The forecast was pretty well spot on. A light north northeasterly wind to start and increasing during the day with some sunny spells. We had a good turnout and initially a K21 and Junior were made ready and dispatched to the South West corner. James and Emma Flory arrived and generously agreed to abandon their plans for noisy flying in VG for the delights of silent flight so the second K21 followed on.
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| North Hill in the sunshine (Peter Smith) |
Circuits were the order (at least to start with) but that worked well for Martin Bennett who after checks flew HCX solo. Mike and Harry Rigby practised circuits with some rivalry over the landing spots. John Sillett helpfully stood in at short notice and brought the Perkoz out for the trial lessons followed by Club flying. JB and Roy Boddy went looking for wave (unsuccessfully). Ian Mitchell took over the afternoon slot and set off with Jonathon Erskine relieving him from logging duties all morning and completing some cross-field landings.
James Flory flew with Matt Howard and Andrew Norris who was returning after a Trial lesson and keen to progress, and both Dick Stevens and Chris Woodward got hangar flights.
JB reported a smack on the wrist for driving past the caravans at excessive speed and said that the caravan owner observed that the younger members drive much more considerately! You have been warned!
Maybe not the most rewarding flying today but as the days get shorter we have to grab every opportunity, which we achieved with 40 flights in total. Thanks to everybody for making it work. - Peter Smith
Expeditions - Juniors at Long Mynd
All well at the Mynd! After the soaring success of yesterday's flying all hopes were for a repeat. However the wind was due north and a morning briefing confirmed flying would be from the southern launch point. The Mynd's K13 and K21 and DSGC's DG505 and K6 were taken out.
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| Towing out the gliders (Mike Sloggett) |
Josh Funnell gave Dan Hender and Jack Raybould a walkthrough of a K6 DI and pointed out some key areas of interest. With all 4 aircraft ready to go at the very chilly southside, everyone was determined to fly.
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| Mynd launch point (Mike Sloggett) |
Simon Leeson flew the DG505 first and immediately it was clear that flights were not going to be much more than 5 minutes. Nearly everyone had a flight in the DG taking in the very murky landscape.
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| Jack flies K13 (Jack Raybould) |
Jack got to fly in the Mynd's K13 on a check flight and then a solo afterwards. Nice to finally fly a K13 since the retirement of R37. The flight was brief like the rest. Even though it was a 1300ft launch, the 4 down reading on the vario made it clear soaring wasn't going to happen.
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| Occasional drizzly showers (Jack Raybould) |
After warming up in the cafe with some lunch it was back to circuits. The wind now turning west slightly extended the flights. Ross Pratt was given an interesting cable break and Jacob Brook completed his first full landing in the K21. Charlie Stuckey got some back seat experience in the DG505.
Finally two of the 'Dads' got a well deserved flight for all their hard work on the ground. The 20 knot wind made a cup of tea very inviting. - Jack Raybould
