Some more pics from Saturday 15th March...

Continuing on from Tess' post, here are a few photographs I took. Most of them were taken while flying along the ridge with John W, watching the sunset.

Panoramic View

Saturday 15th March

On Saturday 15th March, Clive managed to get into the wave near Shenington. Here is the commentary from his flight!

Saturday 22nd March

TIm & Christine with G-BCSA

Saturday was a special date for Shenington Gliding Club - the first time in our 24 year history that we have owned our own tug! Our new Supermunk G-BCSA did its first aerotow for us this Saturday with Paul Noonan (duty instructor) and Lech on board the K21 behind. The tug has been polished to within an inch of its life by Tim (the tuggie) and looks extremely shiny and smart. We owe Christine and Tim a big thanks for finding us this brilliant edition to the fleet.

We were operating off the short hard runway due to a strong South Easterly, but some soaring was had in spite of the gusty conditions.

A trial lesson visitor Carol who brought with her various friends including Ollie Howe, former tug pilot (and Pitts Special owner) at Shenington, and Brian Thompson who used to fly a standard cirrus at the club in the 1990s.  Carol thoroughly enjoyed her winch flights in spite of the strong wind, and it was good to catch up with Ollie & Brian. Keith Marchant also popped in with his daughter Emily whom many of us remember as a teenager. Emily now has two small children of her own!

Carol had a wide grin after her flights

Paul Noonan with Ollie (l) and Brian

Christine & Paul went for another aerotow while some of us had lunch, then the day was scrubbed as the weather was taking a turn for the worse. The photos show this quite well!

Safely to bed....our own  tug in the hangar

People drifted in during the late afternoon in preparation for the AGM at 6:30pm. This was quite a swift meeting. Once votes had been cast for the new Committee, and there had been a chat about revised tug charges, we all repaired to the new kitchen for a meal prepared by Jane. Another very pleasant evening....

Thanks to all who helped out (in whatever capacity) on the day. 

Many hands...

make light work....

While some folks fly, others are busy fixing things around the airfield.

Above, Gavin and new member Nicholas Wood.

Mick repairing the clubhouse roof, Dave & Phil filling holes......

Spring is here! Saturday 15th March

The midweekers are back in operation and keeping busy, so it was good to have such nice weather at the weekend too! In spite of predicted North westerlies there weren't many private gliders out, but those that turned up found it well worth their while....

First flight up was Clive in 373, who disappeared for almost 2 hours, finding both ridge lift and then thermals and wave. Clive was quite thrilled to find a good spot of wave and videoed the control panel and horizon as he climbed up past 2500ft in smooth lift. Next up were Graham P (duty instructor) and John Whiting in DVX - they also contacted wave and thermals and were gone for an hour. This was the pattern of the day - the K8 and K13s stayed up well, and most people had soaring flights of 15-45 minutes, apart from those undergoing the completion course.

Dave takes a winch launch ahead of the AT queue

At one point we ran out of gliders (and people) altogether....all that was missing was the tumbleweed.....

Paul Armstrong & Ian Willows were visiting from Hus Bos to do some Instructor completion flights with Malcolm (from Bidford) and Derrick S so they kept us busy most of the day with aerotows and winch launch failures. The K8 also managed to break two blue weak links, though Paul F. made it to the ridge from his break and soared away for nearly an hour !! Paul Noonan went ridge flying in his DG and Dave Smith, having spent the morning mowing the clubhouse field, went off in the Duo to the Cotswolds edge. 

Can't remember what we were all watching but it must have been interesting!

It was a busy day elsewhere on the airfield: Mary fed us soup, CFI Phil filled holes in the carpark and flew the motorglider, Mick worked on the bar roof, a gang of people moved the T21 in the top hanger so that the Skylark could be weighed. Thanks to everyone that helped out with driving the winch, retrieving, logging, instructing, tugging, hangar packing and generally getting things done. A very enjoyable day all round...

At times the sky was gorgeous, and as sunset approached the ridge worked well again and the horizon lit up. John W and Lucy took the last flight of the day onto the ridge and enjoyed the sunset from aloft.

The moon over the K8.....sunset behind the K21 as we put the kit away.

Saturday 22nd February

I know it seems unlikely given our recent weather, but yes, we did manage two flying days in a week! Saturday was predicted to be the best day of the weekend and many of the usual suspects arrived, keen to get back in the air. Paul Noonan was Duty Instructor and supervised the setup on the short hard runway with CCC and HLH. Then disaster fell....the winch had problems and these turned out to be due to a leaking oil pressure sensor. Luckily we had Lech to come to the rescue - having diagnosed the issue he stood down flying for an hour and went to buy a replacement part. Paul N went for a flight in the Falke, and everyone else went to have Mary's soup & chocolate cake.

In the meantime Graham had decided the forecast was promising and took the big nimbus up to the launch point to go flying with Paul Fletcher. Tim & John Donovan turned up in the Grob and headed off to the west, soon followed by Graham & Paul.

With the winch fixed, we went back to the 'short hard' and started launching the club gliders and CPJ. By this time the wind had swung round almost directly down the runway, and was picking up. Probably less than an hour later - after Bob K, Lech and Alistair had flown - the K8 was sent back to the hangar as the wind became more gusty and the ground handling more difficult. Nigel was flying the Falke, and said the take-off was quite hard work with the wind near Paul's hill.

Flying continued with just the K13. Paul flew with Witold, Phil A and then a last flight with me before we put the kit to bed mid afternoon. If I tell you that we had a 1300 feet launch two up in the K13 without me upsetting Paul by pole bending, you will be able to judge the wind! Just as we retrieved the K13, Graham & Paul F returned in the nimbus. They had been in thermals up to almost 3000ft, and had seen good lift in places. They went out to the Cotswold Edge then back to Daventry via a cloud street and then routed South and home, for the longest glider flight of the day. The record in the K13 was 11 minutes - and there was lift low down but we couldn't stay in it in the wind!

 

Thanks to Lech, Clive & Eric for fixing/driving the winch, and Paul N for instructing - a nice afternoon was had by all, and there was time for tea & a chat afterwards before everyone headed home.

Sunday 16th February

A delightful day for weather, not properly capitalised upon by us I feel, only 30 launches of which 6 were aerotow.

Visitors from Bidford and Bicester swelled the assembly, and Gavin oversaw the day.

Trish with HMB. Alan had gone off with Graham in 60 to play on the Cotswold Edge.

It was good to see some old members too - Red Staley and Martyn Wells both popped in to say hello.

 

HLH saw sterling service and did 9 of these launches. Lucy flew after she’d K13’d with Paul G.  Phil Lacey reappeared and re-soloed with Gavin, and also flew the K8. Stephanie Lown was given a flight by Grandad.

Eric (ntd)

Saturday 15th Feb - Annual Dinner

Flying was scrubbed early on Saturday owing to the wild winds and heavy showers. Mary had soup on tap in the clubhouse, and members turned up gradually through the day to have a late lunch and do 'fettle' type tasks before wandering off to Banbury for the evening. 

The Annual Dinner was held at Whately Hall Hotel in Banbury and once again they did us proud. We had an excellent meal, with plenty of jollity, followed by a short speech by Mary - our mystery speaker - who wanted to encourage us all to fly and try new things, and told us briefly about the time she represented GB in the Womens Europeans Comp (see next NL for more detail!).

The Chairman deep in concentration

We dispensed with speeches this year - probably to the relief of the CFI, Chairman and partners of all glider pilots - so straight on to prizegiving. 

Anne & Paul enjoying electricity having been cut off in the storms

Who knows what John was making..?....

The farpoint prize went to Eric (ntd) again,  for another epic flight out east, and Eric was also awarded the Highest achiever prize for his two 300km flights this summer in his K6, which has been quite an inspiration to other club members. Trish Langlands was awarded the best flight prize for her 300km this summer while CFI's prize went to Michael Bell for keeping the bar well stocked!

Our token junior Lucy (who is apparently 'getting on a bit') adds some glamour to the line up of Eric & Mick and has a welcome break from studying.

Trish and Eric are pictured with their prizes below. Colin Hales won Clubman of the Year, and most improved pilot was awarded to two pilots this year - Lech Zakrzewski and Alistair Frier.












After the formalities were over there was dancing to an excellent disco....at times it would have been very difficult to detect the male membership of the club, but the women were unbowed!

Danger on the dance floor as Paul Duffy shows a couple of legs! Paul is having a hip replacement in two weeks time so we hope to get him back in the air this spring.

Bob glitters on the dance floor...

Many thanks to Liz and helper Jane for organising the evening - a great time was had by all!

Saturday 25th January: Burns Night

A few photos from our Burns Night Celebrations. A big thank you goes to Liz and the team for preparing a wonderful meal and to Alan, for reciting some wonderful Burns' poems.

Sun, Smiles and Soaring - Saturday 11th Jan

We had a great day at the airfield on Saturday. The day was forecast to be sunny and pleasant (if cold) and sure enough a large number of members made it to the airfield in anticipation of a decent flying day. We had a few hiccoughs first thing - just about every vehicle wouldn't start in the cold so there was lots of too-ing and fro-ing with WD40 and jump leads! Those of us without mechanical minds decided to start the year well and take the opportunity to wash some of our fleet - we cleaned CCC, DVX and HLH until they positively gleamed.

The duty instructors were Ray and Russell - it was good to see Ray back in a glider after an enforced absence due to a nasty car accident. The wind was almost on the short hard runway, but in the end we elected to operate one wire off the North south run, accepting the crosswind but landing on the hard to avoid obstructing the take off run. This worked pretty well (thanks Ray & Russell!), and after a slow start we had a good launch rate given the length of the day, managing 26 launches and quite a bit of soaring.

 

Some of you may remember Sandi (Kidd that was, now Rothwell) who used to fly at Shenington back in the 1990s. Sandi went back to New Zealand in 2002, but is visiting us with her daughter Isabelle (our Goddaughter), and she joined us at the airfield briefly on Saturday. We were thrilled to be able to get Isabelle in the air to see what Mum used to do, and Sandi was able to catch up with Mary, Gary, and some of the other 'old guard' who all happened to be around on Sat.  She says hello to those who remember her.

 

Many of us had our first chance to fly the Sports England K8, and in fact her first flight on Saturday with Paul Fletcher was over an hour. I hadn't taken Paul all that seriously when he asked if he could have it for a couple of hours, so it was very kind of him to abandon the thermals/ridge and bring it back for the rest of us after only an hour! I had a brief flight later in the day and thought HLH was lovely. The gliders were kept busy right until they started misting up, and only got one of them stuck briefly in the wet muddy grass - see evidence below!!

The late afternoon sun provided an excellent way to see the ridge and furrows at the bottom of the hill....take note all ridge fliers! The area around Tysoe looks particularly stripey...

But as you can see the airfield is pretty dry given the amount of rain we've had recently, though we still need to keep off the grass where possible. 

Just about everyone flew except for afternoon LPC Bob P, who was busy directing operations. A fair number of people had extended flights on the ridge, though the longest flight of the day went to Paul Fletcher with 69 minutes. Not bad for January! 

Thanks to all who helped out with retrieves, logging, winching and launching - we all had a very jolly day. As dusk drew on we rinsed out the glider wheel boxes in case of mud and put the toys to bed.