MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

The Mynd get podiums 1st, 2nd & 3rd at the Hus Bos Regionals on day 2(today). Way to go Mynd! Fran & Jonny Roberts came in a close 4th. JF (Julian Fack) was 1st followed by Mike Witton and yours truly 3rd.  All Mynd gliders got safely back although conditions were so dire KA decided on making use of the turbo, Simon even managed to do the 3rd leg twice! This leaves Mike Witton in overall 3rd place, a fantastic result for Mikee. Unfortunately there are no pictures due to poor light and rain, although Fran did record their final glide in today – so I’ll ask after a UTube link.

Darce.

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

This week.

Vitara gas

Julian has succeeded in converting the blue Vitara to gas.  This wasn’t as easy as we thought and Julian has done an amazing job in making it work so providing us with the knowledge of how to convert others.

Your team this weekend is:

Saturday:  Guy Hartland, Nigel Lassetter, Charles Carter, Peter Orchard, Charles Page

Sunday:  Roger Andrews, Denise Hughes, Peter Orchard, Mark Wakem.

Forthcoming events

19th-27th August – MGC Task Week (party on 27th)

This year we are introducing a new format to encourage less experienced pilots to participate with a real chance of achieving some flying goals.

The new format sees the introduction of “classes” in to Task Week based on pilot’s previous Cross Country experience, as of 1^st June 2017.
There are 3 classes: –

Novice : Pilots who have completed the Cross Country Endorsement to their Bronze “C” but have not yet achieved a Sliver “C” distance flight.

Intermediate:      Pilots who have completed a Sliver “C” distance flight but have not yet achieved either a 100Kms Diploma or a 300Kms flight.

Pundits: Pilots who have either achieved either a 100Kms Diploma or 300Kms flight.

NB: –

For those solo pilots without a Cross Country Endorsement, we will endeavour to provide 2 seat Cross Country experiences, so register your name with Martin, who will maintain a list of interested pilots.

Format:

The format for the week will be that each (soarable) day we will set separate tasks, tailored to each individual class, in the same task area.

This will enable pilots to not only gain valuable Cross Country experience but also compete against pilots of similar experience.

Each class (provided sufficient entries are received) will be scored separately to find an overall winner at the end of the week.

General Comments:

This new format and class structure should provide some interesting Cross Country flying and taken with the usual benefits of Task Week: –

• Weather Briefings
• Task Setting
• Notam Briefings
• Retrieve crews available
• Social activities
• Very very landable fields.
• Will provide an ideal opportunity to have some fun and improve your Cross Country skills.

The entry fee is 25 pounds and will be charged to you flying account upon receipt of a completed entry form.

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!

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Highlights from the committee meeting on the 14^th of July

This was a “deep dive” meeting concentrating on our financial position now that we are 3 quarters of the way through the year.   The full details will be explained at the members evening I promised at the AGM.  At the moment I am assuming that this will be held on the evening of the 7^th of October so please put that in your diary now.  It is your chance to make a significant input to the future of your club.

Other areas discussed:-

Fire inspection due on the 27^th.  This requires us to inspect our practices and installation with a critical eye.

Aerobatics.  The K21 is not fully compliant with the requirements for instructing aerobatics and we will address this.

South end signs,  we have commissioned Steve Middleton to install these.

Airfield rolling:-  the decision has been taken to roll specific launching areas. By initially tackling only these areas of the airfield, we will hopefully be able to gauge the effect on the grass surface over time. Further consideration can then be given to rolling other parts of the field if required. TM and SA to discuss appropriate time for doing work and how it should be done i.e. suitable roller and towing vehicle.

More roof leaks:  the main dining room leaks in torrential rain,  Rob is investigating with the roofer.

Course days are below budget so Sara has increased the Facebook marketing.

Here are some nice photos from Dominic Haughton’s flight last Wednesday. These were taken on his MYN-LAMpeter-SnoWDen_MYN 300 km FAI triangle. All these are from the second leg up the coast to Snowdon.

North to Aberdovey

Sea breeze at Porthmadog

Cadair Idris

Orographic cloud on Snowdown.

Plenty of moisture about after yesterday’s rain, but once the air dried out … it was a super day. Jon & Paul took KA round a 352K task (BRE-MOR-RAG); Dominic did another heroic sortie into Wales, turning Lampeter and Snowdon (300 ish); Julian took Tim Mason down to Westbury, Wiltshire in JF (300K); I did a lap of the Birmingham CTA (362K) in 445; James Moore flew O/R to Corwen.

It was good for wood too! Roger set a 150km task to Carno and Chirk. Bob Sharman did it and tagged a bit more on for good measure; Steve Ward did the Silver/100km double with an O/R to Seighford; Rob Shepherd, likewise, flew the SEI O/R task for a badge bonanza.

We look forward to seeing all these flights (and any I may not have heard about) on the Club Ladder.

Last, but not least, it was a first solo today for Jared Forte.

Congratulations all, Mark

Hi everyone,  this is the regular Thursday posting to let you know what is coming up in the near future.

This week.

Silver

Congratulations to David Brown who flew one of the “modern” silvers and did a very respectable 100K as well.

Junior camp

This week we have been running the junior camp organised by Paul Fowler.  They have had fabulous weather and made great progress.

Taster  day

The benefits of the Open day are coming through now,  we have achieved 2 course bookings, 4 returnees (so far) and we received nearly £2000 in revenue.

Your team this weekend is:

Saturday: Mike Witton, Charles Carter, Geoff Dailey

Sunday:  Chris Alldis, Paul Fowler, Guy Hartland, Geoff Dailey, Tony Dietrich

Forthcoming events

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 I do encourage you to come along.

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.

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.  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
A great opportunity to thank your farmer, showcase the club & build our reputation as generally friendly folk, all at the same time!  Please add to your diary, more details to follow.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

A gem of a day as the weather models had predicted. Jon & Paul (KA) and Dave Crowson (154) flew Bicester-Hay (330km); Dominic (Z19) made a brief foray into Wales before heading inland; Dave Rance (TL) started the jet to explore the wave; Holly, Ben, Alfie, Steve and Tomasz all made excellent progress with their training; nice to see Adam Walker back at the club; Mike Witton was instructing, Charles and Den handled the trial lessons; Orch was out in the Skylark; Dave Cole and Mark Wakem found the wave in FWM; the usual suspects poled the 23 and the 8 around…
…and last, but very much not least …
David Brown flew his Astir to Worcester (58km) for Silver distance, then turned round and flew it back to the Mynd to add the 100km Diploma (Part 1) to his haul – a great flight David – his smile said it all when he returned – huge congratulations!

Mark

PS. Monday seems to have gone away, weather-wise, but still hope for Wednesday – keep an eye on the predictions as the days unfold!

The weather models are currently very optimistic about Sun, Mon, Wed and Thu this coming week – the detail may change, but there’s no smoke without fire so keep an eye on each successive model run and pick your day(s).

I’m on duty tomorrow, so I can tell you that there will be a Task Briefing at 10:30, with a local task set, as well as novice, intermediate and pundit tasks. Silver distance/100K Diploma too, if there is any demand. The task area at this stage looks likely to be vaguely up and down the Welsh border. Do check Notams, as there are relevant notices for Shobdon, Milson and Brecon tomorrow. I’m sure Dave will offer a similar service during the week, if you ask him nicely!

See you there, Mark