With a significant contingent of regulars away on the club expedition at Brentor (Dartmoor Gliding Society) and, given the poor soaring forecast, private owners electing to direct their efforts elsewhere (accruing domestic credits in advance of the next soarable day, no doubt!), it was a very quiet club house at North Hill this morning.
Aerotow (Andy Batchelor)
Just a handful of weekend regulars and a couple of enthusiastic, relatively new, juniors waited patiently with one eye looking out of the window, observing the blustery NE wind, and the other on the door hoping that a Duty Instructor would magically appear, with some uncertainty prevailing over instructor availability for the day. Salvation soon appeared, in the form of Simon Leeson, who was technically on duty as the ‘stand-in’ tuggie. But, as the only instructor on site, he was quickly ‘promoted’ by the assembled collective to Duty Instructor, Duty Tuggie and Duty anything else that needed doing.
With Simon Jordy arriving to look after the trial lesson visitors, a K-21 and the DG505 were walked down to the west end of the field. Simon Leeson and Andy Batchelor took to the skies first on a met flight, and although less boisterous than initially anticipated, conditions were still challenging enough that it was declared a yellow card day. Thankfully, the 2-seater training list was relatively short, and Simon Leeson bounced between tug duties and working his way through the training list.
Stuart Procter and Edith Williams (Andy Batchelor)
Additionally, and despite having been called out to work earlier in the day, Stu Proctor answered a call to arms and arrived mid-morning to help out with the flying, his assistance being very much appreciated. He was rewarded by the ‘longest’ winch-launched flight of the day of just 13 minutes, flying with new junior member Edith Williams. Shaun Dayman stepped in to fly a donated winch launch trial flight too, while Simon Jordy took an extra trial lesson visitor on an aerotow.
Trial lesson visitors family watching on (Andy Batchelor)
With those who wanted to fly having flown, and the trial flight guests all leaving very satisfied with their respective experiences, the airfield was all wrapped up by around 15:45. Despite the small number of people on site, a good day was had by all with some great teamwork from everyone, and we made the most of the day. Particular thanks, though, must go to Simon Leeson for being ‘Duty Everything’ and Stu Proctor for his welcome assistance, as well as Alan Turner and Phil Rowlands, who both spent extended time on the winch but didn’t fly. - Andy Batchelor
