Thurs 4 September - Course Week

 The day has been much better than forecast with good thermals to a cloud base of 2500ft, some streeting and the ridge working some of the time. The westerly veered slightly north in the afternoon and a few light showers drifted through. 

Launching into a moody sky (Rob Adams)

Due to bad weather over the last few days all course members felt practising various circuit scenarios and spin recovery was very useful and all agreed they felt more confident today and made good progress. - Rob Adams - New member and first time blogger 

 

Gaggles (Rob Adams)

Pete Startup was one of the private owners who struggled upwind and almost made it to Knowstone and got  blown back to North Hill, but most were happy to stay local in the really strong turbulent lift. And a busy day with 39 winch launches and 3 aerotows.

Wed 3 September - Course Week

Most of the day was spent in the DSGC simulator due to the weather conditions, however it gave me and many others a much better grasp of how the controls work as well as the use of the rudders. 

More Simulator time (Karen King)

Our instructors gave us informative lectures throughout the day which was a massive help when flying was an option. Elise Turpin - New member and first time blogger.

Tues 2 September - Course Week

 Day 2 started with less favourable weather conditions so instead of flying we had a series of lectures regarding lift, drag, the causes and effects of positive and negative g, and the perils of flying with wet wings. We were educated about parachutes - how to put them on, how to deploy them, and how necessary it is to keep them dry, we even deconstructed one that was due and inspection. 

The Club Simulator -so useful  (Karen King)

 

We went on to gain useful experience on the flight simulator which  certainly proved useful for those with less flying hours. We were hopeful after lunch that we might be able to do some flying, so the winch was set up and the gliders were readied. 

Practicing winch launches in the Club Simulator (Karen King)

 

In the meantime we had a lecture regarding winch launches - how to do it safely  and how to recover then we were able to put this into practice again on the sim. 

At 3pm the final call was made, that there wouldn’t be any flying today but tomorrow is another day. - Duncan Bardner (new member first-time blogger)

Mon 1 September - Course Week

Day 1-  (Following the duff weekend) After nothing but doom and gloom per the Met Office weather forecast and the clubs own RASP the day dawned surprisingly brightly and the intrepid course members made there way to the club to be pleasantly surprised with high cloud and blue skies.

 

Soarable at times (Paul Warren)

The course was split with three new members, and three with some experience and after a little bit of further weather checking and a briefing the gliders were brought out and we were away!

The first launches went well, and there was even lift in the sky giving a early flight of over 30 minutes, and we got into a steady rhythm where no glider was down for very long before it was launched again, thanks to sterling work from the volunteers.  

 

A bit more rain needed to make the grass grow (Paul Warren)

The day continued like this, with only a few small moments of rain, the first of which forced into a very well-timed lunch break and the others merely needing a few minutes of shelter and some use of the squeegees to clear the water from the wings before the next launches.

 

Occasional splashes of rain (Paul Warren)

After a full day of flying we all ended up with multiple flights, a large quantity of added experience and eagerly awaiting day two!

Thank you to both the instructors and volunteers for making this all possible! - Paul Warren