MIDLAND
GLIDING CLUB
NEWSLETTER
Number 85 May 2000
CONTENTS
Chairman’s
Contribution................................................................................................................. 2
CFI’s Bits..................................................................................................................................... 2
Tow Lines..................................................................................................................................... 2
From the Flying Field...................................................................................................................... 2
A Grand Day - Sunday 15th May.................................................................................................... 3
A Mynd Club Day - by a Novice X-C Pilot...................................................................................... 4
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Please send Newsletter contributions to: John and Ann Parry Holly Cottage Wentnor Bishops Castle Shropshire SY9 5EE Telephone..01588 650379 Fax.………01588 650596 Email……..John.Parry@Virgin.net |
Club Details: The Midland Gliding Club The Long Mynd Church Stretton Shropshire SY6 6TA Office Telephone......01588 650206 Office Fax.................01588 650532 Members Telephone..01588 650405 Email……………….office@longmynd.com |
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Selected items from this Newsletter will appear on the Club Internet site which is: www.longmynd.com |
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Please could we have contributions for the September issue by 18th August. (Earlier if possible please!) |
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Chairman’s
Contribution
Julian Fack
The new course season started in mid-March with quite a bang, not
literally, but with the arrival of a large crowd of Dutch visitors, who hoped
to experience bungey launching. They
were a jolly lot, and regaled us with tales of the 1500 foot height limit at
their club due to two nearby CTAs. They
ridge soar the coastal dunes, which must be limiting to say the least. They were incredibly lucky to get several
days of bungey weather as well as wave conditions to 14,000 feet. At the same time Oxford University enjoyed
our hospitality, so it was a busy week, including a small course. The bar was so busy that Eddie Humphries had
to pop down the hill almost every day to stock up with more Woods.
The new committee had its first meeting recently, and I was most
impressed by the positive thinking and interesting new ideas aired. Already some useful financial savings have
been identified, and in recognition of those the committee unanimously decided
to rescind the recently imposed 50p increase in winch launching charges, which
will no doubt be a popular move.
I have had quite a bit of positive feedback on my suggestion that
we should be aiming to cover our fixed costs with fixed income, following the
golf club model, and rely much less than hitherto on flying income, which is
variable and totally weather dependent.
The 50p launch increase went against that philosophy, and the committee
felt we should drop it.
Another good sign this year is the excellent team that has put
itself forward for Rockpolishers, the Inter-club league. There are so many participants that a full
team has been selected and there are several reserves as well. That is surely a sign of a club in good
heart.
The Discus, which last year was insured for just the ‘privateers’,
the syndicate that formed to fly and to pay for it, has now returned to the
fold as a full club aircraft, as a result of a new insurance policy for the
club fleet. Not only has the insurance
cover been improved, as well as the Discus mentioned above, liability cover for
two seaters has been doubled, but we have also made a substantial saving on the
premium. Unfortunately this will not
have a major impact on the current financial year because we renew halfway
through the year, and the 1997/98 year also had a low premium, but it will help
considerably next year, provided we can continue with our recent good claims
record.
The Discus ‘privateer’ syndicate has re-formed, with some new
members, and they are looking forward to much good soaring, and many hours of
enjoyment in the glider, following on the example set by last year’s
syndicate. This year the rest of us
will be able to fly it as well, naturally the syndicate get first call, since
they are covering the costs of the glider to the club, but the new insurance
will allow many more members to enjoy its superb handling.
There is more good news in the form of the Knox 2000 winch,
completed more or less on time, with considerable effort, by Colin and numerous
helpers. The superb workmanship is
obvious from a casual glance at the outside, and I can assure you that the
engineering inside and underneath is to an equally high standard. It has performed perfectly right from the
start, apart from a couple of trivial water leaks, which were caused by some
‘carry over’ parts from the old Roder.
Not only has Colin showed extraordinary engineering skills, but he is
also very adept with the pen, as demonstrated by his article on the winch
project on page pageref _Ref480453213 \h 10.
The plan to suspend a K23 from the hangar roof has been
revived. It had been dormant for a time
because we were not sure about which gliders were to be retained in the fleet,
but the committee decided that it should go ahead immediately so as to allow
all the fleet to be fully rigged and hangared, apart from the Discus. The costs of the exercise are to be born by
the motorglider syndicate (1/11th of which is the MGC), who get their hangarage
free of charge.
The tug is back in better health than ever, due to some expensive
engine work that had nothing to do with the upset in August. It now has such a good climb rate that tows
are accomplished even quicker than before, which will go some way to helping
with the increased minimum charge, at least for higher tows. A glance at the figures for last year
indicated that we had been undercharging for tows, an impression confirmed by
consultation with some other clubs.
Talking about undercharging reminds me that some launches seem to
have been missed from the log recently.
Apart from the BGA requirement, based on safety and the need to account
for all pilots at the end of the day, any launch missing from the log
represents a loss of income for the club, both in launch fees and in glider
time, where club gliders are concerned.
It is vital on both counts that the log is accurate. If you are logging, do not let yourself be
distracted by any other jobs that need doing.
If for any reason you have to ask someone else to take over, please make
sure they understand the need for accuracy and concentration on the task.
One of our outstanding successes last year was the ‘Prospective
Members Weekend’ in May. We had a
special offer of free membership for that weekend only, on condition that the
new members placed £200 into their flying account. We managed to attract 27 new members in two days, and many of
them have gone on to spend far more than that £200 on flying. This year, although we have decided to run
something similar, the offer will be different. We will be charging a full membership fee, but will be ‘priming’
their flying account. The May Day
weekend of Saturday 29th/Sunday 30th April has been chosen, and, as before, it
is not a trial lesson day. It is for
people who are serious about learning to fly gliders, who are coming to learn
all about the MGC. It may be possible
for some of them to take a flight, but we cannot promise to do so. If you are able to help, with briefing,
showing people round, showing off your glider, or just chatting to any
prospective members, then please do so.
By the time you read this we should be well into the main part of
the soaring season, so keep current, fly safely, and enjoy some great soaring
from the Mynd.
Euroglide
2000
Julian Fack
The Mynd Duo is off on its travels this year. Richard Bennett, with John Stuart taking a
week’s holiday to act as minder, is taking 494 to Austria in late May, and
almost as soon as it arrives back, it is off on Euroglide 2000.
Euro what? This is a 2000 km T shaped task taken in bitesize
chunks as the weather allows. It starts
from Eindhoven in Holland, turns Dahlemer Binz in the Eiffel mountains, then on
to Issodun in central France, followed by the long leg to Berlin, then home to
Eindhoven via the famous Wasserkuppe, the historic home of gliding.
One unusual rule is that you have to land at each turnpoint, but
apart from that it follows the well trodden ‘gliding rally’ route, where you
set off in the morning, and fly as far as possible given the conditions. You then land, preferably at an airfield or
gliding club where you can get a re-light the next day.
Given a bit of luck, we should get between six and nine soarable
days, any less than six and the 2000 might be a bit optimistic! The comp starts on a Tuesday and finishes on
the following Saturday, twelve days in all.
The Mynd team consists of Paul Garnham, Richard Hinley, the CFI
and myself. The plan is based on two
flying and two following up in the Mercedes motorhome towing the trailer. Phil and Diana King have done it before, and
asked if we would be interested. It
seemed a fascinating task to me, but I felt that it would be incredibly tiring
using a single seater. I thought the
driving, where typically you do one mile for every kilometer of task length,
would be more wearing than the flying.
Perhaps Phil and Diana are made of sterner stuff?
We will report our progress in due course, and will aim to get
something written in time for the next MGC Newsletter.
PS: The entry fee is in
Euros, and the rules state that we are expected to behave like good Europeans,
I am not sure that we Brits qualify for that!
Who Shouts
Stop!?
Anon.
Palm Sunday, 10-15 knots easterly, launching to south. Cloud base 2000 feet QFE.
I’d been flying locally for about an hour but got down to 800-1000
feet agl and had carelessly drifted over to the western edge of the hill,
nearer the winch end than the launch point but between them. I headed east and then noticed a K21
launching on the winch cable. I believe
I was actually over the cable line when the launch started. I sped up and the K21, and cable, passed
50-100 yards behind me and about 200 feet above me.
OK, I should have been more aware that I could have been holding
up the launch and kept further south.
I was in the wrong.
BUT, as it was, I didn’t hold up the launch. Even though I was in the way the launch took
place.
So even though the instructor in the K21, his student, the wing
holder, the retrieve winch driver and the main winch driver must have been able
to see me in the way NOBODY delayed the launch! Were they all so certain that I really was clearing out of the
way and wouldn’t circle?
I suggest I wasn’t the only one in the wrong!
CFI comments:
We need more than luck and anonymous notes to stop accidents
happening. If anything like this
happens to you, whoever you are, for all our sakes you must report it. We learn from incidents like this, they are
little gifts that we ignore at our peril.
CFI’s Bits
Nick Heriz-Smith
Launch Marshalling
Saturday 8th April was one of those good club days. It started bright and soon became soarable
with launching by winch and aerotow.
Club gliders and private owners came and went on line. The launch point had the usual people and
new members helping around the retrieve winch, trial lesson groups waiting, and
the requisite cluster of chatting members passing the time of day.
A normal good day? Yes, I
suppose so, except that at the end of the day the log books tally of flights
was found to be about 20 short of the winches automatic counter. A possible loss to the club of several
hundreds of pounds in other words, a bit of a disaster.
So, what went wrong?
Looking back over the day there are several possible contributing
factors:
o
I was the arranged stand-in Number One and had not run a day for
quite a while, (thank you, team!).
o
Number Two instructor was also an arranged stand-in.
o
Neither Launch Marshal turned up.
o
There were not many folk on the airfield to start with.
o
We had a full compliment of trial lessons, their instructor did
turn up, thank you Ken.
So, the day started with volunteers who were at the briefing. As the day improved, they naturally wanted
to fly, other members started to drift in and the duties got passed around
amongst those not at the briefing, and the day got steadily busier.
I did check the log keeping once in the morning and arranged a
hand over with instructions to a new member, but spent the rest of the day
flying.
Further inquiries also showed that at one time during the day the
winch driver was also keeping the log while others stood nearby chatting, an
obvious sign that the Launch Marshal role had ceased to function. This, I believe is the crux of the matter.
At the risk of being boring, I must point out that at weekends on
the field, the whole operation depends on volunteers (instructors, launch
marshals, log keepers, retrieve winch drivers, pullers, pushers and cable
runners); club members making it work
for other club members. We only get to
fly because others have helped in one way or another to get us airborne.
We have to do this within the Laws and Rules, keeping an accurate
log.
We have to do it safely, the log keeper can not drive the winch as
well, the roles are incompatible.
We must all help each other on the field. For the first time in years we have keen
active new members out there, some more au fait than others. When you see a face you are not familiar
with, don’t just leave them to it. Make
yourself known, see that what ever they may be doing is being done correctly,
and offer a helping hand.
We must do our duty days.
If you can not make it, arrange a swap, an email notice that you won’t
be doing it is not sufficient.
Incidents
Above there is a report of an incident. It is good that we have a newsletter that allows the reporting of
incidents that might otherwise go unnoticed, but it would have been better
discussed on the day while the details were fresh in people’s minds. The main issue is that it is now one-sided
and will remain so, we have lost the inputs from others who were involved.
Check
Flights
Howard Bradley
This is a true story. I
would like you to sit comfortably and put yourself into the situations as they
arise, think what decision you would have made.
So let’s start.
You must take a check flight:
Are you:
o
Afraid of it.
o
Apprehensive
o
Feel that you are too good for a check, and don’t need
constructive criticism.
If you answered C please put down this newsletter, get yourself a
scotch and find a book on fell walking.
The following is what happened to me. The instructor’s name is not given for legal reasons.
The day of my annual check I was apprehensive. I had done some of the preparation. My log book was up to date and I had my card
(blue). We were ready for take off,
ground checks completed. Two small
points to mention: the ASI was covered
up, and I was sitting in the K13. Much
more room than my usual ASW17. We were
airborne, the expected cable break never happened, and we started some upper
air exercises.
“Fly 230 degrees at 55 knots.”
Oh! I hadn’t checked
instrument position before take-off, found the compass, does not seem to be
working, experience of site tells me where 230 degrees should be. While all this is going on I am told that I
am flying a little slowly at 50 knots.
Increase to 60 knots.
“OK, we will go in now.”
Landing checks completed.
“By the way, you have no airbrakes.”
Oh yes, the sort of thing that might happen after wave flying, no
ASI and brakes iced up.
And this is what happened next.
Start of base leg, side slip to get rid of excess height. Finals longer than usual. Side slip again. Height looks OK, lined up for landing. Then I’m lower than I thought, the aircraft is going nowhere,
penetration is so poor.
Comforting words from the back: “I have control.” The nose
went down and we were over the edge.
“OK, you can land it now.”
When we came to a stop I clenched my fist and smacked my knee,
furious I had made such a mess of it.
“You were a little low there.”
Something of an understatement.
The next flight we did spin checks and speed control (still with
no ASI) then from the south to the north a simulated cable break with a landing
on the bungey meadow. I moved the
aircraft to the east side of the field, never turning our back on the landing
area, wind from the north, side slip and airbrake approach, landed just short
of the road and ran onto the meadow.
“Fine, I can sign you up now.”
But I asked for another flight next week.
So now I had time to analyse my mistakes.
I hadn’t flown the K13 for about 3 years, and could not relate the
position of the horizon to the airspeed.
I was in an unfamiliar aircraft, very different performance to my own
48:1 glass ship, with no airbrakes or ASI.
I had tried to be clever and spot land when there was a huge field
to land in.
The following weekend came round.
This time the flight was in a K21, again with the ASI covered. I was expecting the same exercises as last
time, this time I would be ready.
Take off. Bang! He had
pulled the bung at about 500 feet.
I decided to go back, edge in on the downwind, short finals. I wasn’t going far from the boundary this
time. I was waiting to be told that I
had frozen airbrakes, but this never happened.
I came in from the south high, half airbrake, touch down on the
threshold on 36 Right cross-wind, straight ground run, rudder out.
“OK, I’ll sign you up now.”
These words were sweet to hear, the instructor was satisfied and so
was I. I had learned a lot.
The following instances made me think, perhaps they may make you
think.
Bill Bedford, Harrier test pilot, was visiting the Mynd and wanted
to fly with me in the Condor two seat tug we had then. I was P1 with Bill P2. Bill was going to do the landing. The light was not good as the evening drew
to a close. We turned finals, the line
wasn’t quite right - in fact we were heading for the hangar. I took control and did a go-round. Then I landed and taxied to the hangar. As we climbed out I asked Bill if he always
flew wearing those glasses. His
exclamation was not printable as he realised that he was wearing Polaroid
flip-up sunglasses over his normal glasses and he had forgotten that they were
in place. “Come on” he said. “Let’s do that again.” Everything was fine, perfect landing. We parked up and Bill thanked me for the
flight. I dashed for my log book,
wanting his signature. He also gave me
a gold plated Harrier lapel badge.
Tony Garton, Instructor on Hawks at Valley, former Red Arrows
pilot. And I was giving him a check
flight in the Condor! Two perfect
flights, so I said he could take the aircraft on his own. “No” he said. “I would like you to stay with me for another one to be sure.”
Last but not least, about 8 or 10 years ago Simon Adlard was going
to fly our ASW17. The wind was
north-west. We rigged and towed to the
launch area and waited for the tug. The
tug arrived and positioned for take off.
By now the wind had backed and increased. Simon was sitting in the cockpit strapped in ready to go except
for the canopy which was on the ground.
He felt the wind on his face, undid his straps and climbed out. “I’m not going” he said. “It is too dangerous with this increasing
cross wind.”
Would you have acted as these three pilots did?
And as for check flights, I will prepare much better than I did this
time, and I am sure that I will learn a lot more.
Tow Lines
Paul Stanley
Sunday April 16
There was a weather window developing in a low (1500 foot) cloud
base day. To the east looked
better. Richard and I rigged the Duo,
Welsh Git had set a 100 km triangle for the Rockpolishers training day. I thought at least 200 km should be
possible, perhaps more. But we would
need a good start.
Finding that the tug pilot had been hijacked to instruct wasn’t
it. However, if there’s one thing
Tiggers don’t like it’s losing tows on duty days. So when this was about to happen he bounded back in.
We took a tow to 3000 feet and glide out to the Clee hills before
finding a reasonable climb. In the end
we turned Droitwich, bounded along streets to Ellesmere, then back to
Ironbridge. And then we grovelled in
half a knot to gain the 600 - 700 feet necessary to glide in. It had taken just over 3 hours to do
220 km.
The cost? Taking the risk
and having a go. Oh, and £26 for the
tow. Which divided between the two of
us made it just over £4 per flying hour.
Bargain.
Saturday April 24
A tugging duty day which started with a morning of rain fit to
start a biblical flood. Then the skies
broke a little. Ah well better make for
the airfield. No instructor and a
flooded field meant yours truly in charge and operating off the road in a 15-20
knot south westerly.
Pawnees will do cross winds, but need a firm hand. Full right stick and full power, balance on
one wheel, hop sideways a bit and we’re off.
Climb out to the west - most of the five customers took 3000 feet, some
even waited for lift. Off tow, marvel
at the seeming unlimited post frontal visibility allowing rare views across the
Birmingham conurbation. Descend at 120
mph, drop the rope across the road and pull round onto the approach using the
induced drag in the climbing turn to drop below flap limiting speed. Fifteen hundred revs and 80 mph initially
had the road stabilised, if skewed.
The final line-up takes out all the headwind component and Golf
Charlie appears to speed up whilst slowing for the ‘round out’. This actually consists of easing the stick
right and forward at just the right moment - about the time when you would
normally chop power and pull back. Land
on the right wheel, keep balanced pushing until the tail starts to drop. Stick back, left wheel touch down, hit
brakes, raise flaps, kill landing light, taxi back. What fun. I think the
glider pilots enjoyed it too.
Trophies
1999
John Parry
Pat Moore for the first cross-country flight of the year: Nick Heriz-Smith.
Task Week: Iain Evans.
Ladder for the greatest points based on the pilot’s 4 best flights
of the year: Nick Heriz-Smith.
Sheffield for the best gain of height: Jon Hall.
Siam for the longest flight from the Long Mynd: Nick Heriz-Smith.
Hardwick for the best closed circuit flight from the Long
Mynd: Nick Heriz-Smith.
Long Mynd for the best flight in a Club glider: Roger Andrews, Peter Turner, Glyn
McArthur and Nigel Holmes.
Golden Jubilee: Colin
Knox
Two Seater: Paul
Stanley and Ann Parry.
Silver Jubilee for the best Silver Distance: David Crowson.
Tim’s Triangle: Iain
Evans.
Neill for the best ab-initio:
Helen Eckert.
Tony Spicer Barograph for the person most likely to use it: Elizabeth Tusar.
Daisy Hardwick: Rose
Johnson.
Bill Hardwick: Richard
Langford.
Maxam for services to the Club:
John Parry.
Ozee Winter for contribution to winter flying: Tony Danbury.
Golden Shovel: Paul
Shuttleworth and Richard Langford.
In case you wonder how four people managed to crowd into a club
glider, Roger and Peter were competing in one K21 while Glyn and Nigel were
competing in another.
David Crowson ignored the
easy option, doing his Silver distance as an upwind dash in the K8. On reflection, perhaps the word dash is not
the most appropriate!
The Golden Shovel was richly deserved by two people who, while
crewing at the Northern Regionals, went local soaring in a club K21 and landed
out, needing to be retrieved by the rest of the Mynd team. And of course Colin
Knox received the Golden Jubilee trophy in recognition of his outstanding work
in creating a superb winch from a pile of steel and bits.
Here’s One I
Made Earlier
Colin Knox
As most of you know I have built a new winch for the club over the
winter, using all the best bits from the old Röder winch. I was sad to kill off the Röder, as it had
served the club well for the last 48 years. I hope the new winch will do even better, but sadly time had
caught up with Röder, due to all the modifications, alterations and
reincarnations it endured in its long life, making it almost impossible to work
on. Visibility improvement and driver
comfort were urgently needed. The rear
drive unit was badly worn and it was impossible to fit the new BGA approved
guillotine. So it was time for it to go
to the place old winches go to die, sob.
It was daunting just before Christmas when a very large pile of
steel arrived. The promised three month
build time seemed very short. But
having laid out the chassis members on the workshop floor and welded them
together, it looked as if I could be in with a chance. The chassis was fitted with the mountings
for the axles and then turned the right way up. A secret process not known to Derek Platt!
The cab frame and doors were made using the chassis as a jig and
then erected in their final positions.
It was starting to look like a winch, or, as someone commented, a narrow
gauge loco. At this point I needed
to fit the engine. It was time to kill
the Röder. I had not the heart to do it
myself, so gave the job to Dave (Killer) Crowson and Andy (The Bracket)
Holmes. They made short work of the
despatch, leaving me with a large pile of oily, rusty and smelly parts, the
carcass being rolled into the yard to die.
The 7½ litre Chevy big block was craned into its new home having
been cleaned and painted by Jon Hall.
It looked almost new, though I’m not sure who was most paint-covered,
Jon or the engine. Things were now
going apace. The bonnets and covers
arrived and were fitted. It looked even
more like a railway engine, and gained a legend on its door: The Long Mynd Light Railway. Who ever wrote that hadn’t carried any of
the steel. The radiator was fitted at
the back, ‘where the wind blows’. Andy
Holmes made a bracket he was proud of.
The boss said 7/10 so it was fitted and hasn’t fallen off yet. A large amount of laminated glass was
scrounged for us by John Roberts, who also fitted new ceiling tiles in the
club. “Cheers, John”, I knew I could
keep in budget.
The following weekend Iain Evans arranged a winch work-in, the
object being to see if we could get out all the tools at the same time and
throw them on the floor. There weren’t
enough, so Iain fetched his and we just managed! The CFI (Curtains, Flowers and Internal fittings, and known as
Nick the Stick) turned the cab into a French tart’s boudoir, using sticky tape,
yards of posh cloth and no sign of yogurt pots. Very plush. Iain, having
made all the wooden floors enabled us to sit in the cab and see what it would
be like. Wow.
Next came the paint, the same blue and yellow stripped paint I did
the Skylaunch in. I turned it into a
Mynd winch, killing all the flies and wasps hiding from winter in the workshop
with the fumes. Poor Cooky brought me
tea and nearly went the same way. John
(Purvy Rover) Lewis transported the free glass for cutting to size, Nick the
Stick having made nice patterns to fit, so it would have been his fault had
they been wrong. I know when to
delegate. Iain came with his mastic
cannon (bigger than a gun) and we all fitted windows, becoming a stuck up
bunch. Dave Wilson who had fed and
tea’d me most of the mid-week days had his Granada written off, liberating lots
of good winch parts. Did I mention
silver linings? I knew I could keep in
budget.
Transmission time. Julian
had acquired a 9” American Ford car axle as used by the drag racing
fraternity. This was cut down to
size. I designed new drive shafts to
fit. These were made by a firm at
Aston, Birmingham: a crownwheel and
pinion of the right ratio to be fitted at Higham Ferris in
Northamptonshire. Having been assured
all was ready I left for Aston to collect the new shafts. Guess what?
They were still at the hardeners.
After driving across Birmingham to fetch them from the hardeners I set
off for Higham two hours late. Nice
church there. The pubs looked tempting
too. Waiting for the axle to be fitted
with the new ratio: problem, “Can’t get
it apart guv.” I read more drag mags, and am now the Mynd’s expert on drag
racing. Left Higham at 6 pm to sample
the M1 in pouring rain.
The next day I built up the axle and welded on all the lugs and
mountings. I drilled the chassis and
fitted the axle to it. We then tried to
fit the cable drum. The taper on the
new shaft was too big in spite of them having a pattern to copy. The boss man from Aston came to take it
back, full of abject apologies and promised to return it in two days. On his way back he filled his van with
petrol. Guess what? His van is a diesel. I got the shaft a week later. Still, things were progressing. Dave Crowson took the suspension units from
the old winch and we fitted them one evening.
And now it was on its wheels.
“Gosh, isn’t it tall?” Bet it
wouldn’t go under the door, but no-one would put their money where their mouth
was. Richard Hinley arrived with the
copper pipes and I fitted the cooling system.
Panic! Jon Blackhurst
couldn’t do the wiring due to other commitments, and then out of the blue Geoff
Makin came out of the electrical closet and proceeded to wire the whole
shooting match. We had flashing lamps
that flash, gauges that gauge and switches that switch.
The magic moment arrived.
Geoff finished the ignition wiring system. So the key was turned and the Chevy burst into life. The new exhaust system sounded sweet and it
ticked over “like a Rolls.” As we
congratulated ourselves there was a loud bang.
The temporary gas pipe had burst.
Much rushing around to avoid incinerating three months work. A left over from a Dave Wilson Saab rebuild
project, a very nice seat, was fitted and all of a sudden it was the morning of
the last day, a Saturday. Well, it
seemed biblical to me. It appeared half
the club were cleaning, polishing and putting transfers on the winch. I made the mistake of taking a quick lunch,
and when I returned the buggers had polished all the copper pipes and mounted a
Buzz Lightyear radiator mascot. “To
infinity and beyond,” will forever be engraved on my heart. She was rolled out of the workshop with at
least 2 inches to spare under the door, and hitched to a smart Volvo. I didn’t think the colour matched, Jon! We were being filmed by the Cecil B de Mille
of the Mynd, Derek Platt.
And so to the ultimate test.
It worked well, but then I always knew it would. Then why the great feeling of relief? Lots of bubbly over the winch, and even more
in me, and so ended the shortest winter of my life.
I would like to thank all those who helped me and without whose
expertise the project would not have been possible in the time. I would also like to thank the committee for
having the faith in my ability to carry out this project. So what’s next, a new tug?
The Cast:
Iain Evans
Geoff Makin
Dave Wilson
Nick Heriz Smith
Peter Salisbury
Andy Holmes
Dave Crowson
John Roberts
Jon Hall
John Stuart
Janet Stuart
Julian Fack
You if I missed You!
(sorry)
And all the club members who came into the workshop and gave their
support.
From the
Flying Field
Ann Parry
Welcome to new members Mike Dodwell, Lembit Öpik, Stephen Walsh
and Oliver Walsh.
There was super wave day on Friday 10th March, with John Stuart
and Richard Bennett (FVP) flying cross country. For some early pilots on Saturday 11th March the wave was still
working, giving David D’Arcy Silver height, almost achieving Gold, and a good
climb for Liz Tusar on only her second flight in the LS4. The Dutch visitors arrived on the 12th,
bringing a K7 and K13, and stayed for the first week of the course season, 13th
- 17th March, which was blessed with good weather. Oxford University Gliding Club were also visiting for their fix of
ridge-running. They all enjoyed ridge
and wave flying, with the best height being 15,400 ft by a visitor. The Dutch achieved their ambition of
bungeying on Monday, and again later in the week, and had flown so much by the
end of the week that they went sightseeing on still perfectly flyable
days. Meanwhile congratulations to Paul
Salisbury who went solo during the week.
The magnificent Knox 2000 winch was christened and used on
Saturday 18th March successfully, the day of the AGM. On Sunday 19th March 87 launches were
achieved. On Saturday 25th Nick Heriz
Smith and Dominic Haughton landed out in a K21 on their way back from a cross
country, a day which turned out better than forecast.
Those February thermals seemed a distant memory when the Mynd got
snowed in on Monday 3rd April. The
Ratlinghope road wasn’t opened until Thursday, with the Burway and Asterton
closed for much longer. But flying,
eating and drinking carried on, and Geoff Makin’s car was eventually
rescued. There are still snow drifts as
I write, on 18th April. The weekend
weather perked up on 15th and 16th April, enabling the second Rockpolishers
training weekend to achieve a 100 km task on the 16th, with Iain Evans, David
Rance, and Dominic Haughton completing it, and David Crowson nearly so. Meanwhile Paul Stanley and Richard Bennett
in the Duo wandered off on a 220 km flight and got home.
Chris Harris
Saturday had been pretty disappointing for this duty Tigger - the morning was a write off due to very poor visibility and although the afternoon was much better I only managed seven aerotows. Sunday I was duty No1 Instructor with Alisdair Lewis standing in for Rod Hawley as No2 and Iain Welsh Git as the duty launch marshal. My reason for writing this is that it was simply a cracking day, a little slow starting but, with excellent weather for a change and good soaring it all turned into a great day.
We achieved 104 launches by the time we packed the hangar at almost 8pm - boy was that pint of beer welcome by then! The reason that all this flying was possible was that so many of the club members present worked extremely hard all day, under the direction of Iain. Many new members were at the launch point and I was impressed with the amount of effort going into keeping the flying going strong. If you were there this day - well done! It was one of the most enjoyable instructing days I’ve had for ages and many of our newer members made good progress. Funny stories of the day that ought to be told are Rose Johnson’s saga of the field without a way out assisted by Iain losing his car keys and Paul Stanley’s short cut to the field at Dorrington via Shobdon in the tug!
A couple of more serious events in the same day to ponder on were, first, the discovery that K21 JGJ had a time expired C of A sticker. It ran out on 9th May but had been signed off on DI’s ever since for 5 days. Did no one else check?
Secondly, during the afternoon while flying I heard a radio call go out to the Discus 493 “493 your wheel is not down”. The glider landed wheels up with no damage whatsoever except perhaps some dented dignity to the pilot. But the result may have been worse had the call been heard. The Discus undercarriage is raised and lowered with the right hand so a change of hand is required for a few seconds on the stick to lower the gear. Late into a landing is not the best time to do this if you are not used to left handed landings. It is very unusual for any glider to sustain serious damage in a wheel up landing on grass but many gliders and pilots have been badly damaged in loss of control situations whilst fiddling with the gear too late into an approach. If YOU see a wheel up approach do NOT cause pilot distraction by using the radio! Finally thankyou to those kind souls who kept my water bottle full on such a hot day!
David d'Arcy
"To turn up, or not to turn up? That is the question."
Up north, we had had two weeks without rain and generally the vis was poor.
I decided it was a visit Mum weekend and if the weather improved I could also go gliding. Saturday was a glorious day at Bridgnorth for two hours it was a classic day. Then went overcast then blue then it started up all over again. I was biting my fingers off one by one. Had I missed a good day? We won't know. Watching the TV weather reports forecast heavy showers and generally bad day for the west of the country, for Sunday (16th May 2000) was amusing. To me it looked just right for gliding.
Sunday morning the vis was much better of previous. At briefing, Chris Harris (#1) talked of possible 5 kts thermals later in the day, while reviewing the met. I had already put my name down for a K23, and so added a X-C against it. Chris mentioned Rose Johnson was going to do Timm's triangle and anyone was more than welcome to join her. This sounds good I thought, then realised there was no way on this earth that I was going to keep up! All the same I get my briefing from Rose, and talk of going north as last time I tried into wind it was a disaster, well Craven Arms and back, though the wind was much stronger than today's 5-12 kts easterly. Marchington was picked out by Rose, although she said they had moved recently, Cross Hayes was the nearest and it was hypothesised this was probably their new setup, but I was to ring and confirm. Route, 'easy' said Rose, 'make for Wrekin hill, then Stafford, then large reservoir and start looking.' 'However, watch out for the airway, its only 4,500ft amsl above Stafford and beyond.' We then talked about Timm's and remote starts and finishes which Rose thought was another possibility. I was to ring John Parry, our rules guru, and confirm.
Humm, … so much to do and I still haven't got the 23's over to the launch point. Iain Evans, today's launch marshal isn't going to be happy!!
In the mean time I ran into CFI Nick Heriz-Smith just finishing the C of A on his Ventus, and seek his opinion. Nick said he was more in favour of me landing elsewhere as it would be much better practice for me. Well decision made, you can't argue with the CFI. Where was it again?
Back at the launch point, work was required. I pulled cables, drove the retrieve winch and was a general hero, NOT! It was getting close to lunch time and still the day wasn’t going yet, I mean there was no soaring. It was torturous as good clouds could be seen all around.
As lunch progressed, one or two clouds started forming over the Mynd around 13:20 ish, the aerotow queue started to grow and gliders were soaring, hurrah! My turn. With what little prep I had carried out, I figured the max height I could take for my destination was only 1100ft!! And no I didn't get around to ringing Marchington or John Parry! Gliding is a busy affair. I convey my wishes to tuggie Stanley and off we go. Now one thing I haven't done much of is thermal aerotow. This is strange, I mean really strange! Glider is lighter than tug, tug in thermal glider not, glider in thermal tug not! Humm, discretion being the better part of valour, I pulled off. Co-incidentally at around 1,000ft. Not sure what happened next, but soon I was back into my circuit and made the best of it with a perfectly executed landing and then tried to run off and hide my face.
A little later I decide to give it one more go, 'winch' this time. A cracking launch to 1,500ft, find my own thermal and settled down, not for long though as hordes of others come to join in. Bastards! At cloud base, (aren’t those two words just beautiful?) about 3K5 above Mynd, I set off in pursuit of Keith Laidler in his LS4, fun I know but I had to try. Caught him up too, but then he left for the next cloud to Shrewsbury. Alistair Self was also with me in 435, and we meet Charlie Carter in JEP on his way back. The cloud was working and the next looked just as good. 'Long Mynd, Echo Victor Victor setting out on task.' Wind on 1013HPa on the altimeter and announce I'm switching to 130.1MHz over the radio, but forget that its 130 'decimal' 1 and not 'point!' Well practice is what it's all about.
At the next cloud decisions had to be made, Marchington is that way (blue, with clouds 10nm +), and Timm's is that way. Nice clouds. Humm. The Hornet with Paul Shuttleworth, now joined below me, err make that beside me. Oww this will never do! At 4ks amsl I head out into the blue towards the Wrekin, five minutes later I'm getting down to 3K and still only about half way there. Where are those blue thermals?!? I press on but slow up over the river Severn, thinking I felt something, I scratched around and after a while make 4K again. At the Wrekin, I wasn't happy with my height so selected my field, but drive on to the other side of the hill where some clouds were and get a climb. At this point, I realise the enormousity of Telford all around me. I'm never going to get over that I thought! But with a good second climb I did. I could now just about see Stafford, Birmingham and Cosford! Err, better go north then. Here, it was big decision time again. The Cu's were not going in my general direction to goal, do I stick with them or swan off out into the blue again? The A5 is a very straight road btw. I consoled myself that I had survived one blue hole, and headed off.
On reflection, this was a poor decision! The Cu's were not taking me straight to Marchington/ Cross Hayes, no, but they were going generally north and I really needed to go north of Stafford to get around Cannock Chase. I also got nothing out in the blue this time around and so it was field selection again. But wait wasn't that Seighford on the nose? Secretly I knew it was there as in 1995 I had gone solo and my preparation had identified it as a possible place to land, although not Silver distances worth. Arriving at 1200ft and 16:20 ish only one glider was soaring up near cloud base the rest were in circuit with launching in progress. The Cu's looked much closer now, in fact had I stuck with them I might have been at cloud base over Seighford too! But sadly now they were out of touch! Well it had been good I thought, and landed.
On the field I was kindly greeted by the CFI, Simon Watson, and offered a cup of tea and some useful tips for when next in the area. There was also Lara Croft at hand to help de-rig, etc.! Oh, the happy joys of gliding.