After being rudely awoken from my pit of dwelling and never ending slumber, I decided it was a great day to go gliding. I arrived and all was seemingly normal. Mike Sloggett turned up and I knew my hands would not be in my pockets for the rest of the day! It was uplifting to see other Juniors like me arrive, and we got off to a quick start of getting the gliders out.
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| Flying started (Mike Sloggett) |
We set up the Launch Point Vehicle at the North West Side of the airfield, and I was up first, and I was pitted with James Flory.
After three successful but short flights I was back on the ground and everyone seemed to be doing everything needed. Some Juniors were getting some small briefs and a few visitors arrived, all seemed well. That was until the wind sock first changed direction for the worst.
Tom Sides, the Launch Marshall, Charlie Stuckey, and Mike all started talking about what to do. Thankfully it was just a conspicuous cloud going through. The flights continued as usual.
Then, later on in the day, around 12 o'clock, Charlie took over Tom's duty and flying continued until lunch, when the wind went in the wrong direction again. Many of the gliders in the air landed in the correct into wind direction and were relatively close to the clubhouse when all went for lunch.
After three successful but short flights I was back on the ground and everyone seemed to be doing everything needed. Some Juniors were getting some small briefs and a few visitors arrived, all seemed well. That was until the wind sock first changed direction for the worst.
Tom Sides, the Launch Marshall, Charlie Stuckey, and Mike all started talking about what to do. Thankfully it was just a conspicuous cloud going through. The flights continued as usual.
Then, later on in the day, around 12 o'clock, Charlie took over Tom's duty and flying continued until lunch, when the wind went in the wrong direction again. Many of the gliders in the air landed in the correct into wind direction and were relatively close to the clubhouse when all went for lunch.
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| Grey sky (Mike Sloggett) |
After lunch, the Instructors made the tough call to change ends and Charlie organised moving to the North East Side of the field, opposite the clubhouse. The launches were fine and all the people were working together as a team to launch gliders as quickly and efficiently as possible, with many landing close to the launch point so all we needed was to push them back to position.
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| Now which end to land (Mike Sloggett) |
Then, later on in the day. It started lightly raining. At this point Mike was training Chris Warnes on the DG-505, and Charlie, who had been Launch Marshall for the better part of the day, decided to have a solo flight in a Junior, and after Charlie was launched, I overheard Pete Bennett talking to Mike and Chris about the DG-505 and I heard this gem, 'The DG-505 is notoriously good in rain… Or is it bad?'.
After everyone had the chance to fly, Mike offered my father a flight for helping out all day, which he eagerly took up. After helping launch him I saw him after and he was ecstatic.
After everyone had the chance to fly, Mike offered my father a flight for helping out all day, which he eagerly took up. After helping launch him I saw him after and he was ecstatic.
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| David Brook (Mike Sloggett) |
All jokes aside, today was a great day, for flying and for the General atmosphere. I believe the longest flight was somehow 47 minutes! All in all, it was a great day, and I have to thank everyone who helped out, even if they didn't have a flight. - Jacob Brook (first time blogger)
