Thursday 6th July

Please see Competition Enterprise Blog Day 5.

Today was another opportunity for Club members to be able to see a wide variety of single seater and two seater gliders at North Hill for Competition Enterprise. 

The daily briefing saw Club members listen in to the stories of flights completed yesterday and also the task set for today, in and amongst NOTAM and Met briefings.

It was clear from the forecast weather that there were unlikely to be many Competition gliders launching before lunch so Club members took a K21, Junior and the DG505 out of the hangar, completing duly inspections on the gliders so that as and when the Competition gliders launched Club members could use any spare tug capacity.

Grid squat (Marc Corrance)

And then it was a question of being patient with Club members spending their time admiring the gliders on the launch grid whilst also thinking of as many ways as possible if being to afford them!

And then with the first Competition glider launching at just after 1 and in turn reporting good thermals the calm tranquility of the sunny  airfield was soon replaced with the sound

of 5 tugs steadily working their way through the launch grid - and soon members were bringing the Club gliders on to the launching area.

Club flying after the grid launches (Mike Sloggett)

For some members it was a question of maintaining currency on aerotows, for some it was a continuation of training and for some it was an opportunity to be launched by a tug aircraft other than the Pawnee, good experience all round. - Mike Sloggett

Wednesday 5th July

Please see Competition Enterprise Blog Day 4a.

In the evening, some of the DSGC Junior Members....

DSGC Junior Members (Mark Courtney)

 ......organised a barbeque for the members and Competitors .....

Lovely evening for a barbeque (Mark Courtney)

with the proceeds going to the Ian Beckett fund  which supports DSGC Juniors.

Tuesday 4th July

Please see Competition Enterprise Blog Day 4

Monday 3rd July

Please see Competition Enterprise Blog for Day 3

Sunday 2nd July

With an expected long line of Competition Enterprise gliders setting up on the launch grid first thing the small group of non-competing Club members hoping to fly, clearly needed to be patient around potential flights in Club gliders at some stage in the day.

Grid squatting (Mark Courtney)

In anticipation that there might be an opportunity to fly, a K21 and a Junior were brought out of the hangar and daily inspections completed - and then it was a question of being patient until all the Competition Enterprise gliders had launched.

Briefing (Mark Courtney)

Late morning the Competition Enterprise gliders started to launch and with 5 tug aircraft in operation, as well as most gliders managing to 'get away', by early afternoon all the competition gliders had been launched.

Gliders on the grid (Mike Sloggett)

And with the approval of the Grid Launch Marshal the K21 and Junior were brought on to the launch grid - with both gliders then in use throughout the afternoon and enabling all the Club members who wished to get in the air to do so.

Paul Summers (Cirrus 477) enjoyed a couple of hours local soaring whilst Pete Startup (Discus 230) completed...182Km

G-CDSC Rotax Falke ready to tow (Mark Courtney)

Guy Adams (Falke VG) did a flight around the local countryside and once it had completed it's tugging duties the Rotax Falke (SC) was taken off to the North Coast by Mark Courtney and Mike Sloggett. - Mike Sloggett

Saturday 1st July - Comp Enterprise

I arrived early this morning to attend the briefing even though I wasn't competing. The work that has gone into Competition Enterprise is outstanding and thanks to all who have put this together.

The ground hangar was superbly set up, everything was well organised and thought out and it was truly wonderful to see a collection of 40 gliders of all classes at our site.

The grid is ready (Lisa Humphries)

 I urge any members to come and see this during the week, its not often we get the opportunity and the atmosphere is second to none!

Also the Devon & Somerset Wing Air Cadets were brilliant - if only we could book them for every club flying day!  For more details of the Competition flying - follow all the action on Spot the gliders, Competition Enterprise Blog, Facebook, and  DSGC Website - Lisa Humphries

Thursday 29th June

Two more Club days with no flying due to rain / low cloud / drizzle but thanks to all the members for helping with preparing North Hill for Competition Enterprise 2017 which starts on Saturday.

Great transformation from Ground Hangar to Briefing Room (Mike Sloggett)

Competitors have started arriving and now we just need a change in the weather. - J&P

Sunday 25th June

Following a disappointing Saturday, and after a grey, miserable and slightly damp morning there were very few members left at the the club this afternoon.  Neverless, duty instructor JB rounded up the remnant with his characteristic enthusiasm and we dragged a K21 out of the hangar.  

Launches were lively in the gusty westerly wind.  The ridge worked in places and some fairly strong thermals could be found, though the strong wind at height only allowed a few thermalling turns before dashing back to the safety of the ridge.  Every minute of soaring was hard won and most flights were less than half an hour. 

Longest flight of the day award goes to Barbie, who launched late afternoon in the Pik20 and continued soaring into tea time for a flight of nearly two hours. 

Simon's getting ready for next weekend (Simon Minson)

And after all the preparation work for Comp Enterprise this weekend, we welcomed our first competitor arriving late direct from a scrubbed day at Hus Bos. - Ruth Comer

Thursday 22nd June

The day after the heatwave, there should have been a nice cold front clearance and a change of airmass, but the North Hill micro-climate didn't quite play ball. It was 1200ft - 1300ft cloudbase to start, and the hoped for wave slots refused to appear over North Hill.

The Mile High Trial lesson had to be cancelled, although cloudbase did go up to 2000ft so that Malcolm Watson could enjoy his flight. 

Waiting for the aerotow (Mark Layton)

Training, check flights and solo flying enjoyed variable westerly ridge conditions with it working more consistently throughout the day. 

Paul Little CEC had the longest flight of 1hr 46 with Pete Startup 230  1hr 38 and there were several other extended circuits.

Rob Rand with 50 solos (Mark Layton)

 Well done to Rob Rand for completing his 50 solos, with his Bronze signed up last week.

In the evening, the Okehampton Air Cadets  returned for another enjoyable group session. - J&P

Wednesday 21st June

The longest day and by the time we had finished it certainly seemed like it!

With there being hardly any wind we went up to the northwest corner of the field, as a southeasterly  wind had been forecast.  After a very hot walk with the two K21s and a Junior we were ready to start, there were three trial lessons booked so Pete Warren took the Pawnee up as well.

On the second flight on the Supercat we had a slow launch but as Ray Buzza was having a card check, we used it as part of the red card check, after that we had a major snarl up on the winch which was going to take quite a while to sort out so we started aerotowing until we stopped for lunch.

Not much shade on the Summer Solstice (John Street)

John Sillett flew the trial lessons Pete Warren flew the tug and John Street flew the aerotow check flights until the Skylaunch was fixed.

During the afternoon the wind veered to the southwest so we changed ends, after a very hot day in which several club members were unable to fly, we handed over to the evening crew.  - John Street

Cheesy grin from a Teign Valley Scout (Lisa Humphries)

It was still hot during the evening when the Teign Valley Scouts enjoyed  their group flying.