After the trauma of Justin Leigh’s last BBC Spotlight performance, my memory of what David Braine had to say about the weather was sparse - aside it sounded like flyable but little else.
A good turnout at the club despite the low cloud and an easterly and with DLM George’s help the field was set up. Using a point near the west end aerotow point for winch launching gave a long run down to the winch which was quickly moved as far East as possible after the 4th launch confirmed no Northerly component to the wind. With the tug running parallel to & just south of the winch cables, a fairly compact centre of operations was in action with a steady stream of launches.
Simon Leeson in the DG505 with Mark Courtney braved the backseat after a long absence and with a long tow and explore confirmed what we all thought...it wasn’t a great soaring day!
I saw Ashley Thomas off for a few more solos and Kevin Smith demonstrated that a back catalogue of flying helicopters just needs a few more tricks to work the unpowered cousins. A busy morning with lots to thank aside George, with Karen King running the launch vehicle and James Flory testing his nerves with simulated launch failures on a few. Handing on to Pete Smith for the afternoon, I was pleased to see action until late as I laboured on the rear end of Eagle AXJ’s trailer - a job nearing completion so hopefully she can soon be parked back out of the way! - John Pursey
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| Mark Courtney and Stuart Procter in DG505 (Stuart Procter) |
Lots of people and activity at the west end when I arrived for the pm duty, but not much by way of lift apparent! I flew with Andrew Broderick and Karen. Both had good extended flights with some soaring under grey skies and had useful stick time and circuit practise. Meanwhile the Juniors (as in gliders and also some pilots) were lapping regularly with all present enjoying the increasingly benign conditions. Mike and Barbie Fairclough enjoyed a couple of DG505 flights - setting the longest flight at 27mins followed by Karen with 21mins, both under the same patch of murk! Late in the afternoon all were flown home and put safely to bed by 17:30.
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| Grass seed just coming through in North west area (Peter Smith) |
In the brief spells of sunshine the field was looking superb, thanks to Ian Hunt and Paul Medlock for mowing it all during the week. And the seed is coming to life in the recently cultivated north western area.
49 glider flights in total. - Peter Smith
