MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

Hello everybody,
I hope you have been enjoying the warm weather as I have, even though the conditions haven’t been especially great for soaring.  It has made me think though how important it is to stay hydrated when it is as warm as this, especially when flying.  Dehydration occurs when a loss of fluids like water exceeds fluid intake. Even a minor change in fluid concentrations can result in dehydration. It is, therefore, necessary to drink as you lose it, or else you will become dehydrated. When dehydrated, the human body does not function at its best and judgement and concentration can be seriously impaired.  There are lots of signs of dehydration, the most common being:

1. Your breath may be telling you that your body is running low on water. Saliva has antibacterial properties, but lack of hydration can deter your body from producing enough of it. With insufficient saliva in the mouth, bacterial overgrowth is possible, and as a side effect, smelly breath. Often, dehydration is the cause of bad breath.
2.  The color of your urine can indicate whether you are dehydrated. When you are adequately hydrated, your body discharges clear urine with a tinge of yellow. However, concentrated, dark urine is a telling sign of dehydration.
3. With the body losing water, essential salts such as potassium and sodium also get lost, which alters the chemical makeup of the blood. Loss of water in the brain tissues causes the brain to shrink and move away from the skull, triggering a reaction in the pain receptors located in the meninges. The severity of dehydration headaches depends on the amount of water lost.
4. Without the right amount of water, your body can experience muscle soreness. A 10% performance level drop is quite reasonable in people dealing with dehydration. Therefore, one must stay hydrated throughout the day to optimize performance.
5. Fluids play a vital role in body temperature regulation; the risk of developing heat stroke, due to exposure to hot weather, is increased in dehydrated individuals. Typically, the body overheats after physical exertion, and profuse sweating occurs. Sweating without regularly replenishing liquids can quickly result in dehydration.
6. Lightheadedness and dizziness are associated with dehydration when low blood pressure and electrolyte imbalances are severe enough. People experiencing dehydration tend to be fussy and irritable. In extreme cases, dehydration results in mental confusion and even loss of consciousness.

So make sure when flying in hot weather that you have two essential things organised.  A ready supply of fluids and, just as important, a way of having a pee in the glider.  The more you drink the more you are likely to want to.  I know that it is easier for us men but it is vital that you find a way to sort out your plumbing.  I won’t go into the details here but a quick search on Google or Gliderpilot.net will give you lots of links to follow.  It is hard to concentrate when you are busting, and do remember that if you have a serious accident with a full bladder you can do irreperable harm to your internal organs.  It really isn’t worth it.  Anyway it has just started raining here!

Your duty teams this weekend are:
Saturday:  Steve Male (No 1), Clive Crocker (No 2), Dave D’Arcy (TLs), Simon Adlard (winch), Glyn Macarthur (LD)
Sunday:  Nigel Lassitter (No 1), Charles Carter (TLs), Simon Adlard (winch), Charles Page (LD)

This week
is a course week and in spite of the difficult conditions we have managed a lot of flying.  On the course are two gentlemen who started on our courses in 1991 and have attended pretty much every year ever since.  We should introduce an award for dedication to the course (or cause). The week before was Wood Week and we flew 129 hours from 293 launches, 13 of which were bungie launches.

Rockpolishers
This weekend is the turn of Aston Down to host the Rockpolishers Inter Club League competition.  The Mynd Team for this weekend will be:
Novice: Geoff Dailey; LS4; “PZ”; handicap 96
Intermediate: Jon Hall; Duo Discus T; “KA”; handicap 101 (P2: Tim Brunskill)
Pundit: Dave Crowson; Arcus T; “291”; handicap 107 (P2: Rob Hanks)
Rob Hanks will be the acting Captain for the Mynd.
If you are interested in Rockpolishers more information is available here.

This weekend
At present RASP thinks Saturday is going to be a very good day, especially in Wales and Sunday still good but not quite as good as Saturday.  Looks like there is some soaring to be had in west winds on Saturday going slightly more north on Sunday, both days around 15kts.  SkySight on the other hands thinks Sunday is the better day locally, though both look good for XC, and has the wind lighter at 10kts and consistently NW.  It will be interesting to see how it pans out.  RASP has been uncannily accurate over the last couple of weeks.

Have a great weekend
Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman

Hi everyone
I have become so used to moaning about the weather and the lack of good soaring conditions that now the weather has improved and become more like an English summer I’m finding it hard to think of anything to write about.  But the course this week is full and indeed slightly oversubscribed and they have enjoyrd a great week with flying every day.  My grateful thanks to Mark Jerman for stepping in at the very last minute to provide extra instruction.  Last Sunday was a very good day.  From where I was standing (note standing not flying) it looked like one of the best days of the year.  But more of that later.  This weekend looks eminently soarable with Saturday bringing light northerly winds, should be good for medium cross countries up to 200k.  Sunday looks better with the wind going round to the south and potential for a further 100k over Saturday.  High pressure still very much in charge ofter an occluded front overnight Friday.

Your duty teams this weekend are:
Saturday:  Roger Andrews (No 1), Mike Witton (No 2), Simon Adlard (winch), Liz Adlard (LD).  There are no Trial LEssons.
Sunday:  Neal Clements (No 1), Charles Carter (TLs), Simon Adlard (winch), Dave Cole (LD).

Large Model Show, Cosford
The reason I wasn’t flying on Sunday last is because I decided to go to the Large Model Show at RAF Cosford.  Even though I missed a great flying day I really enjoyed the show and was glad I went.  Steve Male and Chris Harris were both there on the flight line and there were some remarkable model aircraft being flown, some of them almost half scale.  The display by two Red Arrows was impressive even for the real thing and a fleet of eighteen World War Two aircraft all flying at the same time took some beating.  I can highly recomend it especially as if you book early online the £8 it costs includes access to the museums.  I was particularly impressed with this high performance single seat glider and an equally high performnce trailer to keep it in!

Airspace Officer
You will be aware of the increasing potential for poaching of Class G airspace by large and sometimes smaller commercial airports to make their customers’, the commercial and business airlines, lives easier and cheaper.  There is a constant campaign by the BGA to guard against any new applications reducing the space that we enjoy for our sport and we at MGC are lucky in having very little controlled space locally or indeed in most of Wales.  However we have to be on our guard at all times and I’m pleased to anounce, and enormusly grateful to Andrew Rands for willingly volunteering to take on the new role of Airspace Officer for the club.  If you feel you can be of help please contact Andrew directly.

Gap Tallard
Some of our pilots are currently flying from Gap Tallard in the French Alps.  The Arcus 291 is there with Nigel Lassiter, Rob and Fay Hanks and Bob Sharman and Clive Crocker with his new Arcus 18.  Judging by the Facebook posts they are having a pretty good time.

Make sure you get in as much flying as you can while the weather lasts.
Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman

Hi everyone
At last a whole week of sunshine and flying weather.  Wednesday promised to be a very good day with lots of the cross country cohort  queuing up to get some kilometres on the club ladder.  It turned out to be a bit harder than it looked but nevertheless several flights of over 300k were achieved.  The Shrewsbury School camp had an excellent week with lots of flying including the motor glider.  Thanks to Simon for giving up so much time to fly them in the Falke and Paul Fowler for his continued commitment to the school.
Julian Fack has been doing an excellent job of getting our obsolete vehicle fleet sold and removed from site and yesterday the old Range Rover finally departed.  Incidentally over my last few blogs every time I have typed in Julian’s name my spell checker has changed it to someone else I once knew also called Julian Ravest and I failed to notice.  My apologies Julian.
Another club expedition is at Gap in the French Alps.  If you are a Facebook user keep an eye open for posts from Rob Shepherd and Nigel Lassitter.  The scenery is always spectacular.
It seems there are still a few people who have not yet renewed and paid for their membership subscriptions.  Note that you will not be allowed to fly without a paid up membership and that you will not be covered on the club insurance if you are not a member.  If you fly a club glider without membership, and therefore without insurance, any damage to the club fleet will be your responsibility.  Apart from that we rely on membership subs and flying fees to make it possible for us all to enjoy the facilities and the flying.

Your duty teams this weekend are:
Saturday:  Chris Aldiss (No 1), Matthew Cook (No 2),  Charles Carter (TLs), Stephen Alexander (winch), Glyn Macarthur (LD)
Sunday: William Brewis (No 1), Matthew Cook (No 2), Mark Wakeham (TLs), Stephen Alexander (winch), volunteer Launch Director required.

Fly safe and happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman