Tuesday 26 June 2018

Klippeneck

A couple of photos from my Klippeneck trip:

Returning to Klippeneck from the North
Looking South towards the Alps with the hangars on the right and 05 threshold next to the cliff at the top.

Schuchslee
Over Schuchslee lake in the Black Forest. Had great tea and cake there with Tracey on our day out.

Great trip for all levels of experience. Richard and Doug can provide great XC training and experiences to early pilots. The Swabian Alb and Black Forest provide challenging XC opportunities for the more experienced with fabulous views of Lake Constance, the Alps, hills, lakes and forests of the area.

Jim

Saturday 23 June 2018

Longest day and the one after

The Solstice came with some stupendous weather, despite the 20kt wind - strong climbs and a high cloudbase. Geoff Lyons did 500k, and the sky was still looking good when he got back.

 

The following day was rather more difficult, but Nils managed to extract himself from a work meeting and take an afternoon launch, heading south where he saw some dramatic clouds generated by heath fires. Amazing what you see when you're up there.


Friday 22 June 2018

Not a 1,000km but a very nice day for touring the South Downs

Monday 18 June 2018

Gliding at Aero Expo 2018

Aero Expo took over the airfield 14th-16th June with plenty of interesting aircraft to look at. We had another excellent display stand thanks to Chris Collett, and an enthusiastic team of club members to staff it. The first couple of days were a bit quiet - apart from registration spotters - but on Saturday we had lots of conversations with bored PPL holders who were interested in improving their skills and having more fun, so we hope to see some of them at the launch point in due course.

Ashley persuading Adrian Hegner of the benefits of gliding

Our display before the visitors arrived
Many thanks to the team - David Fogden, Bob Sinden, Ashley Birkbeck, John Lambie, Nils Wedi, and a special mention for Nils's son Benjamin (age 11) who was brilliant, full of energy and very good with the visitors. Also to Chris for the stand, Graham Saw for helping with setting up the hangar and doing a stint on the stand, and to Bob Smith for trying very hard to get the sim running - and for helping to give it a good wash.

Squeaky clean - apart from the top which we couldn't reach

For anyone wondering about helping at events, it's a really good way to get more involved in the running of the club. It's good fun talking to visitors and other pilots and you will get a warm glow of satisfaction for helping your club to bring in more members. Ashley, for example, said he really enjoyed his shift and would be delighted to help out at future events.

Friday 15 June 2018

Some of us went to Ulm
Lots of flying again today

Thursday 14 June 2018

Klippeneck update

A leisurely breakfast
Then lots of flying

Southern edge of the Black Forest at Schluchsee
Middle of the Black Forest
Hohenzollern Castle
Somewhere along the Schwäbische Alb

Thursday 7 June 2018

Busy Wednesday

There was quite a lot going on yesterday, what with one thing and another. Mike Sheppard converted to the Junior...…..


Looking cool after landing
And then a very large whirly thing appeared, hovered around a bit and landed on the gliding side, then departed again.  Aircraft spotters will recognise this as an Apache.