Course flying
Wednesday started with a busy launch point full of the usual Wednesday suspects plus many privateers fooled by the promising RASP seen on Monday. Although the promised soaring conditions proved to be less than forecast, the newer guys on the course – Roy, Steve and Andy – had a full and busy day circuit bashing with simulated launch failures starting in the afternoon to show their solid progress.
Meanwhile, John, Hans and Tim shared a Junior achieving a reasonably-high launch rate with mostly short circuits until Hans got away during and after lunch to achieve his one hour soaring flight for the cross-country endorsement. John then pinched the K13 from the Wednesday gang and set off for another attempt at an hour but was called back after 47 minutes when the Wednesday people eventually noticed their primary 2-seater had disappeared. In summary: a solid mid-course day with plenty of varied flights. - Tim Petty
Club Flying
According to Ron it was going to be another 500km day, so unsurprisingly there were great expectations and an early call for a tug pilot (Pete Warren) and all the gliders were ready at the West end of the field by 11:00am.
Wednesday started with a busy launch point full of the usual Wednesday suspects plus many privateers fooled by the promising RASP seen on Monday. Although the promised soaring conditions proved to be less than forecast, the newer guys on the course – Roy, Steve and Andy – had a full and busy day circuit bashing with simulated launch failures starting in the afternoon to show their solid progress.
Meanwhile, John, Hans and Tim shared a Junior achieving a reasonably-high launch rate with mostly short circuits until Hans got away during and after lunch to achieve his one hour soaring flight for the cross-country endorsement. John then pinched the K13 from the Wednesday gang and set off for another attempt at an hour but was called back after 47 minutes when the Wednesday people eventually noticed their primary 2-seater had disappeared. In summary: a solid mid-course day with plenty of varied flights. - Tim Petty
Club Flying
According to Ron it was going to be another 500km day, so unsurprisingly there were great expectations and an early call for a tug pilot (Pete Warren) and all the gliders were ready at the West end of the field by 11:00am.
The
thermals were slow to start and there were no aerotows much before
lunch time, getting away was very hit and miss from the winch with huge
amounts off sink.
Eventually all the gliders that wanted aerotows were launched and the day progressed slowly with the May course in full swing.
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| Course week, club day and hopes for cross-country flying (John Street) |
The
day turned out to be a 'not a very good' cross-country day with a very murky cloudbase at best 2,500ft - 3,000ft over North Hill, but the course continued till after 6:00pm and
everyone had plenty of flying. - John Street
Cross-country flying
The main cross-country attempts were JB who managed to get to Barnstaple and back along a street, and Ron & Dan in ASH25 and Pete Startup in Discus did versions of the Club 100, whilst Pete & Jill in DuoDiscus wombled around Bampton and Culmhead before the sea air got in. The other private owners mostly stuck to local soaring. - J&P
The main cross-country attempts were JB who managed to get to Barnstaple and back along a street, and Ron & Dan in ASH25 and Pete Startup in Discus did versions of the Club 100, whilst Pete & Jill in DuoDiscus wombled around Bampton and Culmhead before the sea air got in. The other private owners mostly stuck to local soaring. - J&P
