Sun 13th October

 The Sunday crowd was small but organised, and had the gliders out and inspected before Ron's briefing. Though we were faced  with a high overcast, there was hope for the sun to eventually bring us some thermic activity. Up went the troops and the gliders to the west end, and with the grass wet from Saturday's rain, everyone started flying with wet socks. 

Well done to Dan Hender who completed his Cloud flying endorsement with Ian Mitchell.

 

James Flory and Mike Sloggett were available to assist Ron Johns, and the first flights were launched shortly after 10:00, but apparently the sun gods didn't hear our pleas, as it was predominantly a day for circuits. Those not flying must have heeded my Launch Marshall harrangues, as we had retrieve vehicles poised to go after landing gliders just as the gliders were tuning final. And this resulted in a very good launch rate. Thank you all!!

After a break for Vicki's outstanding Sunday pork roast lunch.....

Vicki's Roast Pork - a very pleased Rob Hender (Tom Sides)

 

......we resumed flying only to be surprised by a dog running on the field in front of the launch area. 

Landing long with Paul Medlock (Rich Roberts)

 

Our stalwart dog wrangler team cleared the area in true cattle drive style and flying continued until almost 5pm. Thanks to Alan for aerotowing, the instructors, and truthfully, everyone. It wasn't an epic flying day, but with 35 flights, it brought a smile to your Treasurer's face. - Tom Sides

Sat 12th October

Saturday turned out quite nice with a good turn out of members and in the afternoon some nice soaring flights. Bumblebee was kept busy and thanks to Alan Rappaport and Stuart Procter for getting us aloft. 

Steve Westlake worked tirelessly all day in the back of the K21,  and Simon Jordy looked after todays Trial lesson visitor in the DG505  behind BX. 

Well done Joel Roulson converting to Perkoz (James Flory)

 Joel Roulson was grinning from ear to ear following his conversion to the Perkoz under the watchful eyes of James Flory - what's next on Joel's list before he is allowed to go cross-country?? VG was also out and about on various sorties with its syndicate members. 

It was nice to see Wyn, who has recently been flying in the Alps again. Thanks to all of the members who took turns completing the the various tasks , the day ran very smoothly. - Lisa Humphries

Thur 10th October

Thursday morning dawned overcast and raining steadily - not encouraging for a days gliding. The journey was slow with heavy traffic and there was light rain on arriving at North Hill. 

A great job from Peter Smith and his helpers (Peter Smith)

A small group of intrepid 'North Hillers' were huddled at the entrance to the storage tunnel watching our resident engineering wizard (Peter Smith) and his able assistants, who were installing Peter Smith’s latest creation - New doors for the Tunnel. 

So great to have such skilled volunteers (John Borland)

The days briefing was put back to 10:30 waiting the promised clearance from the west. A light NE wind dictated  launching from the west end and despite the overnight rain the field had drained sufficiently to allow winching. The first met flight took off at 11:28 followed by a 3000ft aerotow which managed to stay airborne for 28 minutes in the rather dead conditions, however as the day progressed the sun made an appearance, the sky improved and it even felt slightly warm. 

Thanks to Alan for the aerotows (John Borland)

 Flight times improved as the afternoon wore on with the  longest flight (58 minutes) going to John Borland in the Junior who therefore got the job of writing the blog.  In all a good days flying rescued from a dodgy start. It pays to turn up even if it doesn’t look promising. Big thanks to Mike Sloggett for running the day and sounding optimistic on the previous days forecast. Also a big thanks to Alan Rappaport piloting the yellow EuroFox for five aerotows. The Red EuroFox still being u/s.

A total of 23 flights, 18 winch launches, 5 aerotows, approximately 5 ½ hours defying gravity.- John Borland

 

Wed 9th September

It was a very inauspicious start with fog / low cloud which gave the opportunity for Peter Smith and crew to continue  constructing the new doors for the tunnel. Even during lunch it didn't look much better, but by 1pm the skies began to show some improvement. A K21 and Junior had already been taken out and DI'd just incase...

Which direction to launch was the next problem, as the wind was almost directly across, and an aerotow only day (using Bumblebee) was decided, mainly due to lack of people, with only 7 members to fly.

A small group of members today (Mark Layton)

The field was in good condition considering that it had collected 48mm of rain only a few hours earlier.

Aerotows with backup tug Bumblebee (Mark Layton)

By 1:30pm we were ready to go and from the clubhouse end, as the lowest cloud cleared leaving some blue sky enabling tows to 2000ft. There was little or no lift, but everyone flew, and a halt was called just after 4pm when the cloud returned. - Chris Warnes

Sat 5th October

 Despite Mark's warning about wind strength and direction it was possible that there would be members attending given that we are heading into winter.  However by 8:45 there was only one man and his dog.

Shortly after David and Arthur Hier arrived followed by a small number of other members.  We all set to work so that by the 9:30 brief the winch and launch point had been set up.  While Mark enjoyed his breakfast! a K21 and the Perkoz and DG505 were taken out of the hangar, DI'd and walked to the north west corner. 

Another fantastic October sky (Simon Leeson)

With the forecast being for a strong and gusting South Easterly it was found at the west end that the wind was firmly set as South West.  Over time this settled down to being a strong southerly crosswind, occasionally switching between South East and South West.  This led to some interesting or character building approaches, depending on your point of view. 

Quick break for lunch (Mark Courtney)

 

With the small flying list and a number of instructors flying commenced and other than a break for lunch it continued all day until everyone that wanted to fly had done so.  Despite the forecast some good flying was undertaken, ranging from a few minutes to an hour.  Team Hender competed for the longest flight with Dan and Sally (63mins) just being pipped by Dan and Rob (64mins).

Dan and Sally Hender in DG505 (Sally Hender)

Pilots either just experiencing the conditions or building on their skills in more challenging weather.  10 flights in total.  Thank you to the instructors who made the day possible.

Today proved the adage "if you don't come to the airfield you will not fly" - Ashley Thomas

Thurs 3rd October

 After what seemed an eternity it was great to have a 'normal flying day', although we did have to endure the long walk to the far west end of the airfield. Clear blue skies greeted us from the start which made such a change from the low cloud base and windy conditions of recent weeks!

Initially the flights were short in the moderate wind which was straight down the field with various gliders searching the sky for the elusive wave that never really materialised. Around lunch time the clouds and thermals appeared, extending the flight times considerably. Quite a few achieved times approaching the hour. 

A "normal flying day" library photo

 After much activity, those on the ground felt the air temperature turn cold and within minutes all the airborne gliders were on the ground with them. Someone had turned the thermals off. Short flights returned for the rest of the day. 

More days like this please

 Mike Sloggett as duty instructor was no doubt pleased to have assistance from Pete Smith, Steve Westlake, Ron Johns and Chris Wool, who all turned up to help instruct. Mike also had the pleasure of flying with Pete Harmer for over an hour after his long layoff. 

Could have been a summer sky (Mark Courtney)

A good time was had by all, shame it's not like this every week! - Mark Layton

Sat 28th September

The last Saturday in September didn’t disappoint, it felt like summer had finally arrived! A good team of instructors were present today led by Stuart Procter all morning and Mark Courtney taking care of the afternoon list, which wasn’t too long but manageable. 

Congratulations to Tom, converting to Junior with Simon Minson (Paul Gunner)

 

We had good progress from some members, Shaun Dayman now fully cleared back seat in the DG505,  Mike Rigby converted to the Junior, along with Tom Gunner who also had his first Junior flight following some words of wisdom and cable breaks with Simon Minson. 

Congratulations to Mike Rigby also converted to Junior (Mark Courtney)

Private owners Pete Startup, Robert Lee, Jeff Taberham, Chris Woodward and Hans Jenssen all took advantage of the nice day and aired their flying machines. Tuggies James Flory and Simon Leeson leapt into action as well keeping the Eurofox relatively busy whilst the prices are still low (Glider pilots hate spending money!)  We had a couple of Trial lesson visitors including 2 walkins flown by Shaun Dayman, Tom Sides and Dave Perriam, all with cheesy grins following their lovely experience. 

Soaring flight and North Hill in the sunshine (Lisa Humphries)

I had a lovely aerotow and soaring flight in the Junior with a couple of Buzzards on the wingtip, absolutely stunning birds! Many thanks to Phil Rowlands for manning the winch this afternoon. The visibility was wonderful, the Café was excellent as always thanks to Vicky and the general atmosphere was most enjoyable – no better place to be on a lovely autumn Saturday afternoon! -  Lisa Humphries

13 - 20 September - Portmoak expedition

Good trip to Portmoak for a few days with the most stunning weather, although with Portmoak being in the centre of a huge high pressure system there was never going to be much wind - definitely not enough for wave.  

Familiar picture of Loch Leven (Mark Wallis)

However the first few days provided plenty of ridge and thermal soaring for the 6 gliders and 9 pilots who made the trip, especially Mark Wallis who on his first trip got cleared to fly from Portmoak, winch and aerotow in his Cirrus and had a fine old time.  

Portmoak (Simon Minson)

When the weather became totally windless but hot and blue a few did the tourist thing and visited the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies (look it up) while others slowly drifted home. 

On the Bishop (Simon Minson)

And then of course, there were the pubs........................Pete Startup

Thurs 19th September

 After no flying yesterday due to the wind strength and direction a reasonably optimistic forecast was given for the possibility of flying today. On arriving at the airfield it was certainly windy, but with the wind going straight down the field which provided further optimism about some flying taking place .

The North Hill Cafe was soon busy with hearty breakfasts being eaten, no doubt ahead of members experiencing the likely chillier conditions at the far end of the airfield . With a lowish cloudbase thwarting any immediate plans to fly the Clubhouse gradually filled with members and after a delayed briefing the decision was made to get both K21s out of the hangar and also to re-rig the DG505 after it’s latest expedition ‘up North’. 

DG505 has returned form expedition to Portmoak (Mark Courtney)

With Launch Control and the winch already set up, the three gliders were walked down to the other end of the airfield where a blue flag was already showing how brisk the wind was - the good news was that the wind strength was steady and not gusting. All that was needed now was to find out what the actual flying conditions were like - so after no other volunteers stepped forward a met flight was flown by
Mike Sloggett and James Flory who returned reporting a straightforward launch and no immediate dragons in the circuit or on the approach and landing.

Mike and James worked their way through the flying list providing members with the opportunity to experience ‘interesting’ flying conditions whilst Mark Courtney and Simon Leeson took the DG505 on ‘wave hunting flights’, flying straight back from the top of the winch launch to the West of the airfield - unfortunately despite their best endeavours no wave was to be found on this occasion.

After a short lunch break the flying continued in the afternoon in similar conditions with Mark and Simon helping out in the back seat to ensure that everyone had at least one flight. By late afternoon the three gliders had been flown to the East end of the airfield, with gliders and ground equipment put away.

The latest flying day when balancing risk vs reward paid off with a number of people having great experience flying in ‘interesting’ conditions - thank you to all who helped others to get into the air today. - Mike Sloggett

Wed 18th September

 A disappointing day. The forecast predicted modest ENE wind with gusts over 20 knots.  A goodly crew assembled but it was clear that the wind strength was already exceeding our expectations, so Messrs Perriam and Smith departed on a recce  to the west end. 

 

The first clue was the firing range red flag was horizontal and trying to tear itself off the pole. What quickly became apparent was that the wind was consistently at or above the forecast gust strength with short periods when it fell below. So  I called an adjournment to see if it moderated during the latter part of the morning. Midday came and went and the only change was more north in the wind which wasn’t expected or helpful.  So the ground toys were put away, and the gliders stayed put in their hangar. Chris Warnes looked after potential new member Ainsley, and next best thing to real flying was some time in the DSGC simulator.

Various bits of house/field work were tackled. Stuart Procter and Martin Woolner came to rig the DG505 having returned from Portmoak, but thought better of it until calmer conditions prevail.

One pleasant and welcome surprise was a visit from John Street who was on good form with the usual banter. We wish him well and hope to see him again soon. - Peter Smith