Category: Flying Reports

A pleasant summers day with mixed results on the soaring front.  Out of the three dozen launches just a dozen managed more then 30 minutes.  Unsurprisingly the “new” K8 proved popular.

Peter E was kept busy with a BGA mini-course.  Colin B and Bob B and myself share the backseat duties.  The LS3-17 was rigged (thanks chaps, I didn’t deliberately sneak off to sit in the back seat while it was rigged) and both Bob and I got a decent flight in it.  There were reports of cloud base at 4,000′ and 6 knot thermals but I didn’t find more than 2,500′ and rarely did the average exceed 1 knot.  Tony P declared he had got his mojo back having got his timing right for a soaring flight.  He also reported that he had run out of self-raising flour, as had the supermarket, so no Wednesday treats this time (but the previous week there were double offerings).

The daytime crew handed over to the TLE volunteers who finished off the day flying members of a scout group.  Jonty H and Andrew P got there first opportunity to exercise

As there have been no other blog entries for the days since last Wednesday a brief summary of the flying since then

Thursday – Trial Lesson evening clocking up 20 launches

Saturday – 37 launches clocking up over 8 hours of flying but only 4 flights of more than 30 minutes

Sunday – 33 launches, less than 7 hours and only 3 of more than 30 minutes

Many thanks to SUGC for the loan of Denzel!

After some work by Andy and the team to get it into fine fettle it was finally launched skywards on its maiden Shalbourne flight by Bob.

 

 

After a successful test flight it has now been released to service, many thanks to Beanie for some of the photos.

A day that started with a 05:30 run to Heathrow didn’t bode well for a good day’s gliding. But with ‘Brownie points’ securely in the bank I finally managed to scramble to Shalbourne by midday. Martin S had previously declared his intention to attempt five hours, so I was dismayed to find him still on the ground by the time I had rigged the LS3. There being a dearth of landable fields it seemed advisable to stay high and head for hot concrete, which Swindon offered in spades.

The Pettitt Home for Orphaned Gliders was well represented by the ASW15 and the Swallow, the latter flown to great heights by Paul P, while the Duo, as usual, quietly disappeared to goodness knows where. Meanwhile James W flew every point of the compass until he finally relocated the airfield.
And all the while Stephen worked his way with characteristic patience through a seemingly endless flying list and then on well into the evening. What would we do without him?
Martin finally reappeared five hours and ten minutes later declaring that he would never do it again – we know how you feel.

Well done Martin!

Congratulations to Andrew and Jonty for completing their BI course with Patrick earlier today.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with their training!

 

Phil