Flying Report Sun 13 Nov 22
R38 in wave over Shawbury
Everyone drove to Shawbury with some concern that, given the mist and low cloud, the forecasters had just been teasing us by forecasting wave.
Whilst waiting to see whether the mist and low cloud would clear, we took about maintenance tasks. Our MEF bursary students for today, Connor, Harry, Jacob and Oliver, were on hand to save the old peoples’ backs by helping to rig R22, one of our K21s, and derigging our Astir, R66. It’s great for them to have this opportunity to see and help out with the glider maintenance. Meanwhile, a few of us had some harmless fun pumping up tyres using the new compressed air kit - we’re going to have the best pumped up tyres in the country!
As the clouds began to clear, it was time for us to take a moment’s silence for Remembrance Sunday. Some members had taken the day to attend Remembrance services and parades to support local communities.
With the key maintenance tasks for the day complete we headed out onto the airfield. First up was Richard Head who, after not flying last weekend, managed to get to over 3000ft from a 1500ft aerotow “for a circuit” with Colin in the back. Not bad for his first wave flight! It didn’t take long for the launchpoint to be clear of gliders as everyone got a chance to experience flying in wave right above Shawbury. The rest of us had to watch on from the ground, jealously consulting Flightradar24 to see how high they were.
It turned out that anyone taking a tow to more than 2000ft was wasting their money - it was quite easy to stay in the wave between 2000ft and 3000ft. Getting higher than 3000ft was challenging, although a few of us managed to get up to around 3400ft.
As usual, the sunshine made for some great photos over the Shropshire countryside, as well as air to air photos of our gliders.
Connor, Harry, Jacob and Oliver each had a long soaring flight in the wave to continue making the most of the flying side of their MEF awards. They made great progress due to the smooth conditions that the wave lift provided - much easier to fly in than the weather last weekend! Jacob even took advantage of the aerobatics flight included in his MEF bursary to experience G and see Shawbury from a different angle with Colin.
It was wonderful to have The Vicar (Toby) and Jack to join us in the afternoon, after their Remembrance duties. Toby flew with local instructor Al Gillson to continue his training to become a BI and, whilst making great progress on the patter, racked up 1:15 of soaring in the wave to claim the Hog of the Day title. Jack was given a refresher flight by Nigel, only being held back from another solo by the mist closing in again at the end of the day.
All in all, even before considering that flying was curtailed by the conditions at both ends, it was a great day. We racked up 11 flights with an average flight time of 42 minutes.
