Our plan to visit Deeside Gliding Club at Aboyne Airfield came out of a ‘chance’ discussion earlier in the week in the SGC Clubhouse members suggesting we might try a road trip ‘even further North’ to have the experience of flying at another gliding site - as none of David Cowley, Andy Davey or Mike Sloggett had flown from Aboyne it seemed like a good idea.
An early set off meant we made good progress on the road North and having made good time a stop was made a few miles from the airfield in the town of Banchory where a coffee was raised to absent gliding friends.
An early set off meant we made good progress on the road North and having made good time a stop was made a few miles from the airfield in the town of Banchory where a coffee was raised to absent gliding friends.
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| Another Perkoz (Mike Sloggett) |
On arrival at the airfield the Eurofox was already out and ready for the day and after a warm welcome from local Club members, introductions were made and airfield/local airspace briefings completed together with relevant paperwork, and in turn logbook reviews.
Andy Davey, David Cowley and Mike Sloggett all had aerotows with a local instructor in the Deeside Gliding Club Perkoz behind the Eurofox - with a grey non-thermic cloudbase only about 3000ft and no distractions due to wave, all the flights provided a good opportunity to be shown various local landmarks and the general area around the airfield.
Andy Davey, David Cowley and Mike Sloggett all had aerotows with a local instructor in the Deeside Gliding Club Perkoz behind the Eurofox - with a grey non-thermic cloudbase only about 3000ft and no distractions due to wave, all the flights provided a good opportunity to be shown various local landmarks and the general area around the airfield.
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| One of the two parallel runways at Aboyne 5m wide! (Mike Sloggett) |
In the afternoon, and under brighter skies, Andy Davey had another aerotow in the Perkoz and managed the longest flight of the day at 38 minutes.
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| Cairngorms (Mike Sloggett) |
Just after landing light rain started to appear above and around the airfield so that was it for the day flying wise for us.
Our fourth day in a row of flying in Scotland with tomorrow looking as if it will be flyable allowing Dave and Mike to get some morning flights in ahead of their return down South during the afternoon - and no doubt Andy will again be rigging his Libelle for a day of flying. - Mike Sloggett
Our fourth day in a row of flying in Scotland with tomorrow looking as if it will be flyable allowing Dave and Mike to get some morning flights in ahead of their return down South during the afternoon - and no doubt Andy will again be rigging his Libelle for a day of flying. - Mike Sloggett
