A cracking day out that defied the X-Section. The strong winds died down, the cloud cover broke up and, although it was cold, the sun shone; it did wonders for morale after a succession of disappointing January flying days. The only downside was that a number had looked at the forecast and decided to stay in bed! However, we still had enough youngsters to push and pull aircraft around.

Flying off r’way 23, once airborne…..

…..what surprised all was the degree to which the Severn had overflowed it’s banks. Whilst the wet ground on the airfield confined all movement to hard surfaces it was nothing compared to the flooding in the local area.

Why do we hold the aircraft on the brakes at the start of the aerotow? Well, as the tug takes up the slack, it’s to stop the on-tow aircraft over-running and trapping the tow rope under the mainwheel. Movement of either aircraft can then fray the rope on the highly abrasive runway surface, with a consequent risk of a launch failure for which we practice. A frayed or snapped rope stops all flying whilst we fix the problem.

Welcome to visitor Geoff from Oxford Gliding Club who had travelled all the way from Buckingham to join us for the day. We trust it was worth the journey and hope to see you again, and please do take our greetings back to Oxford.

Meanwhile new member Richie took a first trip in R22 with Colin Haynes. Richie is another in an ever growing number of students taking advantage of the opportunity to fly with the MEF scholarship scheme (see our blog at https://tinyurl.com/yckmad9n) and we look forward seeing him and others from his MEF cohort on the airfield in the coming weeks.

There were no cakes!

Another reminder for all who fly with us that when it is your birthday you bring cakes to the launch point – Amelia please note!!!!!

Amelia took a trip with Colin and scared him sufficiently to be sent aloft without Colin in the back seat! Amelia is building up her solo hours to the point that she will be in our sights to start her BI training at some stage in the future.

Despite the cold a couple of the single seaters also ventured out to the launch point. Toby and John Luke are building up their solo hours in Astir R66 before they can commence their BI training and Terry Walsh was given sufficient pocket money by Mrs W to take Astir EEO for a trip to 3,000ft.