First day of spring

The sunshine brought everyone out today, the launch point was busy until dusk. Amongst our trial lesson customers was Brenda, who at 80 is still enjoying life. She came along with her new husband and his family, they all had a flight, and Brenda trumped them all by experiencing a loop. Just shows it's never too late.

Amongst the private owners, John rigged and flew his new turbo Ventus - his syndicate partner Steve meanwhile was working his socks off running the day's flying.

'Oh no, you don't want to put the tape on like that.'

The sky provided great views all day and ended with a spectacular sunset.

It looks as though the Sydney Opera House has got itself into this cloudscape.

Cadet George demonstrating a good lookout.



LS4 derig sunset

The mud didn't stick to KLA, it was so highly polished, thanks to Vic who has been working hard in the glider workshop helping Robin with annuals.

Gleaming KLA

Another sunny Saturday.......

.....this must be a record. There was plenty going on today. The Bronze briefing was well attended by those keen to learn about Flight Radio Telephony Operating - or in plain English, how to talk on the radio. Ashley Birkbeck put his professional experience to good use in de-mystifying when and how to use the radio, within the context of the all-important mantra Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

Meanwhile, Graham and his happy crew were whirling around the sky on his monthly Aerobatics course. He even demonstrated a dual tow.......



Graham spearheading a dual tow out of a patch of quagmire


The conditions were excellent, with a cloudbase of over 3,000ft and climbs of 8kts if you were in the right place.

Towards Stokenchurch

The Thames has receded a bit

At last - a proper gliding day

Today was a reminder of what gliding is - a blue sky of white fluffy clouds, 5kt climbs and lots of happy faces. It looked good enough for a quick trip round Bicester-Didcot.

The sun shines on Booker

Towards the Oxford plain

Marlow

Rather more river on view than usual

A late afternoon winter thermal, but not quite enough business at the council tip to keep the K18 up

Two for the price of one

It wasn't a day for being out of doors today, with dramatic storms sweeping across the airfield, so the briefing room was packed. First was Bob Smith explaining how to get the best out of your glider, including how to calculate your final glide and what to do about ballast.

Rapt attention

Next up was Tim Scott, veteran of many Regional, National and World comps, giving the low down on tactics for cross country racing, starting with how to deal with the stress of 3 hours moseying around waiting for the perfect moment to set off on task, and giving plenty of handy hints on such conundrums as when/how to dump water, and the importance of keeping your eye on what the other competitors are up to.

A bit of a rest next week, the next Bronze Briefing is on Saturday 22 February when Captain Ashley Birkbeck will be explaining Radio Telephony.

Addition to briefing programme - Saturday 8 February

Following on immediately after Bob Smith's Bronze briefing on Flight Performance and Planning, at 11.30am Tim Scott will be talking about Cross-country and racing techniques, with particular reference to his new Handicap GP format which proved so popular in 2013.

Busy Saturday

The aerobatics course people were up early today, taking advantage of the sunshine to polish up their chandelles with Graham.

The calm before the storm

Meanwhile, there was standing room only in the briefing room for Jim's annual explanation of the tephigram, along with lots of other useful advice on why air rises and how you can tell when it's going to - and more importantly, which day to skive off and go flying.

Head in hands about depressions

Jim displayed a wealth of charts and other information about the weather for the day and correctly forecast that the wind was going to pick up.

Yes, Jim, it's quite windy

It got a bit too windy for K13s, and even for derigging, so KLA was taken apart for its annual in the hangar by a large contingent of club members - fortunately Graham was on hand to take command.

'I know I left it in here somewhere.'

'Give me 3 tons of up.'

News just in

Adrian took advantage of a spell of dry weather to have a check ride with CFI Richard last Saturday, probably the first time he's been in a K13 for a while.

What could possibly go wrong?

Richard seems to enjoy check flights, as this photo from Talgarth a couple of years ago shows.

Why me?

Also on Saturday we had some happy Trial Lesson customers, here's one of them with his instructor, John.

..and a certificate to prove it

It's always worth a trip to the airfield

The sun brought lots of people out to play today. Navigation round the airfield required a bit of care, to avoid disappearing into bog, but the air was crystal clear and the views were fantastic, and with hardly a breath of wind it was an ideal day for instructional flights or just having fun.

How to be fit to fly

The briefing room was packed yesterday for William Parker's Bronze talk on the human factors which affect our flying, including how to breathe above 10,000ft, the importance of eating and drinking, not flying when you feel ill, and an in depth discussion of 'in flight plumbing' for men.

The next two weeks will be devoted to weather:

Saturday 25 Jan - Meteorology - where weather comes from, what makes clouds, what a cold front is, and much more - Jane Moore

Saturday 1 Feb - forecasting for x-c soaring, including the mysterious tephigram - Jim White. Bring a ruler and 4 coloured pens (red, black, green, blue)

It's still possible to have fun in January

It's been a bit wet recently, but in the gaps between deluges Jon and Graham, assisted by Richard in the tug, had a very scenic flight today with stunning cloudscapes. We wouldn't get these views if it was blue skies all the time. Just shows that it's always worth coming to the airfield, you never know......

Follow that tug