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.
Monday, 16 July 2012
Friday, 13 July 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Monday, 25 June 2012
Passenger to pilot windrushers style
As I type an envelope with claims for all three requirements for Silver C is winging its way to the BGA, where hopefully the team there will see fit to sign me off and supply me with my Silver and a comp license, thus allowing me to enter the Bicester Regionals at the end of the July.
Just over a week ago I saw that there were a couple of days approaching which were looking quite good. The first, which turned out to the much better day in the end was unusable to me as I was working, so I was stuck with the second. Arriving at the airfield around 8am I could see that in the gentle ESE breeze there was a very large plum from didcot power station, this is note worthy as it showed me that the moisture (R/H) levels were very high and the air being blown in off of the north sea was very close to saturation but more on this later.
I wanted to grab the Astir or K8 but both had been grabbed so I ended up with the club Discus, which to some eyes is a little bit like cheating. I rigged her, cleaned her and loaded up my Oudie and nano before heading off for a briefing and Notam check with Alan smith. I chose, in light of the weather and now towering CU to the east that heading off WNW to Bidford would be the best bet. With the task set I towed the glider to the winch launch point, well I wasn't going to areo tow as well as use the Discus was I, to have some breakfast and wait for optimum conditions.
Talking to a few of the pundits in the morning it seemed like they all wanted to head north east into east anglia for the best conditions and I was being told that Gransden would be the better bet. Luckily for me I know a little bit about the weather, and my forecast as well as the filling sky to the east convinced me not to change task. I launched around lunch after a solitary K13 had managed to stay airborne, the first 10mins was a scratch from 1200' AGL and being blown gentle west I got to 2500 using 1/2 to 1kt before having to make a decision. I was under spread out and not climbing fast enough to be able to make it back to Bicester if it went down hill, so this was it, time to break the umbilical cord of local soaring!! I headed out away from Bicester, west into the sunlight I found a small climb to 3500' and decided to press on knowing Enstone or Heyford were viable options if I fell down. Just past Enstone I was just on glide for Bidford and ahead of me an unknown K13 was marking a thermal, I joined as he left the top and was rewarded with 5kts on the averager with peaks to 8kts and in no time at all I was 5700', well in glide for Bidford and having fun. I pressed on topping up under most CU, just to be sure, and arrived at Bidford at 4000', a couple of orbits to get the lay of the land and some guidance from the ground saw me landing up hill on another friendly, albeit soggy airfield...Job done.
A cuppa tea, something to eat, signatures and a chat saw me hooked on to the back of Bidfords Tug for the return journey, towing into bluing conditions and worsening sink made me happy I had opted for the 5000' guaranteed to get home method which was reinforced when I met up with Richard Wilkens in his ASW15 (846) I was on glide about 15k out and he was doing the same some distance below me. He landed at heyford and I got back to Bicester. After packing away and retrieving Richard from Heyford with Dave Watt in the Robin it was time to down load the trace, have a beer and relax.
Lee H
Just over a week ago I saw that there were a couple of days approaching which were looking quite good. The first, which turned out to the much better day in the end was unusable to me as I was working, so I was stuck with the second. Arriving at the airfield around 8am I could see that in the gentle ESE breeze there was a very large plum from didcot power station, this is note worthy as it showed me that the moisture (R/H) levels were very high and the air being blown in off of the north sea was very close to saturation but more on this later.
I wanted to grab the Astir or K8 but both had been grabbed so I ended up with the club Discus, which to some eyes is a little bit like cheating. I rigged her, cleaned her and loaded up my Oudie and nano before heading off for a briefing and Notam check with Alan smith. I chose, in light of the weather and now towering CU to the east that heading off WNW to Bidford would be the best bet. With the task set I towed the glider to the winch launch point, well I wasn't going to areo tow as well as use the Discus was I, to have some breakfast and wait for optimum conditions.
Talking to a few of the pundits in the morning it seemed like they all wanted to head north east into east anglia for the best conditions and I was being told that Gransden would be the better bet. Luckily for me I know a little bit about the weather, and my forecast as well as the filling sky to the east convinced me not to change task. I launched around lunch after a solitary K13 had managed to stay airborne, the first 10mins was a scratch from 1200' AGL and being blown gentle west I got to 2500 using 1/2 to 1kt before having to make a decision. I was under spread out and not climbing fast enough to be able to make it back to Bicester if it went down hill, so this was it, time to break the umbilical cord of local soaring!! I headed out away from Bicester, west into the sunlight I found a small climb to 3500' and decided to press on knowing Enstone or Heyford were viable options if I fell down. Just past Enstone I was just on glide for Bidford and ahead of me an unknown K13 was marking a thermal, I joined as he left the top and was rewarded with 5kts on the averager with peaks to 8kts and in no time at all I was 5700', well in glide for Bidford and having fun. I pressed on topping up under most CU, just to be sure, and arrived at Bidford at 4000', a couple of orbits to get the lay of the land and some guidance from the ground saw me landing up hill on another friendly, albeit soggy airfield...Job done.
A cuppa tea, something to eat, signatures and a chat saw me hooked on to the back of Bidfords Tug for the return journey, towing into bluing conditions and worsening sink made me happy I had opted for the 5000' guaranteed to get home method which was reinforced when I met up with Richard Wilkens in his ASW15 (846) I was on glide about 15k out and he was doing the same some distance below me. He landed at heyford and I got back to Bicester. After packing away and retrieving Richard from Heyford with Dave Watt in the Robin it was time to down load the trace, have a beer and relax.
Lee H
Bicester gliding the success
Hi,
HOT OFF THE PRESS.. ................ Derren came away from Hus Bos today as 18 meter National Champion, beating three ex World Champions and a host of other World Class pilots!!
Sincere congratulations to him. He has dropped only two solitary points over the course of two Nationals.
This means that Bicester now has effectively got 5 National Champoins. ......myself and Derren at the 15 meter class ( It turns out that as we both got the same points we are joint ¬National Champion even though he was a second faster on the day), Derren in the 18 meter Class, Pete Harvey in the Open class and Dave Morgan in the Advanced aerobatic Class.
( Maz was 2nd in the Unlimited aerobatic class, which is, I can assure you a very impressive achievement.)
Dave Watt
CFI
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Passenger to pilot windrushers style
After my silver height I did a couple of flights in T19 (our Discus) for currency, I managed to get a couple of hours in off of two winch launches and as the Astir was coming back on line I decided to have another bash at my five hours.
Sunday the 13th of May was looking good, the previous day had been excellent weather wise and the Sunday was forecast to be better still. I turned up nice and early as I was supposed to be on duty, seeing the weather was indeed going to mean the five hours were on Debbie my duty instructor gave me the nod to give it a bash.
I went and got the Astir DI'd, kitted out with a chute and batteries and then dragged it outside for a wash down. At the launch point I added my Nano logger and Oudie, as well as my DriftCAM, food, water and favoured method of taking a pee. With the glider set I grabbed a light breakfast, cup of coffee and made sure I had sunscreen on.
I then had a chat with an instructor as to the best way to approach the day, as well as the get high and stay high brief it was decided to set a small task of Bicester - Enstone - Edge hill - Bicester and see how many times I could get around it. This was plumbed into the Oudie in no time and uploaded to the Nano. I got myself settled into the glider and then when my turn was up I took a winch launch to 1400' after 10mins of very broken lift I was back on the ground already thinking today may not be the day.
Launch two @ 11ish went ok until I got to 1000' and the weak link let go in a gust, after recovery action the undercarriage was raised and I was into scratch mode. Lift down low was lumpy and hard to work and after 20mins of between .5 and 4kts I was up to 2500' here the lift smoothed out and was easier to work and before long I was at cloud base just under 4k. Stupidly I had forgot to check the time I launched at so I needed to go to 16:30 at least to be sure of getting in, it was going to be a long flight.
I crossed the start line over the airfield and 3200 and set off on track to Enstone. Being very Conservative I took an age to get there, an hour or so to cover the 20ishKm to the turn point and turning north west towards Edge Hill the e-vario went U/S, five minutes later the radio was dead and so was the FLARM unit, a quick check of the voltage revealed 6.1volts instead of 12. I decided at that point to change the plan and bin the task, nearly 2hours in all I wanted to do was stay up. I ran the cloud street I was under back to Bicester, during the run I took my first in flight pee and thanks to the convene equipment I had it was a non event, thankfully. back at Bicester things had started to fill in, looking downwind to buckingham things looked better so off I went, the plan would be to land at Finmere if I got flushed. coming back from Buckingham I got down to 1800' just north of the airfield, scratch mode again and on the 3:30mark I dug out a good climb back to cloud base. From here I could see a nice street setting up between Bicester and Oxford so off I went. the first run down to oxford took a little time but the run back took minutes. Still with an hour to go I decided to turn around and head back along the street again. I reached oxford and pushed on to didcot. I reached 5hrs and turned for home on final glide. nearly 30k out with 5k in hand the oudie showed me being 2500' arriving back, pushing the nose down and running 80kts all the way back I arrived with 1000' to spare. Nice circuit and spot landing next to the bus meant I just rolled out of the cockpit.
I could not walk straight for a couple of hours and my arse was the shape of the astirs seat pan but I had fun, the logs and my Nano showed I had done 5hrs 21mins the nano also showed I had covered 227kms which was not bad.
50K to go and I can then get my comp license and enter the regionals proper.
Sunday the 13th of May was looking good, the previous day had been excellent weather wise and the Sunday was forecast to be better still. I turned up nice and early as I was supposed to be on duty, seeing the weather was indeed going to mean the five hours were on Debbie my duty instructor gave me the nod to give it a bash.
I went and got the Astir DI'd, kitted out with a chute and batteries and then dragged it outside for a wash down. At the launch point I added my Nano logger and Oudie, as well as my DriftCAM, food, water and favoured method of taking a pee. With the glider set I grabbed a light breakfast, cup of coffee and made sure I had sunscreen on.
I then had a chat with an instructor as to the best way to approach the day, as well as the get high and stay high brief it was decided to set a small task of Bicester - Enstone - Edge hill - Bicester and see how many times I could get around it. This was plumbed into the Oudie in no time and uploaded to the Nano. I got myself settled into the glider and then when my turn was up I took a winch launch to 1400' after 10mins of very broken lift I was back on the ground already thinking today may not be the day.
Launch two @ 11ish went ok until I got to 1000' and the weak link let go in a gust, after recovery action the undercarriage was raised and I was into scratch mode. Lift down low was lumpy and hard to work and after 20mins of between .5 and 4kts I was up to 2500' here the lift smoothed out and was easier to work and before long I was at cloud base just under 4k. Stupidly I had forgot to check the time I launched at so I needed to go to 16:30 at least to be sure of getting in, it was going to be a long flight.
I crossed the start line over the airfield and 3200 and set off on track to Enstone. Being very Conservative I took an age to get there, an hour or so to cover the 20ishKm to the turn point and turning north west towards Edge Hill the e-vario went U/S, five minutes later the radio was dead and so was the FLARM unit, a quick check of the voltage revealed 6.1volts instead of 12. I decided at that point to change the plan and bin the task, nearly 2hours in all I wanted to do was stay up. I ran the cloud street I was under back to Bicester, during the run I took my first in flight pee and thanks to the convene equipment I had it was a non event, thankfully. back at Bicester things had started to fill in, looking downwind to buckingham things looked better so off I went, the plan would be to land at Finmere if I got flushed. coming back from Buckingham I got down to 1800' just north of the airfield, scratch mode again and on the 3:30mark I dug out a good climb back to cloud base. From here I could see a nice street setting up between Bicester and Oxford so off I went. the first run down to oxford took a little time but the run back took minutes. Still with an hour to go I decided to turn around and head back along the street again. I reached oxford and pushed on to didcot. I reached 5hrs and turned for home on final glide. nearly 30k out with 5k in hand the oudie showed me being 2500' arriving back, pushing the nose down and running 80kts all the way back I arrived with 1000' to spare. Nice circuit and spot landing next to the bus meant I just rolled out of the cockpit.
I could not walk straight for a couple of hours and my arse was the shape of the astirs seat pan but I had fun, the logs and my Nano showed I had done 5hrs 21mins the nano also showed I had covered 227kms which was not bad.
50K to go and I can then get my comp license and enter the regionals proper.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Passenger to pilot windrusher style
Its been a good few weeks since I updated my blog so here we go.
A year after completeing my Bronze I have managed to get my XC endorsement. For the last few months all thats been remaining is my 100k Nav Ex and after a couple of failed attempts, one in the snow and one in less than poor visability I finally managed it. The task was BIC-HUSBOS-GRW-BIC and we would fly it in the motor glider.
On the day the weather was overcast at 3000' so at least the airspace would not be such an issue and the visability was about 15km. I flew the aircraft as if it were a glider and Mike P, my examiner, used the throttle to simulate lift and sink. We made our way to HUS BOS which was not to difficult and after a look at the airfield turned east to head to grafham water. Half way there we simulated getting low and some field landings and then cut the task short with Mike asking me to get us home. heading back over Northhampton I missed the A43 and started to head a little too far west, realising the picture didnt look right I took a 'climb' and found the A43 by tracking along the M1 a short way. The rest of the flight home was pretty uneventful and Mike signed me off sighting that had I not rectified the situation correctly at Northhampton I would be doing it again...
Since then I made a silver duration and Height attempt in the K8, I was shot down after an hour and fourty by spread out in conditions that were a little marginal wind wise for a K8. But I managed to get the height done after getting to brackley and then climbing in 8kts to cloud base as I was blown back to the airfield. John Wright signed me off for that.
Lee
A year after completeing my Bronze I have managed to get my XC endorsement. For the last few months all thats been remaining is my 100k Nav Ex and after a couple of failed attempts, one in the snow and one in less than poor visability I finally managed it. The task was BIC-HUSBOS-GRW-BIC and we would fly it in the motor glider.
On the day the weather was overcast at 3000' so at least the airspace would not be such an issue and the visability was about 15km. I flew the aircraft as if it were a glider and Mike P, my examiner, used the throttle to simulate lift and sink. We made our way to HUS BOS which was not to difficult and after a look at the airfield turned east to head to grafham water. Half way there we simulated getting low and some field landings and then cut the task short with Mike asking me to get us home. heading back over Northhampton I missed the A43 and started to head a little too far west, realising the picture didnt look right I took a 'climb' and found the A43 by tracking along the M1 a short way. The rest of the flight home was pretty uneventful and Mike signed me off sighting that had I not rectified the situation correctly at Northhampton I would be doing it again...
Since then I made a silver duration and Height attempt in the K8, I was shot down after an hour and fourty by spread out in conditions that were a little marginal wind wise for a K8. But I managed to get the height done after getting to brackley and then climbing in 8kts to cloud base as I was blown back to the airfield. John Wright signed me off for that.
Lee
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