For a change Thursday promised a lot, with a light westerly wind after another wet day. The Thursday crowd were ready with the kit out early on, .........
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| It really did get very dark (Mark Courtney) |
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| The chosen one - Wyn Davies interrupted on a Daily Inspection (Matk Courtney) |
........but there was just a little delay with a passing shower.
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| The Thursday regulars watching the sleet (Mark Courtney) |
But it wasn't long before the sun came back and the gliders were ready for an aerotow-only day (due to the wet field) with some promising looking streets developing a bit later.
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| Private owners join the launch queue (Jill Harmer) |
Mark Courtney, Robert Lee and Pete Harmer shared the tugging and during a quiet moment on the ground whilst everyone was soaring, the rest of the team went for lunch.
With everyone refreshed, the soaring continued in the afternoon until one of the local streets got very angry looking and a sleet/hailstorm appeared just upwind of the field. It swept quickly across the field with horizontal graupel and severe gusts. Fortunately all the airborne gliders managed to soar round the edges of the storm and the tug extended the circuit until it had cleared through 5 minutes later.
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| A curtain of hail and sleet (Mark Courtney) |
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| Better on the sunny side (Chris Wool) |
Wyn Davies W7 and Peter Startup 230 enjoyed 2 hour flights with most people also visiting Cullompton. For most of the day there was 4-6 knots lift with the streets topping out at 3300ft and for a short period some were able to climb up the sides of the street for another 1000ft.
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| Storm cleared over North Hill airfield (Wyn Davies) |
Several members used the day to get their 3000ft aerotow signed up on the winter refresher package. But with 23 aerotows in total - the Treasurer was grateful for a good flying day. Late in the day Junior FZF was rigged after its Annual - thanks to Carl Tharme for the fast turnround.
Thanks to Pete Harmer, Chris Wool, Mark Courtney and Ron Johns for back seat driving. A really nice day was enjoyed by all. - J&P
