Sun 19th September

A limited number of pilots arrived first thing, with a question mark over whether there was a duty instructor for the am slot. However, James Flory kindly stepped in after arriving back from a flight in G-BKVG. But with some low orographic cloud arriving, a met flight was taken at 10:40am, and with cloudbase reported as 500ft the decision was made to pause for a teabreak, when a number of bacon baps were consumed. Flying resumed at about 12:00 and progress was made through the list, with FZF in constant use by the solo pilots.

Junior launching library pic (Andy Mayson)

Ian Mitchell took over instructing and working through the list for the afternoon (meaning James actually left on time for a change!). With four Trial Lesson flights being shared between Tom Sides and Robert Lee. JB took a launch in JB at 13.22 and came back over three hours later.
By 2pm the conditions were improving and flights were getting longer, so pilots were having to be called back to make sure everyone could fly.
Hans Jenssen managed 64mins, Ruth Comer did 51 mins before being called down, Stirling Melhuish lasted 101 mins well deserved after all his time and effort with the winch earlier this week.
Peter Warren kindly took a visiting instructor pilot from Keevil up for a flight, then sent him solo. While Dan Hender took his opportunity with Ian being on duty, and took an aerotow to do some aerobatic training, and was signed off on basic manoeuvres.
Thank you to everyone that helped during the day, we had limited numbers, but a successful day. - Sally Hender

Sat 18th September

Good early morning turn out with the whole fleet out on parade by the time the duty instructor arrived shortly after 9am. Solid rain in the South Hams and there hadn’t seemed much urgency but at North Hill, the grey overcast was much higher with chunks of light. James Flory had already got the launch point trundling west and after a quick instructor conflab it seemed the right move. Very light southeasterly wind as the gliders towed down with a hint of wispy low clouds coming up from the south. By the time launching got underway the wind seemed settled on being southerly but still light.

Golf buggy towing Perkoz library pic (Andy Mayson)

James started on some grown up flying with people wanting checks and I set to with new Junior member - Connor Williams. Even more grown up flying was to be done by Mike Sloggett looking to do Full Cat exercises with Mark Courtney in the Perkoz.

The wispy clouds were starting to street and offered some welcome bubbles, but with a base of 1200ft it was never going to be epic. Connor had his longest flight to date at 31 mins and was the handling pilot from the off through to landing (bar a little brake assistance) - well done Connor!
The early conflab on the wind was repeated as the southerly tended to a south southwesterly and an end switch was inevitable.

Whilst James Flory continued as pm man, t’other James, (Smart), continued his smooth handling of the Trial lesson voucher visitors using the DG505, which was able to find spaces to get a full aerotow.

Your scribe had to leave early afternoon but had an extended flight with another new Junior member Kat who showed great promise as the K21 did endless turns chasing buzzards to gain handfuls of feet.
Whilst not epic it was flyable, soarable and a jolly fine day to be out and about and not what I expected driving in the rain past South Brent! - John Pursey

Thur 16th September

It was another slow start with fog early on, and there was some hope that it would clear faster than on Wednesday. And it did clear very suddenly late morning. With the winch still being worked on, it was another opportunity to get aerotow cleared. 

The hangar was emptied, although HCX needed some work on the nosewheel that wouldn't keep hold of any air (thanks George).

DSGC launchpoint library pic (Andy Mayson )

It was even a bit soarable between 2pm and 4pm with streeting & convergences, and the winch appeared at lunchtime with thanks to Peter Smith, Stirling Melhuish and Mike Groves from Skylaunch. After a tentative test winch launch for the new differential, winching continued alongside aerotows. 

A few private owners ventured out but several were preparing for the long trek north to Portmoak. 

A very pleasant day flying, with some special thanks to the long hours expended in getting the winch back serviceable. - J&P

 

Wed 15th September

Lime for the next area of field levelling was delivered on Monday and that was spread first thing.

Latest area has been spread with lime (Peter Smith)

 A slower than expected start with mist and then orographic cloud keeping us on the ground until early pm. When it eventually cleared everyone remaining and wanting to fly,  did so, and predictably when it was time to pack the hangar, the sky and conditions were at their best. In order to make sure everyone got to fly, we limited flights to 30minutes. Thanks to Robert Lee for tugging.

Stirling Melhuish and Mike Groves from Skylaunch (Peter Smith)

 Meanwhile the delayed start enabled me to spend time with Stirling (who didn’t get to fly) and Mike Groves from Skylaunch on the winch repair and again continuing after flying. The new final drive is now assembled, installed and the gear selector mechanism has been tested and found operational. Much more spanner work is scheduled for tomorrow to complete the reassembly and possibly try some test launches. - Peter Smith

Sun 12th September

With the message having gone out  on Google groups last night advising that the winch was u/s, we didn’t know how many were likely to take up the offer of reduced rate aerotows. We were pleasantly surprised with the turnout, and flying started promptly at 9:45am. With a long two-seater list, duty instructor Simon Leeson started the day. 

Simon explains adverse yaw to Alan (Mark Courtney)

With a plethora of tug pilots arriving, the duties were shared fairly amongst them for the day, thanks to Robert Lee for generously putting out the call and sharing his duty.

Waiting patiently for the Pawnee to return (Mike Sloggett)

 It was slow going, with the reduced speed of the launch rate, but with Mike Sloggett instructing all day, and assistance from Mark Courtney and Peter Warren we made it through the list. 

Paul Summers and Tom Sides successfully flew the Trial Lessons with some very happy visitors.
The private gliders 230 Pete Startup and FUN Andy Williams both flew getting 143mins and 149mins respectively, well done Andy ;).

Chris and Dave amongst those cleared solo aerotow (Mike Sloggett)

By the end of the day Liam Vile, Dave Cowley, Chris Woodward and Tim Butler were all successfully signed off for solo aerotow. Thirty aerotows in total!

Another great day at DSGC, thanks to all who helped on the day and especially the usual few that stayed until the end and helped pack everything away.  - Sally Hender

Sat 11th September

 Cloudbase was at 1000ft first thing, but it steadily improved through various cycles of low cloud, until eventually the frontal remnants to the north disappeared. Initially it was John Pursey who was at the top of the leader board with 47mins in the Junior. 

The sky was regularly cycling (Mark Layton)

 The clouds were cycling regularly and there were groups of pilots with ~30 min flights followed by mass landings throughout the day. Robert Lee in the Astir managed over an hour albeit from an aerotow, and Eric Alston more than doubled that but with some use of the iron thermal to cover the difficult times. It was good to see the hangar completely emptied with additionally 7 private gliders joining in.

Launch queue (Mark Layton)

There were some trailers cleaned  and hangar door washing by some of the Junior members.

 

Finished the trailers, started on the hangar... (Josh Funnell)

Whilst training and solo flights continued with James Flory, Peter Smith, Stuart Procter and Phil Morrison sharing the two-seater flying, with  some more new members returning after their Trial lessons / recent courses.

Congrats to Josh Funnell IFP (Stu Procter)

 Congratulations to Josh Funnell for completing his IFP acceptance checks with CFI Stu. Thanks to James Smart for looking after the Trial lesson visitors today. Pete Harmer was tuggie and got some bonus aerotows when the winch threw a problem with the gear selector.  

Charlie practising his back seat flying on Dan (Josh Funnell)

Thanks to everybody for mucking in today and getting through the long flying list. - J&P

Fri 10th September - Course Week

Groundhog day: On arrival at the club, course members, instructors and helpers were greeted with exactly the same scene as was observed for several hours on Thursday before everyone went home, with the beech tree fading in and out of view in the mizzle and fog. Entertainment and education ensued with watching some of Balleka's finest work on YouTube until the cloud finally lifted off the deck late morning. 

Layers of cloud (Hans Jenssen)

The winch and launch point were swiftly set up in the NW/NE corners of the field respectively with the westerly wind almost straight down the field for a change. The first launch reached almost full height but it was immediately clear there were layers of cloud all over the place lower than launch height and the glider skirted in and out of sight behind the cloud. The sky looked threatening throughout the day and there were frequent interruptions for rain after lunch, but we all gamely continued with most launches aborted early before going into cloud. Useful experience nevertheless for the students on how to react in these circumstances. 

More layers of cloud (Hans Jenssen)

 All course members flew today apart from Stewart, who as the only solo pilot didn't get off the ground due to the bad visibility. Testing conditions prevailed for much of the week with everything from extreme heat and crosswinds to rain and low cloud but despite that we flew for 4 out of 5 days and all the students whether returning, current or new members got a lot out of the week. Thanks to Tim Petty who stood in for Gordon H today and a belated thanks to Sally Hender for her all-day stint in the launch point on Tuesday and Dan Hender for pitching in on Tuesday too. Good team work from Hans J, Gordon H, Dave P and Tim P on each day that we flew ensured a good number of launches in the time we had. Last but not least, instructors Peter Field and John Sillett did a brilliant job as always. - Hans Jenssen

Thurs 9th September - Course Week

There was a hope that the forecast might be wrong, but with a large amount of overnight rain, the fog was down on North Hill to start the day. There was a chance that the afternoon might dry out a bit, but in the event it was just more fog and rain showers. 

 

Circuit planning at North Hill (Hans Jenssen)

The course members enjoyed various lectures from Peter Field and John Sillett, whilst  Jill and Pete  with help from Wooly and Stewart, were putting the final touches to the setup for the improved 3-screen simulator. Some circuit planning flights proved that 3 screens were better than 1 for the course members flying. 

Pete and Stewart in the Dolmites (Jill Harmer)

 This was followed by checking out the Mountains...... - J&P

Wed 8th September - Course Week

 A lovely dawn and blue sky at home deteriorated to overcast at North Hill, but we readied the DG505 as the sole aircraft for Club flying. We set off for the west end of the field but increasing wind caused a pause for thought and a visit to the launch point in the North West corner by Messrs Sillett and Smith, and gliders then retraced their steps and were made safe in and outside the hangar. The interlude was timely as it provided an opportunity for Ian to fit the rear canopy of KEK with repaired support frame.

 

Back in service - Thanks Ian (Peter Smith)

The wind then dropped, the sky cleared and off we went again to get only a short way before the rain came day but persevere we did with a long wet walk and we started flying at 12:30. We worked with the course and everyone got into the air before the wind played its last trick in defiance of the forecast and swung round to the south west. Too late to change ends, we waited for a lull and flew the gliders home.

Wavey sky (Peter Smith)

 The sky was hard to read with some areas of wave related lift and rotor giving longest flights of 35 and 44 minutes.

For the record, Area 5 sprayed (Peter Smith)

 A big thanks to Ian Mitchell for the rapid action on KEK. - Peter Smith

Tues 7th September - Course Week

 Another busy day with over 30 flights for the course members, but it was not quite a soarable as yesterday with just extended  training circuits mainly. 

Gorgeous deep blue sky for the course (Dan Hender)

 Stewart again managed the longest flight in the Junior but only 18 minutes today. - J&P