Thurs 29th August

With just 3 flights yesterday before the low cloud and rain, we were hopeful for a good crowded day today and Thursday didn't disappoint.

Exploring the wispies (Mike Sloggett)

With Andy Davey and Ashley Thomas getting all the kit out early, we were ready to go very quickly in the clear blue skies, and  south westerly wind. Launches were high and allowed some time for exploring the developing wispies.

Private owners queue (Hans Jenssen)

 Ashley Thomas was up first and was rewarded with two soaring half-hours although cloudbase was still only 1500ft. The private owners saw this and soon arrived to form their own queue for launches, but there was an element of luck in getting away, and some had to resort to aerotows. 

Dark street forming (Mike Sloggett)

Eventually a dark street formed up to the south,  and 20mins flights became the norm, with Pete Startup 230 followed the energy line to Cadbury and Chard. 

It was good to see visitors Cath Jones back for a visit from Portmoak and Phil Challens from Stratford GC.

Busy launch point all day (Mike Sloggett)

Conditions stayed similar all afternoon and for the evening flying with Lisa Humphries' group from Capital  Air Ambulance.

Lisa flies some of her group (Lisa Humphries)

Thanks everyone -  more than 70 launches in total plus the Falkes which were busy all day and Mike Fairclough for tugging.- J&P

Sun 25th August

Activities started promptly with the launch point setting up at the most convenient corner of the field today - the south east.

There was almost null wind and a cloudless sky all day, with an inversion making visibility exceptionally poor in the first half, and little chance of any thermals.

Emma Kendall - more solos (Emma Kendall)

Still, it made good conditions for pre-solo and early solo pilots, and a smooth ride for the three trial lessons and two friends and family flights. 

Trevor Russell converted to Perkoz  (Peter Smith)

Trevor Russell got cleared to fly solo in the Perkoz, and Emma Kendall racked up three more solos totalling six now, also bagging longest flight of the day with 19 minutes on her first solo soaring flight. Paul Summers took the last cable for a solo in the K21 but ended up getting a real cable break - he showed us how a great recovery is done anyhow.

Thanks to the great gang that worked so well together and got everybody in the air today! - Emma Kendall

TSC2019 Results

Team Bennett arrived back from the TSC2019 at Pocklington as the last day was scrubbed, with Pete and Martin scoring a creditable 21st out of 31 in some very tricky conditions. The Eagle and DD3 are making a more leisurely return and will be arriving back during the week. DD3 came 13th overall and the Eagle was 18th, but BBB did win prizes for Best Wood and Meritorious flight, there also were reports that the "John Pursey Paella evening" was magnificent! - Hopefully a few more details to come. - J&P

Sat 24th August

The day started with a google group plea for Instructing help from James Flory, who was the only instructor onsite and with a 1 to 1, 3 trial lessons, and a flying training list to get through. 

North Hill airfield under blue skies (Lisa Humphries)

I arrived at 11:00  and flights were taking place from the northwest corner. The whole day ran ok with skeleton members but everyone pulled together and subsequently everyone flew. Thanks to Stu Procter for helping out with a Mile High trial lesson in the Perkoz. James Hood for doing a couple of flights with Rob Hender, and of course James Flory who was busy with a 1:1 with Jacob Brook and Glenn Turpin who instructed all day. 

Lisa helping out with instructing  (Lisa Humphries)

The wind was challenging and lots of sink but then it’s good for training, can’t always have it easy.Many thanks to Simon Leeson for tugging, a hot day for all of us! - Lisa Humphries

Fri 23rd August - Course week

Thanks
I’ll start with thanks rather than finish with them because if it were not for the Team this week we could not have achieved what we did.

August (2) Course, Instructors and Helpers (James Hood)

Official helpers were, Rob Hender, Sally Hender and Gordon Hutchinson; Steve Westlake and I could not have wished for a better team, incredibly hard working, enthusiastic and above all a real pleasure to spend time with.
Many thanks also to the catering team for our lunches, and for putting in a very long shift to give us a course meal, this year in the clubhouse and not down a local pub.
It was a great success, I hope we will be able to do the same next year.
Mike Sloggett was with us all week officially flying his ASW 20 but as usual was a great help to us.
Steve and I wish to thank every one of you.

Flying
Well what can I say, without doubt the best course week I have ever been involved with, statistics will probably show that it was also one of the best courses for flight duration and personal achievement with good flying on all 5 days.

New Junior member Adam Mortimer walked in on Monday having only two flights before (Open Day and a Voucher flight), by the end of the week he had the pre-flight checks sorted, launching, landing, circuit planning and an abundance of things signed off in between!

Junior member Harry Rigby was put through his paces all week by Steve and is now on the verge of solo!

Dad Mike Rigby improved all week with lots of soaring, his performances got better when he was banned from wearing stupid white “aviation” gloves and hobnail boots!

Graham Hawker had soaring flights every day, some extending to a mini-crosscountry and a two and a half hour flight, all flown from the back seat of the Perkoz, Graham declared the aircraft to be “wonderful “ but still not as lovely as his beloved DG505.

14 year old Dan Hender had some pretty intense coaching in the first part of the week and has started to learn how to soar, read the sky, “tickle the ridge” and has real purpose to his flying.
He completed solo flights in the K21, was then converted to the Junior, had approximately 20 flights in the Junior, every single landing and approach was great!
Total solos for the week 23, now where is that Red card??.....

And last but not least is Junior member Charlie Stuckey, Charlie has been improving steadily over the last few years, he has flown solo at the Long Mynd and has been enjoying flying the K6.
We had a long week covering everything for his Bronze as well as some fantastic long flights, some epic saves and plenty of eventualities!
Charlie passed with “flying” colours, and to top it all he passed his written Bronze exam, so we now have the latest junior to achieve Bronze endorsement status.
A huge well done!!

Reflection
During my training to become an instructor Simon Leeson helped to shape me, he always told me that I should never forget that being an instructor at North Hill is not a right, it is a privilege, it is indeed a privilege, this week I was touched by the friendship and teamwork everyone showed.

From Steve and I, “roll on next year”!! - Mark Courtney

Thurs 22nd August

A bright start with the forecast incoming cloud on the horizon to the north, and some beautiful lenticulars to photograph.

Lenticulars out of reach (Jill Harmer)

The Thursday regulars were keen to get started alongside the Course members, and with good height launches and some thermals there were extended circuits and some hour long flights. However the private owners never found it totally convincing and all stayed local with cloudbase at just over 2000ft. Ron Johns and Chris Wool explored some unconvincing convergences in the ASH25.

Dan's enjoying flying the Junior (Jill Harmer)

Dan Hender had another 8 flights in the Junior including soaring flights, and Charlie Stuckey fitted in a couple of flights in K6 alongside passing his Bronze exam, completing the Bronze Endorsement - well done. 

Congratulations to Charlie Stuckey (Mark Courtney)

Mike and Harry Rigby and Adam Mortimer continued their training flights and Graham Hawker enjoyed some more soaring in the Perkoz.

K6 landing (David Clements)

Ian Mitchell was busy in the Rotax Falke including flights with Andy Davey (practising cloud flying) and Chris Warnes (field landings).

Another winch launch for Dan (David Clements)

56 winch launches and 2 aerotows in total.

In the evening, there was the customary Course dinner, but in the Clubhouse cooked by Cheryl and Graham. - J&P

Wed 21st August

A good early start and all the gliders were out of the hangar, starting to be D.I’d by 8.00am.
We welcomed Justin and Gillian Wills who brought the Antares for a launch turning Rutland Water and landing back at Bidford!

There was nothing much in the way of lift for DSGC pilots though, some flights managed nearly 30min, even Pete Startup stayed local, it was a pleasant easy day with the August course slotting in nicely with the Wednesday club. -John Street.

Rob Hender took the morning shift on the winch (to give Gordon a chance to have a change of scenery)! Sally Hender took up her regular position in the Launch point, Gordon  Hutchinson launch area, Steve Westlake and Mark Courtney instructing.

Busy Club and Course day (Sally Hender)

Harry Rigby was back with us but probably wished he wasn’t,  as Steve decided to give him four consecutive simulated launch failures. Mark started off with Mike Rigby, but had to pull off early to avoid launching into cloud. They eventually got away on their third attempt and made up for it with an hours' flight.

North Hill Airfield from the west (Mike Sloggett)

Dan Hender was left grounded by Mark, due to the afore mentioned low cloud base but eventually he radioed down to let him loose, he managed 37 mins in FZF.

Charlie, Josh and Reuben rigged and flew the K6 throughout the day and Charlie also got put through the ringer by Mark, working towards his Bronze. Adam Mortimer flew with Steve and Graham flew with Mark.

Lisa Humphries with Dave Perriam in the hazy setting sun (Lisa Humphries)

Total flights for the day 76, including other club members and the evening flying crew.- Rob Hender

Wed 21st August - TSC 2019

 Day3 - Pocklington
Today presented a very similar series of  tasks to yesterday with Newark being the furthest point south. The maximum task distance was 252km.

Pete and Martin Bennett in DG505 (Pete Bennett)

We launched at around 1pm and it had been predicted that soaring would end abruptly between 4 and 5pm, giving us a 3-4 hour window making 200km seem achievable. The Eagle was first to launch from the NH gang and started very quickly after getting a good climb to almost 4000ft. There were some big holes which required long glides of  2000-3000ft each in the plastic ships. These gaps proved too much for the Eagle which landed out safely after bagging the first TP.

Eagle in another field (JB)

DD3 and JZK made it down to the second TP but the route to Newark looked bleak as the top cover had arrived early. Dad and I in JZK decided to press on and investigate if it was working under the top cover but struggled and then struggled even more to make it home with a few low points. We eventually managed to get into glide after diverting well east of Hull to get back out of the cover and took a climb back too almost 4500ft to put us on a 35km glide back to Pocklington. We saw a few gliders in fields on the way home.

DD3 crossing the Humber (Nick Jones)

It seems that only a few gliders managed to make it down to Newark and of those, only 1 or 2 made it back to Pocklington with all the others landing out or firing up their engines. - Pete Bennett

Tues 20th August - TSC 2019

Day 2 - Pocklington

As usual the task was a list of TPs with the pilots having the option to return to The finish from any of the TPs. The first TP was directly up wind 25k to Rufforth South (conveniently close to the York Gliding Club at Rufforth airfield).
The Eagle was one of the first away and managed to make a fairly uneventful trip to the first TP, but with nothing left in the sky to go for, landed at Rufforth and got an aerotow retrieve back to Pocklington. Content that none of the other Wood gliders had managed to get that far we relaxed in the confidence that we had got “Best Wood” for the day and were only minutes away from hitting the Otter barrel when we spotted one of the Capstans pulling out for another launch.......

So we took another launch and it just so happened that we were dropped in a 4 kt thermal that topped out next to the mother of all streets that seemed to stretch out in the direction of the first TP!
It was too good to be true but we headed off into the 20 kt wind along the street and soon had to fly at 80kts to stay out of cloud. Unfortunately the street was about 6 km north of the turning point so we had to make a dash out to the TP and decided to just go back to street and romp home - might even get speed points, something unheard of in an Eagle!

Heading out into the blue (JB)

It was a very slow climb back into the lift, but we got back into the strong stuff and romped home - 50km in 42 minutes =72kph. So we were quite surprised to see that the scorers had given us a handicapped speed of 151kph.

York Minster (JB)

 In the morning we thought that we ought to just check with the scorers before we were awarded a trophy for the fastest flight in a wooden glider since records began! But they said it was correct because of the BGA “windycap” system which compensates wooden gliders flying in windy conditions. Ironic really considering the Eagle’s rules on wind!
So we scored 8th for the day and got an extra bottle of wine for setting a new record! - JB

Tues 20th August - Course week

Early call from the Rigby’s, unfortunately Harry was not well so a no show from them, (hope to see them all well tomorrow), leaving a smaller group, we started the usual set up, DI’s etc and were flying by about 9:45. This turned out to be the start of another cracking day, which saw several club members turn up to fly alongside the course members.

Mark Courtney started by sending Dan Hender solo in HCX, given the opportunity with the calmer conditions, while Steve Westlake took Adam Mortimer in KEK.
Adam decided to check out Steve's reaction time, when he misinterpreted Steve's instructions and pulled the bung on him! (Good recovery Steve).

Cool Dudes (Mark Courtney)

Dan completed three solo flights in the K21 and the decision was then made to send him off in a Junior (along with 50lb of lead) in which he completed another three solo flights - well done Dan.

Meanwhile a number of other club members had been rigging  and  started to launch and disappear. Pete Startup 230, Eric Alston G29, Jeff Taberham 380, Tom Sides DG1, Wyn Davies W7, Stu Procter KMV.

Great sky (Mike Sloggett)

After lunch, Mark started to give Charlie Stuckey a thorough workout, with dodgy launches and tricky positioning, all good fun for Charlie to put right.
Steve  took Graham Hawker for what turned out to be an extended (2hr 18min flight).

Total glider launches for the day was 42 (1 aero-tow).
Longest flight Pete Startup (No surprise there!) 181min  turning Lapford - Cerne Abbas for 187kms, but there were also some other good efforts. - Rob Hender

Mon 19th August - Course week

The day started with a welcome briefing from Mark Courtney and a useful weather briefing from Gordon Hutchinson. RASP was suggesting some potential good soaring conditions from mid- morning onwards, so we quickly got the kit out and got launching.

Dan Hender and Mark Courtney in a K21 were first launch of the day, well before 10, and disappeared off for an hour in the evident thermic conditions. Steve Westlake and Graham Hawker followed soon after in the Perkoz.

Steve and Graham in Perkoz (Mark Courtney)

Charlie Stuckey had 5 solos before lunch to take me up to the 50 required for Bronze. Adam Mortimer had his first training and soaring flight in which he got to sign up lots of his training card due to the exceptional lift. 

Adam Mortimer had first training and soaring flight (Mark Courtney)

Josh Funnell enjoyed some solo soaring in a K21 whilst Harry Rigby continued with his training flights. Stuart Procter rigged his LS3 and Mike Sloggett his ASW20 and both enjoyed a number of local soaring flights during the morning.

After lunch the lift improved even more and the Rigby’s  (Mike and Harry) both enjoyed soaring flights. 

Kentisbeare (Charlie Stuckey)

Charlie had an hour and a half in the Junior which goes towards his Bronze Cross Country endorsement and Mark and Dan had another hour. 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their day and we're all looking forward to the rest of the week! -    Charlie Stuckey