Members' area

The day started with a quick morning briefing at nine in the clubhouse, here everyone expressed what they wished to achieve during the day. It was going to be a busy day with aspirations from first flights all the way to instructor training. First launch just after ten released early as cloudbase was still rather low, fortunately Craig required a few launch failures for the CFI acceptance checks for his BI rating, this allowed us to make the most use of the early low cloudbase. A few launches later and we are now getting to the top of the winch launch and training flights start in their earnest. Just shy of 40 launches later and the sun starts to set, and canopies begin misting, the flying day comes to a close. A quick wash of the gliders and they are all put to bed. Congratulations must be given to Craig Musto for completing his BI rating and becoming our newest instructor and also to Chris Lee who completed his winch driver training in a challenging cross wind!

A small but keen group gathered in the fog to get the airfield ready for flying should a window present itself. When the fog cleared we got strapped in only for it to start raining for a couple of hours. Perseverance was the name of the game and at 1pm the rain passed to give much clearer skies.
UWE student James had his first glider flights and his flight simulator use showed. Also from UWE John continued his early training with us. Tim, Elliot, Jack and Matt completed the flying list.
Unfortunately rain stopped play again at 4pm.
Thank you everyone that came out on a day with such a poor forecast, especially Doug for stepping in to drive the winch and giving us launches to 2000ft.

A short delay waiting for the condensation to clear on the aircraft (perhaps we need a heated hangar!) but then a really nice October day. The three mile-high trial lessons had really good flights, getting above the cumulus cloudbase of around 2000' and enjoying flying in and around the cloud on the descent. Paul L flew family members for most of the day, while other members made the most of the day in the K13 and K23 with Adrian Irwin logging the longest flight of 57 minutes.
The wind picked up a little later in the day as the top cover increased and the temperature dropped and as I drove home it started to rain, but not a bad day for October.

Thanks to Paul Roberts and Steve Purkiss for driving the winch and to everyone else that helped.

Saturday was a blustery with wind straight down 03 giving good high winch launches. Three ODCs, flown by Tim, had a good day with a mixture of winch and aerotow launching and extended soaring flights. Finn was signed off for his first solo aerotow by Mike, a good achievement on a challenging day. Finn now leaves us to go to University but no doubt we will see him during the holidays. Good luck Finn! The day also brought out a few private gliders who seemed to disappear for a few hours.
Sunday was a much calmer day. Another busy one with five trial lessons and a mixture of other training. Etienne and Chris consolidated their solo flying, Colin got some aerotow training under his belt and the UWE students enjoyed the K8.
Thanks to all those who helped out, especially Roy who seemed to drive the winch all weekend!

On Friday, we were privileged to fly with 4 great guys from Sportability and share our sport with them. Mike flew with them and each had a great time, experiencing soaring and a couple experienced aerobatics.

Even with sometimes severe limitations, and from a range of ages, their zest for having life experiences and their determination came through, and it was a joy to speak to them and see their thrill and enjoyment afterwards.

We usually do this once or twice a year, and thanks to Chris, Max, Graham and Adrian as tuggie, and to everyone else who helped make this day special.

An epic day and another Happy Ava!

Tim Barnes reports that we just had a really good weekend.
“It's all over WhatsApp, but to recap:

* Tom Knight did his Silver distance and ( I think) height, with a trip to Enstone and back.
* George Bullock also got Silver Distance and Silver Height
* Ava continued her unstoppable progress with Silver Height (7,400', just to be sure) her 1 hour duration and conversion to the K23
* Tim Andrews got Silver Height.
* We flew 13 or 14 trial lessons - thanks to Simon Lucas and Jonathan Apperley
* The winch behaved itself.
* On Saturday Elliot Apperley flew the DG500 round a 250km task - all I did was sit in the back and eat my sandwiches. Then on Sunday he flew the Nimbus round a 500k task at 110 kph with Jon eating his sandwiches.
* Emma flew to Hus Bos at 125km/h (phew!)

On Sunday, we experienced the best conditions I have seen in 30 years of flying - off the clock climbs to 10,000'. We should give a shout out to Mike Weston, Tom Gooch and Paul Lazenby who were stuck instructing.”

A reminder to club pilots from the BGA that during the present weather conditions there is a need to be even more vigilant than normal about airspace, particularly as some navigation devices allow users to filter out high level airspace. It's likely those parameters will need reviewing on pilots nav devices.

Much of the UK has controlled airspace below FL100. However, the good news is that there is still quite a bit of class G above FL100.

There are a number of BGA-negotiated non-transponder areas above FL100. These are detailed as exceptions in the UK AIP under ENR 1.1 and 5.2. As previously reported, the CAA has advises that no exemption or permission is required for non-transponder high altitude glider flights in specified areas, based on the current rules, notified airspace, and the exception listed in the AIP. Please note that transponder equipage and use is required above FL100 when flying outside the notified non-transponder areas for gliders.

Roger Banks reports: Huge thanks to everyone who mucked in to help this afternoon, especially Don Brookman and Tim Barnes for being so flexible and alternating between winch driving and instructing. Congrats too, to Ava, who has now soloed on the K13!!! A really nice (albeit blue) day with cloud bases eventuality going up to around 5,000 ‘ locally. Étienne also clocked up a few more solo flights between being one of the most helpful people on the ground.

We had a good days flying despite worsening weather. After being put through her paces with simulated launch failures and out of position circuits, Ava Udwadia was sent off on her first solo by Tim Barnes. She acquitted herself with two excellent flights. The resulting smile could be seen in Cirencester. Meanwhile friends Paul and Peter enjoyed a good day's flying on the one day course with Don Brookman on the one day course. Towards the end of the day the wind picked up and the clouds rolled, but this didn't stop Ben Davies showing he is not far behind Ava. Many thanks to Craig Mustoe and David Breeze for driving the winch and Tim Andrews for a long stint on the tow car.