14th August.

Come and have some the fun!
01295 680 008
http://www.shenington-gliding.co.uk/

Beautiful Day!

2011-07-25T21:18:00.010+01:00

Blue skies and another busy day. DW ran the day with Tony T helping out. There were several soaring flights with Graham P (Lak) and Al C (Duo - with Lucy as P.2) going XC. Several pilots soared locally including Reg W, from BFGC, who flew his Nimbus and Jan A in her ASW-20. Thanks to Dave H who managed to resource the Robin coming back from the comp at Bicester so we could do some A/Ts, and for Ted Norman for ferrying both ways. We had a couple of comp landouts from HB, one of which took a placed tow home providing a nice detour for Ted! Others out included several folks from Bowland plus Paul B, Tim D, and Malcom R.

Special thanks to Dave Smith who spent much of the day working round the flying operations clearing the 'folliage' off the hard runways so they are clear for our regionals.

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-07-24T22:13:00.008+01:00

...

A busy weekend with Dave Perkins and team running Saturday. Lots of club flying and a number of landouts at Shenington from comp pilots showing us an interesting variety of alternative ways of flying the circuit! Sunday was even busier with Paul Noonan and team providing the most efficiently run day this year.

Their were lots of AX flights, plus guests from Bowland Forest and Weston-on-the-Green. It was so busy that 3 two-seaters just weren't enough, so I got HVQ out to provide extra instructional support, and after several AX's I flew new member 'Andy-Midge' who has rejoined us after an 8 year lay off! With the tug away at Bicester for their Regionals the winch team needed to provide swift turnarounds and met the challenge using separate drivers for winch and retrieve all day getting through 73 launches - now that's more like it!

Special thanks to Dave L-M who gave up his afternoons flying and stepped in as PM LPC when our rostered volunteer couldn't make it. Several folks went XC, including John D, Gavin P, Al C and Alan L. Alan was the only one to go west, and proved to have chosen wisely (i.e. he was the only one to get home without the assistance of a motor of some form)!

Big Lift, Big Sink...

2011-07-15T22:03:00.000+01:00

Another good flying day with lots of soaring with some great climbs and some monster sink. Dick had a busy day with Tim D also helping with some instructing before flying his DG500, taking young Tim with him soaring. Clive did Evesham O/R in his K6e. I got to the club after lunch once I'd finished work and flew my ASW20 around "The President's Triangle".

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=32855

When I got back I found a young Ed from Aston Down had battled into wind in the club Astir to claim his Silver Distance. Later I towed the Astir back home then gave Bob Playle a tow in his Capstan. dave L-M helped me wash the tug, then it was in the bar for a beer!

Campaign for Real Gliding gets a boost!

2011-07-12T20:05:00.015+01:00

Tuesday 12th was a grey and not particularly auspicious day, with an easterly wind, generally regarded as the kiss of death for gliding. This didn't put off Dick and his students in the K13, and from my point of view, it was a red letter day.

After nearly ten years in storage, and after much effort from new syndicate members Andy and Dave, the President's Carriage, Skylark 4 BQZ, took to the skies again.

I had a quick test flight to see if anything dropped off or didn't want to work, and then managed 43 mins soaring up to 2'700ft cloudbase.

In the afternoon, Dave took his first two flights in her, and arrived with the customary wide smile on his face. The Age of Elegance has returned!

Busy Skies

2011-07-12T12:45:00.001+01:00

What a busy day with Derrick S running the show with Bob and Clive as LPCs. The T21 was finally back in the air with its new Cof G winch hook providing super launches to heights previously only dreamed of. John D was the test pilot and such was the anticipation that we even got a flypast from the Red Arrows on their way to Silverstone as she was launched! How did you arrange that Derrick? The usual suspects went XC and there was lots of local flying. New member Tim J did lots of work and got in some flying. Tim D and I did 3 very productive flights towards his Assitant Instructor Rating acceptance which we completed, totalling around 1hr 30min soaring/stalling/spinning! Well done.
...

Sunday Soaring.

2011-07-03T19:49:00.001+01:00

A relativly quiet day with John D and Tony T running the show with the help of Glenn E as LPC. Graham took an early tow in his Lak, as did Al with dave H in the Duo and wnet to North Wales and back - for details see the BGA Ladder. Andy L got away off the wire for a couple of hours before it spreadout and cycled bigtime, with Mick F later scratching away in his Discus. I eventually clawed my way skywards and clocked up over an hour and a half but only bimbled around collecting some local TPs. Star of the day however, was the chap who landed out at Shenington in a Ka8 having flown his Silver distance from Thame - cool!

Another 5-Hour day!!!

2011-07-02T11:41:00.008+01:00

Rowan was DI with Bruno assisting and Phil B as BI with Dave H starting off the tugging, then Mike C checking out John D for towing in the Robin. A couple of guests from Bicester, Rocky and James, brought their ASW 19 up to Shenington to escape the Std Nats Comp.

Graham P did over 440km with an East-West task in his Lak 19 whilst John W and Al C flew the Duo. http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=32397

Several others also also went soaring including Mary and I in the K13.

Star of the day was Paul M who, inspired by Bruno, got away off the wire in the Ka8 and achieved his Silver Duration. Well done Paul.

Special thanks must go to Bob P who ran the airfield as LPC all day but decided not to fly and Roddy who washed down the K13s on his own at the end of play.

In the Summertime...

2011-07-01T11:40:00.001+01:00

Not really the 750k day that RASP had been suggesting, but still a 300k day. Several folks went off soaring and some went XC with Graham P flying the club 200km and John R clocking up 250km at over 80kph. Tony T flew around 100km with a trip to Hus Bos O/R. Charlie had another great day to finish off his week with us, gaining his 2-hour flight for his XC Endorsement and his Silver Height in the Astir - what a week he's had. Tonight the juniors made the most of a lovely summer's Friday evening.

Bronze Legs Galore!!!

2011-06-30T23:00:00.002+01:00

The weather has picked up and Wed and Thu both provided some decent soaring opportunities with a number of privateers pitching up and soaring away, including Eric & Clive in thier K6e's and Al in the Duo. Others out included Martin J, John R and Dave G.

Course pilot Charlie continued to progress well benefitting from some soaring tuition on Wed with DW in the K21. He converted to the Astir on Thursday and did several solos and gained both his Bronze Legs with flights of 49 and 50 minutes off the wire despite the weather cycling due to some over-development. To celebrate several of us went out for an Indian.

Good start to the week at Shenington

2011-06-28T22:41:00.004+01:00

Not the best midsummer weather, but still 2 fun and very productive days flying.

Monday - We made good use of the weather with Phil Hoy having 3 flights and course pilot Charlie S accumulating 6 flights before the rain stopped play around 2:45pm. Out flying the Astir were Martin L, Brent S and Gail J. Others at the club helping included Phil Z, John R and Dave G, with John D and John M turning up later and sitting in on the Stalling/Spinning Lecture/Discussion during the couple of hours we lost due to the rain.
.

Charlie after his solo soaring flight.

Tuesday - Another good training day with Richard A getting in a couple of flights this morning giving Charlie a break after our A/T for stall/spin revision (thanks to Dave G for towing early). In the end Charlie clocked up 4 training flights and 5 solos, including a 25 minute solo soaring flight from his final winch launch. John R also managed quarter of an hour on his hangar flight. Thanks to Martin L and Phil Z for helping out and Kath for 2 days excellent winch launching.

Derek W returns for the rest of this week and mid-week cover next week.

Sunday - phew what a scorcher!!

2011-06-26T23:00:00.001+01:00

A very hot day (near 28 degrees) with lots of flying, quite a few long flights and a bit of cross country - I understand that Bruno and Dave H landed out in the K13 somewhere near Hook Norton...
Congratulations to Lucy who re-soled today, and to Martin Lawrence who went solo in the Astir.

Saturday

2011-06-25T00:31:00.000+01:00

Flying was a little delayed due to the weather, there were some afternoon flights inclugin visitor Anthony B from North Hill who here to buy Daryl's Astir, sadly he didnt get to fly it but had a flight in the K21 with Bruno and then solo. A few trial lessons were flown , then Mike's Huntingdons evening group started to fly, helped by Graham P, Paul F and Lee. Well done to the ever shrinking Phil Z who flew for the first time in 3 years!

Better than it looked!

2011-06-24T23:29:00.002+01:00

Take a look at the BGA Ladder...

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/Enquiry.asp

Another 300km+ flight from Shenington, by guess who...

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=32167

SGC now has over 50 ladder entries so far this year - let's see if we can double that by the end of the season! GP has a seemingly unassailable lead, but it's wide open for second place (i.e those without a turbo!) with BB (in his K13!!!) and AL hot on my heals!
Take a look...

SGC Open Ladder with Turbo's included:
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/DispLadder.asp?Season=2011&ClubID=SGC&Ladder=O&PageSize=200&ExComps=&ExTurbos=&Log=N

SGC Open Ladder with Turbos excluded:

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/DispLadder.asp?Season=2011&ClubID=SGC&Ladder=O&PageSize=200&ExComps=&ExTurbos=Y&Log=N

Better than expected!

2011-06-20T21:52:00.003+01:00

Another day that was better than expected. Despite the risk of top-cover and the approaching front Graham P took an early tow and raced round a 300! The rest of us were rather more conservative - I took a winch launch and bimbled round "The President's Triangle" and the continued to potter to Bidford and Deddington clocking up around 180km whilst Mick F took his Discus on a jaunt round the local area, also turning Bidford. Dick & Kath ran the day smoothly as usual with the course members getting some good stick-time in the thermals. Those also at the club today included Hans, Dave L-M, Bruno, Gary, Tim, Suzie and Nigel. This evening we went to The Castle Inn for eats and drinks.

GP Prepares for his flight.

Latest Landing Ever at Shenington!

2011-06-19T09:00:00.002+01:00

The party started at 6pm and the BBQ was lit. Mark Steven's band "Rockpool" kicked off the festivities.

After a break in flying for the BBQ at 8pm, we resumed at 9pm for the final fling.

John D finished the day with Alison D, Hans, Lucy and Andy L (who had the 1^st and last flight of the day). After some aeros on the last flight we landed at just before 10pm (official sunset +30mins)

With the hangar safely packed we retired to the bar to catch up, and to see in the following dawn...!!!!!!

Despite a few interuptions for rain showers a total of 77 launches were flown during the day.

Partytime.

"The Old-School"

Kareoke...!

Andy Linfield

The Afternoon session

2011-06-18T23:00:00.000+01:00

Yes, I was there too, but not a lot.   After an afternoon nap, to recover from jet lag, I showed up hopefully cerca 4 pm (NO WAY AM!) which had to be the most dramatic part of the day.

Although the early showers had tracked on by, after 4 they began to get bigger and bear down directly on Shenington. With some exciting gusts to herald the arrival of a moderate drenching; those just landed found it dryer to sit it out in the glider!     But as soon as the rain relented we were launching them off again.

I got a loverly flight with John D, who let me do the whole thing, bless him; trying to tickle the edge of the advancing cu nimb and hoping to get sucked up, but didn't work.   Chickened out, and downwind the gust began to blow, so cut the corner, stuffed the nose down, and arrived nicely, able to get back to the bus before getting too damp.

But while keeping the paper log (as the laptop had died again) I forgot to ask anybody for money.   If anyone reading this forgot to pay, could you please make sure that Eric receives what is due?    Thanks!

And while I am thinking about it, thanks to Jan and Ian for all their hard work organising such a memorable day, and thanks to those that worked hard preparing the banquet, and doing the cleanup.

Can you believe it? G-OFER looks like an aeroplane once more!

Mary Meagher

Earliest Ever Launch at Shenington!

2011-06-18T14:34:00.016+01:00

Unpacking The Hangar

Preping the K21

Andy & Ian Get Ready To Make The First Launch!

The front had gone through around 03:30BST and Andy & Stuart L had got the ball rolling for the "Dawn 'til Dusk" operation to celebrate the clubs 21st Anniversary by positioning the winch and unpacking the hangar with John D, Jon C and Jane J by the time Jan & I arrived at 04:15. Andy and I took the first launch at 04:41 with John D and his guest Phil S in DVX shortly after. Then the "late-commers" arrived starting with Gavin (who got there to see our landing!) followed by Bob & Sue, John L, Lucy, Dave T, Khardthi (The Human Cannonball - Really, honest!!), Paul D, Dave L-M, Mary and a few of "The Juniors".

Ian & Jan Prepare to fly XXI

Sunrise!

Gavin & Khardthi in the K13 with Dave T at the wing

Gary B got the first soaring flight of the day at 08:40!!!...and so it went on with the momentum building as Bruno arrived around 09:15 to take over the airfield with Mick F, and Tez as LPC. Dave Perkins soon also arrived and the A/X folks started to roll in, including old member Richard Chapman who had his first flight in 10 years with Phil B. Then our old friend Hans G-H turned up from Germany!

Hans & Bruno

To Be Continued...

Midsummer Soaring

2011-06-14T23:24:00.017+01:00

Newmarket Racecourse, East of Cambridge
...

A warm summers day with gently southerly wind creating some good thermal soaring conditions for most of the day.

Well done to Nigel Clarke and Dave Price who completed 2 hours for their Bronze XC Endorsement. Former member Martin Paley visited for a flight and his son flew with visiting instructor Peter Molloy (CFI from Dorset GC). Club member Brian Liddell was on a day course with Dick S. and making good progress towards re-solo.

Bob Playle did over 1hr in the Astir, Terry Turner a half hour in the K13. Martin Lawrence also flew and kindly crewed for Ian who set off on a big cross country in the ASW20 and clocked up 340km turning Bury St Edmunds and Lower Clopton at the bottom of the Cotswold edge. John Le Coyte flew his DG over 300km to Kings Lynn and back. The best area being between Northampton and Cambridge.

The Terras

2011-06-13T18:15:00.001+01:00

We had a very hectic day on Saturday with 30 members of the TA visting the club, and camping in the front field. We managed to fly all of them at least once, and they drank the bar almost dry on Friday and Saturday night, so I think they had a good weekend!! As we were beaten by the weather on Sunday, a small party is coming back on 27th August to finish off their flights.

Jackie Bambrook

The professionals...

2011-05-27T20:28:00.002+01:00

A corporate event was hosted on Friday for a group of accountants, lawyers and bank managers none of whom had flown a glider before except Alison who arranged the event for the day. (Well, Geoff did the work but Alison invited some people!)

The group met at the clubhouse at lunch time for sandwiches and a briefing from Geoff on airfield safety. There were a few white faces around the table which changed to grins over the course of the afternoon. Dave was in his element – when not flying the tug he was on the field chatting to the guests who had commandeered the golf buggies for the afternoon – whizzing around smiling from ear to ear.

The most nervous guest prior to the event ended up flying on his wing tip by the end of the afternoon (followed by a cuddle with a crate of beer in the clubhouse afterwards). One guest, Zoe, was so enamoured of the club that she couldn’t drag herself away to go home and booked a room in the bunkhouse. A great day was had by all.

Regards

Alison Dodsworth

Blustery...But Big Fun.

2011-05-24T20:00:00.007+01:00

The Malverns

It was not a day for novices with very blustery condtions and a with a 20kt+ H/W that made it hard going into wind. Graham P set a big task and got round 429km in a monster flight lasting nearly 7 hours. I set off a bit later and eventually scratched away off the wire having declared a 300km HEC-BAN-PEN, but in the end had to abandon PEN (due to a very early start tomorrow) and turned for home at WCB to clock up a very satisfactory 260km. Rather bouncy but great fun, with some cracking views of the Malverns as I flew over, and a view of the Black Mountains 'Pandy' Ridge from overhead hereford!

More details at http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/

A Bimble to Blenheim

2011-05-19T20:54:00.000+01:00

Another good soaring day with several cross-country flights. Graham P set off early for a 300km in his Lak. I turned up after work and launched in the 20 around 14:45 BST. There were some good climbs (I saw 5Kts+) and I had a local bimble which included my first visit to Blenheim Palace by glider then up to Southam clocking up over 100km. Eric didn't quite get round his task, landing the K6e out at, yes you've guessed it -Upper Heyford!

Blenheim Palace

Bardford St. John Disused - Can you see the myriad of wires?

Report on the Shenington Interclub 2011

2011-05-09T19:36:00.000+01:00

Weather:

After a scrub on Saturday, things still didn't look too hopeful for Sunday. Although a cold-front had gone through in the night, the air behind it was unusually damp. It was forecast to clear about mid-day with winds around 25 kts at flying height and the chance of plenty of showers.

If it turned out to be soarable, it might be a case of dodging the showers in the strong winds. All would depend on how it actually looked in the afternoon.

Preparation:

Briefing was delayed until noon, at which time each class was briefed on a main task, with a shorter fall-back, each task making use of "Showery" turnpoints. In the event, the clearance came and, by two o'clock it looked better than we had expected and a decision was made to launch on Task A, starting with the Pundits. The wind was as strong as forecast, but there was pronounced streeting with a good high cloudbase and useable thermals. No sign of rain at this stage.

No sooner had we launched most of the grid than all three Pundits arrived back on the ground within five minutes of each other. Oh dear, had we made a terrible mistake? No-one else came back, though, and after a couple of Pundit relights, we started getting start calls.

NB all achieved distances quoted below are handicapped distances

Pundits: 188km to Stroud East and Towcester.

Pete Stratten (Windrushers, ASW20W) won his class by making good use of the showery turnpoint to avoid the rain at the first TP and using cloud streets to get back to Banbury. Too much time lost in a grovel over Cheltenham on the first leg meant he had no day left to get to Towcester, so he landed back having completed 132km. Al Cook and Tony Taylor (Shenington, Duo Discus) made a similar flight to Pete, but turned just one km short of the 1st TP and so failed to gain any points for the return trip being "landed out" at 57km. Laurie Clarke (Banbury, Astir CS) got shot down before starting and elected not to relight.

Intermediates: 135km to Stroud East and Charlbury.

Philippa Roberts (Windrushers, ASW15) narrowly escaped being downed by the rain near the first TP. She also narrowly escaped missing the TP zone completely by having the good sense to find a thermal low down just inside the TP zone's penalty area, before the 20 kt wind whisked her away onto the second leg. She finally succumbed to the attractions of a farm strip near Andoversford after a very respectable 94km, far enough ahead of her rivals for the 50 point penalty at the TP not to matter, and to win the day.

Carole Shepherd (Banbury, DG101) did her best to avoid the rain at the TP and actually managed to get round it, into the zone and out again. However, the dead air behind the shower put paid to her hopes of getting back to height for the return trip and she took second place with 71km. . Paul Noonan (Shenington, DG202) got low over the Cotswold edge near Birdlip and, after a ten-minute scrape trying to avoid being drifted back over unlandable country, lobbed into a field for 54km and third place.

Novices: 101km to Elkstone and back.

Tony Cleworth (Windrushers, ASW19) had a great day, winning his first ever gliding competition flight. 27km to near Stow-in-the-Wold got him past Y and assured a contest day. Eric Lown (Shenington,Ka6e) only flew 340 metres less than Tony and would have won on handicap if only he had taken two more turns in his first climb and hence started from inside the start sector instead of the start penalty area. Banbury did not have a Novice on this occasion.

Congratulations to Windrushers for a fine performance, winning all three classes in difficult conditions., and thanks to everyone who took part.

Post Scripts:

I'm told the rain at the first TP was the only shower anyone saw all afternoon. I guess you have to have some bad luck now and again!

Talking of bad luck: After a safe landing in an "empty" field, a herd of cows came in through an open gate and set about Carole's glider, causing some damage to the rudder. Hope you get it fixed soon Carole.

When Tony Cleworth got back to Shenington, he told me his face was aching from smiling. It was his first Competition flight and he enjoyed it that much. That's what Interclub is all about. Thanks for making my day Tony.

The actual scores were: Windrushers 9 points, Shenington 5 Points, Banbury 3 points. (scores provisional until confirmed by the other capatins) Oxford did not compete

Alan Langlands

BGA Instructor Course takes flight...

2011-05-08T21:09:00.002+01:00

Coaches Derek Woodforth and Mike Fox with candidate Nick

May the Fourth be with you...

2011-05-04T22:43:00.003+01:00

An excellent days flying. Derek Sandford holding the fort for Derek W. assisted by Tim D. Lots of soaring in the blue. We had a couple of trial lessons who both enjoyed soaring flights off the winch. Alan and Trish had a couple of nice flights.

Dave Smith went cross country http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=30990. Bob W had an hour in the Astir then enjoyed a flight with Bruno in his K13.

Derek and Mary had a late afternoon flight together – combined cockpit age in excess of 150 years!

When I left, Mike Cuming was flying with junior pilot George Mahon who turned 16 today. George completed two solo flights later that evening - congratulations!

Bob Winters

Graham's trip to Wales

2011-05-03T22:39:00.002+01:00

Started early at 1030, with good cu 4000 qnh, but blue and difficult from Stratford heading NW for 120 km to Montgomery very slow despite 15 knot tailwind. Then headed south to Pontypool, great conditions cu at 6000, and climbs up to 8 knots. Back north became blue and slow, and with final turnpoint there was 130 kms to go and it was 1600. Very low at Long Mynd looking up at site, but got away only to have to use engine with 80 kms to go, but then conditions improved with some cu and soared home. Had climb to 5000 at 1800. Covered 332 kms before having to use engine.

See Graham's flight on the BGA ladder http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=30940

Alan Langlands also did Gransden Lodge out and return - apparantly it was quite bumpy! http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=30949

Gusty Blue Weekend

2011-05-01T21:40:00.004+01:00

A relatively quiet weekend with blue skies and gusty easterly winds which provided challenging conditions for ab initios and only limited soaring. Dave P ran Saturday and Derrick S ran Sunday - both making good use of the K21. Sunday also provided some good motor-floating - Tim D brushed up his patter with me in the Falke ahead of his BGA Ass Cat Course which starts next weekend, and later Graham and Al took it away looking for wave/ridge soaring at the Malverns, and called in at Bidford on the way back. Overall I think we made the best use of the conditions available. Sunday evening saw 16 of us at Epwell for grub.

Final Score

2011-04-26T21:48:00.008+01:00

Final scores are now in...
https://sites.google.com/site/sheningtonglidingclub/cross-country/scores.xls?attredirects=0&d=1
See also www.bgaladder.co.uk for some of the scoring XC flights & Rowan's height gain! Scores also went to Bronze and Silver Legs (Well done Tom Kootchit, Sven Goffart, Clive Smith and Nigel Clarke). Some flights were done without putting them on the ladder and if I found out who you were I have put in an estimated score.
Well done to Graham Paul who acummulated the most points over the week and also leader board runners up; Bruno who did an amazing job showing various club members how to fly the K13 cross country (and land in fields), and visitor Pete Ryland from Tibenham who also helped give Graham some competition.
Congratulations to Clive Smith who wins the week with the highest scoring flight - Sackville Farm out and return to complete his Silver distance and the final part of his Silver Badge, and successfully completing his first field landing (near the water tower at Edghill), and scoring a total of 1820 points.
Well done to all who took part, I think we've all found the bits for rigging our gliders and got the trailers in some sort of order for the summer - which I am reliably informed starts next weekend!! Fly lots and enjoy the sunshine...

The season has just begun...

2011-04-25T22:07:00.022+01:00

Final day of the Spring Soaring Week gave us a "character building" mainly blue day with some small Cu later on. The usual suspects boldly ventured XC with landouts almost guarenteed! See the BGA Ladder for details. The rest of us "bottled-it" and stayed local but enjoyed the challenge.

We now have well over 30 flights and more than 4500km on our club ladder (already the best ever for Shenington) putting us well into the top ten clubs on most of the BGA Ladder stats - and it's still only April!

Jan & would like to thank all those who participated and we will enjoy the gifts of wine presented to us as at briefing this morning. We have had a fantastic time.

The Spring Soaring Week may now over...but the season has only just begun!

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T23:39:00.004+01:00

At briefing it was revealed that the Easter Bunny had left some (chocolate) prizes for the Spring Soaring Week participants for a variety of achievements including the Buzz Lightyear Egg for the pilot with the most points on the week went to Graham Paul - "To infinity and beyond!"

Graham P was Duty Instructor assisted by Derrick Sandford and Paul Duffy as BI, with Rowan in the tug. The weather made a slow start and although it was locally soarable for a while in the afternoon to around 2000ft, with Gary B scratching out 40 minutes in his DG500, it never got anywhere near good enough to fly XC. Even so a productive day was achieved and we made the most of what was on offer.

Very Happy Easter Bunnies!

2011-04-23T23:36:00.012+01:00

Lots of happy Easter Bunnies today as the weather gave us an unexpected super soarable day. Tasking to the East I set a 300km for the pundits! To many good flights to mention them all here but suffice to say everyone had a good time with lots of soaring, including Bob W who went XC P.2 with me in the K21 - the smile says it all. Thanks to Paul N for holding the fort whilst I whizzed off XC!

Well done to Bruno and Gail who clocked up 200km O/R for the best scoring XC flight on the club ladder beating both the turbo boys who raced round the 300km pundit task! Our German guest Sven gets the sticky-bum award for gaining both Silver Height and Silver Duration in the club K8, but happiest bunny of all was Clive Smith who finally completed his Silver Badge with an O/R to Sackville Farm (well nearly...he didn't quite get back to Shenington but did pull off an excellent first field landing a few KMs short of the M40) and popped the Champers at the club BBQ tonight. Thanks to LPCs Tez and Dave S who stayed on the ground keeping the launch-point running smoothly and also to Sue W & Team for organising tonights party whilst we were all out having fun.

Clive pops the Champers!

Staying open to the possibilities...

2011-04-22T23:30:00.000+01:00

After a generally disapointing day yesterday, and a smog warning issued by the Met Office last night there was an air of dispondancy when I arrived first thing. At briefing I suggested that we should keep an open mind and that I thought it would be late to trigger (1300L) but there would be arround 3 hours of usable XC soaring. We waited...it triggered...we went! It was tricky low down, but really good once you got high with good climbs to 6000ft. Amongst those who flew XC were: Alan L, Al C, Bruno, Graham P, Rowan and myself - but flight of the day was easily Pete Ryland with his 190km O/R to CAX. See www.bgaladder.co.uk for details.

Rowan gets preped!

Silverstone

Weired skies to the South

Bicester

Bruno the Brave!

2011-04-21T22:30:00.002+01:00

A good training day and just marginally soarable for an hour or so in the middle of the day under the high pressure gloom. Bruno and Jane picked up the best of the weak thermals to get away from site in a forlorn bid for Bidford but the weak thermals disintegrated not far from home and they landed near Oxhill for a short retrieve. Their bravery was rewarded, however, by winning the day! Tonight we descended on mass (a table for 21 please!!!) to "The Purple Mango" for an excellent Indian meal to cheer ourselves up!

Bronze Legs & BBQs...

2011-04-20T23:54:00.010+01:00

Hot, blue and late to trigger. It was a day to be in wood with Tom K showing the way and eeking out his first Bronze Leg in the Ka8. Bruno launched with Cassie in his K13 and was the only one to go XC, eventually landing out at Long Marsden - bit no de-rigg today, calling for an A/T retrieve instead. Sven got the bit between his teeth and also scratched out a Bronze Leg. Jan & I did a Navex in the Falke around "The President's Triangle". Sue Rogers kindly went into town to get the makings for the first club BBQ of the year and Rowan volunteered to be chef...Scrummy - well done guys!

High Hopes & Landouts

2011-04-19T22:02:00.003+01:00

Lots of flying...some soaring...several landouts...all back safe...beer in the bar!

3 out of 3

2011-04-18T20:43:00.008+01:00

Dick's first day back running the midweek flying, with course student Danny W, plus new member Chas C. As always Kath was doing a sterling job on the winch. The soaring tasks were duly set, but the weather didn't really play ball. A murky high pressure appears to have sat over us, with hazy outlines of cumulus tempting some to take hopeful launches. Bruno and Gail launched in HVQ but despite a valiant 30mins airborne failed to find taskable weather. This was followed by a succession of launches by club members into quite soarable local weather.

Rowen had the longest flight of the day in his Cirrus (2hr 16min) climbing to over 6000ft, but could not make progress in the poor visibility. Sven took a winch launch in the K8 and managed to stay out for 1hr and 26mins, achieving a leg for Bronze and XC Endorsement - not bad for a pilot who went solo last Tuesday!! Ian flew the ASW20 for 1hr 46, and John Rogers also managed 47mins local soaring. Visitor Pete R from Tibenham took his DG self-launcher around a short task (to a new turnpoint nominated by his other half - Bicester Outlet Village!). Martin L had a quick flight in the K8, Tony T took GCY for a couple of flights, and Jane flew Q5. A good time had by all, hoping for improved forecast in the morning.

Only the brave...and turbos!

2011-04-17T07:44:00.000+01:00

Derrik S was Duty Instructor, with Tony T BI-ing and Christine and Roddy in the tug.

A relatively solw start due to waiting for the visability to improve. Quite a lot of folks out with high hopes but in the end only a select few managed decent soaring flights as the Cu built rapidly and cut-off the convection locally.

A much tougher soaring day for XC with the relatively poor visibility and weaker climbs. Graham P took Sven with him in the Duo and did Basingstoke O/R clocking up 192km. Our visitor from Tibenham, Pete Ryland, took off late but completed a credible 123km, with Alan L doing the best task without the comfort of a motor in the back with 103km. Bruno and Paul M bravely pushed on in the K.13 but landed out near Newport Pagnell, whilst Dave Heath did Oxford and back in Q5. All in all pretty good considering the conditions. See http://www.bga.ladder.co.uk/ for details.

Climbing the Ladder!

2011-04-16T07:22:00.000+01:00

Geoff P was Duty Instructor and did a lot of good work instructing on a busy day with Rowan on the tug and Jane as BI. It was great to see several new members out as well as quite a numbers taking part in the Spring Soaring Week.

A great start to the Spring Soaring Week with lots of soaring and a number of pilots kicking off proceedings with some good XC Tasks. The weather models were very mixed but suggested that were would have the best on offer and we did - Shenington had more entries on the BGA Ladder today than any other club!!! ( http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/ )

Poor air to the south of the Cotswolds meant that the Vale of Easham was the place to go, and this area was booming with climbs 4-5kt to 5500AMSL. Graham Paul flew furthest with Long Mynd O/R for 214km. Bruno did a superb 137km task in his K13 with Jill (from Bidford in the co-pilots seat) and I managed 177km in a yo-yo between Evesham and Banbury. Mick F did the short (85km) task and Clive managed 75km of his 100km BID-BIC triangle but landed out at Upper Heyford to just fall short of his silver distance middle leg at 48km from his remote start at Bidford...good effort - close but no cigar!

First 750km day of the year!

2011-04-12T22:52:00.010+01:00

By far the best day of the year so far with 65 entries on the BGA National Ladder, including some seriously big flights by the national pundits - 1 x 750k, 1 x 700k, 3 x 600km+, 12 x 500km+, 15 x 400km+, and 17 x 300km+ flights!!! Amazing for April.

Take a look at:www.bgaladder.co.uk

www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=30214

Closer to home there was lots of flying instruction and local soaring going on, in fact when I arrived around 1pm DW reported to me that they had had to ask DS to come in and instruct, as well as Bruno, and all 3 K13s were very busy.

As expected, a few likely candidates had set off XC - Al & Lee in the Duo, Graham in his Lak, John LC in his DG800 and Alan L in his DG 300. I finally got ariborne around 2:30pm with a winch launch onto the ridge where I found a good thermal and climbed away. There were some fantastic climbs (I saw 7kts on the avaerager!) but some awsome sink and 20kts of wind at height! In the end I clocked up over 3 hours, but should have achieve more with the day than my local bimble to Northampton and Bicester (where I landed out - doh!).

The season has begun in earnest. Don't miss the next big day.. www.weatherton.blogspot.com/

Worth The Wait...!

2011-04-11T20:48:00.010+01:00

A steady day for the most part with DW and Bruno both instructing. Sven continued with DW plus other club members including Robin A (annual/currency A/T Cx), whilst Bidford member Jill came to fly with Bruno and sample the delights of Shenington. Several of us were waiting for the weak cold front to pass through as predicted, which it eventually did around 4pm and the wind strengthened and veered onto the ridge. For most of those who stuck it out it was well worth the wait and we were rewarded by some specacular climbs and outstanding vis (50km) allowing us to see as far as Didcot to the south.

... ...

DW was the first to get away with new member Richard. I took off at 5pm and beetled down the ridge to pick up a decent thermal, and off I went. My best climb saw 5.0kts on the averager at 17:45L to 4750ft QNH before setting off back upwind against 25kts on the nose - cloudbase was well above at around 5500ft AMSL. I also found some weak low-level wave in line with the ridge working to around 2700ft, before running the ridge again to finish. Eric launched shortly after me in his Ka6e, and also had a wonderful flight. We eventually landed around 18:45L ahead of some showers that never actually reached the airfield. The ridge was still booming!

And they're off...

2011-04-08T14:48:00.002+01:00

The first week of our summer program got underway this week with DW as course instructor with 2 visiting pilots on course, Sven from Germany and Simon from North Hill in Devon. A mixture of winch, A/T and motor-gliding activities have been taking place ranging from ab-initio training and AFRs to instructor prep, with lots of fun flying.

A/X from the weekend, Jimmy B, came back on Wed and had a flight in the Falke, and later Clive did a Field Landing refresher with Lee.

Thursday was busy with John LC flying his DG, the Duo was also out and Ian flew the 20. Eric & Clive flew one of their 3 K6e's. DW had a flight in the 6 and Ian also had a soaring flight.

On the social side Mary did a cook-in on Monday after flying with 12 in attendance! Make the most of the good weather over the weekend - perhaps it's time to fire up the BBQ!