The season has begun...

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

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!



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...

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

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!

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...?

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

 

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

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...

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!