With the weather of the last few weeks limiting Club flying it was no surprise that with a sunny and bright day with light westerly wind anticipated today, the flying list was quite long with members looking to make the most of the positive forecast and retain/regain flying currency.
The K21, DG505, K13 and both Juniors were soon being brought out of the hangar whilst the winch was taken to the North West corner of the airfield - with some concern that the field might ‘cut up’ once the overnight frost had disappeared, the Pawnee was also readied for use.
The K21, DG505, K13 and both Juniors were soon being brought out of the hangar whilst the winch was taken to the North West corner of the airfield - with some concern that the field might ‘cut up’ once the overnight frost had disappeared, the Pawnee was also readied for use.
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| Interesting cloudscape (Mark Courtney) |
And then with launching ready to start from the South East corner of the airfield it was evident that the glider wings were ‘icing up’ with the canopies also misting - and so under a brightening sky it was a question of being patient, waiting for the sun to break through the upper cloud...
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| Interesting fieldscape showing the northerly slope on North Hill still frozen at lunchtime (Lisa Humphries) |
Eventually late morning, everyone’s patience was rewarded with a decision made to start flying using both winch and aerotow launches.
With an expectation that later in the day there would be similar problems as the start of the day, a decision was made to go through the flying list once to ensure that everyone could get into the air for one flight at least, with various instructors also looking to maintain their flying currency after several non flyable days due to poor weather.
A number of members took advantage of the “Winter Refresher Package” aerotow element during the day.
With an expectation that later in the day there would be similar problems as the start of the day, a decision was made to go through the flying list once to ensure that everyone could get into the air for one flight at least, with various instructors also looking to maintain their flying currency after several non flyable days due to poor weather.
A number of members took advantage of the “Winter Refresher Package” aerotow element during the day.
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| Ellie Carter after her 3000ft aerotow (Neil Carter) |
As predicted mid-afternoon the glider wings started to ice up again so with the flying list completed, a decision was made to put all the toys away.
Taking advantage of the sunny skies, James Hood and then James / Sam Flory flew Rotax Falke, and Carl Tharme/David Cottingham and then Stu Procter/Lisa Humphries flew VG.
A good day all round, thank you to everyone for the teamwork to get others into the air today. - 15 winch launches and 6 aerotows - Mike Sloggett
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| Wings icing up again (David Clements) |
A good day all round, thank you to everyone for the teamwork to get others into the air today. - 15 winch launches and 6 aerotows - Mike Sloggett
