Passenger to pilot windrushers style, May 2011 update

Hello all,

After a very hectic April getting my Bronze done May has been a relatively quiet month. I have been consolidating my Aerotow work taking a couple of flights in the Acro. OUGC's K21 is also back on line and I had a short flight in that also. The CFI is now happy for me to convert to the Astir and I aim to be up and running in this ship over the next few weeks, its key to fly this ship as much as possible locally to get used to it so I am ready when the time comes to break the apron strings and head away from the airfield. Vicky our midweek winch driver managed her 5 hours for silver over the weekend, after a broken weak link and some delays at the launch point it looked as though it was ebbing away. She got away after scratching around for 10mins leaving the wheel down as she went as it looked as though she would be back any minute. 5hours and 16mins later she returned to the airfield with a very square bum but pleased none the less.

On the same day I was introduced to Pat who pilots the aerobatic MDM Fox, we took a tow to 4000ft and Pat set about teaching me some aerobatics, we concentrated on the roll and I can tell you its a real rush flying inverted, you hang from your straps and can see the ground zipping along below as most of the manoeuvres start from around a 100kts. Awesome flight and something I will definitely do again.

On Friday the 27th we were turfed out of work at lunch times "I love Friday Fatwa's" I decided to head to the airfield with ambitions of getting into the clubs Asitir for a few short circuit flights as it was quite overcast and not doing much at all. Got to the field at 1pm and dragged the Astir over to the launch point, after a good amount of time getting a briefing the weather had begun to improve with the cloud cover breaking up rapidly. It was suggested at that point that I should take it for a nice high aerotow to get a good feel for the glider. 20mins later I was pulling the bung at 4000ft a couple of hundred feet above cloud base, after making a couple of nice easy turns at various speeds and doing some stalling exercises I was now nearly a 1000ft below cloud base. looking up at a nice dark solid base I could see the CFI's lead and follow team approaching cloud base rapidly, I was able to hook into the same thermal and rode 6kts up to the base of the cloud as they headed off into the distance. One of my ambitions ever since going solo was to be able to fly at cloud base having got there myself and then stick my hand out of DV panel and catch a bit of cloud, having now achieved that I can honestly say that I am more hooked on this sport than ever before. Over the next hour I pottered around repeating climbs from 2k back to cloud base which ended up being around 4500ft, a sore bum set in so I headed back, upon landing I found that I had been up for over two and a quarter hours, what an amazing couple of hours that was.

Weather for 28th 29th and 30th May 2011

Not to much to say about the weather this weekend really, in fact a really brief summary would be dull and damp.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday - Low pressure systems will be in charge for the weekend with frontal systems moving in from the west at regular intervals. the weekend will start out cloudy and damp and a bit blustery moving to more lively wet weather by the end of the weekend. temperatures will be around 14 -18 degress, winds out of the west ~15kts gusting to 30+kts at times.

Weather for the 21st and 22nd of May

Well things are looking quite good for this weekend, so lets take a look in detail. Currently there is a weak cold front pushing in from the North West off a twin low pressure system, this will become increasingly weak but produce enough instability over the weekend for some good soaring conditions.

Saturday - Pressure will be around the 1020 mark decreasing slowly as the low moves in. winds will be out of the South East steady around 12kts gusting to 17 - 20kts at times. Sfc temp will be around 18dc at lunch time with the dew point a good ten degrees behind. Cloud base is forecast to start around 2500ft AMSL and push up to nearly 4000ft AMSL by peak heating. a nice inversion followed by a rapid dew point depression should limit any over development and spread out.

Sunday - Pressure around the same as saturday slowly increasing during the day, temp will be around the same also. Winds will be much stronger - 18-20kts out of the west and there is also the risk of some over development due to a shallower inversion and higher CAPE values.

Flight & Bite

Windrushers Hosted its second successful flight and bite evening last night. Groups book in advance and then turn up at 5pm ready for the pre flight brief. after the briefing is completed in the class room the group heads out to the launch point where they are then introduced to the instructors and their flying machines. The group then spend a couple of hours experiencing the thrill of a winch launch and the spectacular evening views over rural Oxfordshire. After we are all flown out the group retires to the bar area where a beautiful BBQ spread is laid on and everyone gets to swap stories and photographs of their flights over what ever tipple takes your fancy.