Saturday 2nd February 2013

The field was still rather marsh-like today and the only viable option due to the (strong) North-Westerly wind was to takeoff from the SE hard runway edge and land along ’34 hard’ in the wheeled aircraft and within a few feet of it on the grass in aircraft with skids.

Still, plenty of eager pilots turned out. A full contingent from University of Warwick Gliding Club attended. We had some trouble with ground vehicles but nothing that couldn’t be cured with a large blunt instrument or tow-starting.

It looked initially like training would be the order of the day but in the early afternoon some cumulus began to form in cloud-streets running on a roughly NNW line. The three K13s which we had out began to soar for increasingly long durations.

Ultimately there were two flights over an hour in duration and while no serious cross-country flying was attempted, one aircraft climbed to just a sniff over 4,000ft and perhaps a couple of hundred feet short of cloud base.

In total 35 launches were flown and every who wanted or needed to fly did so. What a lovely day for February!

Tuesday 28th February 2012

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.