Gliding brain power

This morning about 20 club members attended William Parker's lecture on field landings and gliding safety. There were lots of observations and questions. After the lecture a number stayed on to share past experience and discuss the challenges and finer points of picking fields.

The lecture also included a demonstration of the new Booker Gliding Club brain mapping system that will be available for pilots to use prior to a flight. This equipment is now available for use in the briefing room. As the photo shows, William bravely volunteered to show us all how it worked.

Ridge day and soaring xc for the DuoDiscus

7 day operation got away to a great start with our first course member enjoying a rough but soarable first day of their course under good streets to 4,000ft.

The strong north westerly (330 degrees, 19kts gusting 28kts) was enough to encourage the Duo Discus and K21 out to the ridge early in the day.

In the afternoon, Jim White and John Herman set off to the ridge but the sky looked too inviting so a task was set for Bicester to see what they were up to.

Bicester from the DuoDiscus

Late on in the day layered lenticulars were in evidence over Winter Hill

7 day a week operation starts on 5 March

Keep an eye on the weather forecast for those good soaring days, typically after the passage of a cold front, as from Monday 5 March the club goes back to a 7 day week.

Saturday 3 March - spring showers

After a wet morning the members made good use of the unstable air for soaring flights. and the aerobatics course had fun too. A heavy hail shower provided an excuse for a tea break, then back out for more flying. Jim found his newly refinished ASW27 at the end of the rainbow.

The day finished with a well attended AGM with plenty of positive reports about the club and its future. Many thanks to the Committee for all their hard work, and the many members who give their time for their club.

Soaring, 1st Solo, 1st Bronze leg, different tug and sparkly Duo

What a fantastic weekend for February - sunny skies with good cumulus, lots of lift and warm enough to dispense with all the winter layers of clothing.

The skies were inviting enough to get many private owners to rig and fly as well as emptying the hanger of all the club gliders so that they could fly. Just to add a bit of fun to the day, there was a runway change from 35 to 24.

All change from 35 to 24

The Duo Discus is back from Poland where it has been refinished and now looks like a brand new glider. Early feedback from those who have flown it is good saying how well it flys and how much quieter it is. Its a fantastic asset for the club - please make sure you take the effort to keep it in absolute tip top condition.

Duo Discus looking resplendent after its refinish with the two pilots who seemed to have adopted it!

Duo Discus soaring over Stokenchurch

The club also took the opportunity to try out a new tug and consider how it may fit into our normal operational needs. The airplane is a EuroFox which has its roots in the home build/microlight world but has been in use as a tug for several years across Europe. We had the chance to tow several single seaters and the K13.

EuroFox about to launch the clubs Pegasus

EuroFox landing

Achievements

Ben Followell (one of Bookers cadets) soared for over an hour and gained his first Bronze leg (on only his 3rd solo flight) and lastly we had Chris Arnold go solo for the first time. Chris initially signed up for a 5 day course last year but is hooked and a regular face around the launch point. Congratulations to them both,

Chris Arnold beside EBZ shortly after his first solo

Cold and soarable Sunday 19th February

Sunday 19th February really felt like the season had started. The air mass following the previous days cold front passage promising cumulus as high as 6,000 feet (but extremely cold) brought out the keener members who are getting their practice in early.

With a trio of private owners rigging and towing out to runway 35 in the brisk northerly, we had our first grid of 2012 with launching from around 10:00 until the last launch around 17:00 when there was still some evidence of lift about. Several flights of over 1 hour were flown by a mix of K13, K21 and Juniors under the cloud base that went to over 5,500 feet over the Oxford plain. The high cloud base was accompanied by extremely good visibility with Milton Keynes and Bedford being clearly visible throughout the day from Booker.

Sally Longstaff and Mark Wolff completed their BI training and will be a regular addition to the team of instructors - congratulations to them both.

Bookers two new BI's

1st grid of 2012

Steve Williams flew his LS8 in both 15 and 18 metre modes and went to Bicester and back, Will Ellis set off and flew 200k doing Daventry, Winslow & Towcester before landing out just short of a final glide at the Golden Ball. The retrieve was quickly sorted and supported by a police officer who stopped by to check all was OK - she was invited back to the club but either common sense or duty prevented her from accepting the offer from the retrieve crew! (see pictures below).

Last launch at around 17:00

K21 over Turvill seen from EBZ

Chinnor Cement works looking north where Milton Keynes was clearly visible

Pushing the K21 back to keep warm
John Herman being put into cuffs!
768's retrieve crew with local constabulary support keeping all in order
Will Ellis with 768 after he was accused of only having a 'little one'

(Photo credits - Jane Moore and Glyn Read)

A cold and frosty morning

The ground was frozen hard, and the warming sun left the ghost of a glider in the grass when the day's flying started.

The first Saturday of the month as usual saw a bunch of hardy aerobatics pilots practising chandelles and loops and much more with expert tuition from Graham and Alun.

Meanwhile back in the clubhouse the final Bronze briefing of the winter was underway, after which Simon Vardigans took the test and passed with flying colours, congratulations Simon. He now only needs one more launch to gain his Bronze badge, unfortunately the advance of the snowy front put paid this.

Next week the FOG (Fundamentals of Gliding) briefings resume, details on the Members page of the club website http://www.bookergliding.co.uk/members/BGC3459.html or the poster on the clubhouse noticeboard. Lots of helpful tips and advice for pilots at all levels.

Another busy gliding day

After a frosty start the sun brought lots of keen pilots to Booker. Some began the day with the Bronze briefing on Theory of Flight and instrumentation, there followed a variety of flying. This included trial lessons, course flying, cadets taking advantage of the flights they had earned, field landing practice, instructor prep and just having fun.

With all this going on there was no time to go to the clubhouse for tea so we were delighted when the Tea Dragon turned up in the shape of Nick with his campervan.

The day ended with some more aerobatics flown by the US Army colonel who had come over from Germany to fly with ace instructor Graham (they won't let him fly upside down in Germany). The view of the manoeuvres against the sunset and the evening star was the perfect end to the day.

Waving not drowning

After a week of howling gales and tropical rain it was a real treat to see classic wave as far south as Booker. It was a glorious day with clear blue skies and the long flights were a delight. For some pilots it was their first experience of 'proper' wave and this will have encouraged them to join us on our annual trip to Aboyne .

Those on the aerobatics course led by Graham and Alun had less time to enjoy the view and no chance to get into the wave but they flew 3 sorties each and all benefitted from the expert tuition. Flying went on till late, we don't usually see the evening star with 3 gliders still aloft.

Plenty of fun to be had in the winter, gliding isn't just a summer activity!

Important Safety Information

And just how important is all that advice you get about parachutes. Although this video is not by Booker Gliding Club, I thought it was worth posting as it contains some important safety information from one of our ex-members; to protect his anonymity, we'll call him Dave.

If, in the wind, you accidentally deploy your parachute with just the chest strap buckled, you risk a broken neck or strangulation.



Thanks must go to the safety aware Glen Alison for bringing this to my attention.

Next week; Bicester K13 Ejector Seat trials.