Members' area

It was, Chris Jones and his Scouts were the early birds on the airfield getting the kit out. There was some uncertainty over the runway direction as the wind was due to go more southerly during the day and with gliders rigged at both ends of the airfield we opted to start from the south end. The grid watched the second K21 launch of the day start soaring and launched, some off on cross country tasks. The wind started to go more southerly and freshened so we changed ends, there was good local soaring available until quite late in the day with the scouts getting some good training flights.
All the cross country pilots returned OK with the exception of Jonathan Apperley who gained some good pre-competition experience with his first field landing.
Thanks to everyone who helped and hope that everybody enjoyed themselves as the next few days look dire!

Happy Easter!

Sunday 20th was very cold again but suprisingly soarable under an overcast sky. Here we are sharing a thermal with the newly refurbished K13.

Saturday was the turn of the ASG29 which flew for longer than anybody else. Brian assured us that he only used the engine for five minutes of his hour airborne.
Yesterday Tom's ASW27 came out. The rest of us were restricted to slightly extended training circuits for the most part, interrupted by a NOTAM at lunch time.
For a time the vis. was so bad we had to restrict the number of gliders in the air together. We were impressed by a resplendent HXJ, making its appearance rejuvenated after its long sojourn in the workshop.

A cold bright start, but with the sunshine and light winds it didn't feel too cold. The K21s and the K23 were busy all day with some local soaring and the good weather enticed a few private owners to attempt some short cross country flights with Mike Oliver venturing the furthest. Cloudbase was about 4300' ASL and some 4-5 knot average climbs were available. A good day for February.

Today, the club seemed to be a refuge for blokes who had forgotten to buy their other halves some flowers or a card and were keeping out of the way until things cooled down. It was nice to see the sun again and there was some good flying to be had in the bitterly cold north-east wind. Matt Page gave the trial lessons some good flights and Ed Foggin and Tony Parker were kept busy in the K21s. Paul Glassett took yours truly to 3,000' in the K21 - after three diversions into sink he sensibly started ignoring my centering instructions and did very well under some great cloud streets. Thanks to Paul and Richard Cawsey for driving the winch.

Sunday 07/02. A handful of members suffering from gliding withdrawal decided to get a few launches in before Storm Imogen took hold. We had to dodge showers and low cloud, but fun was had with the highest launch to 2450'. Unusually for Aston Down the ground was very soft with standing water in a few places, so landings were on the runway again.

Rose Buck and her imprinted geese were on Countryfile today. For the next four weeks you can see it on iPlayer. The item starts at 54m55s.

An enthusiastic crew was onsite for 8.30am, however the weather wasn't quite so enthusiastic and we had to wait until midday before the mist cleared. Thereafter we had pleasant afternoons flying. As in previous years, we were pleased to be joined by visitors from Usk who came to launch their Grob 103 from our tarmac. Doug Gardner and Helen Wilson landed 10 minutes after sunset having contacted some weak wave in the K21. Thereafter we adjourned to the club house for a well attended AGM.

On Saturday 16th a number of members turned up early and the hangar doors were open before 8:30. The day had dawned cold and bright, with clear blue skies and little wind. One of the K21s was looking grubby, so many thanks Darren Wills for braving the cold and washing the muck off. At the launchpoint we had to wait for the air temperature to rise so that water did not freeze on the glass fibre wings. The Capstan had the winch to itself while this happened. Chris Swann and Chris Power took the winch out, and John Docherty followed his morning duty pilot role with a winch session in the afternoon. Andy Smart aalso did some winching, but here were many others who also played their part. At the end of the day we had achieved 42 much appreciated launches, not bad for January. Oh and Mike Weston flew both his Arcus and his Capstan. He didn't say which he preferred!

Flying started late morning when the rain stopped. To avoid making further ruts after yesterday because of the state of the airfield, landings were confined to the runway with only one K21 being used. All trial lessons were cancelled.