Thursday 27th October - Denbigh better than Diamonds

I've been told that when it comes to gliding expeditions, to be considered worthwhile, hours spent driving in the car must be offset by hours flying and preferably at a ratio greater than 1:1. Well on that criteria this was going to be a tall ask. 4 and a half hours of driving on Wednesday evening had to be made up for starters. At least the forecast was looking promising for Thursday. 

I was playing catch up with the rest of the NHL contingent who had arrived the day before and joined about 5 gliders from the Kent gliding Club who were at Denbigh for the week. 230 Pete, DG1 Tom and H5Matt were all in good spirits after a great days flying, the first 2 at Denbigh and Matt who popped in at the Mynd with the juniors for the day. 611 Phil was less enthused as he had spent the day trying to get to the bottom of why his ailerons felt to be stiffer than he remembered and didn't actually get to fly. The ridge had been working well, so much so that Pete had, apart from the usual wandering around looking for wave, completed the 140km ridge task, twice! JB also keen on a last minute adventure was on his way and due to arrive in the wee hours of Thursday morning. 

A busy launch point

We were all rigged before briefing but despite the obvious westerly wind there wasn't much eagerness to get airborne. The clouds were ominously dark and we kept feeling the occasional speck of rain, rumours swirled around the grid that Top Meteo was predicting a 300' cloudbase by 1pm. I thought what the hell, we've come all this way,  might as well take a launch before it gets any worse. 

The ridge was patchy despite the strong 25kt south westerly wind and exploring south past Moel Famau there was some incredible sink on a bit of the hill that should have been going like gangbusters, obvious indications of wave interference. As can often be the case in the vale of Clywd there was a thick band of rain over the high ground 10km to the west but it didn't appear to be getting any closer and just lurked there like a monster in the shadows waiting to spoil your fun.  There were however more and more patches of rain that broke through, swept across the valley and over the ridge drastically reduced visibility and gave more urgency to the thoughts of going back to land. After about an hours flying with half the grid still waiting to launch there was more rain than clear air which precipitated a mass decision to land, a tricky situation at Denbigh because of the narrow runway and true to form a glider decided to stop in the middle of the runway forcing H5 Matt, coming in behind him, to land on the grass. 

Rain out west and to the north

Within 20 minutes of landing the rain had passed through so Pete, who had been getting rather stressed about being blocked in earlier on and was now at the front of the launch queue, took a launch.  I seized the chance of the second cable because the rest of the grid were all faffing in the club house and was soon back on the ridge looking at yet more rain to the west and resigning myself to another short flight. 

There was light to the north however, which soon turned to actual sun on the ground and Pete and I headed that way, skimming under the 2000' cloud base of a very dark street into clear air and steady lift along the side of another cloud bank. I even dared to think we had found our way into the wave but no sooner had that thought crossed my mind, the lift was gone and the jumbled mass of cloud didn't give any understandable clues as to where it might be hiding. JB, H5Matt and Phil all had held fire on their second launches because of the gloom to the west and were now airborne along with Tom all responding to our new found optimism. JB had found a strong patch of lift a few km southeast of the field and was nearly at 3000' but in a hole that was filling in and he had to drop back down again. This hole came and went and when it opened again I managed to time it right and get above the cloud layer before it filled in again. I wasn't concerned about getting trapped because it was still clear a few km to the north which provided an easy escape route. The steady reduction in the cloud amounts to the north also seemed to enhance the indicators of where the lift might be and soon all of the NHL gang were climbing above the cloud and into the otherworldly cloudscape of beautiful smooth wave.

Flying saucers and wave ripples

Lenticulars at 12000' and over cast to the south

230 Pete ended up topping out at 16849' the highest of the NHL gang and narrowly missed achieving his diamond climb badge on only his second flight carrying oxygen. There just wasn't enough time left in the day. I met up with him on the way down to get a bit of footage and as I flew along side him, with the great 230 bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun  I swear I saw a glint from his cheesy grin!

Time to head for home, who cares how long the drive is!

Thursday 27th October

It was a foggy start and a cloudbase check was taken just after 12:00, but we decided to take an early lunch for a run right through with hopefully cloudbase continuing to rise. All available club gliders were in action.

There was very little wind on the surface, but the launches were high to 1500ft, and a huge patch of zero sink at the top of the launch. Pete Harmer was able to make the most of this with the longest extended circuits on two separate flights for 13 minutes. Meanwhile Peter Smith felt in need of some exercise and didn't reach the top of the launch all afternoon, with simulated launch failure training of various types.

Wooly playing (Jill Harmer)

Chris Wool was in a boyish mood, cracking the brakes on a training flight, and practising some out of position exercises. 

Cloud breaking up but too late to use (Jill Harmer)

Towards the end of the afternoon the cloud showed a few more signs of breaking. - J&P

Thursday 27th October - Long Mynd

The day started off with low cloud yet being optimistic - as glider pilots must be - we got the kit out, flew the models, and waited. 

The cloud lifted and we set up ready for flight. Only DSGC were brave enough at first; Mark and Stuart went in the DG 505 and James followed in NW. After 3 launches from DSGC, the Mynd members got brave enough to join in. 

ENW over the ridge (Mark Courtney)

All DSGC members flew at least once for one hour. Rueben, Ellie, Charlie all went up in the DG505. Oscar had checks but unfortunately the wind was too strong for him to solo. Lizzie opted out of flying for the day however Josh had some enjoyable flights in their K21 with Rob, and Charlie went in the Twin Astir as well as the DG,  as the Mynd members had all flown. 

The ridge worked well and the DG505 had to airbrake out of cloud base often. 

Crepuscular rays (Mark Courtney)

Mark at last had 2 hours in NW and Stuart flew his LS3 in between instructing. The day went well and we were sad to know we were leaving the very next.- Charlie

Wednesday 26th October

Today plenty of members turned up hoping to fly, the weather though was a bit indifferent but the mist and low cloud seemed to be dispersing so the two K21s and a Junior were walked over to the launch point in readiness for a light southwesterly wind.

Whilst we were waiting for the weather to clear, a willing team helped Ian Mitchell clear the workshop and rig R37 after the annual checks and then de-rig  Junior LRD to take its place.

After many trips to to the end of the field to assess the progress of the weather an early lunch was called for.

At 1:00pm the low cloud was annoyingly still at about 600ft, Simon Leeson managed to escape the field for a jolly in the Rotax Falke down to the coast.

Nick fettling (John Street)

There was a bit of fettling going on and some members trying hard not to crash the simulator. At just after 2:00pm we reluctantly gave in to the weather and put the kit away. 

An empty field (John Street)

I won't depress the members to remind them this is the last Wednesday of British summer time! - John Street.

Wednesday 26th October - Long Mynd

We woke up to westerlies - great! However there was a very low cloud base - not what we were hoping for.

Juniors at Long Mynd (Lorna Carter)

After having breakfast, unpacking the hangar and saying goodbye to J and Pete for the week, the cloud base still hadn’t risen enough for us to fly… So we all came in for an early lunch before most of the NHL crew went outside to the ridge to fly their models. 

Jess & Pete on the way home (Lorna Carter)

Eventually, the cloud base lifted, so we decided to move up to flying the full-sized aircraft!

We had some incredible flights throughout the day, with Josh, Reuben, Ellie and Charlie having around an hour each in the DG505 doing a combination of ridge soaring, “go arounds” and ridge bashing, a first experience for all! 

DG505 on the ridge  (Lorna Carter)

Meanwhile, Oscar and Lizzie flew the Mynd’s Twin Astir., Oscar was having his site checks; a full height launch with some ridge bashing and a launch failure before he was sent off for a 35 minute flight in the Mynd's Discus. 

Lizzie's check flight in Twin Astir (Lizzie Westcott)

Lizzie’s flight in the Twin Astir was also a check flight, however she was unable to solo due to the sunset, but is hoping to fly the K23 tomorrow.

Congrats to Oscar converting to Discus (Oscar Leeson)

There are a number of solo flights that we hope will be achieved over the next couple of days; Oscar is hoping for more flights in the Discus, while Lizzie and Charlie hope to fly the K23 and get their solo hours up.

Enjoying flying at Long Mynd (Lorna Carter)

We’re now looking forward to some buffet-style Chinese food - what a way to end an incredible day!- Lizzie Westcott

Sunday 23rd October

There was low cloud again at North Hill this morning, so practice in the simulator was called by Duty Instructor Simon Minson. 

Nice weather in the Simulator (Simon Minson)

In the afternoon, some real aerotows took place in the strong easterly wind.

And then the real thing (Simon Minson)

Long Mynd Junior Expedition

We woke up this morning from our bunk bed dorm with only having a few hours of sleep. Outside was strong easterlies and low cloud with fog; no gliding for us today.
With cabin fever at an all-time high, we decided to pick up Lizzie from the train station and head straight for the RAF cosford museum. As we pull in we instantly spotted a VC-10 and Lockheed C-130 “Hercules” and Charlie’s nerdiness overflowed. “What a dank museum” – said Charlie. After eye-balling the Vulcan for many minutes, we had a chat about negative G and headed back to the Mynd to grab the models and go flying(ish).

Some of the group at RAF Cosford Museum (Simon Leeson)

 Josh and I had a go flying Stuart’s Phoenix model and both of us think it went pretty swell. The air was lumpy and turbulent, but the lift was there and aerial combat ensued between the combat wings. With a collision the SAS Wildthing plummeted from the sky and Simon Leeson had lost control and crashed the Wildthing far down the hill. After a ribbing from all of us about being a bad model pilot. Simon collected the wing and instantly saw that the slight collision had flicked the small power switch to the ‘off’ position. Best kill so far.

Look for westerly winds (Mark Courtney)

We headed back with our whole body feeling numb from the cold and got into the warm clubhouse. The brilliant hosts made a delicious roast and we are all very grateful as it was supposed to be their day off.
A disappointing day in terms of potential for flying but we now just have to hope tomorrow is going to be better than today !
Josh ( Dat boy)  and Charlie ( Unicorn)

Saturday 22nd October

A very busy day in the DSGC Clubhouse with the BGA Maintenance Course led by BGA Chief Technical Officer, Gordon MacDonald,  but a very quiet Airfield after a cloud covered start. All the Trial Lesson visitors  enjoyed their flights and there were a  couple of other flights as well -  as it was rude not too! 

Lisa Humphries and Phil Grant in the sunshine to the west of North Hill (Lisa Humphries)

Thanks to Andrew Logan for arranging the Course and to Gordon for the excellent presentation, I am sure all that attended appreciated it! - Lisa Humphries

Why was it so quiet today at North Hill? well with 21 DSGC members taking part in the 1-day course, a bunch of Junior members and their Mentors starting their half-term expedition to the Long Mynd, a few members just returned from Portmoak and there was something going on over Dartmoor....... J&P

Matt Williamson in 611 searching for wave over Mary Tavy (Matt Williamson)

Brentor
Following a trip to Mendip last week, Matthew Williamson continued his relentless search for the best gliding conditions in the country on any given day, by a visit to Dartmoor Gliding Club.  This site is known for wave in an easterly wind and an east wind was forecast.  I was 'dragged' along (as Matt would put it), but truth be told I needed little persuasion.  It is 5 minute drive from my house and why I've not visited before is a mystery.  Brentor (as it's otherwise known due to it's location next door to the famous tor/church combo) is a smaller club than DSGC, but a very friendly welcome awaited us complete with log burner and cups of tea being offered the second we arrived.  After a few technical glitches with tractors and winches, the club K13 was launched.  Some rotor/wave like conditions were found which enabled a flight slightly longer than a circuit.

Matthew was patiently waiting his turn in ASW20 611, so was more than happy(!) to see myself launched before him, flying with club instructor Mike Jardine in the K13.  This was mostly to test out the new (to the club) winch, the operation of which was still being fine tuned.  Due to the lack of senior instructors to run the site, this was a 'ride along' only, but served a purpose to gain some level of familiarity with the field layout.  Matthew was launched just after us, and we had a fun 15 minutes competition trying to find the 'good bits' of sky.  Unfortunately Matthew won.  An hour later and feeling slightly sick from almost continually turning in small patches of rotor/wavey lift which faded at just over 2000ft, Matthew decided he should land.  Or maybe he should after just a minute or two?  Maybe if the right patch of sky was found, the lift would continue past that ceiling?  An hour and 15 minutes later he decided that this wasn't to be the case!  On exit from the glider there was a few seconds where vomit looked like a real possibility.  I'm guessing it was worth it for the 'longest flight of the day' badge?

The general consensus from the locals on the lack of wave, seemed to be that the upper air wasn't moving in the same direction as nearer the ground.  Wave or no wave, a splendid day out was had at a gliding club with unique character and some unique characters.  It's definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area as they're always pleased to see new faces. - Tim Peters

Portmoak - a quick resume

Monday 17th - very showery day but most managed to squeeze in an hour on the Bishop before the rain really set in.

 Tuesday 18th - beautiful day today after it hammered with rain all night. Many hours were spent cruising on the Bishop in good lift waiting for the elusive wave to set up. Sadly it never really did with the only success by Ron and Woolly in 711 getting to 4k just East of Benarty late in the day but during the afternoon it became thermic as well enabling forays across the loch to Kinross and Glenfarg resevoir. Bonus was the gin clear viz and cloudless skies which meant there were plenty of sights to be seen - you could even see Ben Nevis from Portmoak. Lots of gliders on the ridge including 3 vintage Slingsby gliders adding a bit of colour.

Looking South from the Bishop, the Firth of Forth glinting in the sunlight

Nice view to the North from 711-look at that viz!

                                                                           
Wednesday 19th - a light Northerly wind meant a trip to the Benarty ridge was the order of the day. Again many hours were flown by us(230, 711 and KMV), and the other visiting pilot from Aston Down as well as many locals. A busy ridge in light conditions meant accurate flying and a sharp lookout were required.

Thursday 20th - Flat as a dab as they say, the SGU K21 just flying 4-5 minute circuits. Woolly fixed something else that Ron had broken while Ron watched and gave instructions(which Woolly gave a damn good ignoring), Pete and Martin did the mandatory walk round the loch to the RSPB cafe for lunch followed by a mass de-rig ready for the trip home.

I'm often asked if it's worth going all that way for relatively little flying. Trust me - the first time you feel that surge of lift on Benarty or the Bishop and see the views, it is! 

Some rewarding flying despite the lack of wave and the evening beer, food and banter in the pubs is the real reason for going anyway!

Some of the visiting gliders before the mass de-rig on a flat calm Thursday

 

Thursday 20th October

We were expecting at least a morning before the cloud cover came in from the east, but disappointingly the low cloud had arrived before we even got the kit out.  

DG505 covers were folded neatly (Peter Smith)

The DG505 was derigged ready for the Junior's trip to the Long Mynd and by the time the kit had been walked up the field there were some gaps appearing in the lower levels.

Lower cloud breaking up nicely (Mark Layton)

The edge of the lower cloud was right above the airfield with it clearer downwind, but as it was at 1200ft, we were able to launch underneath. 

Junior LRD (David Clements)

Over lunchtime the lower clouds broke up just leaving a layer at 4500ft but there was very little lift to speak of.  One of the Trial lesson visitors - Darryl Earl last flew at North Hill in the 1990's and now retired is thinking of rejoining the Club.

Chris Coville added another new type to his collection by taking his first flights in the newly acquired Open Cirrus. 

Chris and Paul with their Open Cirrus CEC (David Clements)

The long flying list was completed just before the misting canopies in the setting sun, but unfortunately with a few members who had not flown. 

Malcolm Vest completed his 5 solo aerotows from the sharp end with the Cub, towing Mike Fairclough in the Pik20. - J&P

Wednesday 20th October

All the kit was out early with a large list eager to fly as result of a reasonable weather forecast,  with a northwesterly veering to north wind later in the day.

To start with the wind was too light for the ridge to work, but some useful clouds were developing and these gave some usable lift. As the day progressed the flights became longer and a competitive spirit developed to see who could stay up longest.

First aerotow towards a promising sky (John Street)

 Roly looked after the Trial lesson Visitors who all had good flights and Robert was the tuggie, there where no private gliders rigged today, Tim Johns wished he had rigged his ASW19 after a good soaring flight in HCX.

It was a pleasant day with long spells of warm sunshine and easy conditions, October it seems is being quite kind to us this year - long may it last!  - John Street