With another 12mm of rain falling yesterday on the airfield, there was again concern that the winch runs would cut up the field significantly so aerotow only again today. The morning started off with light winds, but Stu in the Tug reported increasing turbulence and by lunch time we were getting gusts to 25 knots at the launch point.
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| No coffee break for Stu today - busy tugging |
The sky had cycled a few times with scraggy clouds and top cover, and then John P called up from the Eagle having got into wave right over the ridge.
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| SF27 in wave at 3500ft over North Hill |
Matthew W in SF27 H5 and Pete St in Discus 230 joined in the fun, and got to over 3000ft before an almost instant closing of the sky caused them to airbrake down to below cloudbase at 1500ft where it was a bit of a wild ride although there was lift everywhere. Pete's trace showed a wind of 50-56knots - no wonder the Eagle appeared to be stationary! By this time the rotor turbulence on the ground forced us to put the gliders away, John P and Pete landed after an hour - a 700' final turn not much behind the trees and 80kt approach speed were required to make the field safely. The graph shows the wind going from a balmy 5kts to 25kts with gusts peaking at 43kts in a short space of time - boistrous indeed!
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| Wind graph - Saturday 26th |
After instructing all morning...........
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| James busy instructing - selfie in a onesie |
.........James had just rigged ASW20 ENW and towed it to the launch point - to turn round and tow it back to the trailer.
In the Clubhouse, a regional BGA seminar was held, for Full Cats from various clubs in the South west, being briefed on plans for the new Flight Examiner rating.
