MIDLAND GLIDING CLUB
NEWSLETTER
Number 99 September 2002
Chairman’s
Contribution........................................................................................................................................................... 2
From The Other End................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Treasurer’s Notes....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
CFI’s Bits..................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
BGA Executive Committee Members’ Club Visit................................................................................................................... 5
From the Flying Field................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Would You Like a Turbo Duo Discus?................................................................................................................................... 6
Allen Parkinson 1932 to 2002.................................................................................................................................................... 7
Dogs............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Task Week 2002.......................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Task Week Results.................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Midland
Gliding Club wins Rockpolishers.
Second equal
in National Final of Inter-Club League.
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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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Club web
site: www.longmynd.com |
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Julian Fack
During Task Week we flew on at least as many days as most comps this year, despite the weather not being great. The good spirits at the club were obvious to all. John Parry and his team continue to run it as well as the majority of ‘serious’ competitions, and we certainly got the most out of the available weather.
It is this factor that makes comps different. To be honest there were days when you would not have opened your trailer, yet worthwhile tasks were flown. The first Tuesday was typical, an unpromising start to the day, enough to make most pilots think about doing something else, yet by lunchtime the skies opened up and we had an excellent short racing task. David Rance was not happy with his first attempt at the task to Sleap and Oswestry, so he motored back and re-started. His second attempt was superb, and he achieved something like 92 kph, much the fastest of the day, and the week for that matter. Unfortunately a re-start can only score if the glider returns under its own steam, so returns by trailer, aerotow or motor count as landouts, but it was an excellent effort none the less, and he richly deserved the consolation bottle of wine handed out at briefing.
There were also two other good days, unfortunately the biggest task (248 km) was cut off by sea air near Evesham, conditions having been very good up to that point. There was also an excellent day when a 215 km ‘cat’s cradle’ was set, and most pilots got back in wave affected thermals, but there were a few days when rain and low cloud prevented completion, so landouts were plentiful. At the end Martin Moss, flying his unique extended span Nimbus 2, finished second overall, and I felt a bit of a fraud collecting the winner’s mug, having profited mostly by the mistakes of others. I was encouraged by the remarks of one of my visiting syndicate partners who said that he had not previously considered Task Week, but having seen how much fun was had by all, he hoped to join in next year.
During Task Week there were discussions on an idea, promoted by Glyn MacArthur, that we should consider hosting a small comp of our own. There are no end of Regionals, as well as Competition Enterprise, the Wolds Two Seater comp, and the Aboyne Mountain Soaring Comp, but Mac managed to come up with a new idea, namely a K21 comp. We have three of our own, and most of the large and medium sized clubs own at least one. The BGA list shows 45 owners of K21s, some of whom own more than one, so there are plenty of potential entrants. Due to site constraints we would not want a large entry, but something around 20 would be a useful number, similar to Task Week. The committee will be considering this proposal in early autumn, so if you have any views, for or against, please let me know.
Several young pilots had to depart before the last weekend of Task Week due to commitments at the Junior Nationals, held at Hus Bos this year. The Juniors has grown into a very serious competition which provides a feeder for the British Team, although the ‘apres flight’ goings on are said to be far from serious, perhaps the less said about that the better! This year the MGC fielded an unprecedented team of four juniors, Andy Holmes, Sarah Platt, Ian MacArthur and John Roberts. John and Ian finished midfield, but the first day’s performance when the winner did a 301 km task at 115 kph, and the first 18 all beat 100 kph indicates the kind of competition they were up against. A 300 in just over 2.5 hours in a 15 metre glider takes some doing, and remember all 50 pilots are under 25! The fact that we managed to field four for the juniors can only bode well for the future of the club, and should encourage a gradual reduction in the average age now it can be seen that successful pilots are not obliged to sport grey hair.
Sticking with comps for a moment, the Mynd competed all season in the Rockpolishers league, most ably captained by Dominic Haughton, and we won the league, against major players like Nympsfield and Aston Down. This allowed us to field a team at the Inter Club League Final at Sutton Bank, and in spite of some big names from other clubs, we managed to finish second equal with Dunstable, both beaten by Weston on the Green, who also won last year. This is an outstanding result for the MGC and truly justifies the efforts put in by all those who competed in the heats.
Coming back to events closer to home, Janet Stuart has started work at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, but will still be working in our office on Sundays. Janet has been associated with the MGC for almost all of her life, so this will be a big change. There was a collection for her during Task Week, and the Club will also be presenting her with an engraved memento, but most of all we wish her luck in her new venture, and are delighted that she will still be around at weekends to provide a cheery greeting on the phone amongst her other duties. Martin McCurdie will be manning the office on most other days.
You will also have noticed that Alex Tziros has joined us as assistant winch driver recently. He has picked up the essentials very quickly, and I am sure will be a great asset to the club. Apart from winching he also instructs in motorgliders at RAF Henlow and has a wealth of practical skills which are sure to be called on from time to time. Pete Salisbury continues to be part of the winching team under Colin Knox.
After five years as CFI, Nick Heriz Smith has ‘passed the baton’ to Neal Clements. There was an informal handing over at dinner during Task Week since both Neal and Nick had to depart. Nick is currently working with Brian Spreckley at the European Soaring Club at Ontur in Southern Spain. Thanks, Nick for your efforts over the years, and welcome to Neal.
That’s all for now, by the time you read this the thermal soaring season will be more or less over, but, unlike some clubs, there is much worthwhile soaring to be had at the Mynd during the autumn and winter, and for those who are training there are lots of opportunities to fly and improve your skills.
As always please contact me at j.fack@virgin.net or on my mobile on 07812 108588 if there is anything you would like to discuss about the club and its operation.
Colin Knox
Over the last few weeks we have been using a new type of material for the launching trace. This is a mono filament 14 mm rope called sea steel designed for use in the fishing industry where high levels of abrasion are expected. Its performance has exceeded my expectations showing little wear in service. Coupled with the new lightweight triangle the fly back is extended thus reducing main cable wear, making retrieves easier and greatly reducing damage to the airfield. The cost of producing traces from sea steel are much less than the wire and plastic ones we have currently been using. Sea steel at about £10, wire/plastic £40. It is also much quicker to produce them in sea steel. But the main advantage to the launch point is that the trace doesn’t tangle with the main cable at all. All this good news must have a downside; in spite of being bright yellow when new it gets a little dirty in use and is harder to see when returning. So if you have any bright ideas about improving its visibility they will be much appreciated. Though Paul Fowler’s idea of fitting a battery powered flashing light to the triangle might be less than durable in service.
Some of you will have met our new winch man Alex who has just joined the team. He will be sharing the Number Two winch position with Pete Salisbury. Alex is showing great promise in training and has already gone solo in the Skylaunch. He is a keen pilot and has been involved in the RAF ATC activity at Henlow for many years as well as being an RAF reservist. I am sure he will be a great asset to the club. So welcome Alex.
With a new member in the winching team it seems appropriate to remind Number One instructors especially at weekends that winch drivers are human and on hot summer days they need breaks, drinks etc. It would also be nice to have the time of the last launch decided in the morning as we also have social lives to lead.
Neal Clements
From the beginning of September I have the privilege of taking over the mantle of Chief Flying Instructor of the Midland Gliding Club. As Nick Heriz-Smith said on the last Saturday dinner at Task Week, “It is an honour”. I should like to extend my own thanks to Nick. I believe that the superb atmosphere and motivated feeling we have in the club now has been in no small part due to his efforts.
On the subject of Task Week, it was noticed and commented by many there what a fantastic atmosphere there was and having the ‘youngsters’ competing at top level was a real shot in the arm for all of us. I would suggest that as many of you that would like to improve your cross country flying book Task Week or part of it in your diaries and come along and enjoy the professionalism and the camaraderie.
Cross-country flying requires several skills in addition to flying ability. Route planning, taking into account the airspaces we have to navigate, is one of the most important. On this point I would like to remind pilots of the rules for parachutists. There was a tragic accident this year when a parachutist in free fall hit a glider and both were killed. There is a an agreed procedure for cross-country pilots to call the local ATSU (Air Traffic Service Units, their frequencies are on the half million map) and obtain information on the active state of a Dropping Zone and they will give you the airfield frequency so that you can talk directly to the parachute club. If you are going to fly over or very close to a parachute dropping zone then you must make every attempt possible to contact them. I am putting a copy of the letter and the contacts on the bulletin board.
In order for you to get to the stage of doing cross country in the first place you will have to get your Bronze badge and cross country endorsement. Paul Stanley ran a course during Task Week especially for those people who needed to get their Bronze badges. He overran the specification a bit as one of the course members achieved Silver distance! Never mind. The feedback from the course was extremely positive and one of the points raised was “what about weekends?” I am proposing that we establish a Bronze course covering weekends. If you have gone solo and would like to move quickly up the ladder through Bronze then please send me an email and I will try to arrange for an instructor and aeroplane to accommodate you. I will also put a notice up in the club.
My email is n.clements@talis.com
John Parry
On Saturday 12 October 2002 as part of the BGA’s programme of club visits Dave Salmon (former Derby & Lancs CFI) a member of the BGA’s Executive Committee and Keith Mansell who is BGA Treasurer will be at the Club as part of an exercise to improve pilots’ understanding of what the BGA does (and perhaps does not) do on their behalf and to help the BGA understand issues facing clubs. Dave and Keith will be on the Mynd for most of the day and in the early evening there will be a short seminar during which Dave will outline what the BGA does and some of the problems it faces and he and Keith will try to answer your questions or comments re the BGA.
The visit is aimed at all members (not just the committee). Currently the club pays to the BGA an annual subscription of £21.00 for each of the club’s flying members. Come and find out what you get for your money!
Ann Parry
Welcome to Sarah and Richard Platt, who have agreed to look after this section from now on.
Achievements from May and June: visitor Margaret Childs gained her Silver distance and duration, Simon Adlard flew 480 km and David Rance about 450 km at the beginning of May. Congratulations to Andrew Whybrow and Kim Whyte on going solo, and to Sarah Platt and Mike Greenwood on Silver durations, and Richard Billany for Silver distance to Bidford. Richard’s Silver was on 19th June, a big day: David Rance flew some 620 km, Ian MacArthur 300 km, and the Duo Discus (Julian Fack and Paul Garnham) went round Birmingham, about 400 km. On 27th June Simon Adlard was at 10,800 ft in wave, and the next day flew 495 km. Meanwhile Ian MacArthur very nearly got home on the 28th after another 300 km attempt for Gold, as he missed the TP on his earlier flight, and Richard Bennett was at 8,500 ft.
Sarah and Richard Platt
We welcome new members Anna Baik, Robert Douglas, Barry Holmes, Derek Keeping, Paul Kerman, Stephen Kessler, Richard Lamb, Alec McVean, Kim Nakhla, Romana Popescu, Caroline Roberts, Peter Walley, Carl Williams and also Allan Barnes who has joined us after his 3 month temporary membership expired and is currently proceeding to show us all how cross-country flying should really be done.
July and August have been very busy on the flying front with re-solos by Henry Wood (who has now completed Bronze), Graham Jobson and Ray Bucknall and of course John Chapman on his yearly visit to England. Congratulations for first solos go to Charlie Nickolaus and everyone on the course in mid-July (Martin Berry, Paul Kerman and Katherine York) who all soloed during the week.
Mid July saw some very good weather with loads of cross countries including Paul Stanley and Julian Fack 300 km in the Duo to Thame and back. The next day Ann Parry also flew to Thame and back to the Clees having completed 296 km of her 300 km attempt, having been cruelly thwarted by the day ending one thermal too soon.
On 22nd July John Roberts flew IV to 12,000 feet in wave for his Gold height with Ian Mac reaching 10,000 feet on the same day.
With everyone off on task on 22nd August the coast was clear for Sarah Platt to clinch her Silver height (to complete her Silver). Richard Billany also completed all three parts of his Silver plus the first part of his 100 km diploma in one flight from Bicester that day. Well done also to Alison Rowson who flew to Newport Pagnall and some way back on her 300 km attempt during Task Week.
We have also had good representation in the Club Class nationals at Lasham and also at the Midland Regionals competition (in which Andy Holmes came 6th on one day).
Good luck to all those flying in the Junior Nationals at Hus Bos: Andy Holmes, Ian Mac, John Roberts, Sarah Platt, and Richard Billany if he can get hold of a glider.
Alison and Jeff Rowson
If you are interested in the possibility of sharing a Turbo Duo Discus at the Mynd, please contact us.
We want to see if there is enough interest to organise a syndicate.
Telephone number: 01584 82340.
Jeff and Alison Rowson, Church Farm, Stoke St Milborough, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 2EJ
Keith Mansell
Allen Parkinson was killed on 14 June in a head-on collision whilst driving his cherished Westfield high performance sports car near Le Mans where he had gone to watch the twenty-four hour race.
Allen, a mechanical engineer, was a flying member of the club from 1954 to 1975. He was Treasurer from 1967 to 1972 during which time he convinced the committee of the importance of having a second main winch in addition to the Roder. In the winter of 1969/70 he arranged for a Walsall engineering firm to make a new winch, modelled on the Roder, with a Jaguar engine. Thus was born the Parkinson winch that continued in service until it was sold in 1992 having been displaced by the Skylaunch winch. Allen set up a very useful link with Jaguar who supplied the club with engines and other special parts on very favourable terms.
Allen had a lifelong enthusiasm for motor racing and for interesting cars including the 330 GT Ferrari which his engineering business partner owned and on one memorable occasion was minded to lend to Allen for him and me to visit Portmoak. Some of Allen’s youthful motoring exploits were more than a little hair-raising and in later life he acted as chauffeur to some of GKN’s directors and used to derive enormous fun out of some spirited driving of the various executive saloons once free of their passengers.
Allen was in his sixties when he built the Westfield (a Lotus 7 look-alike) from a kit. It had a four litre Rover V8 engine which gave it 0-60 performance in five seconds.
Allen used the Westfield to compete in club races and hill-climbs and very generously allowed some of his friends to compete in his car. His many other interests included photography and game shooting.
On the day in 1966 when England won the World Cup Allen married then club member Elizabeth Allen who survives him as do their sons Nicholas and Jeremy.
Allen was a very good friend who will be so much missed by those who were lucky enough to have known him.
The Committee
The following rules were adopted at meetings of the general committee held in May and September 1989, and published in the September 1989 Newsletter, and again in the July 1998 Newsletter.
The committee feels that it is appropriate to re-state these rules now.
· On club property, and for reasons of safety and hygiene, dogs must be under the control of their owners at all times.
· Dogs must not be allowed to roam free anywhere on the airfield, including the caravan park.
· For reasons of food hygiene and the general convenience of members, no dog is to be allowed in the clubhouse.
Debbie Bilham
This will be our first proper Task Week for two years. Although the Mynd had re-opened by the beginning of August last year, we didn’t get clearance to fly cross country until the Tuesday of task week and most pilots were out of practice at cross country flying so we had an informal week instead.
So far the weather doesn’t look too promising this year, with most rated competitions doing well to get four days. Two weeks ago Julian Fack was flying in the Northern Regionals at Sutton Bank where we experienced record rainfall. They had four contest days.
David Rance is flying his new toy, a Ventus 2 self launcher. The Ventus 2’s performance is said to exceed 50:1 with no handling vices and is light to rig. Andy Davis summed it up by saying “If you can’t afford it then don’t fly it because you’ll want one”.
Another interesting
glider is Martin Moss’s Nimbus 2CS, which was originally a Nimbus 2 modified
for the 1980 world championships. The
wingspan has been extended to 23 metres by the addition of extension pieces
between the inner and outer sections and the rudder has been extended above the
T‑tail.
Once again Dominic is doing the forecasting. We have a SE wind, 20 knots on ground. Convection should happen if the temperature reaches 25°C but the wind may be too strong to set a task. A front is expected to pass through during the night resulting in a good day tomorrow. An asteroid half a mile wide is due to pass the earth closer than the moon and should be visible with binoculars at around 4 in the morning. Well if NASA have got their sums wrong then maybe Dominic’s forecast could be irrelevant.
During the morning an assortment of people visited Julian’s motorhome needing bits of gaffa tape, leads etc and help with last minute technical hitches.
The day was scrubbed at 12 o’clock. Paul Garnham and Dave Crowson took a high tow in the Duo in the hope of finding some easterly wave. Surely the fact that the K21 which aerotowed in front of them landed as they were hooking on, having almost beaten the tug down must have given them a clue.
Tony Danbury took a winch launch but only got about 1500 feet and was soon back down. He de-rigged and shut the trailer door just as the soarable hour started. Julian and John Parry (JP) went off in the Duo and made the most of it. Neal Clements landed out near Shobdon Hill.
After getting indifferent results with previous meteorological aids such as the string and seaweed, Dominic demonstrated his latest hi-tech wonder the ‘Weather Owl’. It changes colour depending on the prognosis; today it is pink therefore expect rain. The front, which should have moved across the country, didn’t so it will be foggy to start, hot in East Anglia with thunder to the east. It won’t get hot enough to trigger anything useful here so the day was scrubbed. The front should go through tonight -hopefully. Julian spent some time diagnosing a problem with Dave Rance’s logger.
The motor glider is in Roger’s workshop with big holes in it. Some cracks were found on the suspension frame during a regular check; believed to be due to a manufacturing problem rather than flying. There is talk of a sweep stake on how much the final bill will be.
The sky cleared later and the wind went round to the west so there was some ridge soaring and some convection; maybe they could have got a small task out of it. Julian and Richard Bennett had 46 minutes in the Duo. The sky looked wavy in the evening but nobody flew to any great height.
There was a barbecue in the caravan park during the evening; music courtesy of the CD player in Mac’s BMW. He later found his battery was flat. It rained around about midnight.
Some groggy looking bodies from caravan park appeared at breakfast. Low cloud and mist early on. Noticeably colder.
Weather owl still pink therefore bad news. Dominic is confused as what is happening and what should happen seem quite different. Expecting clearance from the west later.
2 Tasks set. Main: Mynd, Knighton, Bromyard with fallback: Mynd, Sarnesfield, Leominster, Mynd (90 km).
“Where the hell’s Sarnesfield?” asks a heckler in the crowd.
“You’ll be able see it ever so easily when you get there” replied JP.
Chris Alldis and John Ballard arrived back from Lasham where the 18 metre and Club Class nationals have been taking place. Remarkably for this year, they have flown for 7 days out of 9.
Martin Moss arrived and bounded excitedly into control to present JP with his ‘logging’ equipment, a camera and mechanical barograph. JP looked a little surprised.
After 2nd re-brief at 2-00 it started to look a little brighter but not good. Whacker took an aerotow and came straight back down. William Brewis launched in 154 and set off and came back, as did Dominic; clearly a pattern from which the more astute of those in the aerotow queue drew certain conclusions.
At this point it is worth noting that we were aerotowing to the south but in a slight tailwind over an uneven ground run. The unusual airfield configuration, with winch launching to the north taking place at the same time assured tuggie, Chris Harris, of an interesting afternoon. Suffice to say, some of the aerotows looked very interesting from the ground and also, Chris assures us, from the tug.
Dave Rance and Martin both attempted the task, with David getting “one and a half” turning points and returning with mechanical assistance. Martin got around the 1st TP and landed at Shobdon. Since neither had made it beyond 50 km the day was devalued to 0, therefore everybody is equal 1st.
Tomorrow is expected to be better!
Early sky didn’t look quite as doom laden as yesterday but still 8/8th cover. As I am sitting writing this in the briefing room, somebody has put the lights on.
It’s Nigel’s birthday.
John declared yesterday to be a ‘forced contest day’. Although no points were awarded, prizes were. Martin Moss was 2nd with David Rance the winner.
We now have logger traces and therefore maggot racing.
Weather Owl now purple; better? The weather hasn’t changed as much as expected.
Re-brief at 1:00. Task set: Walford, Sleap, Oswestry, Mynd (111.7 km).
Wind north westerly. Cloud cleared soon after task set.
Dominic set off first, others soon followed. David Rance set off then found conditions unfavourable so popped his motor and returned for a re-start, sparking a contentious debate on re-starts following a what is effectively an outlanding; something which a non motorised glider isn’t allowed to do.
15 attempted the task with 8 getting round.
Dominic went round twice, a risky strategy since once “start” is called for the second time then the first flight is cancelled even if the second attempt ends in an outlanding.
Conversation heard on radio:
“Zulu 19, 296; how do you get to Shrewsbury?” “Get bigger wings!”
It was a bad day for David Rance. A circlip, vital to his propeller brake had failed resulting in a written off prop, damaged radiator and some damage to his engine bay doors.
Bald Eagle proved that the old adage about eagles having good eyesight doesn’t always stand up; he missed a turning point.
Forecast good for today. Cold last night. Fine start.
Preparing the forecast wasn’t easy as there were no soundings available either to Dominic or the BBC.
David’s fast run yesterday was treated as a hors concours entry and he was presented with wine for the fastest flight of the day. Dominic won; his second, slower attempt counting. Julian was second.
Today’s task 257 km. Talgarth, Stratford. High cover started to encroach from South West and it didn’t get soarable here until about 2:00. The task was reset to Stone, Bridgenorth, Evesham, Mynd (247.6 km)
It became clear that getting away from the winch wasn’t easy, however a long aerotow queue and a possibly short window meant that most opted for the winch. Whacker entertained those of us waiting in the queue by scraping away from hilltop height, catching a thermal just as he was about to turn away to land in the valley. Jon Ballard found himself attempting a similar feat about an hour later with rather different results. He then walked back up the hill to get his trailer.
Nobody completed the task. Four landed at Bidford. Paul Shuttleworth radioed that he was about to land at Shobdon, having cut out the last TP, asking for an aerotow retrieve. Meanwhile Chris Harris was having his busiest day ever in the tug retrieving some of the many from Bidford. He was all set to go over to Shobdon for Paul when we heard from him was that he was “marginal” having scratched away from Shobdon Hill. Chris wasn’t disappointed however, Julian landed there.
Alison Rowson attempted a 300 km, O/R Newport Pagnell with a dogleg to avoid the Birmingham zone, in 493. She landed out near Newport Pagnell giving her crew a good run out.
David Rance decided to play safe and land in his neighbour’s farm, presumably his own fields are too wet! Rumour has it that Nick Heriz spent some time driving around looking for “Own Farm”.
The day was won by Glyn MacArther and Roland Bailey in JGJ with Julian 2nd in the Discus. Mention should be made of John Roberts who came 3rd in the K6CR DEV, not so much for a superb flight and excellent result as for his “how I done it” speech during briefing he following morning in which he described flying over his old house as “really cool” and commented “aren’t thermals wonderful”.
Julian leads overall with Martin Moss in second place.
Since yesterday’s task appeared to be over-set today’s was shorter: Ironbridge, Hay-On-Wye, Great Malvern, Mynd (215.7 km). 16 gliders attempted with 13 completing. The winner was Ian MacArther in the club Discus 493 with Andy Holmes in the Imperial College Discus 296 in second.
From watching the maggot racing later in the evening it became clear that we have a rising star in our midst in the form of Allan Barnes, a hang glider pilot who had recently converted to gliding and had progressed from ab-initio to nearly completing his Silver within the 3 months temporary membership period from his trail lesson. Throughout the task he had followed Julian around and kept up with him - in a K23! Allan’s only failing was to take too long climbing in preparation for a final glide which would take him over the finish line in excess of 1500 feet. Clearly if this man had a willy, he’d be dangerous. I later discovered that he isn’t just any hang glider pilot, he has won the British Nationals 5 times and is rated among the World’s top 10.
Pat Warren flew to Aston Down in her K6cr HAB to claim a ‘proper’ Silver distance i.e. one flown in wood. Alan Reynolds flew to Bidford in his Pegase for his Silver distance and height and Sarah Platt gained her Silver height in a K23, thereby completing her Silver. This gives her a place in the Junior Nationals along with Andy Holmes, John Roberts and Ian MacArther.
Ian was presented with wine in briefing. Mac commented “That bottle of wine represents a huge investment.”
Andy and Ian refute suggestions that they may have been pair flying.
Julian still in the lead overall with Martin Moss second.
The owl is pink - bad news. It rained this morning and is still cloudy. If it does clear and convect then we can expect some heavy showers later. Dominic is expecting a front to come through from the west but not until Sunday so Monday is looking good. JP has asked for comments about the feasibility of setting a task on Monday; normally considered taboo due to long journeys home and grockles on the access roads making it difficult to get a trailer off the hill in the event of a landout.
Nick set a local cat’s cradle task: Montgomery, Halfway House, Craven Arms, Welshpool, Mynd. 122 km with no re-brief and no possibility of a scrub.
Even during the ‘good’ bit of the day it didn’t look very inspiring but when you’re leading the competition and want to stay that way you have to launch and give it a go.
Some doubt as to whether “Go Johnny Go” is standard RT terminology but JP says can it be delayed until he has read back the start time please?
Nine pilots attempted the task with only one getting back, namely David Rance who turned 2 turning points. A big shower formed to the north engulfing Halfway House, and moved slowly to the east.
Julian landed in a field near Marton pool; a straightforward retrieve with no farmer problems. We had an interesting drive back up Asterton, meeting 4 cars coming down, none of whom could reverse without having to think about it a great deal, a laborious, painstakingly slow process in one case.
John Roberts won the day in the K6 with Dominic second and Allan Barnes 3rd.
In briefing, another
speech from John Roberts. He asks
Dominic how he got so far; “I’ve got
bigger wings!” was the reply.
Andy Holmes has managed to blag another Discus, this time the BGA’s one. JP points out that if Andy is trying to rival the Fack Discus collection, he must remember that Julian’s are actually his own.
Today is Neal Clements’ last day of freedom as he takes over as CFI from Nick Heriz-Smith tomorrow.
The same task was set as yesterday except Craven Arms has been substituted with Ludlow increasing the distance to 143.3 km.
Like yesterday heavy showers developed especially to the north and east and thunder could be heard from the Mynd.
There was a paragliding competition taking place next door and during the shower some of them came into the clubhouse for tea; Dave Crowson got talking to them and mentioned that we had Allan Barnes flying here. “Not THE Allan Barnes?” one of them replied.
Tony Danbury took two cloud climbs but still landed out near Montgomery. He was approached by a little girl of about 7 and asked her if Daddy was about. The girl replied that he would have to wait as Daddy was in the barn, pointing to a barn from which a ghastly noise could be heard. A minute later the farmer’s wife appeared and explained that her husband would be out in a minute, he was castrating a bull. The farmer appeared covered from head to toe; meanwhile the little girl was explaining to Tony exactly what was going on.
Julian rounded Halfway House and then headed back as close as he could to the A49 to look for a field for the clearly inevitable landout. He was greeted by an eccentric farmhand, with keen interest in aviation, who in turn introduced him to the farmer’s wife who had decorated the garden with bunting for no special occasion - just to “make it look nice”. It sounds like something Stella Gibbons had dreamed up. Just before we arrived Julian heard on his radio from Allan Barnes who was still airborne somewhere around Newtown.
After we got back I took Julian’s logger into control where Hazel and Sue were looking very worried as they hadn’t heard from Allan Barnes who surely, by now, must be in a field somewhere. I told them that Julian had heard from him an hour ago. John tried calling him up on the base station and a few minutes later Allan called to let us know that he was still flying south of Newtown.
He initially attempted the task but soon realised that the weather was closing in from the north east and that completing the task or even returning to the Mynd wasn’t possible. He also found that the air coming in from the north east was forming a soarable convergence line where it met the clear air to the south west, so he kept flying along it in the hope of doing his 5 hours. He managed just over four and a half hours, landing at about 6 o’clock.
Strictly speaking this should not have been a scoring day, however by reducing Y, John was able to get some results and we had a 1 point day. There were 4 joint winners.
Clearly grotty so scrubbed at briefing.
Originally expected to be a good day but there is a strong northerly and even if the trigger temperature is reached, cloudbase is unlikely to exceed 1200 feet. Also the sunshine is bound to bring the bank holiday grockles out in force. A re-brief was set for 11.30 during which a task would be set or the day would be scrubbed and the prizes given out. Some cumulus clouds were forming but they were low, broken, and fast moving. It was noticeable that Nick’s Ventus wasn’t among those gliders being rigged.
At 11:30 the day was scrubbed and the prizes were presented by Keith Mansell.
· Best Novice: awarded jointly to John Roberts and Clive Jones (K6cr DEV)
· Runner Up: Martin Moss (Nimbus 2CS)
· Winner: Julian Fack (Discus)
Bottles were presented to Sue Holmes and Hazel Turner for running Control and awards for organisation went to Dominic (Met), Nick Heriz Smith (Task Setting) and John Parry (Competition Director).
Later the sky started to look almost good. Julian and Richard Hinley took a launch in the Duo and had “a lovely circuit”, i.e. it was duff. Later Paul Garnham reported from the tug that the Burway was chock-a-block and advised anybody going off the hill, with or without a trailer, to go down Asterton.
John Parry
|
|
Total |
Glider |
Pilots |
20th |
21st |
22nd |
23rd |
24th |
|
1 |
1738 |
173 Discus |
Julian Fack |
203 |
822 |
667 |
45 |
1 |
|
2 |
1647 |
2CS Nimbus |
Martin Moss |
183 |
774 |
690 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
1569 |
296 Discus |
Andy Holmes |
163 |
640 |
766 |
0 |
0 |
|
4 |
1566 |