Hooray – a flyable day. Not only flyable but thermals and ridge lift to be sampled and excellent vis. Chris K pulled airbrakes after half an hour to let others play. Trevor was the only person able to match Chris’s time but several of us got managed to at least soar a little. Just over 5 hours flown off 29 launches.
Question: what happens when you put a heavy glider (such as a Janus) with two substantial pilots (such as…) on the end of a cable.
Answer: the cable gives up (well, only once. they did manage to get 3 launches)
Wednesday 13/11/13 – spooky!
Arrived on the airfield to find a Cirrus in the process of being rigged and cables being towed out. Rubbed my eyes and checked my diary – yes it’s a Wednesday in mid November. WOW!
There followed a fine day with a gentle SW wind, promising little in the way of soaring, but that permitted everyone to practice flying wide leisurely circuits. So I was pleased to observe some very tidy flying. Chris K and Rob J vied to outsoar one another in the Cirrus which resulted in a couple of gravity defying half hour flights, while the rest of us flew circuits. Paul Bryant distinguished himself by not only completing his Annual Checks, but also converting to the Vega, only struggling slightly with the principle that number of landings should not exceed the number of launches.
The afternoon shift arrived on cue shortly after midday which kept us launching until sunset when misting stopped play. Hon. Treasurer left the airfield smiling as we managed almost 30 launches in a fairly short day.
Saturday 9th November
What a great day’s flying we didn’t have today.
Paul Prentice didn’t manage to fly the K8 for the longest, Steve Gaze didn’t spend all day on the winch, Graham Tanner didn’t manage to get the highest launch and I didn’t get the chance to pull the bung on some unsuspecting P2.
Yep you guessed it we didn’t fly 🙁
The weather did start to look promising around 2pm but after DI’ing the winch and cables cloudbase descended rather quickly so we packed up and went our separate ways.
BUT…..
Graham did manage to pass his Bronze Theory Test with flying colours so well done to him!
And with the aid of Paul Prentice and Steve Gaze we installed the signs at either end of the bridle way.
Not a wasted day but would have preferred to have flown as well.
Phil
saturday 2nd
Having moved out of the worst October on record fingers were crossed for a flyable day. It didn’t start off promising with low cloud base. Then the clouds blew through to reveal blue sky so out with the toys (well, toy – just one K13). Enough wind to result in a 2,000 weather check launch – a day for landing back at the launch point with a final kick to bring the glider in line ready for the next launch.
Unfortunately, the wind increased as forecast so we had to abandon flying after 4 launches.