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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 5/7/15

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Today’s flying was tricky. Climbs could be as fast as 10kts but we were chased back into the hangar and clubhouse by rain once, we got the aircraft back out after an hour and flew again.

A convective cloud-street finally chased us away after 5pm.

…and they wonder why British pilots are expert jenga players…

With the power out at Wootton Wawen, some pilots made their way to the Curry Republic at Henley in Arden to finish the day.convective

republic

restart

notjenga

Flying report 30/3/15

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We made the right choice to fly on Monday and it was a good day with some excellent thermals. Unfortunately we were late starting for various reasons and the first launch was not until 11-11am.

We then had a problem with the winch which further delayed launching. After that the launches were to around 1650′ and we had some good flights. Most people managed to do well although a couple of the early flights were shorter. We had climbs to around 2500′ with good lift, the sun shone for most of the day until the well forecast front moved in around 2pm.

It was a shame we decided to fly at short notice as about half of our regulars were unable to make it. So we only had 12 members on the flying list but all managed to fly. The front put paid to a nice day and so we finished flying at 14-40pm. We had the first spots of rain half an hour later.

A nice day and well worth the effort, best average flight time this year and “we few” all had a good day.

Total Launches……………….14

Best Flight………………….46min. We had a limit of 45 so everyone could enjoy but also well done to Jesal with 41, John H. with 25 and Roger, Chris and David all with close to 20min.

Total Flight Time…………….4hr. 12min.

Average Flight Time…………..17min.

Steve P.

Flying Report 25/3/15

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Wednesday was a good day for us with plenty of long flights. Although we did not get quite the sunshine we were expecting it was still a nice day with no rain. The wind stayed light and was generally from a westerly direction. The T21 came out but what was really nice to see was the K6 of Humph and David out for the first time this year. David and Humph both had good long flights and are well on their way to equalling last years total flight time in the K6.

It was a very busy day and we kept all the club gliders busy, we started flying at 10-30am and finished at 16.30pm by which time it was getting very cold !

Geoff G. and Allan W. had a great flight in the T21 of 40mins and we could only look up at them much much higher than us and wished we could be there with them. Bet it was really cold up there though.

Best flights were by Humph and David in the K6 of 55 and 52 min. respectively and best flight in a club glider was by George S. who had a brilliant 36 mins. in a K13.

Total Launches……………….32.

Total Flight Time…………….7 hr. 29 min.

Longest Flight……………….55min.
..
Average Flight Time…………..14 mins.

Good Flying, Good Company, Good Day.

Steve P.

Flying Report 18/3/15

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Wednesday eventually turned out to be a good day for the time of year after a slow start because of fog and then poor visibility. We set up at the West end because of a N.E. breeze and so we were not ready to fly until around 10.30am but even then it looked like poor visibility and so we did not do the first launch until 11.45am.

Although it looked reasonable from the ground once in the air the visibility was still poor and so we stopped flying to take an early lunch in the hope it would improve over the next hour or so. We tried again at 13.15pm and things had improved considerably and so we continued.

By 13.40pm it was thermic and David C. was the first to spot them with a very good 37mins. in the K18. The thermals were weak but usable with climbs to around 2500′ and continued until about 16.30pm. when Ann P. with Pete F. managed 32min also climbing to 2500′.

It was really good to have Peter F. on site to help out for the day and we kept him very busy. It would have been difficult to get everyone flown without his help, as it was everyone flew and overall we had good day with plenty of sunshine and a gentle N.N.E. breeze giving us launches to around 1400′.

Considering how late we started we did a good number of launches and there were 6 long flights with everyone coming back to give others a chance to try their luck (or skill !). Our last launch was at 17.32pm, we certainly made the best of the day.

As always thanks to everyone who helped to make it a good day and apologies to those who had to wait until late in the afternoon to get a flight.

Total Launches………………23.

Total Flight Time……………5hr. 4min.

Longest Flights……………..38min. well done to John H. and Tony M. also well done to Dave C., Ann P., Steve C.and Phil P.with flights of 37, 32, 24, 23mins.

Average Flight Time………….14min.

Steve P.