A Chairman's work is never done

William dons the marigolds to give the tuggie caravan a spruce up

For a change it wasn't a rainy Saturday, but there was quite a chill wind out on the field, for the intrepid few who flew.  There are always jobs to be done around the club, so if you don't fancy flying, feel free to volunteer!

Saturday at the Club

A Klippeneck briefing, a lecture by Bob Smith on Flight planning and performance, and an Instructors' Meeting meant a good showing of club members at Booker today - unfortunately the weather wasn't playing, with rain and later some strong winds by going home time.


Down to earth

The wave flying party is safely back at Booker, having battled through snowdrifts on their journey down from Aboyne. Meanwhile, a stalwart few braved the icy winds for some very good flying off the least muddy bit of the airfield. George optimistically rigged his Ventus and spent an hour viewing the Chilterns before landing in a field behind the pub at Ibstone, thereby getting the prize for earliest landout of the year. Glyn had only just cleaned all the Scottish dirt off his car before he went on the retrieve and got it muddy again.

The ice cream wagon

Thursday - final day of flying at Aboyne

Richard says:

 

 

Today was our final day of flying here in Aboyne.

The day started with Steve and Richard going on a short soaring flight utilising the ridges down the Dee Valley to Ballater. Although the scenery was spectacular both pilots we shocked by the devastation caused by last month’s severe flooding.

Paul shortly followed in 319 on his second flight on type.

A short rain / snow shower stopped play over lunch and then flying continued in the afternoon.

The gliders were derigged this evening in preparation for tomorrow's easterly winds and snow showers.

Tomorrow several Booker and Deeside members are travelling to the Lecht ski resort for a day’s skiing and snowboarding on what promises to be good snow prior to our trip home on Saturday.

Glyn, new arrival Steve, and Nick

Nick and Steve

Aboyne action

Aboyne latest

Richard says:

Another lovely day’s flying up here in Aboyne.

The day started with some circuits in 315 followed by our newest member, Paul Field, taking 319 off for his first single seater solo. Thankfully due to the favourable conditions Paul achieved a silver height, climbing to 7,800 feet, and a Bronze two hours.

315 was kept exceptionally busy with short soaring flights, circuits and instructor training.

Tomorrow looks like another excellent day!

Tuesday somewhere over Deeside

Richard says:

 

A great second day of flying up here in Scotland. From early morning we had good climbs (some of 8+ knots) to around 8,000 feet.

315 was kept busy running between the airfield and Braemar multiple times and Dave and Paul went exploring in C4.

Tomorrow looks another excellent day with the locals promising big cross country weather and high climbs.

BGA Trophy winners

In recognition of their work in developing Handicapped Distance Tasks, Tim Scott and Jim White have been awarded a BGA trophy. The full citation is:

Creation of software and pioneer influence to support the introduction of Distance Handicapped Tasks. Tim has also supported the creation of scripts for BGA scoring over many years.

Congratulations both.

The trophy will be presented at the BGA annual dinner on 27th February.

And if anyone wants to try out HDT tasks there are still a few places available in the Booker Regionals - www.bookerregionals.co.uk.

Report from Scotland

Here's what Richard has to say about Monday at Aboyne:

Yesterday was a classic Aboyne day. We awoke to blazing sunshine and hurried to the airfield to unpack the hangar.

The first flight was conducted by Richard and Paul who contacted wave the the lee of Morven and climbed to 8,000 feet. This was Paul's first ever wave flight and despite being an ex Lightning pilot and BA A380 training captain was blown away by the spectacular views.

Further flights were conducted by Glyn and Nick, Dave and Hugh.

The day finished off with Paul and Richard heading off for 2 and a half hours. They climbed to just over 10,000 feet and explored up the Dee Valley to Braemar, returning via Lochnagar and Mount Keen.

The forecast for today looks similar to yesterday with good climbs and excellent cross country opportunities.

And here's what Nick did on Sunday, ski-ing at the Lecht:

February in Scotland

In order to escape Storm Imogen, a select band of Booker members headed north on Saturday to our favourite wave site - Deeside Gliding Club at Aboyne. Although the area has recently suffered dreadfully from flooding, they received the usual warm welcome from the locals. Today they took advantage of clear skies, glorious sunshine and calm winds with climbs to 10,000ft and even a short 130k task, a total of 6 hours flying.

The forecast looks good for tomorrow!

Glyn with Capt Bob the Logkeeper

 

 

Strange bright light in the sky

 

 

Logie Coldstone or thereabouts

Somewhere over Scotland

Loch Muick

Spring has Sprung

KCZ beats into wind

Thermals, blue cumulus laden skies, green grass, what more could you ask for?


Another 15 degrees C and 15kts less perhaps.

Hold it off Julian, just a few more yards.

New course member Luca