The airfield was relatively quiet first thing but as the hangar doors were being pulled open then slowly but surely the flying list gained names so one of the things which was certain was that there would be a lot of launches needed during the day. The one uncertain thing was whether the wind, albeit light, would settle down to enable a decision on where to set up the winch and launch point - eventually it was decided that the first launches would be from the North West corner.
Both K21s, the Perkoz and both Juniors were walked down to the launch point - flying was soon underway with Pete Warren completing his instructor ‘post lockdown’ check flights with Simon Minson, and with Peter Field and Glenn Turpin starting to work through the flying list.
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| Perkoz soaring (Mike Sloggett) |
The increasingly thermic skies promised much but with the wind moving to more of a Westerly component after only a few flights a decision was made to change ends and walk gliders down to the other end of the airfield - Tim Butler made the most of having launched in Junior LRD just before the change of ends by staying airborne for an hour and a half before being ‘invited to land’ at the East end so that others could fly LRD. Flying soon re-commenced from the East end of the airfield and with the arrival of Team Hender there were enough people to allow flying to continue through lunch and on into the afternoon.
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| North Hill looking very dry (Mike Sloggett) |
Guy Adams completed his instructor ‘post lockdown’ check flights with Mike Sloggett early afternoon and having not been allowed by Mike to fly very high, Guy then took Jonathan Erskine several thousand feet higher for a deserved flight of over an hour in K21 KEK after Jonathan’s hard work on the ground during the morning.
The day saw Hans Jenssen and Mark Wallis complete card renewal checks with Peter Field and Glenn Turpin respectively before flying a Junior, Stirling Melhuish completing currency checks with Pete Warren before taking a K21 solo and Tom Sides and Ruth Comer re-familiarising themselves with the Perkoz.There was even time for Paul Medlock who had been working on airfield signage to take Junior FZF into the air late afternoon for a short soaring flight.
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| Well done to Dave Perriam (Mike Sloggett) |
Well Done to Dave Perriam for his longest soaring flight at North Hill to date, just over two and a half hours in Junior LRD and during which he achieved his Silver Height (subject to trace verification).
Pete Startup (Discus 230), Simon Minson (ASW20 SM), Andrew Logan (ASW15 FMS) and Mike Fairclough (PIK20 DFK) all enjoyed good soaring/cross country flights in strong thermic conditions but with a hazy horizon making for interesting visibility.
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| Landing at the hangar (Mike Sloggett) |
Thank you to DLMs Wyn Davies (AM) and George Sanderson (PM) and also to James Flory who was busy most of the day retrieving gliders from various parts of the airfield. A particular thank you to Team Hender for helping out and not flying.
Another good ‘post lockdown’ flying day, thank you to all involved today. - Mike Sloggett
Condor Racing
The Friday training task was practising boxing the wake on aerotow, with Pete giving the briefing before everyone completed successfully followed by some spot landing practice on North Hill.
On Sunday, (having seen many Lasham gliders turning Devon & Cornwall this week), Stewart had created a task 180kms NH2 - Avebury - Lasham North with some rather good weather conditions. Seven Pilots started the task, but unfortunately Dan had to drop out when his VR threw a wobbly.
Good cloudbases, and a light tailwind meant for a nice run with Stewart claiming the fastest time 127kph but with the others not far behind.- Good practice for the real thing. - J&P
