8th March the morning after thinking there wasn’t going to be anything left of Jenny’s or my awnings on the caravans!! Last night was horrendous with the wind and rain that came down. I thought my caravan was going to turn over at one stage. Anyway I laid in bed until just before 0900am expecting the weather to be bad and thinking I could get up have a shower and start DI’ing the gliders before anyone was to turn up. To my amazement the sun was shining and the gliders were already out and DI’d!!! Did everyone know something I didn’t? So I had a quick shower and followed the club gliders out with B12, only to break my wing dolly in the process. I shot off to the launch point to get someone to help to walk my wing to the launch and had the pleasure of meeting our new Cadet flyer Grant, who gladly obliged.
I then had to shoot off too Long Stratton to meet my brother’s sister in-law who I didn’t realise till last week, lives in Newton Flotman. (How long have I been here at Tibenham)? Anyway Maggie decided that she wanted to come flying with me, but this was when we were both a wee bit tipsee at my brothers 25th wedding doo, so you can imagine I didn’t really believe that she would come. Well I was proved wrong!
So I went and dragged the Grob 103 out which was already DI’ed! Once reaching the launch point Mark our CFI told me to jump straight in it. I pre-arranged last night to do my Passenger Endorsement with Mark. But never really thought I would be able to take Maggie flying myself. However, Mark signed my Passenger Endorsement off despite the strong wind conditions which allowed me to take Maggie up.
So there I was sat in the glider with this lovely lady doing my first Passenger Flight. I have flown mutual flights loads of times but somehow this was much different. For the first time in years I was really nervous about flying and after doing all the briefings with Maggie we were there about to launch.
The launch was un-eventful and we turned right to get away from the launch. I kept talking to Maggie and pointed out the local landmarks. The view was brilliant today as well we could see for miles. She seemed quite at ease at this point. Well we hit a bit of lift so a made a few gentle turns to see how Maggie coped and I didn’t hear anything in the way of screams or whimpers from her and she was seeming to enjoy it so I wound it into the thermal even more and found ourselves climbing. I couldn’t believe our luck as everyone else had just gone straight up round and down till this point. Well we managed 17 minutes in all. After landing I was keen to see the look on Maggie’s face and she was beaming all over so I guessed she enjoyed it!!!! Once we had pushed the glider back she quietly whispered to me to say to everyone that she didn’t scream once!!! (I was about to ask her to say that to everyone).
So after a quick warming cup of tea we went for round 2. But the weather was starting to close in and after seeing the duty instructor Phil have and eventful approach I was on the verge of scrubbing our second flight, but seems we were strapped in and secure Maggie was wanting to go for it! So I went through the ‘CBSIFTCBE’ clipped the cable on and waited for the all out signal. Fortunately I emphasized the eventualities bit and guess what we went through a big wind shear and had a cable break. The wind had swung so we ended landing in the centre triangle. It was the safest option and the least scary one for Maggie.
To my amazement I found Maggie must have enjoyed it because she very quickly asked about the different types of membership that she might be able to join. This was when Ratty turned up and quickly whisked her away to his car to look for the membership rates, !!!!!!!! Hum…I wonder.
So back to my feelings, what can I say? It was fantastic to be able to take a total stranger up flying, and to give them the amazing experience of gliding. It was just an awesome feeling to give that gift to someone. I would well recommend it to anyone.
Also this week:
Due to our March offer of free reciprocal membership I had the pleasure of 3 of my Burn Gliding Buddies turning up for the Tibenham experience. Firstly on the Monday Keith Springate came with me . He flew with Ian A in the motor glider and had 2 hours. Keith managed to complete his cross country checks , one hour soaring the 109, and a site check. So he was happy. Keith flew the winch a couple of times later in the week.
Gary Vaughan and Tommy Lynch then turned up on Wednesday evening just as I was leaving the ‘Fox and Hounds’ so we stayed for a few beers. Over the next 2 days Gary enjoyed a couple of 1 hour soaring flights and Tommy did some winch work and further flying with Will and Ian. All three guys enjoyed it and pledged that they would like to get back some time soon.
On the Friday I rigged B12 with the help of Tommy. Gary and I decide to try and launch together in the clubs Astir and me in B12 so we could do a quick cross-country together. Unfortunately due to a cable break this didn’t turn out as planned and it left me only 40 minutes to fly before shooting off to work.
After taking off I managed to climb to base at 2900 feet and pushed forward to just south of Watton on the edge of Thetford forest and the danger area. And got back with loads of height!!! There was a good distance to be had I am sure.
What a great week it was for the visitors, Gary, Tommy, Keith, and Maggie. It was good for the club with around 200 to 300 pound spent on flying and I don’t know how much on coffee teas food and beer, and a possible new member at that as well. What a marvellous experience for me to gain my passenger endorsement and fly one of my family. I just want to finish this by saying a great thank you to all that winched instructed cooked food served beer and pushed and pulled gliders and every thing else that makes flying in this fantastic club so good.
Good and safe flying to all from Ting Tong Slumdog.........
PS Unfortunately due to me going to work in India for 2 years…B12 is for sale!
Gary Marshall.
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