Had a slight re-jig of duties with Stuart helped by Peter Sm and Phil M- and
Robin Tug Pilot. There was some local lift occasionally, and the K21s had
a few soaring flights of 20 mins to 30 mins. But mainly circuits or
slow descents from the aerotow. It was Blue card all day and the Trial lesson flights had to be postponed due to the gusty turbulence. Pleasant club day all round,
despite the challenging conditions aloft! Wendy did a very short stint as DLM, so that rostered could
have a couple of flights. Hardly a day that needed much in the way of
organisation though. Lovely sunshine, a constant trickle of members, lots of winch
launches, a couple of aero tows but practically zero lift most of the time.
Can’t wait for this high pressure to buzz off and a few westerly winds to clear
the air. - Wendy
The strong easterly wind with gusts reaching 30kts recorded in the LPV and the satpics showing wave clouds in Wales (see Happy Exped. news from Talgarth) gave hopes for those of us still at North Hill that we might be lucky enough to get some wave too. M5 Matt took a very turbulent 3000ft tow, downwind of the club to investigate and despite the promising signs couldn't make anything work and was only just able to not beat Robin in the tug back to the ground. Stuart meanwhile had managed a longer soaring flight off the winch in a K21.
After lunch John P in Lak12 HOG, after 2 winch attempts, towed to 4000' even further downwind around Cullompton but was spotted back near the club not long after. With no more interest in aerotows, Robin and Wendy went off to put the tug to bed. The wind by now had settled down to a relatively steady 16kts and it even felt a bit warmer. Flights off the winch started soaring with strong narrow thermals and even stronger sink in-between. Phil and Ruth in KEK established that the Flarm was working with the help of M5 who tried to share their narrow thermal. It required concentrated effort to use the thermals and any faffing around in the sink soon had you back on the ground.
John P in HOG, put in the most concentration and after dropping back down to about 1500ft over Forest Glade from his tow worked his way up to 4600ft in what he assumed to be wave-boosted thermal - easily securing the longest flight of the day with nearly 4 hours. Jonathan outperformed the many other winch drivers with over 2 hours of hauling people into the sky and as that hadn't exhausted his altruistic nature he put in some 'bubble' (aka LPV) duty and some cable retrieving into the bargain. Thanks to him and everyone else who mucked in to get everyone who wanted to fly into the air. - JP
The strong easterly wind with gusts reaching 30kts recorded in the LPV and the satpics showing wave clouds in Wales (see Happy Exped. news from Talgarth) gave hopes for those of us still at North Hill that we might be lucky enough to get some wave too. M5 Matt took a very turbulent 3000ft tow, downwind of the club to investigate and despite the promising signs couldn't make anything work and was only just able to not beat Robin in the tug back to the ground. Stuart meanwhile had managed a longer soaring flight off the winch in a K21.
After lunch John P in Lak12 HOG, after 2 winch attempts, towed to 4000' even further downwind around Cullompton but was spotted back near the club not long after. With no more interest in aerotows, Robin and Wendy went off to put the tug to bed. The wind by now had settled down to a relatively steady 16kts and it even felt a bit warmer. Flights off the winch started soaring with strong narrow thermals and even stronger sink in-between. Phil and Ruth in KEK established that the Flarm was working with the help of M5 who tried to share their narrow thermal. It required concentrated effort to use the thermals and any faffing around in the sink soon had you back on the ground.
John P in HOG, put in the most concentration and after dropping back down to about 1500ft over Forest Glade from his tow worked his way up to 4600ft in what he assumed to be wave-boosted thermal - easily securing the longest flight of the day with nearly 4 hours. Jonathan outperformed the many other winch drivers with over 2 hours of hauling people into the sky and as that hadn't exhausted his altruistic nature he put in some 'bubble' (aka LPV) duty and some cable retrieving into the bargain. Thanks to him and everyone else who mucked in to get everyone who wanted to fly into the air. - JP
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| West end turbulent approach needed height and speed |
