Sun 30th June

 Predicting what the actual weather will be like on a particular day, when looking at the day before forecasts, can be tricky at the best of times - not least with the rather changeable weather we have seen in recent months. And such was the case on Sunday - the forecast on the day before suggested a reasonable flying day from the start and with a Westerly component for much of the day. But arriving at the airfield under grey skies with a distinct chill to the air, it was evident that the actual weather was not keeping to the forecast.

However with suitable optimism gliders were brought out of the hangar and Launch Control set up on the Northern boundary of the airfield - with the windsock showing an Easterly component just to really throw the plan for the day. As the morning briefing was taking place orographic cloud started to sweep across the airfield to also add to the ‘confusion’. Undeterred the gliders were moved across to the launch point and taking the hint blue skies started to appear- it was now a question of whether the wind direction would improve - and steadily but surely it did with Mike Sloggett and James Smart soon taking a met flight in what had now become a crosswind rather than a tailwind. And then it was on with the flying list which made steady progress during the morning. 

North Hill Airfield (Mike Sloggett)

After a short lunch break to allow the few winch drivers, loggers and instructors available to recharge their batteries the afternoon allowed further progress with the flying list with the arrival of Glenn Turpin helping same. The improved weather conditions of the afternoon saw Robert Lee undertake some aerotows with the EuroFox and during the day Paul Summers looked after our trial lesson visitors.

The day’s flying was unfortunately brought to an end late afternoon, and before everyone had flown, as the few available winch drivers and loggers had done more than their fair share during the day…. Mike Sloggett

Sat 29th June

 For once yours truly was able to start a duty day closer to 8 rather than 9 thanks to an overnight at my sister’s and was very happy to arrive to a scene of much industry! Hangars being unpacked and daily inspections started. We hit the published briefing time of 9 with the ground equipment in place - thanks to all involved.

Duty Instructor and Birthday boy (John Pursey)

A crowded clubhouse at 9 and, encouragingly, lots of young fresh faces! With Simon Minson helping instruct for the morning, Robert Lee dealing with first flights, James Flory in the club Eurofox it only needed the safe hands of Pete Startup as Duty Launch Marshal to get the field going. Some half-price launches before 10 o’clock cut off - again well done team!

Gill Morrison with more time for gliding now (John Pursey)

The weather never really delivered - the high cloud threatened in the forecast and all though not high, spirited climbs were to be had until late afternoon. The club fleet from the hangar was all in action with the Perkoz doing some more adventurous training alongside the K21s.

DD3 enjoyed spirited blue thermals (Stewart Henshall)

 

The Eagle made a late appearance as JB realised a shake-down flight before the start of Competition Enterprise next weekend might be a good idea!

The Eagle gets an airing (Stewart Henshall)

 

 As the hangar doors shut on a still sunny evening and I scuttled off (late) for my own birthday celebrations, I thought it had been a great day really, all had flown who wanted to and the Eagle was nestled in the field ready to soar on Sunday! - John Pursey

Thur 27th June

The prediction of a nice warm and sunny day, based on the previous evening’s forecast, turned out to be slightly awry as a weather front moved across the South West in the early hours of Thursday. So members arrived at the airfield under grey skies, with the lack of sun and the forecast Westerly brisk wind seeing jumpers, coats and hats aplenty.

Morning briefing completed the winch run was set up for the Northerly side of the airfield to make the best use of the launching and landing areas at the East end of the airfield. Both K21s, the DG505 and a Junior were soon being walked across to the launch point, daily inspections having been completed, and with the sun and blue skies starting to appear above the airfield. 

Chilly west wind in the sunshine (Mark Courtney)

 The first launch of the day, just after 10am, a met flight by Mike Sloggett and Ashley Thomas, saw a rope break at the top of the launch - with a thermal right above the winch and the rope needing to be sorted out it seemed rude not to make the most of the ‘lucky thermal’, so the met flight was slightly longer than originally planned.

The approach and landing made it an easy decision to put up a Yellow flag which limited use of the Junior but with Mike, Chris Wool and Steve Westlake working their way through the flying list steady progress was made. Dave Perriam looked after the day’s trial lesson visitors and an early arrival for next week’s Course keen to get into the air.

Happy Trial lesson visitor with Dave Perriam (Mark Courtney)

During the morning whether gliders stayed up depended on the timing of the winch launch against the arrival of thermals which unsurprisingly were moving quite quickly across the sky in the brisk wind. The ridge was also working ‘here and there’.

A short lunch break over, the afternoon continued with the thermals in plentiful supply but with patches of strong sink ready and waiting to catch the unwary.

Throughout the day starting the circuit with some height in reserve ‘just in case’ was a sensible plan for handling pilots with final turns being made at a good height ensuring a ‘high energy positive use of airbrake’ approach and resultant safe landing. 

Nice looking sky to the East of North Hill (Mike Sloggett)

 The forecast had been for the wind strength to increase as the day unfolded so no surprise that a blue flag was raised mid-afternoon - and late afternoon with the flying list having just been completed both Mike and Mark came to the same conclusion that the wind strength was now such that continuing to fly was outside the ‘risk v reward’ equation. So gliders were returned to the hangar and Thursday evening flying reluctantly cancelled.

A good day with some ‘interesting’ flying to be had. - Mike Sloggett

Wed 26th June

 The windsock was forecast to move  about during the day more than John Snow's swing-o-meter on election night. Luckily it settled from the South West from mid morning so saved us all a long walk to the west end of the airfield. 

KEK launching (Mark Layton)

 With temperatures somewhat higher than in recent weeks, everyone was glad of the short trip across from the club house to the launch point.  Duty instructor Glenn Turpin was helped by Guy Adams, JB and Steve Westlake throughout the day and were able to work through long dual list and get everyone flown. The usual training and  check flights plus some just for fun, kept them all busy. Tom Sides, Chris Warnes and Dave Perriam looked after the three trial lesson visitors  and the two walk-ins. 

Chris Warnes with a Trial lesson visitor (Mark Layton)

Flights ranged from a few minutes to over an hour depending on timing and if a winch or aerotow was the preferred method of launch. The thermals tended be to the north as the sea air pushed in from the South but some were lucky connecting straight above the field. 

Summer shorts are out (Mark Layton)

A hot sticky day resulted in 41 flights with everyone heading for the club house fridge for a cold drink once everything had been put away just before 6pm. - Mark Layton

Sat 22nd June

Another decent day, but slow to get soarable, DI James Flory ran the day with Simon Minson helping out and Chris Warnes and Dan Hender looking after the Trial lesson visitors and Family and friends flights. 

The big news was on serviceabilities, - for the Club Eurofox,  following a visit from the Rotax Engineer, and various investigations and disassemblies, a new gearbox was fitted as a precaution and G-GNHL is back up and running, Stu Procter and James Flory shared the towing today.

G-GNHL back flying (Library picture)

Also thanks to the volunteers who had sorted the fuel tank on the cable retrieve Disco during the week, and the rudder adjustment on DG505 has also been fixed. 

SM admiring the sky (Simon Minson)

 Stu Procter and James Hood flew the Cub to the Devon Strut flyin at neighbouring Farway Common.

R151 at Farway Common (Stuart Procter)

Once the sky started working properly, Pete Startup led the cross-country effort  with 2 * Club 100s  and Simon Minson  SM and Stewart Henshall HMS sticking to 1 * Club 100.  Other private owners enjoying local soaring, including Shaun Dayman having converted to DG200. - J&P

230
"Another day of late clearance and slow to get going. Was never going to get round original set task so did the 2 club 100's back to back - it's easier to put it on the ladder as one undeclared flight rather than 2 'declared' Club 100's. With SM and HMS for the Westbound lap. When the thermals got going they were very broken indeed(tumble dryer flying), difficult to core and stay in. As always of course there were a few corkers about. Not sure why it was like this, the wind was only about 12kts." - Pete Startup

SM
"Afternoon trip around one of our club 100's, after a morning of instructing !   Sky looked great, but proved difficult to read, with tight and rough cores. Another late start for the conditions to kick in." - Simon Minson

HMS

"Well this was a little unexpected.. The day was very overcast to start but always promised to improve, despite a brisk Westerly. By mid afternoon it was clear it was working, and a quick climb suggested a club 100 might be on. A good street upwind to Knowstone helped, but further West conditions were significantly worse, a lower base and tiny, shredded thermals.
There was never any hope of any speed, it was just an attritional battle to get round, and patience delivered. It took ages to get away from Knowstone, and the turn at North Tawton delivered a far closer than desired view of the village :) . A long, slow climb on the last leg followed - but at least in the right direction.
Almost inevitably it was not until I was on Final Glide that I ran into a decent 6 kt thermal !
Anyway a good run out for HMS.. Lovely views of Devon." - Stewart Henshall

Thurs 20th June

 Thursday turned out to be a very good day with the instructors encouraging us to do mini cross-country’s which was great. Geoff Lawrence got to Chard with Woolly. 

Perkoz tow behind Bumblebee (George Vojtisek)

Great climbs 8 to 10 knots at times - corresponding sink but all great fun! - George Vojtisek

Cumulus in the distance (George Vojtisek)

 The Thursday regulars were greeted with a warm morning under a blue sky and a promise of soaring as the day warmed further. A light SE wind dictated a set up to launch from the West end. It was even warm enough for shirt sleeves at the west end. Two K21’s the Perkoz and a Junior were DI’d before the Briefing by Duty Instructor Steve Westlake, then walked to the west end. 

Waiting to launch (Steve Lesson)

 

The first four flights were short but the fifth, Rob Rand and Steve, found a thermal in the blue to start a climb  which resulted in a 58 minute flight.  Followed by Dave Perriam in the junior who eventually was called down after 84 minutes. The Cumulus started to arrive and the day remained soarable right through to 18:00. 

DD3 (Steve Lesson)

 

Four private gliders rigged. DG200 JDD Paul Medlock, Pete Startup Discus 230, John Borland DG300 FAJ and Duo Discus DD3 JB  and Phil Morrison. All disappeared for long flights. The longest being Pete S at 4hours 8 minutes. Alan Rappaport was kept busy flying 10 tows in FLBX (bumblebee) standing in for  the unserviceable Red Fox. Thanks Alan and the Bumblebee syndicate. As the club flying drew to a close Stuart Procter took a friends and family aerotow in the Perkoz followed by Dan Hender Friends and Family. Both had extended flights in the dying soaring conditions. 

Dave Perriam helping with flying Mike Rigby's  evening group (Mike Rigby)

 

The day then continued into the evening  with a Mike Rigby evening flying group of friends and family and 16 more launches. Many thanks to Chris Wool for running the evening supported by Dave Perriam and Simon Jordy and the launch team. It was good that it was the longest daylight day as the last flight landed at 21:02.  A total of 37 winch launches, 10 aerotows and a total of 31 and a half hours airborne. - John Borland

 
"A modest excursion. DG300 FAJ. With the thermals popping  I delayed lunch and winch launched. A few scrappy climbs some in the blue and I had enough height to venture out the M5 and a cautious run up to Taunton TAU. A nice cloud street gave a run down to Chard CHA. A run on to Crewkerne look possible but half way there a big blue hole meant a swift 180 and a fast run west on an energy line at 70kts with little or no height lose to HHL. Then  CUL, NH2 and home. Oudie said 6 legs 116km or an 85km triangle!" - John Borland FAJ

" NH2 - Roadford - Glastonbury - Crediton - NH2 304kms   Nice 'n easy - unlike most of my flights this year! And across the Somerset Levels 2 days running!"- Pete Startup 230

 

"NH2 - Knowstone - Westbury - NH2 227kms Nice day but as usual it didn't get going at North Hill til lunchtime. Rasp said it would be better to stay north so we set Knowstone on Exmoor, Westbury and return. Not surprisingly It felt a bit slow across the Somerset levels - which were still 70% under water, but we tip-toed along and once past Glastonbury it picked up. We both agreed that it's more relaxed with two!" JB and Phil Morrison DD3

Wed 19th June

Despite being mid-way through the month of June, coats and jumpers were needed at the start of the day - with some members quickly replacing shorts with trousers after getting a temperature update from those who had ventured to the West end of the airfield to see how brisk the wind was.

After a suitable briefing from Glenn Turpin as lead instructor for the day Bumblebee was soon being moved carefully out of the hangar followed by both K21s, the Perkoz and a Junior - daily inspections completed the gliders were walked to the other end of the airfield where the launch point had been set up in the middle of the field to allow best use of the launch and landing areas.

First launch was a Met flight by Glenn and Peter Smith to assess the conditions with a resultant decision of a Yellow card restricting some solo pilots but allowing them to have the ‘fun’ of flying with an instructor.

With Mike Sloggett having switched days for this week only, with 3 instructors available, the flying list made good progress during the morning with Steve Westlake helping out over the lunch period which ensured that flying could continue throughout the day.

Thermals were around here and there during the day but as ever were elusive to some pilots, with high cloud cover not helping - as a result several private owners took an aerotow behind Bumblebee to ‘get away’. With Jeff Taberham 380, Nick Harrison JDD, Mark Layton 477 and DD3 with JB and Pete Warren enjoying some local soaring.

Aerotow by Bumblebee (George Vojtisek)

"Out and Return to Shepton Mallet 126kms, Took a while for the high cover to clear so a short task across the Somerset Levels which is always a novelty. Nice to see the Nationals competition gliders from Aston Down out and about." Pete Startup

During the day coats and jumpers were regularly removed albeit when the sun hid behind a cloud the ‘chill’ quickly returned!

As the day’s flying came to an end hangar flights were completed with Dave Perriam in LRD getting into a strong thermal at the top of the launch and climbing to just over 3000’ AGL - deciding, as he could see the hangar steadily being packed, that it was time to land but with one of the longest hangar flights  24 mins achieved in recent times. 40 winch launches and 5 aerotows thanks all - Mike  Sloggett

Sun 16th June

 It still doesn't feel quite like summer, but the sky is looking better and it was soarable (for some). It was another busy flying day with James Flory in charge of training and thankfully helped by Glenn Turpin who is just back from the Med....

Tom Sides and Paul Summers looked after a lot of Trial lesson visitors and Family and friends flights, and Alan Rappaport did a stirling job in Bumblebee. 

 

Second attempts 230 & SM (Sally Hender)

The sky looked better than it was, away from North Hill, with Pete Startup 230 and  Simon Minson SM  taking 2 launches to get away and Dan Hender JDP all having a few "moments" on the Club 100. ( In fact 230 nearly dropped in on Jill & Pete for tea!) 

"Tough going for the first 10K or so, from Crediton conditions improved, which made the final two legs much more workable, in the company of 230 (Pete) and Dan in his DG". SM

"Hideous - got low and struggled to get going again twice on the first leg, then playing catch up which was going ok until I hit another bad patch at KNO. Don't think I've ever scored  no speed points before!
With SM and JDP who both did much better." 230

Thanks to everyone for mucking in. - J&P

Wed 12th June

 Other than the manicured airfield turf (thanks to the mowing crew) It could have been February on the field first thing, thick coats and hats needed against the biting wind. It was north easterly to start with but we resisted the temptation  to change ends putting it down to local interference and thus it proved to be, although it did re-appear briefly later in the day. 

North Hill manicured turf (Peter Smith)

It was difficult to get away from the winch until later in the morning and then it just got better and better with a convergence forming almost overhead during the afternoon.  

Convergence over North Hill (Peter Smith)

The X-country gang set off early afternoon and all returned later. 

"Late launch when the conditions improved so thought we'd do a couple of racing laps around the Club 100 - with Rich in V5. This was the quick one - almost came a cropper on the second lap as the sea air had come up the Exe estuary and killed it around Crediton but the Exeter controller was my friend while I spent over 20 minutes digging myself out - many thanks." Pete Startup 

And the usual Pundits from up country enjoyed the conditions west of Exeter.

BGA Ladder flights 12 June 2024

High point and timed to perfection was the arrival of Glenn Turpin returned  from his Greek Odyssey on Tuesday evening. We then managed to fly everyone on the list but unfortunately some didn’t benefit from the later in the day improvement. 

Alan & Bumblebee again saved the aerotow day with 11 tows covering the trial lessons and spin  training which was a great help in covering everyone on the flying list.

Mid-afternoon conditions improved dramatically allowing longer flights and good climbs to 4k plus. 48 glider flights of which 22 were training flights.  - Peter Smith

Sun 9th June

 The long and short of today was that there were long and short flights. A good weather forecast and related optimism for another nice flying day resulted in the two-seater flying list being rather full before the 9am briefing in the Clubhouse had even started and, unusually, only two names on the Junior flying list. The launch point and winch were set up for the Northern boundary of the airfield and post briefing all three available two-seaters and a Junior were soon being walked across with flying underway just before 10am.

Ron Johns and Mike Sloggett started to work their way through the flying list with increasing numbers of steps being achieved through the walking back from various parts of the airfield when launches just could not get to full height (for some reason…). Martin Woolner then arrived to provide more help from the back seat and the flying list made steady progress by lunchtime. 

Alan Rappaport now checked out for tug pilot in Bumblebee (Mike Sloggett)

The earlier arrival of Alan Rappaport to supervise the removal of Bumblebee from the glider hangar had been suitably welcomed as was his confirmation that he would be available as a tug pilot for the day. Dave Perriam looked after our Trial Lesson visitors in and amongst which Paul Summers completed a Friends and Family flight.

Various private owners (Peter Smith FUN, Mark Wallis CEC, Chris Woodward HKB and Stewart Henshall (HMS) all took their gliders for long or not so long flights on a day which was good in many parts of the sky but not always as good as it looked in some parts…

After lunch James Flory arrived for his eighth consecutive day of instructing and the afternoon saw continuing progress with the flying list with even more walking back from various parts of the airfield for Mike who just did not seem to want to get to the top of the winch launch. Late afternoon saw Martin complete some spinning refresher/check flights in the Perkoz with Paul and George Sanderson whilst Mike kept Pete Warren company for the last soaring flight of the day in KEK.

A busy day with lots of good teamwork throughout - well done to all involved and a particular thank you to Alan for flying Bumblebee all day which helped immensely with winch launch rates and capacity for those present. - Mike Sloggett

Sat 8th June

Another early start at North Hill, with eager pilots setting up the field and getting out the gliders before the 9:15am briefing. However the weather wasn’t quite playing ball, again, with low cloud and a slight drizzle! The surprisingly short flying list was started just after 10am by James Flory, standing in for a poorly Duty Instructor, with the morning DLM, Hans Jenssen, having his work cut out with limited experienced members on the airfield. Extended circuits were the initial flights, but these slowly became longer as the day progressed. 

North Hill Airfield (Simon Minson)

 Simon Minson and Simon Leeson helped in the second K21 and Perkoz respectively, with both Juniors in demand with the solo pilots. Flying continued through lunch into the afternoon as the instructors needed to leave slightly early. This was quite a stretch as the airfield became less populated as the day went on. Chris Warnes flew all three of the Trial lessons, with great success looking at their smiling faces. As James left, John Pursey kindly stepped in for the final few flights, enabling us to more or less complete the list. So by 5pm everything bar one Junior was packed away in the hangar. Thank you to everyone who went above and beyond today, (you know who you are).
Throughout the day I was selling sweepstake tickets for the Euro 2024 Football competition, good luck to all those that participated. 

Bumblebee was towing (Chris Dimitrov)

 At 6:30pm Ian Mitchell returned to North Hill to continue Alan Rappaport's tug pilot training in Bumblebee. A few of us stayed into the evening to help facilitate this. He started the session with three two-seat aerotows alongside Ian, then continued with five solo tows, completing his sign off by 9pm, just as the sun was falling below the tree line. Well done Alan, you can come back tomorrow to be our tug pilot for the day!!!! - Sally Hender

Fri 7th June - Course Week

 A lot more cloud today, but the course members enjoyed their final day  and with both Juniors available, Nicholas Johnson and Julian West consolidated their back to solo flying, and  Andy Pickrell had several long flights in the Junior. 

Checking the drag pins (Chris Dimitrov)

 This meant that the other 3 course members Chris Dimitrov, and new members Paul Ives and Chritain Hommung had more time in the two-seaters. 

Course dinner at The Drewe Arms - Chris Dimitrov

Many thanks to Course Instructors James Flory and Guy Adams and the Course Helpers Emma Flory, Dave Perriam and Ashley Thomas  - Chris Dimitrov ++ (ed)

In the evening, it was good to see Martin Bennett again who had brought a group from Honeywell Aerospace for our first summer evening group (it just didn't quite feel like summer!)

Thur 6th June - Course Week

 Whilst it was a rather chilly start to the first Thursday Club day in June, with the rather unseasonal weather of recent months still requiring jumpers and the odd coat or two to be worn, the sun was shining and the forecast suggested a good flying day.

With a Course week well underway a joint Course/Club briefing informed all present as to the plan for the day with gliders allocated between the Course and Club. 

Setting up the Launch Control (Library picture)

 With the Launch Point already set up on the Northern boundary and the winch in the NW corner of the airfield (thanks to Course helpers) pre-briefing it should have been a simple matter of getting the gliders out of the hangar and a short walk across to the other side of the airfield after daily inspections had been completed. However with one of the K21s having a flat tyre on the main wheel this caused a suitable delay - but with toolboxes and willing members present the main wheel was worked on whilst the remaining gliders were carefully manoeuvred around the K21.

Club flying soon got underway mid morning with Pete Harmer taking the first flight of the day in HCX with Mike Sloggett keeping Pete company - and with the sky improving steadily the launch queue gradually increased in numbers with Club and private gliders soon being launched efficiently.

As the morning progressed it was, as is often the case in gliding, a question of whether the first thermal could be found from the winch launch - some pilots were successful and ‘disappeared’ for several hours whilst others were soon back on the ground wistfully looking skywards at what might have been and getting back into the launch queue for further flights.

During the day when the sun shone it was pleasantly warm, when the sun was hidden by clouds, not so - but as the day unfolded the sky steadily became more and more thermic with Club gliders needing to airbrake down to allow others to have some fun. With no tug aircraft the Perkoz was used to good effect by successfully climbing away from a winch launch on several occasions to allow spinning exercises to be completed.

A very enjoyable day, with great teamwork allowing Course and Club flying to make the most of the day 43 launches in total . - Mike Sloggett

Cross-country flying

230 "Salvaged this Club 100 from a failed task. A worthy Sage (Ron) said while sucking through his teeth 'you don't want to go to Hatherleigh in a brisk Westerly wind'. Tried and failed - should've listened.
If only it was yesterdays airmass, it was very rough today - even the Sage(after saying we shouldn't go there), had a go anyway and gave up in his ASH25. Trouble is a Silver distance attempt was going there so we felt we should go too." Pete Startup

Pete Harmer and Chris Wool took the Perkoz to MUD and back in some fairly nice air.

(ed:The Silver distance attempt changed their mind at a very early stage....) 

Wed 5th June - Course Week

 Wednesday saw a perfect forecast and so it proved to be with lift off the first to the last launch of the day. Course members had nice long flights giving valuable stick time to those new to gliding and their first proper soaring flights. Julian West progressed on doing more solos in the K21, both Nick Johnson and Andy Pickrell obtained their valuable red cards after morning spinning practice, and were both highly chuffed with their first 14k task to the Cullompton waypoint. Meanwhile the more experienced club members were showing how it's done and were posting 300k tasks. A perfect day, if only it was always like that! - Andy Pickrell

Cross-country flights

5*300 km flights  achieved

NH2 - Okehampton - Culmstock - Fordingbridge -NH2 312km
230 "Too much faffing on the last leg but a nice day out with several of the North Hill gang." Pete Startup

SM approaching Okehampton (Simon Minson)

 

SM approaching Fordingbridge (Simon Minson)

SM "Great day out, thanks to 230 for the task." Simon Minson

711 "Lovely easy day …what a change …"Ron Johns and Paul Medlock

DD3 "At last a decent flight this year!! late on parade again as had to collect my car from the repairers.
Excellent task set by Pete" Phil Morrison and Nick Jones

V5 "Attempted a 500km, but achieved 356Km, NH2 - Salisbury - Roadford NH2 A good day out supported by the DSGC team    thanks all " Rich Roberts

plus more local flights by Andy Williams FUN, Gordon Hutchinson JDP, and the club fleet. 39 winch launches in all.

Tues 4th June - Course Week

 Well, day two of the course and not quite as good as yesterday !!!
 
The day starts with me thinking about getting up and what do I see, the winch passing the window at 0700, being driven to the west end,  I’m convinced Ashley doesn’t sleep ….All attended to and looking out of the window the cloudbase appeared to confirm what the forecast had predicted. Low !!
 
However, our two stalwart instructors decided we were not going to be beaten, and set a 10,000 step challenge for all by having launch failure practise, which everyone enjoyed immensely !!!! The clouds seeing we were not going to be beaten backed off and we were away. First few launches avoided the clouds, well almost, and a number went to full height, some even played on the ridge, alas, not for long.

Low cloud at times (Dave Perriam)

 All flew, Chris and Paul our two newcomers had some fun in the simulator, and all benefited from a different but interesting day.
 
Julian even reacquainted himself with the winch, to which his planned gentle reintroduction to normal launching ended up with low, medium, high failures and just for fun a slow power failure as well. (Nothing to do with me honest !!!! Hee Hee)
 
 That about sums up the day, not a good flying day but a lot of good progression on a number of fronts. 
Hoping for a better forecast tomorrow. - Dave Perriam

Mon 3rd June - Course Week

The  first Summer Course of the season began in the clubhouse around 08:30. The instructors James Flory and Guy Adams made everyone feel welcome with an enjoyable briefing and introduction.  We were all cautiously optimistic about the weather for the week. Amongst the course members was a variety of experience levels and it was great to hear everyone discussing their aims and objectives for the course.

Briefings at the launch point (Library picture)

Flying began around 11am and flights were generally 6-8 minutes but a few managed to get into the low teens. A superb lunch was served up by Vicky in the North Hill Cafe & everyone re-fuelled themselves for the afternoon flying.

The course helpers Dave Perriam, Ashley Thomas and Emma Flory did a superb job & worked hard to keep the day running smoothly. As well as flying instruction, all members were instructed on ground ops and I also enjoyed a refresher on winch driving.

A big thank you to the hard working instructors for their enduring patience and skills & kudos to the course helpers for their hard work throughout the day. - Julian West

Sun 2nd June

So it's now Summer and we've got rid of the incessant rain, low orographic cloud and waterlogged airfield....... new challenges have been howling northerly crosswind including north easterly rotor and ridge of high pressure with low level inversion - just be careful what you wish for! 

Blue skies (Library Picture)

Maybe all the above plus the English Riveria Airshow contributed to the fairly low turnout on Sunday,  but at least there was some flying albeit mostly shortish circuits just a couple of exceptions and Ron 711 and Pete 230 managing just over an hour each. - J&P