I made a mistake in advertising the Aerobatics introduction week. This is going to be postponed while we sort out some technical issues.
Please accept my apologies and we will let you know as soon as we can schedule another one.
May 262017
May 252017
Hi everyone, this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future and a few highlights from the last committee meeting.
Trip to Jaca
I thought I would describe the benefits of the expedition. We had four Mynd gliders there – three Duos FZ, JF and KA and Clive’s JS1. The gliders have been averaging 15 to 20 hours a week with a mixture of tasks between 100 and 300k per day. One day we flew the length of the Pyrenees and back which is about 460k. Pilots who have been sharing have been getting about 10 hours a week whilst those not sharing have been getting twice that. The conditions have been such that relatively simple, high tasks can be achieved or, for the more adventurous and knowledgeable, the high mountains have been available most days offering stunning mountain flying. The big advantage to this expedition is having the opportunity to dramatically increase your hours, fly in stunning conditions and learning new skills if you wish. We plan to do a winter evening on the club expeditions (Millfield, Llanbedr, Jaca, competitions) so members can understand the benefits, costs etc.
Club house garden furniture
Dave d’Arcy and volunteers have started renovating the “patio furniture”. We owe a great thank you to Dave and his team for doing this. Watching the Mynd sunset from outdoors on the patio is absolutely stunning.
Access road
Howard, Charles and Tim are beavering away on the reconstruction. You will be seeing material delivered ready for the next phase.
K23 trailer
Rob Hanks has done a fantastic job with volunteers including Marc Williams, see photo. It is almost ready to go, one last effort is all that is required. Please call the office or the club if you could spare an hour to help. If you are an aspiring cross country pilot or want your silver distance then you will need a good K23 trailer!
Going Cross-country?
Land-out packs are now available in the office. Please pick one up before you head off. If you are lucky enough to land in a field however far away, we encourage you to give the pack to your friendly farmer. It contains an invitation card they can send us, so that we can invite them to the Farmers’ Thank You supper, which will be held on 23rd Sept
(No need to buy a pack when you get it from the office – you only pay for their meal if they turn up to the supper!)
Your team this weekend is: Mike Witton, Alasdair Lewis, Stephen Alexander. Bring your shorts and T shirts and sun cream.
Forthcoming events:
3rd – 5th June – Aim Higher practical course
If you haven’t booked on this yet then please contact the office. Its pretty full but if you want to use your own aircraft then there should be space. Also Mark has arranged for some Duo s to be available so there will be seats in those.
3rd – 9th June – Aerobatic Intro Week
Steve Male is running this popular week and if you’ve not already booked on for one or more days, and would like to take part to learn some aerobatic skills and move towards an aerobatic qualification, please do email the office without delay & we will make sure the message is passed on to Steve.
Sat 24th June – Recruitment drive
We must get new members for the club to thrive and this day is a vital part of that strategy. Neal Clements will be number 1 for the day, we will have a briefing the night before if you are around and at 08:30 in the morning. Please can I ask you to volunteer, Mac has done a fabulous job in getting volunteers but we need more, especially at the welcome point. You only have to do an hour, no more, please email the office and we will add you to the rota.
Mac is organising this “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June. The promotion for this is well under way now. If you can help by putting a poster(s) up in your locality, please grab one from Martin. We emailed it out as a pdf to all members recently & would be grateful if you could circulate it to your friends who may be interested in booking a flight slot (for just £25). There will be tours, talks, catering, video displays, so it should give people a really good ‘Taster’ to see if membership could be for them. You can also encourage them to find out more details on our facebook page here.
Here’s how we’re approaching it: “If you’ve always wanted to learn to fly, please join us for a Gliding Taster Day on the Longest Day of the Year. We will be flying from 5am until sunset around 10pm! Bookable flight slots £25 Experience flying over beautiful Shropshire & Wales at dawn or dusk. Discover what gliding is all about:-
Gliding talks & presentations
Guided tours of the airfield, clubhouse and facilities
Meet all the members, staff & volunteers (we’re very friendly & don’t bite!)
Find out if gliding is for you
Special deals & offers available on the day for those wishing to become members
REGISTRATION & PRE-BOOKING ADVISABLE, although you can also turn up on the day & we will aim to fly everyone!
To book a flight slot for you and your family or friends, please contact Martin on 01588650206 or
office@midlandgliding.club
In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members. Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two. It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect). Flying starts at 5am and continues until 10pm. Please drop Neal an email at chairman@midlandgliding.club if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.
8th – 15th July – MGC Wood Week
Roger is leading this year’s Wood Week, which is an opportunity for all gliders particularly those of the wooden variety to get together, admire their beautiful aircraft, and to take part in various “Enterprise” type tasks, either cross-country, height gain, or other fun things like spot landing competitions. It’s always a colourful event, so would encourage you to come along. Equally, if you know of anyone from other clubs who may like to join us, then please let me know & I can email you the poster or further details which you can pass on marketing@midlandgliding.club.
21st July – Glide Britain
There is a possibility that we may host filming team for Glide Britain, who are creating a suite of UK-wide marketing materials & resources, which we hope to tap into to broaden our scope & reach for marketing & promotion. A small part of this includes creation of a short film showcasing different elements of gliding found at various clubs throughout the UK. Please do say hi & make them feel welcome. We may also need a couple of volunteers / characters(!) to speak with them on the day – more details to follow.
5th-13th August – Simon’s Cross-Country Week
Unfortunately we have had to cancel the above.
19th-27th August – MGC Task Week (party on 27th)
If you’re planning on coming, please book in so that we can start to know numbers. And if you know of people who may wish to join us, please do ask for the info/links (being set up at the moment) so that you can share it with them. This year we are going for a different format with tasks being set inside themselves (wait for it). For example a 200 k task may contain a 150 , a 100 and a 50k task. This way any aspiring badges eg Silver can be accommodated in the same conditions as the bigger tasks. More details to follow but book the week now, the fields are terrific, the organisation is even better and you will make significant progress with guaranteed retrieves and a lot of fun.
23rd Sept – Farmers’ Thank You Supper
See above for info. A great opportunity to thank your farmer, showcase the club & build our reputation as generally
friendly folk, all at the same time!
Junior Nationals
Junior Nationals and Two-Seater Training. Entries are now open for the 2017 Nationals and Two-Seater Training. These will be held at Nympsfield from 19-27 August. Anyone can apply as long as their 26th birthday falls after 2017. As usual, two-seater competition training will run alongside the competition. You can enter the competition even if you do not have your Silver badge yet, but you cannot be given a place until you have completed it. If you are not sure whether you will get your silver before the competition, you can apply for both the competition and the two-seater training. The two-seater training course is intended to prepare young pilots to fly a rated competition solo in a subsequent year. Places are limited. Although any worthy applicant will be considered, the majority of successful applicants have Bronze & XC Endorsement completed and some solo soaring time. Applications for both the competition and the training should be made by 22nd May at https://legacy.gliding.co.uk/juniorsentry. Applications from previously unsuccessful applicants are welcome. Questions about the competition and the entry process should be addressed to ukjuniorgliding@gmail.com and two-seater training queries should be addressed to Ed Foxon (edfoxon@hotmail.com) or Andy Holmes (andyh418@yahoo.co.uk).
Committee meeting 12 May highlights
I wasn’t present so the following are extracts from the minutes that I believe will be of interest:-
ATC. The first trips have been very successful, thanks to Paul Fowler for this.
FLARM and radio grant. Dave Wedlock has submitted the application
Accommodation block roof. Work due to start (I believe this is complete now, thanks to Simon Towers for organising this).
Provisioning: there is a problem with overbooking, CFI to address with the office. Steve Foster has been helping re design the flying list.
May 182017
Hi everyone, this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what’s going on & what is coming up in the near future. Neal still is away flying in Jaca, so you have me, Sarah, doing the honours again this week.
LAST WEEK:
Congratulations – To Matthew Cook who, as a result of his success at the recent aerobatic competition, has been invited to Europe by the World Aerobatic Champion to learn from the best. He’s over there now & having a ball!
Committee meeting was held on Friday 12th May – here are a couple of salient points & decisions which came out of it. Neal will no doubt share more as usual on his return next week. If you don’t know who’s on the committee, check the website for their mugshots or see the end of this blog for some.
- SAFETY: Following a recent incident report where children associated with a trial lesson were uncontrollable & at risk of endangering themselves and club members, a decision has been made to have an interim policy as follows: If trial lessons bring children with them, please advise them that “we do NOT allow any CHILDREN UNDER AGE 10 at the launch point accompanying trial lessons”. This will remain in place until the safety officer can fully consider what happened & come up with a reasonable plan for the future.
- SAFETY: There is a reason why the cone is placed a certain distance from the retrieve winch a) The wing could catch the retrieve cable resulting in the glider rotating and a nasty accident. However, an even worse scenario would play out if a glider were to over-run the retrieve cable during a launch and the tailwheel/skid were to catch on the cable – in this situation, there is NO recovery action you can take which will prevent a severe accident or something even worse.
- MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT: Can all those who’ve said they’re available to help at the 24th June Recruitment Day please contact Sue in the office this weekend to confirm the time slots you can cover & in which role (so that we can ensure everyone gets plenty of breaks).
WEEKEND OUTLOOK:
Weather is looking good, with sunshine & the odd shower on Saturday and a fine southerly day on Sunday. Your team this weekend is: Simon Adlard, Walter Baumann, Mike Greenwood, Charles Carter, Pere Orchard, John O’Reilly, Mark Wakem. We have a number of places available on the pre-solo and check flight flying slots – those who book in advance take priority for these slots over anyone turning up on the day on the off chance. Book one of these email mgcbooking@gmail.com & Mark will get you booked in. Places not reserved by 5:00pm the day before may be claimed “First come, first served” on the day.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
Subscriptions
Please, if you haven’t paid your subscription, contact the office without delay. Our club needs your subscription in order to survive and thrive. During discussion at the committee it was noted that we are nearing the end of the grace period, after which anyone who hasn’t made arrangements to pay their membership will be contacted for payment details – if these details are still not forthcoming, they will not be offered a launch until a membership payment has been arranged!
Going Cross-country?
Land-out packs are now available in the office. Please pick one up before you head off. If you are lucky enough to land in a field however far away, we encourage you to give the pack to your friendly farmer. It contains an invitation card they can send us, so that we can invite them to the Farmers’ Thank You supper, which will be held on 23rd Sept (No need to buy a pack when you get it from the office – you only pay for their meal if they turn up to the supper!)
3rd – 5th June – Aim Higher practical course
This course only has 2 spaces left, and I urge you to get your bronze so you can take advantage. I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates. This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice. We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.
Sat 24th June – Summer Membership recruitment day
Can all those who’ve said they’re available to help please contact Sue in the office this weekend to confirm the time slots you can cover & in which role (so that we can ensure everyone gets plenty of breaks).
Mac is organising this “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June. The promotion for this is well under way now. If you can help by putting a poster(s) up in your locality, please grab one from Martin. We emailed it out as a pdf to all members recently & would be grateful if you could circulate it to your friends who may be interested in booking a flight slot (for just £25). There will be tours, talks, catering, video displays, so it should give people a really good ‘Taster’ to see if membership could be for them. You can also encourage them to find out more details on our facebook page here.
Here’s how we’re approaching it: “If you’ve always wanted to learn to fly, please join us for a Gliding Taster Day on the Longest Day of the Year. We will be flying from 5am until sunset around 10pm!
Bookable flight slots £25
Experience flying over beautiful Shropshire & Wales at dawn or dusk
Discover what gliding is all about
Gliding talks & presentations
Guided tours of the airfield, clubhouse and facilities
Meet all the members, staff & volunteers (we’re very friendly & don’t bite!)
Find out if gliding is for you
Special deals & offers available on the day for those wishing to become members
REGISTRATION & PRE-BOOKING ADVISABLE, although you can also turn up on the day & we will aim to fly everyone!
To book a flight slot for you and your family or friends, please contact Martin on 01588650206 or office@midlandgliding.club”
In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members. Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two. It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect). Flying starts at 5am and continues until 10pm. Please drop Neal an email at chairman@midlandgliding.club if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.
8th – 15th July – MGC Wood Week
Roger is leading this year’s Wood Week, which is an opportunity for all gliders particularly those of the wooden variety to get together, admire their beautiful aircraft, and to take part in various “Enterprise” type tasks, either cross-country, height gain, or other fun things like spot landing competitions. It’s always a colourful event, so would encourage you to come along. Equally, if you know of anyone from other clubs who may like to join us, then please let me know & I can email you the poster or further details which you can pass on marketing@midlandgliding.club
5th-13th August – Simon’s Cross-Country Week
This popular week involves a mixture of ground briefings, in-air demos, set tasks, dual & solo flying, and post-flight de-briefs. So whether you are looking to hone your expert skills, or want to get your first Silver distance under your belt, this week is for you. Please book your place now with the office.
19th-27th August – MGC Task Week (party on 27th)
If you’re planning on coming, please book in so that we can start to know numbers. And if you know of people who may wish to join us, please do ask for the info/links (being set up at the moment) so that you can share it with them.
23rd Sept – Farmers’ Thank You Supper
See above for info. A great opportunity to thank your farmer, showcase the club & build our reputation as generally friendly folk, all at the same time!
Sarah marketing@midlandgliding.club
Jaca pic by Julian Fack
Simon Towers – Treasurer
Simon Adlard – Fleet
John O’Reilly – Secretary
Mike Greenwood – Safety Officer
May 172017
Making the most of the bad weather, Rob has been continuing working on repairing and renovating the K23 trailer, including a new axle, and repainting. Still a few more days work needed, it’s a big job, so if anyone wants to give him a hand, I’m sure he wouldn’t refuse the help!
Painting the frame.
May 152017
An interesting day in many guises. For those committed and early up and away a great time was had in north Wales. See Paul Shuttleworth’s day pics at;
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6tb06cv157n0mdm/AAC6y-utOEnmZyqse-ryPu92a?dl=0
Yes that really is the wind farm off of Rhyl. Apparently there was an unrefusable cloud street, however, on turning around and poking back into wind landing on the beach was a distinct possibility. Sadly, on returning back to the shire they found their passage blocked by a wall of showers and dead air which also brought down Rob Hanks who also tried out the Clwydian ridge flanked by the gliding clubs Lleweni Parc and Llantysilio. Others; Mac, SAdlard, Dave Rance tried the south and again were met with showers, but strangely none actually made it to the Mynd although threated many a time. And I out climbed a K8 Harris! (will probably never happen again 🙂 ) A strange strange day.
Can glider trailers really be that small?
Darce.
May 112017
Hi everyone, this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what’s going on & what is coming up in the near future. Neal is away flying in Jaca, so you have me, Sarah, doing the honours again this week. This may be a bit lengthy, as there are lots of things happening over the summer that I want to let you know about!
Last week:
Access road
There has been a lot of activity on the above since the AGM and Tim Mason, Charles Carter & Howard Bradley are getting ready to do the first phase of work (Dates to follow if you would like to help), and have a plan for the second phase as well. More details to follow shortly, after the committee meeting tomorrow.
Trip to Jaca
A number of members are on their annual 4-week pilgrimage to Jaca, Spain at the moment, enjoying mixed weather with some excellent flying on the good days, both in the mountains and the lower hills. I’ll upload a photo below, which may inspire you to join the expedition next year…
Going Cross-country?
Land-out packs are now available in the office. Please pick one up before you head off. If you are lucky enough to land in a field however far away, we encourage you to give the pack to your friendly farmer. It contains an invitation card they can send us, so that we can invite them to the Farmers’ Thank You supper, which will be held on 23rd Sept (No need to buy a pack when you get it from the office – you only pay for their meal if they turn up to the supper!)
Weekend outlook:
Your team this weekend is: Steve Foster, Matthew Cook, David Brown, Tony Deitrich, Guy Hartland, Paul Fowler, Denise Hughes, Glyn MacArthur. Paul will be flying the ATC Cadets who are joining us on Sunday. We have a number of places available on the pre-solo and early-solo flying slots. To Book one of these email mgcbooking@gmail.com & Mark will get you booked in. Places not reserved by 5:00pm the day before may be claimed “First come, first served” on the day.
Forthcoming events:
Subscriptions
Please, if you haven’t paid your subscription, contact the office without delay. Our club needs your subscription in order to survive and thrive.
3rd – 5th June – Aim Higher practical course
This course is filling up fast, and I urge you to get your bronze so you can take advantage. I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates. This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice. We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.
3rd – 9th June – Aerobatic Intro Week [Edit – this has been postponed, so as not to clash with the Aim Higher course]
Sat 24th June – Summer celebration
Mac is organising this “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June. The promotion for this is well under way now. If you can help by putting a poster(s) up in your locality, please grab one from Martin. We emailed it out as a pdf to all members recently & would be grateful if you could circulate it to your friends who may be interested in booking a flight slot (for just £25). There will be tours, talks, catering, video displays, so it should give people a really good ‘Taster’ to see if membership could be for them. You can also encourage them to find out more details on our facebook page here.
Here’s how we’re approaching it: “If you’ve always wanted to learn to fly, please join us for a Gliding Taster Day on the Longest Day of the Year. We will be flying from 5am until sunset around 10pm!
Bookable flight slots £25
Experience flying over beautiful Shropshire & Wales at dawn or dusk
Discover what gliding is all about
Gliding talks & presentations
Guided tours of the airfield, clubhouse and facilities
Meet all the members, staff & volunteers (we’re very friendly & don’t bite!)
Find out if gliding is for you
Special deals & offers available on the day for those wishing to become members
REGISTRATION & PRE-BOOKING ADVISABLE, although you can also turn up on the day & we will aim to fly everyone!
To book a flight slot for you and your family or friends, please contact Martin on 01588650206 or office@midlandgliding.club”
In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members. Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two. It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect). Flying starts at 5am and continues until 10pm. Please drop Neal an email at chairman@midlandgliding.club if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.
Sun 28th May – Bank holiday fly-in & mini party [Committee agreement to not proceed this year, but to consider holding one next year, so that we have plenty of time to prepare & make it a great day]
8th – 15th July – MGC Wood Week
Roger is leading this year’s Wood Week, which is an opportunity for all gliders particularly those of the wooden variety to get together, admire their beautiful aircraft, and to take part in various “Enterprise” type tasks, either cross-country, height gain, or other fun things like spot landing competitions. It’s always a colourful event, so would encourage you to come along. Equally, if you know of anyone from other clubs who may like to join us, then please let me know & I can email you the poster or further details which you can pass on marketing@midlandgliding.club
21st July – Glide Britain
There is a possibility that we may host filming team for Glide Britain, who are creating a suite of UK-wide marketing materials & resources, which we hope to tap into to broaden our scope & reach for marketing & promotion. A small part of this includes creation of a short film showcasing different elements of gliding found at various clubs throughout the UK. Please do say hi & make them feel welcome. We may also need a couple of volunteers / characters(!) to speak with them on the day – more details to follow.
5th-13th August – Simon’s Cross-Country Week
This popular week involves a mixture of ground briefings, in-air demos, set tasks, dual & solo flying, and post-flight de-briefs. So whether you are looking to hone your expert skills, or want to get your first Silver distance under your belt, this week is for you. Please book your place now with the office.
19th-27th August – MGC Task Week (party on 27th)
If you’re planning on coming, please book in so that we can start to know numbers. And if you know of people who may wish to join us, please do ask for the info/links (being set up at the moment) so that you can share it with them.
23rd Sept – Farmers’ Thank You Supper
See above for info. A great opportunity to thank your farmer, showcase the club & build our reputation as generally friendly folk, all at the same time!
Sarah marketing@midlandgliding.club
May 072017
An unbelievably miserable day with low cloud and mist / rain till mid afternoon (and it was cold to boot) – however, that did not stop those present from getting MGC jobs done most notably working on the K23 trailer. Even though lots of good progress has been made Rob reckons there is still a good couple of weeks left still to do. So Silver distance pilots looks like its the K8 (a man’s glider) for you in the meantime.
I was forced to take the picture of Cole’ly, as they said it was his first bit of work all day – how unfair.
Darce.
May 042017
Hi everyone, this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future
Last week:
Access road
There has been a lot of activity on the above since the AGM and Tim Mason, Charles Carter, Howard Bradley with the help of John Warren (an ex member who has very kindly offered his expertise) are getting ready to do the first phase of work. More details to follow.
Retrieve winch
Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the woods. We have now discovered a problem with one of the retrieve winch guillotines and Skylaunch are giving a lot of help and effort in helping us to resolve this as quickly as possible.
MT kit
We have a Shogun! Julian Fack is now being helped by Rob Hanks and Marc Williams to rapidly get us into the position where we have appropriate, reliable, cost effective ground vehicles. The effort that is going into this is immense and we are extremely grateful to Julian for this.
Weekend outlook:
Your team this weekend is: Steve Male, Mark Sanders, Mike Witton, Nigel Lassetter, Peter Orchard, Dave d’Arcy, Dave Cole
Forthcoming events:
Subscriptions
Please, if you haven’t paid your subscription, contact the office. Our club needs your subscription in order to survive and thrive.
June the 3rd 4th and 5th. Aim Higher practical
This course is filling up fast, and I urge you to get your bronze so you can take advantage. I am absolutely delighted to tell you that Kevin has agreed to provide a “practical” aim higher course on the above dates. This means we get the best of both worlds, the theory then followed by the practical after we have all had a chance to practice. We are really privileged to be able to offer this combination this year so get your bookings in to the office as soon as you can.
Summer celebration
Mac is organising this “longest day, open day” recruitment drive on the 24th of June. The promotion for this is well under way now. If you can help by putting a poster(s) up in your locality, please grab one from Martin. We will also be emailing it out as a pdf this week & would be grateful if you could circulate it to your friends who may be interested in booking a flight slot (for just £25). There will be tours, talks, catering, video displays, so it should give people a really good ‘Taster’ to see if membership could be for them. You can also encourage them to find out more details on our facebook page here.
Here’s how we’re approaching it: “If you’ve always wanted to learn to fly, please join us for a Gliding Taster Day on the Longest Day of the Year. We will be flying from 5am until sunset around 10pm!
Bookable flight slots £25
Experience flying over beautiful Shropshire & Wales at dawn or dusk
Discover what gliding is all about
Gliding talks & presentations
Guided tours of the airfield, clubhouse and facilities
Meet all the members, staff & volunteers (we’re very friendly & don’t bite!)
Find out if gliding is for you
Special deals & offers available on the day for those wishing to become members
REGISTRATION & PRE-BOOKING ADVISABLE, although you can also turn up on the day & we will aim to fly everyone!
To book a flight slot for you and your family or friends, please contact Martin on 01588650206 or office@midlandgliding.club”
In addition we want to increase the activity and the interest for members. Years ago we used to run a “dawn to dusk” day and we are going to combine the two. It is fantastic fun, we run in shifts and do “shedloads” of launches (or words to that effect). Flying starts at 5am and continues until 10pm. Please drop me an email at the address below if you would like to help out for a shift, everyone is welcome and I guarantee you will have a great day.
MGC Wood Week & MGC Task Week
These are coming up in the next 2-3 months & you will start to see more about these in the next blog. Again, if you’re planning on coming, please book in so that we can start to know numbers. And if you know of people who may wish to join us, please do ask for the info/links (being set up at the moment) so that you cna share it with them.