Flying Report Sat 17 Aug 24
The morning started with the annual Airfield Access Permit brief and many thanks to Alex for giving up his time on a Saturday morning to entertain us all. Top job Alex
A number of instructors are away amongst them, Will was on nappy changing duties again whilst Akela (noun, a symbol of wisdom, authority, and leadership) Colin was away fixing something delicate for the Brownies with an infantry screwdriver in hand.
It wasn’t until 11:00 that we got out onto the launch point and then there was another delay whilst chief mechanic Jack attended to low tyre pressure on R22.
Setting up on Shawbury’s short r’way 23……..
……..the first launches of the day saw clag, albeit with a cloud base at c3,000ft but little sign of lift although conditions slowly improved as the day went on. It was a delight to welcome MEF gliding scholarship students Jamie, Chris and Lee for their first flights at Shawbury.
MEF gliding scholarship students Emma and Peter took up where they had last left off and both placed in the capable hands of instructor Nick L.
It really is fantastic to see the progress that all our MEF gliding scholarship students are making.
As mentioned in last week’s blog, the signs of the airfield runway refurb programme are beginning to be more noticeable both from the ground and once in the air.
The morning session was marked by clag and with little thermic activity but by 1400 conditions began to improve with some strong, albeit very narrow thermals developing and moving downwind at a fair pace.
We brought Astir R66 (aka the Concrete Swan) out for the single seat jockeys but despite their best endeavours none could manage a trip of any duration, indeed the average flight was 19 minutes with the hog-of-the-day going to Nick and MEF student Peter in R35 at 47 minutes – well done.
Full use was made of our TMG KE. Each MEF gliding scholarship student gets 60 minutes of flying in the TMG in order to consolidate learning. During the day we fitted in trips for Lee, Chris and Jamie.
The final act of the day was to move all aircraft and vehicles over to Hangar 1 to make way for the RAF Shawbury Families Day event in Hangar 4 and thanks to all for your hard work and effort. Sadly, we won’t be providing either the BGA simulator this year or the photo opportunities sitting in an ASK21 that are always a great draw for the kids – maybe next year?
PS. After shutting up shop for the day we think that Jack sneaked back for some night flying endorsement practice launching on a cable behind one of the Fire trucks.
Club News:
Jack Charles has made the mistake of transferring from the Army to the RAF.🤣🤣
As from 1 Sep 24 the club are getting R2, an RAFGSA Duo Discus, to replace our venerable ASK13 (R46)