Local Landout

Attempted a task of BSE - BUN, but after getting past Diss, conditions changed and I turned south to attempt a climb. Unfortunately, early spreadout forced an outlanding just 10.5 km and 42 mins into the task! I landed safely in a parsley field just south-west of Eye airfield. I was rescued by the CFI & Jonathan Abbess in my car, which I had also allowed to get low on petrol so had to fill up on the way home!

Wave at Tibenham!

A miserable looking morning quickly turned into a soarable afternoon. Jenny, Adrian, Pete R and I got our gliders out and I set off for NMT-BSE and back. Jenny stayed local, Pete R had a go at the President's Triangle and Adrian set off on DIS-ROU. As I reached BSE the day rapidly went blue and the thermals became trickier as wave bars formed along the East coast from Ipswich to Yarmouth so I climbed well above glide just to make sure I'd get back. As I reached TIB I saw that Mick had found the wave in the K21 and had climbed to 5500ft (cloudbase - what was left - was 4000ft) with his student enjoying a taste of East Anglian wave, but despite trying for an hour I just could't contact it. Later Pete and I retrieved Adrian who had landed out at ROU.

Mucho Scorchio & Grande Breeezio

Hot, windy and almost entirely blue! Will flew the Vega, Bob flew his LS8 and Ray was gifted a go in the CFI's ASW27 (he's still grinning). There was soaring to be had and those that flew made the most of it, but XC was not an attractive prospect battling against 30kts+ at 4000ft. The second day of the fly-in was quieter - the breezy conditions were undoubtably a factor for the vintage Austers - but we did have the pleasure of having a WWII P-51 Mustang join in the fun!

Big X-C and Vintage Fly-In

Day one of the Auster Fly-In Weekend. Tim D ran the day with what turned out to be an all Aero-Tow day. There were a number of A/X flights and lots of local soaring. Good organisation for the fly-in meant it gave no interference with gliding ops (thanks to John C, Phil M and Mike B). A number of private owners rigged and set off XC. Ian was first off trying a 500 with Bob (fresh back from the Std Nats) soon following on a 300 triangle. Jenny, Simon, Tony, Mark and Norman all set tasks and joined in later. The weather was rather trickier than it looked with scrappy thermals at times, then monster climbs of up to 8kts on the averager. Both Ian and Bob had to dump water early to stay airborne, then found themselves wishing they still had it when the conditions improved as they pushed into wind. In the end there were a couple of landouts as the day deteriorated. Bob completed his 300km task, but Ian was running just a bit too late and couldn't quite make the final TP (CAX) as the day died to the west, though having had to abandon just 20km short of CAX he did manage to claw his way home with the aid of a tail-wind and the last remnants of the day (which unusually lasted longer in the east) for a creditable 458km and 7 Hrs 24 min airborne. All totalled over 1500km was flown from TIB today.

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Tonight there was a club BBQ for the Fly-In folks.

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Tom Smith, Chris Lawrence and James Francis are all at Dunstable flying the Juniors - Tom won day one! Follow the action at: http://juniors.onglide.com/current-day.xml

Scorchio!!!

Will ran the day and we flew off 'RWY 26' with a moderate Westerly breeze. Most pilots had soaring flights with cloudbase eventually rising to around 3500ft and just enough small Cu to mark the broken thermals as the day blued out (but not enough to lower the cockpit temperatures). X/C was hard work with 22kt Westerly winds aloft and few climbs above 3000ft. Even so, in addition to the numerous local soaring flights several modest X/Cs were flown as Ray, Pete R, Wilko, Mark W and I 'tip-toed' our way round East Anglia. The furthest away any of us managed to get was Newmarket, but at least nobody landed out. (The Open and Standard Nats pilots at Lasham all failed to get round 300km tasks!) Ben Harker completed his Bronze GFT with Will and several A/X's were flown. The longest flight from TIB was over 4 hours, with 6 hours plus soaring available.

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Well done to Bob G who came 9th overall at the Std Nats which finished today at Lasham.

Mainly AEI's

Ray ran the day and I assisted (covering for Jan). A slow start with overcast skies and low(ish) cloudbase. Gradually more club members turned up and the cloudbase slowly rose and broke up. It even got soarable as the sun broke through, though the thermals were broken up by the moderate breeze. A number of flights were made - mainly Air Experience flights. Longest flight was 53 minutes. Thanks to those who contributed and helped get the A/X's flown.

Ben Fogle takes a flight at Tibenham

Only available for the next few days, this was broadcast last Sunday and filmed at Tibenham a couple of months ago

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00m3z94/Country_Tracks_Thetford_Forest/

Ben Fogle goes on an East Anglian journey, starting high in the skies over Tibenham, and ending on race day at Newmarket.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Summary

Overall, and despite the sometimes fickle British weather, I think we can honestly say that the NGC SSF has been an unqualified success. A quick reckoning from the BGA ladder, etc. has lead me to conclude we flew well over 5000km between us - though it was probably almost double that in reality. Please do put your flights on the ladder it helps us so much with club stats, publicity and the fight against controlled airspace!! The longest duration and distance flown in one flight was Will Day's 6Hrs+ / 400km+ flight on 2nd August.

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Other achievements include Adrian Prime completing his 100km Diploma, Paul Woodcock's 5Hrs to complete his Silver, Wade Leader's very first solo cross-country, my personal best time round a 300km task and Tom Smith's amazing 115kph around a 298km task!! Fred Hill visited us from Nympsfield with his ASW-20 and extensively explored the flatlands of East Anglia including a fllight where he soared right round the North coast - we hope to see him again in the future. In addition to the usual local soaring the club has gone XC crazy with Mike Crook, Adrian P, Tim H, Simon Urry, James F, Jenny, Barry, Ben M, Steve F-H, Jim L, Norman, Jan A and particularly Tony G really getting the bit between their teeth, whilst other regular X/C pilots including yours truely, Pete R, Mark W, Bob G, Tom S, Tim D, JRK, Wilko, Phil H, and Dave T continue to go from strength to strength (apparently we won the ICL at Wormingford over the weekend). There were inevitabley a few landouts during the fortnight (if you don't land out occasionally you're probably not trying hard enough), but all were without incident.

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Also, best wishes to Bob G who is flying in the Std Nats at Lasham this week.

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Well done all, and thanks to all those who provided launches and participated in any way.

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So now you've all got the bug please keep it up - there's at least another 6 weeks of summer soaring to be had (fingers crossed)...and don't forget that there's the NGC Autumn Exped to Portmoak that Mick is organising.

Summer Soaring Fortnight, Day 16

A misty morning which promised little brightened into an interesting day. Andy V in charge with Steve F-H as BI with a seemingly endless stream of customers. Members gradually arrived after the usual team had got the kit out (usual moan). Those out included Will, who launched early, got away and spent a couple of hours crossing the county before returning for the other JRK to do the same. Also going cross country; Jim who scraped away from Long Stratton after completing the President's Triangle and then spent 4 hours plus in the ASW 20; Mark, who shot out to Ridgewell and back, missing out RAT; I took two attempts to winch, taking 45 minutes to get to a start height, then completed the President's Triangle at a reasonable speed (but it felt much slower). Ian and Jan returned, Ian hogged their ASW 20 but Jan seemed not to mind.

A very odd day, but great fun.

Summer Soaring Fortnight; the third weekend. Chapter 1

Mark, the CFI, in charge with only a small number of members turning up. A merry band none the less. Capt. Wilco conducted trial flights and was busy all day. Ben H. had a couple of good flights as he practises for his Bronze completion flight. Art probably won't be pleased with his day, nor will Mike L who landed out at Great Ashfield and then had to wait until the tug was free to tow him out! The other JRK, Jo, Warwick and Alan were also out, others may have gone before I got back so my apologies for missing you out.

Tony and Jenny opted for TIB-SIL-TIB for 300k. Unfortunately Tony's elecrics malfunctioned and he returned from Newmarket. Jenny found a field near Silverstone to land in. My crew, Adrian, went to rescue her with Keith. I am sure more details will follow.

I opted for a cat's cradle, TIB-RAT-NOE-ROU-PIC-TIB for 231k which I succeeded in completing.

A very good day; so where was everyone?

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 14

Scrubbed.

The front trapped in the centre of England for the last couple of days started to move east so it was rather poor at TIB today.

However, further west the weather had started to clear and both Jan & I managed got some fun soaring in at Shenington, where the annual Bowland Forest GC Exped was in full swing.

www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=22609

Right Directions (is up)

Although useless for going cross country there is always an opportunity for something. On Wednesday and Thursday the club hosted groups of teenagers from Thetford and from Gorleston. Their lively but polite personalities put smiles on the faces of most of the members who had come out to get them flying. It was great to see them enjoying themselves and they were effusive with their gratitude. One or two soaring flights of 30 minutes were achieved and a good time had by all. We hope to see you next year, if not before.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 13

Scrubbed due to hot, muggy & stable conditions

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 12

Tasks scrubbed - however, club flying still took place.

Looking at the weather ahead, it gave poor soaring predictions for the east for the next couple of days, but better prospects to the west. Thinking laterally (literally) I rang up Shenington to see if we could improve the odds of getting some soaring before the weekend and they were happy to accomodate some more visitors, in addition the BFGC exped already there. In the end only Jan and I could manage to re-arrage things and make the trip - Mick helpfully agreed to brief the next couple of days should things improve, so tonight I hitched up and set off west.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 11

Scrub.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 10

An unexpectedly good forecast for the East allowed for another days good soaring, though the best weather seemed to be confined to Norfolk.
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Paul Woodcock had most success soaring in his Pegase for over 5 hours to complete his Silver, whilst Mike Crook had some good soaring in a club Astir. With the weather getting poorer as you pushed West Tony G fell back from a 300km task to complete NMT-MEN-BSE for 160km and I abandoned my ideas of pushing past Cambridge and turned back at CAM to explore Norfolk and Suffolk. Having gone round Bungay and Norwich East I turned South for Claydon to lengthen the task out to 275km, but I couldn't quite get to the TP. Then the sky collapsed in Essex and Suffolk and my final glide fell apart so I landed in a large stubble field South of Diss for 227km. Jan retrieved me and we went for an excellent meal at a nearby pub.

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. ....Tony's Task

Fred Hill (from Nympsfield) continued to explore Norfolk flying out to the East coast then right round to Kings Lynn and back to TIB in just over five and a half hours. Mark W flew his 27 for 3hrs 29. Simon Urry (Mosquito) and Phil Hayward (DG) managed to get here after lunch and had, respectively, 2hrs 35 and 3 hrs 19.

..... De-rigging in the farmyard next to the field - ideal!

Only 9 flights but the average flight-time was 3hrs & 27mins. Just a pity more pilots couldn't get out and enjoy the good soaring.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 9

Bob & Ben ran the day with help from Jan. There was lots of soaring and lots of XC with a wide range of gliders gracing the field from the homebuilt "Woodstock" (soaring for 2hrs 30) to high-spec racing gliders. A variety of tasks were set to suit different experience levels and glider performance - and most were completed. There were some very good climbs to be had and I saw 6-7kts on the averager with cloudbase in Norfolk over 4000ft, and 5000 plus near Cambridge.

Will Day went furthest racing round a 300km in his Vega - after which he went round the President's Triangle to push the K's to well over 400 and flying for around 6 hours! Tim Davies (ASW-27 at 98kph) and Tom Smith (LS8 at 115kph - wow!) went round CAX-DIS-SMB but used 'barrels' handicapping the task to just short of the 300.8km that 'sectors' gave. After falling out from my first tow (Doh!!) I followed in my ASW-20 starting off over an hour behind and (using TP sectors) managed to saunter round at 73kph. By the time I got back Tim had handed the 27 over to Mark who flew down to Ipswich and back. Jenny flew her ASW-19 and completed GRF-EDE-BUN-GAB (160km) and Steve F-H went round GRF-EDE-NOE (125km). Visitor Fred Hill from Nympsfield had the required Cx-flts then explored the flatlands soaring for nearly 4 hours and went to Cambridge, Norwich and back in his ASW-20 '81'.

All in all there were 44 lauches and 60hrs & 26mins flown giving an average flight time of 1hr & 23mins!!! A great fun soaring day. Thanks to all who provided launches.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 8

Only a short soaring window so no tasks today but there were a couple of short soaring flights in the middle of the day. Dave Munro ran the day and renewed/refreshed some visiting instructors, including Chris Pollard from Rattlesden. CFI Mark Wright did some prep work with JRK for his imminent Ass Cat Course. Also, Brian McClean completed his Field Selection & Landings in the G109 with me for his XC Endorsement. Looks like it might be good soaring tomorrow.