Congratulations to Stratford’s junior glider pilot Tom who flew his first solo flight in K13 glider G-DCBW on Saturday at Stratford on Avon Gliding Club!
Tom was checked out and cleared for solo by Stratford’s Deputy CFI Pete F.
Tom’s parents were on hand to watch as he flew a brief soaring flight followed by a great landing back at Snitterfield!
Well done Tom!
On Sunday, junior glider pilot Matthew S flew his first solo flight from Stratford on Avon Gliding Club!
Matthew was checked and cleared for his first solo by senior instructor and club chairman Andy B.
Matthew had a brief soaring flight in K13 G-DCBW before landing back at Snitterfield to be congratulated by his dad.
Well done Matthew!
On Monday, junior glider pilot Archie L completed his FAI Silver badge flying from Stratford on Avon Gliding Club.
The FAI Silver badge requires that a sailplane pilot complete:
A soaring flight of 5 hours duration.
A cross-county flight of at least 50km from the point of release.
A height gain of at least 1000m above the previous lowest point.
Archie achieved all three of these goals on a flight which took him south-east to Bicester airfield before returning to Snitterfield.
As well as completing all three silver legs for a single claim in one flight, the out-and-return distance of ~107km also qualifies for the UK 100km Diploma part 1.
This on a day where conditions meant some of our advanced cross-country pilots were unable to complete their own cross-country tasks.
Well done Archie!
Congratulations to junior glider pilot Owen, 16, who flew his first solo flight today at Stratford on Avon Gliding Club!
Owen took to the skies alone for the first time in Stratford’s K13 sailplane G-DCBW.
Owen was checked out and authorised for his first solo flight by senior Stratford instructor Steve F.
Yesterday, junior glider pilot Ben E completed his FAI Silver badge plus his UK 100km Diploma parts 1 & 2 during a flight from Stratford on Avon Gliding Club.
The Silver badge requires: A height gain of 1000meters or more, a duration flight of at least 5hours and a distance flight at least 50km from the launch site.
Ben had previously completed the height and duration requirements and yesterday finished the badge with a flight from Snitterfield to Nympsfield 68.5km away.
On arriving overhead Nympsfield, he flew back up to Snitterfield for a total task distance of 137km. This completed ‘leg 1’ of the UK 100km gliding diploma.
He completed the flight at a speed of 73kph which, calculated for the aircraft handicap gives a handicap speed of 68kph. This completes the second leg of the 100km diploma!
Three in one flight, Well done Ben!
Congratulations to junior glider pilot Ed F who converted into Stratford on Avon Gliding club’s Astir CS77 today, launching from Snitterfield airfield.
The Astir is Ed’s second single-seat glider type and presents a more complex type with retractable undercarriage and water ballast systems.
Last weekend two of our junior glider pilots converted onto new sailplane types.
First was junior pilot Ben L who, fresh from completing his Silver C in a single flight in our Astir CS-77, converted on Saturday to our LS4 high-performance single seater.
The following day, junior pilot Ed F who has previously flown our K21 and K13 single seater types converted onto our SZD Junior. The Junior is Ed’s first single-seat glider type and paves the way to fleet progression and cross-country flying.
We had four more flying achievements in February this year…
Junior glider pilot Ben L converted onto the club’s Astir CS77 G-FECO which is his first retractable-undercarriage and ballast-capable sailplane type.
John H converted onto the club’s LS4 G-DEMG.
David R converted onto the club’s SZD Junior G-CHDB.
David P re-soloed with us at SoAGC in K-13 G-DCBW.
Well done to all of our pilots!
At the end of February, Stratford Junior Sailplane Pilot Charlie W flew his first solo in K13 G-DCBW.
Charlie was cleared for his first solo sailplane flight by senior full-cat instructor Andy S.
Well done Charlie!
On Thursday 21st February, Barry P flew his first glider solo flight at Stratford on Avon Gliding Club.
Barry was cleared for his first solo flight by senior Stratford full-cat instructor Allan W in K-13 G-DCBW.
Well done Barry!