Booker Gliding

Congratulations to Jetsada Machom on his first solo on Monday. Jetsada is on a Get Your solo course - we hope this is the first solo of many!

SwanageStudlandCorfe Castle towards Lulworth

Wareham

At one point on the flight the only lift was a sea air convergence along the Isle of Purbeck. The lift improved so I continued with the task. On the way back a cloud climb at Chilbolton promised a glide home. Unfortunately ice on the wings modified the glide angle somewhat and I didn't quite make it back. 

It was a bit chilly today, with a strong north wind, but very unstable with strong climbs for those who could handle the wind. Nils went off down to the South Downs and ended up over the sea, still in thermals.





Getting back wasn't as easy as going, with the headwind to battle with, but he made it just before another of the showers which developed in the afternoon.

Scary looking shower approaching WAP

Zulq Ashraf joined Booker as a Junior member because he plans on a career as an airline pilot and he thought it would be a good idea to learn proper flying first. He starts his training with Easyjet shortly, after going solo yesterday.

More fun that airliners
Today Paul Field added to his already impressive list of accomplishments by converting to the Pawnee.

Not quite the same as a Lightning - or an A380

The instructors have been working hard all week on training exercises. Paul Field has now completed his Full Cat rating, leaving him free to complete his tug training.
Here's Paul after gaining his Aeros badge earlier in the yearYesterday Jane Moore completed her 5 year Asst Cat renewal with Andy Monk. Andy took off (literally) at lunch time with Jim R in LH, they flew down to Lasham so that Andy could do a quick spin in a K13 to complete his own FIS(S), then it was back to Booker for more coaching.
Andy during the 2017 Booker Regionals
Jane enjoying some Cabriolet fun a few years agoAfter flying, Jim White gave a talk on learning styles, showing the importance of recognising that the student's way of learning may be different from the instructor's. 
Jim putting us all into boxesThen it was off to the Elaichi for a group dinner, which pretty much filled the restaurant.
There's more BI and Asst Cat training in progress today, with a bit of shower dodging

LukeThe Instructor Training Week got off to a good start with wall to wall sunshine and lots of flying and briefing going on, with members doing Basic Instructor training, or working on their Flight Instructor modules. One of the prospective BIs is Luke Bishop who featured in the May 2018 issue of the newsletter. He's made a bit of progress since then - over the weekend he brought his newly acquired Nimbus 2b to Booker and had his first couple of flights in it.

On the other end of the rope we have a new tug pilot. John Otty did some dual flying with James Roland in the Robin and then did his first solo tows.


John during last year's Regionals, hands full of prizes


And not forgetting our new season's tug pilot Kamil Dutkiewicz, who converted to the Pawnee.


More fun - and hard work - tomorrow.

Under grey skies and low cloud, with a brief bright spell in the middle of the day, various pilots could be seen executing mysterious manoeuvres over the airfield. The competitors were given the choice of three sequences - Standard, Tricky and Joker. For those of you who speak Aresti, these are illustrated below.


The day started with a briefing, and then Graham Saw, the organiser, explained to Paul Field how to fly the figures in the standard sequence. Paul said he had never flown aeros before, except as part of his fighter pilot training, but he said that didn't count, so he had a quick practice flight and then flew the sequence solo, thereby gaining his Standard Aerobatics Badge.

Paul after his Lightning Aeros badge flightThe comp is taken seriously..................

George clarifying the finer points of the Joker sequence with GrahamAfter a long - and cold - day the competitors reconvened in the briefing room for the results - and prizes, presented by safety pilot Will Jones

Champion Maddi Roberts
2nd place - Paul Field
3rd place - Richard CrockettJudge Graham noted that everyone did well considering the conditions, no-one landed out and no-one crashed. The results and scores in full were:

1st - Maddi Roberts - 78% - Standard
2nd - Paul Field - 70% - Standard
3rd - Richard Crockett - 62.2% - Joker
4th - George Darby (last year's winner) - 61.1% - Joker
5th - Geoff Silvey - 55% - Standard
6th - David Humpreys - 48.9% - Joker
7th - Norbert Eschle - 47% - Tricky

Congratulations to all the competitors and many thanks to Graham for organising the comp and to Will for acting as safety pilot.

Yesterday in Wales it was lovely weather - but not for gliding, so alternative pursuits were sought. Jacek decided that he had to get above the clouds every day so he climbed Snowdon.

On top of the world


Richard climbed the local ridge to see the tower he'd been buzzing all week from closer quarters.

Moel Arthur
There was enough air to keep a hang glider up

The rest of the party went to Caernarfon. Jim R posted a pic of the top of Snowdon, the suspicion is that it was taken from the Eurofox.


They visited the Airworld Aviation Museum and the castle.

A proper aircraft in amongst all that powered stuff 
Denbigh CFI Chris tried out the Hawker Hunter for size
Nick J and Rolf at the castle
Nik VM got out his drone and took some pics of the airfield.
Approach to 27 - 830m of tarmac
We await news of today's activities.

Week 2 of the Booker spring expedition is going well, with a very good ridge day on Monday, excellent for the members who had not experienced ridge flying before.

319 enjoying the ridge
Richard thought it was all a bit of a laugh
Not sure what Geoff declared but maybe that contraption on the rudder is the secret of his 750km successOn Tuesday the wave set up and the views changed.

Wave from the ground
The grid ready to go

Jacek flying high......
.....and his rainbow shadow
Nik had a go at Silver height but offset the advantage of his fancy wingtips by towing to 4300ft, so that 8,000ft may not be enough!

The new arrivals seem to be having a lot of fun, Richard says: 'Amazing day here with the ridges working behind and beyond the North Wales GC and also bizarrely underneath the Liverpool CTA'. Here are some of the day's pics:

Denbighshire
Max waiting to launch
Patchy ridge
If you concentrate you will see the airfield
Coastal sunset

After the late wave on Wednesday, Thursday was less exciting as the wind didn't do its stuff. However, there is always something to try, and several people flew. Maddi converted to the ASW19 - 'before' and 'after' pics below:

Teeth gritted
Well done, MaddiOn Friday the wind blew, and bounced over Snowdon giving us some lovely wave - plus a fair amount of bounciness in the circuit, not a problem for Aboyne veterans. Local CFI Chris got away early and climbed to FL195 over the Conway estuary, those launching a bit later were affected by the approaching cold front, but not before having a lot of fun exploring the coast up towards Llandudno.

Abergele seen by Maddi and Jim in 315
John and Nick in KSM took a look at the Great OrmeRolf had a bit of an adventure and picked himself a nice field a few miles south of the airfield. All was well and the team soon fetched him back.

Good choice
Rolf and the teamOn Saturday the Week 1 team hitched up and headed back down south after an excellent week. Many thanks to CFI Chris and Tug Pilot Les for getting us off the ground, and to Richard for keeping us all in order.

Yesterday we rigged the single seaters and tried the ridge, which didn't work too well as it was affected by local wave. Later in the day the wave became more workable and KSM had a good flight.

Denbigh
River Clwyd
The seaEvening sunToday started calm but after lunch the wind got up and with it the wave and lots of people had a lot of fun. 315 with a brace of Jims on board made it as far as Bala.

Odd angle on the local bit of the ridge
Nice bit of wave
Moonrise over the ridge

The journey up here was a bit taxing because of the wind - in fact Simon had a bit of difficulty getting out of the trailer park.

Dodgy valve - task for a no-fly dayOn Saturday the rain was horizontal and it was tricky standing upright, the stream running past the airfield is now flooded and the airfield itself is a tad marshy.

Water water everywhereSunday was still fairly breezy but the ridge was working well and everyone had check flights, with excursions out to sea at Prestatyn for some.

Happy Jim...
...and Maddi

The turbo Eurofox got us off the ground
Denbighshire

Prestatyn
Prestatyn sunset

Treasure at the end of the rainbow
After a long day the team met for dinner at the Llindir Inn in Henllan which gave us strength for another day.

Today the wind was too light for the ridge to work and showers spoilt the fun a bit but there were more check flights and a bit of fettling so we are ready for tomorrow.

Uneventful journey up punctuated by two fabulous stops:

http://www.mughousebewdley.co.uk/1) The Mug House in Bewdley. Lovely pub right on the Severn by the bridge in the middle of Bewdley. Sorry, nowhere to park a trailer but awesome pub grub.






2) The Corn Mill at Llangollen. Old water mill on the Dee which was in full flood. Now a pub with grub and a fabulous pot of tea. https://www.brunningandprice.co.uk/cornmill/

Now to the weather: Last night it blew a right hooley with dog sized drops of rain. Still a bit blowy but clearing up as I speak. No flying today so off to the seaside!

View from our kitchen windowSee you later...

Following on from Jim's excellent Psychobabble lecture last week, Nils and Jeremy will be discussing flight planning, analysis and boosting performance. Discussions will be centered around some of Nils' great flights last year and we will looks at analysing the data obtained to see how we can use it to improve our x-country performance. We will also look at how to put flights on the ladders and why it helps the gliding community, and us to have fun together in our club.See you thereNils Wedi and Jeremy Gilbey

https://www.facebook.com/delobelglidingchannel/videos/566129357238783/?t=104

The club's ASW19 took part in Virgin Atlantic's Future Flyer and Exceptional Engineers event at their headquarters at Gatwick today.

The objective of the event is to "inspire children and young adults to showcase the amazing opportunities available to them by sharing our wonderful world of aviation".

Organisations supporting the eventOver 800 people attended the event over the course of the day with opportunities to fly Virgin Atlantics Airbus simulators, try out their training escape slides, meet and talk to various aviation related organisations and crucially sit in a real glider and find out about gliding. 319 was a popular attraction with a constant steam of 'future flyers' throughout the day.

319 on display in front of Virgin Atlantic's training rigs
Highlight of the event had to be Maddi giving a group of Virgin Atlantic pilots a very practical lesson in weight and balance....
Maddi's take on "Catch me if you can"



help us inspire tomorrow’s talenhelp us inspire tvarious’s talen

While the briefing room was sheltering those who attended Chris Rowland's lecture on Aircraft General Knowledge, a hardy few set up on 35 for Graham's aerobatic course and some check flights for those wanting to get current - after we had managed to get the frozen hangar doors open. The airfield was surprisingly clear of snow but the fields round about were well covered and the views were stunning.

Attaching the triangle for aeros
Maddi launching the first flight, Bob D in the tug
Luke looking for the airfield
Ah yes, there it is
A good warm hat was essential
Hangar packed, off to the clubhouse for a hot drink