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.
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| 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
