Category Archives: Flying reports

Flying Report 24/2/16

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We had the best flying day of the year so far with some excellent flights. The thermals were numerous and averaged around 2 knots but certainly for a couple of hours at lunch time we had 3 – 4 knots for extended periods.
Cloudbase  varied between 2500′ and 3500′ so it was possible to look down on the lower clouds if you were at 3500′. The only downside to being at 3500′  was it was very cold after a few minutes. It was possible to fly under the cloud for some time without losing height. The sun shone from early morning until we finished at around 4pm. The canopies were just starting to mist up by then but we had all had our fill anyway.
There were 3 flights of an hour or more and if you were up when it was good it was an air-brake job to get back on the ground, it really was that good!
There were lots of flights of 30 to 40 minutes as well.  We all had a great day with many thanks to Tony and Andy who made sure we got off to an early start and worked really hard keeping everyone flying right through the day.
Apologies to Cath, John x 3, James, Ken and David who all decided that the South of France or work were better than flying today! Sorry!
Total Launches………………….24.
Longest Flight…………………..1 hr. 8 mins. followed by  1 hr. 4 mins. and 1 hr 

. But really academic as we all came back to give others a go, honest gov.

Total Flight Time……………… 7 hrs. 59 min.
Average Flight Time………….19 mins.  Brilliant as that included some S.C.B.’s.
Steve P.

The cross-country ladder was also opened for 2016 with a pilot going round the very nearest turnpoints which have been unreachable from Snitterfield for months due to the bad weather – Ed.

 

Flying report 16/2/16

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We were very lucky again today with the weather and the state of the field. We had sunshine for most of the day with a fresh Southerly wind blowing up to 25 mph. Because the field had dried so well over the last few days we were able to operate from right outside the clubhouse without any problems. We were even able to bring the cable straight back to the launch-point later in the day instead of the convoluted dog-leg we did in the morning.

We did have a delay of half an hour in the morning when a helicopter was hovering over the south side of the field moving slowly from east to west and then back again. It turned out to be inspecting the power lines but we did lose 3 or 4 launches.

In the fresh breeze it was very cold which only got worse when the cloud obscured the sun later in the afternoon but we did have a really good day and everyone flew. The new launch point trailer was very popular, maybe it was the “Greenhouse Effect”?

Many thanks to Tony P. whose help was invaluable in getting so many launches done and to everyone who helped to get the day off to an early start.

Great day, great weather (for Feb) but please roll on some WARM sunny days.

Flight Statistics:

  • Total Launches……………..28
  • Total Flight Time……………3 hrs 39mins.
  • Longest Flight………………20min. Well done to Phil P. in the T21!!!!!!!!!!
  • Second Longest……………11min. Well done to Andy S. and Tony P.
  • Third Longest……………….10min. Well done to John H.
  • Everyone else………………Single figures, must do better !

Steve P.

Photos by Peter C.

Flying report 11/2/16 – Thermic Thursday

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Words like exactly, said and tin spring to mind today. We had a brilliant day with wall to wall sunshine, quite warm and best of all no rain.

We were a little late starting but after that it just got better and better. By early afternoon it was obviously thermic as one member soared away to unbelievable heights and only coming back when he felt guilty for monopolising a glider after 26mins. Others tried and failed miserably to emulate his expertise until John H. went up. He managed a very creditable 16 mins.

It was the best day of the year so far and we were very lucky the field had dried enough to use. If today is anything to go by the the rest of the year should be great.

It was also good the see one of our new members from Needwood Forest come along to fly, he even managed to get a flight with our esteemed Chairman. He worked very hard all day and if the others from Needwood are anywhere near as helpful then it bodes well for the future.

A great day with no problems.

Total Launches………………….30

Total Flight Time……………….3 hrs. 29 mins.

Longest Flight…………………26 mins. Second Longest….16 mins. Very well done to Dave M. and John H.

Average Flight Time………….6 min. (including some S.C.B.’s).

Steve P.

Flying Report 28/1/16

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We had a really good day on Thursday with sunshine all morning but a bit cloudier in the afternoon. The wind started off a fresh W.S.W. but tended to back during the day but we managed OK. We had 17 members on site at the briefing and several more came soon after. All the doughnuts went in a flash. We started off outside the clubhouse but after a couple of launches realised it would soon be making ruts so we moved to the stub on the south side and flew from there for the rest of the morning without problem.

By lunch time it seemed everyone had flown and had disappeared back to the clubhouse and so we were going to call it a day and hangar landed both of the 13’s. However one member decided to have another flight as we were about to return the second 13 to the hangar. We launched from half way along the peri-track and they gained an extra 200ft on the launch compared to the morning. This seemed a good idea and so several more chose to do the same and kept us flying for another couple of hours. The good news is the new launch point trailer worked very well even from maximum distance from the winch.

K13 G-DCBW at the unusual one-nine launchpoint.

K13 G-DCBW at the unusual one-nine launchpoint.

Many thanks to Tony P and Andy S for persevering to find places for us to launch and land, meaning we had a good and long days flying.

So to the statistics:

Total Launches……………….24.

Longest Flights………………9 mins from the short morning run. 11 mins from the longer afternoon run.

Average Flight Time…………..6 min.

Total Flight Time…………….2 hrs. 24 min.

Steve P.

Flying report 24/1/16

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A tricky day’s flying with an abnormal field setup…

Andy B and Richard were on duty today and the first task was finding a field setup that, despite yet more rain overnight, would work without damaging the field.

With the wind from the south-west, a one-nine landing direction was favored and there was actually a strip maybe 2 meters wide which had boggy ground either side. Spot landings and no excuses were order of the day.

The launch-point was placed on the south-east hard runway with the winch on the south-western edge of the perimeter track so the (single) cable could be towed along the southern track.

Low cloud hampered initial launches but later, despite a measly 870 meter cable run and a crosswind, launches were as high a 1350 feet. At least part of this could have been down to the new direct signaling system which seems to avoid long ground-runs.

In total a small crew, late-start, single cable operation and one glider did 17 launches including some attempts and soaring in lift from the Snitterfield ‘ridge’.

Thanks to Andy and Richard for finding a way to make the day work.

 

First Flying Day of 2016

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A Happy New Year to all from Stratford on Avon Gliding Club!

After the recent rain storms and a severe lack of flying due to a saturated airfield, the traditional January 1st flying day wasn’t looking promising.

A small bunch of pilots turned out looking hopeful for some flying and Andy S went off in search of anywhere we could operate a glider safely. When he didn’t return for a while, we considered sending out a search party but Andy reappeared with a plan!

By the time we’d set the field up the plan had changed due to the dry areas not being as extensive as first thought. Rather than operating a formalised launchpoint, we’d land the glider in the dry area and then take the cable out to the aircraft and launch from the same spot.

Conditions were exciting aloft, quite a bit of churn low-down and then a big swing to southerly with sufficient strength that the winch would be nearly idling at the top of the launch. Up top a smooth, brisk wind held hints of weak wave. Peter C flying with Barry K managed to climb a bit and stretch out to 22 minutes what would be Peter’s first wave flight.

Landing from the north at the west end over the gate offered all pilots the opportunity to brush up their circuit planning.

In total, with one glider and a minimum operation, we launched 7 times enabling everyone who wanted to fly an opportunity to do so for the first time in 2016!

Thanks to Andy S for making it happen!

Flying Report 8/12/15

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We had a great day today with almost wall to wall sunshine and a brisk S.S.W. breeze giving us some good but not brilliant launches. It was a difficult day for our winch drivers. The wind on the ground was around 15 – 24 kts but at height it was more like 35 kts.

A little overnight rain and a heavy shower at 6-45am made me think that the field would be wet but I think Stratford missed it as the field was excellent with no standing water and very firm.

We started to fly at about 10-15am and flew until 12-15 when we could see a substantial shower to the S.W. We stopped for an early lunch while the rain did it’s worst. It stopped by 1pm and we re-started flying. A light shower came at 3.15pm, just right for a cup of tea as it was by now getting a bit colder.winter_evening_snitterfield_gliding

We flew right up to sunset and everyone had a great day with no problems. Well worth the effort and probably the best day of the week for us.

Statistics as follows……………………

Total Launches………………..21……… Not bad as we only had 2 x K13’s out.

Longest Flight…………………. 9 min…..Well done to George S.

Total Flight Time………………2 hr. 9 min.

Average Flight Time…………6 min. Would have been more but we had quite a few early releases because of the blustery breeze.

Average Launch Height…….1500′ But a couple a bit higher and several a lot lower.

Steve P.

Flying Report 25/11/15

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We were lucky on Wednesday and managed to fly for most of the day. Some early rain and a very grey sky at 8am was a bit worrying but it soon stopped and we were able to get all the equipment out, however more rain at 9-30am stopped us making an early start. It had stopped by 10.15 and we started to fly. Apart from a couple of very light drops of rain during the morning we did not stop until lunchtime.

The weather was much better in the afternoon and we also had a reasonable amount of sun. The wind was a brisk 20 kts in the morning but from W.N.W. so it was not a problem. It eased a little in the afternoon. The visibility was excellent and the cloudbase was high.

We were getting good launches to a maximum of 1650′ but the flights tended to be fairly short. Many thanks to Allan W. who came to help out, we certainly made very good use of his time. We only used the 2 x K13’s all day and everyone flew. A couple of members who were out of currency are now current again and everyone had a good day. All the Doughnuts went early on.

The details are a little academic, the important thing is everyone went home happy and had a good day.

Total Launches…………….18

Total Flight Time………….1hr 56min.

Longest Flights……………8min.

Steve P.

Flying report 25/10/15

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We had a really good turn-out today. Plenty of pilots and an early briefing.

The Chief Flying Instructor conducted a Bronzer Skills Test with Keith L who we are pleased to say passed!

Neil C converted onto the club’s Standard Astir CS77 G-FECO and Chris B converted onto the club’s LS4 G-DEMG.

Some thermal soaring was to be had too! Andy B set off solo in K13 G-DCBW and managed to contact a solitary street of cumulus clouds, pushing out to Long Marston and over 3,000feet. Not bad for October!

The other K13, K21, Junior, LS4 and Astir took up chase and for a while the entire club fleet was airborne.

We later de-rigged the club K21 G-CGAG into the workshop for it’s ARC maintenance.

A brilliant day shorted by the return to GMT/UTC time!

The longest flight duration achieved today was 48minutes.

Kit & Ashley convert to the SZD Junior.

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Well done to Kit B and Ashley V who converted to the club’s SZD 51-1 Junior last weekend, their first glass single-seat type in their logbooks.

The Junior, an ideal single-seater for early solo pilots provides a stepping stone towards more advanced types such as the club’s Astir CS77 and LS4.

Ashley V converts to the SZD Junior

https://www.stratfordgliding.co.uk/2015/09/kit-ashley-convert-to-the-szd-junior/Video shows CFI Steve B sending Ashley V off in the SZD Junior.#gliding #soaring #juniorgliding

Posted by Stratford on Avon Gliding Club on Monday, 28 September 2015