A day of some strong thermic activity and strong winds indeed, it was on the limit for the wood gliders so they weren’t taken out.  Flying off r’way 18 and getting into a thermal wasn’t difficult but all found that it wasn’t long before they were blown fast downwind past the airfield.  Beating a path back upwind to find another thermal proved quite a challenge.

With no wood out on the airfield it was fantastic to welcome R35, a second K21, to the club on transfer from Odiham.  However, it took a team of four to realise that R35’s trailer wasn’t locked, before they got around to rigging the aircraft!  With a bulging visitors list on all flying days going into the future, R35 is a much needed addition to the fleet and was flown for the first time today.

We were delighted to welcome another group of Taurus O/Cdts from Aston Uni.  Great to see you folk and hope that you enjoyed the flying.

A warm welcome to new club member Sian from Cosford, together with her partner Connor.  Given his height, Connor had to take the back seat in the K21 for some aerobatics with Alan. Sian than took her first flight in a glider in the capable hands of instructor Will Dean.

With a strong wind and a lot of turbulence, this was not the time to let our early solo pilots fly on their own but very well done to them and also our young pilots in training for mastering the difficult conditions.  It was fantastic to see everyone make the most of the conditions and get away for a decent trip on a day that saw 17 launches for a total flying time of over 7 hours.

Lastly, at the close of play it was all hands to the pumps to derig four aircraft that are off to Denbigh next week on the club exped.  Six aircraft in all are going and we have a number of members, either staying the week or attending for a day or two, taking this opportunity to fly from Llewenni Parc.  Hangar 4 looks almost empty.