In 2019 there have been continuing plans made for a key date on which a particular event would happen - for one certain junior member the key date was not centred around Brexit but more importantly the legal age of 14 at which he could fly a glider solo.
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| Dan Hender - 14th Birthday (Rob Hender) |
Unfortunately, the rather unseasonal weather of recent days meant that the potential plan for yesterday, Dan's 14th birthday, could not be fulfilled. However there was a small amount of optimism that today’s weather might provide a small window of opportunity at some stage during the day - more of which later.....
The day started with bright skies and a fresh but flyable wind strength and direction - with an aerobatics course being run by John Sillett and Martin Woolner for Club members, as well as several Trial Lesson flights to be potentially flown, the day was going to be busy and likely to be curtailed by heavy showers from early afternoon onwards.
With the launch point set up in the North East end of the airfield and all Club gliders taken out of the hangar flying was soon underway with Dan Hender demonstrating his skills at both handling the conditions and making use of the evident strong thermals in and amongst the heavy sink around the airfield - with a flawless approach and landing, a decision was made to leave any further flying for Dan until later in the day when the wind was forecast to reduce in strength.
Simon Leeson and Mike Sloggett continued with Club instruction on the winch whilst the aerobatics course got underway with the Perkoz being towed skywards by Pete Stapleton in the Pawnee - with the resultant flights enabling the occupants of the Perkoz to see the Devon countryside from all sorts of angles and perspectives.
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| Guy Adams in a Junior (Simon Leeson) |
Nick Redfern and Guy Adams enjoyed taking a Junior to fly in the good soaring conditions whilst Simon Minson (ASW 20 SM) was soon rigging and launching to make the most of the positive sky. We also welcomed some visitors who were flown in the DG505 by Tom Sides.
As lunchtime arrived, then so the wind started to reduce in strength, which provided Dan with the opportunity to demonstrate how to successfully deal with some eventualities - at which point the moment had arrived for Dan to take his first solo flight watched by proud parents Rob and Sally Hender. One should not perhaps be surprised that straight off the launch Dan found a thermal and was soon climbing away! After a textbook circuit and landing there were family hugs all round.
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| Hugs all round (Simon Leeson) |
Unfortunately the weather then started to show signs of potential deterioration so a decision was made to stop for lunch and see whether conditions might improve for Dan to complete a second solo flight in the afternoon. Meanwhile Mike Fairclough (PIK DFK) had taken a winch launch and climbed away suitably.
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| Deep Convection started to build (Emma Kendall) |
By the time lunch was over it was clear that the expected rain was on its way with several large weather cells seen to the South and North of the airfield - after a flight by Chris Wool and Tim Petty confirmed back to the launch point that it was only a matter of time before the rain fully arrived the decision was made that the day’s fun had to stop, so all the gliders and ground equipment was put away mid-afternoon.
Well Done to Dan, only one day after his 14th birthday (much better than Brexit!) and a particular Well Done to Rob and Sally not just for their unstinting support for Dan, but also for how the Hender family have become an integral part of gliding days at North Hill.
Thank You to all who helped get as much out of the day as possible today. - Mike Sloggett
Dan's Day
Well, from the low of yesterday, with Dan’s 14th birthday coming and going without him going solo due to the gods of wind being very unkind, not adhering to his countdown timer and making it un-flyable to all but the birds (and they were struggling) - to the amazing high of today for the entire Hender family, due to all the amazing instructors and volunteers at DSGC and of course Dan, for flying a perfect solo flight. - It really has been a rollercoaster weekend for all of us.
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| Mike Sloggett congratulates Dan Hender on a perfect solo flight (Simon Leeson) |
Early on this morning it looked as though it might hold for him, but soon the winds started picking up again and it looked like his hopes were to be dashed again. Mike Sloggett took Dan for a couple of pre-solo check flights, just in case it became flyable and gave him a good workout with a low-level winch power failure and a 400ft cable break.
I’m sure before you even started to read this BLOG you will have already heard that Dan completed his first solo flight today within a small window of opportunity when the wind subsided enough for him to take a launch at 13:09. The flight was seven minutes in duration and looked perfect from launch to landing.
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| Dan with proud parents Sally and Rob Hender (Simon Leeson) |
Dan’s day was further enhanced when Emma Kendall pointed out that due to the launch time (11th / 13:09) compared to Dan’s actual time of birth (10th / 13:13), he did actually go solo on his birthday!!
A massive thank you to all of the instructors who have trained Dan from two incredibly proud parents. - Rob & Sally Hender.
