Or would've been if the wind had stayed more northerly. Today had a promising start with admitedly early Cu, but enough to get lots of private owners rigged. Pre 11:30 there were a few good soaring flights inlcuding the K13s but then the sky overdeveloped and the strengthening westerly meant we had to change ends to launch on 27. Those who had not yet launched duly formed a tidy queue of shiny plastic and waited patiently for their turn - alternating with the 2 seaters. No one was in a hurry as it was clearly quite hit or miss as to whether lift could be contacted. Your scribe launched to 1100 feet and scurried round a blue hole that had opened up and was rewarded with 3.3 knots to 2700. But then all the clouds lied through their teeth and I was back on the ground after 25 minutes. Other flights were a variation on this - some longer some just a circuit. Look forward to hearing about Sunday and Monday. The treasurer's day reference? Lots of lovely private owner launches. :)

10 club members arrived at Pocklington on Saturday with the Duo Discus and DG500 as well as an assortment of caravans, camper vans and tents for the 2 seater Competition.
Sunday was the first competition day and the DG500 flown by Darren Edge and Richard Kill completed a 181km task while the Duo with Tony Parker and Mike Weston completed a 302km task. Jon Huband took the Ventus around a 220km tour of Yorkshire. Monday and Tuesday were non comp days but we still managed to fly on Tuesday with Sarah Zanoni and Tony Chapman enoying about 90 minutes each in the DG and Duo respectively.

Wednesday was a comp day which looked rather good to start with but proved to be quite difficult, the Duo with Chris Ashworth and Tony Parker landed at Sutton Bank, aerotowing home and the DG with Jon Huband and Tony Chapman onboard landed near Goole. The Ventus had another small Yorkshire tour but needed the help of the turbo. The forecast up here seems better than the south of England so we are hopeful of some more competition days.

Results can be found at the Wolds site on - http://www.wolds-gliding.org/comps/2010/tsc2010_frame.htm

...Mike

The second day of the AD hosted Rock Polishers dawned slightly overcast but with signs of improvement. As well as our three intrepid comp pilots, Tim Barnes (pundit) Tom Gooch (Inter) and Robin Davenport (novice).Several non competing members decided to join in the fun and go for one of the three tasks set. Unfortunately the day did not deliver in terms of a sky full of brilliant lift, although the clouds, like sirens, were tempting you into a false hope of 6+’s .{This was probably due to wave influence] at least that is what we, (those that didn’t make it back, are sticking to.} So it was a day of land outs and frustration, but, that is gliding. The land out role call (and apologies for missing anyone) was………………..
Robin Davenport (who had the bonus of some fresh beans Near AD)
Tim Barnes (who managed to land [impressively] between lots of bales! Near Highworth)
Tom Gooch (4th out landing in four flights but did complete most of the task, unfortunately landed at SH after the tug pilot had gone home)
Myself and Sarah Z ( landed at Sand Hill, while there was a tug pilot on site , [had an ice cream] and took an aero tow back)!
Rob Corbin (landed near Sand Hill late so assume he did well? )
Note: This is not a comprehensive note on the Rock Polishers results, these will be published in due course.
RK

We started off on 21 but the wind picked up requiring a move to 27. Then the wind died but couldn't make up it's mind which way to blow. A harrassed duty instructor made a decision to go back to 21 but almost immediately reversed it and we ended up on 03. Fortunately that was the end of our wandering.
Very soarable for most of the day even under the approaching top cover. 10kts sink in the circuit made life interesting for one or two.

Great article on gliding at Aston Down in Cotswold Life mag, just arrived in our letterbox.
Full marks to whoever organised and hosted that amazing piece of free publicity!
It features a fine photo of Larry Bleaken with his high-rent friend the Stemme.
The BGA Ladder had an amazing flight by Doug gardner yesterday - the longest by
any glider under 28 metres span on the BGA Ladder! See it for yourself at:-
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/Enquiry.asp

At least one pilot got his act together today and was able to launch and leave the area before we were grounded by the Red Arrows display. Directly after that Guillermo Sánchez flew his first solo (his previous solos in powered aircraft don't count). Other than that it was a fairly quiet day on the training front. The local weather was pretty good with some very strong, turbulent thermals, so those who were here got some long flights. Reports from cross-country pilots said it wasn't nearly so good into Wales.

On Saturday three intrepid GCC pilots dragged their gliders over to the nearby Nympsfield to take part in the 'Rockpolishers' inter-club competition. A creditable performance saw the team placed joint second on the day, only one point away from glory and winning the day! Paul Gentil, flying his SHK-1 in the Pundit category, was second fastest around NYM - Great Witley - Silverstone - Lower Clopton - Nymspfield Finsih East, 268 km. Eugene Lambert (the author), flying his Libelle 201B in the Intermediate category, was third fastest around NYM - Great Malvern - Ettington - Nympsfield Finish East, 160 km. Robin Davenport, flying his Cirrus 75 in the novice category, scored some useful points in an attempt on NYM - Broadway - NYM, before 'making like a homing pigeon' and landing back at Aston Down!

Anyway, it just shows what is achievable if we actually field a team!

No flying on Saturday due to the weather but Sunday dawned bright and breezy with runway 27 in use. The gusty north westerly made conditions challenging and a bit of a lottery on getting away from the airfield. Jon Huband set off for a (sometimes low level) tour of Wales in the Ventus turning Oswestry and Talgarth, Tom Gooch abandoned his task and had some fun in the wave to over 8000' and Tony Parker and I declared Talgarth and Shobdon in the Duo, we got a ballistic climb to 5000' shortly after the launch and contacted wave over the Severn climbing to over 12000', the wind was around 50-60 knot at that height. We didn't quite make Talgarth but it was fun anyway.

Monday was a rather dull day with some weak thermals available at times, the new course started and there were a few club members continuing their training.

At about 10.00am the sky looked just about perfect. After a flury of rigging a large fleet of private gliders departed in the direction of the Mynd. Most bottled out around Ludlow, but Mike Weston in the Ventus made it and went on to do a 300k. The ASH went north then a cross to Bicester and round Brize. This must have been a novel experience for Rob Kerslakein the back seat - as an paraglider he's used to a glide angle of 1:10 and hitching hiking back from cross countries. I don't know where the Duo went, but they didn't back until after hangar doors were closed. Back at base the three two-seaters had a very busy day. On the one-day course Tom Egan enjoyed soaring flights to 3,400' on in the K13. We also welcomed new members Tim and Les Clark. All in all, a very good day.
Tim
PS I should also mention Robin Birch who spent most of the day stuck in the workshop working on getting PW-6 KRU back in the air.

Yesterday most pilots took a launch some aerotow others winched, several pilots did well in the weak thermic conditions logging up to 4hrs in the air.
Today was a lot better, the day started on Benarty ridge then as the thermals got going we all took climbs to the 6000ft cloudbase. four of us ventured over to Creiff, we were not brave enough to go past Loch Earn as the ground got closer and closer to the 6000ft cloudbase. Tony Hayes was the only pilot to contact the wave climbing to 8500ft before GPS failure and looming Edinburgh TMA sent him back down over ground he recognised.
A very good day for all our pilots.

Not a classic cross country weekend although a number of club members did make valiant attempts. There was club flying on both days and a good number of trial lessons including a couple of 'birthday' vouchers. One lady celebrating a birthday surprise flight was on the ground run when she noticed her parents driving through the entrance, unknown to her they had driven up from Sussex to watch.
A good number of members enjoyed the evening meal prepared by Jacqui and Helen and then helped Jacqui celebrate a major milestone by toasting her with copious amounts of fizz. A very enjoyable evening which continued by introducing the rules and tactics of Uckers to some new players.

Apart from the poor visibility, Sunday was probably the best day of the year so far. A number of 300's were flown including a first for Tom Gooch (well done Tom!) and a healthy number added to the National Ladder. All four of the training two seaters were out with plenty of long soaring flights during the day. Is this a taster for a better year to come.....lets hope so!

An illustrated talk by John McWilliam.
8pm tonight in the clubhouse.
Everyone welcome.

A good training day again with some soaring in broken thermals and a practical meteorology lesson as we watched the approaching warm front.

A beautiful clear morning with blue skies spoiled only by a strong cold NW wind developed into a cracking day for those who braved the chill. It was generally difficult to get away from a low launch and we were having to turn very tightly and keep an eye on our wind drift. Thermals were bumpy and narrow low down and wave appeared to be having the usual negative influence to the West of AD. Early flights were achieving 3000ft but it was difficult to push into wind. After falling down from a 1200ft launch Graham Best and I tried again, and with Graham at the controls for the second half of the climb, we peaked at 5100 ft AGL over Kemble.

Update by Mike W. Another good day but not too many members around, a number of private owners launched and Jon Huband took the Ventus over to the Black Mountains, with the Ventus logging almost 9 hours airtime over the weekend. Club members who managed to get into the lift enjoyed some spectacular views, Paul Mather after enjoying a 7.8 kt average climb to over 4000' flew over the Severn for "his best flight so far".

Blue skies and very cold with an uncomfortable easterly wind. Reasonable soaring all day with many private gliders getting their first outing of the year. The inversion limited climbs to about 2700 and the wind made the thermals hard work low down. Not a bad day for March though.

Eugene Lambert in Pik20E (G-POPE) did the club's first successful cross-country of the year on 1st March.
He went round the Club Triangle and, correctly, put his flight on the BGA Ladder to let us see it and to make CGC look cross-country active.
To see the full story, go to 1st March on:- http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/Enquiry.asp
This is one of many good flights we have had using March thermals - yes thermals......there is very cold night air at this time of year so even the weak sun sets off thermals of 5 or 6 knots with a cloud base high enough to travel.
As well as that we have enjoyed the north-east winds' good ridge & wave over in Wales. Anyone on to try Wales this Monday 8th March? - it looks a good NE wind.
JMcW

Another cold day but not quite as cold as Saturday. Poor turnout from White Bravo so thanks to David Howell, Steve Glassett and Dave Gardiner for driving the winch and to Jacqui for operating the lights. Alex Mazzoleni had fun in the Astir and UWE student Russell enjoyed some launch failures, spiral dives and spinning as well as converting to the PW6. Lunch was leftovers from the AGM buffet.

It's not often you get to soar in wave at 1,200' directly over the site. It was weak and broken, but it was there and the PW6 and K8 enjoyed extended flights beating up and down just to the east of the runway. The sunshine, blue skies, light winds and near tropical temperatures (in comparison to recent weeks) tempted a number of private gliders out of hibernation. Mike Weston puttered off in the Ventus and the CFI rigged his Discus. Even the T21 was dragged out, waking up the wood worm and allowing a few brave souls to go topless.

Another crisp, clear and frosty start, though I'm told that it was warmer today than New Years Day. We kicked off by rigging HXJ so that we could have 2 K13s; and by the simple method of getting the ARC for JSN and putting it in the DI book, we had an airworthy Ka8 as well! (JSN has actually been airworthy since Nov 19th but no one had looked at the paperwork in the clubhouse) The duty instructor cleverly got things set up at the wrong end and we did 4 launches to fly everything back to the north end so that we were launching into wind. An enjoyable day with splendid views of the Welsh mountains capped by snow and clear vision provided by Tom's fantastic canopy polish. The now familiar canopy misting was amplified in Sarah's case by her sunglasses misting up too. The Stemme and Venture motor gliders went wave hunting to the west and we were treated to the sight of the Stemme gliding overhead at 6000 feet as we were starting to hangar-fly the gliders.

A few souls escaped the on-going festivities and turned up to fly on Boxing Day. The weather was reasonable and both the K13 and PW reached heights of 2,000ft.
Dave Gardiner came bearing tins of mince pies and bread pudding all of which were consumed rapidly. Mike Weston bought his daughter along for a couple of flights which she enjoyed. Towards the end of the day an extended family from Belgium turned up and we flew four of the children, a Christmas presents from their parents. All in all, a good day, blowing the cobwebs away. RK

...and a very cold and blowy day it was too, though we had all available two-seaters out on the X-runway (including KRU, newly back on line), but it was just too rough and bumpy to risk any solo flying. We did nearly thirty launches despite problems caused by a combination of weak and feeble string and enthusiastic use of the DG, in which the CFI managed to complete two more instructor rating renewals.

Thanks to all who turned out and persevered!

The day started with low cloud and rain, the 17 UWE students spent the morning in the safety breifing, testing the simulator and checking out the hanger.
We eventually convinced ourselves it was clearing and took the gliders to the launch point and waited, the first launch released at 400ft ( cloudbase) so Paul's Gentil and Lazenby continued to test it until their third flight a gap apeared and they continued to 1600ft.
We continued to fly the students until the gaps got to small to get through eventualy packing the hanger and de-rigging HXJ for its annual around 1700hrs.
Most of the students flew although some only got to 400ft, and as is always the way as soon as the hanger doors were closed the clouds vanishished.

Probably the last warm autumn day for 2009, we had a light westerly/southwesterly breeze across the airfield. All 4 available 2-seaters plus one Ka8 kept the launch line busy with launch heights improving throughout the day. Some local soaring in thermal and later in weak wave but with cloudbases between 1200 and 1800 feet made for an interesting day. Most launches were going above the base of the 2/8th cu so gliders had to descend before looking for lift! We had the first large batch of students, almost all of whom got 2 flights plus some time in the simulator. Thanks to all the instructors and helpers who kept the day moving along - especially to Robert who sat in the winch all day! Felix chalked up another first by converting to the ka8.

A few "sporty" flights squeezed in between blustery showers. Rain stopped play at midday.

Early bird Tony Chapman got the kit out at the crack of dawn and we were airborne by 10am. Thereafter all the two-seaters enjoyed wave flights to 12,000' in brilliant sunshine (that's for the benefit of our rmembers at Portmoak). When they weren't in the wave, the two-seaters were kept busy flying two generations of Lazenby's. Max easily took spinning in his stride and Sam enjoyed a cable break (there's no stopping those two) meanwhile Paul re-acquainted himself with the rear seat of a K13. Felix consolidated his solo flying and Sarah Z showed Tony Parker how to do spot landings. I hear the forecast is for a week of light easterlies, especially in southern Scotland.

All the expedition members and gliders arrived OK, the only hold ups being the large number of roadworks on the M6. Sunday started with low cloud on the Bishop and it was around 1630 before we attempted a launch, Richard Kill set off in the PW for a check flight with Simon Lucas and the air was so damp that they had an interesting return to the site with the canopy misting up on the outside as well as the inside. Chris Huck took a launch in the Ventus but had a cable break at 800' which didn't give him enough to get to the ridge (not with the CFI watching, anyway!). The Bishop clouded over again and the Duo crew of David Briggs and Mike W were 'encouraged' to take a launch and were rewarded with 1 hr 30 minutes on the ridge and weak wave landing just as it was getting dark and just in time (luckily) for some roast beef and Yorkshire pud in the clubhouse. For the evening, the team amused themselves with a game of Uckers.
See http://www.uckers.co.uk/index.htm for details.

...Mike

Wind and rain stopped play all day on Saturday but the instructor refresher course got their ground stuff out of the way. Sunday was much better with thermals saving the cost of an aerotow for the spinning exercises on the instructor's refresher course. Others managed cross country flights with varying success. Eugene landed out after his engine wouldn't start, but got it going on the ground and was able to take off again with the farmer holding the wing. Doug landed out more conventionally near Theale.

A better day with sun and clouds rather than the overcast murk of the past few days. The course members getting some proper soaring and a few private owners venturing skywards. Eric Lomas got his first taste of a cross country completing the club triangle in the DG500, Adrian Giles attempted the same but landed out on the way home. Looks like a reasonable forecast for the next few days

The first promotional outing of the simulator finally occurred on Saturday 12th, at the Minchinhampton biennial Fayre. Blessed with brilliant weather for this, rather than for soaring, the kit was transported by the CFI in his freshly cleaned out horse box, and the equipment worked, better than clockwork, with a steady stream of customers throughout the day.
Lara demonstrated her consummate marketing skills with a succession of wannabe pilots of all ages and sizes - all this having cycled up from Bristol to be there for the start at 11.30. (and safely riding all the way back again?)

Along with Lara's enthusiastic pre-flight briefing for all, Dave Breeze and I assisted in the raising of £104 in donations for the Fayre's charities from the happy virtual flyers, a surprising number of whom achieved a landing somewhere near the airfield. The organisers of the Fayre were delighted with our contribution to the event which attracted some 2,000 people. The plan is to have a series of further events for the simulator - beginning with the Freshers Fair at UWE on the 25th.
The most common comment on the sim was, "You made this amazing bit of kit!?" Once again, the club owes a huge thank you to those who built this simulator.

A very busy day on the Cross Runway with 5 two seaters flying all day, the rain that apeared to be all around us did not reach AD. A big thank you to all that helped out on the ground.

A busy day with a number of pilots going off in search of the wave, John Mac getting to 11000' I believe. The course had some good soaring flights and as well as a good turnout from the Wednesday flyers Stan persuaded his wife Dana to go for a flight, last launch was at 1900 and Nick Tomney enjoyed some late soaring.

An enjoyable day in the fresh south westerly breeze. The four two-seaters were kept busy with instruction and aerotowing trial lessons. Alex "The Trailer Mazzolini and Simon Buckley kept themselves amused landing in little frequented parts of the airfield. Sarah Zanoni completed her 2nd and 3rd solos in fine style. Many thanks to Mike Weston for helping with the instruction. You needed to be brave or have an engine to go cross country.

A busy day for the course with Huw taking his first solo in the PW. A good number of trial lessons, club flying and passenger flying until it went dark. Sarah Zanoni completed her training and conducted a perfect solo flight, well done Sarah.

Long grid of glass gliders and a not too hopeful sky and somehow the DG500 was at the front with Alex Mazzoleni and me doing some cross country training, the grid pilots were getting fractious so we launched and spent the next hour hovering at between 800 and 1500 feet to the east of the airfield, the grid pilots then sunbathed and watched until we moved out of sight (a bit of a ploy), we did though have a great aerial view of the Vulcan doing an impromptu display over and around Kemble. We landed after 3 hours (most of which involved turning) and some of the cross country pilots also returned. The DG did manage an out and return to Edgehill later in the day, Jon Huband did Alton South, Hus Bos for 357km in the Ventus, not sure where everyone else went. A very busy day for trial lessons and club flying.

Weak ridge of high pressure. Max forecast temp 21 degrees. Tephigram shows cloudbase 3500 to 4000 ASL. RASP showing best thermal strengths in area west of a line IOW to Nottingham. Improving east of that line later.

The CFI got lucky with a ride round the Brize zone in Jeremy Liber's very pretty little 1962 built Jodel under the pretext of a Navex for Jeremy's XC endorsement. We met one or two club members out in the bush so obviously some gliding fun was being had!

Strong winds and low cloud - perfect for launch failure practice. Sarah Cook became very familiar with the recovery attitude and Tim got plenty of exercise. The strengthening wind and more rain stopped play around mid-day.

Day starts well with clear skies and tephigram showing possible 4500' cloudbases. Some large unsoarable areas on RASP though.
Sunrise from Webcam

White Bravo team were up bright and early and got us in the air for 09.30 - is this a record.? The morning started well after the mist clear, but then it gradually clouded over and we had the odd spots of rain. Tom from Epsom got lots of practice recovering from launch failures and Sarah Brown got back in the air after her layoff. Jerry Liber worked on spins and bronze field landinsg with Tony Hayes. The two visitors on the one day course got some good flights with Dave Gardiner in the DG. When the sun came out again, Mike Randle dissappeared for an hour of so in the LS6.
Tim

Eugene Lambert had a very high-scoring flight yesterday in his Libelle. He was way up the Ladder pecking order for the day at http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=21379
Dave Roberts had a great flight on Saturday in his ASW20 - 462km at 85kph!
Rob Corbin toured the country in his Discus on Sunday to gain his Diamond Distance with 506km at 69kph - the highest Ladder score by any CGC pilot so far this year. He and I shared a fine thermal near Little Rissington and he didn't look at all worn out.
Brian Birlison, Dave Breeze & John McW each had bashes at the new Club 100k triangle on Sunday.
Why not try it yourself? It is Aston Down-Broadway-Kingham-Aston Down. You can do it either way round, height difference start to finish not to exceed 1,000m. Rules will be posted on this website and in the Clubhouse. It is easy and convenient to do with self-declaration, and self-scoring.

A very busy day and a day that looked full of promise but reports from several cross country pilots suggested that it was more difficult than it looked. Club gliders were busy all day with more consistent thermals occurring later in the day. The Robin was used for the extended trial lessons and a few club members took advantage of an aerotow as well. Jeremy Liber also went solo, he went home early so I think that his bar tab is still open!..

Sunday had that perfect cold night + sunny day, fair weather cumulus look and on arriving for duty I noticed that the sheets had more take off times than landings by about two to one - unfortunately this turned out to be slightly illusionary. Winching (on my own for the first time) became a challenge as the wind suddenly veered from max 8 kts SE to 10 kts northerly with some fun variations in between. A near miss with a jogger with his dachshund on the cross runway as I retrieved cables, reminded all of us that stray public are not wise to the dangers of gliders and cables in particular. This prompted Tony Parker to recollect his experience of a cable launch of a sheep to 100 feet at a more rural airfield... in that case the incident ended relatively happily - with the sheep in the freezer.

The anarchic wind change forced an early end to launch proceedings, it also presented some challenges to pilots who missed seeing the windsock and found themselves over shooting somewhat. Geoff Dixon was wise enough to land in the opposite direction to that he had launched into 3 hours earlier. As the day closed the CFI was off with his trailer to pick up his (syndicate partner's land out) glider from ... some manor house? no, the one with the airfield this time.

We also had the first recorded glider flight by a small teddy bear. Hopefully we will be seeing this photo on this page - after the tiny girl, whose bear it was, shows her pictures to the rest of her competing school friends who have only managed swings, tree houses and trampolines for their unusual bear locations. it was a good investment of time since there's a good chance that dad will now become a member too.
Patrick.

the weekend turned out nice again...pundits left in various directions on saturday, some south, some north-ish; a few got back, others made friends with the locals. The CFI took the opportunity offered by a large area of spreadout to show off his winglets at Shenington, but Helena effortlessly outclassed all other landouts with a visit to Badminton for champers with the Duke of (call me David) Beaufort (...he sat...in my glider! a real duke!) . No doubt an armorial bearing will be embroidered on the head rest soon.
Sunday saw a mass exit in the direction of Shobdon and the Mynd, while the club gliders got a lot of local soaring and trial lessons; not a bad Bank holiday weekend at all.

After a rather pessimistic forecast, a very windy day turned into a cracker as far as thermals go. A few pundits ventured forth and flew Aston Down - Kingsclere - Bicester - Aston Down. Launching and landings were demanding in the 25 to 28 kts southerly but every glider got away and with strong thermals and later some dramatic streeting, it turned into an excellent soaring day. Last PW6 landed at 6.30 after flying Chalford to Badminton into wind while gaining height all the way.

Early risers were greeted by a dramatic, ruler-straight frontal cloud aligned North-South some where over the river severn. Beyond it to the West were clear blue skies with the prospect of a cracking day - at AD, underneath the cloud not much was happening. During the course of the morning, while the front inched its way east wards, the two seaters were kept busy doing some refresher training and the CFI rigged his newly refinished Discus, complete with sexy winglets.
The front finally cleared around lunch-time and Doug Gardner and Tom Gooch headed for the Bath Gap. Meanwhile Tim showed Richard how easy it is to rig the Mosquito.
Lara provided the day's entertainment by landing the Astir wheels-up (everyone does it eventually) - luckily, the only damage was to her pride. Even that wasn't too badly damaged as she promptly took off again and stayed up for 2 hours 10 minutes. Not long after that, Tom Gooch phoned in with the first field landing of the year (Paul and Max Lazenby were kind enough to the retrieve).
Bethany's dad flew his new Sport Vega for the first time.
Late in the afternoon, Tim and new member, Paul Mather (he's quite good, for an aussie) took off into an un-promising sky and after a lot of scratching managed to soar to 4,000' . A splendid end to a busy day.
Tim Barnes

We kicked off at 08.30 pulling out the gliders and setting up the day; and had the first flight before 10.00! Had a small problem with a PW6 flat tire but that did not dampen the spirits as we began another days gliding. We began with a briefing on thermals and circuits by Mike and Simon, giving the theory on what we had been doing over the past few days.

Dan began flights with Mike, building well on the skills he had learnt the previous day with one short and long flight in quick succession. Lara then flew solo in windy conditions, ballooning at one stage but recovering very well. She also ‘crabbed it good.’

El Presidente arrived a little later and then had his first flight of the week. Sue, Oli, Gareth and Mike all had several flights each building on their skills as they work towards solo. Gareth and Mike even had a go at stalls, with Mike also being shown a demo of a spin by Mike Weston, helped by them having the longest flight of the day with 41 minutes. Will also managed to get in a few flights, also progressing very well.

Overall a very good day, with over 40 flights in total (in combination with the CGC members) and some brilliant development taking place, along with much needed theory work to back this up! Oh, and Lara shook her tail feathers!

Mike Platt :)

After an intended departure from the UWE bus stop at 08:00, all 11 students finally accumulated, so we left at 08:15. We arrived at 09:01 as threatened, and everyone met the kindly volunteered UWE Crew of Sarah (Winch), Simon, Richard and Mike (Instructors).

All kit was taken out, (2 x PW6's) however due to initially poor weather Mike gave a full safety brief. Meanwhile, Lara did a prologued sun dance, and low and behold, the weather improved (all be it, 2 hours later).

First launch was at 11:56. We managed 8 launches before lunch and all non-flown members were launched. A further 12 flights were completed post lunch. In the wait, Lara co-ordinated a training rotor between Launch Master and Lights. Almost all members managed a spell on both, with a few showing good competency and were allowed to do it without supervision. Simon Lucas came to try out his K21 after some repairs. He landed shortly afterwards after loops, stalls and two trips to VNE! Students were then allowed into the glider so three aircraft were out on the airfield.

There were lots of happy students - there were a few who had been up twice and not flown due to poor weather, so it was a brilliant relief to see their smiles after opening the canopy (post landing!). Last launch was at 17:18 due to deteriorating wind conditions. The two joint longest flights were 28 minutes with Mike Weston and Oliver Thompson, and Simon Buckley with his favourite blonde.

All kit was packed away and 4 of the 11 currently remain drinking in the bar. Roll on Tuesday!

Lara x

The day started with an unpromising cloudy sky but then cheered up and we got the forecast thermals to 4k'. At least one of us had to resort to spinning and circling in sink to get down. Later on the forecast over development made it rather harder to stay up. However several cross country flights were made of over 3 hours duration. Lara spent some time perfecting her landings; Matthew converted to the Pilatus and the bus.

A quite select group of members gathered to listen to Mike's excellent lecture on human factors followed by Tim on soaring and how to avoid each other in thermals. We all overdid the samosas a bit (thanks Richard!) and then the CFI rambled on inconsequentially about accidents for a time. At least you can never predict what he's going to say when he stands up in front of a screen. Good picture of a camel though...

Forecast was bad and many stayed home - not such a good move. Winds were high, thermals were strong (I got 9 knots at one point). Nympsfield noth ridge was working to 2000' and there were thermals around to get there. Definitely worth rigging. One of the PWs and the DG500 were busy training all day and both got stuck to the sky at some points. A few showers here and there to dodge but great fun. An exhilarating day.

Lots of activity this weekend on the airfield, kicked off on Friday evening with the start of the evening lectures. Simon and Geoff gave interesting talks with around 30 members in attendance.
The strong Westerly (becoming more North Westerly) on both days proved challenging for some of the ab-initios along with dreadful pea soup visibility on Saturday. Saturday saw Paul Lazenby, Barry Keys and Alex Jones going off to Shobdon in formation for a bacon sandwich (the best ever apparently) while Doug Gardener had the day's bragging rights managing 3 hours soaring in extremely difficult conditions. Honorable mention goes to Gerald Birt who worked tirelessly on the launchline all day. Saturday night was the "Quaff my bluff" wine tasting evening (thanks Richard) which was a great success.
Sunday's weather looked far more promising with early Cumulous development but Wave influence across the whole area again made soaring quite difficult. Honourable mention of the day goes to Lara Small for her first solo (sent by Richard Kill) in a PW6. A suggestion was made that a crowbar is going to be needed from now on to prise her out of the cockpit now that she's solo (she would have done 10 if Richard had let her.....!). A couple of wave flights were acheived with John Macwilliam getting to 11,000 over Ross on Wye. Big turnout from UWE again - nice work guys.

After Marvelous March Fun and Thermic Fridays, normal service was resumed today with strong winds and showers. We squeezed in 6 flights in the PW6s - Tim gave Alex Mazzoleni a guided tour of the best sink in Gloucestershire in KRU (10 down at one point) and while Richard and Lara Small flew KRX. Then the windsock went above the horizontal and discretion rapidly became the better part of of valour. It was good timing - a few minutes after we got the gliders away the wind was at 35 knots and the rain horizontal. Roll on spring north easterlies.

Wednesday saw the best soaring day of the year so far.
Both PW’s the K8 and the pilatus had good flights with various pilots 8 knots up being found in palaces. The conditions changed in the afternoon but Tony Parker still managed an hour in his Ventus.
Well done Brenda for keeping KRU aloft for an hour with only a little help from the back seat

A busy day for the two seaters under leaden skies. . Robert Maclachlan, Ian Blackwell and Frank Birlison all completed their refersher training, which meant Tim and Simon Lucas spent got plenty of exercise plodding back from simulated launch failures. Tony Parker introduced Lara Small to the joys of spinning and Simon Buckley was kept busy instructor training with Tom Gooch and Don Brookman. The Safey Officer gave a fine demostration of why you should always check the boom is secured before driving off in the tow car.

20kts down the cross runway at 09.00 veered to a NW point where the switch was considered - but declined.
Launches to 1400ft were occasionally followed by a nice variant of 2- 6kts up and those who ventured forth in the PW6s the DG500 and the K13 found the cloud streets rewarding at times, disappointingly hard to grasp at others.
But the only surprise was the short length of the flying list...
Days like this in February are there for the grasping, visibility stunning, flying challenging but fun.
I love my garden, but this sure beats gardening as a late winter activity.
Patrick Graham.

relatively mild on sunday, slush still lying on the grass but with soggy bare patches...first time we have seen puddles in the grass at AD for ages. Two PWs and a K13 doing circuits, WR checks, instructor training and UWE first flights, visitors flying a K8. 46 launches! took ages to wash the mud off the undersides and tails of the PWs.

Around six inches of snow fell on Aston Down over night transforming the airfield into a winter wonderland.
A few intrepid truckers have slid around the peri track (no artics!) but mainly, the only life on the field consists of a bunch of dejected and confused rooks.
If this weather becomes more normal then perhaps we should consider some skis for the Cub?

A cold day with increasing winds but good fun. Both PWs, the Astir and a K8 were in use with launches in excess of 2000' being reported. There was obviously some wave influence around as some pilots incurred soaring fees( the treasurer will be pleased). Increasing wind and decreasing temperatures stopped play around 1500, shortly after it started raining..........Mike

Now back up and running.

With gusts of 37kts we've decided not to fly after all. Shame because the sky is full on lenticulars and, with the wind right down the runway, launches would have been impressive.
The cloudbase reported by the weather station is rather less that we have.