Another unexpectedly nice day for mid November with winds south of east and a fairly strong increase at height. I sat on the winch basking in the warm autumn sun and occasionally pulling a glider into the air. A little music in my ears and a good book was all I needed or wanted for the day, oh and very pleasant company from the members who turned out to fly. James H was busy getting the Vega trailer finished, and very nice it looks too, Jim had a splendid flight, nearly got the glider on the ground (thanks to Tim’s coaching) and was beaming with pleasure. Trevor took over winching for the afternoon shift which is when we coincidently started getting better winch launches, and I jumped into the Ka13 with Phil to finish off my checks. A very pleasant day indeed.
Sunday 6th November – record day
After no flying on Saturday (low cloud) good turnout on Sunday. The northerly wind onto our ridge inspired the private Puchacz and the LS3 to be rigged. We also had visits from piolts from 3 other clubs. From Lasham were Ayala and Mike T (admittedly just popped in to say hello on their way to Southern Sailplanes) but the chaps from Talgarth and Weston-on-the-Green did fly. There was ridge lift but not consistent enough (well not for most of us) as it was disrupted by thermals but the thermals weren’t really strong enough to be useful. Half the flights managed between 10 and 30 minutes but 2 others went beyond half an hour – Trevor G with 39 minutes and Colin B with 56 minutes. Typically, Colin stated the only reason he landed was that he was getting hungry. I didn’t hear any reports of launch heights but I saw 1,900′ on a TL flown in a K13.
We only flew for just over 5 hours but clocked up an impressive 44 launches (most launches in an autumn/winter months in the last 5 years – which is as far back as easily accessible records go). Well done the B team (and the folks who helped keep things moving – especially Chris K and Peter E who did most (all?) the winching between them)
Wednesday 2nd
Arrived at the airfield to find it a hive of activity – Andy B + helpers rigging JMX; Colin B and Ken H working on the generator set-up; James H on the Vega trailer. More wind about than we’d ideally like (again!) so no rush to get the toys out. With JMX rigged it was decided to test fly it and check the conditions. First flight established that 40 knots into wind made naff all progress over the ground. Second test flight was need to check the rear instruments so Chris K joined me as talking ballast. Managed to find a modest thermal in which we gained 100′ (vario tested both ways) and drifted us into a nice position for the circuit. On finals coming through the wind gradient saw 15 knots wiped off our speed – fortunately we had 70 knots to start with. Winch then put away and hangar packed.
Sunday 30th – not officially ‘Nice’
I thought that I was on a roll on duty days – after our last duty being soarable all day. Perhaps my problem was swapping with Tim but he promised he’d booked the weather. Today I was (happily) surprised to find myself not the first person to turn up through the drizzle when I arrived at 9 am – James Hunneman was there already. Martin Hoskins and Rob Jarvis arrived subsequently. The low cloud and drizzle amplified to rain and then sank back into cloud and drizzle again.
But be assured – days like these are not days to miss – you can learn a huge amount on the ground even if you don’t fly. We amused and enlightened ourselves with some trace analysis until 11.30 or so and then in the absence of anyone else to do any groundschool with, we abandoned the day and went home. Hasta la vista, comrades!