The sort of weather pattern to deter all but the most hardy was, indeed,
reflected by the turnout. The Met Office forecast for “5 degrees, feels like 0
degrees” was generally felt to be a wild overestimate – “feels like minus 10
degrees” more like it!
The field was again declared too wet for winching, and
the tug brought out of the hangar.
Those members who had braved the cold,
though, were rewarded with some good flying: a brisk wind straight down the
strip meant that the west ridge was working all day, although the cloudbase was
never much above 2000 ft.
Rowan and Ray had the longest flight of the day – 57
minutes; closely followed by Stuart and Paul with 52, Eric Alston in the Junior
with 42; then Phil and Charlie and Phil and Steve with 37 minutes each flight.
Other flights were slightly shorter. Robin had the last tow of the day, and was
all set to challenge the record, but was foiled by a vicious hail shower which
forced him earthwards after about 20 mins.
The most popular place on the
airfield was the clubhouse, and standing room only would have been the call if
there had been enough members present. Despite the slow start there were 11
aerotows; tugging shared between Stuart, Guy and Matt. Thanks to the Duty
Instructors and Duty Launch Marshals for keeping the operation going in the near
arctic conditions. - W W-F
Meanwhile, CFI Martin and RE Simon M attended the South-west region Regional Examiners and CFI's meeting at Yeovilton and Chairman Lisa was attending an FI(S) refresher seminar at BGA headquarters in Leicester.
Meanwhile, CFI Martin and RE Simon M attended the South-west region Regional Examiners and CFI's meeting at Yeovilton and Chairman Lisa was attending an FI(S) refresher seminar at BGA headquarters in Leicester.
