Wind Chill

Despite the bitter Easterlies Ray Hart inspired everyone to brave the cold and out came the K.21. The wind chill was significant, taking the temperature on the skin to sub-zero. Jan volunteered to drive the winch to start the ball rolling (nice and warm that winch cab!). Young Ben Kirk has finally convinced his dad Steve to join, and they both enjoyed some winch launches. Others out included Geoff Tilly (who's 71 tomorrow), Art Kerkoff (longest flight of the day), Paul & Rebecca Woodcock, and Dave Taylor who flew his annual winch checks with Ray. Thanks to Steve Cat. and Wurzel for manning the tug.

Propeller-Head Invasion!

A cold day but clear day, and a bit of a slow start. However, Dave Munro was on duty and soon got everyone motivated, and once we got going it turned into a really busy day. The westerly wind meant we were on our 'short' runway with the winch at the far end of the grass section to enable extra height from the launches. It turned out to be a perfect day for power flying with both the Tibenham based Grob 109 motor-gliders out as well as the two Tiger Moths, amongst others. Our first visitor was a PA28 from Shipdham, followed by the Falke, G-BUEK. Then came a stream of light aircraft including a couple of micro-lights, a vintage Aeronca Chief and G-ARNE, the Piper Colt from Knettishall. It was great to see the airfield so busy in January!

Sub-Zero

Despite the bitter sub-zero temperatures, it was another decent turnout. Will Day ran the airfield with help from Phil S. With the wind right down 26 flying was from our 'short' runway but due to the frozen ground the winch was able to be positioned at the far end of the grass without sinking into the field so still achieving good launch heights. Jim Lawn provided aero-tows. Steve F-H completed his BI annual checks, including some sim A/T rope-break revision in the G109. Enjoying the benefit of the heater in the motor-glider, Steve and I decided to fly over to Rattlesden for a visit. We received a warm welcome and enjoyed a hot cup of tea in their clubhouse (the old control tower). Back at Tibenham, many of us enjoyed Rachel's first Sunday Lunch of the new year - roast beef with all the trimmings, followed by apple pie and custard - Great!

The New Private Power Hangar at Tibenham

A Good Start To The New Year

Ian (covering for Ray) teamed up with Jan to run the airfield. The weather was cold, but clear vis and high cloudbase allowed an early start. All three 2-seaters came out and Josie got the ball rolling by flying the K.21 solo for the first couple of winch launches. Despite very little wind we were still getting 1300ft on the wire launching from the intersection on 03. Several folks turned up to complete their annual checks including Tom Smith, Art and Geoff T who were all sorted by the end of the day. Steve F-H and JRK started work on their annual BI checks with CFI Mark Wright. Also out were Paul Wilkinson, Rebecca & Paul Woodcock, Jenny Novak, Will Day and Andy Smith. Mike Bean and Nick Owen flew 'Bugle', Phil Morgan flew his G109, Mike Lindsay & Steve Banyard flew the Condor. Visiting was G-VOID which flew in from Stapleford for lunch, Rachel & Eddie providing welcome hot refreshments in the clubhouse as usual. Tugging was provided by Steve Catermole and John Gamage. It was a full day with us packing up at dusk and retiring to the clubhouse for a well earned beer!

.

Cadet Rebecca Woodcock with her dad Paul after their flight in the K.21

Frosty Flying

. Photo: Early birds tow out the K13 with frost still on the ground.

Another decent turnout and crystal clear blue skies again allowed everyone to make the most of the continued respite in the recent poor winter weather. Phil S. and Ben M. did the lions share of instructing with Steve F-H and JRK helping with Air-Ex Flights. I flew with Andrew Hewitt in the K21, who then flew his first solo since joining the club. Dave Munro flew the Grob109 - great to see good use of it again now it's back online with the re-furbished engine, and the cabin heat keeps you toastie on these cold winter days! Lots of winching and A/Ts were packed into the short daylight hours available before an early retirement to the clubhouse to admire the amazing sunset.

Photo: Andrew Hewitt after his first solo as a Norfolk GC member.

.

Winter flying

A chilly start to the day, but this didn't put off the brave souls who turned up to fly. We spent some time rigging the K21 after its trip back from Sutton Bank, then a few hours flying before canopy misting stopped play about 3.30pm.

New member Allen Merrilees, and David Allen who usually flies midweek, both got some flying in with Jan towards the end of the day. Ray flew with a chap who came for an air experience flight to celebrate his 50th Birthday today. Ray then kindly went down to the winch for a couple of hours. Bob completed his year3 instructor checks with Mark, and later found time to fly with Ian in the motorglider (yes its back on line!!!).

Other members who flew were Jenny, Brian McClean, Berkeley, Tim H, Geoff and Art.

Sutton Bank Expedition

The end to a near perfect week.

Sutton Bank Thursday 20th Nov 08

We awoke to very fresh westery winds giving promise to some challenging flights. G.Marshall had joined us. Unfortunately our K21 went u/s on us as the front canopy strut developed a crack preventing the canopy closing properly. Not to be beaten we obtained use of a club K21 and the DG-1000 giving some members another challenge. The day went well giving everybody another enjoyable day. The weather for the next two days was not not very promising for ridge flying so we packed up Friday returning before being possibly snowed in. In all the week was a great success with many wanting another expedition, to be planned as soon as possible.

Sutton Bank - Wednesday19th Nov 08

Today's weather followed the previous day's with north westerlies. Two more members had turned up, B.McLean and P.Hayward making a good opportunity for a site check. Mid-day the wind backed round to a fresh westerly making the flying much more interesting. Beating up and down the ridge really focuses you in improving your lookout. Even two or three gliders can make big demands on your work load. Eventually the low sun and misting canopies forced us to stop after a really rewarding day.

Sutton Bank - Tuesday 18th Nov 08

Arrived late on Monday to some very low cloud. Next day the skies were clear for the prospect of some fine flying. The day was clear with high lenticulars within possible grasp. High tows throughout the day left us a little frustrated at not getting into wave but all enjoyed just getting use to a new site with new challenges. Five members flew P.Woodcock, M.Crook, P.Ward and even Don Johnstone managed to get solo, so not a completely wasted day. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Summer 2008

Looking at the stats from the UK met office, it can be seen that East Anglia had the highest actual and highest mean temps this summer. It also had the second highest amount of sunshine and the lowest rainfall. So despite the poor weather, it seems we probably did have the best of the summer soaring season here in the East.

Just think what we can achieve when we get some good weather next year!

www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2008/summer/averages1.html

Sunday 19th October

Will Day was duty dog. It was definitely starting to feel autumnal with a moderate SSW wind which allowed us to achieve winch launches to over 2000ft. Some A/Ts also took place to take advantage of the reduced prices for Annual Refresher Training for stalling & spinning. A reporter from 'The Mercury' (local paper) came for a trial lesson and tried both winch and A/T. Ben volunteered to fly her and Sharon seem to enjoy the experience very much. We may have even got ourselves a new member! We look forward to reading the report. I also did some instructing, to help make best use of the 2-seaters and get everyone flown. A good day was had by all. Photo: Ben & reporter Sharon waiting to launch.

.

Saturday 18th Oct

Another lovely sunny day, with both winch and aerotow launches available. Paul Wilkinson, Des O'Brien and Berkeley Pittaway took the opportunity to use reduced rate AFR aerotows to complete their annual checks - spinning was had by all!!!

Chris Lawrence and Dave Munro flew thier own gliders and we had Ben Kirk and Rebecca Woodcock under training. Others out today included Geoff Tilly, Art Kerkhoff, Jenny Novak, Gary Marshall and Nick Owen (flying his Falke). Several power pilots also came out to play including the yellow Tiger Moth.

Thursday 16th October

Brisk winds but good flying. We operated off 'The Church Run' with both winch and aero-tow. Mick ran a day course and I was able to get to the airfield this afternoon to help with the club instructing. Jim Lawn completed his AFR - the second pilot to do so this year! Geoff T. and George B'ski both had soaring flights. Others out today included Paul Thompson, Paul Woodcock, Mike Tate, Berkeley Pittaway and Phil Morgan (driving the winch).

.

Saturday 11th October

Fine weather and beautiful blue skies all day provided the opportunity for pilots to start work on their Annual Flight Reviews (AFR). The K13 was re-weighed this morning by Stu Hoy and has been re-placarded lowering the minimum solo weight significantly.

The whole fleet came out and we flew both aerotow and winch - successfully using lights as the primary signal method for the winch. In addition to 5 air experience flights, we welcomed some new members; Miles Harrison (formally Cambridge GC) and Jay Craddock, 14, who is a friend of Art's son who also flew today. Paul Woodcock flew with Mark Wright and completed his passenger carrying endorsment. Jenny Novak and Paul Wilkinson did AFR flights with Paul starting his back seat training for BI.

Photo: Jan, Miles & Ben putting the K.13 to bed at sunset.

Thanks to all that helped out to make it an enjoyable day.

Ian.

Midweek Report

Following the rain on Tuesday, the weather improved for the rest of the week with club members turning out and enjoying some good flying. Wednesday was particularly good with quite a lot of soaring, longest flights were over 1hr 30mins.

Weekly flying.

Hi Guys,

A glorious Monday morning with no one here to fly but we're planning to fly the rest of the week. The tugs back online so why not come along.

Sunday, 28 September 2008

There I was thinking we had seen the last of the summer soaring ... and low and behold even more soaring on Sunday!

Will started us off with over half an hour soaring, having declared that his flight would be short as he was actually undergoing his Full Cat Conversion examination with Dave Munro!

This was followed by Polish George staying up in the Astir for over an hour. Then of course our resident thermaller ... Geoff Tilley stayed up in the K13 for 1hr 08min, beating George by just 1 minute. Apparently they both only came down to let someone else have a go!!

I finally managed to get some winch cable break checks done with our beloved CFI ... as I have only had 1 winch & 1 aerotow launch in 2 months. However, I am now back on form (as much as can be) and will now be flying with my usual regularity. Now ... where are all those thermals ..?

Jenny Novak

So late September is getting toward is the end of the soaring season, but as Ians flight yesterday proved, there's still some good flying still to be had.

So optimistically I set a local cats cradle task (TIB-DIS-WYM-BUN-GAB-TIB). No tug today so I had to launch the 20 on the wire for the first time and got a suprising 1700ft in very light winds. However it was quickly apparant that any cross country would be unlikely due to the poor visibility. So my fall back task was to get a climb that went through the 2800ft inversion - I succeeded a couple of times to 3000ft and did just over 2hrs airborne in what looked and felt like dust soup, but never got very far from the airfield.

The report from our flight with the Diss Express has been published and was a talking point in the clubhouse - you can find it here http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/sport/Gliding-Life39s-little-problems-seem.4529430.jp

Sat 27th Sept - Into The Blue...

The fog burned off quickly this morning. All the club kit came out and several private owners rigged. We were again winching, but despite virtually no wind 'The Wildcat' provided excellent launches and most pilots got high launches and some soaring from a day that remained blue throughout. The longest flight was over 2 hours. One or two had planned X/Cs but the gloopy vis discouraged most and only Bob got round a TP before deciding against venturing further away. It was also good to see a number of young members out at the launch point. The club had a flag presentation from RAF & USAF representatives in memory of those who served at Tibenham during WWII on the the day that was the 64th anniversary of the 445th Bombardment Group's most notorious mission - the Kassel Mission of 27 September 1944.

http://tinyurl.com/46zegv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Tibenham

http://www.kasselmission.com/society.htm

http://www.tibenham.fsnet.co.uk/445th_bg_links.htm