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