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Task week day 1

The week started off well with the Nimbus. Ls3 and Janus all getting round multiple 100k+ flights. Jim set off for RIV, LA5, DID, RIV with Colin, Carol and I in hot pursuit. Initially climbs to over 4000ft were common but approaching Basingstoke it went blue all the way to LAS and beyond. Loads of gliders waiting for a launch but not many getting away. A run in the blue out to LAS and back to Basingstoke took us down to 2000ft with organised thermals slightly lacking.

Over Aldermaston we climbed to 5000ft and headed off to DID which was reached reasonably quickly. The return leg to RIV as filled with sink and despite being 1000ft over glide we still found ourselves at 1500ft over Hungerford looking level with the airfield. Not enough height for a circuit so straight in for 127K 🙂

A quick rest then off again, a stonking climb straight off the launch took us to 5000ft so a quick run to SNO, WAN, KSB, RIV was declared for 107k. Over KSB we climbed to 6600ft just to be sure we did not repeat the previous flight and headed back to RIV which we reached still at 4000ft.

Not sure where the others went for their second flight so will have to update later.

Lets see what today brings.

Phil
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Jenny from the block (weekend of 30/31 July)

on Saturday Richard announced his retirement from gliding, after all once you have flown with a celebrity as famous as J-Lo what else can you achieve… (for our older members she is a popular music recording artist often found on the wireless dial somewhere between Radio 3 and classic FM).

Meanwhile, setting off under overcast skys I headed out to the north east to find brighter conditions and good, if not a little low thermals. A couple of laps up and down the country to Buckingham (in Buckinghamshire, if you don’t know where that is) gave me a flight of 285km. I even managed to find Winslow…

Under the overcast skies at home much soaring was still taking place.

Sunday rounded off a soarable weekend, albeit a little blue and windy. Colin managed to find “The Wave” just north of the ridge and worked it for a while. Others contented themselves with thermals, not least Phil flying about a 1000 trial lessons – all went home happy! The challenging conditions meant we welcomed a couple of outlandees from Bicester.

(PS Richard hasnt really retired, apparently the J Lo in the log was a different one, oh well!)

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Flying week


We were open for flying all week. Overall we had a good time (bar Friday) local soaring despite it not looking so good, though we were rather fewer than expected. Several flights over an hour and 5000ft on Monday and almost as good for a while on Thursday. Thursday’s entertainment was enhanced by Ken’s little trip to Milton Lilburn by air, return by road. That’s what the sky looked like, for those not there to enjoy it themselves.

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Saturday 23rd July

The day started looking good – too good, too early. Sure enough, by the time we were ready to launch it was filling in and signs of top cover approaching. First few flights were were around 20 minutes then all that was on offer were extended circuits. Early afternoon the sky started to open up a bit and Richard D disappeared with the Vega on a test flight for over half an hour (claimed the vario needed extensive testing). After that a mix of circuits and longer flights with it getting better as the afternoon progressed. The morning TL appeared in convoy – lots of family wanting to see the birthday boy flying on his 90th birthday.
All 5 club gliders out and only one syndicate one out to play. 32 launches; highest reported climb Ken H to 4,700′; longest flight Steve B 1:17.