A bright forecast and sunny skies encouraged a good turnout at the Club today with the flying list pretty full before 9am.
A K21, Junior and DG505 were taken out of the hangar, but with the K21 unserviceable due to an airbrake problem the K21s were ‘swapped over’ - with the launch point set up in the ‘old’ South East corner of the airfield it was just a short walk with the gliders and flying was soon under way.
The continuing crosswind limited launch heights to no more than 1000ft for most flights, but as the sky improved then there were opportunities to ‘get away’ if one launched at just the right time - unfortunately for most pilots the timing was not quite right so circuits rather than soaring flights were the general outcome.
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| Good visibility at North Hill (Mike Sloggett) |
As the morning progressed then the Perkoz was brought out of the hangar enabling the flying list to be worked through suitably with three training gliders in use alongside the Junior.
Private owners Pete Startup (Discus 230), Eric Alston (ASG29 G29) and Tom Sides (DG100 DG1) all gave their gliders an airing during the morning.
With enough ground helpers and instructors, training flights and solo flying continued through lunchtime and on into the afternoon - during the afternoon Mike Fairclough enjoyed a couple of flights in Pik (DFK).
Both Falkes enjoyed some local flying during the day. By late afternoon the flying list was completed and the hangar repacked.
Thank you to all who helped others to get into the air today - a particular thank you to Simon Jordy who, with no takers for aerotows, swapped the Pawnee for the Gator and spending much of the day retrieving gliders to the launch point. - Mike Sloggett
Condor Racing
The regular Sunday evening slot, is increasingly popular with 8 pilots and a couple of onlookers. Tonight's task was a mainly navigation exercise devised by Stewart Henshall, it was a 4-turnpoint zigzag course to Eyres Field with no PDAs allowed. NH2 - YEO - BDP -CER - WEY -BVT 127Km in Club Class Cirrus or LS4.
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| Turning Cerne Abbas (Stewart Henshall) |
There were a few technical glitches prior to the start, but 3 pilots continued on the task in 'stealth mode'. The other 5 enjoyed the race with commentaries of position updates from the hidden gliders.
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| Portland Harbour (Stewart Henshall) |
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| Condor Racing (Stewart Henshall) |
