DTE and Me

Typically there comes a time when a glider pilot moves on from sharing club aircraft with up and coming students and purchases their own glider, or at least part of one anyway.


Unfortunately for me the needs of my growing family has meant that this dream is on hold for at least another year while I fund a larger house...and perhaps a holiday.


In the meantime fellow club member Geoff Purcell has let me have an insurance share in his much underused ASW19 'DTE'. After organising insurance coverage I got my first chance to fly DTE this past weekend. First of all compared to an Astir it is a doddle to put together, two pins in the spars and the 5 control connections and your away. The cockpit is quite spacious and there is room for my 6' 210pound frame without to much problem, infact a slim parachute let me fit perfectly into the seat.


after we towed her out to the aero tow point I was a little anxious as I'd heard and seen stories of the 19 dropping a wing easily because of the low ground clearance and sloppy aileron control at slow speed. The first launch actually passed uneventfully and I only had to make sure I flew the aircraft on tow, due to the belly hook, rather than let it be towed behind the tug.


After release I slowed up in some weak wave that was present and was immediately impressed by how well the glider handled at slow speed, me being a fatty meant that I could just about hold 45kts with full rear trim in a straight line and the stick neutral. After loitering above 4000' for 20mins the wave collapsed and I started to head back to the airfield and approaching I could see that glider soaring above the town. I joined them and was pleasantly surprised that she would thermal hands off, albeit a little fast. After climbing away I tested Geoff's comment that she would fly straight hands off for several miles, and she does.


Some light wing overs and a nice circuit had me back on the ground with no bounce and no control confusion after being airborne for an hour and thirty minutes.


Lovely aircraft to fly and I am going to update the blog with our adventures over this coming season as we go looking for some gold.


Lee

British Grand Prix....ok, ok Bicester GP

Folks, for those of you that don't know, Bicester gliding club will be holding a grand prix event from the 3rd to the 10th of May.


The format, pioneered by the team at BGC, is simple and provides some fantastic racing against the countries top pilots.


The turn point radius' are adapted to a gliders handicap so therefore stubbies should be leaving and arriving back the same time as the big boys, which again makes it very exciting racing.


Contact the club on 01869 252493 or enquiries@windrushers.org.uk for more details there are places available at the moment.


we look forward to seeing you there.

Spring has definately arrived at BGC

As I sit here in my office contemplating what to write, I can see out of the window for miles. What I notice firstly is that it is not raining...at least not over head anyway. Secondly looking at the Cu and distant CB they now seem crisp and heavy, driven by decent energy and not like the limp lifeless Cu we get used to over the winter.


This past Saturday marked the first official day of spring, the forecast looked reasonable and so I decided to arrive at the club nice and early, one to bag a single seater, and two to get the kit out nice and early.


We briefed at 09:30 in the crew room and were all out on the field by 10am. I did a stint on the winch and with clear blue skies and zero wind it was extremely pleasant sitting inside the new Skylaunches cab. within a short space of time the launch point had several K13's K21's, K8's and Astirs sitting there ready to go and they were soon joined by a Ventus (DW) some K6's.


I took a launch at just before 12 and scratched around for 20mins below 1500 until I found a good 3kt climb to just under cloud base at 2k. Over the next 30mins the base went up to nearly 3k and I was soon joined by a whole heap of gliders, infact looking back at the launch point I could see only one aircraft on the ground.


Dave Watt set off on a 230k in DW which he had to cut short at Towcester close to the last leg. I was going to attempt a short sub 100k flight but only got out half way down the first leg when I was called back having been airborne for 1:30 already.


It was great to see the fleet airborne together and everybody seemed to be mindful of us all being a bit rusty, plenty of room was afforded in thermals and with the exception of DW seemed to be sticking pretty local, just to get back into the swing of things.


Lee


In just a few short weeks the clocks will be going forward and we will have had some of our first serious thermic XC flights done....Bring it on.

Season has arrived!...?

Well it looks as though the 2014 season is now underway....


Some of our members took GAM (K21) and DFR (Astir) off to the winter series this weekend. From the reports coming back it looks as though Friday and Saturday produced good ridge and wave flying.


Locally on Saturday the club was very busy with some of our members rigging and flying their own aircraft for the first time this year. and late on yesterday there was Wave evident above the thermic sky which was producing a couple of knot to 3k


So that's two weekends on the trot where we have had soaring, and the airfield is holding up fantastically despite mother natures best attempts to turn it into a lake.


with the warmth now being felt in the sun it will only be another couple of weeks before we have regular XC flying again.

Winter Blues

With 2014 now well underway the most common topic of conversation seems to be when is this spell of prolonged bad weather going to end?


Whilst Bicester is luckier than most with our well drained airfield, even it has started to become water logged after months of heavy and persistent rain fall, even some of the old hands comment that they have never seen puddles on the airfield in places which are now frequented by ducks.


Our winter bronze lectures are well underway and so far have been extremely well attended, the amount of youngsters coming through the club at the moment only bodes well for the future, especially now that our long term future at the site is secure.


Despite the weather, and the fact that it is not forecast to change anytime soon there has been plenty of flying. Our new Skylaunch is now fully commissioned and on some runs we are now seeing nearly 2000' launches


The club also takes a good fleet into the new year with Two Astirs, a Discus, two K21's, two motor gliders, a K8 or two and hand full of K13's and we have already had several days this year with over 90 launches, despite the late start and early finishes.


Looking forward Bicester is also hosting its own GP in May and our regionals in August will feature the GP format which thanks to OJ and his team has caught on a treat.


Our CFI and senior instructors are getting people ready for EASA with cloud flying seminars and flying, and also providing guidance with paperwork


So hopefully over the next few weeks the weather will improve and I swear if I hear anyone complaining about the heat this summer there will be a few choice words spoken..

First Proper XC day

So it looks as though March 14th 2013 was the first proper XC day of the year.

One 450km, several 300's and tons to one and two hundred K's done.

My view of it was restricted to the sky I could see out of my office window but it looked pretty much as forecast, Cu started around 9:30am and by lunch time the sky over Booker was absolutely Booming, this was mirrored by some of the 5k+ hieghts I saw on traces. It seemd to cloud over by mid afternoon but on the drive home it still looked to be working south of the M4.

Gutted I missed it and I look forward to a day where I can just rock up at the airfield when the weather looks good.

Oh well on duty on Sunday and it looks as though my trial lessons will be dodging wintery showers.

Spring is in the air

There was definitely an air of spring on the airfield this afternoon, people were in lightweight jumpers, the sun was out and I definitely saw three gliders stacked in a thermal. Unfortunately for me an accident while in the States has messed up my shoulder so I am out for at least another week or two, then I have to do checks as its been so long.

No firm news on the airfield yet, as of April we will be paying the new landlord despite not actually knowing who they are yet, but I am sure that all will be revealed and it will pan out for the best.

We have the 18m nationals this year and the entries list is filling up nicely, we also have our own regionals in which both our K21's the Astir and Discus will be taking part (I am looking for crew still by the way) Hopefully we will enjoy the same weather we have over the past few years. the sports and open class entry list is looking healthy with probably only ten or so places left in each category.

The Bronze team are making progress with the lectures and it will so be time for soaring flights and general flying tests, there are several expeditions being planned and people are planning to take our new K21 ESB to other sites to fly.

Lee

Girls on Gliding

So one of our female members has been getting involved with the "women glide" movement. They seem like a motivated bunch being lead by some world class female pilots.

Anyway she has taken to the bloggosphere to keep a diary of her flying activities so you can catch up with what she's been up to here.

http://gliderpilotdiary.blogspot.co.uk/

January flying

So, our recent young solo pilots Alistar Emson (15) and Callum Lavender (14) have enjoyed some gready publicity, with Callum and his dad making it as far as the BBC national news sofa. They have also enjoyed some good flying and both boys have successfully converted to the K8.

The weather this winter has been shocking and with a mild SW flow the rainfall has been well above average. Thats where our airfield really comes into its own, we have a stream running underneath it which drains the 300+ acres beautifully, so while all the other clubs around us are shut down we are still flying in between the rain filled low pressure systems.

Our courses for 2013 are now posted, we also have the 18m nats this year as well as our very own regionals on which we flew 8 out of 9 days last year, actually one of the best weeks weatherwise throughout the entire year.

We will also be running the cadet scheme again this year, we have spaces for up to four youngsters aged 15-17 to come and learn to fly with us while being subsidised by the club, all you need is a good attitude, a desire to learn to fly and the willingness to give up some time and help around the club.

Roll on spring...

Seeing in the new year

Over Christmas all was a little quiet around the club, as new years day drew closer and closer it seem like we may not achieve another traditional start to the year by flying on new years day. The weather looked good and after a couple of rounds of email and facebook plugging we had enough people to do some flying.

Kicking off around 10am we got out the K21 and K8 along with the tug and winch. While people were dusting of the cobwebs in the K8 Nigel Henry, an ab-initio who joined us last year, was having some check rides in the K21. After a couple of check flights he was cleared for solo and BGC gained its first new solo pilot of 2013.

a couple of us took a 5 grand aerotow in the K21 for some aerobatic fun and the video of the days events can be seen on my you tube page - http://www.youtube.com/user/lhitchins?feature=mhee

We managed around 20 winch launches, 1 5k aerotow and a first solo...not a bad way to kick off the year

Happy new year to you all.

Passenger to pilot windrushers style

As I sit here writing this post one eye is on my mailbox waiting for my official instructor rating number thingy to arrive. After spending this past glorious Sunday get put through the ringer by our CFI he sees fit to allow me to carryout basic instruction...

Alan Smith carried out my prep work, from motor glider flights for learning patter to 3000' aero tows to carry out stalling and spinning exercises. He signed me off as good to go so I must of held it together.

The course was to be run over two days and consisted of 3 pupils, a full cat to help out (Ian Pattingale) and our regional examiner (David williams) we would be doing a mix of flying and classroom work to help us work around what is sure to be dodgy October weather. Day one was bright and sunny an boy was it windy 40kts + at 2000' the first flight went off on a stalling and spinning flight and quickly got into a scrape back from downwind...eek no time for a circuit. The flights for me went ok, a repeat of the prep flights really I did, being a tight bast**d manage to fit all of the exercises into a single Aerotow with Ian, his head was spinning by the time we landed... As the next day was forecast to be pants we did all the flying in the first day and spent the second in the class room going over the theory of basic instructing. David happily signed off my paperwork and I then had to wait a few weeks to get a Sunday where I could go and do my check flights with our CFI, pulling the bung on an aerotow at 200' was the highlight of my check rides.

ooo the mail has just popped in, I am now able to carry out basic instruction!!!

Passenger to pilot windrushers style - autum 2012

The club is beginning to wind down our summer operation and we will soon be down to flying Wed, Thur and Fri, as well as the weekends.

For me its been a very busy soaring season, trying to cram a lot of flying in to the few good days my family, job and good weather have allowed. Needless to say progress has been made, I attained my Bronze and silver this year, competed in my first regional competition and although I finished stone cold last it was a really good learning curve. Up until the start of the comp the longest flight I had done was my 50k for silver and day one was straight in with a 250km task....yes that curve was steep. I pushed myself, abandoned a few, got round a few and landed out all while being looked after by a cracking bunch of club members. It's a testament to the clubs instructional attitude and camaraderie that comes with looking after the next generation of soaring pilots that not once did I feel out of my depth. someone was always on hand to come fetch me from a field, give helpful advice when the conditions were not perfect or indeed just towing out to the grid.

As the year winds down I am now working on my BI rating, having done all the prep the actual course is taking place in October so by the time I next right I should have my basic instructors rating...fingers crossed.

So whats the plan for next year?

Mainly to pass on my enthusiasm for gliding to the blogg's coming in off the street. So often do we here the visitors asking the same stereotypical questions about "going up and floating down" or "what do you do when the wind stops" that the process of educating and enlightening them to the prospects of engine less flight and their reaction afterwards is something I am looking forward to being a part of.

Oh and my 300 and 500km badges next year too....

Regionals 2012 update

So my comp week is finished, I bailed on a short task on Thursday after getting very low and taking an hour to get back to a sensible height. There was just not enough day left to make progress.

Friday we were set a 2:45 AAT Bicester, Broadway, Charlbury, stony stratford, bicester. The first leg was very slow going out to broadway as conditions were improving all the time. I was averaging 40kph so opted to turn early, which I thought, after getting stuck at charlbury for 30mins was a good idea. The run for then on was fantastic, the sky was booming and looking at my trace I can see one period where for 20secs I was climbing at 13.5kts. So I ended up getting back very early which cost me and I really should have pushed much further into the first sector, but hey ho.

Two days to go and it looks as though we will get a full nine days flying which is fantastic. I have learned a massive amount about competition flying and cross country in general, lest I forget that up to the start of the comp I had done one XC flight which happened to be my silver distance. I found that if I had had a landout or two under my belt before I would have made it round on the first saturday where instead I bottled it after getting low.

But probably the most important thing that I learned is that despite all the advice given, and there was tons of it, when flying a lower performance glider on blue days leave near the back and on Cu days go early. Also when you have as little experience as I did find someone with a similar spec machine that is doing well and fly with them to find out why they do so well!

Finally big thanks to Tony Cleworth for lending me tie down kit, being on stand by to retrieve and an all round good guy. Thanks also to the mitchels and BAM's crew for looking after me and Ian harris + 2 scouts for pulling me out of a field at silverstone.

Regionals 2012 day 5

Five contest days in a row now.

Today started out Blue and according to Mel the met man it was going to stay that way although by the time briefing was complete and we were on the grid there were Cu out to the west. Slowly as we lead up to the sniffers being sent the Cu were starting to pop in all quadrants. By the time sports were launching ahead of the opens base was 3k+ with 2-3kt climbs.

The task for the sports was a run north to corby, then Bozeat, down to bourten on the water up to stony stratford and home for 265km. The opens did a modified version of 305km

I started with W20 (strats) ST (steve tape) and KFE ?? and had a good run towards the first turn point, with my Astir not being able to keep up in the long cruises I had to stop to top up before the turnpoint. I was joined by GAM (Cris Emson and George T) and stuck with them from corby to bourton on the water.

Elated to make it round 294km handicapped especially as some big names landed out so thanks to Cris and george in GAM for dragging my arse round.

Regionals 2012 day 4

Mel the met man had the day listed as Eschorchio and Blue with a 2k+ base. The task was a 2hr AAT and the sniffers, Nick Kelly and Derren "beaker" Francis were launched just after lunch.

With them reporting 3000'ft and climbs of 2kts + the opens were launched first with the sports streaming behind.

There were plently of gaggles as people tried to climb in the blue together. After starting I headed into the blue yonder and promptly landed at silverstone. Thinking that starting at 3800 I had plently of height to find the next climb but no and my first "thankfully uneventful" field landing ensued.

Thanks to the guys that came and fetched me as loading an astir into a trailer cooking in the sun was no fun.

Regionals 2012 day 3

No flying for me today as I had other commitements outside of gliding.

The tasks were set and then changed quite quickly when the sniffer had trouble, it went from an AAT to a 103k racing task for both classes.

There were plenty of landouts and land backs today. Luke roberts landed at calvert and the nimbus EHT was seen being reassembled after landing out just short of the airfield in the same field as derek staff in his LS4

Regionals 2012 day 2

Regionals day 2

Started the day with plenty of medium cover which started to burn off, there were some cu around launch time at 11:30 but it quickly went blue out in the task area to the west. sports had a 196k with the opens on a 250.

I headed back after feeling rough and having been working really hard and I was hearing of landouts while on the way back...

Luke Roberts won day one in the sports and Dave Watt won it in the opens.

Bicester Regionals 2012 day 1

The sun is shinning at least as we head into the first day. I am just setting off for the airfield so more updates to follow

Briefed at 09:00 and the opens are going straight after. sports are launching around lunch time.

Well...I didnt get all the way round today, the task was Bicester, Great Malvern, Stour, andoversford, buckingham, bicester. I didnt make the andoversford TP and head to head back under an ever increasing amount of high cover.

137km flown, I think all got round bar one.

Bicester Regionals 2012

Five Days to go!!

We are all closely watching the forecasts for next week, so far the weather looks like being a marked improvement on what we have had recently.

Competitors have started to arrive already and Bob B has been floating around the airfield in his ASG29 and there are a few others I have not matched with their aircraft.

Still some work to do on my chariot (Astir DFR) we found an old switch buried in the back of the panel which was causing the TE issues, so now I only get stick lift when pulling up hard from 70+kts and a leak test on the tubing should point us to the right area.

Bicester Regionals 2012

With a little over a week to go and with Olympic airspace restrictions coming into effect tonight preparations are still under way BGC's 2012 regional competition.

We have ~50 entries in two classes and some of the big names in UK competition are entered. The website is up and running and you can visit it here http://www.windrushers.org.uk/competitions/regionals2012/index.htm

The airfield is holding up really well considering the vast quantities of rain that have fallen and the facilities team are making sure all of the infrastructure is in place ready to go.

I will be updating the blog daily from a pilot flying the comp's point of view and the fact it is my first competition should make it all the more interesting.

All we need now is for the weather to play ball, long range forecasts are still decidedly unsure as to what the prevailing conditions will be, but 8/9 contest days last year will be a tough act to follow.