Flight of the year...so far?

Congratulations to Tim Highton who flew his first 300km & nbsp on Thursday; Tibenham - Mendlesham - Northampton - Tibenham, and in the process ticked off his silver distance, silver height, silver and gold duration, second part of the 100km diploma, gold distance and diamond goal !!


http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25524

That's now 4 x 300k flights from TIB in April so far, plus lots of other 100k+ flights!

Nice One Paul!

See the details of Paul Woodcok's circum-navigation of Norwich Airport today at:

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25406

Wednesday.......it was still fun!

I was tempted back to Tibenham today with the promise of a booming day.


I arrived late for a 500klm [and that is another story] but declared tib-sy1-rat-mad-tib.

A bit cross wind but I thought that there might be stepping stones across the streets as it proved.

What was a surpise was the low base at Tibenham, the amount of cloud and the air of depression of those on the ground at 11:30

I launched and yep there air was miserable until passed Marham. By Sleaford the air was buzzing nicely but the late slow start had doomed me.

The run from Syerston, where it was turning blue, down to Rattleston was stuff that dreams were made of, with the occasional 5 knots. However I did not push the flight knowing that I would turn Rattleston and go back to Tibenham. I arrived happy but very cold [6000 was best heigth and very very cold].

Not the day of days advertised, not the 500 klm I had planned but a fun flight again of 340klm at 80kph.


Peter Stafford Allen

Another 300k from TIB...and it's still only April!

East Anglia drew the short straw on what was a 500km+ day inland, with one ladder flight of 840kms!!! It was a relatively poor start at TIB, but it did finally get going and Dave T fought his way upwind to Long Sutton in Lincolnshire and back for a creditable 158kms in his LS4. Meanwhile Peter S A (visiting again from Marham) took his Ventus to Syerston and Rattlesden (over 300kms) seeing 5kts to 6000ft further inland. Not the 500kms they'd initially hoped for, but good XCs nevertheless...and remember, it's still only April! Back at base the Wednesday regulars and the course guys had some good local soaring after lunch. Unfortunately I couldn't fly 'LY' today as I was cordially invited to attend work.

Rollercoaster Weather

Check-out that Averager - Yes it does say +8.7Kts
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It was very blustery, but super thermic. Mick and the course guys had a great day in some amazing weather. Peter Stafford Allen pitched up from Marham with his Ventus in tow and I helped him throw the wings on. We then set off on a 2-Task adventure: First Ridgewell O/R followed by The President's Triangle. There was some fantastic climbs (8kts) and some monster sink (don't ask), but we both got round in around 3hrs or so...another fun day's XC from Tibenham. Big thanks to Steve Brownlow for towing.

A delighted Peter with his Ventus after his 2-Task Flight

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For more detail see:

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25218 and

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25221 and

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=25228

Training Day

Not very thermic, but a good training day for the guys on the course with Mick - George B. provided the A/Ts. Jim Carter and I made good use of the weather to complete his XC Endorsement training in the motor glider.

Sunday 18th April

. On Task - Out West!

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Myself and Andy V running the day, with Jonathan and John Gammage tugging. Still using our borrowed winch and many thanks to all who pitched in to drive and learn to drive it. It was a busy day with all 3 two seaters out and an Astir, as well as plenty of private owners.

The weather was not that promising, it started out as blue as yesterday and we were expecting it to get a bit more stable. However the conditions did improve in the afternoon and a few of us got a bit of soaring in, some Cumulus developed and we got good climbs to just over 3000ft. A number of flights over 2 hours were flown.

Out flying today included Sarah J and daughter Sophie, Paul G, cadet Peter C and new junior member Chris Baraclough, Andy H, Geoff, Berekeley and Will. We also had a few trial lessons.

Some cross country tasks were planned for the privateers, the presidents triangle being favourite, but conditions were not good enough for this so Dave T set the task to Cambridge and back which he and Ian successfully competed. Ray flew HNC to get some time in before he flies in the Eastern Regionals in a few weeks. Mark W, Chris L, Ben H and JRK were also out in their gliders. This evening Jim C went off on a XC Endorsement Navex with Ian in the G109.
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Andy H flying locally in N12

Not Even A Vapour Trail!

Tim lauches in AV8

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JC's new toy!

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Buster stands guard!

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It was blue bigtime with not even a vapour trail to 'spoil' the view. The inversion never quite bust at TIB, but there were lots of folks practicing their survival skills! The fleet was out and we there were many folks here. Mark W ran the day but managed to 'palm-off' most of the ab-initio instructing to the rest of us whilst he did some instructor checking. After flying we retired to the bar for beer and a chinese!

Perfect Sunset

ICL @ TIB

Sat 1st – Monday 3rd May

Please contract Tim Davies with your availability and the class you can fly in.

Novice – hadn’t flown a Regionals or 300km before 1st Jan 2009
Intermediate – hadn’t flown a Nationals or 500km before 1st Jan 2010
Pundits – The rest ...

As we have so many Novice and Intermediate pilots this year we will have two teams – the official team and the “I’ll show you why you should have picked me” team.

Tim Davies
07768 866882
tim@pellcomp.co.uk

Other dates we know about - Wormingford 31st July – 1st August

Fortune Favours The Foolish!

After a week at work seething as I looked out at the soarable weather, I was determined to make the most of what was on offer. I was due to help out on Mark's BI refresher course in doing Sim Rope-Breaks stuff in the G109 this morning, so got to the airfield early and sorted the glider (still rigged from Jan's flight yesterday). By 11:30am I'd finished the SLMG stuff and was airborne in the ASW-20 by 12:05. I'd "foolishly" decided to set a downwind task (TIB-GRL-HTN-CAX-TIB 306km) hoping for streeting - and perhaps a longer slot than predicted - rather than fiddle about trying to go upwind to the coast.

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The L-Nav threw a wobbly and 'locked' in PUSH pretty much at release making the audio and glide computer useless (GGRRRHHHH!) although the averager and Lateral Nav bits were OK. So I defaulted to using the good old Winter as I climbed in a thermal straight off tow which got me to cloudbase (around 3000ft) and I set off down the street fiddling with the LNav, but couldn't solve the problem. My initial thoughts were to see how it was going by NMT and then decide whether to chicken out, but I found myself romping along and not turning much as it got much better inland (4-6kts to 4000ft). It only took around 50 minutes to get to GRL making the 1st leg speed about 110kph! I'm not sure why but there were lots of gliders on the ground at GRL. There were also a few soaring locally and I spotted a Duo on track and poached the thermal just in time to see it leave heading upwind.

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OK, I thought, now lets's see how long it takes to get back to HTN. The streets were still very good and despite the 15-20kt h/w I made the second TP in good time arriving an hour later at 1410BST. (Just over 60kph). The sky still looked very good towards home and I was tempted to continue into wind for and easy 184km GRL O/R. A quick bit of maths meant I needed it to stay working for another 2 and a half hours to get round easily at my current rate of progress. I didn't really believe that was on but calculating I should be able to make a landout at Knettishall Airfield near HTN on the way back (for an easy retireve) I decided to plough on, and again turned my back on home.

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More good streeting and I turned CAX only 35 minutes later at 1445 BST. (106kph) and I was joined by another glider that followed me well upwind past Cambridge before he probably realise I wasn't from GRL and promptly disappeared! As calculated, it took an hour to get back to abeam HTN again, but this time my earlier supsitions were realised and the sky ahead looked disappointing with the cloubase lowered and the Cu collapsing. I picked up a bit of a climb and tiptoed through the energy as best I could towards Kettishall as planned, arriving north abeam around 1450ft QNH (1260ft TIB QFE). I was starting to get tired and was finding the strip really inviting. After quite a struggle to stay airborne I finally hooked into 3kts and I clawed my way up to cloudbase at 3000ft QNH and I radioed TIB to find they were now using RWY 08. I pushed into the 15kt head-wind and at Fersfield I was down to around 1400ft QNH again and picking fields. A bit of a try at a blob of lift made no gain, although whilst turning I spotted a good field to come back to if needed. I pointed towards 08 at TIB and was fortunate to glide along an energy line without losing too much height which to my relief put me nicely above glide. In the end I was on short final with about 800 feet QFE and surprised to find myself thinking about landing long for the trailer park. However, I could see they were waiting to winch lauch so I pulled the landing flap and full airbrake to spot land next to the K13, so that they could launch. Exhausted and ellated I pryed myself from the cockpit at 1630. The last 30km had taken 45 minutes (rather slower than the rest of the task at just 45kph)!

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Overall 4:26 airborne, 4:17 on task with a task speed of 71.6kph, but what a great spring afternoon out. We packed up the glider and went to the clubhouse for a beer. I don't think I could have got much more out of the day. Thanks to Jan (and our dog, Buster) for crewing.

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Trace times in GMT

Lovely weather for gliding

Lots of flying going on a Tibenham, weather getting better all week. Pete Ryland completing TIB-SIL-TIB yesterday while we were all looking at the sky in frustration from our desks.
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=24800
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"Better inland than Norfolk. Originally planned a triangle, but too strong NNW wind to skirt the Wash. Should have gone faster/earlier. Concentration lost talking to Lakenheath.
Lovely day out there(at last!)"

A temporary replacement winch is expected on line tomorrow (Saturday) and the day looks promising for some XC. Plus the great news is the K21 is on its way home from Poland for rigging Sunday - everyone form an orderly queue (and wipe off your finger prints!!)

Talgarth Exped

See how Adrian, Simon, Ian and Jan are getting on at Talgarth
http://ngcexpeds.blogspot.com/

Day 1, Course 1

It was the 1st day of the first NGC mid-week course of 2010. Mick was out early with the K13 and course students Geoff L and new member Mark. Also out was Jan flying ASW-20 'LY' and cadet Beth R, who flew with me in 'T12'. It was not a classic, but still soarable. It turned out to be a rather blustery day with rough, broken thermals. Nevertheless, everyone that flew got some soaring in before top-cover from the west cut off the energy. Even George our tuggy managed some soaring in the K13 whilst the course was on lunch-break. The longest flight was over an hour.

Spring Has Sprung!

Ready to go!
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Andy V and Jan A ran the day and provided instruction to many, including cadets Pete C and Beth R who both managed some decent soaring. Mike T clocked up an hour with Jan in T12 and made some headway towards his AFR. New members Paul G and Steve C were also out. Worzel, Jim L and Jonathan manned the tug.

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Rougham/Bury

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It was a busy day with the whole club fleet out as well as a number of private gliders. For a while some top-cover threatened to spoil the day, but most managed to battle through the cycle and it eventually popped big-time with 5kts+ seen in places. The wind backed from NW to SW'ly and I think some shear wave helped to create a few hot-spots with cloudbase climbing to around 4000ft by 3pm!

Norwich FC

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There were some very respectable times achieved, and I think 5 hours soaring was possible. Geoff and Art pilfered a 2-seater for an hours mutual flying. Jim C achieved 2 hours plus in a club Astir for his XC Endorsement leg. Will flew 'Woodsock' for two and a half hours, Steve F-H clocked up 3:30 in '20' whilst Ben M flew 3:35 for the longest flight of the day in his Libelle. Des blew the cobwebs out of his LS4, forcing syndicate partner Dave T to take the other club Astir XC for a 120km+ flight round PIC-NOE-DIS whilst I set off collecting TPs and also clocked up 120km+ working my way round DIS-HTN-ROU-GRF-NWI-NOE (too many for the ladder claim)! You can see more at: http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/ - Why not put your flights on the ladder and make this year even more successful than 2009...and help protect our airspace?

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Back at TIB

Soaring & Showers

The duty team was Bob and Ben the instructing men! Additionally, Will D was doing some instructor prep flying for James F. Despite the chilly NW'ly breeze a number of folks turned out to make the best of the conditions. We had the K13, G103 and an Astir out, plus a couple of private owners hurrying to rig - Dave M (LS7) and Simon U (Mosquito) - when Geoff T climbed away for an hour in the 13! As the sky greyed over new member Jason M (returning to gliding after a 3 year break) and I got out the motor-glider but had to delay our departure for half an hour until around 3pm as a large shower passed through washing everyone from the sky. Most sought solice in a hot a cup of tea in the clubhouse. 30 mins later the sky was again blue the lauch-point buzzing. Though the sky was now pretty flat, except for the odd bit of transient shear wave, our 'iron thermal' allowed us several climbs to 4000ft, then engine-off gliding for lots of hands-on time for JM. By the time we landed around 4:20pm the rest of the toys were being safely packed away ahead of another approaching shower, and soon after everyone was ordering beer in the bar.

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Sunday 7th

Memorable ... not so much the flight which was blue and cold and had me admiring the new quarry at NWI from close quarters as the retrieve after!

I flew down to Diss to do some aeros over Chris Lawrence in his field and decided that it looked like he and James Francis would need some help.

After getting through the farm yard sludge with the assistance of the small holder the rest of the retrieve was fairly painless given the time of year.

Major disappointment was getting back to the club, BEFORE DARK, and finding the BAR CLOSED!!





and

Sunday 7th March

A very cold day, perfectly blue and despite the easterly winds it was thermic to about 3000ft from 11:30 onwards.  Many flew including Team Vega (John Kinley, Will and Mike H),   JRK in the ASW19, myself in the ASW20, Tim Davies in the ASW27, James in the Cirrus and Tim Highton having his first trip in the Cirrus. 

Quite a few long flights were had over one hour, but credit goes to Chris L in the ASW19 who was the only brave(?!) soul who went cross country to Norwich - Rattlesden, AND claimed the first field landing of the year near Diss. 

We had a new member, Jason, flying with Phil (on duty).  Barry M and Geoff flew together in the K13.  Jonathan & Ian A towed and Bob & Andrew H found seats in the warm G109 to do some navigation exercises.  Cadets Beth, Josh and Murray were also out and about helping in the bitter cold.

If you flew this weekend, tell us about your flight!

End of Winter Fun Fly-In

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A wet start gave way to a splendid afternoon. A few hardy souls were out gliding. Nick Owen completed his SLMG-NPPL Bi-Annual Refresher with Mick in G-BUGL, and the LAA fly-in drew a few brave visitors who recieved a warm welcome and a free NGC calendar. Tonight Mike Bean hosted a successful charity quiz and chips night!

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Dodge the showers...

Andy V and myself ran the day, the weather was slow to break but we eventually saw some blue sky at 2:30pm.   Volunteers who had been hanging around all day for the chance of a flight, sprang into action to get the winch out, the G103 DI'd and taken out to the launchpoint. 
We manged to squeeze in a few flights before the heavens opened again and it was the long walk back to the hangar. 
Typical luck as soon as everything was away the sun came out again!  Too late to launch the fleet, so we all went for the needed warm cup of tea.
Weatherton forecast was foggy with rain along at about 11am, with about 1 hour clearance about 3pm - he was right again, but forgot to tell us about the 2nd clearance at 4:30pm.

More Soaring...

Saturday was clear but cold. Mark W ran the day with John R-K assisting. The club cadets were out in strength. The G103 was rigged and all 4 remaining club gliders came out to play (the K21 is now away for a few weeks for total refurb). A couple of private owners rigged and there was a short soaring window of about 2 hours, with the longest flight, by Dave R, achieving 1:14 in a club Astir. Jim took an A/T in N12 for his Astir type conversion flight and showed us all how a zero-wind spot-landing should be done! There were also a few visiting powered aircraft.

Thermal Flights Are Here Again...

A poor start, but the weather cleared through around lunchtime. The blustery conditions generated some decent thermals for the time of year, with the longest flight of the day being over an hour!

Another Busy Sunday

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With fine sunny (if rather breezy) weather and the snow now all gone it was a very busy day for mid-January with plenty of club members and even one or two visitors. We also had a couple of aircraft fly in for lunch as well as the usual Tibenham based powered-aircraft out for their Sunday constitutionals, including the lovely old yellow Tiger Moth. Ben M. was Duty Instructor, and was busy all day. Plenty of useful instruction was delivered to Ab Initios and AFR candidates alike with a little help here and there from Will, JRK, Steve F-H and myself. We launched from near the end of 21 enabling launches in the 2-seaters well in excess of 1500ft on the winch. There were also a number of aero-tows for A/X flights and spinning sorties. The day was crammed with flying until dusk, after which the "Winter Lectures" continued with Jan repeating her interesting and informative lecture from last night on the often dry and bureaucracy laden subject of 'OO' FAI & BGA responsibilities and badge claims which was again very well attended.

Cold But Pretty

Sat in my office at home, I decided that the only thing to do was get out. I gave Ian A. a call and asked if he was available.
90 minutes later we were opening the Hangar and rolling out the Grob 109. Although it was cold (-2 deg C to be exact) it was bright with the sun shining brightly and reflecting off the blanket of snow.
After a pensive couple of minutes the engine started and we were off shortly afterwards once the oil temp etc had risen.

We cruised up to 5500 ft before shutting off the fan then gently soared around for 45 minutes before starting up again and landing.

The views were stunning and there was a clear inversion but vis was still very good. The shadows were long and dramatic as can be seen from the 4 aerials at Talconeston!

Definitely a good decision to get out. Thanks to Ian for volunteering to drive! Wonderful afternoon.

The joys of winter flying

http://picasaweb.google.com/benharker119/WinterGliding3rdJanuary2010#

Sub-Zero: Cold Start to 2010

After a sprinkling of snow last night, several club members experienced the spectacular winter landscape from a variety of aircraft.
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...And Then Came The Snow!

December gave more wild winter weather - and then came the snow! Despite the bitter conditions and short mid-winter days club members have been making the most of the limited opportunities that the weather has provided during the run up to Christmas. Roll-on New Year!

Wild Winter Weather.

Following an unusually mild and very dry October that provided some good flying for the time of year, November's weather turned out rather wild & wet. In fact it was the UK's wettest with multiple fronts and strong winds. East Anglia was fortunate to get probably the best of what was on offer providing us with a number of decent flying days when the rain stopped play further west. Club members made the best of the opportunities taking advantage of our continued 7 day operation to keep current and work on AFRs. Dave Munro & Mark Wright ran a BI course, with a Full Cat course planned soon. Andy V. is taking names for those who want to sample the excitement and skill of aerobatic flight. ALso, thanks to Will Day who has been kind enough to take over the role of Deputy CFI, now that I'm working away so much.

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The G109 is back on line again following its scheduled maintenance, and is particularly nice to fly on those cold winter days when soaring is scarce - plus it has a heater!!!

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Plus, keep an eye out for the upcoming evening lectures which are due to start shortly to see us through the long mid-winter evenings.

Sunday 29th Nov

You can tell its winter from the ski pants and the instructor to student ratio!  At one point today there were 7 instructors, with a total of 2 students for the whole day. 

Bob and myself ran the day, with Brian Kennard towing, and it got off to a pretty drizzley start "its spitting!!"... Will, Brian and myself passed the time labeling up leaflets for giving out in Thetford and Attleborough town centres in the next couple of weeks - thanks guys it would have taken ages on my own.

However the rain cleared about 11am, as the launchpoint was already set up and the K21 on line and ready, the first launch was failry immediate.  We passed the time flinging ourselves up the wire in pairs, to heights of over 2400ft into what must have been a 35knt headwind at 2000ft.  I think Brian must have got bored as there was no towing to be had. 

Bob was quite happily in the warmth of the G109 flying with Ben Magnani.  Andrew Hewitt completed his bronze checks with Will, and later finished off the excercies in the motorglider with Bob - well done Andrew, just the paper to finish.

I flew with returning member Mike Powell and started his AFR, we got 2300ft on one launch, but I think Geoff beat us at 2400ft flying solo, and Will and Paul Nichols also got a high launches later. Others out included Phil Sillett and Steve Flowitt Hill who got longest flight of the day (15mins).

Thanks to all who did a winching stint and helped to make the day go smoothly even though it was bitterly cold.

Club Trophies

NGC 2009 Awards for Flying Achievement:

The Whiskey Cup
For the most points on the Cross Country Ladder. (Only flights from Tibenham)
PETE RYLAND (DG400)

The Club Ladder
Points are awarded for the first solo and badge claims.
SIMON URRY (Mosquito)

The NGC President’s Trophy
For the best flight from a Norfolk Airfield.
TOM SMITH (LS8)

President's Triangle
For the fastest handicapped speed round the "Presidents Triangle",
Diss, North Pickenham Mast, Norwich East .TIB-DIS-PIC-NOE-TIB(117Km.)
RAY HART (Nimbus 2C)

Chairman's Cup
Awarded for the best flight from TIB with a handicap of less than 90 or less.
JAMES FRANCIS (Std Cirrus)

The Spring Task Week Cup
Best flight of May Task Week
PETE RYLAND (DG400)

Harvest Cup
Winner of August Task Week
TIM DAVIES (ASW-27a)

The 2 Seat Cup
The best flight in a 2 seater from Tibenham
IAN ATHERTON + HARRY VDN (ASK-21)

Derek Kitchen Trophy
Best flight for a pilot under 26 (Decided by CFI, Chairman and Sporting Sec.)
TOM SMITH (LS8)

Frank Sayer Trophy
Best flight of the year from Tibenham.
TOM SMITH (LS8)

Youngest First Solo
BEN KIRK

The Oldest First Solo
WARWICK SWANCOTT

The CFI's Cup
Pilot with the best soaring progress: presented by the CFI.
JAMES FRANCIS

Top Ten

Top 10 NGC Distance Ladder Pilots of 2009 (Total KMs XC entered on ladder):
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1 Peter Ryland 3494.4
2 Ian Atherton 2918.3
3 Tom Smith 2055.9
4 Tim Davies 2010.1
5 James Francis 1216.4
6 Tony Griffiths 884.4
7 David Taylor 881.1
8 Chris J Lawrence 837.3
9 Jenny Novak 799.6
10 Simon Urry 697.6
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Check-out who the full ladder at;
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/DispLadder.asp?Season=2009&ClubID=NGC&Ladder=D&PageSize=200&ExComps=&Log=Y

Portmoak Expedition

Mick Hughes has taken the K21 and a bunch of club members including Paul Woodcock, Jenny Novak, Mike Crook, Phil Hayward and Don Johnson to sample the delights of Scottish whisky, I mean countryside!, as they start their week expedition to Portmoak.

Read how they got on on our NGC Exped blog http://ngcexpeds.blogspot.com/

The NGC XC Ladder – Best Year Ever!!! (Updated)

Well done and thanks to all those who contributed to the club ladder in 2009.

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There were 115 entries on the 2009 Norfolk GC Ladder totalling an impressive 18021.7km between 21 pilots, making an average task distance of 157km per entry. This makes it our most successful year ever for ladder entries with over twice as many as last year.
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Pete Ryland flew the highest number of XC Kms totalling 3494.4 in 19 flights, whilst Ian Atherton accumulated a total of 2918.3km, also with 19 entries, to give him second place on the 'Distance Ladder'. Tom Smith was third with 2055.9km over only 8 entries giving him the furthest average distance on the ladder of 257km!
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The furthest distance in one flight was Tom Smith's 756.7km flight, which is featured in the recent S&G and looks likely to give him the BGA Wakefield Trophy for the longest handicapped distance of 2009.

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Additionally, the NGC Ladder also recorded:
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1 x 500km+ flight By Tim Davies at 522.3km, for Diamond Distance.
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1 x 400km+ flight by Ian Atherton at 458.2km.
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7 x 300km+ flights, including 2 first 300km Diamond Goal flights by James Francis and Simon Urry.
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19 x 200-299km flights.
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53 x 100-199km flights.
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33 x sub-100km flights including a number first XC flights, 2-seat training flights, Silver Distance and BGA 100km Diploma attempts.

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Of course, these are only a fraction of the XC flights achieved by NGC pilots this season. As well as letting other pilots see what they missed(!) the records also help to provide evidence when fighting our corner against airspace proposals, etc. - so why not add your flights in the future?

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Thanks to Pete Ryland for his work as club steward - please contact him soon if you think you have a claim on a club trophy before the annual dinner.

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See more at;
http://tinyurl.com/y8cuhsw
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/INDEX.ASP
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/BGAAwards.asp?Year=2009

See how NGC compares to other ladders at;

http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/summary.asp?Season=2009

Cross Country in the K21!

A most un-expected and fun cross country flight on a Friday afternoon, with Will Day as P1. Declared President's Triangle, with NOE first.

After turning Norwich East, we were back at 3,500' and were able to enjoy our picnic sandwiches in the sun. We soon had to abandon Pickenham as the thermals were not as reliable or regular as they looked, so after the first turning point, went towards Diss, abandoning Diss about 3/4 of the way there as it had gone blue with thermals difficult to find.

Anyone interested can view the flight on the NGC ladder.

Our overall speed was rather on the low side, but optimistic Will says:

"... at 26.38kph .. keep up boys!! At least we have won the day for NGC!

Challenging Skies

Soarable for much of the day with most folks getting in some local soaring. Several club and private gliders were out with the longest flight achieving 3hrs 35mins. Most made the best of what was probably one the last few decent thermal soaring days of the season. However, limited cloudbase at TIB (2500ft slowly rising to 3000ft) and strong winds with wind-broken thermals made XC somewhat of a challenge.

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With winds of 030/25kts going upwind to Norwich meant struggling into a markedly descending cloudbase as well as the headwind. I eventually managed to to turn NWI TP after a monumental struggle and several aborted attempts, and despite the tailwind on the way back was picking fields until I hooked into a decent climb at Tacolneston which allowed me to turn Diss and get back to TIB. This took 2 hours, but by now things were improving and seeing Will in T65 release from tow into good lift inspired me and I joined him in a climb to 3000. This was more like it. Off to NWI for a second time and a much more comfortable downwind leg that saw me get quickly all the way to Great Ashfield. Here cloudbase was higher and I climbed to 3500ft and filled with optimism I set off for home...and then the sky fell apart. With a 25kt H/W I was struggling and only found one half descent climb on the way back which turned out to be barely enough, finally managing a somewhat more marginal final glide than I would have preferred resulting in a straight in approach to 03. Home safe and sound - Phew!

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Meanwhile Will had turned NOE and PIC, but wasn't quite so fortunate and landed out on the way home near to the pub at Tibenham village - so at least it was an easy retrieve for Geoff T and Jenny.

Downwind Dash!

It's not often that you can fly a "downwind-dash" for a Silver Distance from Tibenham, but that's exactly what Wade did today making use of the thermic conditions and north-easterly winds for a 66km goal flight to Ridgewell which he completed in just over an hour. Well done Wade!!!

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See Wade's ladder entry at;

www.bgaladder.co.uk/dscore.asp?FlightID=23727

Nice for a NE'ly in Norfolk

True that the weather was not as good as the Midlands where there were a number of 300km+ flights logged, but it was still good enough for a nice afternoon out in the East with a number of XC and local soaring flights. George B & Mike C provided the aero-tows. The NGC Astirs were both out, as was the K21. There were quite a few private owners out including Tim D (ASW27), Jenny (ASW19), Andy (ASW17), Paul Woodcock (Pegase), and myself (ASW20), plus the visitors from Challock with their LS4 and Open Cirrus. I bimbled round Norfolk for 150km, flying for over 3 hours. However, Ben Harker got the highest scoring ladder flight of the day on his first ever XC flight, with his declared task of NWI-ROU 100km Triangle/Silver Distance attempt which he completed 79% of (82km at 85kph!!!) but couldn't quite make the second TP - great effort though!

Team Swift

A bright and breezy day, with Mark running the day. Team Swift, the glider aerobatics team turned up as they were due to fly a display at the Seething Charity Air Day later that day. But first we were treated to a little practice session! For those of you that have never seen this display, you can see it here http://www.swiftteam.airshows.org.uk/videos/team09.html

Showers & Soaring

As the fronts approached Tibenham probably got the best of the weather with winch launching and A/Ts available most of the day. There was even some local soaring with Geoff T getting the longest flight of the day with 48 minutes. The rain finally finished the flying around 3pm.

A great start to September.

T12 was available for club flying whilst Mark W and I set off on tasks. It was rather windy (I saw 27kts at 5000ft) but with strong thermal streets - up to 6kts climb on the averager (most were 3-4kt averages) - it was surprisingly straight forward to make progress into wind following the streets, though 'jumping' across them did cost a lot of height in the strong sink. I chose a conservative task of NMT-GAB-BSE for 156km due to the wind strength and threat of CBs and showers on the forecast from 3pm (plus remote crew), but the showers didn't really materialise until an hour or so after landing. I final glid all the way from BSE (38km) with a stonking tailwind giving a very satisfying ground-speed of 183kph, then local soared for an extra half an hour or so when I got back before pulling airbrake and landing. Time on task was 2:16 and total time airborne 3:08, so I really could have gone a bit further. Mark did NMT-BUN-MEN for 190km, so 150-200km was probably about right for the day.

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Congratulations to Phil Morgan who passed his NFT in the G109 to complete his SLMGPPL. Thanks to Tony G for turning out to tug and Eddie for wing-running.

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.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 7

Ian set a variety of tasks to chose from including a 5 pointed star, a hero task to Towcester and some 100k flights towards Rattlesden and Norwich. The weather was expected to cut off from the west at around 4pm, however some good soaring and cross country tasks were completed;

Tony Griffiths won the day completing a declared TIB-GRF-CAX-TIB for 188k, Simon Urry and Mark Wright chose the pentangle with Simon completing around 190k (CAB-FRW-THE) and Mark doing 146k FRW-THE-WRM before landing at RAT (again!!) Bob Grieve did WRM-NWI. I did 122k GRF-NWI-ACL, Jenny completed BUN-GRF.

Congratulations to Mike Crook on completing 111km NWI-RAT for Silver. Adrian Prime also went round this task in a speed of over 75kph to complete his 100k dimploma. Wade did his frst cross country flight but unfortnuatly landed back after turning NWI.

Ian took some club members on a couple of mini cross countries in the K21. Firsly Andy Blowers to NWI, then Harry van de Noord (a friend of Warwick's and instructor in Holland) to Rattlesden - I understand they watched Mark landing there before beating a retreat back to TIB. Harry subsequently joined as a full club member - welcome Harry, we can't guarantee every flight will be like that!

So a good day and everyone had fun. Tomorrow looks doubtful for task flying but should be OK for local soaring before the rain comes through.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 6

A day of sunshine and showers with lots of wind (15G25kts). The task was eventually scrubbed but several pilots managed short soaring flights off the wire between the showers. Fingers are crossed for a better day tomorrow.

Earlham Right Directions fly at Norfolk G.C.

Wednesday 29th July

A group of teenagers from the Earlham area of Norwich were treated to a trip around the skies. The weather was not as good as it could have been but a number managed flights in excess of 30 minutes from a winch launch of 1500'. There was a weather window which lasted about an hour and a half when the sky was very active in streets in the strong wind. A great time was had by all and many conquered personal demons. They would like to thank Ann and James for bringing them and all the club members for giving their time. Thanks guys; come and have another go some time.

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 4

With the weather predicted as unstable with over-convection likely and breezy conditions (220/10-15kts @SFC) I briefed that there was likely to be a 3-4 hour soaring window with a 4000ft cloudbase and 'challenging' SW winds for XC. Tony G (DG300) and Berkley (K21) took off early and made the best of the day both doing just under 3 hours soaring. Tony managed to complete the 122.7km task of TIB-THE-MEN-BSE-TIB to 'win the day'. Jim Lawn relieved me from the tug and I decided to have a tow (about an hour and a half after Tony) and I got round Thetford but the day went splat as I got half way down the second leg and I turned North for TIB. Adrian flew his 19, and was not far behind me with a similar story. Still at least no-one landed out. Mick instructed in the K13. Over all I think that we got quite a lot out of a day that didn't really promise too much. Well done Tony!

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In comparison the Dunstable Regionals A Class set a 112km task with only 4 competitors getting round!

Summer Soaring Fortnight - Day 3

Scrub.

Summer soaring fortnight - Day 2

A slow start, with conditions not looking too promising, top cover and a strong southerly wind with low cumulus forming below. Club flying began with Will running the day. and some lucky club members getting half priced launches before 11am. After midday the top cover started to clear and the cumulus rose to around 2500ft. Pete Ryland set a number of local turnpoints as a fall back task.

I launched and went for a local bimble around TIB-DIS-GAB-TIB, I was tempted going towards Rattlesden but could see the front approaching from the south and into a 22knt wind it was all a bit slow progress. Cloudbase at 4000ft and the streets being much more reliable that yesterday, Pete decided to land to re-brief the new task TIB-RAT-NOE-TIB but then unfortunately missed the weather window.

I dont think anyone went anywhere but it was a reasonable local soaring day if you were prepared to battle into wind up the cloud streets, and it made the landings more interesting especially for spectators!

Congratulations also to Andrew Hewitt in flying his first flight on the winch in his ASW17.

Summer soaring fortnight - Day 1 Sat 25th July

A mixed day with some good cross country flights, and some who struggled. There appeared to be some wave influence causing strange mixing of thermals, combined with a stronger than forecast wind most who flew found the clouds were not working as expected. Still, with cloudbase at 4000ft and some thermal strengths reportedly 9knt who can complaint!

Pete Ryland won the day with a 330km flight in his DG to Sudbury, Silverstone. Well done also to Jenny completing the briefed task of TIB-RAT-SMB-TIB, Norman Clowes completed the extended task TIB-RAT-SMB-NOE-TIB but forgot to have his logger on. A number of outlandings included JRK, Mark Wright (who popped in for a cuppa at Rattlesden) and Dave Munro (who had a long aerotow retrieve from Sutton Meadows), both Tim H and Chris managed NMT return.

Thanks to Ray Hart for helping cover the airfield after we sent Tim D home for having flu! Also thanks to Paul Wilkinson who stepped in to help out with rather a lot of trial lessons, and all the other crew who pitched in running the airfeld, winch and tug.

Bright & Breezy

The warm weather made it very pleasant to be out on the airfield despite the breezy conditions. Consequently there was a significant number of members out enjoying the day with the hope of catching a thermal. Breezy winds were the order of the day, giving around 30kts at 2000ft! The wind broke up the thermals low down and made it a challenge to soar away off the wire. Nevertheless, several pilots did manage to get away and a number of soaring flights of up to an hour were achieved in thermals of up to 5kts. Cloudbase was over 4000ft QFE.

Results from the ICL at Tibenham

Saturday was a non scoring day – the task was not scrubbed and though the various pilots who launched never found enough under the overcast to attempt Framlingham – Thetford (96km)

Sunday dawn grey and overcast - though the satellite pictures showed a clearance in the west that was following the remains of the front. Briefing was delayed until 11am and tasks set. Novices – Thetford, Honington (65km); Intermediates – Thetford, Bury St Edmunds (83km); Pundits – Thetford, Newmarket (113km).

The conditions lived up the forecast and streeting was quite obvious leading John Gilbert to launch on the Pundit task in his Skylark – he later commented that it was only possible due to the streeting and that at times his grounds speed was 25kts.

Paul Wilkinson (TIB – Novice) was an early finisher having been first to launch, closely followed by Vernon Bettle (WRM – Novice) and then Tom Smith (HC - Pundit). A few land backs and relights took place before there was a long wait for Pete Ryland (TIB - Pundit). Who had started late after a relight.

Eventually all pilots were accounted for and scores were available.

Novice:
1st – Tony Bartlett – RAT – Pegase – 74.22kph
2nd – Vernon Bettle – WRM - ASW19 – 63.48kph
3rd – Ian Macrow – ROU – SZD55 – 59.18kph
4th – Paul Wilkinson – TIB – Std Cirrus – 52.66kph

Intermediate:
1st – Richard Crockett – WRM – Nimbus 2 – 62.3kph
DNS – Jenny Novak – TIB – ASW19
DNS – Andy Howells – RAT – Pegase
DNS – Chris Reed – ROU – Open Cirrus

Pundit:
1st – George Green – WRM – Discus – 79.56kph
2nd – Peter Ryland – TIB – DG400 – 63km
3rd – Richard Maison-Pierre –ROU – Speed Astir – 19km
DNS – Andy Howells – RAT – Pegase

This leaves the overall scores as follows after 3 competition days

WRM – 18
TIB – 14
ROU – 14
RAT – 13