Fri 29th September - Long Mynd +....

 At last the Mynd weather really delivered, and delivered it did in spades. Friday was always looking to be the best day of the week and it didn't disappoint. With an almost due west 15 - 20 kt wind, first thing we started launching to the knoll before switching to a short westerly when the wind speed started pushing 25 kts. 

Midland Gliding Club -The Long Mynd  (Shaun Dayman)

 

Mike Sloggett FUN, has now officially flown the shortest short west launch at the Mynd courtesy of a slight misunderstanding resulting in the launch point being located within spitting distance of the winch. So much so that Mike could see the whites of the winch drivers eyes as he rotated into the climb! 

Halo round the Libelle (Andy Davey)

  Mark Courtney, Simon Leeson, Steve Westlake and Rob Hender all flew in the DG505 along with Mark Layton in 477, John Borland in FAJ, Andrew Logan in FMS and Dan Hender JDP   who all had enjoyable ridge soaring and thermal flights. Andy Davey M, got the longest flight of the day with 4 hours 6mins. All had fun flying up and down the ridge no doubt impressing the local hill walkers in the process. I did my best to join them but at max rough air the Mynd Junior just kept going up at 3 knots! A cracking day's flying to end yet another successful DSGC trip to the Mynd. 

Longest flight by Andy Davey M (Shaun Dayman)

 Thanks to everyone that made the journey to the Long Mynd and making it such a fun week. Thanks to Midland Gliding Club for being such a welcoming site. Helen and Dave for keeping us fed and watered with their amazing food as usual. Thanks also to James Shaw the lead instructor for the week, for your professionalism and optimism. - Shaun Dayman (first time blogger) & Sally Hender 

Ian takes delivery of the Eurofox (Robert Lee)

Meanwhile, back at North Hill there was a small reception committee to see the Eurofox arrive as it was flown in from Kent and handed over to Tugmaster Ian Mitchell, Ian will be overseeing the training and conversion for DSGC Tug Pilots.

Thurs 28th September - Long Mynd

 With another excellent daily brief by James Shaw, the local Long Mynd duty instructor, who whilst tried his  best to be optimistic about today's flying there was plenty of evidence that unfortunately it would likely be less so. 

Team Hender (Mark Layton)

 

The club gliders were brought out of the hangar along with the DG505 which had been safely stored amongst them sheltering from Storm Agnes yesterday. Three NHL private gliders FAJ John Borland, FMS Andrew Logan and 477 Mark Layton were also rigged in anticipation. 

Shaun Dayman in the Mynd Junior (Mark Layton)

In reality all gliders did circuits or slightly extended versions, mainly due to the heavily overcast sky and the variable wind occasionally  swinging round to SE which is not an ideal direction at the Mynd. That being said everyone flew, making the  most of the conditions with the opportunity to practice approach and landings at a different gliding site.

John Borland  (Mark Layton)

In the evening we all enjoyed the traditional steak night provided by Helen and Dave, which as always was excellent (as has the food all week). Afterwards we enjoyed another quiz from Sally, who having beaten all newcomers gave us one that was more suited to our level ie not too difficult and with plenty of pictures! - Mark Layton

Wed 27th September - Long Mynd

Well storm Agnes put a dampener on today's flying, so change of plan and indoor activities were chosen. Mike and Dave took the leisurely option of Powys Castle. While the rest of us chose indoor carting in Stourbridge. We left at 10am and drove the half-hour up the road (well nearly!). 

Team photo - Karting (Simon Leeson)

After the safety briefing and fitting of racing suits and balaclavas (a few of us were more optimistic than others!). We were sat in the carts for our five lap qualifier, with our starting positions decided.
Then to the race proper…. 35 laps of the 300m course. After the first few laps of seeing the backs of other competitors, who I couldn’t identify, I realised I wasn’t getting a podium position!!! But we had a great time racing around the track, avoiding each other and barriers. Dan won the day by lapping everyone, Simon Leeson came second and Mark Layton came third. Needless to say I was at the back of the pack!!! (Dan lapped me four times!).

Dan was the winner (Simon Leeson)

We then drove back to the Midland Gliding Club stopping at the Carding Mill and Valley Tea Rooms for a spot of late lunch.  Another evening, eating Helen and Dave’s delicious food, and a cryptic quiz which wasn't quite so well received!
Oh well, tomorrow’s weather looks better…….. - Sally Hender

Tues 26th September - Long Mynd

 The forecast for Tuesday was not good with a strong south to SSW wind and low cloud initially.- It wasn’t wrong. The morning briefing suggested flying would be possible by late morning improving during the afternoon as the wind went further west. Morning coffee and cakes called and a visit was made to Church Stretton. 

Some of the gang on the bench in Church Stretton (Rob Hender)

 The Mynd K13’s were the first to fly just before midday. Six short flights followed. The wind strengthened and veered more  to the west. The sky looking more promising.

Waiting to go (Mark Courtney)

 The DG505 launched with Mark Courtney and Simon Leeson and didn’t  come straight back down. From this point, flight durations steadily improved, however problems with an ever increasing crosswind and a troublesome retrieve winch (replaced mid-afternoon) plagued the afternoon with the ever-patient winch driver having to retrieve the cable from the rough terrain downwind as the need for layoff became more extreme. 

Scaring the birds (Rob Hender)

 

Prize for the best layoff going to Andy Davey who also gets the prize for getting his Libelle rigged early. The prize for the worst layoff was not awarded but resulted in 35 minutes of time lost in launching as the cable was retrieved.  

Waiting (Shaun Dayman)

 

The only other North Hill single-seater rigged, Dan Hender DG200, who then had the longest flight, 2 minutes short of two hours. In all three DG505 flights one Libelle and one DG200. Stewart Henshall also flew a Mynd K13 for 96 minutes. 

Another Sunset (Simon Leeson)

 

The hangar doors were eventually closed by 18:30. Storm Agnes is promised for tomorrow!! - John Borland

Mon 25th September - Long Mynd

The briefing today was run by the duty instructor James Shaw at 9am, and was a very clear, concise and well prepared review. We then all went out to rig the packed-away gliders, and unpack the hangar. 

Flying began at 11am after waiting for the early shower to pass, with James starting on their flying list (of three pilots!). This was quickly followed by Rob Hender and Mike Sloggett in the DG505 getting 11 mins! However conditions improved as the day progressed, and everyone had the opportunity to get airborne.

 

Steve & Sally (Sally Hender)

Dave Perriam and Shaun Dayman flew the Mynd's Junior, with the other solo owners all flying. Dan Hender (JDP), Andy Davey (M), Mark Layton (477) and John Borland (FAJ), all getting in the air before lunch, when we had to take an enforced break due to another shower. After lunch flying continued, Andrew Logan (FMS) finally getting a chance to launch.

Dan JDP landing (Rob Hender)

Many then taking a second launch as again the conditions improved. The DG505, staying in the air for the majority of the afternoon with a variety of pilots in the front and back seats, (I even got a little flight with Steve Westlake, thank you). 

Mark & Simon DG505 (Rob Hender)

  Longest flight of the day goes to Andrew Logan with 105 mins. However, with a number of flights close to or over an hour, a good day was had by all. 45 flights in all. 

A Mynd sunset (Simon Leeson)

 Now we are all looking forward to Helen’s fish pie this evening, and of course my quiz!! - Sally Hender

Sat 23rd September

In view of the forecast a good turnout of members meant that all available gliders were put on the grid.
Some gliders were (rightly) prioritised for those training/returning instructors and conditions were good and several times we had all gliders airborne. In spite of a couple of winch break downs (flat battery again) some flights of over an hour were recorded and heights around 2000ft achieved all through the afternoon. With the sun getting low and the wind freshening a little to the south, later flights could be extended with some careful ridge work. 

Library picture

Excellent teamwork and well-managed launch marshalling meant that 2nd flights were enjoyed by some single-seat pilots.
Several trial lessons and introductory flights were also provided.
At the close of the hangar doors all had smiles and some enjoyed a beer and a reflection of the day as the sun set over the field on the autumnal equinox. - Mike Willmott

Sat 23rd Sepember - Long Mynd

 After arriving nice and early yesterday and getting JDP rigged for Dan, we had an early start this morning for the first flying day as we needed to get the DG505 out of its box and rigged. We also needed to get John Borland's DG300 and Andrew Logan's ASW15 rigged. Mark Layton arrived with the Cirrus whilst we were rigging (after a 5.30am start this morning). Once done it was back inside for breakfast and a 10.00am briefing.

Team Hender with Shaun DG505 (Simon Leeson)

 Rob Hender and Simon Leeson took the first flight of the 2023 Mynd trip in the DG505, and to be honest I was quietly thinking to myself we’ll be down soon. How wrong was I! Simon and I managed to stay airborne for an hour and a half, having thought about returning  on a couple of occasions but deciding to stay up as we were having too much fun. Eventually we thought we really had better return so we dropped down from the 3200ft that we were at and landed, only to find that Steve and Mark had gone for a cup of tea. 

Great unexpected flight (Simon Leeson)

Dan Hender JDP 72 mins lunch break then 70 mins, John Borland FAJ 172 mins, Andrew Logan FMS 128 mins and Mark Layton 477 54 mins  had all taken launches.
After putting the 505 back online and shooing Mark and Steve out of the club house, they took a launch and had a 100 mins of flying. 

Get in then Mark & Steve (Simon Leeson)

 Shaun Dayman finally got his Mynd check flight (after Sally politely reminded the duty instructor he was second on the flying list) so he is ready for the rest of the week.

Arriving Mark & Steve (Rob Hender)

 

Whilst not flying, we all took turns with various tasks, wing running, hooking on etc and Sally spent most of the day logging! All the DSGC gliders were off the field and de-rigged or pegged down by 17:30 pending the arrival of Hurricane Nigel.
Helen and Dave served up the first evening meal of the week at 19:30, by which time we had been joined by Stewart & Su Henshall and Andy Davey.
Lets see how the rest of the week goes! - Rob Hender

Mon 18th September - Portmoak

 Briefing at 9am and a few cups of tea, saw the Bishop slowly revealing it's glory.

The familiar picture of the Bishop (Wyn Davies)

711 - Ron Johns and Chris Wool, M - Andy Davey, 230 - Pete Startup and W7 - Wyn Davies, took winch launches about midday. We all enjoyed hours of frustration, running the ridge, taking ragged thermals and eeking out every inch of wave to dizzy heights exceeding 4000 feet over the field. 

Another familiar picture Loch Leven (Wyn Davies)

The pictures tell the story best. 

 

Above cloud in the wave (Wyn Davies)

Gliders were then pinned down, for the impending high winds that are due soon. - Wyn Davies

Sun 17th September

According to North Hill weather station  there was 15mm of rain on Saturday and 58mm of rain on Sunday,  wiping out flying on both Saturday and Sunday, including our fully booked trial flights. The North Hill travellors to Portmoak  fared no better and were also rained out, so it was good to have some alternatives. 

Stewart Henshall showed new member Paul Ives (who recently took part on the September Course) the great facility of the DSGC simulator. Pete Harmer gave a detailed walkround of K6 DRE  (which is in the workshop for Annual inspection) to Ivan and Joel Roulson. Joel is our latest Junior member who has recently soloed and converted to the Junior and will hopefully spend many happy hours soaring the K6.

 On Sunday evening, the DSGC Condor regulars lined up on the virtual grid at Kent GC, in order to attempt the task of Challock-Heathfield-Canterbury-Challock in club class. Contrary to usual, the conditions were absolutely epic with some thermals reaching 7 knots and a cloudbase of around 6000 feet which led to very high speeds round the task. 

 Some of the pilots had some slightly low moments however everyone managed to get round bar Mike who  decided that since he'd never visited Canterbury he'd like to have a closer look. Overall we had a brilliant evening of flying. Thanks goes as usual to Chris Warnes for task setting and also congratulations to him on winning today's task. - Connor Williams

Thurs 14th September

 Unusually chilly overnight, and some cloud at 1300ft  with a light southwesterly wind, fortunately the cloud opened up at times to allow the Trial lesson visitor to enjoy his flight with Tom Sides. There were long flying lists on both the two-seaters and single-seaters, but with the hangar emptied  and all the club fleet in action, we were mainly constrained by a rather slow launch rate due to landing gliders.

Wavey looking clouds at lunchtime (Jill Harmer)

With Pete Harmer and Mike Sloggett working through the two-seater list helped by Mark Courtney when aerotows weren't required, most flights were circuits and extended circuits with the occasional  bit of soaring. 

Longest flight went to Shaun Dayman with Mark on his preparation for converting to the Perkoz - 32minutes. Stewart Henshall completed his annual Blue card checks, and it was a welcome back to  gliding  to Charlie Stuckey who has very nearly completed his PPL. A pleasant day but not spectacular - 37 winch launches and 3 aerotows. Thanks everyone - J&P

Wed 13th September

Numbers were low with eight members on the two-seater list and nine on the club single-seater list. The two K21’s & the Junior were DI’d & taken up to the West end launch point.

Junior  (Dave Clements)

Two new winch drivers were signed off after careful training by Gordon. Conditions were very calm with almost no wind at all, afternoon flights were longer with Chris Warnes achieving 78 minutes.

All the aircraft were safely back in the hangar just after 5 pm.  All in all, a very relaxed and enjoyable days gliding at North Hill. - Julian West

Nick Redfern 1953 - 2023

 Nick's Farewell could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be described as a conventional funeral, but instead a joyous and cheerful celebration of his very full and rich life. 

Nick Redfern 1953 - 2023

Family and Friends gathered in a light, sunny, seaward facing room at a Torquay Hotel, where Nick's bright blue wicker coffin, ornamented with equally colourful floral tributes, was placed before a mixed assembly of brightly clad guests.

There were former colleagues; those from the sailing fraternity and of course, DSGC, the latter being represented by Tom Sides and the Faircloughs. The various facets of Nick's rich and active life were eloquently described by the Celebrant and friends; there were touching readings and a recital of John Gillespie Magee's "High Flight".

Guests then spilled out onto the terrace where we were treated to the lovely sea air, and beautiful marine view and a glass of champagne with which to toast Nick.
Finally we all repaired to the drive to bid our fond farewells to Nick, as in a nod to his love of fast cars, he was carried away, to the accompaniment of applause in a Mercedes Sports saloon. - Barbie Fairclough

Sun 10th September

With only six names on the two-seater list today, it looked like it was going to be a quiet one for the Duty Instructor, Mike Sloggett. We waited for the damp weather to clear first thing, so the first launch didn’t take place until 11:50am with a Met flight for Paul Medlock. Paul Summers was able to fly with all three Trial Lesson visitors with great success, all three thoroughly enjoying their experiences.

Sally looking after the hot Launch Control (Sally Hender)

 The weather still remained very hot today, so the decision was made at 1:30pm to stop for lunch, for an break and rehydration. Flying resumed with Rob Hender having card checks, the Junior was in demand with five pilots sharing the flights, John Borland getting the longest winch launch flight of the day with 11 mins. Sam Slattery and DLM, Graham Hawker both got a social flight nearing the end of the afternoon.

We finished the day, with Stirling having aerotow training and Dave Perriam taking a flight in the DG505, and had everything packed away by 5pm.
Thank you to everyone who helped on the airfield today, a limited but very efficient crew! - Sally Hender

Sat 9th September

 The day started out with mist filling the Otter, Culm and Exe valleys until 11:30 when it burnt off. With the field being damp with dew. There was a clearing sky and quickly this turned into wispy clouds and a promise of bright sunshine. Members set to work quickly getting the gliders and equipment out for an early start. While this was happening, the clubhouse whiteboard was cleared of artistic doodles showing early launch-failures and replaced with a very neat announcement of “Scorchio” along with its attendant warnings.

First flight of the day was taken by Mark, who subjected Andy Batchelor to a launch failure as part of his bronze assessments. Soon after the day’s flying began in earnest with James Flory working through the instructor list. Pete Harmer took on the duty of hauling hot aircraft slowly into the hot sky, giving Andy Davey a tow to 4000 feet. This was followed by a nausea-inducing (for those of us on the ground) descent with demonstrations of a wide range of aerobatic manoeuvres clearly narrated by Mark Courtney. Meanwhile, others on the ground were debating who would arrive first – the tug or the glider.

There were a number of trial lessons today, and out came the umbrellas to give the visitors some welcome protection from the sun. Dan Hender had another opportunity to fly some of the visitors as IFP, and the additional pleasure of  learning about the paperwork - "completing the temporary membership forms." On the plus side, the first trial flight was 34 minutes giving a great experience for the visitor. Phil Morrison took Lily Sanders Page up for a winch launch, which resulted in 18 minutes – the longest of the winch flights and the longest flight was Chris Warnes flying a 40 minute flight. Following this, flight times were generally quite short but this did enable some progress with the flying list which had a large number of people on it. Emma Flory had a chance to do some spin training and, upon landing, seemed up for more!

Cockpit covers were very much in evidence today and while the umbrellas weren't being used for the  trial lesson visitors, members on the regular flying list got the same respite of shade in their cockpits. Unfortunately there was nothing that could really be done for those in Launch Control, so well done to Sally Hender for enduring the greenhouse heat while dealing with the airfield arrivals and departures. 

Well done to Joel - converting to Junior (Ivan Roulson)

 
With the day having calm conditions it was a white card day. There was around 5 knots of easterly wind so there were  good conditions for some solos. This meant that Joel could get converted to the Junior so after a quick solo in the K21 he got 2 Junior flights putting a smile on his face. (ed: Well done Joel) 

And  well done also  to Andy Batchelor  for completing his Bronze endorsement with CFI Mark, and to Andy Broderick for getting part way through his Bronze flying test today.
 
The day concluded at around 4:30 with a batch of hanger landings and post-flying unwinding in the clubhouse with a successful day of flying with a total of 38 launches. - Joel Roulson

Mon 4 - Fri 8 September - Course week

As forecast, Monday 4th dawned hot and humid (again!) at North Hill as course instructors Steve Westlake and Guy Adams gathered with course fliers and trusty helpers for 2023’s final summer course C6. 

September Course members, Instructors and Helpers (Chris Dimitrov)

New fliers at North Hill were Paul Ives, who is also about to start flying locally in a Eurostar syndicate at Dunkeswell; Richard (or should that be ‘Ricardo’?) Soper who arrived with past gliding experience ridge soaring over Hawai’i; and Dean Stevens,who told us how at 17 he first flew a glider in Germany from which controls had been removed as a precaution!
Also new to flying a DSGC course was Chris (Hristomir) Dimitrov who started flying at the Club a couple of weeks before on a day-trial. Other course flying participants were two North Hill regulars – both Tims: Powell and Petty. Helpers George Sanderson, Dave Perriam and Ashley Thomas completed  the gang, later with Mike Sloggett taking over instruction from Guy on the Wednesday.

The first flights on Monday were notable for remarks about “rough as old socks (or whatever)” from instructors and trainees encountering lively rides up the launch from rotors apparently generated by the Southerly wind over the South and Hembury ridges. Then it was business as usual with every course member getting about 4 flights, the longest duration being Steve’s and Tim Powell’s magnificent 11 minutes.
Groundhogs week was confirmed on Tuesday morning when the WX was just like Monday’s, perhaps a little gentler up the launch cable but even hotter and more humid. Once again course members and, particularly, the apparently-melting instructors, managed to fly all day, this time with about 3 flights per trainee, the longest again at 11 minutes for Guy with Chris and Steve with Tim Petty. Unusually these longest flights were also the day’s earliest.

Wednesday welcomed Mike Sloggett to instructing on the course with the met largely unchanged, although once again a bit hotter and more humid, with initially worse visibility, but also with occasional signs of thermal lift. As Wednesday was also a Club day, Mike Sloggett flew several aerotowed flights so that the new course members could do some upper-air training and also experience flying around the local area. Meanwhile, alongside the course there were longer flights by other Club members, a day-trial lesson and the usual "Startup disappearance" for a couple of hours plus, albeit this time from an aerotow start.

A bit more cable retrieve training needed for Chris (Tim Petty)

Hotter again on Thursday -but with the addition of an on-site meteorologist just like in the film! - the conditions repeated then and through Friday too.

However, our determined instructors defied the ferocious heat and humidity every day to make this definitely a successful and one of the best North Hill summer courses. Flying was all day, every day, and ground-ops training progressed well. Truly a great team of instructors and supporting helpers.  thanks to Steve, Guy and Mike and helpers Ashley, Dave and George.  - Tim Petty

Thursday 7th September - Course week

Thursday dawned hot and humid and less sun than yesterday. The Thursday regulars joined the Course Week team for their fourth consecutive day of flying. To say just hot and humid does not do it justice. It was very hot and very humid with 8/8 cloud cover and a light SE wind. Given the conditions there was a rather sluggish start before two K21’s, one Junior and the Perkoz reached the West end ready for the first launch at 10:42. 

Another cloudy day (Mike Horwood)

 As predicted the winch launches struggled to stay up for 8 minutes. Good circuit training for the pre-solo pilots. Pete Harmer was on his own working through the two-seater list as Chris Wool was unwell ( hope to see you next week) and Mike Sloggett was helping out with the Course. 

 During the Course lunchbreak Mark CFI helped to work down the two-seater list when not on Tug duty. Visibility was poor under the high pressure system but improved as the days flying was drawing to a close and a weak sun was just managing to make its presence felt. Then contrary to expectations two of the last four launches contacted weak lift south of the field, just west of the Hembury ridge. In the Perkoz Pete and Stewart Henshall extracting 39 minutes out of the weak conditions and in the Junior John Borland 45 minutes enroute to hanger landings. In all seven solo’s and 32 dual flights with the hanger doors closed by 18:15 ready for the Course Fish and Chips supper. - John Borland

Sun 3rd September

With an amazing second flyable day on the trot, the flying list was pretty long first thing this morning!! Duty Instructor Ron Johns had the airfield set up with the Launchpoint at the west end, with the first launch taken at 10:21am. There were a number of pilots wanting check flights and the new reduced rate aerotow training, so flights (and walks) were fairly extended. Although Pete Warren and Robert Lee, our tug pilots, we’re absolutely delighted to oblige!

Tom Sides briefing 2 of today's Trial flight visitors (Sally Hender)

Slow progress was made through the list, all three Trial Lessons flew and enjoyed their experiences, all talking about returning.

During lunch we struggled with the reduced numbers on the ground, with our winch driver having to cable retrieve, slowing our flying rate even further.
During the afternoon, things picked up, Ron Johns took on Phil Morrison’s Instructor checks, James Flory and Simon Minson continued working through the two seat list. Returning Trial Lesson members Arthur and David Hier, patiently waited their turn all day, before getting their opportunity to fly, but both were keen to help on the field.

Flying was finished by 5.45pm, with everything packed away, thank you to everyone who stayed until the end and helped on the airfield. Another successful day of aviation. - Sally Hender

 

Sat 2nd September

 It was sunny first thing...... but then it all fogged out.... and it was lunch time before the sky cleared enough for flying. 

Fortunately, not everyone gave up on the forecast and there were 20 winch launches and 4 aerotows in the afternoon, with Rob Hender getting back solo after a short gap whilst busy crewing for Dan!

Stewart was promoted from the reserve list to the  FAI Virtual SGP Final

In the evening, Stewart Henshall competed in the final race of the FAI Virtual SGP taking place alongside the live FAI SGP  2023 competition.  (Stewart had been promoted from the reserve list for the Final after coming 3rd in one of the qualifying events.) After 7 days of evening competition flights  on Condor replicating (as near as possible) the actual daily tasks and weather set in Pavullo Italy, Stewart came a very creditable 15th place with 8 points - scoring in 3 races.  (Grand Prix style scoring max 10 pts for the winner each day). So  for a first attempt at this level of competition - that's 15th out of the 20 best Condor pilots in the World. - Well done Stewart. - J&P