Hot and Sticky!

A foggy start, which quickly burnt off, then a blue morning waiting for it to pop in the hot and sticky atmosphere that didn't inspire you to fly. Mick flew with new member Alan in th G109 and later provided aerotows. In the end only Jenny and I launched. Taking off later than originally planned (just after 2pm due to an unforseen fettling requirement) and realising I'd have to make a long final glide from inland, I abandoned my original task of CAX O/R (180km) in favour of following the weather and getting the best out of the next 2 hours.

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As we launched the sea air was moving in fast and after a climb under the Cu on the sea breeze I reached the lowering cloudbase of only around 2800ft and had incredibly bugged up wings after only 10 mins! Cloudbase was higher at Diss and I climbed to over 4000ft with the extaordinary sight of a Cu forming below me as well as above as the sea air leaked in under me. I knew staying local would mean a short-live flight so I ran SW along the edge of the sea air and got my best climb with a buzzard near Great Ashfield - 6kts average to over 5000ft. From here I rounded RAT and set off west, turning NMT before setting off back towards ROU - it was relatively easy in the 'good air' further inland. Rougham TP provided another good climb (my last), and I needed a good one for the 35km final glide was into the dead sea air. In the end the day took a long time to really get going, and it was not as good as I'd hoped, but certainly worth flying. If I'd launched an hour earlier I reckon around 200km could have been achieved.

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www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=21738

Norwich Aviation Enthusiasts

A whole day of local enthusiasts to fly, but many did not come out to play until after lunch. The temperatures reached nearly 28degrees C and although there was a slight easterly flow it was still soarable. Mick and myself aided by tuggies Dave Munro and Jim Lawn, with Phil Morgan manning the winch and Mike Bean on the radio, we launched around 10 trial lessons in total. Conditions were a little difficult low down, however at the aerotows did some good soaring with cloudbase getting to about 2500ft. Later there was an aerobatic display by a visiting aircraft and a BBQ followed.

Paul Woodcock flew his new 'french mistress' the Pegase reg "EB". You will not miss him - the glider has luminous pink tips and has been nicknamed 'pinky' by the other club members.

Others out also included Jenny flying her ASW19, and Bob P. doing some ab initio training in the K13 with me, and Ratty took the hangar flight in the K13.

Thanks Dave Masson and Ian.Yes it would have been a 5, if there was no wind

24th June. Easterly wind - fun and flatulence
Declared Honington (remote start)- Evesham -Honington 376 km, but outlanding at 246kms.

Today I should have flown to Perranporth. Unfortunately I could only skive off one day from work andI have to be in at 8 tomorrow.
Ian said "go to Talgarth today" and yes, this was probably possible in an Astir today.
My remote start at Honington was for speed and an achievable return point, but for a straight goal, tib start was ok as long as you don't mind cutting the "umbilical" at 2300 feet. By Garbodisham it was possible to find 3 knots to 3000 and I started at Honington at 3100.
What a run downwind!! Guess where my first thermalling turn was after start............... No try again!
It was Towcester, just north of Silverstone. 129km at 141 kph.
I really enjoyed watchingCambridgshire, Bedfordshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire pass beneath. Shennington GC at Edgehill looked very attractive in the sunshine.
But as I passed into Worcestershire a change seemed to be afoot. I was unable to top up height going in to the turnpoint, even though good looking clouds were on track. First lift on return leg was rough and difficult and took me almost back to Evesham. The sky pattern had changed. There were no easy streets any more and progress into wind was painfully slow. Most of the thermals were smashed to bits. Wave influence was forming them up across wind.
I sruggled on to Turweston, but could not get high enough to pick the best path, and with wings covered in greenfly had to use the iron thermal.Flatulence!
If the earlier conditions had kept the same the task would have been possible, but on the way back sea air had killed most lift east of Cambridge and the inversion was noticeably lower. So maybe not.

Peter

50th Anniversary Weekend - Sunday Longest Day

The day started with Mick Hughes and Steve Flowitt-Hill being winch launched in the K21 by Paul Thompson at 5:13am after the early morning rain had passed. This stunning photo that Steve took is now on Weatherjacks site http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/soaring/soaring.html.

Other early morning pilots enjoying the rare opportunity of a before 9am launch were Keith Panton, Norman Clowes, Mike Crook, Dave Taylor and Art Kerkhoff flying the K21 together and Nick Owen. Others helping included Grum, Berekely and Jenny, thanks guys a great start to the day.

The day shift lead by Will Day took over at 10am after a prolonged weather break from 7am, with Jonathan Abbas tugging and John R-K, Steve F-H and myself helping out instructing. The weather definitly improved during the day and brought with it many former members for winch flights. Jane Flowitt-Hill was running the sales desk again and we took another 16 trial lessons during the day - many of these during the evening.

The Kirby Kite was out flying again and we had a flying visit from Dave Rusbridge!

I flew with Lynda Green and Nigel Hall who were members during the early 1970s and who had not flown for 35 years, and I flew my 1000th launch with former member John Ranson - they all had a great time and they seemed very keen to come back to gliding - we look forward to welcoming them back to the club. We also flew former members J Wilkins, S Wilkins, J Neary, J Cordiner, B Lockwood, Colin Sheild and Graham Parker (the weatherman!).

Andy Vidion took over the late shift at 4pm, and flying continued until the last launch at 9.26pm as Andy and Roy Colman aerotowed to 3700ft to aerobat down, landing at 9:46pm.

I understand Mark Wright is very happy as he had no paperwork to complete for the entire event, so thanks again to everyone who helped out in however small a capacity - we could not have done this without you!

50th Anniversary Weekend - Saturday

A successful day despite the mixed weather. Thanks to all who helped, we saw many former members and several members of the public took trial flights.

The duty instructor team included myself and Ray ably assisted by Steve Flowitt-Hill and Tim Davies (although not sure Tim got airborne, I think he got distracted when the bar opened!!), tuggies were Steve Cat and Tony, winchies and airfield helpers appeared as if from no-where - there are too many to mention but thank you everyone who pitched in.

Visiting VGC pilot Tony Maufe flew his Kirby Kite up the wire a few times, and Simon Urry got his Ka6 airborne (many comments of 300k in wood today etc) and Ben Harker completed his Bronze Navex in the Grob109 with Ian Atherton. Special congratulations to Jim Carter on going solo again after a long break from gliding.

In total we did around 30 launches, including 8 trial lesson aerotows and 2 trial winch launches for our former members, and we sold 5 vouchers to return another day.

We had around 30 visiting aircraft on the Saturday including the East Anglian Air Ambulance, and the Mustang from Hardwick that did a beat up along the runway before landing.

Thanks to the 'power' team Mike Bean, Phil Morgan, John Cook, Mike Crook, and Jim Lawn it went off without a hitch. One pilot told me he was so impressed with the friendly atmosphere he was definitly going to come back again!

Saturday we had the local vintage tractor group arrive in convoy, vintage cars and a traction engine as well as a very well used gliding simulator set up in the briefing room. Keith and Sue Panton did a great job selling clothing and other merchandise, and their NGC archive display was interest to many including our newer members.





Jane Flowitt-Hill manned the flight sales office and did a fantastic job at drumming up business. We'd managed to get the tractor group to loan us a tractor trailer fitted out with passenger seats and so Berekely had fun ferrying people to the launch point and back!

The evening bash was a real hoot, with the 'oldies' partying hard!! Graham Ashworth made a lovely speech celebrating the 50 years of the club and the support of the club members, and Ivan Estgate got a special mention for being the person who instigated the club buying the airfield many years ago. After the sumptuous steak buffet served up by the 'food' team Rachel, Eddie, Danielle, Pauline (sorry may have missed few here) The band 'wacscallions' did a great job at getting people on the dance floor.

Special thanks to Eric for sorting out the marquees, dancefloor and band amongst other things, Tony Griffiths for sorting out logos, merchandise and also vouchers at short notice, Paul Thompson for sorting out membership forms and more progress cards, and to Berekely and Eddie for their tireless efforts over the last 2 months in getting the clubhouse and facilities looking great again - You can get some sleep now guys!

Youngest 750k!!!

Just a bit of an update on Tom's remarkable flight on the weekend, the BGA have just confirmed that he is the youngest ever to make a 750k claim.
We think there have also only ever been two other 750's from TIB, and only around 100 claimed ever, so he really does join an elite group of pilots.

...Well done Tom and good luck in Finland for the Junior Worlds next week!

300Km Diamond Goal

I had been following the weather forcasts and RASP while Offshore the week i was due to return home, by Tuesday it was starting to indicate that the weekend was going to be promising. I had also arranged to meet a chap called Jon at Bicester either Saturday or Sunday to look at a trailer he had available for sale fitted out for a Mosquito. I returned home Thursday and by now the forcast seemed like the weekend would be to good to miss out on either day so i called Jon and asked if he would be about Friday, he was but not until 6pm. So we arranged i would go over to Bicester and meet him there at 6pm Friday evening that way i could get the trailer and bring it back to Tibenham and stay in the caravan ready for the weekend.
I arrive back at Tibenham around 11pm friday night with my new trailer.
Saturday weather wise was a bit of a disapointment although I flew for 3 hours which was all quite local soaring but at least it gave me more time under my belt with the Mosquito. I left the Mossi rigged over night and Sunday morning I was up and about around 8.30 am I had not had chance to check forcast or RASP and my initial thought at that time was that it was going to be much like Saturday. I wondered over to the glider and wiped off the condensation, fitted the batterys etc, then lent a hand to James and Tim rigging the Cirrus. Tim asked me if i was going to go for a 300Km today I repiled that i didnt think the conditions where going to be that great! Tim replied no its going to be a stonking day im planning a 500, Tom Smith a 750 and James a 300. Hmm...If Tim Davies and Tom Smith are planning such long XC flights its going to be good for sure!..I better get planning.
Tim advised me that the best bet was Silverston out & return. That seemed a good idea only the one turn point and heading west into the better conditions.
I ended up faffing around for quite some time with one thing or another and then when i was ready we switched runways which took a bit more time. By now it was getting late and i really didnt want to still be on the ground.
I eventually launched at 12.30pm iwas towed up into some decent lift and released early at about 1800 ft. I minced about for a while until contacted some better lift and got a good climb which took me to around 3500 ft enough to start pushing out to the west on track.
Conditions soon became better en' route, climbs much stronger and the cloud base lifting.
It seemed slow going and the wind direction more westerly at altitude. I was keeping an eye out for Chris Lawrence, James Francis and Dave Taylor who where also doing the same task but they where almost an hour ahead. As i arived near Bedford i stopped for a good climb and i think it was here i spotted Dave Taylor in his LS4 in the thermal below me. I took the climb until the lift started to reduce at around 4200 ft and set full negative flap and pushed out again on track through a bit of a blue patch. Time was getting on now and i was very aware that i could be heading back into the sea breeze front. I tried to pick the pace up a bit and not take unnecessary climbs.
I eventually arrived at Silverstone TP at 16.30pm 4 hrs after launching. I was rewarded with the best climb yet right over the track. I hauled into the thermal turn and set full pos flap the altimeter wound up to 5600ft until i was in the whisps of the freshly developed cloud. Just what i needed to set me on my way back as there was now quite a large gap of blue between Sivlerstone and the next climb on track.
The home run was much quicker and i was lucky to find most lift on track. As i passed Cambridge conditions seemed to be getting more stable clouds less defined and climbs weaker. I was looking out in the distance to the east to see if i could make out the blue line of the sea breeze front approaching and my immanent land out, but for now I seemed safe.
The Km's dropped down on the GPS and before long i found myself at Lakenheath / Mildenhall. I took a climb which was looking to be my last. I could just make out the smoke rising from the Maltings from here. I had 30 Km to go and 4500ft. the next climb was in the direction of diss which would take me off track when i was quite close to home. I started to head out that way but it soon became apparent that it was going to be no problem making it back home so i pointed the nose back towards the airfield for the final glide, arriving overhead at about 2600ft. No flashy Racing finishes but at least i had the 300k in the bag.
It was now 18.45 pm so the task took me 6hrs 15 mins.
5 mins after i landed Tom Smith arrived dumping water on a low racing finish to his 750 Awsome!

Mike Crook's Silver duration & height

Sunday 14th June

I had planned to go flying on Thursday but a quick look at the forecast weather soon put me off. However the forecast for Friday looked pretty good and in particular the RASP charts showed a potential cloud base of 5500ft with a reasonably long period of good thermals possible do I thought that the Silver C height and endurance might just, with a little bit of luck , be on.

Friday morning was a beautiful blue day with virtually no cloud around except a few small cumulus over the distant coast. After some discussion a launch at about 1215hrs was planned. At the appointed time we were still in a large blue area centred on Tibenham although the coastal cumulus was starting to build and so at 1255hrs I launched behind the Tug thinking that even if I didn't get the endurance time I would get a decent flight anyway.

Climbing through 1700ft we passed through what seemed a decent thermal so I took an early release and turned back to find it. The immediate sky was still blue but I manged to get into, and of course out of the thermal, and spent the next hour floating around between 1400ft and 2700ft. At this point 5 hrs seemed a very long way off. Over in the east the sea breeze front had started to take a more positive form and lumps of decent cumulus were starting to develop.

Eventually I got a good contact and a decent climb up to cloud base at about 4700ft. I set off touring the towns and turning points in the immediate area of Tibenham very conscious of the fact that I wanted to keep as high as possible rather than go for distance. As the cloud developed and the sea breeze front moved further towards me eventually I was able to troll up and down the edge for some time without too much of a struggle. The cloud base steadily increased and I eventually moved up with it getting to 5400ft. I was reasonably confident that this would give me the required height climb not withstanding any convoluted calculation that might be involved.

The sea breeze front continued its march westwards passing over Tibenham where I set up what amounted to be a holding pattern over the field at about 5000ft +/- 200ft for what seemed like an hour although it was probably less. This was far more reminiscent of my commercial flying days but it did pass the time and the last two hours passed quite quickly.

By about 1730hrs the front had started to dissipate and with it the cumulus also started to disappear. I had one of those sinking feelings that I was going to drop down just a few minutes short! Luck however was on my side and there were enough residual thermals around for me to hover around 3000ft to 4000ft until finally 5 hrs airborne arrived. I made good and sure I had a reasonable excess to allow for for the tow time and then made a high speed dart for terr firma, by now my backside aching and feet that felt as if they had gone to sleep. According to my GPS, 241 track miles and all within 10 miles of Tibenham and as someone remarked an awful lot of circles! Nevertheless, a great flight.

First 500 - finally

A late night text from Tom Smith saying "Planning 750 tomorrow, west forecast to be mega. Getting to TIB at 8:50" was enough to send me to SeeYou thinking a 500 might be a sensible compromise. Dave Masson's forecast was short and to the point "possibly the day of the year" was more than enough encouragement. RASP and wind forecast suggested that getting west of BSE was the first challenge, staying west would be a good idea and that the final stretch back to TIB was going to be compromised by a wind swinging round to the north and a probable sea breeze from the East coast. A high cloud base and a final glide in from Newmarket was what I was hoping for ... so let's try EDGehill - Cambridge West - Silverston (520km).

Sunday morning brought me a text from Mark saying that the glider and trailer were serviceable, I didn't notice he had sent it late the night before and his response to my call at 7:45 was surprisingly free from expletives! Having rigged and watered all that was left to do was suggest to James Francis that it would be a good day to try for 300 - "but I've only flown it once" attracted the response "good - so you know how it works then ..."

Tom left at 10:00 and as I decide 11 was a sensible launch time I was glad to see that Tom had got away when I climbed into the 27. A tow to just shy of 3,000 gave me a good start height to push out into the west where the cu base was already up to around 2,500.

A REMINDER TO ALL ... when flying badge flights the start options are 1) a 45° sector 2) a 1km line or 3) a 500m radius barrel NOT the 12km line ... I did manage to get 1 logger point in the sector - phewww, and James F is relieve the sector is infinitely large or we would both have missed out on the claims!

Progress out of Suffolk was slow and I was relived to get to Newmarket where the weather was picking up and 3000 was achievable at 3kts. A low point at Oakington led me to dump my water before picking up 2.6kts got me going. It was now 12:30 - 90mins for 90km - not fast but hopefully it was going to improve.

Cloud base after St Neots so was up to 4,500 with regular 3.5kt climbs and the rest of the run to Edgehill was at about 90kph with a light headwind. I was reassured that Dave Masson and RASP had been right by the number of gliders I saw, perhaps a FLARM should be on this years early Christmas present list.

The run back down wind to Cambridge was rewarded with a 6.5kt climb just short of the TP to give a tactical high downwind TP before turning at
14:50 and having dragged the task speed up to 80kph I now had a chance of finishing earlier than I'd first feared, at about 17:30, so hopefully the conditions east of Newmarket would be OK.

Back to Silverstone was another breeze, lots of gliders marking climbs, some unusual sights like the Super Dimona G-LIDA doing as its name suggests with the engine off!
I tried to contact Tom a couple of time but was rewarded with Radio Cook on full bore each time so mostly flew in blissful radio silence. Having turned SIL at 1540 the next 100km was uneventful and reasonably paced, approaching Cambridge the main concern was to get up to cloud base which was now above 5,200.

A final climb at 17:00 at Red Lodge on the A11 took me to 4500 with a 44km glide - the sky ahead was still looking good so off I went ... alas none of the cloud on track gave any indication of lift and I squeaked onto the end of the Grass on 08 with 100' to spare.

All over in a mere 6:13 for 84kph - a task I've attempted whenever I and a glider and the weather have coincided since 2004!

Flight on ladder: http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=21133

Tibenham's New Fantastic Four!

It was an amazing day of achievement which concluded with 2 first 300km Diamond Goal flights by James Francis (Cirrus - it was only James' second flight on type!) and Simon Urry (Mosquito), 1 first 500km Diamond Distance by Tim Davies (ASW-27) and an outstanding 750km flight by Tom Smith (LS8-15m)! So Tibenham has a new Fantastic Four - with a new motto: "Younger...Faster...Further!"

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Well Done guys.

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Toms' Flight at: http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=21143

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The forecast said it would be fabulous west of East Anglia, and those who went for it were rewarded with excellent conditions once they got past Newmarket. The conditions locally were soarable but by no means special with broken thermals that were difficult to centre (pretty much as RASP, etc. suggested). In addition to the Fantastic 4, Dave Taylor flew to Bedford and back, and Will Day landed back early at 2pm to let his syndicate partner, John Kinley, have the Vega only to find he had gone soaring with me in T12 - Doh! Others out included Jenny, Andrew H, Ben H, Jo Hoy, Ben M and sveral others plus the duty crew; Andy V (Full Cat), Steve F-H (Basic) and Steve Cat flying the tug who kept everything running smothly.

Fabulously Fun Friday

A great fun day. A blue start that improved dramatically once the thermals punched through the inversion. When I arrived Mike Crook was preping the Astir for a Silver duration attempt, whilst Wilko and Peter R were already rigged. Mick instructed some A/X flights in the K21 and later flew with Ratty in the Grob109. Jo Hoy was also out and Brian K. flew the tug.

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I decided to join in the task of the day with Pete and Wilko and we all went round the new "President's Triangle", then played about in the sea breeze front for a while. Once the inversion burst it was very good and we should really have gone further (2-300km was definately on) but the high crops and lack of landable fields meant I was satisfied with a quick(ish) 117km! I took off last, around 2:00pm BST. Cloud base eventually rose to 5,500ft and there was 4-6 knots in places, but some big sink too! Mike Crook was successful and got his 5 hours and Silver height (just distance to do now) - well done Mike!

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President's Triangle

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/TaskBrief.asp?SP=TIB&TP1=DIS&TP2=PIC&TP3=NOE&TP4=&FP=TIB&Sector=F

Surprisingly Soarable Saturday

Cool ENE winds (15-20kts at altitude) made it feel more like early spring than summer. However, by lunchtime usable thermals were popping and those that flew were treated to some decent soaring whilst much of England was exposed to the front lying out to the west.

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Dave Munro ran the day aided by Paul Wilkinson doing the BI flying. Others out included Art, Jenny, Geoff T, Ratty, Mark W in his ASW27, Andy and Tom Smith flying their LS8 (Tom completed the new President's Triangle) and me. But the man of the moment was Ben Harker who completed his XC Endorsment Field Landing Cx with Dave Munro in the G109 this morning and then flew a club Astir for 2Hrs plus to push himself further towards his Bronze and XC ticket - Well done Ben! East Anglia certainly seemed to have the best of what weather was on offer today. Longest soaring flight of the day was 3:46. Silver duration was possible!

Where there's an Will...

With Mick off sick (though on the mend and hopefully back soon) Will Day stepped in to instruct and keep the club airborne...and a good job he did too! We didn't get the big weather that was forecast further West, but despite a lot of cloud and the sun having difficulty penetrating it was surprisingly soarable. Due greatly to Will's enthusiasm there were a number of soaring flights in both club and private gliders. I didn't arrive until after lunch but was encouraged to get the '20' out I still managed an enjoyable couple of hours despite the 15kt+ NW'ly wind at 2000ft and the NOTAM'd Mil-Ex to our immediate West which made going anywhere except downwind difficult! Others out included Ratty, Mike Crook, Geoff T, Steve F-H, Grum, Mike W. and George B'ski.