Everyone arrived at North Hill this morning full of enthusiasm, presumably after looking at the forecast last night or this morning. Unfortunately, the weather hadn't read the forecast and on arrival we were greeted with patchy rain and low cloud. Most people hung around drinking tea, eating Graham's breakfasts and discussing Brexit . . apart from James Flory. He was to be found sitting in the Falke pretending to fly while making motor glider noises.
Eventually (12:30) cloudbase began to rise as the sun appeared and Roly and Heather took the first launch to check conditions. Cloudbase was high enough, and soaring began. Simon Leeson stepped in to cover what was left of the morning's instruction with David Herbert. A simulated cable break later and David was sent solo and continued to fly the spare K21, getting some good soaring practice in and reaching 10 solo flights.
Pete Harmer turned up as afternoon Instructor and had the whole days list (minus David) to tackle. Unphased as always he began with David Cowley. Meanwhile a few private owners had rigged once it became apparent the conditions were going to improve. Andrew Logan GDE, Eric Alston G29 and of course Pete Startup 230 all took launches. Shockingly, Pete was seen just off of the south west corner of the field a good 30 or so minutes after he launched in a thermal with 4 other gliders. With a 2000ft cloudbase he was probably biding his time. His time did eventually come and he vanished, not to return until much much later . .
Carl Tharme and Francis Broom took Falke (VG) on a visit to the Isle of Wight. James Flory had the (other) Falke 'stolen' from him by Ian Mitchell and James Hood so had to make do with 'proper' flying ;) Roly flew the days trial lesson getting airborne courtesy of Guy Adams in the tug. Due to lack of custom, Guy eventually abandoned the tug and after flying the Junior, helped Pete out with the flying list. Heather took the Junior for a fly for the first time in a long while and Paul Summers and Tim Peters had a couple of flights in the DG500.
Conditions started to deteriorate later in the day as the sea air started to encroach upon North Hill. Pete Startup was still nowhere to be seen and the question was asked . . "WHAT is Pete flying in?!" As we were getting ready to pack up for the day, he finally returned with a flight of 3h 32m under his belt having stooged around under a convergence reaching Dulverton. He wasn't the last to land however. That honour was taken by Ian and James who finally returned in the Falke after a tour of local airfields at around 7pm.
Once the weather sorted itself out, a fun summers day flying was had. Let's hope this weeks course enjoys something similar. - Tim Peters
Eventually (12:30) cloudbase began to rise as the sun appeared and Roly and Heather took the first launch to check conditions. Cloudbase was high enough, and soaring began. Simon Leeson stepped in to cover what was left of the morning's instruction with David Herbert. A simulated cable break later and David was sent solo and continued to fly the spare K21, getting some good soaring practice in and reaching 10 solo flights.
Pete Harmer turned up as afternoon Instructor and had the whole days list (minus David) to tackle. Unphased as always he began with David Cowley. Meanwhile a few private owners had rigged once it became apparent the conditions were going to improve. Andrew Logan GDE, Eric Alston G29 and of course Pete Startup 230 all took launches. Shockingly, Pete was seen just off of the south west corner of the field a good 30 or so minutes after he launched in a thermal with 4 other gliders. With a 2000ft cloudbase he was probably biding his time. His time did eventually come and he vanished, not to return until much much later . .
Carl Tharme and Francis Broom took Falke (VG) on a visit to the Isle of Wight. James Flory had the (other) Falke 'stolen' from him by Ian Mitchell and James Hood so had to make do with 'proper' flying ;) Roly flew the days trial lesson getting airborne courtesy of Guy Adams in the tug. Due to lack of custom, Guy eventually abandoned the tug and after flying the Junior, helped Pete out with the flying list. Heather took the Junior for a fly for the first time in a long while and Paul Summers and Tim Peters had a couple of flights in the DG500.
Conditions started to deteriorate later in the day as the sea air started to encroach upon North Hill. Pete Startup was still nowhere to be seen and the question was asked . . "WHAT is Pete flying in?!" As we were getting ready to pack up for the day, he finally returned with a flight of 3h 32m under his belt having stooged around under a convergence reaching Dulverton. He wasn't the last to land however. That honour was taken by Ian and James who finally returned in the Falke after a tour of local airfields at around 7pm.
Once the weather sorted itself out, a fun summers day flying was had. Let's hope this weeks course enjoys something similar. - Tim Peters
The weather must have been better further north as initial BGA ladder results show Matt Wright in M5 completing 474Kms and JB in the Eagle completing 174Kms both from Shobdon in Competition Enterprise, further details awaited......
