Flying Report Sun 8 Oct 23

In a strange turn of events, the weather forecast stayed pretty constant throughout the week and accurately predicted the conditions we were going to have for flying on Sunday. A warm, sunny day at Shawbury had everyone getting sunhats and sun cream only shortly after they had been packed away for the winter. The light winds were great for training, and we certainly made the most of it.

A good pool of trainee pilots had signed up through the week, with a couple of new faces among the regular crowd. We welcomed AJ and Joel for their first flights in a glider, both training at Cosford.

After a thorough briefing from Colin our trainee pilots were very helpful in launching and pushing around gliders all day - thanks for mucking in to make everything run smoothly.

We started flying with a slight crosswind on runway 18, changing to runway 23 as the wind veered through the course of the day.

The change of runway worked well for the students. With the wind straight down the strip, and fewer obstructions to think about in the undershoot, take-offs and landings were far simpler.

After a few check rides and the usual practice launch failure, Chris Rust was sent for his first solo in a glider by Ian Gallacher. Congratulations Chris!

Not long after Chris’s solo, Darcey Gallacher was signed off for her first solo by Will Dean - Will’s first time sending a student solo. At the age of 14, it was great to see Darcey being towed up by her very proud Dad. After the flight she commented that it was awesome to have the ability to turn off his “feedback” with the volume knob on the radio. Congratulations Darcey!

With their previous experience, George, Ben, Kieran and AJ made great progress - it won’t be long before they’re going solo as well. Jim also made progress through his MEF bursary with Ian Gallacher in the back seat. Joel Mann took his flight in a glider, which was also Sophie’s first flight as a Basic Instructor - congratulations Sophie!

Rob Wyatt added another solo to his logbook, and with the instructors struggling to see the point of check rides with Rob it shouldn’t be long before he’s off daily checks.

We also had the company of Robert Kronenberg, a visitor from the Mynd, for a refresher on aerotowing with instructors Nick and Will. Thanks for coming and helping out.

In the afternoon Toby joined us for a couple of flights to keep current before starting his instructors course, taking Amelia and Ben for ballast. With Dad James keeping everything going by retrieving gliders and trying to get the bus’s generator working, Amelia headed up with Gally to practise stall turns. John took an early flight in R43 and a late flight in WG to keep current in both.

The day finished with some final preparations for the club’s expedition to Denbigh, derigging R66 and gathering the final pieces of equipment. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for some strong westerlies for those on the heading over there.

All in all, it was a great day to be out on the airfield to share in the glory of some big achievements. Thanks to everyone for helping out.