Author: Blogger

Or should that be “2nd day of Task Week”?  A week passed since the first day but this was only the second one suitable for setting a task.  An exceptional summer and we get the week of rubbish weather – pah. 

Busy launch point at the start of the day

With a stiff 90 degree crosswind it wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t.  No headwind component gives only modest launch height with which to find the thermals rather that the 4+ down that was plentiful.  When you did catch a thermal you had to be sure to be climbing faster than you were drifting.
First 10 launches were all circuits with 2 exceptions.  Launch 4 was with new member Mike G (returning to gliding after a long lay-off) and returned after  44 minutes and visiting cloudbase at 3,900′ – and practising airbrake coordination. Launch 7 (Phil and Carol in the Janus) didn’t qualify as a circuit as a) it was 16 minutes b) they returned in the opposite direction to take-off.  Did I mention the 4+ sink on offer?
Following the less than auspicious start things got better (or the pilots more determined).  Making any headway into the westerly was tough.  Colin B reported passing Pewsey several times before deciding there are only so many times you can batter your head against a brick wall (or stiff wind in this case).  Finding one of the occasional magnificent streets was the trick – as John D and I did getting a K13 west of the Savernak.  Longest flights honours went to Pete S and Chris B – no idea where they got to but with any luck they will add their own tales to the blog.
A few stats: 3 flights of 2 hours or more, 6 > 1 hour and 6>40 minutes.  Total of 43 launches flying for almost 24 hours.  All 5 club gliders flying and 9 others rigged and flown.  29 people flew.
Finally, I can’t leave this blog entry without thanking Ken R, Nigel B, Peter E and Richard D helping me get thorough the instruction list.  I could not have got through the list without their help.  Extra big thanks to Ken H for driving the winch all day and Colin B taking over DI duty mid-afternoon so that I could go and romp around in our glider.

One quality control supervisor, one aircraft maintenance consultant, one manufacturing engineer, one training specialist, one fitter, one (ap)Prentice. (There may have been others inside the trailer)

As the thunder and lightning boomed overhead we fettled gliders, trailers, winches and did some airfield gardening. With the toys safely away I thought back to the heady days of 1972 and the world gliding championships in Yugoslavia:

Day Four-Monday
The weather looks much the same as yesterday but even more humid. Separate but overlapping tasks are set with Standard Class to fly a 214-km. triangle to Zrenjanin and Omoljica, and for Open a 309-km. triangle to Elemir and Smederevska Palanka. Forecast is for weak conditions locally but strong convection and buildups in the southern area near the second turn. Some forecast. The sky over the field is covered with building clouds by the time everyone is in the air around noon. It does look dead out on the first leg. George Moffatt starts at 12:30 p.m. and follows the clouds north into Romania; this does not seem to pay off, and he works his way to the first turn in 400-fpm dry thermals. Our other pilots start around 1:00 p.m. and stay pretty much on course in moderate lift around the first turn. From the turn, George finds no more lift and glides all the way to the ground about halfway down the second leg. Ben is farther west and low, but he works around the second turn to reach a buildup to the north where he climbs to 12,000 feet in cloud to finish at 3:35 p.m., fifth best time out of the fifteen who finish in Standard Class. Hans Nietlispach of Switzerland is first for the day.

Halfway down their second leg, as they approach the Danube, the Open pilots are able to gain altitude in building clouds. The second turn is pretty well blocked by storm clouds as Dick Johnson and A. J . approach the area. Dick searches for lift but has to land at the turn. A. J. rounds the turn and lands in a field with two other sailplanes about ten miles back on the third leg.  All ships are down now except for Nick Goodhart. He has climbed his Kestrel 19 to 29,000 feet in a cloud halfway down the second leg to make his final glide from there! He rounds the second turn at 17,000 feet, takes his photo through a break in the clouds, and stretches his glide to finish in the rain before six. It has been stormy, windy, and raining at the airfield most of the afternoon, A radio mast on the tower was knocked over by lightning. One of the East German Cobras was riddled with holes from hail while flying in the vicinity and will be out of service for repairs for a day or two. Denmark’s Taarnhoj got zero points for the day because his cameras were stolen from his SHK after an outlanding.
Extract from soaring magazine.