MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

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

This week.

The things we do for LUV

Your Chair and Roger Andrews spent a day at the CAA in Gatwick with the end result of a full set of paperwork so she is ready to go.  Lets hope we get as much wonderful flying out of her as we did EVV.

CFI

Unfortunately our CFI is going to be indisposed for an unknown period.  Simon Adlard has very kindly agreed to be the interim CFI so please address all CFI related issues to him.

Len Dent

Many members will have fond memories of Len.  He was dedicated to the Club and flying at the Mynd.  He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the RAF and aircraft types from the earliest to the modern.  He recently saw the Battle of Britain film and found a number of technical flaws in the aircraft used in the film.  Show him an elevator or an engine part and he would identify where it belonged within seconds. As they often say in cases like this, he will be missed, and it is true.

Paul Fowler has written the short obituary below:-

Len joined the Club in the early 1970s, when he worked for Bulmers Cider in Hereford after a career in the RAF. He was a full category instructor for over 25 years, Club secretary and DCFI when he assisted running the courses one season with Jack Minshall.  He then moved to Loughton to teach having gained a degree from Sunderland.  He owned a share in a number of gliders including the PIK20D 688 and used to share the journey up from Loughton with the late Roland Bailey to fly at weekends.  Len sold his share in the PIK when he moved to live in Gateshead following his retirement.  He then joined the Northumbria Gliding Club and purchased a share in a K7 along with two other pensioners, whose combined age even then was over 200.  After a few years they took the K7 to Milfield to fly at the Borders Gliding Club and this led to annual Mynd expeditions to fly there, which still continue to be made. Len also purchased a share in a Sport Vega, which he sold a couple of years ago, and he was flying Club gliders until a few weeks ago. In between this extensive gliding activity, Len made a number of trips to glide at Minden in Nevada with Roland and to France at Chauvigny with the PIK syndicate.  

Your team this weekend is:

Saturday:  Mike Witton, Walter Baumann, Geoff Dailey, Dave d’Arcy

Sunday:  Neal Clements, Matthew Cook, Geoff Dailey, Mark Wakem

A plea from the Marketing division

We are looking for good quality in-flight videos to use on our social media pages and website (with your permission) Can be 10seconds or 10mins, doesn’t matter. 20-30seconds is ideal. Also if you take any good quality photos around the club that you’re willing to share, we’d be really grateful. It could be airborne, at the launch point, around the hangar or even inside the clubhouse.  We want to showcase the club and need loads of images and videos to do so. You can send your images to marketing@midlandgliding.club or email me for a Dropbox link to upload them to. By submitting them you give MGC permission to use the content for marketing purposes (credited to you wherever possible). I would also like to get some printed up onto canvases around the clubhouse to brighten it up and give it a fresh look. We may also use them for a 2019 calendar.

Look forward to seeing your submissions and thank you in advance!

Forthcoming events

Trailer Hitches

The South trailer park has been re wired and we will be expanding the electricity for de humidifiers to the North trailer park.  I will provide more information once the kit is installed.

Christmas dinner  9 December

Peter Turner has once again “volunteered” to run the raffle, however we need prizes.  Words of encouragement from Peter :-

“Dear members it’s that time of year when we ask you to be generous again and come up with some prizes for the Xmas lunch raffle. You have been so generous in the past which helps to bolster the social fund to provide the cash for some of those extras that the club budget might not be able to support.”

Can I suggest you bring your prizes along to the members evening.

Winter talks

Denise has worked out a superb schedule for this winter’s lectures. They all start at 18:00 and if we have a speaker then we do ask for a small donation on the night to cover their expenses.  Book the date,  have a few flights, enjoy the talk then have a superb evening meal.

Members evening

November 25 will be the members evening when the committee will present our strategy for the next 5 years and invite your input and approval.  We will present the strategy, the critical issues then a short presentation on the finances, the marketing and membership followed by the fleet.  Please be aware there will be audience participation!   I am expecting quite a lot of members to turn out so I suggest you call the kitchen on Friday and let them know you will be wanting to eat on the Saturday.

January 13 – National Trust.  All of your questions answered (who does own the horses?) and the trust’s plans for the future development of the Mynd.

February 24 – Julian has very kindly offered to talk about Euro Glide with us.  More details closer to the time but I can assure you it is absolutely brilliant and will inspire you.

March 10 – Hugh Browning the BGA safety wizard.

March Expedition 2018.

We have the opportunity to go to Llanbedr next year for the week commencing 10^th March 2018, with the prices the same as last year, £20 per aircraft and £12 per person per day. This is a huge airfield with massive runways and access to Snowdon and the Welsh mountains, but it is quite expensive, we have to pay a one off fee in advance and there is no refund if the weather is bad.

The alternative is to go to Lleweni Park in Denbigh. This has a single narrow runway, it costs a £40 deposit plus £17 per day that you are there, and has a Skylaunch winch and a huge ridge and is a good wave site. We would probably also have access to a tug. It is more difficult to fly from, more difficult to get into Snowdonia but cheaper.

Please email mail@mikegreenwood.co.uk if you want to go on the expedition, and your preference of where to go. If not enough people want to go to Llanbedr we will go to Lleweni Park.

Shobdon events

I am delighted to be able to publish Shobdon’s winter events as well as our own.  See below:-

The next evening will be on Wednesday 29th November, with two topics: 

Choosing a glider and how syndicates work’ – by Rose and Iain.  Advice for members looking to buy their first private glider, covering suitable gliders to choose and effective ways to organise a syndicate.

Venue: Bateman Arms in Shobdon village.

Timings: 7 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

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

This week.

Access road

This week, with help from Charles Carter who drove the excavator, we were able to do some more work which will further improve the drainage from the road.

We will continue to monitor the condition of the road over the coming weeks and will arrange more repair sessions as and when they are needed. Watch this space for future dates.

BGA conference

Sarah did a very well received marketing presentation, this is of major interest to all the clubs and we are leading the pack in some areas.  The conference was extremely well attended and provided a wealth of ideas to help us.

We received an update from the business rates team who are working tirelessly on our behalf.

8.33

Just a reminder the funding runs out in December so if you were wondering whether to claim then you need to act quickly.

Your team this weekend is:

Saturday:  Mark Sanders, Peter Orchard, Dave Cole (we may need a substitute).

Sunday:  Mark Sanders, Denise Hughes, Peter Orchard, Laurent Couval

Forthcoming events

Weekend

Poz is coming!  It is his birthday party this weekend so fingers crossed for good weather for him.

EASA

The conference was quite explicit that the delay to EASA implementation was to ensure that administration was in place and there is no evidence that the conversion will not take place. 

Safety

The BGA is getting concerned about aerotow accidents, I know we are only winch but many of us do goto aerotow sites so I urge everyone to pay attention to below:-

The BGA Safe Aerotowing webpage has been updated to reinforce the need to avoid distraction, and to highlight potential handling problems on tow. We’d be grateful if you would highlight the updated information among your club pilots.

https://members.gliding.co.uk/bga-safety-management/safe-aerotowing/

Christmas dinner  9 December

Peter Turner has once again “volunteered” to run the raffle, however we need prizes.  Words of encouragement from Peter :-

“Dear members it’s that time of year when we ask you to be generous again and come up with some prizes for the Xmas lunch raffle. You have been so generous in the past which helps to bolster the social fund to provide the cash for some of those extras that the club budget might not be able to support.”

Can I suggest you bring your prizes along to the members evening.

Winter talks

Denise has worked out a superb schedule for this winter’s lectures. They all start at 18:00 and if we have a speaker then we do ask for a small donation on the night to cover their expenses.  Book the date,  have a few flights, enjoy the talk then have a superb evening meal.

Members evening

November 25 will be the members evening when the committee will present our strategy for the next 5 years and invite your input and approval.  We will present the strategy, the critical issues then a short presentation on the finances, the marketing and membership followed by the fleet.  Please be aware there will be audience participation!

January 13 – National Trust.  All of your questions answered (who does own the horses?) and the trust’s plans for the future development of the Mynd.

February 24 – Julian has very kindly offered to talk about Euro Glide with us.  More details closer to the time but I can assure you it is absolutely brilliant and will inspire you.

March 10 – Hugh Browning the BGA safety wizard.

Shobdon events

I am delighted to be able to publish Shobdon’s winter events as well as our own.  See below:-

The next evening will be on Wednesday 29th November, with two topics: 

Choosing a glider and how syndicates work’ – by Rose and Iain.  Advice for members looking to buy their first private glider, covering suitable gliders to choose and effective ways to organise a syndicate.

Venue: Bateman Arms in Shobdon village.

Timings: 7 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.

chairman@midlandgliding.club

Committee highlights

The water supply testing has been commissioned

Price adjustments (except courses and accommodation) will be discussed at the December meeting after the members meeting.

Fleet.  LUV is waiting the CAA to tell us how to fast track the registration,  EVV we are awaiting the insurance, Discus will be opened up for sale generally.

Health and safety.  Continual progress is being made on the items, the priority items will be monitored by a separate meeting.

Buildings.  Rob Shepherd has had to resign,  Richard Bennett has kindly offered to take over the task, he will report to John O’Reilly at committee level

CFI report.  There will be a safety review on the 2^nd of December with the regional examiner.

Finance.  the cashflow will be presented at the members meeting.  The business rates will be discussed at the BGA conference by the Chair and Roger Bagley of the BGA rating team.

We still only have 2 signatories for the bank account, getting 3 signatories is now a very significant priority for the club.

1. We are doing tests on one of the main winches to find out what is causing the smoke.

Grounds.  Tim and Howard have done a great job on the access road, we will await the drainage work before scheduling another day.  Steve Middleton will be repairing 120 metres of fencing w/b 13 Nov

Land Rovers: we will continue with the small tanks and re fill at lunchtime if necessary.  Julian wants to use a second Shogun instead of Vitara as it will be more flexible in terms of winch towing

GDPR: John O’Reilly will be producing a set of milestones.

The Sounding, Rasp and the synoptic all say WAVE!!!. If it looks like a duck, etc, etc Shoot it and eat duck.

A rare benign winter southerly with enough headroom to launch gave the ideal opportunity for Nick to complete some final cablebreak checks and get his first solo flights.

Well done Nick

Steve Rudge also managed to clock up more solos and will soon pass that first milestone of being off daily checks (weather permitting).

Owen Elias had his first experience of a real cable break. He has just started flying the launch and it failed only a few seconds after I gave him control!

Lee Thompson enjoyed his first day on the airfield his urge to give Gliding a go rejuvenated by Eddie at the Shropshire beer festival. Only three flights and he was already landing the K21

Nearly Four Firsts For Friday!!!!

Dave