Flying on a Soggy Day

A showery day, with just the hint of ridge lift but no useful soaring. Bruno ran the day and we achieved several useful flights despite the interuption by showers. Dave Heath was tuggie and John D did some motor-gliding. Those out included Mick F, Gail, Tony T, Paul M, Jan and myself. Well done to Paul Duffy for getting his 'CFI acceptance' flights for Basic Instructing completed.

Ridge Day Afternoon

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A bright and clear afternoon with a 15kt wind bang on the ridge. Once flyable we made the most of the afternoon with some excellent soaring enjoyed by several pilots.

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Paul N ran the day with Mick F as BI. I also helped out and did some instructor checks. Gavin P had the longest flight of the day at 1hr 23min in the club K8. There were several other decent soaring flights in club aircraft, with around a 4 hour soaring window. Others out today included Phil B, Tess, Jane, Tony T, Derrick S and Rowan.

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More Fun!

Sat 12th Feb

A lovely day with clear blue skies and more winter soaring. Lots of folks out to play. Ray was in charge, with Lee taking over later on. Meanwhile, I was stuck in the Regional CFIs meeting at Snitterfield - Doh! Later we had a great night out at the Club Annual Dinner.

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Mon 14th Feb

Another decent day for motor-gliding with several members enjoying a spot of bimbling.

BI Cx

A misty start, clearing up around lunchtime. Jane, Gail and Tony were out for BI annual checks, and we did some very useful flying this afternoon using both the K13 and the Falke. Robin was also out flying the Falke. Thanks to Kath for volunteering to drive the winch. Others around included Clive, Eric, Mary, Dave G and Lee.

Left: Tony practicing his patter!

Flying Visit

Checks please!

Today's flying report from Jane Jervis;

"A lovely day at shenington but no soaring (8 minutes I think was the longest winch flight). Bruno worked hard all day and checked Keith and Eric. Also a circuit with Kath. Then me on 3000ft A/T with lots of spins. Also he flew with Tony Taylor, then A/T check and spins with Ed Styles. Mary flew with Derrik in XX1 which Derrick and Tim flew together several times. Paul Barnes, Tony and I all flew the K8."

Sounds like a good time had by all - Rumour has it that Friday might be another flying day, watch this space...

Nice Day for Motor-Floating

A misty morning cleared to allow some motor-floating. John L-C was out with his DG800, John M flew his RF4 and Tim D & Derek S were out to fly their Grob. Tony T and Bruno went Falke-ing about, and Tony practiced his BI patter. Apparently there was a fabulous view of the inversion! Others at the club today included Keith M, Graham P and Eric L.

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More Winter Soaring Off The Wire!

Another good day with lots of flying, as the day shaped up to provide a bright afternoon. There were 39 winch launches with several soaring flights off the wire! Bruno was instructing again, with some help from Mike C who sent 'Polish Jan' off on aero-tow to claim his first solo at Shenington with Gary B driving the tug. A good day was had by those who were there...but, as Bruno put it, "Where was everyone else?" - I was at work!!!

Flying and Burn's Night

Good turn out today with 35 winch launches, quite a few people taking the opportunity to get current. Bruno and Derek S ran the day, with Mick flying the K21 for trial lessons.
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Although not as soarable as yesterday, some found some reduced sink over the village to extend flight times.
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Out flying today as well as myself were Alister, Paul F, Robin, Phil B, Tess, Tony T, Dave P, Andy L, Bob, Tez and young Jack, Lizzy, and junior member Max, along with new member Chris S, and prospective member Sue. Clive and Lee were also around flying the motorglider.
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It was a very cold day, with a north easterly wind but after a few technical problems with cold engines, we managed to get the most out of the day with last flight landing just after sunset.

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In keeping with our Burn's Night theme, Mary did a fabulous Cullen Skink (haddock stew) for lunch. After flying, Bruno gave a very informative Field Landing lecture then we settled down to some Haggis, Tatties and Neaps (for 25 people) - prepared by Lizzy and accompanied by verses from the Bard told by Alan Langlands - I understand the bagpipes came out later!!

Wonderful Winter Thermals.

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Amazingly RASP had indicated the chance of winter thermals, so I was up early and into my winter thermals to combat the bitter NE'ly wind. At the airfield I was joined by Kath & Paul B, Tony T, Clive S and John L-C. John prep'd his DG800 whilst we got out the K13 and the winch. John Marriott was also out to fly his RF-4.

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Tony was my first 'victim' and we sailed up the wire and straight into a weak thermal street. Experimenting convinced us that just flying into wind gave best results until we spotted a buzzard who showed us a better way and soon we were thermalling our way up to cloudbase. After half an hour we thought it best to go back and let the others have a go. It was a pity there were no aspiring Bronze pilots as Bronze legs were certainly on! Clive and Paul both got a good part of their AFR sorted, and Kath had a flight too. Meanwhile, J L-C went off soaring in his DG. Later Tim D turned up and went off for a bimble in the Falke and took Clive along 'as ballast'!

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