A cracking day albeit “blue” with strong thermals and low level turbulence all adding to the mix as we enjoyed some fanatastic aerobatics routines.

And it was a full house that made the most of the conditions with 33 launches and over 21 hours flying time. With so many visitors we were grateful for instructor support from Nigel (Land-out) Lassiter and to Kevin Morley. Kevin lives and flies at Cranwell but works at Shawbury. As this was his first visit we sent him off with Ian for a site check.

We enjoyed meeting another three visitors from North Wales GC who are still waiting for their airfield to be cut for hay. We gave instructor Frank Friend together with members Harry and Miroslaw the R38 (K13) for the day to undertake their own aero-tow training. Thanks for helping out with the pulling and pushing.

Meanwhile club members Connor, Clarke and Rob plugged away in one of the K21s. Sadly it was not a day for solos as the low level turbulence proved to be quite a handful for both pilots and tuggies alike.

With both tugs on the line, the launch rate was good and enabled WG to be allocated to our aerobatic sorties. Instructor Mark Butcher and Laura Martin were visiting from the Mynd to allow Laura to make her first solo aero-tow and to take some aerobatics training. After three 4,000ft launches Laura launched for an observed solo sequence of the figures set out for the BGA Standard Badge Test. Well done Laura on passing the test and we look forward to seeing you again soon at Shawbury.

There comes a point in the day when it’s a fantastic idea to send The Dear Leader off in something so we managed to persuade him to get into his DG and take the rest of the afternoon in the air. It’s always great to see the DG launch and particularly since the engine upgrade!

Early afternoon we welcomed The Adshead Family. Living locally and often seeing out gliders overhead, it was Mum Julie’s treat to take a BGA “Discover Gliding” flight with Nigel in R35. Glad that you enjoyed the trip.

Finally, and after a long day, it was a real thrill to see Ian practice his aerobatics routine for the 2023 Cosford Air Show next weekend. Not one, but three practice displays, with each ending with his normal 30 ft flypast before a pull up to land. We’ve all seen it at the Air Show but it was super to have our own show.

The opportunity was also taken on each launch for Nigel to get some tug pilot familiarisation with Colin.