There wasn’t a great deal of hope that we would fly today given the forecast, and indeed looking out the window the forecast appeared to be correct, at least for the time being….
A very grey sky, low cloud base and a wind from the East, the only thing different from recent normal was the wind direction!
There was an impromptu meeting about how we could get the Pawnee back into the tug hangar for its annual inspection, the two Eurofox aircraft currently occupying her old home.
The glider hangar had to be completely emptied to get the Pawnee out from the back of the glider hangar, and with the sky now starting to brighten we decided to DI a couple of K 21’ as they were out on the field “just in case”.
Ian Mitchell was keen to use the yellow Eurofox (Bumblebee) for aerotows as it hasn’t flown for several weeks.
Backup Tug Bumblebee providing some aerotows (Mark Courtney)
We had a couple of visitors today one from Brentor Phil Hardwick and one from Kestrel (RAF Odiham) junior solo pilot James Bartlett both very keen to fly. Only one private glider flew, Andy Davey in his Libelle who had a couple, of tows to shake the cobwebs off.
Phil Hardwick visitor from Brentor (Mark Courtney)
Incredibly the field had dried enough in the sun yesterday to winchlaunch operating from the West end, Paul Medlock (being the only member capable of driving the winch apart from James and I who were required for back-seat duties) unfortunately got stuck in it all day! - Thanks Paul
There was small pockets of broken lift near Broadhembury ridge which enabled some extended circuits, flying continued until 17:15, total of 17 winch launches and 4 1500ft aerotows.
Discussing epic gliding adventures (Mark Courtney)
After flying, several members gathered in the clubhouse chatting about epic gliding adventures, all of us dreaming of what might be round the corner....... Thanks to everyone today for making it worthwhile. - Mark Courtney
