Sat 31st July

With a gloomy lowish cloud-base it was no great surprise to arrive mid morning and find the hangar doors still shut. In the clubhouse Duty Instructor Mark Courtney had a group looking at some cross-country / bronze stuff and was warming up for a chat about how wings work… 

With hints of higher cloudbases, a few of us got the field set up to be rewarded by rain. Undeterred the next gap was used to drag gliders across to be rewarded by some more lower cloud. 

Dan Hender and Chris Coville flew the Junior while Mark demo’d a straight ahead simulated launch failure to Harvey. I dodged the cloud with  Ben and noted it was basically soarable apart from …the rain! This caused a break in the proceedings but flying restarted after lunch and a most of those left that wanted to fly flew. Josh got some more solos, Jack some Red Card exercises and the Junior went on some more missions.

 
By the close of play it was getting quite pleasant and I had half an hour with an ex 737 pilot (Alan R) who started to remember what the “foot rests” were really intended for as he made the most of the weak hill/thermal lift. Thanks to Tim Petty for a long session on the winch and Dan for keeping his mum’s stool warm in the launch wagon. - John Pursey

Wed 28th & Thurs 29th July

Midweek flying was quiet after the recent hot weather, with 27 launches on Wednesday of up to 30 mins, and after a bit of rain, the wind picked up strongly and the evening flying had to be cancelled. 

On Thursday there were 46 launches with some reasonable soaring in the short weather window in the middle of the day.  It was good to see Ron back in the air getting checked out with Wooly. Pete Startup made it to Eaglescott and back and there were several local soaring flights of 2 hours. 

Launch point (David Clements)

Pete Startup "  Based on the forecast, I hadn't planned anything today other than just fly in the small weather window it suggested would be available. Although it didn't look it at the time, it was quite soarable and I could see a sea breeze convergence setting up towards Exmoor so I thought I'd bimble up that way and play in that. Wasn't great when I got there and didn't run very far before fizzling out but as I was heading West anyway and there seemed to be a few better looking Cu on track I just kept going to Eaglescott. Bit spread out around there so I just followed the, by now fairly overcast, energy line home."

Fri 23rd - Sun 25th July - Camphill

With the Camphill Vintage week being a victim of the lockdown extension, the official week was shunted on a month. Team Eagle had already had a few days in the Peaks on the original week due to holiday being booked by the workers but a last minute decision was made to dash back up for the end of the official week. Obviously it missed the best weather but 3 days of flying, over 12 launches and many hours made it well worth the trip.

John & Dan (John Pursey)

Easterly winds meant no ridge soaring but the local topography helps chuck the air up in other ways so even on the greyest day (Friday) it was not all sled rides down. Locals and rally goers had the chance to try BBB - many thanks to Ian and Malcolm for a Wednesday sprint for CofA and insurance- and Dan had over 3 hours on Sunday, long enough for his rear to enjoy the Eagle back seat sitting position!

Newly restored BRA (John Pursey)

Lots of gloriously restored Capstans, a new one to us was BRA which the Strand family had refurbished as a team effort! Very impressive. Young Imogen Strand came for a couple of flights in the Eagle and her family are keen to come to the Pocklington 2 seat comp so could be some serious rivalry… - John Pursey

Fri 23rd July - Course Week

 Friday morning greeted us with an overcast sky and a fresh easterly breeze, bringing welcome relief from the previous blistering hot days. For a couple of hours there were thermals to be had of which Roger Davis (ex CFI Rattlesden) showed he had lost none of his skills and made the best of it with a 50 minute flight in the Junior. John Borland also saw the improving conditions and got a couple of flights in with DG300 before the lift disappeared in the afternoon. 

K21s  - the workhorses of the course (Andy Pickrell)

 

On the course, Dave Perriam had obviously got lonely flying solo all week, so opted for the Perkoz for some company, then kindly ran the launch control in the afternoon.

Back on the course Julian West and Harry Rigby were making good progress and volunteering for cable brake practice, though Rob Rand had a real one to contend with on the second flight of the day. Julian West and I were practicing our circuits and discovering gradient wind in the fresh easterly.

Thanks must go to all those who helped out for the week  including the course helpers Andrew Logan, Tim Petty and Hans Jenssen and particularly to Instructors Mike Sloggett and Pete Smith for the four days under those canopy’s in stifling heat, and  for also accommodating my new disability in not being able to talk, but which may have improved their telepathic skills!  Thanks also to John Sillott for stepping in for Pete Smith for the last day.

Second July Course (Jill Harmer)

As a visitor and newcomer to DSGC, and keen to learn to fly, my overiding memory is not just the flying, but just how friendly, helpful and encouraging everybody is. 

New Member Andrew Pickrell

 

Thank you all and I would love to come back and do it all again. - Andrew Pickrell - new member and first-time blogger.

Thurs 22nd July - Course Week

 The day started extremely hot as usual for this week. We had many flights including a 205km flight from North Hill to Calne from an aerotow with Pete Startup. Lift was present and many flights were up for more than 10 minutes at a time. 

North Hill (Mike Sloggett)

 The helpers as usual were extremely helpful with the cables being delivered quickly and many flights from the hardworking Instructors who continued flogging with the less experienced throughout the entire boiling day.  Well done to Geoff Lawrence who breezed through his Bronze exam papers today.

Sea breeze has gone through (David Clements)

All course members  were invited to fish and chips at the end as a reward for the good 4 days of work they done in the extreme heat. - Harry Rigby -first-time blogger

Cross-country - How did Pete do it?

"Really enjoyed this flight - obviously not for the distance or speed but for the planning. Devon has been heaven for the beach-based body-basters this week, but with clear blue skies and daily sea air incursions, soaring has been a bit thin on the ground. Same old story today, convection started, but today some Cu appeared then promptly started to move North as the sea breeze moved in so an aerotow to a remote start 13km away was the order of the day(2nd time this week). The first 60 km across the Somerset Levels were a bit soft but once North of the Mendips it improved a lot(thanks to MC for finding us a good climb near Radstock). Then back to Devon. As expected and again planned for, the sea air had moved way North to between Taunton and Glastonbury but a good climb at the last cloud gave me a comfortable margin for the 30km glide home into an increasing Southerly sea breeze." -230

Wed 21st July - Course Week

Course members were treated to a third consecutive day of  fine weather. Sharing the day with club flyers meant the hangar was quickly emptied of gliders & many hands made light work of preparation for flying. To start the day off, the course instructors gave briefings and answered questions on thermals and launch failures, then flying commenced with course members all keen to put theory into practice.

Mid-morning the wind meandered around and as such the launch point was moved from the South West corner to the North East. 

Reflections (Julian West)

Launches and retrieves ran smoothly all day thanks to the skill and hard work by the course helpers and also the club members. A staggered lunch meant the K21’s flew constantly all day.

Protection from the sun  (Julian West)

 Once again, measures had to be taken to protect pilots and gliders from the heat. Flights were generally short but instructors made good use of the conditions to work through various launch failures with the students. Peter Smith skilfully demonstrated the absolute maximum height from which one can successfully land ahead.

The day ended by handing over to the evening crew. All in all another fantastic days flying, &  credit to all those involved. - Julian West first-time blogger

Tues 20th July - Course Week

Another sweltering hot day, with much promise from RASP, unfulfilled.  Alongside the eager course members four eager pilots with private gliders joined the launch lines, slightly held back in anticipation of better things to come.

Excellent help from our willing  course helpers, enabled the course members to develop their flying skills while, David Perriam made continuous use of the Junior managing a soaring flight of over an hour, and Harvey had the longest K21 flight of 37 minutes.

Private gliders also managed soaring flights.  At times during the day those on the ground were in full relaxation in the shade offered by the new Launch Control and required some prodding from the instructors to retrieve gliders.

Shade was enhanced from a  hijacked clubhouse table and parasol.

Amongst the 36 launches, Mike Sloggett and Peter Smith instructed between them on 20 K21 flights. - Rob Rand and John Borland

Mon 19th July - Course week

The day started with a briefing from the instructors & course members each gave a short introduction. Experience levels varied across the members.

The weather was exceptionally hot, with minimal wind & extra measures had to be taken to protect the pilots and gliders from the heat.

Blue skies over Devon (Mike Sloggett)

 
Flights were generally quite short but very enjoyable & the views of Devon from the air were superb. The ground crew were kept busy, but everyone worked well together & the launches ran smoothly.

The instructors tuition was superb, and everyone made good progress. The course helpers did a great job & everyone worked hard in the intense heat. Overall a very enjoyable first day! - Harvey West - first-time blogger

Cross-country 

DD3 sneaked off for 300kms to Lasham and back with Phil Morrison and Pete Startup.

"Concern over the ability to get away from NHL on a winch launch(no tug today), suggested we motored to Culmhead for a remote start. Pete Startup forsook his trusty Discus for a ride in the Duo. 

Lacking a decent climb for the first hour we tiptoed across the Levels and as soon as we reached Salisbury plain the thermals took off. Returning to the Levels the sea air had made great inroads and despite seeking a convergence in the usual place(Blandford-ish), we were forced to take a great detour via Bridgwater (a first for P1) finally summoning up a final climb over Morrison's distribution centre (no relation) for the final glide home. Great day with great company. 

Boy do they have it easy at Lasham ;-)" -Phil

NHLFlarm

 

NHL ground station (Jill Harmer)

NHL Flarm receiver ground station has been upgraded to a PilotAware system - many thanks to Keith and Ashley for completing the installation in the Devon heat today. This does not affect the Flarm and KTrax logbook system provided by OGN/KTrax, but is now retransmitting glider positions to power pilots who use the PilotAware system.  See and Be Seen - J&P

Sun 18th July

With a day of steady high temperatures likely to mean limited soaring no surprise that few private owners ventured to the Club to fly today. However it was good to see that on the flying list  a couple of previous visitors had returned suitably enthused from their Trial Lessons in recent weeks - with a fairly lengthy two-seater training/check list and a similar single seat list as well as several booked Trial Lessons, it was evident that today would be a long hot one!

All four two-seaters and a Junior were soon being brought out of the hangar and with daily inspections completed the gliders were walked down to the North West corner of the field, with the winch set up on the North East side. 

New levelled area  showing some nice green stripes (Mike Sloggett)

 The morning’s flying activities included:
James Smart being put through his paces in the DG505 by Simon Leeson before being successfully signed off to fly the glider ‘back seat’.
Mark Courtney helped out with some check flights for Sam Slattery,  whilst John Sillett took Sam - one of our returning visitors for some further flights to build on his Trial Lesson experience.

With the temperature continuing to rise it was an easy decision for everyone to stop for lunch and rehydrate suitably

After lunch it was on with the flying with Mike Sloggett taking Luke  the second of our returning visitors to experience the ‘fun’ of winch launching.

We welcomed back Roger Davis a ‘lapsed’ glider pilot  from Rattlesden who is staying in the area for a few weeks and showed Mike that the years away from gliding had not diluted all his skills as Roger made the most of the limited thermals around the airfield.

During the day K6 DRE was rigged and flown by various of our junior pilots including a conversion for Charlie Broderick, whilst the Junior was flown by several solo pilots.

Tom Sides and James Smart looked after today’s Trial Lesson visitors, and Falke (VG) completed some local soaring flights.

By late afternoon with everyone having flown and energy levels reducing it was time to complete hangar flights - Mike Sloggett

Wed 14th - Sat 17th July

A series of days with very similar weather - hot and sunny with some limited local soaring at times. On Wednesday and Thursday - the normal club days  it was good to see our regulars and also some of our new members who have recently had Trial lessons come back for more flying.

If only the clouds worked  (Mark Courtney)

 On Friday, we held another special Trial flight day catching up with some of the backlog of visitors who had bought vouchers over the last 2 years. Well done to all our visitors who got caught up in the traffic jams in Devon and Somerset trying to get to North Hill.

Saturday was surprisingly busy considering the hot beach weather, but it was far cooler in the air than on the ground. 

Thanks to everyone for the great teamwork involving with flying in the heat - there's more hot weather to come. - J&P

Sat 10th July

A truly miserable start tested people’s resolve today, low cloud and drizzle was the problem. So a small group gathered outside the clubhouse and exchanged stories of epic flights whilst many, many cups of tea were consumed diluted occasionally by drizzle. I was however confident of a clearance and insisted we waited until 11:30 when the forecast predicted an improvement.

11:30 became 12:30, lunch was consumed, some disbelievers left to earn brownie points or to paint a fence or dig the garden, others were seen muttering in small groups about my sanity. I was beginning to agree with them…until a small bit of blue sky was spotted!

A K21 was taken out and James Flory readied the tug, still surrounded by orographic it was still a waiting game but improving rapidly. Ian Mitchell took off in his Falke at just after 1pm to fly people at Dunks, his enthusiasm was equal or even higher than mine (people also muttered about his sanity).

The tug had a new CO gas monitor fitted and James needed to test it, a quick circuit was flown as a test flight doubling as a met check at 1:40. The report back was that we could start flying!

Paul Summers and I took the first aerotow at exactly 2pm, (only to 1500ft because I was paying after all!) I have to admit some hours after my 11:30 prediction but the view was worth the wait. Visibility was amazing, Wales to the NW, Portland Bill to the ESE, the remaining clouds formed a fantastic skyscape, the air was perfectly still.

Paul with Trial lesson visitor Peter -what a sky! (James Hood)

Paul did another flight with me and then took the very patient Trial lesson visitor Peter for his flight finding lift off the tow, a beaming smile said it all when they returned!

Next up with me was the one and only Cheryl, “I’ve not flown the aerotow for ten years” she said. That was not evident in her performance, flying brilliantly for the whole flight.

It could almost be summer - with Paul and Cheryl! (Mark Courtney)

 

Martin Woolner enjoyed flying his Falke  and James was able to exchange tug flying with a flight with his son Sam in the Falke because Stuart offered to help in the Pawnee.

Last flight of the day was me with Stirling, by now the clouds were dissipating and lift was difficult to find, by the time we landed the sky was going completely blue. Kit was put away and more tea was consumed in full sun this time with real summer warmth.

Last flight of the day (James Hood)

When a day is written off in your mind and you end up flying your enjoyment seems to be amplified, that was indeed the case today.

Hope the paint dried on the fences that were painted! - Mark Courtney

Fri 9th July - Course Week

The weather was not looking promising as we scanned the forecast on Friday morning with the initial forecast suggesting rain by midday; again! With lots to still achieve the kit was out and the field set up before 9. The first flight with Sam Slattery followed soon after, although he didn’t make it above 150 feet before James Flory in the back pulled the release! After that excited Sam was pleased to see James get out and let him get on with 3 subsequent solos.

Congratulations to Mike Meatyard - First solo in a glider (James Flory)

 Meanwhile John Sillett was putting Mike Meatyard through his paces with a combination of launch failures and circuits, before John did the decent thing and got out to allow Mike to do his first solo on gliders, closely followed by a second. Meanwhile James flew briefly with Karen King before letting her do 3 more solo flights and John introduced Steve Dicksee to the circuit.

 Fortunately by now the weather had had second thoughts and was looking ok for the afternoon so after a quick lunch James sent Josh Batchelor off to complete another solo whilst John flew with Tim Petty continuing his return to flying training. There was even time to let a few course helpers get some time in the junior. James closed proceedings with a flight with Emma Flory, another one of the course helpers, enjoying a nice flight on the south ridge.

Congratulations - 3 first solos in course week Mike, Sam and Josh (James Flory)

What a week, the weather did its best to keep us guessing but despite the showers we achieved three first solos, two new winchdriver qualifications and several ground task cards being signed off for a variety of roles. Overall a great team effort . Special thanks to Dave Perriam, Gordon Hutchinson and Emma Flory as our ground helpers and to Andy Batchelor for helping out throughout the week.  (Ed. and thanks of course to Instructors John Sillett and James Flory) - James Flory

Thurs 8th July - Course Week

The promise of a reasonable flying day was sufficient to draw in quite a number of club members which, when coupled with the members of the 5 day course already gathered on site, made for a busy day to come. By 09:30, all 6 of the club gliders were ready for action, quickly joined by a number of private gliders as the morning progressed and the cloudbase gradually lifted. Course flying, with instructors James Flory and John Sillett, kicked off initially with a sequence of launch failures for the students but, with the skies clearing and conditions improving markedly, some trainees progressed to aerotows for spinning exercises in the Perkoz. Alongside the course flying, training continued for other club members turning out for normal club flying, With continually improving weather  conditions, flight times started to increase, with the longest flight of the day going to Gordon Bonny in the DG100 at 72 minutes. 

Congratulations to Josh Batchelor  for first solo with Instructor  James Flory (Andy Batchelor)

 As the afternoon progressed, James Flory declared course member Josh Batchelor ready for his first solo. At 16 years old, Josh is one of the younger members of the club, having only joined last August. Taking the responsibility of being pilot in command of a glider in his stride, Josh completed an excellent launch, circuit and landing, at which point his slightly nervous parents watching from the sidelines finally felt they could breathe normally again! 

Storm clouds to the south (Mark Courtney)

The mixture of club and course flying, continued until after 1700, when an issue with cable fouling in the winch drum led to a temporary pause in flying.  With a crack of thunder heard to the south and some angry looking clouds building and creeping ever closer, the decision was made to return the gliders to the hanger, with the doors being closed around 1809, signifying the end of  a busy, but very rewarding day. - Andy Batchelor

Competition Enterprise report

 Nick Jones, Phil Morrison and Dan Hender DD3 at Milfield, 

We had two super flights today - 

After a very short effort at doing the task, we had to start the engine after 20mins.

The day was saved for us when we picked up the SeaBreeze front and flew south to the end at Eshott, turned and flew along it northwards to the Lammermuir hills in Scotland 90kph.
We returned to Milfield and Phil repeated the trip with Dan, needless to say much faster at 110 kph. - Nick Jones

Sid's Task Week report

Pete Startup  230 was at Nympsfield for Out and Return to  Banbury 153Kms "Another stumble around what should have been a straightforward task. Bit of a gap to cross in and out of Banbury and some overcast on the way home."

Wed 7th July - Course Week

With the club room full (ish) by 9 am there was a splicing lesson from Gordon Hutchinson, with a couple of naturals in the group and a couple of not-so naturals.  Gordon’s persistence paid off, and 6 reasonably well spliced ropes, for the time-being, ‘decorate’ the club room. 

Craft lessons in splicing (Andy Batchelor)

 On to the gliding-  heavy showers and dense cloud was the start (and as it turned out the theme) of the day therefore, instead a still eager bunch of students sat down to an excellent lecture by John Sillett on Spins and Spiral Dives with our takeaway ‘don’t stall!’.    However, should we end up in a Spin or Spiral Dive then the theory of ‘how to recover’ has been covered in preparation of a practical experience (with instructor on board!)

John preparing for a spinning lecture (Andy Batchelor)

As there was a momentary brightening of the sky, around 11 am., gliders and kit were efficiently put into position enabling two K21s, a Junior and the Perkoz to have a collective 36 minutes of aviating.
As more of the wet stuff decided again to put in an appearance, an early mid-day lunch was called followed by 20 or so Bronze Exam questions ably hosted by James Flory. 

Another break in the weather was sufficient to allow two K21 low  simulated launch failures before yes, you guessed it, the skies opened. A quick dash back to the clubroom to watch two videos of ‘what not to do’ narrated by Pureglide New Zealand www.youtube.com/c/PureGlide

With regards to the club flying, Glenn Turpin was the duty instructor with a handful of members in attendance to have the pre-mid-day one Perkoz and one Junior launch.  
All gliders dried and in the hangar by 5 pm, with Thursday looking more promising…..- Karen King 

Tues 6th July - Course Week

After a successful day one, day two presented the course with a typical July day, not strawberries and cream and blobs of sun cream on the end of the nose, but a blustery rain-laden morning with a room full of potential weather forecasters proudly comparing weather apps.

Gordon doing a Met lecture (Andy Batchelor)

The forecasters amongst the students ranged from the half pint full ‘let’s go for it’ optimists and half pint empty ‘we won’t get much flying today’ pessimists. Thankfully, Gordon gave an the group an excellent introduction to aviation meteorology and forecast sources. At midday and with years of meteorological experience between John and James it was decided that the pine cones were open enough and the cows were standing in the right direction for us to fly.

One advantage of the wind strength and direction was an active west ridge and sporadic thermal activity. So began a series of ridge soaring, thermalling flights and circuit work with its challenging approaches and landings.

What started for me as a ‘question mark day’ ended as the day I rediscovered Gliding. - Thank you John.

Congratulations are in order to Andy. After years of SAR winch operations Andy was today ‘signed off’ as competent in gliding winch operations. I’m sure Andy is looking forward to years of isolation at the opposite end of the airfield! - Steve Dicksee (New Member and first-time blogger)

Mon 5th July - Course Week

The second course of the year has started well with a full complement of 6 ‘keen as mustard’ students - Tim Petty, Mike Meatyard, Josh Batchelor, Karen King, Sam Slattery and Steve Dicksee (who is new to DSGC, but not to aviation), 2 instructors (James Flory and John Sillett) and a ground crew of 3 (Dave Perriam, Gordon Hutchinson and Emma Flory).

Course members, Instructors and Helpers (Andy Batchelor)

Introductions and a briefing in the Clubroom then smartly onto the field (cable run NE to SW) for launch no 1 at 10:03, and a stop for lunch at 13.00hrs. Of the 23 launches (average 3 to 4 each) one was a 1st solo for Sam.  An excellent start to the week!

Congratulations to Sam - adding a glider to his long list of aircraft (James Flory)

 Throughout the day there was a Southerly wind, which rarely dropped, with a varying degree of curl over on the approach.  Rain thankfully held off until just before 5 p.m. when the instructors made a good call to head for the hangar with torrential rain arriving just as everyone retrenched to the clubhouse.

All in all a great first day with thanks to the instructors, and ground crew team for giving their time to the course week.  Ideally England, on Wednesday, will also have a great one! - Karen King 

Fri 2nd July - Trial Flight Day

Another successful Trial Flight day with the weather cooperating. Some low cloud to start which cleared in time for our first launch at 11:00.

A sample of some of our pre-booked Trial flight visitors (Jill Harmer)

Visitors arrived promptly despite being caught up in the Devon County Show traffic jams, and all the aerotows were completed. 

 There was some soaring in the middle of the day and sea fog was visible marching inland during the afternoon, but it turned round and went back again.

 In the early afternoon, there was a gap in booked flights giving some members the opportunity for aerotows. Well done to George Vojtisek for getting cleared solo aerotow.

Well done George - solo aerotow (Mike Sloggett)

 Thanks to the Instructors, Tuggies and Helpers for making the day possible. Further days are planned for later in July.

Thurs 1st July

Some annoying orographic cloud  at 600ft formed after the  fog in the valley had lifted up the hill, which delayed the start of flying. But as soon as the winch launches could complete safe circuits, the gaps also opened up to enable aerotowing as well.

Well done Josh solo aerotow (Mike Sloggett)

And it was just as well as the two-seater flying list was almost full of members requiring aerotow practice and spinning in the Perkoz. Well done to Josh Funnell for being cleared solo aerotow.

Andy took a high tow to practice aerobatics (Robert Lee)

 Soaring was at a premium even for the hopeful private owners, but extended circuits kept everyone busy - 50 flights in all. Thanks everyone. - J&P. 

Wed 30th June

Some keen members were up the club early and everything was unpacked by 8:30 with the K21s and the Perkoz taken across to the launch point.
After a steady launch rate in the morning, the wind decided to change directions and the launch point was moved to the west end of the field. Pete Startup enjoyed a 2 hour soaring flight to Wellington and Witheridge. JB, Andy Davy, Robert Lee and other private pilots enjoyed longer local soaring flights.
By 4pm the wind decided to flip again and all the gliders were moved to the east end of the field ready to hand over to the evening crew.
All in all a very pleasant day with everyone enjoying some time in the air. - Josh Funnell

 

The weather stayed fair for the evening group to take over the gliders from late afternoon onwards. The conditions were calm with a very light wind allowing trainees to practice their winch, launch, circuit planning and approach/landing whilst various solo pilots used either a K21 or Junior to build their flying skills.

 With a bright sky flying continued on well into the evening with the last flight shortly after 9 - Mike Sloggett