Saturday 6th June

An extremely busy club day: twenty names on the instructional flying list, three booked Trial Lessons, at least ten private gliders rigged and both motor gliders out. There was a blustery, mainly westerly wind all day, which made for rather difficult thermals and at times a turbulent approach. However, there was much soaring to be had, as well as check flights in the circuit and cable break practice. Thanks must go to the Duty Instructors – John P and Martin W, who without the help of Mark C, Simon L, Rowan S, James H and Paul S would have been hard-pressed to get through that intimidatingly long instructional list. Tug Pilot, Robin W-F, was also kept busy all day. DLMs and club members worked unstintingly to ensure that airfield jobs were shared, so that the winch rate turn-round was not allowed to lag. Flying finished around 6 pm. - WWF

Cross-country pilots

It proved extremely difficult to get away from North Hill until quite late when Pete St 230 completed 100 km following the energy NHL - Tiverton - Okehampton - NHL and checking out the new FLARM receiver at UKMUD. 

On a day when Lasham set various tasks round Hembury Hill and Dave Masson completed a double out and return of 645 km in 7 hrs 28 mins at a speed of over  80 km/h!

Friday 6th June - Course Week

Day 5 - A day of three halves. The morning started with a fairly light southsouthwesterly wind, unsoarable, so we flew lots of circuits. The weak cold front passed through North Hill at lunch time so we took an extended break. When we resumed, the wind had veered to west north west and strengthened. Initially the west ridge was soarable, then the thermals kicked off and the fun began. All the course members ended the day with a good soaring flight and left with smiles on their faces. We hope to see them all again.

A big thank you to all the ground helpers especially the winch crew on Thursday when they had a very trying time, (ed: and thanks to John and Guy for Instructing). - John Si
 
In the evening, another local scout group from Ottery St Mary enjoyed pleasant evening flights for their Scout aeronautics badge. - J&P

Thursday 4th June

A bright sunny start with a light south easterly wind, meant a walk up the field for the course members, while the Thursday gang enjoyed a lecture by Pete on spin avoidance and spin recovery. However the normal tricky conditions with a south easterly prevailed, with some hints of thermals off the south ridge and Pete and John managed to find an interlude of smooth air at 2000 ft. After lunch the wind couldn't really decide what to do, the windsock flailed around and was always pointing the wrong way!
 
Changed ends but still downwind! (Hans)

There was a short delay when the Skylaunch refused to start, but the Supacat came to the rescue, the ropes were wound in by hand and the electronics were fettled and normal service was resumed after a change of ends.
A short delay gave time for a course photo (Hans)
In the evening, the Course members went for dinner at the Keepers Cottage, and the late team turned up...
Whimple Scouts (Mark C)

...to fly a group from Whimple Scouts, (after another change of ends), finding some late evening wave to extend the flights. - J&P

Wednesday 3rd June

With a perfect forecast and a bright start and a north westerly wind there was much expectation of a good day and we were not dissapointed, there was soaring from the start with climbs to cloudbase.
John St was spotted in a Junior (Mike Sl)
With most launches ending up soaring, there was no problem fitting in with the course week all pilots had soaring flights the cloudbase was 3,500ft.
 
Chris flies K13 solo (John St)
Well done to Chris W who added the K13 to his list of solo aircraft with a good soaring flight. - JSt

Tuesday 2nd June - Course Week

How frustrating! - the rain and low cloud did eventually clear by about 15:00, but by then after numerous pitch inspections the gusting wind was too much and play was abandoned for the day. Could have done with that at Headingly!


The morning was spent usefully on briefings on launching, circuits, and launch failures with Guy and John. Aston gave a new and useful presentation on launch point activities.
We all hope to be able to catch up during the rest of the week. - John Si

Monday 1st June - Course Week

The first day saw the six course members and helpers all keen and ready for a bright start. The weather was grey with a brisk SW wind and rain forecast for later. As we had three members who had flown at NH we kept the preliminaries to a minimum to make the most of what was expected and proved to be a shortened day.
From the first launch there was a little thermal activity which allowed for some extended flights. A short break at about 11:00 for coffee as a strong squall passed through. We quickly resumed with an even brisker SW'ly making launches and approaches quite exciting (to say the least). On the plus side launches of 17-1800ft were the norm with the best to 1900ft.
The predicted rain curtailed activities at about 15:00, the toys were put away and we adjourned to the clubhouse for tea and briefings/debriefings. All in all, a successful day despite the weather.- John Si

Sunday 31 May - A wet start but great and gusty later

Meanwhile in West Devon, on Wednesday at Brentor...
As a precursor to this blog post a special mention and thanks goes out to those who helped out at last week’s group evenings at both NHL and Brentor, both Wimbleball Sailing Club and Sidmouth Gig Rowing Club had excellent evenings this week. Meanwhile in Devon, Mr Sloggs ran a successful group evening at Brentor gliding club kindly assisted by Mark C, Paul  S, Matthew W, Tim P and several Dartmoor Gliding Society members.
Chris H is seeking members to help with future group evenings, please check the DSGC online calendar if you are able to help out on any evenings.
Brentor Church overlooking BNT airfield.

Back at NH on Sunday...


From the attendance in the clubhouse Sunday morning you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was a beautiful summers day, unfortunately the weather was as forecast and out of the window we were greeted with miserable spring conditions. People took the opportunity to do chores; JB fettled HEB in the workshop prior to the annual inspection, Pete S fitted gadgets and others fine-tuned overhead projector facilities in the briefing room.

Tim and Matthew drove up from Plymouth along with the terrible weather and the cold front, JP’s ritual Friday synoptic analysis had already promised and delivered one good morning of flying, so they knew the afternoon could provide some pretty spectacular conditions! Thankfully by 14:00 the front cleared and the unstable airmass coupled with a very brisk WNW made for some fantastic flying.
It was soarable from the start with very strong and boisterous thermals, the ridge was also working as a reliable safetynet if you managed to find yourself in the areas of the equally as strong sink! The list was worked through by Mike Sl, JB and Pete W. With 3 two-seaters online and everyone having soaring flights everyone got a chance to experience the conditions.
Matthew W’s enthusiasm had rubbed off on Simon M, he decided to take break from soft furnishings and 70’s lampshades to rig SM and join H5 playing in the cloud streets that set up to the West out and beyond Tiverton.
SM Air-braking down over the valley.
Matthew got his gliding fix for the week with a flight of just under 3 hours.
Quote from JB - “The easiest instructor duty I’ve done for a while, Mike and Pete did all the instructing and I had 3 nice soaring flights!”
As usual Henry turned up at the end of the day [Ed: Really? Read yesterday's blog! ] and jumped in a glider for a soaring flight with JB, rounding out at 19:34 to end a great afternoon's flying!
A great day of teamwork and perseverance for all those at North Hill today! - H5 Matt

Sunday 28th June - Last day in sunny La Motte


For the final day of flying Christian decided to show H5 Matt the glacier. Barre des Ecrins is a huge mountain in the Alps whose northern flank is draped in ice which extends like a veil down into the valley. The lowest fringes are rent and broken as the glacier melts into the sun baked rocks, exposing blue tinged ice under the dust tinted snow. According to Christian, over the past 20 years it has shrunken approximately 30% in size and it appears to be shrinking faster with each passing year.
 
JB above Glacier Blanc but still lower than Barre des Ecrins

All of the training throughout the week had started to come together, with Matt’s flying attracting far less abuse and even the odd compliment from Christian. They worked their way out of the La Motte valley and skimmed across the mountain stepping stones, each higher than the last and heading north east into the Ecrins. The glacier was breath taking, evidence of avalanches and ice overhangs do not put off the walkers and climbers!  Much better to do the climb in a glider. H5 Matt and Christian thermalled to 13000 feet with Mont Blanc in the background, the air crystal clear and the views spectacular. What a way to end a brilliant weeks flying.
H5 Matt incognito up against Barre des Ecrins
Halfway through their 1000 mile journey back to NHL news got to the guys that the French were on strike at Calais, who’d have thought! A plan B was frantically crafted and a couple of slots on a Dieppe ferry booked. After a night in the truck stop in the back of cars the gang pressed on to Dieppe, setting up camp again and enjoying a relaxing last day before catching the alternative ferry.
Luxurious digs
 After nearly 3 weeks in France JB’s pigeon French was improving, at a Dieppe water-front restaurant he ordered what he thought was fillet of white fish, however the delivered dish didn’t quite look as expected and tasted even worse than the appalling road-kill gizzard sausage that H5 Matt had selected in the services the night before. Google translate deduced JB had actually ordered rare Monkfish Liver! Yummy! H5 Matt didn’t fare any better as his Fruits de Mer platter proved to be a collection of gruesome snails, limpets and only a couple of edible prawns which JB pounced upon immediately
Always Safe with Pizza
After a hearty French meal the trio expelled their remaining energy with a swim in the English Channel, and yes it is English right up to the point where it touches the sand, this was however disputed by the locals because water this polluted had to be French.
A great end to the expedition totalling:
Holiday Statistics:
JB, 10 flights 43 hours 1738 km
H5 Matt, 7 flights 19 hours 1001 km
M5 Matt, 12 flights 64 hours 3401 km
Phil Morrison 29 hrs 1194 km
Estimated cups of tea: 300 + 18 boxes of French Bastonge biscuits

Saturday 30 May

A rather average looking sky greeted the North Hill members this morning. An earlier than usual start was possible due to the regular early riser/hangar unpacker, Henry. Yes really. It seems sleeping on the club house sofa isn't conducive to lying in until midday.

A few private owners had started to rig with discussions taking place as to whether it was worth it. Rowan and Stuart kicked off instructing duties at 0915! Mia had to swap her usual instructor (JP) for Rowan. They seemed to get on despite Rowan extending his instructor role to ensuring Mia conducted ground operations to his satisfaction. Henry was one of the first to launch in a Junior at 0930 and after a good 'scratching' session around the airfield eventually headed off towards Cullompton. 

The skies were looking great from 1000 (Henry)
 Roly was back and no doctor is required to certify him fully fit as he could be found pulling the DG out of the hangar. After a DI, he commanded Paul S to 'hop in' and whisked him off for a joyride to Tiverton in the by now, excellent looking sky. James H (ENW), Pete St (230) and Simon M (SM) all set off on a task to "somewhere in North Devon" (quote courtesy of James H). 
 
Somewhere over North Devon (James)

Trial lessons were booked in throughout the day all being flown by Paul S.

Tim in the Junior (Henry)
Flying slowed down after lunch as the instructor selection reduced to just one, and the sky slowly started to look less and less attractive. Liam took Tim for a fly to demonstrate how to stay aloft for more than 6 minutes. Phil M bravely tackled the remainder of the list ensuring everyone flew. Congrats to Paul L who got his yellow card renewed, and Josh F who would have gone solo had his mum been present. Where are they when you really need them...

A fruitful days flying. - Tim P

Thursday 28th May

Another day, another huge flying list, not quite complete cloud cover and a north westerly wind. Things got going quite quickly with the first launch before 10:00am and soaring immediately. The hangar was empty with four  two-seaters going all day and the two Juniors soaring from about lunchtime. We welcomed David back from Open Weekend, and three trial lessons all enjoyed their flights. 
Mark C flying the Pawnee (Mark L)

As the day wore on, the clouds broke and the base went up and by the end of the afternoon there was 6 knots to 4000ft. 
 
Liam connecting R37 with Jess  for her spin training (Mark L being artistic)
Thanks to Peter F and John Si who answered the call for help with Instructing. The Clubhouse turned into a temporary study room for those revising for their exams. Pete St rigged 230at just the right time and made it to Eaglescott and back.
R37 on aerotow (Mark L)

In the evening a group from the Sidmouth gig racing club arrived and they continued soaring into the evening. - J&P