Posted on

New winch chassis has arrived!


Today Rod Harris and myself collected the newly fabricated chassis from Newbury which will be used to mount the Tost winch from the old bus chassis.

With the help of James H we managed to manhandle it off Pete Ellison’s trailer and into the garage. Next stage is to give it a good coat of primer before being given a top coat prior to assembly. I think James has the painting in hand but if you feel like helping please get in touch with James first.

When this job is complete we will no longer have to worry about maintaining a prime mover for our back up winch which is a great step forward.

Thanks to Rod for the use of his Sprinter, Pete for the use of his trailer and also to James for designing the chassis.

Phil
Posted on

Good Friday? Sure was!

With the promise of a good day’s gliding and with the help of the early birds and the Puch’s new one man tow out gear the first launch took to the skies at 9.50.

At 10:10 Jim McCormick and I managed a 34 minute soaring flight and for the next 4 hours extended flights were the norm with 5 flights having in excess of an hour.

Paul Prentice flew a short soaring flight in the Puch and upon landing commented that the ridge was working so well he managed to fly in zero sink for quite some time before realising he had not turned on the vario!

Two XC flights were flown, Chris B in his LS7 loaded with water flew Devizes, Newbury and Nigel Burt (aided by Paul P) flew a more modest, but no doubt just as enjoyable, Hungerford, Great Bedwyn flight in JPC.

We also had a visit from Upavon’s DG1000 turbo. The two pilots phoned up first to ask if they could come over and sit in the Vega as they were looking for a glider that the could fit into as both being well over 6 feet tall glider selection was something of an issue.

Some time later the DG landed and the pilots duely tried the Vega for size. At this point I blagged a flight for one of us in the DG and after much arm twisting (OK so Rod jumped at the chance really) Rod was soon in the front seat with Upavon’s Alex Watt in the back. After a while showing Alex how to soar our ridge Rod finally brought the DG back.

A short while later the DG took a launch and after moving off a suitable distance started up the turbo and disappeared back off to Upavon.

All in all a realy nice day’s flying and with 37 launches i’m sure our treasurer is happy as well 🙂

Phil

Posted on

Easter flying.

Well, it’s Easter, the schools are out, some are thinking of a short holiday and some of flying. Typically the forecast looks like its a bit of a mixed bag and, for the little knowledge I have of weather, it looks vaguely soarable on Friday in the south with a fairly early start but with lower cloud pushing down from the north by around midday. Probably still soarable underneath for a while but looking rubbish by 3pm.

Wind of 330/ 11 knots on the ground and 335/ 15 knots at height will help with decent launches, and the ridge will either help keep you aloft or kick off a thermal or two. Also worth keeping an eye out for paragliders if you are mucking about with the ridge, especially Coombe Gibbett end just don’t trust them to stay there.

Not worth watering the gliders but worth getting them out.

Phil has promised a big easter egg to the best cross country flight, which could be distance, speed or best place to land-out.