MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

The 200k I should have done on Friday

A gorgeous Bank Holiday Monday and also, much to everyone’s surprise, a good forecast for a soaring day – what more could you want. Steve Foster kindly offered to run the day from a No.1 perspective and Simon Adlard also helped out with some annual checks which unfortunately for him took a little longer than planned (I think there was a change of retrieve winch in here somewhere) and delayed him getting airborne in his Ventus. 688, PZ, JEP, 494, 445, 288, and the Turner/Reilly Ka6 all flew and had a nice time of it. Cloud base was only 2k2 above site before lunch but the thermals were strong and local soaring was good with hangliders and paragliders a plenty too. An hour later cloud base was up to 3k and I made my second attempt to leave site and attempt the task from last Friday’s task week of Willersley, Evesham, Leominster, Mynd (200km). Second attempt, because the first one had a Friday déjà vu feeling to it where I ended up very quickly in a field 22k away! I have to say halfway down to Hay I was thinking about just doing the 1^st TP and home as the CU was scraggy and sky a little confused. However, climbs were easier to find than Friday so I pressed on and then connected with this massive convergence which I almost passed by as I wasn’t convinced it went near enough to TP2. 70kms later and almost no turns I was at Evesham (amazing bit of luck) and wondering why I had had no Flarm contacts with other people rushing up and down it. Thought about trying to pick it up again to go home but after turning the TP and looking back for it, strangely it seemed to have vanished! Way home required a lot more effort with some holes to cross and weak climbs but eventually near Leominster I made it to CB again, now 5k+, which allowed me a glide home (yay). 445, 671 and 494 all went to Talgarth and then either home or east a bit then home, well almost. Thanks to Tim for offering to crew and congratulations to Mark for winning Task week  🙂

Darce.

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and give you highlights of the last week and tell you the results of last week’s committee meeting.

Last week:

This week has been task week.  The weather has been disappointing to say the least.  11 gliders have entered which is a good number and we have done some flying but not being able to compete.  This has been par for the course for most other competitions this year.  Hopefully El Nino will have disappeared next year.

We still managed to achieve great things though:-

For many years now we have been suffering with the results of the sheep making themselves comfortable against the hangar overnight and leaving the apron covered in mess.  This makes hangar packing unpleasant and makes the hangar smell.  Howard Bradley has been running a project for some time now to try to alleviate the situation.  The end result is that we are running an experiment this week with an electric fence.  So far the results look extremely positive.  Please help us with this experiment by offering your feedback to Howard directly or to me.

Nigel Holmes  has done a fantastic job for cross country pilots by introducing a landout pack.  The purpose of the pack is to improve our relations with farmers so making land outs nicer and, hopefully, improve recruitment.  Please see the bottom of this blog for details of the pack and how to get one.

Birthday honours

We celebrated 210 years of birthday and 120 years (at least) of Mynd dedication on Wednesday with Nigel Holmes, Glyn McArthur and John Stuart.  A fantastic party and a fabulous cake made by Denise Hughes (see attached photo).

PR

As many of you may be aware Paul Fowler does a lot with the Shrewsbury School, he does a fantastic job and below is an extract from their in house magazine.

“The day started with us unpacking the hangar and wheeling the gliders out on to the airfield. Once out, we were all briefed on the day’s circuit and the likely changes in wind direction. The morning was good, however the thermals had not developed much energy so we flew a simple circuit a few times. We stopped for lunch around 1:15, by which time we were all starving. The Gliding Club’s café was very much appreciated and I think by far the most popular meal was the ‘ham, egg and chips’, which was delicious. After a good morning we were delighted to find some fantastic thermals developing.

After clearing the airfield of sheep and horses (for the second time in the day) I flew in a shared thermal with what looked to be a buzzard following us up until around 3000 feet before pulling out and doing multiple reduced G dives and a spin as well. I stayed in the air for around 40 minutes and struggled to descend in the strong thermals in the end, resorting to stalling and opening the air brakes.

Once I touched down, it was nearly time to go. So after a fantastic day in the sun, we repacked the hangar and left for school.”

Weekend outlook:

The weekend looks complicated and a bit uncertain.  With a bit of luck it will be taskable.  With or without a task we can offer instructional flying and the singles seaters are available.  Why not come along and join in the briefing at 10:30.  If you haven’t been to a task briefing before you will find it absolutely fascinating.

Forthcoming events:

Juniors

The Juniors are coming!!  Great news, once again they have chosen the Mynd for their Winter series.  It will be in February and more details later.

First aid course

On the 7th of September we are offering a first aid course.  This will be run by Mark Rogers a current paramedic and will be £30 a person, for a full course.  Each person will be issued with a certificate which is valid for 3 years and the course lasts a day.  If you are interested in obtaining this certificate then please contact Sian Leavesley  at sianleavesley@yahoo.com to book a place.  We only very occasionally get an opportunity to host beneficial courses like this and places are limited.

Launch directors

The current launch director system was implemented by a previous CFI because of pressure from members regarding the running of the field whilst instructors were flying.  The role is absolutely vital and we are running out because some are moving on to instructing.  Can I ask those of you not in the instructing cohort to contact Charles Page directly on charlesmpage@yahoo.com to apply.  You will be given full training and the rota is not onerous.  In addition you will be able to have priority on the launch list!!!  I cannot emphasise enough how important this is to all of us and to you as an individual member you will find it enormously rewarding.

Motorola radios

As you may know, in the past Alex Rowlands did a fantastic job of equipping our ground equipment with Motorola radios.  These are now starting to fail and the technology of Private Mobile Radio has moved on quite a bit. I am delighted to be able to say that Peter Orchard has taken on board the project to re equip the “ground fleet”.  If you have any knowledge or expertise in this area then please contact Peter directly, he would love to hear from you.  The first milestone is for us to understand what is available that will meet our requirements. Peter is contactable on pete_orch@ntlworld.com.

Farmer Land out Packs

We are introducing a “field landing pack”.  The purpose of the pack is to ensure we have good relationships with the farmers that we meet when we land in their fields.  The pack includes: a Go Gliding booklet, a First Flight explanation and a voucher, a DVD showing the club in its best light and last but not least a postcard which will enable the farmer to claim their First Flight.  The packs are in envelopes marked “FIRST FLIGHT OFFER”.  Upon landing the pilot will handover the envelope and this gives an opportunity to both thank the farmer and engage them with our sport.

To obtain your pack please go to the office and sign the voucher and complete the first part of the envelope. The landing details and the dating of the voucher will be completed at the field landing.  Please can you take a pack and leave it in your cockpit ready in case you land out!

The farmer will then be able to call to book their flight which will be paid for by the landing pilot (at first flight members standard rate).

In the pack is a postcard.  If possible, when talking to the farmer, complete the card and bring back to the club.  If you cant find the farmer then they will be able to post it back.  The purpose of  the card is for us to be able to invite them to a “farmers and locals evening”.  We intend to hold one of these annually both to thank the locals and generate interest in the club.

If you already have contact details of any locals or farmers would you be kind enough to let Nigel Holmes know so we can build a database of local contacts.

Nigelholmes418@gmail.com

Neal Clements

Chair.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Glyn MacArthur, John Stuart and Nigel Holmes have accrued 210 years between them. (I think they mean 70 each). They want to celebrate (or, possibly, commiserate) with club members, on Wednesday, 24th August, at the club house. There is a hog roast, but Nigel needs to have an idea of numbers for this, so if you are able to come, could you please email him at nigelholmes418@gmail.com

NOTE: Hog carving time starts at 19:00, through to around 21:00.

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and give you highlights of the last week.

New member

Ed Jones has joined us, many of you will know Ed as an outstanding winch driver and it is with great delight that we can welcome him as a member.

Last week:

We had an extremely busy course with a lot of flying.  Congratulations to Lawrence Board on his first solo.  Simon Adlard, fresh back from his victorious day at Hus Bos led his cross country course.

Weekend outlook:

The weekend looks really promising.  We may get a post cold front day on Saturday and a building high pressure on Sunday.  Your instructing team this weekend is  Neal Clements, Matthew Cook, Mike Greenwood and Mike Witton.

Forthcoming events:

Task week – Sat 20th to Mon 29th August

*** PLEASE REGISTER YOUR PLACE NOW*** This will help us plan and make arrangements for you all. Task week is a fabulous opportunity to go cross country with guaranteed retrieves,  huge landable fields and tasks set for all abilities.  This year we are making 2-seaters available as well so, whatever your level if you’d like to fly round the task with an instructor or good cross-country pilot, then please contact the office asap. You don’t have to be there for the whole week, if this isn’t possible for you. If you would like to do a task in a two seater would you please let the office know and we can start lining up suitable instructors.

Please can you submit your pictures for the calendar before or during task week. We will judge the best 12 and go to press straight afterwards.

Llanbedr expedition

In March this year we had a fantastic week in Llanbedr flying in wave over Snowdonia. London Gliding Club went to Llanbedr last year for 3 weeks and flew every day. This year they are also there for 3 weeks, and have some spare capacity in their last week, 18th to 24th September. I have negotiated with Dunstable to take 494 to Llanbedr on that week, there are 2 other places available. If there is sufficient interest we can take the K21 again on the same basis that we did in March, that this depends on there being sufficient 2 seaters at the Mynd that we do not reduce the operation there. If you would like to go to Llanbedr during that week with the K21 please email me at mail@mikegreenwood.co.uk  so that we can see if we have enough capacity to be able to arrange it. Ypu can come for part or all of the week.You need to do this straight away as we have to book the places and pay a deposit in the next few days, and we have to pay costs in advance this year, which will be £10 per day plus a share of the aircraft costs.

Neal Clements

Chair.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

A beautiful day, finally, I mean a classic gliding day so we were not disappointed with a 360km variable barrel handicapped task. The Challenge Cup were at the front today and I was in the second wave of tugs so had to get a wiggle on which culminated in me forgetting to pick up my logger from control for a second time! Thankfully Lucy (of Shenington) raced down to get it for me, oh for crew!! So launching commenced at 11:30 and our start gate opened at 12:24, however cloud base was still a little on the low side although lift was a plentiful. I decided 13:00hrs would be a good start time but thought this a bit late for me since I’m a little glider and conditions were meant to blue up and freshen up wind wise, so brought it forward to 12:45. Then the start gate joker played its card and I lost my height and struggled to climb back up when approaching my time  🙁  Thankfully, once off down track I got my act together with some nice climbs, lost my way a little half way down leg 2 but picked it up again going into Cambridgeshire and met up with JF in a nice climb at TP2. At briefing someone asked is it wise to track straight through Mildenhall & Lakenheath as a couple of F15’s can really ruin your day, so it was with some surprise to spot one in the air, thankfully low down, when I was there – nice sight though. After TP3 the sky had a different look to it and then the CU started to disappear which made it harder work. Met up with JF again near TP4 on the way home then was chased in by 494 on the final glide 10k out, not a nice feeling. Hopefully I got them wet when I dumped my water – haha.

So a great flight for me, JF, 494 & FZ with the best Mynd time for the day. KA & 445 also got home so there were plenty of smiles all round. Pig roast followed with 167 tickets sold(!)

Today we have been gridded but it is a day off for me, 445 & KA.

Another difficult day well least for me since I couldn’t soar from aerotow till hitting the ground – I think I was just unlucky. Others had a similar experience but managed to stay airborne in the 25kts wind and random areas of lift. See Hus Bos website for scores on the doors;

https://husbos.onglide.com/current-results.xml?class=ChallengeCup&datecode=684

Apparently the third turning point was under rain when people got there hence so few finishers and so many landouts near it. I managed to beat Mark by 0.9km distance and 3 points, which I’m very excited about (note to self “Must try harder”). The night, however, was even more entertaining with a Mynd meal around Dave & Helen’s caravan and Julian & Meg’s motorhome (think the ‘O.K. Corral’) with lots of the days war stories of doo’s and dare’s and 500pts. And guess what – tomorrow is another 500k day…..

Yesterday was a bit of a grid squat till 1300hrs when we scrubbed due to the excessive wind. So it was a day out on foot or car for ppl. Simon, Mike & I went off to see Shuttleworth (no not that one) the collection of old has been’s (okay well it could have been him) at Old Waldron near Bedford where we passed a couple of glider trailers on the road and had very much better skies. I also paid my respects to Henry Morris (died of a brain tumour aged 41) who’s ashes are scattered there. On returning to site following a disastrous decision by Darcy to take the direct route up the M1 we discovered upside down tents missing wing covers and so on. Jane / Steve Nash also had a very lucky escape as a ladder rose up out of the road and landed on the front of their car piercing the windscreen!

Tasks have been set again today with a high probably chance of launching…

.

Lucky escape

So our excellent weatherman (Hugh Brookes) said it would be a very similar day to yesterday, but colder. He also thought that East Anglia stood the best chance of offering the better weather. So obviously it was a Task B job since no-one in their right mind would inflict another day of 1-2kts thermals and a 200k task. Each day task groups and grid orders are swapped, so today The Challenge Cup was at the front and The Inter-Services at the back which meant we got to start earlier. Again by 12 noon the sky was looking quite flyable so the grid was launched on Task A Alpha(wot?!) most of us were through the gate like a rat out of a drain pipe as already the sky was filling in. I made good progress, but was soon into a large spredout area that I could have negotiated better and then it was a long long glide of nothing to go for but the turn point itself, once in sector I could see a glider turning in the near distance so pressed on and managed to connect with a thermal bubble that got me up and out of the weeds (apologise to Saltby for over-flying them on the low side) from here it was almost like a normal soaring day with strong climbs 3-4kts and 4k5 cloud base. On the way back from March (East Anglia), our eastern TP, there was a great convergence line / sea breeze front that looked to be going to my next TP if picking it up meant a bit of a northern detour, but what a romp this was (finally some fun) unfortunately, that is where it ended and we were faced with another cold and lack luster sky for the final glide in which sadly put me in a field 20k out (bugger). Even more buggering was that 494 completed but missed the final ‘control’ TP by about 100m due to computer screen problems. So a better day for me and 494 are overall 4^th – go Dave & Rod.

Darce.

P.S. Thanks to Mike & Simon for the retrieve.