The
day began early at North Hill today. Matthew Wi after spending the
night in his mobile hotel (cleverly disguised as a white van) complete
with 20 tog feather duvet and central heating, was showered and leaving
site by 7am for another ridge soaring session at Nympsfield with Trevor
Stuart. If you were to peer bleary eyed out of a caravan window before
8am, you'd have seen sunshine, blue sky, white clouds and half the
vehicles already out of the hangar ready to go, -thanks to an impressively
keen Alan T. You'd have probably also heard profanities drifting
across the airfield as Mark C found that the temperature outside wasn't
quite as warm as the view from inside suggested.
Despite
the preparations, flying had to be put on hold temporarily while an
excited Mark C familiarised himself with a borrowed 'mule'. The plan
was to assess its suitability for towing gliders. It would seem that
this involved taking it to a very muddy corner of the field and getting
it stuck in order to test the 4WD capabilities and also towing a land
rover up the steepest slope that could be found. Anyone questioning the
truth behind the cartoon on the club notice board would quickly have
been convinced. Once this 'job' had been completed, flying had to wait just
a little longer as the instructors were busy surveying the field to
assess which section it would be best to level first in the future field
improvement programme. Despite this, first flights still managed to
launch prior to the 10am discount cut-off. Impressive.
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| Testing the mule (Mark C) |
Mark
C and James H began the days instructing. Andrew L completed card
checks and James F continued his training. James H then handed James F
over to Mark C for some final checks before flying his first glider solo at
North Hill. Congratulations James.
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| Mark congratulates James (Pete Sm) |
On the ground, new members Hans and Paul began to learn the ropes before their flights - welcome! The
brisk north westerly wind was creating some ridge lift, but its
unreliability meant flights weren't passing the 15 minute mark. Nick R
decided to break this limit and enjoy the rather splendid views by
taking a 4000ft aerotow.
After
being retrieved by a land rover one time too many, Mark C couldn't
contain his enthusiasm any longer. It was deemed necessary to briefly
pause glider instruction and carry out some 'mule' instruction to some
of the die hard land rover fans. It seems the enthusiasm was catching.
The unconfirmed rumour on the street is that even the most sceptical
were heard to utter positive sentiments.
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| Trying out the borrowed mule (Mark C) |
As
the morning progressed, conditions began to turn thermic. By lunchtime
the launch point was largely empty as flight times started to
increase. By the afternoon some impressive cloud streets had started to
form, and staying aloft became very easy indeed. It became possible to
reach cloud base and visit the motorway under a cloud street at 70+ knots.
In fact for those wanting to practice landings it became all rather
inconvenient. Some people are never happy! Pete B took an aerotow in
K6 HEB and clocked up the longest flight of the day of 1hr 59 minutes
beating Pete St's attempt in the same glider - good work.
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| Impressive cloud street set up over the airfield (Mark C) |
Various instructors helped out to ensure the flying list was completed. Thanks to Steve W, Rowan, Peter Sm, Pete H and Stuart.
News
had reached North Hill on the phone of Matthew Wi. 180km on a ridge in
tough conditions were described as 'sick'. If Matthew was 'down wit da
kids' this would have been positive. Unfortunately Matthew isn't 'down
wit da kids' and it had a more literal meaning!! Sympathy from the
North Hill club house was very vocal.
"Matthew Wi snapped at the opportunity to fly again with Trevor,
The Maestro, Stewart. Leaving NHL just after 7:00 for the journey up to
Nympsfield there were fantastic looking wave clouds all across Devon
and Somerset. With the wind at 290 Trevor suggested that the
whole Cotswolds escarpment would just about be doable. After numerous
low saves and hours of hard work by Trevor, they managed to dodge the
showers and complete a 180k ridge task: NYM - BATH - LOWER CLOPTON -
NYM. Many thanks to Trevor Stewart and the guys at Nympsfield." - Matthew Wi
James
H had left site around midday to carry out his motor glider flying
skills test in the Rotax Falke. It must have been a thorough test, as
by the time most people had left for the day at 6pm, The Falke was still to return (James had passed and then managed to blag a ride in a Stearman at Dunks.)
Yet another great winter's day at North Hill. - Tim P
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