A diamond of a day - The past few weeks have been testing our patience!
There seems to be no end to the rain at the moment, so when you get a rare good forecast you need to grab it with two hands! This is exactly what members did yesterday! Whilst the members were meeting Julie and her twin sister Beth, who are the new catering team in the clubhouse, others were getting both tugs ready and unpacking the hangar. The field was still very wet, and soft, but we managed to find a reasonable run with care. The launch point vehicle was left down the bottom and the Discovery was parked on the apron and was our communication hub for the day.
The EuroFox launched at 08:15 so more tug pilots could build experience. It was very calm conditions with a rare blue sky, ideal for learning the skill of a aerotow. Steve Westlake was the duty instructor for the day, helped by Glenn, and James Flory. With so many tows required the tuggies shared like grownups (well almost).
Ian Mitchell managed to squeeze in a check flight with Stuart before leaving to fly at Dunkeswell for trial lessons and a flight to issue a pass for navigation and field landings for Andy Bachelor. Well done Andy!
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| Simultaneous taxiing (Mark Courtney) |
Stuart now with chest puffed out started to help the Pawnee with the club tows before Robert got in the EuroFox again for more landing practice. Ashley got checked out for aerotow by Steve Westlake but missed out on actually flying his first solo aerotow. Conditions were perfect for the sort of flying we wanted to do today with lots of members glad of the reduced rate for aerotow training.
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| Aerotowing from the Eurofox (Stuart Procter) |
The Falke VG was in use for most of the day with various pilots. A long, but very enjoyable day, gliders, tugs and people were washed and hosed down by about 4:30, misting canopies stopped flying about 30 mins before.
Somerset levels are wet from VG (Carl Tharme)
It’s great to be able to have a nice coffee and something to eat again after what seems like weeks. Julie and Beth are now up and running on flying days, reduced menu to start, but the promise of an expanding menu soon! - Mark Courtney
