RAF Shawbury Gliding Club

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SISTERON 2024 3 May 24

Last day of the Parcours and consolidation of what has been learnt over the past two weeks.

Amongst other things we learnt that there is a feature called the:

  • Peek dee Buuuurgghh.  We tried the Scottish to French dictionary but there is no AI translator that can understand Norm’s accent!

  • Pic de Buere.  Alan (“INSTRUCTIONS!!!”😍) Swan thought it was the “Peak of Butter”🤣,

  • Pic de Bure.  The Pic de Bure lies some 38km North of the airfield and is a prominent mountain of the Dauphiné Alps in France, reaching a height of 2,709m (8,888ft),

Alun and Ian took a trip in DuoDiscus 16 for some handling practice and took climbs to cloud base at c7,000ft.  At one stage they met up with R22 over La Platte

A crew change then saw Connor and Ian in 16 with their trip focussing on utilising ridges effectively in order to gain initial altitude and then optimising the ascent. In the process they got some stunning views of the Durance Valley.

Alan and Tim Clarke, flying in DuoDiscus KPE completed a 6 hour flight into the mountains and in the process covered a distance of 310Kms.  Top job.

Elsewhere, Norm was flying in 26 with OIC Cranwell Matt Deardon.  It was a busy last day in and around the Sisteron bowl……

……at the end of which it was time to box the aircraft and prepare for the long journey home, which sees the team back on Sunday.  We’re all looking forwards to Parcours Combattants 2025.