The day started early with a few of the Wednesday regulars arriving at the gate just before 8am. The vehicles and both the K21’s were promptly DI'd & set up on the airfield with the winch in the south-west corner and Launch Control in the North East. Members were a little thin on the ground at the start of the day, but in true North Hill spirit, everyone worked well together to get the aircraft in the air and the ground ops ran smoothly and swiftly. The first flight launched at 10:28.
There was minimal lift available for the first few flights, although conditions were calm and quite serene in the air. The instructors put everyone through their paces with a number of simulated launch failures, & those flights that did make it to the top of the launch were relatively short but very pleasant.
As the day progressed, three private gliders appeared, as did the tug, along with a few more optimistic pilots. Around lunchtime the skies looked a little more promising and some pilots achieved much longer flight times.
After lunch, club members continued to work hard to keep aircraft in the air. I recall just one short period when all the aircraft were airborne & the ground crew were able to sit down for 10 minutes! The last launch took place at 16:39.
A small vole appeared at the Launch point (Julian West)
It’s always a pleasure to see the local wildlife at North Hill & we were lucky enough to be visited by a small Vole who seemed to enjoy loitering around Launch control!
All in all an extremely pleasant & successful September day at North Hill, 31 launches in total, with fine weather and great banter! The longest flight of the day went to Jeff Taberham with 123 minutes off a 3000ft aerotow. - Julian West
