Author Archives: admin

GASCo Safety Evening

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The Club has arranged to host a GASCo/CAA Safety Evening on Monday 27th February at 19:30 hours in the Clubhouse. Safety is paramount to everything we do at the Club.

General Aviation is not hazardous if all those who participate in any kind of GA flying – including ballooning, gliding and all other forms of flying, or who have any role in GA as a designer, builder, maintainer or an Air Traffic Controller, understand that they have a part to play in safety. GASCo’s job is to provide us with information that will help make flying safer for us and others – “Safety through Knowledge”.

We have to limit numbers to no more than 40 due to capacity in the Clubhouse. If you would like to attend please email me at the earliest opportunity to secure your place. I will take names on a first come first served basis.

Richard

Bronze C Lectures

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The CFI’s running the Bronze C lectures again this year, from February to April. The aim is to get early solo pilots through the Bronze in time for the soaring season, but the lectures welcome pre-solo pilots who want to get ahead of the game, and experienced pilots who have forgotten what the game is.

There’s a poster in the clubhouse for you to put your name on. If you don’t come out to fly in the cold weather, email the CFI who will do it for you, at a push.

DateSubjectInstructor
23rd FebruaryPrinciples of FlightSteve F
1st March Principles of FlightSteve F
8th MarchPrinciples of FlightSteve F
15th MarchNavigation Part 1Andy B
29th March Navigation Part 2Andy B
5th AprilAir LawPete
12th AprilMeteorologyMartyn
19th April AirmAirmanship & RadioSteve B
26th AprilExamSteve B

Sunday 15th January 2012

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It was certainly cold when we started out today but the members turned up, set up and we got stuck in.

The wind was generally from the South-East as it had been yesterday and although the sky was cloudless visibility was limited by a fairly low inversion.

We took two K13s and our K21 to the North-West launchpoint along with the single-seat K18. Launch heights were around 1,550. We have begun a new round of instructor training so the launch rate was steady. In the early afternoon, there was some definite thermal activity and some small climbs were made. The longest flight was 13 minutes. The T21 syndicate brought their aircraft up to the launchpoint and Derek H completed the required training to able to fly it solo – Well done!

During the day a group from Lasham collected a vintage 1943 Weihe glider which has been stored at Snitterfield for a while. The Weihe will become part of new gliding museum at Lasham. They had just a little trouble getting it into the trailer they arrived with.

Warwick University Gliding Club sent three members, a mix of experienced and completely new pilots who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We also had two visitors from Scotland who flew with us while they are in Stratford on Avon on business.

All told there were 48 launches and only the arrival of sunset stopped play. Several members were again able to partake in ever-popular winter 4th launch free scheme.

Rain and Rainbows Jan 12th 2012

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Penny B writes:

We started the  day with great enthusiasm –  some of us admiring the huge rainbow – ahm that means……….rain!     Fortunately not a very heavy shower as a cold front went through.   After an hour or so we ventured out again and its turned into a lively, cool, sunny afternoon  (NWly 20 kts and gusty at times).  The wind dropped away towards the end of the day………. and then suddenly there was a little lift around.  Well done to Vic, 18 mins in the K18.  Is this the longest flight of the year??  36 launches.   Stunning sunset.

Penny also sent some pictures which made a great panorama shot.

 

Penny also included a photograph of the sunset.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

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To quote Steve (Pearce) who kindly sent me this update “what a day that was”! In fact, it was the best doughnut day ever.

Although the weather was a bit disappointing early on, the rain cleared away by 9:15 and everyone had a brilliant day with wall to wall sunshine and some good thermal flights from 11.00 onwards.

The cloud base was between 1,000ft and 1400ft early on with lots of gaps between the clouds so we got to fly round the clouds after launch. Later the cloud base rose to few thousand feet.

Key facts and figures for the day are:

  • 53 launches
  • 35 members on the flying list – the doughnuts ran out fast!
  • a total of 7 hours 30 minutes flying time
  • longest flight was flown by Humph (31 minutes), closely followed by Pete the Meat (28 minutes) and Vic who had 27 minutes in the Skylark

Thanks again to Steve for organising everything and for sending me these updates, Alan who was instructing and Pete who was duty marshall for most of the day. What an extraordinary day for November.

Tuesday 25 October 2011

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Just received a quick update from Steve P on our latest ‘doughnut day’ – thanks Steve!

Good day had by all with a very good turn out and brilliant weather.  We flew 19 launches and a total of 5 hrs 56 minutes flying time before rain stopped play around 2:45pm.

The average flight time was 18 mins but there were some long flights by Humphrey, Joe and Steve (51 minutes – which isn’t bad for October!).  The conditions were best between 12pm and 2:30pm with some really good thermals up to 2,200ft.   Pity the rain came so early but it was good while it lasted.

Thanks to Martyn who was duty instructor for the day.   Keep an eye on your emails and the website for updates on future doughnut days.

Sunday 21 August 2011

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Long time no blog, but the conditions this Sunday are worth a mention.

The day started out with overcast and some evidence of high level wave but, as forecast, conditions did improve and at about 12:30 people started to soar.  Andy (Balkwill), Barry (Kerby) and Sharon set off on task to the west. The conditions were difficult early on with wave interference fairly noticeable (smooth thermals, rough thermals and amazing sink).

After low points by Sharon (800ft near Feckenham) and Barry (apparently reading the clock tower at Bromyard) things got even more interesting.   Sharon entered a smooth thermal marked by a wisp of cloud and climbed through the wisp to contact the wave just east of Feckenham, eventually climbing at 4knts average in a line running roughly Feckenham to Pershore.

Andy and Barry came back from the west.  Andy carried on with his task but Barry contacted the wave near Pershore as did Steve Brown. The wave moved a little at about 7,500ft and then again at 8,500ft, aligning more with Alcester – Long Marston.  The climb rate reached 6kts at times.  Steve reached 9,000ft, Barry topped out at 10,000ft and Sharon broke her climb off at 11,800ft (just beating the club record previously set by Harry Williams in his K6E).

After 3 hours the wave slots started to fill in and Steve, Barry and Sharon returned to site with photos and in-flight video (Steve!). Some of Sharon’s pics are below and we hope to upload Steve’s video at some point.

On the cross country front, Paul McAuley deserves a mention. Paul was the only person to complete a cross country task on Sunday and won the day.  He flew a 110km triangle (Snitterfield, Pershore, Banbury) in a fairly brisk wind and what were sometimes difficult conditions.  Well done Paul.

P.S. We would like to blog more often so if you want to update us on activities at the club please email facebook@stratfordgliding.co.uk and I’ll pick up the info.   Many thanks.