A great day out

RASP didn't look promising:


The three sounding from the previous night all suggested completely different airmasses and Metcheck said the temperature wouldn't get above 19C.

So, with that in mind I set off to the airfield thinking that I'd ignore the forecasts and just try to figure out what was happening with the weather.

The two main cross-country indicators suggested that the forecast models were wrong (Dave-C set off on his milkrun 500km, Jim White muttered something about going on a 400km task).

I decided to err on the cautious side and set a Cat's cradle task of Booker Bridge - Membury - Buckingham - Edgehill - Booker (224km) - mindfull of the airshow at Silverstone that was NOTAM'd.

Five of us set off - me in 732, Jane in 118, Shack in A9, Jeremy in JDV and Chris in U2. U2 set off first and returned, literally minutes later, with a technical malfunction. My radio battery was flat so I don't know how everyone else went on - but Jane certainly made it as far as Membury and back and I ocasionally had glimpses of A9 on task.



A nice day out in the end with climbs of 5-6kt to 5000'.

Dave-C didn't finish his 500k because it begain to rain. I managed the 224km task, despite a few low scrapes and I thin Shack did too. Highlight of the day was just South of Banbury when the Vulcan flew beloe me (by several thousand feet!). Wasn't quick enough with the camera unfortunately.