Sun 28 September

 After a non-flying day yesterday, Saturday 27th September, (although there was extensive ground schooling and use of the Simulator), there were a lot of pilots eager to fly at the briefing this morning. 
Further information was supplied regarding the new rules for non-SPL pilots and the way they will be monitored from next week, before setting up the airfield by the trailers at the east end. 

The first launch was taken just 7 mins before 10:00am by Paul Warren with the Duty Instructor, James Flory. Followed by Lily with Pete Smith stepping in to help, squeaking it in at 9:59am. 

 

Clear visibility (Richard Lean)

Phil Taylor took a flight off aerotow, and enjoyed surfing between the clouds and gaining height from thermals along the way. A loop several years after the last one was an added treat.

Most flights were circuits until 11:40am when Richard Lean took a solo launch and had to be called down after 27 mins (sorry!). Then there were a series of longer flights, Richard Roberts getting the longest flight of the day with 126 mins.  

 

Rob and Dan took a flight at the end of the day in the DG505, and had some fun in the air….

For the first time for over a month, we managed a full set (+1) of Trial flights with a variety of BI's looking after our visitors, and a lot of interest in joining the Club. Flying continued, with Shaun Dayman and Simon Minson standing in to help James with the two-seater list. The final launch landed at 5:45pm, and we had everything packed away fairly shortly afterwards. 

Last flight  (Richard Lean)

Thanks to everyone for helping, it was lovely to see so many staying until the very end and assisting everyone to get a go. - Sally Hender

 

Thur 25 September

 The day started with a light breeze and clouds travelling towards us. The first flights of the day were Paul and his daughter, Helen Medlock, and Richard Lean doing his card checks  then a solo flight afterwards.

 

New Instructor Shaun Dayman with Jack Sewell 

Shaun Dayman having received his new instructor ratings yesterday (Well done Shaun) took Jack Sewell up for a few flights achieving a total time of 88 minutes in the air. 

 

Sparkling visibility (John Borland)

After lunch there was strong thermals and a mild headwind pushing us away from the field.

Tom Sides was in charge of the trial visitor Claire in the 505, Claire had won her donated winch launch in a raffle at the Plymtree Country Fayre. Towards the end of the day the thermals started to disappear and all the gliders came in within a few minutes of each other!

Thank you everyone who helped out today. - Jack Sewell, Junior member

Wed 24 September

 The misty / low cloud on arrival soon dissipated by 10 and the long walk to the west end was undertaken shortly afterwards. With only Pete Smith instructing initially and Stu joining in for the afternoon the training list was worked through until the end of the day. 

Gridding under a street (Mark Layton)

By late morning decent looking clouds appeared and thermals were to be had for the lucky few. The sky looked better than it was in reality as the thermals in amongst the sometimes heavy sink were short and narrow and not very high. At times it all switched off locally and the flights were reduced to extended circuits.  

 

Hangar landings (Mark Layton)

A small number of private gliders came out to join in, 230, V5, 380, JDP and 477. With Pete Startup (home to get a change of clothes in-between trips to Portmoak and Denbigh) managed to get to just short of Glastonbury before turning for home. 

A good day for the end of September before everything was packed away by 1800. - Mark Layton

Sun 21 September

 Peter Field was our Duty Instructor for today, after Briefing, we walked the gliders up to the west end of the airfield. James Flory was also onsite so stepped in to help with the list. It was pretty gusty, but fortunately was straight down the airfield, so launches were a good height, even though the flights were fairly short. 

Gill Morrison took a flight in her new toy (JEU) Libelle. 

Gill converted to Libelle (Phil Morrison)

Flying continued throughout lunch, with Pete Smith also helping to instruct, meaning they could tag team the K21’s to avoid stopping. 

The Trial Lesson was flown by Dave Perriam, he seemed to have fun, (the Trial Lesson not Dave!) Flying was completed by 5:15pm, with everyone training getting three flights each, everything was packed away by 6:00pm, and we returned to the clubhouse for a warming cup of tea. It was a chilly day, but the sun poked its head through the clouds at times, and we had a good day. Thanks to everyone who mucked in and helped. - Sally Hender

Thur 18 September - Portmoak

 With a forecast for 25 knot winds gusting to 40, the Portmoak Duty Instructor said the day would be "sporty". And though the wind direction was supportive of the Bishop ridge, we knew flying today was for more experienced pilots.. A horizontal windsock just told us it might be prudent to wait a bit before launching, but by 11:00 am, the first gliders were launching, and reported back that wave was available. 

 

Sporty (Tom Sides)

Pete Startup was the first North Hill pilot to launch, and he used his 5 hour flight to climb to almost 11,000ft. Simon Minson followed, achieving 13,500ft over 5 hours. 

 

SM at 13,500ft (Simon Minson)

Andy Davey was able to reach 4,600 ft while Stu Procter and I took JZK up to 8,200ft!! Andy Williams and Guy Adams both had long flights, and Stu flew again with James Flory, but the wave had collapsed by then and they were limited to ridge flights. 

 

Tom Sides and Stuart Procter  in JZK

Some of us are heading south tomorrow, but as the weather looks promising, there are a few who are staying through Friday or later, so as to continue enjoying Scottish gliding conditions. All in all,this week was a very good trip and top notch companionship. - Tom Sides

Thur 18 September

It wasn't that long ago that we were all moaning about the hot easterly winds that dragged on for weeks. Now its the south westerlies  bringing gusty, showery days that have been plaguing us! 

Instructors Mike Sloggett and Pete Smith decided on a delayed start whilst the cloudbase slowly crept up to a height a launch could be attempted. All the kit was DI'd and ready to go for the right moment. Meanwhile in the workshop further testing of the Perkoz airbrake control rod was carried out to confirm what we didn't want to hear. There are some very small cracks on the component making the aircraft unserviceable until a replacement can be sourced. Due to the unavailability of a spare in the short term the Perkoz was put in its trailer for the time being.  

 

Thermals, ridge and weak wave today (Mark Layton)

After much pacing up and down Mike and Pete took a couple of met flights before announcing that we'd give it a go with both K21's and the two Juniors. Launches in the brisk yellow card conditions produced decent heights and along with a bit of ridge lift, thermals and weak wave extended flights were to be made if you stumbled into them at the right time.  

Drizzle and low cloud at times (Mark Layton)

 With Vicki being struck down with the lurgy at the last minute and the prospect of many members becoming hungry at some point during the day, stand-in catering guru Barbie volunteered to make sandwiches for everyone with donations to the DSGC Charitable Trust (Please see Sally if you didn't have any cash on you). Having stopped flying to partake, conditions changed on the restart with an amount of light rain in the air resulting in a stop/start afternoon until everyone had flown. By 15:30 the prospect to continue didn't look too great so we packed everything away, happy to have flown on yet another marginal day. Of course, as soon as the hangar doors closed it brightened up!

 

Both Juniors in use again (Mark Layton)

 
 A great team effort from everyone to get people in the air and a special mention for Barbie who saved the day in the clubhouse!  - Mark Layton

Tue 16 September - Portmoak

 Nothing better for a glider pilot than waking up to a sunny day with great weather forecasts. The morning briefing also reinforced that, though adding that more than 25 gliders would be in the local airspace at the same time. 

 

The sun on JZK (Stu Procter)

Flying on the Bishop hill was not for the faint of heart. The lift was steady, but you had to constantly be watching for other gliders. Gradually, gliders moved out from the hill, but the surprise was when both thermals and wave developed to augment the ridge lift. 

 

Wave over Loch Leven (Simon Minson)

We'll start with the big winners of the day: Andy Williams (FUN) achieved his gold height, 

 

Congratulations to Andy Williams Gold Height

while Simon Minson (SM), Andy Davey, (JB), Guy Adams (CEC) and Ron Johns/Chris Wool (711) all had impressive wave flights. Pete Startup (230), Stu Procter, James and Emma Flory (JZK), Mark Wallis and I all had fun flying the Portmoak ridge and the thermals which took us even higher. - Tom Sides

Mon 15 September - Portmoak

 The sky was looking much more hopeful as we headed to the club this morning. Still lowish clouds, but the forecast said they would lift until rain returned early afternoon. Most importantly, solid wind from the west made it almost certain the Bishop would be working. 

Lowish clouds (Tom Sides)

Not many SGC members at the club, but there were enough to help the North Hill group (now joined by Andy Williams  in FUN) . We set up a launch grid, with Simon Minson and  James Flory first off to finish James' site checks. 

Clouds above the Bishop (Tom Sides)

 I took the next cable with Ron in 711 finding not only ridge flying but some light wave in front of the hill.  Pete Startup was up next for an hour-plus flight of hill bashing, joined by Andy Davey in JB. 

Having too much fun (Stu Procter)

 

Stu Procter and James took JZK up while Simon flew his own glider. Guy Adams had over 1/2 hour in CEC and Andy Williams flew a bit over 20 minutes before the rain forced everyone down. 

 

Enjoyable day (Tom Sides)

A really enjoyable day. Or maybe it just seems so when you're flying at a great site.- Tom Sides

Sun 14 September - Portmoak

The group has grown a bit larger with the addition of Guy Adams, but a lackluster morning briefing announced light winds from the south (NOT what one wants to have at Portmoak), so a general decision was made to pass on circuit bashing flights and instead go for an extended walk. 

 

Non-flying day (Simon Minson)

Jules Minson won the distance award with a 16 mile loop of Loch Leven, while James Flory and family headed north to hike across and visit a proper rugged Scottish landscape. The rest of the group hiked some 4 miles around the Loch to a local farm shop for lunch, and then back to the gliding field. No flying today, but enjoyable company. 

 

Andy's Birthday (Simon Minson)

We headed to Kinross for a group dinner, where the highlight certainly was a group celebration of Andy Davey's birthday.  

 

The Muirs Inn (Simon Minson)

Better weather and optimism is forecast for Monday. - Tom Sides

Sat 13 September - Portmoak

 Optimism was generally high that, despite the forecast of heavy showers, we'd be able to fly the Bishop. As it turned out, the wind never did quite make the expected turn from SSW to westerly, and its speed occasionally dropped below what was needed to stay on the ridge. The result was many short flights and circuits, with only one extended ridge flight. That was made by Simon Minson, who found enough lift to stay up for over an hour. 

 

Stu admiring the green grass and blue sky (Tom Sides)

We kept JZK busy with Stu Procter taking Tom Sides on a refresher flight, and then conducting a site check flight with James Flory, a new boy to Scottish ridge flying. Stu continued by giving Emma Flory a F&F flight. After a very heavy shower passed through, Tom and Chris Wool took an abbreviated flight followed by James and Stu making an even shorter circuit flight. 

 

The Bishop is hiding  (Tom Sides)

Andy Davey was able to coax his glider to stay up for almost 20 minutes, but surprise of the day was that Pete Startup was only able to remain airborne for 12 minutes, again a rain shower forcing him down. 

So a day dodging showers and making the best of what ridge lift there was. But it's great to be back in Scotland and the friendly Portmoak members. - Tom Sides