Saturday, 27 February 2010

End of Winter Fun Fly-In

...
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!
...
...
...
...

Sunday, 21 February 2010

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.

Saturday, 20 February 2010

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.

Sunday, 14 February 2010

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!

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Another Busy Sunday

..
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.

Monday, 4 January 2010

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.

Sunday, 3 January 2010

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.
..

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

...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!

Monday, 30 November 2009

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.
.
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!!!
.
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, 29 November 2009

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.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

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

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Top Ten

Top 10 NGC Distance Ladder Pilots of 2009 (Total KMs XC entered on ladder):
...
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
..
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

Sunday, 27 September 2009

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

Friday, 18 September 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!

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

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.
.
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!
.
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.

Friday, 11 September 2009

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!!!
..
See Wade's ladder entry at;

Thursday, 10 September 2009

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!

Saturday, 5 September 2009

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