Category Archives: Flying reports

Tuesday 13th November 2012

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Today went very well after we had worked out how to get the cable back without doing damage to the field. We were also very careful in marking out a good solid part of the field to land on. It all went well and was a good exercise for people to land accurately from the slightly unusual approach on 24.

All 30 Doughnuts went by lunch time and we were lucky it stayed dry all day. It really was quite warm and we had our fair share of sun. It was good to see our new K6 on line and it was very well used all day. It is proving to be very popular.

Doughnut Details are….

  • Total Launches……………27
  • Longest Flight…………….13mins by Geof G, also worth a mention was 12mins by David S and 12mins by Bob Horsnell and Harry in a K13..
  • Total Flight Time………….3hr..35min.
  • Average Flight Time…….7min.

Backup Winch Doris worked well all day and gave us consistently good launches, at least one to over 1900′. The wind did increase during the morning but did not get as strong as forecast, probably no more than 18kts. max. By the time we finished it had dropped to almost nothing. A good day all round.

Steve P.

Sunday 11th November 2012

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Our Chief Flying Instructor, Steve B was standing in for Mike C today and what a busy day it was!

We started a little earlier than usual due to the shortening days. The field was fairly wet in places so we set up as to avoid the worst of it. There were some valiant attempts at scratching for some slightly extended flights at the top of the day but the blue skies and moderate soaring conditions were probably best described as ‘good for training’.

The Junior was rigged and flown and the clubs’s new Ka6 G-DBWC was prepared and flown by club members for the first time as a club aircraft. Much praise was given to it’s handling and scratching qualities and general performance. Some pilots hope to use ‘BWC’ for cross-country tasks next season.

New and returning members of the University of Warwick Gliding Club kept the instructors busy with their insatiable appetite for gliding. They flew again and again; it’s great to have students with such enthusiasm.

In total despite the tricky field conditions, we launched 41 times with only failing light putting an end to play. The launch rate was assisted well in part by the UWGC people’s efficiency on the buggies.

Adam about to take his first flight in Stratford on Avon Gliding Club’s new Ka6-CR G-DBWC

Saturday 10th November 2012

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Today started with a rather wet field and a very low cloud base. The wind which was predicted to be a strong South-Westerly, gave us an easier time than expected and we were able to operate on the less damp areas of the field. The cloud base lifted slowly but broke up to enable launching before midday.

Thermal soaring proved not to be possible in general despite significant vertical cloud formations. Some pilots enjoyed themselves flying around the lower clouds; it gives a real sense of speed!

Warwick University Gliding Club sent a contingent of students along and they all enjoyed their flights. 32 launches took place in all; flying was finally stopped when canopies began misting due to the atmospheric conditions.

The club K8 was derigged and stored in the hangar. It will not be flown again as a club aircraft and is now looking for a new home. The new Ka6 was rigged and test positioned in the hangar. It fits nicely!

In this video, Andy shows Mark from UWGC a couple of aerobatic figures in our K21.

Tuesday 6th November 2012 – Doughnuts

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We were lucky with the weather up to a point today. We knew it was going to rain in the early afternoon, it was just a case of when. We did manage to make a fairly early start and were flying just after 10am. The rain did not start until 12-45 so we got nearly 3 hours of flying in.

Launches were good with most people getting around 1700′ to 1800′. If the rain had held off a little longer and with the slowly increasing wind I am sure we would have seen 2000′.

So it was worth opening if only for half a day, the details are below.

Total Launches……………….17
Longest Flight…………………11mins. Well done to MartinC in the K18. There were 5 people hot on his heels with 10min. each.
Average Flight time…………..8mins.
Total Flight Time……………..2hr. 26min.

Many thanks to everyone who helped get everything ready nice and early. And especially to Allan who spent a very frustrating hour sitting in a traffic jam after a car crash blocked the roads out of Bromsgrove.

See you soon, Steve P.

Tuesday 30th October 2012 – Doughnuts

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It may have been 4 weeks since we last had a Doughnut Day but it was well worth waiting for because today we had a fabulous day. The weather could not really have been much better with a 10kt. Westerly all day giving us consistent launches to over 1600′. The sun shone all day with only the last hour or so having a lot of cloud cover.

It turned out to be thermic with some really good flights from several members. The turnout was excellent with over 20 members present at 9am and probably 25+ an hour later.

It was a good job we had 2 instructors on hand to help Allan out, all 3 were kept busy from when we started flying at 9-45am until the finish which was not until light stopped play.

Doughnut Details are,

Total Number of Launches, 56

Total Number of Landings,…..a few more ! (only joking…..joking ….joking…..joking…..joking…joking….joking…)

Total Time Flown, 10hr 37min. (including several cable breaks, most simulated and one not).

Best Flight of Day, 47min. Excellent flight by Humph and Pete the Meat in H.S.M.

Average Flight Time 11min.

A few other flights worthy of mention, TonyM 41min, JohnG and Allan 28mins. GaryA and Nick 31mins. JohnH 20min. MartinC 22min. and last but not least well done to KenM who had 21min. in the K18 on his first flight on type.

I think everyone had a brilliant day, thanks to everyone who helped to make it such a success, it really was a team effort.

See you soon, safe flying, Steve P.

Saturday 28th October 2012

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Today looked like a mixed bag from the outset with rain forecast for the afternoon.

However, our CFI noted that there was a prediction of wave in the fairly strong Westerly wind so an intrepid bunch of pilots braved the cold to search for it. Always tricky to contact from a winch launch, we searched. Not entirely in vain as a couple of flights encountered reduced or nil sink in smooth air.

We only stopped trying when the rain finally drove us back indoors.

K13 G-DCCT about to launch in search of the elusive wave.

Saturday 27th October 2012

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It felt like brass monkeys today!

We had a stiff Northerly wind today which made the field setup a little awkward, flying from the SE stub runway, we had the winch in the NW corner and landed 34.The wind also provided significant chill against already low temperatures so most members have sworn to break out the thermals (underwear).

We had a good turnout of club members and a contingent of 4 from Warwick University Gliding Club. Launches were reasonable given the wind direction. Flights were a mixed bag; some pilots encountering only sink, some others getting short climbs under weak streets of cloud.

Winch driver training was given to PhilS and he gave some great launches. By the end of the day, everyone had got in the flying they wanted to do but the Snitterfield Arms and it’s open fire provided a more than welcome retreat.

Monday 19th March 2012 – Glorious Monday

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What a change from last week and even yesterday today was. We got exactly what it said on the tin. A good westerly breeze from early on that got a little stronger as the day went on. It was thermic from 10-30am and by 12-30 several people were having flights to well over 4000′. It was a shame that it was such short notice as several regular members were absent so we did not have a large turnout however most of those who did turn up had a brilliant day with some memorable flights, there were about 15 members on the flying list and 6 of those flew their own ships.

Details as follows:

24 launches
Best flight was 3hrs. 9min by Phil Pickett in his beautiful ASW24.
Average flight time, sorry forgot to look but it would have been good.
Lots of long flights , Nick J. 1hr. 55min in the Dart (eat yer heart out Bob), Phil Pain 1hr 31min in the Vega, Humphrey 1hr. 19min and Pete Merrit 1hr. 05min in their K6, and last but not least Jonty with an hour in the K18. Lots of other members had good flights with Allan to heights they had probably not been to before.

See you soon, Steve P.

Tuesday 6th March 2012

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Yesterday certainly was “Super Tuesday” and nothing to do with the American Elections.  We got exactly what it said on the tin, brilliant day with good thermals from about 11-30 until 3pm. A gentle wind from the N.W. gave us reasonable launches to around 1400′.   It did back to the S.W. later as predicted but stayed around 5-8kts.

Lots of private gliders out, most for the first time this year. It was nice to see gaggles of 3 or 4 gliders at a time sharing the same lift. We had a really good turn out with well over 20 members on the flying list. We even had a trial lesson in the afternoon. Every club glider flew (except the K21 which is still off-line). It was a really busy day and I think Allan will need a couple of days R and R. to be ready for next Tuesday.  Many thanks to Allan, Nick and Mark who finally managed to get everyone flown.

The Skylark was also out for the first time this year, so it was good to see that Vic still has lots of friends.

O.K. now to the “Brilliant” details,

50 Launches.
Best flight, Phil Pickett in his 24. with a time of 2hrs. 1min.
Best Runners up were Pete Merritt in his loverly K6 with 1hr. 38min.  Jonty with 1hr. 17min in the K8.  Nick J. in the Dart 1hr. 16min and finally Bob H. also in the Dart, 1hr. 04min.
There were plenty of other long flights but those were the ones of over an hour.
Average flight time was over 20mins.

See you soon,  Steve P.

Tuesday 28th February 2012

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We had a good turn out with around 18 members on the flying list at 10am. unfortunately the sun did not break through so we were stuck with a 900′ cloud base all day. However we did not waste the day, we spent the time practicing cable breaks and other low level exercises. It was a good day to try these things, we made best use of what we had..

We flew all day and both instructors did plenty of walking from parts of the field they had probably not seen for some time. Many thanks to Martyn D. and Allan for their patience and help. They turned what looked like a miserable day into one we all enjoyed and hopefully we all learned something.

O.K. so we did………..

21 Launches or simulated failed launches or simulated cable breaks etc. etc.
Best flights, Ken M. with Allan and Derek H. with the amazing time of 4 mins. each.  However Martyn and I managed 2 x 4min flights so I think that makes us the winners !
Average flight time  2 mins.
Total flight time 55mins.

Statistically not very impressive but we all had a good day and had fun (that’s the whole idea). We made the best of a poor day.

Allan is back on duty Thursday which is now looking much better, sun, sea and sand ? well we should get some sun at least.

See you soon,  Steve P.