Flying Report Bank Holiday Weekend 18-21 July
With Friday scrubbed and Monday almost washed out, those who flew on Sunday deffo had the pick of the weather. A new grass area on the airfield has become available with the old 05/23 now back in use (grass only).
With flying scrubbed on Friday……
……it gave us the perfect opportunity to finish the annual in R35, with a rig and ROM checks.
Sunday saw wall-to-wall sunshine and almost 91/2 hours of flying time with everyone getting away for a decent trip in the thermic conditions, despite the late start after deliberating at length on the safest area to launch/land. The new K18 syndicate continued to explore their new aquisition.
On the ground, and as there was no written procedure, Nigella was smiling a lot as he formed a committee to decide where to park KE on the 400 acres of available grass!
The discussion went on for sooooo looooooong that the Duty Pilot had a snooze!
Anyway, Geoff M decided that it was all too much, launched 243, lit the iron thermal at the back end and disappeared for 3 hours leaving the rest grafting on the airfield. He took an aerial trip around some of his favourite Staffordshire watering holes including Hodnet Hall…..
……RAF Peplow, a former RAF station near Market Drayton and the adjacent HMS Godwit. They closed in 1949. If you get the chance to visit, the airfield boasts a conversion of the old control tower into a fantastic private residence.
Having been rigged on Friday, Colin took R35 on a shakedown flight only to find that he had re-connected the ASI the wrong way round - sorted and brought back to into service.
A great day’s flying at the end of which a couple of a couple of our tame Myndies, hearing that the club has fallen on hard times, kindly donated a vast sum to keep us afloat!
The forecast for Monday was poor so after a conflab, the grown ups decided on an 1100 start with a brief window of opportunity in the afternoon in which we would try to fly our MEF gliding bursary students for their first flights in a glider.
So we started the day with Colin giving Emily and Danny an hour’s instruction on the simulator as an intro to what they would put into practice in the afternoon……
….and then a quick demo on spin recovery.
With the rain having cleared Geoff M took the tug on a proving launch at 1350……
……but we could already see the next rain bearing system approaching and had to accept that we only had time to get Emily and Danny just one launch each. With Laura in the back seat Emily was first away in R22.
With the front getting ever nearer there was just time to launch Danny in R35 with Colin in the back seat……
……and putting into practice what had been learnt on the sim.
With heavy rain falling over High Key we called it a day at 1530. Thanks to all the other members who themselves did not fly, but went the extra mile today to get our youngsters airborne.
The Bank Holiday Weekend programme would not have been complete without a copious supply of Lemon Drizzle and Choccy Sponge cake from Mrs #vulcanbomber for which we are effusive in our collective praise.
Club News:
National Women's Go Gliding Weekend. Laura is leading and we will need normal attendance by members to help on the day please. The concept is that on Sun 27 Apr (with a fall-back of Sun 18 May), the club will focus on welcoming women, with the aim of helping them to discover gliding and membership of the club.
Sisteron 2025. Several current or former club members are deploying on the annual RAFGSA expedition to Sisteron in the Southern French Alps, 26 April – 11 May 11 2025. Our DuoDiscus (R2) will also be going to France this year.