Thurs 6th May

 Following another soarable day on Wednesday, the Thursday regulars arrived to a retreating occlusion   with the Low running along the channel and a cold northeasterly wind, the K21s and Perkoz were walked up to the west end but the forecast rain squall arrived before the Juniors could move, so they were temporarily popped back in the hangar just in case. 

The wind was changing (Mike Horwood)

Once the rain had cleared, getting away was a bit hit and miss, with Pete Startup leading the way and completing 2 Club 100s. Some Club gliders managed to break through the low level turbulence to get some soaring, but after a change of ends the conditions perked up for a short while until the sea air took over. 

The nice soarable sky (Mike Sloggett)

 Well done to all those who completed their recency check flights, and sorry that we didn't manage to get through all those on the 2-seater list. 

Congrats to Charlie (Mark Courtney)

Congratulations to competing Junior members -  Charlie Stuckey for completing his Cross-country endorsement with Mark, (with Josh Funnell last week).  - J&P

Sun 2nd May

What a turn out! Lots of eager faces turned up for what looked like may be the best day of the weekend? With all five airworthy club gliders brought out from the hangar and a number of private gliders towed out, (KMV, DG1, FUN, FMS) the first launch went at just before 10am, for that elusive discounted launch!

Grid forming (Mike Sloggett)

By 11am (and more private owners) we had twelve launches, but with an average of 6 mins a flight, there was a constant queue of at least six gliders! The winch driver and cable retrieve (Dave Perriam and Oscar Leeson respectively) definitely had their work cut out!

Before the rain (Mike Sloggett)

 A genuine cable break at 11.30 stalled proceedings, but by this point the aircraft were staying up, so the ones already in the air could continue to soar without feeling guilty!
At about 12.30 the rain arrived, which delayed play considerably.

Avoiding the showers (Mike Sloggett)

 Flying resumed at 1.45, with the instructors working their way through the rather long flying list. Flights however remained fairly short for the rest of the day.

A total of 54 flights, a few of which were aerotows, which put a smile on Peter Warren’s face! A big thanks to everyone who helped, particularly Oscar Leeson who did cable retrieve all day, without flying (with the help of Louis later in the day). - Sally Hender

Sat 1st May

A relatively pessimistic forecast for Saturday earlier in the week, became more promising as the week progressed and as it was, the day started with generally good conditions for gliding, albeit with some showers forecast for lunchtime onwards.  A gentle easterly breeze meant setting up at the western side of the field, allowing us to see the excellent work completed by club volunteers in levelling and rolling the area in the Southwest corner of the field ready for seeding – looking great and a sterling effort from all involved.

First off the blocks just after 10 o’clock was K-21 ‘KEK’ with instructor James Flory and student Andy Batchelor, in a series of 3 flights that ultimately led to Andy being sent solo.  This was Andy’s ‘second’ first solo in a winch-launched glider, having had a short break of around 27 years from gliding and returning to the sport last Autumn, being enthused to take up gliding again when son Josh joined the club.  Glad to say that 2 solo launches were followed by 2 satisfactory landings!  

Congratulations to Andy on resolo (Josh Batchelor)

 

Instructional duties were shared between John Pursey, James Flory and Glenn Turpin on a series of training and check flights that included pressing the Pawnee into service for aerotow duties.  The Saturday crew had the luxury of using the new launch control vehicle which is a significant improvement on the previous temporary arrangements – an outstanding project from those club members who contributed to creating this excellent facility.  James Flory wasted no time at all in putting the integral classroom to use, delivering a whiteboard brief  on spinning.

James Flory using the integral lecture facility (Andy Batchelor)

 Just after lunch, the wind spun round to the west, necessitating a change to the eastern end of the field.  This change precipitated the ‘how many people does it take to level up the new launch control vehicle’ competition.  The answer seemed to be 1, but with 7 or 8 other members involved in studious contemplation! 

Technique to get it level (Andy Batchelor)

 Shortly after 15:00, the rain arrived,albeit later than forecast so with 28 launches completed, and sadly before some members who had contributed significantly to the days’ efforts had chance to fly, the aircraft were returned to the hanger.  Meanwhile, well done to David Cowley for passing his Bronze exam with flying colours. - Andy Batchelor

Thurs 29th April

With no flying on Wednesday, the flying list was long from early on. There was a small delay whilst waiting for the temperature to warm up a bit, and everyone was treated to a briefing and demonstration of how the new Launch Control would operate. 

What a great example of Club member skills to design, manufacture and kit out our new Launch Control following the great service that Mike Robinson's LPV has given the Club, but it was time to move on... 

New Launch Control (Rob Hender)

 The new Launch Control was used all day successfully on its initial proving trial, and will be in full service very soon - Well done  and  a big Thank you to everyone who has contributed. 

 

Blue skies initially (Mike Sloggett)

The cumulus clouds that were initially out of reach started to form over the airfield in time for the first launch, with the first couple of K21 launches soaring, but after this soaring flights from the winch were rare. 

Check flights both winch and aerotow continued throughout the day in all 4 two-seaters and the Junior was soaring in the middle of the day. Wyn Davies in W7, Eric Alston in G29 and Phil and Nick in DD3 all had good flights, with DD3 reporting convergences from both coasts and snow showers.

Congrats to Josh  (Mark Courtney)

Congratulations to Josh Funnell for completing his cross-country endorsement with a nav flight with Mark Courtney in Rotax Falke.

Thanks to everyone for a pleasant day back in the air with 29 winch launches and 10 aerotows. - J&P

Sun 25th April

 First thing the strength of the wind was such that any immediate plans to fly were delayed, in the hope that the forecast might be wrong, and the wind reduce in strength, to allow flying to take place later in the day. 

Woodland clearing stumps (Mike Sloggett)

 As ever there is always a ‘to do’ list at the Club, so whilst some members worked on continuing the clearance of the woodland area, others took down the tarpaulins in the MT hangar to allow investigation of the roof and related necessary repairs.

Removing the tarpaulins (Mike Sloggett)

 

At lunchtime and with the wind strength showing no sign of reducing, with gusty 23 knots being seen on the Clubhouse anemometer, the decision was made that there would be no flying activities today. - Mike Sloggett

Condor Racing

During the week, the Condor Racers had visited Peru, Greece and other countries to fly, 

 On Friday afternoon, there were some more simulated launch failures  at North Hill this time with an easterly wind and with Dan and Stewart's script to randomise the time before release - this worked really well.

For Sunday evening, Stewart had set a tricky little task tiptoeing to Tiverton and back, but the thermals kicking off the ridge were few and far between. Several pilots made attempts to get to Tiverton and practiced field landings, but well done to Stewart who was the only successful pilot to get back as well. - J&P

Sat 24th April

A small but enthusiastic group of around a dozen Club members arrived at North Hill early Saturday to be greeted with stunning, clear blue skies, but hopes of long hours in the air were tempered by the very strong, gusty easterly wind.  Both K-21s and a Junior were prepared for flight, but with a combination of blue card conditions and a paucity of members able to take advantage of single-seat flying in the conditions, the Junior was returned to the hanger.  The flying day continued with just a pair of K-21s, with the first aircraft in the air just before 0930.

The day continued with a mixture of training flights and card checks, with an ebb and flow of numbers as people came and went – some to fly, some just popping in to say hello, with Club members very obviously enjoying being able to meet up again – albeit in an outdoor socially distanced fashion - after the enforced Covid lay-off.  James Flory, as Duty Instructor, took the lion’s share of the instructional training flights, supported by John Pursey,  Stuart Procter and Pete Harmer at various points throughout the day, with Sally Hender, James Smart and Jill Harmer looking after launch control duties.  As the morning progressed, we were rewarded with an increase in the availability of lift.  Although there was some debate among the seasoned veterans over the actual origin of said lift, it was nevertheless gratefully received by all who were fortunate enough to experience it.  Dan Hender, flying with CFI Stuart, blagged the longest flight of the day at 47 minutes, and several other Club members were lucky enough to have flights of over 35 minutes.A short period of concern ensued when an Air Ambulance flew directly over the airfield at around 500’ from south to north, directly across the launch run, without any warning or communication, illustrating the continuing need for awareness, vigilance and, above all, lookout.

Rob Hender and Pete Harmer (Jill Harmer)

 By mid-afternoon, the wind had abated a little, but veered round to become a southerly cross wind so, with all who wanted to fly having flown, the flying day was declared complete with the last launch at around 1645 with 26 launches completed over the day.  Overall, a very good day for those that were there, and as ever, very grateful thanks to all those who worked hard to made the flying possible. - Andy and Josh Batchelor (first-time bloggers)

Thurs 22nd April

It was almost a repeat of last Thursday, but the easterly wind had a bit of south in it, it was a bit warmer, and practically not soarable.  There was another stone-picking exercise to start and yet again a long flying list.

Stone-picking (Mike Horwood)

With all four two-seaters in use all day, we made good progress with return to currency flights, but as with last week, unfortunately a few members missed out on flying - hopefully we will be back to normal soon, please bear with us. 

Latest area to be levelled (Mike Horwood)

Late morning, Chris Wool managed a short soaring flight in DG505 with the help of some  brief sea-air convergence, but it was short-lived. 

During the afternoon, the winch-driver George Sanderson spotted a small problem (noise) with the winch, whilst aerotows continued, swift investigations and analysis occurred and Chairman Nick and Stirling dashed off to a bearing shop in Exeter, and it was all refitted by close of play. 

Thanks to everyone for mucking in - great teamwork as always. - J&P

Wed 21st April

Wednesday's turn out was a bit disappointing as the forecast was reasonable, perhaps the prospect of another easterly day discouraged some. With three instructors available flying began in seemingly promising conditions some lift, some broken wave and increasing wind, leading to some quite challenging flights, the lift being more than balanced by sink.

Ron Johns was returned to currency, as was Nick Harrison and David Perriam, Andy Williams flew with Peter Warren, no doubt wisely in the conditions. Peter Smith took some time away from pursuing his flat earth policy and had a lively solo flight,  and the family West had training flights.
Once again Gordon Hutchinson aided by Jeff Taberham, did much winching and thank you for that. We paused for lunch and were able to remotely enjoy the delights of Graham and Cheryl's Catering.

The afternoon saw an improvement in the weather, the wind shifting and decreasing in the south. - Glenn Turpin

Sun 19th April

 The airfield was relatively quiet first thing but as the hangar doors were being pulled open then slowly but surely the flying list gained names so one of the things which was certain was that there would be a lot of launches needed during the day. The one uncertain thing was whether the wind, albeit light, would settle down to enable a decision on where to set up the winch and launch point - eventually it was decided that the first launches would be from the North West corner.

Both K21s, the Perkoz and both Juniors were walked down to the launch point - flying was soon underway with Pete Warren completing his instructor ‘post lockdown’ check flights with Simon Minson, and with Peter Field and Glenn Turpin starting to work through the flying list. 

Perkoz soaring (Mike Sloggett)

 The increasingly thermic skies promised much but with the wind moving to more of a Westerly component after only a few flights a decision was made to change ends and walk gliders down to the other end of the airfield - Tim Butler made the most of having launched in Junior LRD just before the change of ends by staying airborne for an hour and a half before being ‘invited to land’ at the East end so that others could fly LRD. Flying soon re-commenced from the East end of the airfield and with the arrival of Team Hender there were enough people to allow flying to continue through lunch and on into the afternoon.

North Hill looking very dry (Mike Sloggett)

 Guy Adams completed his instructor ‘post lockdown’ check flights with Mike Sloggett early afternoon and having not been allowed by Mike to fly very high, Guy then took Jonathan Erskine several thousand feet higher for a deserved flight of over an hour in K21 KEK after Jonathan’s hard work on the ground during the morning.

The day saw Hans Jenssen and Mark Wallis complete card renewal checks with Peter Field and Glenn Turpin respectively before flying a Junior, Stirling Melhuish completing currency checks with Pete Warren before taking a K21 solo and Tom Sides and Ruth Comer re-familiarising themselves with the Perkoz.There was even time for Paul Medlock who had been working on airfield signage to take Junior FZF into the air late afternoon for a short soaring flight.

Well done to Dave Perriam (Mike Sloggett)

 Well Done to Dave Perriam for his longest soaring flight at North Hill to date, just over two and a half hours in Junior LRD and during which he achieved his Silver Height (subject to trace verification).

Pete Startup (Discus 230), Simon Minson (ASW20 SM), Andrew Logan (ASW15 FMS) and Mike Fairclough (PIK20 DFK) all enjoyed good soaring/cross country flights in strong thermic conditions but with a hazy horizon making for interesting visibility.

Landing at the hangar (Mike Sloggett)

Thank you to DLMs Wyn Davies (AM) and George Sanderson (PM) and also to James Flory who was busy most of the day retrieving gliders from various parts of the airfield. A particular thank you to Team Hender for helping out and not flying.

Another good ‘post lockdown’ flying day, thank you to all involved today. - Mike Sloggett

Condor Racing

The Friday training task was practising boxing the wake on aerotow, with Pete giving the briefing before everyone completed successfully followed by some spot landing practice on North Hill. 

  On Sunday, (having seen many Lasham gliders turning Devon & Cornwall this week), Stewart had created a task 180kms  NH2 - Avebury - Lasham North with some rather good weather conditions. Seven Pilots started the task, but unfortunately Dan had to drop out when his VR threw a wobbly.

 

 Good cloudbases, and a light tailwind meant for a nice run with Stewart claiming the fastest time 127kph but with the others not far behind.- Good practice for the real thing. - J&P

Sat 17th April

 There was so much going on that it's hard to know where to start with writing a blog post for Saturday.  Huge thanks must go to Mark Courtney and Stuart Procter for their epic 10-hour instructional stints starting just after 8am.  Thanks also to James Flory, Simon Minson, Steve Westlake and Lisa Humphries who also helped with instructing, as well as the ever present Rob and Sally Hender who worked hard all day to help people get in the air. 

Busy launch point (Mark Layton)

The flying list was already building by 8am, and all four club two-seaters and a Junior were DI'd and walked up to the north west corner (later joined by the other Junior).  Duty Instructor Mark Courtney briefed the socially distanced groups of six and the first launch went off at 9:36am.  By 10:30 it became soarable and by 11am some lucky pilots looked down on Devon from over 3000 feet.  The afternoon just got better, with consistent "off the clock" lift taken us effortlessly even higher.

Ruth enjoying her flight with Stuart (Stuart Procter)

 Many currency and launch failure checks were carried out and so many rusty and semi-rusty pilots got back solo that your writer simply lost count.  Congratulations to Charlie Stuckey who achieved his two hour flight for his cross-country endorsement and possibly his silver height (pending trace confirmation) in Ka6 DRE.

SM over Exmoor (Simon Minson)

Several private owners rigged and went off cross country.  They can tell their own stories.

There was also a late afternoon change of ends, a morning launch point visit from the Tea Lady, Motorfalkes going off on adventures, and probably lots more that your writer either missed or forgot...

An amazing and throughly exhausting day! - Ruth Comer