Gavin's Report for the Week

A week that would look difficult on the forecasts but which produced thermalling flights every day!


Monday 22 April

Nir Gonen returned and converted to the K8.  Glen Evans flew a few good flights, suggesting that it's only a matter of time before he goes solo.  Lech Zakrzewski was up for an hour and twelve minutes in difficult conditions achieving the first soaring leg of his cross-country endorsement.  Kath took a break from winching to fly with Paul and Ian and Clive went motor gliding for a few hours.  Christine Bell took K8 HRJ up late in the day and managed a very creditable 24 minutes defying the consensus that conditions were not soarable anymore.

Nir converts to the K8.  Will we ever see it on the ground again?

Tuesday 23 Aprils

Today Nir takes the K8 up for over 20 minutes in difficult soaring conditions.  Suzi Sykes-Waller continues to make progress toward her first solo flight and Martin Jones has a few good flights too.  Michael Rawclife has a couple and then disappears for a few hours with Russell Dyer in the Duo Discus. Carla, Nir's wife (9 months pregnant and ready to pop) helps out at the launch point, drives the buggy (over rough ground) and looks desperate to have a go in a glider, except that the instructor doesn't fancy his chances of doing a mid air delivery or a field landing in the hospital grounds ...

Wednesday 24 April

Chris Raine visits to do some currency flying. We take an aerotow to go spinning and Dave Gould drops us adjacent to some cloud at about 3000 ft.  We realise to our astonishment that after a few spins and spiral dives we've lost hardly any height at all and begin to explore the reason why, only to discover strong lift at the face of the cloud.  We steadily climb up the cloud face and enjoy a spectacular flight, well above cloud base, lasting the best part of an hour. Harry Abraham helps out and then, after a few flights in the K21, including some launch failure practice, converts to the Astir.

Chris above cloud and climbing.  Note the airfield in the distance.

Harry is all smiles after his first flight in the Astir.

Thursday 25 April

Today Terry Turner completes his AFR and Bob King makes progress toward his. Bob then opts for a few flights in the K8 and perseveres after a few shorter flights with a 25 minute flight late in the day. It is a creditable flight in rather tricky conditions.

Friday 26 April

A forecast which promised ridge, thermals and long cross-country flying produced a little bit of everything, including a few passing showers and spectacular skies. Jane Jarvis flew early in the morning, went home, and then returned for an afternoon flight.  Harry, determined to get the better of the Astir in conditions that offered challenges low down eventually thermalled away and enjoyed nearly an hour's flying.  Paul Duffy, attempting to remain current disappeared with the Green HUSsey for a couple of hours.  Graham Paul and Eric Lown disappeared to Wales and Russell Dyer and Phil Atkinson opted to stay reasonably local in Duo Discus JYR.  Paul and Kath Barns ended the day with a flight in the K13. One of only two flights all week that Kath was not seated in the winch.

Friday starts with a Royal Flypast by the Queen's own squadron. No, they didn't file a Notam.

Typical Shenington Members! "Do you think it's on the Ridge Old Goose?"

Russell takes this spectacular scene from JYR. Sometimes it's good to be up simply because it's beautiful aloft.

Showers delay flying  for a while in the middle of the day but then pass us by.

So far in April there have only been two days in which we have not flown. The vast majority of those have been soarable for some or all of the day. According to the forecast for the next few days there is a good chance that we will fly out the month in style. "Only one way to find out Old Goose!"

Saturday 20 April (roughly as reported by Mary)

Mary sent me an e-mail about Saturday's flying and asked me to edit the details suitably and post here ... I've edited unsuitably but by all reports this is roughly what happened on Saturday.

Mary brought a neighbour and his friend, and his 7 year old boy to fly - arrived at 8 am and got out the kit, thereby acquiring merit, so they got to fly before the rush really got going.  She then made a list of winch drivers, which "nearly worked" ... and ran around as LPC after 1.  Tez Bowler got checked out by Paul Noonan to fly the Astir, and Paul flew with Joe Bowler (they had nearly an hour) and Joe was very chuffed.  He did sterling work on the bus computer, nearly the whole day.  Tez also learned to drive the winch.  Mary ran out of steam at 6 and went home, after a 10 minute flight with Paul Noonan. (NOTE: the tone of her original e-mail in no way indicates that running out of steam was as a result of the said 10 minute flight.) although she did add, and I quote "very enjoyable, but didn't get as high as with you, darling!" (NOTE 2: no drugs were taken.)  John Donovan flew with a group of hearing impaired pilots who meet and fly at different clubs around the UK.  Tim Donovan was there and looked younger than ever, so his stay in the JR Hotel fixed him up OK.  Good to see him back. 

Winch drivers on Saturday included Paul Duffy, Roger Tyrrel,  Paul Fletcher, Andy Linfield,  Dave LeMaistre, John Luisada, and Robin Jackson.  Thanks to all who kept us going for a very good day.

Pilots who went cross country included Graham Paul, Dave Smith with Russell Dyer, Bob Playle, and Paul Mucha who landed out half way to Cirencester, down the Fosse Way.  A volunteer crew went to retrieve Paul ...

If you would care to post these notes on the flying reports for Saturday, that would be good ... suitably edited, of course.

Mary

Sadly there are no photo's on record to substantiate any of this ...

BREAKING NEWS (not included earlier)! Lucy had taken over Keith's half of K6 DNA (which she has spent the last few weeks fettling into shape) and on her second flight she achieved silver height.

Gavin's Report for the Week

Monday 15 April

A blustery start to the week saw Buster Maynard begin his course learning to fly gliders in strong wind conditions.  John Donovan was also starting the week with Tim Humpherson who managed a short introductory flight in the motor glider before the wind picked up.  Thereafter they tackled the conditions in our trusty K13 DVX.  Michael Rawclife stopped by for a few flights and the day ended happily back in the bar with Buster proclaiming that his primary goal of the week, to have fun, had already been substantially met.

All through the week various club members come out to help.  Naming them would only embarrass them.  All week Kath provides the expert winch launches that only a professional can manage every time.

Tuesday 16 April

The wind was stronger and gustier today, providing the ideal opportunity to learn to fly safely in strong gusty winds.  Tim made good progress with John, and Buster went solo after a morning of simulated launch failures.  Yes I know people don't usually go solo on day two, especially in strong winds, but Buster had just a little experience (747 Training Captain with Virgin Atlantic and an ex RAF pilot).  Suzi Sykes-Waller dropped by for some strong wind practice.  The day was soarable and ended with Buster soaring for 25 minutes on his own. "If I had known 30 minutes was an important milestone I would have stayed up longer."

Buster after his first solo. Notice the sky you missed in the background.

Wednesday 17 April

Today saw wind strength increasing even more.  Buster and Tim continued to make progress and Buster went solo again.  Martin Lawrence flew a few times.  Watching Tim and John communicate (Tim is also hearing impaired) helps me realise just how inclusive our sport can be with a little effort and creativity.

Tim and Martin at the launch Point

Gavin and John demonstrate strong wind handling techniques



Thursday 18 April

Today the wind finally defeated us, interspersed with strong showers and line squalls.  IN the morning we spent some time over tea reviewing cross-country preparation and brushing up on our map craft.  In the afternoon we reviewed the BGA safe winch launching video.  Bar opened early.

Friday 19 April

Finally the wind abates and those lilly livered members who have been hiding from the breeze put in an appearance in what becomes one of those "YOU  REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE" days.  I empty the hangers at the launch point and everybody flies.  Tim and John fly often and Buster flies the K21 dual before going solo on the Astir and the K8.  Robin goes soaring in his newly ARC'd ASW15 and Jane flies the Astir for the first time in years.  Lucy flies it for the first time EVER!  Numerous soaring flights occur throughout the day with Lech, Richard, Dave, Clive, Graham, John, other John, Paul, other Paul, Russel, Phil, Brian, Bob, Mike, Gail, Eric, Norman, and no doubt half a dozen I've forgotten all taking launches and mostly staying aloft.  Christine flies her K21 under the watchful eye of the CFI, and then above his watchful eye.  67 FLIGHTS on the day and not one broken cable.  A testimony to our professional winch driver's extraordinary ability and stamina.  Thanks Kath.

Tim and John still going strong at the end of the week

 The HUS Syndicate in a huddle

Lucy FINALLY decides to play with the Astir

Notice the concerned look on the CFI's face!

Spring is finally here!

Saturday 6th April dawned sunny and bright, if rather colder than is normal for this time of year. As the thermals started it was clear that one or two people were prepared for a good day! The Nimbus set off early on a large task with Graham & Al Cook on board, Dave Smith went off in the Duo with Walter, who was visiting from the Mynd, and Clive S. went off in CPJ. John le Coyte turned up later and went for a flight inthe DG.

Back at Shenington, Phil Marks was in charge, and proceeded to put four of us through our paces with the APR flights - a successful day as Tess, Jon C, Bob P and Brent were all signed off for the year.  Terry flew an hour, and Lucy a 2 hour flight in the K8 towards their cross country endorsements, and various soaring flights were also had by Alistair F, Bob P, Robin, Gavin, Tess & Mike C in club gliders DVX, JNA and HRJ. For a while it was almost like summer as we ran out of gliders to launch!

The motorglider and tug also did some solo flying, and we had a visitor in a microlight - Peter Walker - who had gone solo at Edgehill back in the 1950s when the airfield was home to Coventry gliding club. Peter was interested to see how the airfield had changed - particularly that the end of some of  our runways had disappeared - and brought us some clippings from the 1950s.

Clive landed out at Nypmsfield, and Andy L went off to collect him. Graham & Al came back after 6 hours plus, having been to Crediton and Basingstoke for a 500km flight!All in all a very enjoyable day at the airfield, finished off with a beer in the bar to celebrate Christine's birthday. Thanks to Phil and the winch drivers for making it happen.

 

Gavin took these photos from JNA - note the height gained, and do remember to take a barograph in the glider with you if you need a silver height!

Don's Report for the week

Monday 1 April (April Fools day)

Winds 090/25 The track covered with 6 inches of ice, and very soft patches on the airfield. Snow drifts are thawing very slowly and most of the T hangars are inaccessible.

Flying was pleasant with some thermals, Gavin practised for his upcoming full rating test. A few hardy souls braved the chilly conditions and had a great time.

Tuesday 2 April

Winds 070/25, sub zero temperatures and Nir Gonen started his course. Nir  flies a 737 with Ryan air and has decided to experiment with gliding.

Good thermals, the best reported was 8.9 on the averager, Russell and Harry flew cross country in the duo and Alan and Graham took an epic flight in the Nimbus (see Ian's earlier report for some photos).

Locally cloud streets formed and created some superb soaring conditions. Nir very quickly figured out how to take full advantage of streets with 4 knot climbs. A number of members flew locally and had a brilliant day. Gavin and I took care of the club instructing.

 

Wednesday 3 April

Winds 060/20 at 1000ft.Nir continued his training and flew solo towards the end of the day.

Bad luck to Lech who flew for 45 minutes, had a fit of conscience, and landed - 15 minutes before his qualifying 1 hour flight. We welcome Danica Greetham who joined us for a half day course which culminated in a silver height climb to cloudbase. Another great day.

Thursday 4 April

Winds 060/30 at 1000ft. Still bitterly cold with 8/8 cloud cover and a sprinkling of snow.

Nir continued his training with slide slips and energy dumping. The day was punctuated with a briefing in the training room and a hot cuppa. The briefings were on variometers and adiabatic lapse rates.

Another trip out into the bitterly cold winds for the course to continue and then we all adjourned to the clubroom to defrost. A great day, but chilly.

Don Puttock

Braving The Arctic Spring!

The airfield with snowdrifts still round the edges.

The view from above.

Thermalling with CPJ.

 

Gail thermalling in thje back of HVQ.

Still seriously cold, but Don, Gavin, Kath and Co. were all our braving the bitter cold biting winds, and were rewarded with some super soaring on Tue and Wed.

Clive and Eric both did some serious soaring in CPJ, and I flew with Gail for an hour plus in HVQ with climb rates of 4kts plus with peaks at 8kts up to 4500ft.

Lech managed his first solo soaring flight in HVQ, whilst GP and co-joes flew XC in the Starship Nimbus - see BGA ladder for details.

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



Admiring the view.