MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB

Hello everyone
I’m quoting here from Dave Crowson’s blog yesterday where he said ‘NEWS FLASH; There will be an unusual celestial event Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Wall to wall sunshine, a phenomenon unknown on the Mynd for a number of weeks‘.  So Friday looks like a light northerly, Saturday north easterly and Sunday a very acceptable 10 to 15kt northerly.  After such a long time with very little aviating going on this weekend is a must for going to the club.  Especially as there is the annual Members’ Forum on Saturday evening starting at 1700 (change from what may have been advertised) with the usual excellent dinner afterwards.  (If you want to eat please let Helen or Dave know what you’d like from the menu). The purpose of this forum is to review developments over the last 12 months and what is planned to happen over the next, and an opportunity for the officers and committee to listen to questions and comments from the floor to guide them in the development of strategy for the future.  If you want the committee to reflect the wishes of the membership then you need to attend.  Don’t forget also that there will be a short meeting before hand, starting at 1500 of those interested in helping at either of the two big events at the club next year, namely the VGC Rally and the Olympian Competition.  See you all there.
Your Duty Teams This Weekend:
Saturday:  Chris Alldis (No 1), Dave D’Arcy (TLs), Pete Orchard (winch), Charles Page (LD)
Sunday:  William Brewis (No 1), Walter Baumann (TLs), Pete Orchard (winch), Dave Cole (LD)
Soaring – Chess in the Air
A really interesting article appeared via Facebook this week, shared by the BGA, entitled ‘Does Soaring Have To Be So Dangerous?’.  Originating from America it makes really interesting reading.  I recommend all to have a look by following this link.
Christmas Dinner
The club Christmas Dinner will be held on 14th December.  Please let Helen or Dave know if you intend to be there.  Remember this is when the trophies and awards are presented for achievements this year, and you may be one of them.  Peter Turner, asked me to share the following with you:
Dear members
This year the ‘Social Fund will NOT be holding a Christmas raffle or Bingo to raise funds. Instead there is a wonderful opportunity, at this festive time of year, to help more youth into the air and to enjoy our sport.
The B.G.A. ‘Launchpoint Caroline awards’ have made an appeal for funding to  help to provide financial assistance in getting more Juniors flying and enjoying our wonderful sport. We all know that we must promote the future of gliding and this is a great way to help, to date it has assisted more than 400 youngsters into gliding including several of our own. So we would ask you all to be even more generous than normal this year,  so please dig even deeper into the pocket than usual. A collection will be made during the course of the Xmas meal.
As this is the season of giving,  there will be a ‘FESTIVE’ prize from the social fund to the members. At each place setting will be one numbered ticket and at the end of the meal the Chairman will draw the prize.  Merry Christmas from the Social Fund!
(editor’s note – we are hosting the Juniors Winter Series Round Two on 31 Jan – 2 Feb 2020)
Winter Lecture Series
Chris Gill got us off to a great start last Saturday with an excellent illustrated talk on Soaring in Snowdonia.  It prompted much discussion during his talk and over dinner afterwards about the possibilities of using south east wave and the coastal convergence to make some epic flights in Wales from our own site.  More than 40 people attended.  The next one is on Saturday January 18th 2020 from Afandi Darlington from the Air Accident Investigation Branch.  We all know about the AAIB but here is a chance to find out exactly what they do and how they do it.  Afandi has a long background in gliding (he designed the first winglets for the LS4 which were prototyped on a glider I owned and which worked very well).  I’m sure it will be worth making the  trip to hear him speak.
Photo Caption Competition
Who would have believed it? Two members with exactly the same injury and exactly the same operation on the same day.  I’m sure you will have a suitable caption for this photo.  Let me have them and I’ll publish the best next week.
Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman

Hi everyone
There have been a whole series of outstanding flights posted this week by Chris Gill flying out of Denbigh and into the Snowdonia wave.  It seems to work in almost any direction.  Yesterday Chris was with Neil Croxford in southerly wave then flew again with Adrian Flower and covered about 400kms all together.  Not bad at the end of November. 
Then he achieved a declared 300k today.
Chris is coming to talk to us as the first of our Winter Lecture series this Saturday starting at 1800 hours.  I have heard Chris talk about Denbigh before and believe me he is not to be missed, so make a point of being there.  If you want to eat afterwards, and why wouldn’t you, contact Helen or Dave on 01588 650405 asap.  They need to know numbers so they can have enough food for everyone.  The menu looks amazing including Mustard Salmon, Braised Beef, Burford Lamb and a vege option for mains.

Llanbedr Expedition 2020
Talking of wave flying in Snowdonia we are organising an expedition to Llanbedr from 21^st to 29^th of March 2020. Flying Snowdonia National Park is always a fantastic opportunity offering a wide range of flying experiences; high altitude flights in wave, flights around Snowdon and the surrounding peaks and coastal flying.  Currently there is a limited opportunity with only five glider spaces left or available. If you are interested in taking your glider to the Snowdonia Park, single seater or two seater, please email Nigel Lassetter  to confirm your booking. There is a cost of £300.00 per glider for the expedition period.  Launching will be by aerotow behind the Cosford Falke.
For those members interested in flying the Snowdonia peaks in one of the available two-seaters spaces as P2 pilots, please contact Nigel so that we can start a list of interested pilots. There may also be an opportunity to fly in the Cosford K21 under instruction or for a check flight.  Usually if you fly as P2 with a privately owned two seater you are asked to share the cost of the flight.

Jaca Expedition 2020
Clive Crocker is organising a return trip to Santa Cilia for next year.  It looks like it will span three weeks sometime from the middle of May to the middle of June.  Contact Clive for more details.

Help required for Wenlock Christmas Fayre
A reminder that the club will have a presence at the Wenlock Christmas Fayre on Saturday 7th December. This is an excellent event at which to raise the club profile and sell First Flight Experience flights.  Are you available to support this event with your presence?  As it is a long day, just a few hours from several people makes a big difference.  It is also an opportunity to stock up on Christmas presents.  Please contact James Moore.

Accommodation refurbishment
Those of you who have been at the club recently will have seen a considerable amount of work going on to improve the quality of the accommodation block, including changes to the bunk room.  This is happening because we have considerably increased the demand for our private rooms and they represent a very useful contribution to the club’s income over the year.  But the quality of the rooms has not been as good as we would like.  These improvements will bring them up to a much higher standard.  Many people have been involved and I want to thank everyone for their time and considerable effort.  Future plans over this winter include improvements to the briefing room and bar.

Wenlock Olympian Gliding Competition 2020
I’m pleased to report that we already have six entries for the Olympian next year.  As ever we will need a lot of people to help run the competition properly, safely and efficiently as well as making sure ev;eryone has fun.  I shall be directing the competition and John Randall is the primary event organiser.  There will be a short meeting on the afternoon of November 30th, prior to the members’ meeting, starting at 1500 hours, for you to register an interest and let us know how you think you can help.  We also need some help for the VGC Rally taking place shortly before so if you can help with that please come to the meeting.

Club images
Thanks to everyone who has responded to James’ request for quality images of the club and what goes on in it.  We have had some really high quality images but as I am currently reviewing all of the club publications and media at present I am appealing for more.  I could use images of things other than gliders such as the accommodation, inside the hangar, the bar, the briefings, the simulator in use, and of course the catering.  Please let me have anything you have or better still take a camera with you and take some new pics.  Thanks in advance.

Your duty teams this weekend are:
Saturday:  Neal Clements (No 1), Matthew Cook (TLs), Geoff Dailey (winch), Glyn Macarthur (LD)
Sunday:  Simon Adflard (No 1), Mark Jerman (TLs), Geoff Dailey (winch), Liz Adlard (LD)

Happy landings
Jon Hall
Chairman
MGC

Hi everyone
I had a look earlier at the club webcams and see that the ground is very wet and waterlogged again.  This prompts me to remind you that we need to look after the airfield over the winter months if it is going to be in good condition next year.  As we all know the problem is that if we create ruts and scars while the ground is wet, when it dries up, those ruts can cause damage to our gliders when launching and landing.  So please remember that when the ground is wet, only drive on it if you have to, only use a four wheel drive vehicle, preferably in low ratio, go slow, don’t brake hard and take wide slow turns.  When moving gliders most of the same applies as well as not using the wheel brake on landing unless you absolutely have to.  A bit of pre-planning during the circuit usually avoids the necessity. If you see any damage or divots try and do a repair.  A bit of prevention over the winter may save you damaging a glider next year.

Your Duty Teams this weekend are:
Saturday:  William Brewis (No 1), Mark Jerman (TLs), Peter Orchard (winch), Jon Hall (LD) – no Trial Lessons
Sunday:  Mark Jerman (No 2), Peter Orchard (winch), Laurant Couval – no Trial Lessons

2019/20 Winter Lectures
Our 2019/20 series of winter lectures starts on Saturday 23rd November with Chris Gill, CFI and adventure pilot at Denbigh GC, showing us what a wonderful place Snowdonia is in which to fly gliders.  Starts at 18:00 followed by the Mynd’s renowed Saturday evening dinner.  You don’t have to be a member to attend, all are welcome.  But if you’d like to eat call the kitchen, or need acconmodation call the office on 01588 650206 before hand.  Weather permitting Chris is intending to fly in with the EuroFox so if you need some aerotow practice he is promising to oblige.  However if the ground is wet and we still have northerly winds it may not be possible as his EuroFox has a tricycle undercarriage.

CAP1220: Operation of experimental aircraft under E conditions
The CAA have just published a revision to CAP1220.  If anyone is interested follow this link

2020 Club Expeditions
Now is the time to be thinking about your gliding ambitions for next year.  There will be expeditions to Llanbedr in Snowdonia in March (contact Nigel Lassiter), to Jaca in the Spanish Pyrenees in June (contact Clive Crocker) and to the Borders GC at Milfield on the edge of the Cheviot Hills, probably in October (contact Richard Bennett or Dave Cole).  Its likely that there will also be trips to Gap in the French Alps during the summer (ask Rob Hanks) and maybe even a trip to Ontur in southern Spain (if you are interested speak to Paul Shuttleworth).

Talking of Spain …
Thanks to Mike Greenwood for sending this link about ‘No more two-hour lunch breaks: the slow death of Spain’s menú del día’.

Motor Glider
Don’t forget that if the cloud base is too low for any meaningful training in a standard glider it may be possible to cover excercises in the motorglider.  The cost of a half hour in the Falke is roughly the same as three 4 minute winch launches and subsequent circuit flights.

Wenlock Christmas Fare
Last year the club attended the Wenlock Christmas Fare and sold several thousand pounds worth of Trial Lessons which helps significantly towards paying for our costs over the winter when we do a lot less flying.  We are going again this year, hopefully to do the same, and need help on the stand.  If you can spare some time on Saturday 7th December please contact James Moore via treasurer@midlandgliding.club.  He, and I, will be very grateful.

Bronze Theoretical Knowledge Training
Studying for and passing a comprehensive theoretical knowledge test is an important step for all glider pilots.
Like other clubs, the London GC runs a series of Bronze theoretical knowledge training sessions throughout the winter. London GC has offered access to their sessions to pilots from other clubs.
The sessions will be run on Saturday evenings from 11th January to 29th February from 5pm to 7pm. In addition, notes, links to reference material and sample questions are provided online.
To find out more, please contact London GC at Dunstable. Pre-booking is required.

Meanwhile in NZ …
1800kms at 150 kph!

ONLINECONTEST.ORG

OLC Flight information – ScarlatNorbert-Alin (RO) – 08.11.2019

OLC (1839.64 km – 1728.37 pt – 153.06 km/h)

Happy landings
Jon Hall

Chairman

MGC