New age crop circles

Not sure what has caused these patterns in the fields near Enstone, but they were very clear today.  I'm sure there is probably a simple answer (my favourite theories, pattern of irrigation sprays or site for local fete). I haven't seen anything quite as fancy before.

Friday evening success

After yet another excellent cross country day with temps in the high 20s, Symeon and the Friday Evening Group took over the airfield. It was a perfect evening for soaring and Paul Clarke was delighted to see his young son Stevie go solo.

Stevie looking relaxed after his first solo landing

Proud Paul congratulates his son 

Perfect sunset landing for Stevie

Glyn Read

It is with great sadness that we have to report the untimely passing of Glyn Read on 3rd July 2018, aged 69.

Glyn was a long-standing member of Booker Gliding Club. along with being an extremely talented pilot, Glyn also spent many years working with the committee and Wycombe District Council negotiating lease and rent renewals.

Glyn was also a member of the Deeside Gliding Club and Lasham Gliding Society where he enjoyed many years of gliding, in particular at Aboyne where he formed his second home thanks to his love of wave soaring.

He will be sorely missed by his friends and business associates.

Below are some photos of Glyn in happier times:

Aboyne - flying with Nick

Aboyne - with Bob the logkeeper

Enjoying a laugh at Booker Regionals

Talgarth with Nick and William

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

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.

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

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.

Some of us went to Ulm

Lots of flying again today

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

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.