A character building day. - It was quickly apparent that the airfield was usable with care so Stuart Procter and James Flory swopped duty instructor and tug pilot roles as only Stuart is presently able to fly the Bumblebee.
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| A bit overcast at times (Stuart Procter) |
A longish flying list, three trial flight lesson bookings, and the DG505 away soaring over the Welsh mountains was fine with three 2- seaters, as Steve Westlake, James Flory and I were able to instruct as was Simon M although also anxious to fly his beautifully refinished ASW20. Then the Perkoz was declared u/s. So the plan became 2 flights all round in the K21s. John Allan and Mike Rigby did sterling service in DLM roles keeping the day running efficiently from beginning to end.
Late afternoon the Perkoz was declared OK to fly with front seat P1 which enabled Simon Leeson to clock up two flights with Stuart P. Along the way the winch had a hiccup preventing launching for a while but the winch crew managed to sort a problem with the throttle cable. So we were all kept on our toes.
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| Bumblebee on aerotow duty (Stuart Procter) |
Backup syndicate-owned Eurofox Bumblebee saved the day for the trial lessons (which given the backlog that has developed due to the weather) is important and also did a couple of other tows.
We welcomed potential new member Chris Stanton now resident in Exeter having spent some while in New Zealand enjoying soaring in the southern hemisphere.
The last flight landed as the drizzle started on time at 17:00 - but it quickly stopped so gliders were dry to put away. A successful and good humoured day given the challenges 35 winch launches and 5 aerotows in all. Belated congratulations to Joel Roulson for passing his Bronze theory exam on Thursday. Many thanks also to Sally Hender for organising the sweepstake for the Grand National, thank you to all the runners and riders - we raised £100 for the DSGC Charitable Trust - Peter Smith
