A cold end to the year

Boxing Day was blue and sunny, but with a biting easterly which discouraged us from taking gliders to the other side of the field for a launch. The excitement came from watching John and Nigel flying model jets off the power runway, very impressive.

Today cloudbase was around 1200' so not much aviating to be done, though Steve did a sortie in the motor Falke. By the time it was back in the hangar the sky had cleared - isn't it always the way?

Shortest day - longest flight?

It looked unpromising, grey sky and the windsock horizontal. But the grey stuff was lined up interestingly across wind, if it had been Aboyne we would have been rigged and waiting for a gap. A tow to 1800ft into the bottom of the cloud, then a gap appeared, scraps of blue sky and patches of sun. And the altimeter stuck at 1800ft. All we had to do was crab back and forth along the Hambleden valley maintaining height, with the occasional blast of 4 to 6 kts as we passed a hot spot. Excellent fun for the shortest day of the year (according to my researches the solstice was at 1204). Just shows that it's always worth turning up and giving it a go.

Keeping current

The end of the apron remained out of sight until after noon

9am Monday morning at Booker and it was fogged in solid.  Martin remained positive and offered one of our intensive students some theory tuition if the weather failed to improve.  Craig arrived late morning and learnt a good deal from Martin's blackboard session.  Their combined determination forced the fog to clear at 12:30, leaving a clear sky and giving us the opportunity to get the aircraft out of the hangars.  Three people flew for a total of six launches.  A reminder that winter offers plenty of good weather for students wanting to progress and pundits wanting to keep current.

Fog remained in the surrounding valleys most of the afternoon

whilst Booker basked in sunshine for most of the afternoon