MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB
NEWSLETTER

Number 84                                                                                  March 2000

CONTENTS

Chairman’s Contribution

CFI’s Bits

How to Win Trophies

Tow Lines - Good-bye G-CMGC?

The Neill Trophy

Mapping For The New Millennium - CAA VFR Charts

On Getting Back

AGM

Millennium Musings

Dinner Dance

From the Flying Field

Rockpolishers 2000 Inter-Club League

Canopy Care

Chairman’s Contribution

Julian Fack

The CFI’s notes in this issue are optimistic, and I am encouraged by hopeful signs at the club.  After poor weather during the last quarter of last year, which was the first quarter of our new financial year, 2000 has started well.  There has been some good weather, and, as usual, members have responded by flying, some intrepid souls having gone cross country in thermals already.

By the time you read this the course season will be almost upon us, when full seven day operations will resume for the season.  We will all be turning our thoughts to thermal soaring, cross country tasks, badge flights and so on.  Please help these positive thoughts to become reality by remembering that some of us have had a few months with not much flying, so take care and make sure that you are in check.  It all helps to make a safe and enjoyable transition to regular flying in the summer.  Better still, why not keep flying through next winter?

Colin Knox is making an outstanding job of the Roder winch re-build, although re-build is totally inadequate to describe the emergence of what in effect is a brand new winch.  Please take a look next time you are near the MT workshop, it is well on the way to being finished.  In recognition of the work, which is well beyond the call of duty for a club engineer, it will be known as the “Knox Winch”.

Another member who is making a difference is John Roberts, who has provided and installed, free of charge, the new ceiling tiles in the dining room as well as new reflectors for the lights.  Things like this make a tremendous difference to the ambience of the clubhouse, John has provided us with a lift just when we needed one the most, we are all in his debt.

I look forward to seeing many of you very soon, with both the AGM and the Annual Dinner coming up during the next month.  As some of you are aware, the winter is when Meg and I are busy competing in car trials at weekends, so I have not been around as much.

Wishing you all an enjoyable and safe soaring season, I remind you that you can contact me at any time either by leaving a message on 01426 954 208 or by Email:  jfack@mcmail.com

CFI’s Bits

Nick Heriz-Smith

It seems as though the soaring season has started early this year, Sunday 13^th February saw an LS4 and a Pegasus out Welshpool way and the Duo Discus in a field down by the river Wye!  Wonderful stuff, lots of private owner flying this year would certainly help kick the gloom and doom rumours into touch.  Just a reminder though, the poor winter season will have left most of us pretty rusty, so set yourself some local flying exercises to get back in tune before you set off on task.  There are lots of different things you can do, any instructor will advise or demonstrate exercises for you, just ask.

Stage Cards

Have your stage cards with you when you go flying.  We will be checking the annual returns on the back of all cards.  Everyone should have this box signed off by now to show that you have had your annual checks done.

Stop Signals

There was some confusion and a little tension on the airfield recently.  On two separate occasions, incorrect stop signals were given and therefore not understood.  Hard to believe, but true and potentially dangerous.  The stop signal is deliberately simple and unlike any other:  face the person or people you are trying to attract, put one or preferably both hands above your head, palms forward and shout STOP.  If it is safe to do so, move towards them and continue doing this until you are noticed.  Do not complicate the issue with other hand or arm signals.  When it is safe to do so, go over and explain why.  Do not be afraid of making a false alarm, a slight delay is better than an accident.

South End

We are floating in on our approaches again folks!  Don’t ask me why we do it, it’s always this time of year, so it must be lack of flying.  It is dangerous to float, nose up over the high ground at the top of both these strips.  When you catch your tail wheel or skid on the ground up there the nose of your glider will be thrust down and without enough flying speed you will not be able to stop it smashing into the ground.  We have wrecked too many gliders this way which is why we have the threshold markers well into the strip.  With good speed control you will not overshoot if you make a normal half airbrake approach using the threshold markers as your reference point.  If in doubt, seek out an instructor before one seeks you!

Discus Syndicate

Possibly a bit premature, but these newsletters don’t come round that often.  I already have a good list of members wanting to be part of the Discus syndicate .  The main difference this year will be normal insurance allowing other club members to fly it.  Last year the Discus was a success, this year with club flying added, it will be more so!  Anybody interested who has not already done so, let me know.

Good Flying Stats

To end on a positive note, in January this year we had more private owner launches than we have had for five years and the club fleet hours are the best figures since 1994.  It strikes me that a really pleasant way for us all to help the club thrive is to try and regularly do better than the monthly average.  To this end I will post these averages on my board, and ask Janet to keep a running score.

Good flying to you all.

How to Win Trophies

John Parry

Please remember to record your cross country flights and height gains in the blue cross country record book.  This is the definitive source we use when it comes to deciding who has won trophies during the year, so if you have not written in that book you will not win! 

Tow Lines - Good-bye G-CMGC?

Paul Stanley

As many of you may be aware at the last committee meeting there was discussion of disposal of G‑CMGC.  In subsequent conversations which I had with the Chairman and various committee members it seems that they would regard such action as precipitate.

The problem as I see it is one of perception of the usefulness of having an aerowtowing facility and also of cost.

Taking the second issue first it is my belief, reinforced by my experience as tug master in a year of record productivity that the way in which the tug is accounted for is inefficient and inaccurate.  On trawling through the log sheets I find a great deal of towing which does not appear to have received income or had due income attributed.  By remarkable coincidence the tug ‘losses’ matched the club losses in the draft accounts.

It would seem that even though this asset is depreciated to the tune of £2664 this year there is no provision for an engine fund.  Partly for this reason and partly because it is deemed efficient in accounting terms, the £8000 costs of engine betterment which we have incurred are to be attributed as a loss in the year prior to which they were carried out or paid for.  Again this is apparently in the cause of accounting efficiency.

The engineers and aircraft operators who I have spoken to over this issue seem to regard it as very unusual practice not to defray a major expense such this over a number of years.  Again in the view of those I have spoken to, several thousand pounds will have been added to the value of the asset and several hundred hours of life added to the engine.  In general Pawnee engines typically last 1200-1300 hours whilst in towing service, though there are occasional 1800 hour exceptions.  None reach their TBO (Time Between Overhauls) and ours certainly wouldn’t have.  It had 766 hours at the time of the rebuild.  We now have an engine which will at least reach its TBO (2000 hours) and may well be granted an extension.

On the up side we did a record amount of tows last season and in my view were within a few hundred pounds of breaking even before depreciation is taken into account.  Over half the tows were in excess of the £15 minimum and the average charge per tow was £16.40 and this includes a fair amount of average-lowering off tow flying.

It is my belief that we need to increase the per minute charge by 10% and the minimum to £18.  According to my calculations this would give us a break even point of around 700 tows.  I think that it is unlikely that we will exceed 600 on-site tows in the average year.  In any case I think that we need to create a surplus, so I would propose that we have a target of 250 off-site tows and tow equivalents per year.  This should create an excess of around £1000 per year.  We have had approaches from two clubs regarding using G-CMGC in recent times and it should be relatively simple to take on the odd competition.

And so to the usefulness element of my argument.  When the proposal to dispose of G-CMGC was first mooted I emailed the tug pilots for their response.  I received a number of impassioned pleas from the glider pilots within them, and there was me thinking they had no souls!  Here is an extract from one of the more printable:

“You know my position on flying the thing:  I do it primarily because I want to have the tug there to launch me.  So I will look at it from the point of view of a club glider pilot and tug shareholder.  I put up the share because I wanted a proper aerotow facility, to match the excellent winching and unique bungey facilities we already have.  I fly old and new gliders and I want the launch appropriate to the sort of flying I’m doing on the day.  My time is always limited and whilst getting out of the ridge into wave after an hour’s endeavour is a great satisfaction it is also a pain in the proverbial.  Life is too short.  I love a half hour on the ridge or a scratch away in thermal from a winch as much as the next person (especially when in my 1951, 28:1, beautiful but relatively cheap lady, ahead of all the expensive glass!), but I also want the opportunity to be dropped with a good chance (often in the same beautiful, mature, lady) in wave (or thermal or hill) lift from an aerotow when the occasion demands.”

I withhold the name of the author as it might also reveal the identity of the ‘mature lady’, to his eternal regret... 

The tug gave us about 6% of our total launches last year.  Take out the course launches and that figure will more than double.

The tug gives us launches that the winch can’t.  The tug drops us off in lift even if it is away from the hill, takes us higher, allows us to do aerobatics, allows cross country starts with water and less risk of difficult cable breaks, allows us to be dropped off in wave, allows us to get into thermals on days when you can’t get away from the winch, clears us for aerotows for when we go to other sites or competitions, allows us to be retrieved.  The winch can do none of these things.  The tug also gives us launches when the winch is unavailable, as it was last year.

As far as alternatives go, in spite of the fact that I wrote an extensive paper which was presented to and accepted by the committee as to why the option of a multiple use power plane is a non starter, few seem to have read the whole text which is in the ‘Notices to Tug Plots’ folder in the clubhouse.

I offer the following extracts in case you have not seen this:

Robin DR400

In their favour they are quite pleasant to fly and fairly economical in terms of fuel.  Such a plane would be popular in terms of a ‘going places’ power plane, Le Touquet and the Scillies being possible in one hop of under 2 hours.

On the downside, a fairly ratty one costs around £50k with a goodish example turning in at around £70k.  Delta Hotel at Lasham has all the bells and whistles and topped £100k.  As a tug they do not climb particularly well, so any more than light winds from any quadrant round from south to east would be out and I suspect that towing a two seater out to the west would serve to keep the pilot entertained.  A two bladed propeller would be very vulnerable to damage and would private owners want a four blader?  They aren’t very good in cross winds either.

Rallye 180

Pros - they are cheapish to buy though you wouldn’t want an example costing less than £25k.  Fairly easy to fly though stick loads are quite high.

Cons - they suffer from corrosion.  Shobdon had to have theirs substantially rebuilt last year, that’s why they were hiring our Pawnee.  Climb rate and propeller vulnerability as for Robin, but worse.

Super Cub 180

Again cheapish to buy though you would still have to pay in excess of £30k for a good one.  They are pleasant to fly, though hard work to tow with (20+ cranks of the trim handle from full back to full forward, poor visibility in turns, tricky on the ground).  Added to this they are very noisy, for this reason it’s always the last tug Lasham get out and the first they put away.  They also eat cylinder heads.

At the end of that paper I offered the following observations:

I would say that as a club then we really need to think of the aerotowing as a strategic asset.  It seems to me that we are moving to a situation where we have an increasing number of members who are looking for a launching facility which offers them easily accessible quality flying.  One testament to this is this size of the private owners’ trailer rack which has probably and I’m sure entirely coincidentally, doubled in size since Condor days.

I agree we have to do more to help the tug break even but advances have been made in the last year which need to be consolidated and built on.  In my view we are entering a new era in terms of the amount and quality of flying that members expect.  It enables forms of flying which would otherwise elude many.

I regard the latest proposals to syndicate a tug as a diversion at best which has not been thought through.  Were these proposals to proceed we would have a worse service which would almost certainly not be as safe.  The lack of a suitable alternative is only one part of the equation.  Personally if I were going to start a power syndicate I’d be getting a Pitts Special.  Hold on, I’ve just had an idea....

I think that we need to nail these debates and develop a permanent agreed operating strategy and accounting system.  Clearly the current situation cannot continue to prevail but I hope that I have demonstrated that we are within striking distance of not only having what in my experience is one of the best aerotowing facilities available but also of making it pay.

You need to consider whether you wish to belong to a progressive club which is equal to or better than others in terms of facilities offered and soaring potential explored.  Personally I am much better suited to sitting in a glider or tug cockpit than (re)counting beans.  Please come to the AGM and make your views known so that we can all get on with the business of flying across the most beautiful part of these islands with safety and ease.  Which is surely what it’s all about?

The Neill Trophy

Keith Mansell

The Neill Trophy was presented to the club by ‘Uncle Bob’ (Bob Neill senior) in 1953 which was the year in which he became chairman of the club.  The trophy itself is of conventional ‘cup’ design some nine inches high (excluding the plinth).  It is awarded each year to a pilot new to gliding who is adjudged to have made best progress during the year.  Usually the recipient is one who has progressed from the ab-initio stage and gone solo during the year.

It was alternatively known as the ‘Ab-initio Cup’.  Many of its winners have gone on to be stalwart members of the club but occasionally a pilot having won the cup would before long, fly in a very undistinguished manner and so attract the CFI’s wrath!

Indeed when I was CFI my deputy, Mike Randle (whom I met again recently at the BGA’s AGM) suggested that we take a sledgehammer to the cup because winning it seemed adversely to affect the flying of some pilots.  (Older members will recognise that explaining such vandalism to Uncle Bob would have merited the Victoria Cross.)

Looking through the list of Neill Trophy winners I note that  the first winner was John Harnden in 1953.  John later became the club’s Vice-Chairman as well as serving for many years as course secretary.  The 1957 winner was Ric Swancott whose son, Warwick, was the 1977 winner.  In 1958 Margaret Price became the first of the four lady winners to date.  Margaret must have been superb because she beat an absolutely outstanding male candidate who became CFI three years later.  Margaret was prettier as well.

In 1959 Bill Inman won the trophy despite having had polio and being confined to a wheel chair.  The 1960 winner was Phil Strickland who after his retirement lived on site and helped the club in so many ways.  In 1962 Ron Hayes won and went on to serve the club firstly as Secretary and then as Treasurer.  In 1968 John Tolley won, later becoming an instructor and a committee member.  Thirty-two years later he is still flying with us.  The 1976 winner was Steve Allsop, a future CFI.  More recent winners have included Paul Shuttleworth 1987, Gordon Kerr 1988,  Ann Parry 1990 and Colin Knox 1995.  The only double winner (how did that happen?) was Andy Holmes 1993 and 1994.  Andy of course won the Royal Aero Club’s Rolex Trophy for 1994 and is now training to be an airline pilot.

Let me hasten to say that I feel sure that none of those I have mentioned would have caused Mike to reach for his big hammer although he might have been tempted had I won in 1958!

Mapping For The New Millennium - CAA VFR Charts

Paula Eversfield, CIK CAA VFR Chart Editor (PPL, IMC)

The current UK CAA VFR charts have proved to be successful and popular products, however our aim at the CAA is to strive continuously for improvements to aid the user by improving clarity and to promote safe VFR flying.  On all UK CAA (pre-2000) charts, Controlled Airspace is depicted by a line (dashed, dotted or solid) matching the appropriate controlled airspace, which is then accompanied by a blue tint over the whole area.  The new symbology will remove the blue tint;  instead the boundaries will be enhanced by the addition of a banding tint along the outer edges.  The use of an additional colour i.e.  magenta as well as blue will indicate to the user the distinction between Class A airspace and the rest.  At the same time, the CAA has taken the opportunity to review the content of its own aeronautical charts in total. 

So apart from the disappearance of the blue tint for Controlled Airspace and the introduction of a new strategy, what else will you notice?  By maintaining the principle set by ICAO of using magenta for areas or features to be avoided and blue for advisory information, a number of colour changes will be seen.  For example you will find a colour swap for aerodromes i.e.  magenta for military and blue for civil.  ATZ will change to a magenta tint with a dotted boundary;  MATZ, although remaining blue, will now have a matching blue tint.  Isogonals and parachute DZs will change to blue, as will gliding, microlight and hang-gliding sites.  AIAA and ATSU will be shown in blue and both will feature new symbols.  Controlled Airspace from the surface will also catch the eye, as this will now be shown with a magenta tint over the whole area.  Other than colour changes you will also notice that boxed text information for nav aids, VRPs and aerodromes will have white backgrounds in order to improve legibility.  VOR compass roses have been enlarged and will feature a north arrow to the VOR symbol and extended 30-degree lines.  And finally, gone is the blue coastal band, replaced with a total sea tint as used on 1:250K VFR series. 

This briefly is a summary of what to expect from the new specification next spring, but what were your thoughts of the ‘Trial’ chart issued this summer?  Copies of the ‘Trial’ chart were distributed to all licensed aerodromes, clubs and associations like PFA, AOPA, BHPA, EGA, etc, as well as to individuals.  Unless you spent the summer on another planet, news of the impending changes should come as no surprise!  From the feed-back received, 74% approved of the changes, adding additional comments wherever necessary, 24% gave positive views for consideration, neither approving nor disapproving and 2% disapproved outright.  Many people stated their appreciation of being given the opportunity to comment, although some CFI’s were apologetic for the poor response from their own particular clubs.  Many found the ‘Trial’ chart clearer to use and more logical in its use of symbology, particularly with reference to the depiction of airspace.  A few (very few I’m glad to say) asked, “Why change what users are used to?” To this I can only answer to you as pilots within the GA community, that I am aware of your need for accurate and legible charts, and to this end the CAA will continuously strive to improve the content and presentation of the VFR chart series.  As the Editor, I appreciate the fact that the VFR charts, particularly the 1:500K series still appears to be cluttered with information.  Despite this, it still does not stop the flow of requests I receive to add more and more detail;  for example, to add more frequencies, Morse code for nav aids and ICAO codes for aerodromes, to quote just a few. 

We (yes I too use the charts!) all appreciate the need to research and plan our flying trips and should not expect to see everything on the VFR charts.  Therefore in the interests of safety and legibility, let us not turn this most valuable flying aid into a pre-flight planning document. 

This article is abstracted from the Royal Institute of Navigation General Aviation Navigation Group Newsletter, and is reproduced by kind permission of the CAA.

On Getting Back

Ann Parry

Soon after the Lasham flight with Paul Stanley the Pegasus was back in action, and I flew novice in Rockpolishers at the Mynd on a windy weekend.  I managed to leave the site on task, and after a short distance the weather changed, I couldn’t figure it out and ended up in my first field of the season.  The next day was too challenging for us novices, and to my surprise this modest flight (37 km!) won the weekend for our class.  Then came a bad patch, when I was frightened of leaving the airfield.  I tried, setting out twice one day in June on a 300 km.  Which means as I turned miserably back to the Mynd, having to climb to get home, I told myself firmly that my task was in the other direction and what was my problem?  I set off again towards the Clee hills, but wasn’t any happier, and as I do this for fun there didn’t seem any point in carrying on.  I flew home and landed.  “What’s the problem Victor Papa?” called John Stuart over the radio.  “Only me”, I answered.  Another flight a few days later and I couldn’t persuade myself to turn Shelton water tower, out in a little blue hole away from the comfort of the clouds and lift.  I concluded I’d better deal with whatever the problem was.  So I paid it some attention, and magically, two days later, was able to fly away from the Mynd on a gorgeous midsummer day, flying wherever my fancy and the energy took me, returning from Presteigne high, fast and happy.  Maybe it would be possible after all.

Then Simon Adlard  invited me on a lead and follow one weekend in July.  An offer not to be refused, and just what was needed.  We planned a 100 km triangle and set off.  When I’ve tried following other gliders before they have disappeared as soon as I blinked.  I discovered I had to speed up as the Janus got smaller, and to watch carefully as it got bigger again, and how to join the thermal as he turned.  There wasn’t much spare brain capacity for also noticing where we were.  We were soon halfway round, near the Shobdon ridge.  I wondered why Simon wasn’t heading for the obvious clouds above the ridge, instead flying towards the more open sky to the south.  Well, he knew best, my duty was to follow.  We were soon grovelling and scratching for lift, falling out of the sky.  This is when I discovered we were not in radio communication, though it was fine at the start.  What to do?  Alone, I would be picking a field and probably landing in it.  Maybe I could get to Shobdon?  Simon was circling a little distance away, but lower than me, so I wasn’t about to leave my peculiar scrap of a thermal.  Then I climbed a bit, the thermal lopsided despite my best centring attempts, and Simon flew over.  My flush of pride didn’t last long as he turned below, I lost the lift and he flew deliberately towards the ridge and the good looking clouds there.  ‘Oh heck, I’m meant to be following him, I can land in a field if I have to, there are fields, just get on with it’, I thought.  Levelled wings and followed, to the cloud marked by a glider near cloudbase.  What a relief to get climbing again.  On my own I would have followed the cloud street home, but we still had the second turning point to do, which was easy, returning to the cloud street.  I would probably have stopped to climb onto final glide, but Simon shot off under the street, I followed, and rapidly realised we would easily get home without any more turning.  This is when I relaxed, flew out to one side and sped up so we could fly alongside each other, racing home.  Thank-you Simon.

What next?  A few flights later, a holiday crewing at the Northern Regionals and then it was our Task Week.  The year before I had not managed to complete any of my cross countries, landing out several times, including my one 300 km attempt.  At least I flew 250 km before I landed.  Thus I was delighted in Task Week to complete three of the four tasks I attempted, especially as I had no crew.  The one day I did have crew (thank-you Liz and Alan Sparrow) was the day I fell out of the sky before the first turning point.  But mostly memories from the flights with Paul and Simon helped me keep my wings level and fly on, rejecting poor lift, as when I flew home from Bromsgrove on the first day.  In the past I would have been picking fields, but I just carried on thinking I could reach Wooferton, I knew there were fields there, and then it seemed possible to get to Ludlow, at least it would shorten the retrieve.  At Ludlow I had a field picked, but wasn’t yet at circuit height so thought I would try the wooded hill as a last chance and found a touch of lift which gradually lifted me, drifting towards the Mynd until I had to decide what to do, stay with my field or carry on?  A beautiful, solitary cloud at Onibury tempted me, and remembering what Simon had said about progressing when low I set off above landable fields, arriving to find a glorious climb to final glide and above.  I got home with far too much height, but who cared, I hadn’t thought I would get back.  Later, studying the map and my flight record, I was amazed to see how far I had travelled between the last two decent thermals.

After teasing from Denise Hughes about how high I was when finishing I decided to get a briefing about final glides, which Paul Shuttleworth gave me while I waited in the aerotow queue the next day.  This would involve using the John Willy, something I’ve never bothered with before, and thinking about the final stages of the flight before I took off.  On this flight the final glide would start around Ironbridge somewhere.  Well, it worked.  Near Ironbridge the calculator told me I needed another 400 ft to get home with a safe circuit.  As the sky had been working fine, I pressed on, assuming I would pick this up somewhere soon.  In fact it had all changed, and the good lift disappeared, or I was flying round it.  This brought me to the NE end of the Mynd at the sort of height I would never normally be there, and I began thinking of flying straight in, without a circuit.  But the hill and Church Stretton valley did look intimidating, and there was more than a breeze blowing, so when I bumped into a thermal I took 300 ft as now instructed by the John Willy.  Then I heard Dominic Haughton calling five minutes for a straight in finish.  Looking down I could see him well below me.  We had started together, so this was exciting for me, as the previous day he had been 30 minutes faster than me.  What fun to race him home to my best approach and landing in ages.  This was the day I realised by the few gliders already parked that I wasn’t last home.  How lovely to potter round, cleaning my beautiful glider, parking her for the night, watching others come home and trailers going out and exchanging stories with the other returned pilots.

Then came my back-to-beginner-mode-day with field landing.  Why on earth didn’t I keep flying with John Warren to the obvious cloud?  John got back to the Mynd, completing his first  competition task.  Liz and Alan went home the next day, and I got back again, this time on a task which had cloud streets like motorways and gliders zipping up and down them.  Not all in the correct direction, it turned out Paul Stanley and Jeff Rowson in the Duo did the task the wrong way round, so when they got curious and learned their mistake they did the task again the right way.  I remember starting and finding Nick Heriz-Smith overhauling me, we were heading for the same cloud where we discovered Iain Evans already circling.  I knew there was no way I could keep up with these two, but watched to see which way they went, oh good, that was my plan too.  Though I didn’t see Nick again the maggot race showed we were in fact together to the first turning point, where there was an inviting cloud street to the Malverns.  Here I dithered, looking for a climb before the cloud street which crossed the here-be-dragons ground round Bromyard.  After wasting time to no effect I set off for the street, which scooped me up satisfactorily.  Round the turning point after a crowded thermal, more and more gliders arriving in it as I climbed, and off home under those cloud streets.  Encouraged by the way David Rance just set off across the blue hole the street ended in at the Mynd, I followed, still trying to compute final glides thinking I had to climb, but in fact it was alright, home again.

The season finished for me with a memorable flight on the best day of Simon’s September course at the Mynd which I gate-crashed.  This took me the other side of Powis Castle, looking at the Welsh mountains and flying up the hills towards Chirk, seeing Lake Vyrnwy as entirely reachable which before has seemed so remote.  The mountains were no longer blue and distant, but all sorts of glorious colours and lovely to behold.  Who needs to trek to Scotland when all this is on our flying doorstep? However John and I and the Pegasus did set out for Aboyne a week later on a long-planned holiday which didn’t turn out as we expected, but that is a different getting back story.

Millennium Musings

Debbie Bilham

A few weeks ago, the year component of the date incremented and some digits toggled to ‘0’ bringing about a massive - and very lucrative - panic by the computer industry, the biggest fillip to the fortunes of the pyrotechnic industry since Guy Fawkes tried to apply a little feng-shui to the Houses of Parliament, and an expensive gazebo in Greenwich.

I cannot guarantee to keep politics out of this write up, after all this is ‘New Labour’s Millennium’ isn’t it?  However since scholars seem to believe that Jesus Christ was born sometime around 4 BC I think we can safely keep religion out of it.

There is the argument that the real start of the third millennium is next year and that the celebrations, which we have just witnessed, are really a year early.  There is a good reason for this; by planning a year early there may be enough time to get the Millennium Wheel working, the Jubilee Line extension fixed and for the body zone queue to abate.  It also gives the powers that be extra time to erect the 300 foot statue of Tony Blair outside the Mandelson - sorry! - Millennium Dome.

So what happened on the Mynd?  What will you tell your grandchildren when they ask, “What did you do on Millennium Night?”  Well we didn’t slide people across the ice on the dewpond, build igloos in the car park or toboggan down Asterton Hill since it was an incredibly mild night, in fact we didn’t bother putting coats on when we went out for the fireworks.  Also, rather unusually, we didn’t have any parties from other gliding clubs visiting us.

I apologise if my account of the evening seems a little brief and I have missed any vital points however my own recollection of events is a bit hazy.  I can’t think why!

Ian Butt laid on a superb meal, nothing too fancy, but a selection of meats, sausages, lasagne and a good selection of vegetables, all hot and plenty of it.  I was sitting in the corner by the hatstand with Julian and Meg, as we had bagged the last three seats left.  During the course of the conversation I discovered that congratulations are in order since they had recently won the national Trials Championship for the seventh time, a record which is unlikely to be equalled for many years.  Julian didn’t seem too keen to participate in the traditional after-dinner ‘cork and other assorted detritus’ bombardment.  I have yet to find out if a combination of his upbringing as an ambassador’s son and his position as club chairman serve to inhibit him from behaving in such an uncouth manner or whether he is just a lousy shot with a cork.  We sat there discussing technical matters, along with the Parrys, in a situation reminiscent of the dinner party scene in Carry On Up the Khyber.  Back to bouncing corks off the Harris pate next century.

During the earlier part of the evening, several people went outside and reported that fireworks could be seen all around the firmament in abundance.

Den went outside and saw some lights in the field next to the one used by the hang gliders.  Further investigation revealed a group of people having a picnic, which must have been a far more memorable way to mark the occasion than being ripped off by avaricious hoteliers or publicans.

We were better organised than we have been for many years for the chimes of Big Ben.  Normally John Stuart disappears to his caravan at 11:59 to look for a radio.  At 11:59.30 he reappears with a radio, plugs it in and then asks what channel the bongs are on.  This time the bongs were forthcoming without the prerequisite panic.  Did John record last year’s bongs?

We were thankfully spared the traditional rendition of Auld Lang Syne.  Since nobody on the Mynd appears to know either the words or the tune we normally end up with a big pile of intoxicated bodies in middle of floor emitting tortured caterwauling noises.  This time we went straight on to the ‘kissing everybody else present’ ritual.  The only exceptions to this that I know of are Den and me who announce in unison to each other “I’m not kissing you, you old bat!” and shake hands instead.

Later we had our own fireworks, not so much the ‘wall of fire’ as two rockets disappearing into the fog followed by one of those little farty things that take ages to light and then fizz a bit.

Then I went into the TV room to see what was happening in the dome just in time to see the new ‘ethnic’ version of the National Anthem being performed for the first, and hopefully last, time.  The Queen wore the pained expression of a once proud monarch forced to witness the defilement of her favourite song knowing that she is powerless to order the execution or indefinite detention in the tower of the culprits in the way that some of her predecessors would have done.  Or perhaps Phil the Greek had just made a remark about the wheel and electrical contractors from the sub-continent?

So what did the next day bring apart from several billion sore heads, a massive global sweeping up operation and a few really disappointed doomsayers?  A few hours of flyable weather.

Chris Harris, whose legendary enthusiasm for aviation was in no way diminished by the previous night’s activities, not only had the first flight of the millennium but also performed the first loop and chandelle.

Suffice to say I did not fly on New Years Day, nor did I attempt to fly nor did I attempt to walk to the launch point in a straight line.

Dinner Dance

Alison Rowson

Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the dinner/dance.

Ludlow Racecourse is a new venue for us and the function suite is made up of two separate rooms, with our own bar, where we can socialise quietly or bop the night away - or both!  Robert Lee is a local singer who is well recommended and promises a good mixture of music for all tastes, by request if we have any special preferences.  Come along and give it a try and I hope we won’t be disappointed.

Dinner Dance & Trophy Presentation

Saturday 1^st April 2000

Ludlow Racecourse, Bromfield, near Ludlow

7.30 pm for 8.00 pm

£22.00 per person

Guest Speaker: Marc Asquith, Retiring Chairman, British Hang-gliding & Paragliding Association.

Music by Robert Lee.

Black tie/lounge suit.

3-course carvery/vegetarian dinner + coffee.

To get your tickets and be entered in the Champagne Prize Draw, send £22.00 per person payable to Midland Gliding Club, and SAE, stating your choice of meal and any seating preferences to:

Alison Rowson,

Church Farm,

Stoke St Milborough,

Ludlow,

Shropshire SY8 2EJ. 

Bookings can also be made at the gliding club by calling in to see Janet in the office, or by credit card over the phone to the office, using Mastercard, Visa or Switch.

Transport from and back to the Mynd can be arranged at extra cost depending on numbers, with a provisional guess of £5.00 per person payable in advance.  I also have a list of local B & Bs.  Please ask for a copy if required.

From the Flying Field

Ann Parry

Welcome to new member Richard Billany.

Sunday 23^rd January saw a day of 70 launches, the most launches in a day over the winter.  The tug is now back in action after the engine was refitted on 27^th January, and has been busy getting some towing in, apparently with an even better climb rate.  We did lots of bungeying on Saturday 12^th February, in strong winds and wintery conditions.  Spring arrived gloriously the next day, 13^th February, with 4-6 knot thermals and much soaring for those of us here, and for Paul Stanley and James Moore in the Duo a cross country and landout in the Wye valley.  The weekend of 19^th and 20^th February was a good circuit and training day on Saturday, with soaring on the Sunday.  Then more thermals on Saturday 4^th March, when Iain Evans flew 120 km to Vyrnwy and Oswestry on his birthday.  This was another beautiful day with strong cloud streets and some interesting bits in between.  Nick Heriz-Smith, Tony Danbury, Jon Hall, Colin Calderhead, Paul Stanley and Paul Shuttleworth (among others) also went cross country.  Sunday was a full flying day as well.

There have been some good Fridays for flying as well, one on the 25^th February when we also had a lot of visitors from Husbands Bosworth who started their weekend early.  Saturday 26^th February saw pilots achieving winch launches of over 2000 feet in the strong southerly, and enjoying a wave slot before the warm front arrived.  The visitors stayed in with us for another pleasant Saturday evening meal.  Incidentally, I think one of the indicators of how we are doing as a club is the catering, especially Saturday evenings, and there have been compliments from visitors about it.  I know I was encouraged by the number of people happily having lunch on a spectacularly wet Sunday recently.  Yes, we are a gliding club, but my observation over the last ten years is that at a place like the Mynd the catering is essential, as you will know if you have ever been here on a winter’s day without it.  We tend to take it (and our other excellent facilities) for granted.

Rockpolishers 2000 Inter-Club League

Jon Hall

I am pleased to report that 18 people have already put their names down to be part of the Rockpolishers squad this year, both on the list in the club house and also via the web site.  I have been in contact with the regional organiser and the dates and venues are being finalised as I write.  It is very likely that we will have one of the meetings at the Mynd again this year.  All the competition weekends will be completed before the end of July.

Those of you who have signed up on the lists have automatically become part of the squad from which the team will be chosen and are eligible to take part in the training weekends (25/26^th March and 15/16^th April).  Have some fun and improve your flying. 

Canopy Care

Phil Foster

If the canopy of your glider is dirty you’re increasing the chance of having an accident due to restricted vision (if you’ve flown lately with the sun low on the horizon you’ll have an idea of what I mean).  If you touch the canopy, grease from your fingers is left on the Perspex.  Dust will adhere to this grease; some helpful soul will then try to rub this mark off with a dirty handkerchief or glove and this will leave at best a smear, at worst, scratches.

So:               NEVER EVER touch the canopy.

ALWAYS ‘educate’ anyone you see breaking this rule.