Aboyne day 3 pictures

Running towards Loch Muick

Heading for Huntly

Back to Aboyne

Aboyne Days 2 and 3

Yesterday the wind blew southerly and it was cloudy, so most of the party left the airfield, but the two 777 captains were not deterred and took 315 to 10,000ft.

Dinner at Birkelunn was the CFI's sausage and mash, followed by Rolf's bread and butter pudding.

Today we were back to a very nice classic westerly wave and the whole club was soon in the air, some of them twice. The score sheet is as follows, in no particular order:

Denis 370 - 200k via Huntley, Lock Muick, Huntley and Aboyne
Geoff 949 - 7,000ft
Rolf 768 - 5,900ft
Roland 318 - 7,400ft at Loch Muick
Ashley 318 - 9,000ft over Dinnet
Dave/Jeremy 315 - Glenshee, 13,500ft
Richard/Graham KCZ - 7,500ft
Bob 279 15,200ft at Lochnagar
Glen A9 - 9,000ft Loch Muick
Adrian HA - 7,500ft
Jeremy JDV - Loch Builg 7,500ft
Barry JDV - 10,000ft
Bob 208 - 8,000ft Ballater
Jane 118 - 14,000ft Lochnagar
Dave/Barry 315 Braemar 9,500ft

Here are a few more pics taken by Richard.

HA flying high

Sun over cloud

Morven

Aboyne Day 1 (continued)

For those of you who asked for a gastronomic report, last night the Birkelunn contingent dined on spaghetti Bolognese and apple strudel, accompanied by the Co-op's best Carmenere. Here's Denis wielding a pan.

Earlier in the day, Denis was taking in the sights over Loch Ness, Inverness and Garve. Here is a selection of photos.

Loch Ness

 

Inverness

Dee Valley looking west

End of the day

Aboyne Expedition Day 1

And what a fantastic start to the expedition! The club was rigged and ready and soon there were calls of 10kt climbs and gliders asking for the 'wave box' to be opened so that they could climb to FL240. The sky was full of classic 'dinner plate' lenticulars, the views were amazing.

If there are club members down south with leave to spare and regretting that they didn't put their name down for the trip, come on up. You could probably have 315 and the undivided attention of the CFI for a day or two.

Here's the list of achievements, in no particular order:

Ashley Birkbeck (318)- FL198 and a visit to Balmoral
Richard Crockett and Roland Wales (315)- FL195 over Dinnet
Adrian Hegner (HA) - 17500ft and some local touring
Bob Smith (279) - FL230 over Lochnagar and then local some touring
Denis 'Starship' Campbell (370) - Inverness
Jane Moore (118) - Braemar and then 11,400ft locally
Dave Byass and Glyn Read (KCZ) - Braemar, 11,500ft
Geoff Lyons (949) - Braemar, 16,350ft
Rolf Kern (768) - 7,000ft twice
Barry Michael (JDV)- Loch Muick, 14,500ft
Bob Davey (208) - 16,000ft and local touring
Glen Alison (A9) - 20,000ft, Lochnagar and Braemar

Here is a small selection of photos from a great height:

Bob S waving at 20,000ft

 

Lochnagar moonscape

Proof that he was there

The end of a fantastic day

Vintage weekend

A couple of photos from the Whispering Wardrobes weekend on 20/12 September.

 

Vintage gliders on parade

John Dredge preparing for flight in the Hutter

BGC Supports Rotary Club Wheel Appeal

Rotary Clubs across the UK are raising money through their various fund raising activities for "WheelPower" which is the national charity for wheelchair sport and provides opportunities, facilities and equipment which enable disabled people to play sport and lead healthy active lives.

A number of the Rotary Clubs in the Buckinghamshire area are supporting the charity by specifically raising funds to help purchase sport wheelchairs and are doing it under the name of "Wheel Appeal". As a way of bringing some additional fun into the fund raising the Rotary Clubs in Bucks are passing a pendant between themselves with the proviso that it has to be transported by a different and unique means to the next club.

High Wycombe Rotary Club President Humphrey Creed preparing to fly to Thame

Booker Gliding Club was very pleased to be able to help the High Wycombe Rotary Club deliver the pendant (and their cheque for WheelPower) to the Thame Rotary Club at Haddenham airfield via a glider with High Wycombe Rotary Club President Humphrey Creed at the controls in KLA.

Humphrey on 'final glide' with Thame ahead

On arrival at Haddenham airfield, Humphrey Creed was met by several members and the President of the Thame Rotary Club where the pendant was handed over and finished its journey on a reindeer driven sleigh with Santa at the helm (in spite of it still being September).



Thame and High Wycombe Rotary Club members after the 'handover'

The Thame Rotary Club members were most impressed by the mode of transport utilised and indicated they would plan to come to Booker next season for flights themselves - we look forward to meeting them then.

Friday Evening Group

Words and picture - Symeon

Roy in the Pawnee at dusk on the penultimate Friday Evening Group gathering - so next week is our last one. So, to all our friends -in fact anyone - turn up, get your "night" rating and join us for a curry afterwards.

Symeon

Vintage day and 1st solo

Sunday saw the Vintage Group get their toys out to play with. The skies were then graced with the delightful sights (and sounds!) of beautifully crafted and maintained wood and fabric gliders through the day. If anyone has any photos of the event can they please share them.

Later in the day we also had a first solo by Andrew Whitten in the K21 - his height prevents him from fitting any other glider. Andrew started on a course about a year ago and was so taken by the whole experience that he continued with top ups and then joined the club earlier this year. Congratulations on his achievement.

How to get the bugs off a Junior

You may have noticed that it was rather wet on Friday evening, which was a bit of a nuisance because the Sales and Marketing Team were on a mission to go over to the Henley Showground and set up our stand for the Henley Show on Saturday. It was spitting when we left Booker, later on the rain got a bit heavier, but we maintained our sense of humour to the last.



It's being so cheerful wot keeps me going...



In the morning we gave the Junior the first of several cleans, and the day - and the display - steadily dried out. We were in an excellent position and entertained many visitors, including the inevitable queue of small children wanting to sit in the glider. We made some sales and talked to lots of people, and we are confident that we will see some of them at the launchpoint.

All in all a very successful outing. And the Junior is now cleaner than it's been for months.

Many thanks to David Humphreys, Chris Collett and Symeon Economou for getting very wet in the service of the club, and to them, Bob Smith, Hedda Coture and Ruth Jackson for working hard on Saturday. Ruth is new to the team and she commented on how much fun it was talking to so many people and how she was pleased to be able to contribute her efforts to building the club.

Handicapped Grand Prix - final results

Today was scrubbed, so the final result of Booker's pioneering Grand Prix was:

1st: Jim White (flying 315 with others or his own ASW27) - 54 points
2nd: Bob Smith (LS4) - 38 points
3rd: Wayne Aspland (LS8) - 22 points

The comp format proved very popular with club members, there was a good sized grid every flyable day, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

On to the next event: the Bronze course running 16-20 Sept offers members discounted launches and motor glider time, plus a dedicated instructor for the week, to help towards achieving Bronze. Excellent value at £399, ask the office for more details of the offer.