Author: Blogger

Fog clearing to low rain and drizzle = scrub!

The appearance of DI Tim R wearing a jacket confirmed that Winter has definitely arrived. Mind it wasn’t fastened and he was just wearing a tee shirt underneath it. Some us were donning our Ozee’s. Another up and down day but Tim was kept busy in the backseat. I threw down the gauntlet for the longest flight with 8 minutes in the K8 (up till then all flights were 5 minutes). That was comprehensively beaten by both Rob J and Richard D clocking up 12 minutes each.
Cloud of white smoke from the winch end of the airfield hinted that something was not quite right. The broken fan belt was replaced by Ken H, Rob J and Steve B but the attempt to launch following that was abandoned due to misting.
Just 12 launches (1:23 flying time)

After the initial rain cleared we took adavantage of the dryer conditions to get some flying in. Ok so it wasn’t great soaring weather but that did not stop us managing to get in 2hrs 49 mins of flying from 28 launches, 4 of which tied with 8 mins each !

Colin got his 3 year instructor checks done and Nigel his annuals so at least they went home happy 🙂

And finally many thanks to Steve Ottner for helping out with the trial lessons.

Phil

Clear skies, a good turnout – the day looked set to be a good one. Then the pre-halloween spell kicked in. Pajero had to be helped out of the container with a push and then a tow start. The prime mover engine on the bus winch refused to start – left for a quiet 10 minutes it then co-operated. When removing the filler hose from the gas tank clouds of LPG erupted and there was nothing we could do until the tank emptied itself and froze everything nearby (including Chris K’s thumb). Over tea and bacon butties the theory was formulated that a ladybird had got lodged in the valve preventing it from shutting and tha pumping some gas in should clear it (there was a reason for suspecting a ladybird!). The theory proved to be sound (the blockage was cleared (but unproven if the culprit was a ladybird). Naturally, the bus engine refused to start (this time there was access to hook on jumper leads). Winch put in position, glider and caravan in position – we were raring to go. Towing out the cable, just short of the launch point, loud ping as the weak link broke on one cable – yup, drum overrun and a snarl-up.
So, we finally got to fly and Steve B flew the K8 to set the standard with a 15 minute flight and Peter E and myself were kept busy flying our keen new members. Just over an hour later Graham T showed me his soaring skills in a 38 minute flight along the sunny side of a cloud street. I sat in the back seat and enjoyed the autumn colours and the view of the showers to the south and east of us. To confirm we had broken the spell we also picked up a new member – Andrew Farrow had a trial lesson at the begining of the month and came back to sample some more and decided to join us.
Thanks to the C team, especially Chris K who fixed each problem encountered and then drove the winch for 20 of the 22 launches.