Righting the wrongs of the past
With the previous weekend's weather looking decidedly unfriendly for flying, and work being a bit on the hectic side, I decided to take Friday off work, stay over at the gliding club and get two days flying done.
The added bonus was that as the end of the week drew closer, it started to look more and more likely that a reasonable strength westerly would activate the local ridge and offer the opportunity for some winch launch practice, and so it did.
Friday morning - I arrived at the club just in time for briefing, I'd factored in a little more time for the weekday drive, but had not counted on the realisation of the persistent threat of encountering an articulated lorry reversing down the 25% gradient of Sutton Bank, having obviously decided getting to the top was not an option.
Mid morning, and it was my turn to fly. Not wanting to waste the chance to right the wrongs of the past, I went dual in the club DG-1000. The brief was that we would launch, and then using the ridge, do several 'go-arounds' (odd talk for most glider pilots) simulating the low cable break situation that had happened several weeks earlier. This was exactly what I needed to do, so as to match up the theory of 'the ridge will work' with the visuals of meeting it at low height.
Checks completed, I had one hand on the stick and one on the release and readied myself for the acceleration from the winch. I can't honestly say whether I was surprised or not to find the cable being released at low height, just into the climb - but this time, things were going to be different.
Nose down, speed increasing, look right, stick & rudder to initiate a near-enough 180 along the ridge line. The first attempt was a little unbalanced, and for a few seconds we were behind the ridge but a few corrective moves sorted that out. I could feel an involuntary nervous twitch in my right leg (weird) but pushing my feet firmly into the rudder pedals kept it in check. Sure enough, as we approached the second half of the 'bowl' that was a better match with the wind direction, the vario started to beep appreciatively. We soon had 700-800' and the instructor took over for the go-around, which involved a normal circuit with a low, high energy approach and a steep pull up before 'bang! you have control' and we repeated the same exercise. Each time with better co-ordination, more precision, and less leg twitching.
Strangely enough, by the last one - and with the last 4 or 5 winch launches being simulated failures, it all started to feel normal. I couldn't really remember the last time I'd actually reached the top.
All clear to finally go solo on the winch then. It would have to be straight into an Astir as the club two's were in high demand, as is the case most weekends during the summer!
The biggest mistake of the day was to happen next - I stopped for lunch. By the time I had eaten, retrieved an aircraft from the back of the hangar, and several from down the airfield in the spirit of helping out, it was 3:00pm.
I strapped in, completed my checks, the wire went taught, and everything started happening quickly. I pulled into the climb, and then everything continued to happen even more quickly. It was a fast launch, and I couldn't keep the speed down below 70kts - but nonetheless, the top was reached. I released, turned the ridge and went on to fly for 1:40. It took an hour to find the one good thermal, climb to 2,500' and the height was then squandered whilst looking for further lift, or for a bit of the famous Sutton Bank wave which many people had been contacting nearby. Late in the day, the promised rain showers started to develop and a few spots on the canopy and a shift in wind direction caused the decision to abort the flight having eaten only half of my packet of shortbread.... Next time, launch earlier!
Friday night was spent eating cheese and drinking wine in the club bar and chatting with club members and visiting pilots who were also staying the night.
Saturday morning was a pre-planned navigation exercise, even though this is all complete - I have only really done one practical trip, and so I was keen to get out into a different part of the country and do some more work. It was also a good chance for some motor glider training, as this is something I intend to do a little further into the future. In the afternoon, another good winch launch and an hours flying before the weather once again stopped play.
Some notes from that trip include - yes, reading a map whilst flying an aeroplane is hard. Masham is definitely not Leyburn. Leeming controllers don't work weekends, and Lightwater Valley is a lot smaller than I remember.
The added bonus was that as the end of the week drew closer, it started to look more and more likely that a reasonable strength westerly would activate the local ridge and offer the opportunity for some winch launch practice, and so it did.
Friday morning - I arrived at the club just in time for briefing, I'd factored in a little more time for the weekday drive, but had not counted on the realisation of the persistent threat of encountering an articulated lorry reversing down the 25% gradient of Sutton Bank, having obviously decided getting to the top was not an option.
Mid morning, and it was my turn to fly. Not wanting to waste the chance to right the wrongs of the past, I went dual in the club DG-1000. The brief was that we would launch, and then using the ridge, do several 'go-arounds' (odd talk for most glider pilots) simulating the low cable break situation that had happened several weeks earlier. This was exactly what I needed to do, so as to match up the theory of 'the ridge will work' with the visuals of meeting it at low height.
Checks completed, I had one hand on the stick and one on the release and readied myself for the acceleration from the winch. I can't honestly say whether I was surprised or not to find the cable being released at low height, just into the climb - but this time, things were going to be different.
Nose down, speed increasing, look right, stick & rudder to initiate a near-enough 180 along the ridge line. The first attempt was a little unbalanced, and for a few seconds we were behind the ridge but a few corrective moves sorted that out. I could feel an involuntary nervous twitch in my right leg (weird) but pushing my feet firmly into the rudder pedals kept it in check. Sure enough, as we approached the second half of the 'bowl' that was a better match with the wind direction, the vario started to beep appreciatively. We soon had 700-800' and the instructor took over for the go-around, which involved a normal circuit with a low, high energy approach and a steep pull up before 'bang! you have control' and we repeated the same exercise. Each time with better co-ordination, more precision, and less leg twitching.
Strangely enough, by the last one - and with the last 4 or 5 winch launches being simulated failures, it all started to feel normal. I couldn't really remember the last time I'd actually reached the top.
All clear to finally go solo on the winch then. It would have to be straight into an Astir as the club two's were in high demand, as is the case most weekends during the summer!
The biggest mistake of the day was to happen next - I stopped for lunch. By the time I had eaten, retrieved an aircraft from the back of the hangar, and several from down the airfield in the spirit of helping out, it was 3:00pm.
I strapped in, completed my checks, the wire went taught, and everything started happening quickly. I pulled into the climb, and then everything continued to happen even more quickly. It was a fast launch, and I couldn't keep the speed down below 70kts - but nonetheless, the top was reached. I released, turned the ridge and went on to fly for 1:40. It took an hour to find the one good thermal, climb to 2,500' and the height was then squandered whilst looking for further lift, or for a bit of the famous Sutton Bank wave which many people had been contacting nearby. Late in the day, the promised rain showers started to develop and a few spots on the canopy and a shift in wind direction caused the decision to abort the flight having eaten only half of my packet of shortbread.... Next time, launch earlier!
Friday night was spent eating cheese and drinking wine in the club bar and chatting with club members and visiting pilots who were also staying the night.
Saturday morning was a pre-planned navigation exercise, even though this is all complete - I have only really done one practical trip, and so I was keen to get out into a different part of the country and do some more work. It was also a good chance for some motor glider training, as this is something I intend to do a little further into the future. In the afternoon, another good winch launch and an hours flying before the weather once again stopped play.
Some notes from that trip include - yes, reading a map whilst flying an aeroplane is hard. Masham is definitely not Leyburn. Leeming controllers don't work weekends, and Lightwater Valley is a lot smaller than I remember.
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