Saturday actually proved to be dry for the entire day with the first launch at 0940hrs, half price launches before 1000hrs always sweetens early morning launches, ideal for those require some circuit bashing for training.  As the day progressed it looked as though the day might become soarable, however it continued to tease for the rest of the day with some drawn out flights.  Plenty of launches however, more than 60, with everyone filling their boots and lots of training to keep the instructors busy.

Also, some achievements; Micheal H. re-soloed in the K21, Adam B. flew the K21 solo for the first time and then he was sent solo on the Skylaunch winch.

Then there was Sunday, which proved to be a classic British summer’s day…

I have arranged for two single-seat gliders to undergo Annual Maintenance at Airborne Composites under a local agreement.  The ARCs will still fall to the Club, allowing our Inspectors to maintain 'airworthiness review' currency.  I'm looking for volunteers to help with the following:

- LS8 R3 dropped off at Airborne Composites (Wing Farm airstrip) by the end of Sunday 6 Dec. (i.e.glider in trailer with logbook and aircraft archive).

- LS8 R3 collected from Airborne Composites weekend 12/13 Dec 09.  Discus 547 (i.e. glider in trailer with Logbook and aircraft archive) dropped off at Airborne Composite weekend 12/13 Dec 09.

- Discus 547 collected from Airborne Composites weekend 19/20 Dec 09.

Obviously the LS8 could be collected the same time the Discus is dropped off. 

Any volunteers to do this little bit of trailer driving, please get in touch: carlpeters_uk@yahoo.com.  I can do some but not all and it's helpful to get names against these tasks.

Carl

What a great day.  Challenging weather, a huge turnout by club members and a good result.  Jon T said:

Great soaring weather for September, but it’s October!  Saturday and Sunday were brilliant days, with lots of launches and even more soaring.  Cloud base on the Saturday was up to 4,300ft with strong thermals, the thermals lasted to 1800hrs, under blanket cloud?

 A major achievement, Adam B. soloed in the K13 on Saturday (see attached photo, if someone can help your correspondent attach it), then on Sunday he took the controls of the winch for the first time.  I think he’ll come to realize it’s the warmest place to be over the next few months…  On the Sunday we also flew about 10 scouts in the Barge and K13, they all had a great time.

Also, Al passed his R/T license, although a little upset about the cost… Doesn’t sound like Al.

Saturday was nice, Sunday wasn't.

We have a new motor glider instructor!

Terry Brown flew with our local examiner and is now a Stage 1 BGA MGIR.

It is not easy: well done.

By the way, regular readers will have spotted that, although he has been instructing in gliders for some time now, it is not all that long since Terry gained his PPL.  At Bannerdown we have a rather grumpy tug master who keeps the power fraternity on a fairly tight leash.  The firm guidance involved means that pilots can advance much more quickly than if left to their own devices.  We thus have tug pilots tugging, and MG instructors instructing, with far fewer hours than other outfits.

It's October now (Sat 3rd/ Sun 4th), so slightly damp, overcast, days but still quite a few soaring opportunities.  We shared the airfield with soldiers doing pre-Afghanistan work-up and were able to offer a dozen of them on-the-spot adventurous training.  That is what we are here for.

Thursday 8th was special. Sandwiched in a week of gloom and rain, this was a sparkling day, with fabulous visibility and lots of strong thermals.  Even better, it had been forecast, accurately, five days ahead * so the mid week gentlemen had a wonderful afternoon.

Andy S tried an Astir for the first time, but without the entertaining landing normally on offer.

Best of all, we have a new tug pilot!  Al S was checked out by the CFI and is now towing solo.

* One click link for 5 day forecasts: http://meteonet.nl/aktueel/brackall.htm

Sometimes we are lucky with the weather, sometimes not.  This month's persistent high pressure continues to give mild, gentle days & Saturday's timing was perfect:

A medium level overcast left our trial lesson pupils untroubled by wind or thermals.  Once they had finished, the cloud rolled back, the sun shone, and we had thermals to play with for the rest of the day.

On Sunday, Jim H found what a fantastic aircraft our LS8 is - and bought the appropriate beers.

For some time now, our trial lessons bookings have been running strongly, but we seem to have a lull this weekend: there are none booked at the moment.

If you are a club pupil: seize the chance, come early, grab an instructor & two-seater!

If you are thinking of visiting us for a trial lesson: sieze the chance & click on our lesson booking page.

Even the weather is set to be good.

Charlie's back from holiday, so this weekend (19th, 20th Sep) we were offered wonderful breakfasts and, on Saturday, a magnificent evening meal. (More of these and it will be even harder to un-jam those hangar doors)

Even the flying was not too bad for September: well flyable, fairly grey, but some nice soaring on Sunday.

With apologies to our regular readers, it has taken us a while to get back into a normal routine after the excitements of summer.

It is certainly autumn now:  occasional periods of very nice soaring, but overall cooler and damper.  Thanks to Ian H for the weekend report:

Lots of trial lessons filled Saturday  morning, leaving room for soaring in the afternoon in various club gliders. Welcome back Pete A who was checked out and was flying the K18 in the afternoon. The launchpoint had a slight distraction when Derek involved 8 people to rig the Bijave which later offered a conversion for Ian H  Here's the proud owner and convertee.

Sunday started unsettled with a few hangar faffs and low cloud. Andy S attempted an heroic 50k in the K18 but landed at Upavon: an ideal opportunity for Al S to practice some tugging in the Falke as part of the retrieve. Unfortunately, the day ended with another hangar faff when the doors could not be closed.

Hangar Doors   ... the trap is laid if they are not opened correctly ...

Look before opening; number them 1 to 6, left to right.

Nos 1 & 6 are fixed; we don't touch them.

Nos 2 & 5 are the intermediate ones: start with these and move as far as necessary.

Nos 3 & 4 are the main doors, but, if they have been moved out further than the intermediate ones, they catch, solid, on the way back in.

Left side is the worst; it was doors 2 & 3 which caused Sunday's trouble. There is a cure: insert Steve M or Carl P into the narrow gap between them and push apart. Trouble is, not all of us share their build ......

So here is the deal: when opening the main doors, make sure that they stop just short of wherever you have moved the intermediate ones to.