A clear forecast for the day looked promising. Sure enough by around 9am the flying list was already fairly long. Initially 2 K21’s and a Junior were walked up to the SW corner. Shortly after a K13 joined us to help ease the flow. A change in schedule today as the Supacat was brought on line alongside the Skylaunch. The first couple of launches, mostly training and check flights went smoothly with no drama.
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| Skylaunch and SupaCat side by side (Mike Sloggett) |
At 11am all gliders were grounded briefly and a 2 minute silence was held to remember those that had fallen.
Conditions in the air were relatively smooth with a slight crosswind from the North. A red flag was raised and remained throughout the day. At times the northerly ridge was known to be working, but only to provide an extra couple of minute’s flight time for the lucky few.
Conditions in the air were relatively smooth with a slight crosswind from the North. A red flag was raised and remained throughout the day. At times the northerly ridge was known to be working, but only to provide an extra couple of minute’s flight time for the lucky few.
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| Clean air (Mike Sloggett) |
At around midday, wave clouds were spotted off into the distance. Sadly this was too far and too high to fly to. With winter in full swing the light started fading at a mere 3:30pm shortening our day.
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| Fading light |
At around 4pm the field became very cold, a decision was made to pack up. Unfortunately due to misfortune the Supacat’s a parachute link broke, so the last few hangar flights were launched via Skylaunch.
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| Broken swivel (Will Stainer) |
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| The French Silene - so good they only made 10 |
Sunday saw a subset of Team Eagle ably assisted by H5Matt, H5 Claire and Stirling picking up a new 2 seat project glider from Nympsfield. The open trailer for this was until recently a garden feature so not immediately seen as motorway ready. Lord Jones of Hemyock brought forth the novel solution of using a car transporter for the 10m long glider trailer. 500 kg of steel ballast and warning flags made it all seem sensible but the journey south at 48mph max demonstrated that even the best 4x4 by far has its limits! Safely installed in a secret establishment on the Blackdowns, the project begins…
