I came, I soar, I went.

I'm pleased to finally be able to say that I have completed both my Bronze badge, and cross country endorsement! The skills test was the last hurdle, but having spent a little more time practicing and enhancing my knowledge in a couple of areas, I have done it and I am now a glider pilot! The check flight itself was slightly unusual, having been a cross country tow from Pocklington back to Sutton Bank - but we needed to get the glider home and this felt like the most efficient way of doing it, and it also meant that the trip was not wasted fuel for the tug. Unfortunately, it's almost the end of the gliding season here in the UK (although there may be a few good days left, let's hope!) so the question is, what next? I definitely need to practice my cross country flying when conditions permit, and I may have a stab at the silver badge next year. Perhaps a bit of motor glider training over winter?

I have just tasted my first competition flying experience; and where better to do so than in a competition specifically for two-seater gliders? This is an annual meet run by the Wolds Gliding Club at Pocklington, a mere 45km from Sutton Bank as the glider flies. We didn't enter to win. Rather, our club entered our DG-1000 so that early cross country pilots or those who haven't competed can gain experience of the environment and how it all works - both on the ground and in the air.  In a slight role reversal, I took the back seat for my flight and the instructor sat up front. The plan was, he would fly most of the task, but whilst doing so explain what was going on. The two-seater competition format is a little different to the usual. Rather than having a set task, there are options - there are upto 5 turn points and you can turn back after any one of them - so five tasks in total of increasing length which you can score against, depending on how far you want to push out

It's been a while since I have had any noteworthy experiences to post about, and the time to post them. We haven't really had a lot of calm weather recently - what we've had hasn't been a problem for flying and has even been enjoyable for the most part, but much of it has seen launches and landings occurring on our short runway and we've even had a few winching days.  All of that has really meant that it hasn't been the right time to move into a different type of glider. To do that for the first time needs a pretty benign day so as not to unnecessarily increase the workload. Finally, a day came when we were using our long grass strip and the wind was pretty negligible and without any significant crosswind component to it.  I could have just flown the club Astir again, but it was in use, and in any case - I didn't really feel as though it would achieve anything. I can't go cross country yet and the cloudbase wasn't really suggesting a

After my venture towards the pennines in the club motorglider the other week, I was invited to fly again with the instructor in his own private machine (a Super Ximango), so that we could go and see some more of Yorkshire and pick up some navigation pointers. It would be again a learning exercise but also a bit of a sightseeing exercise - the main purpose was just to see some of the main towns and landmarks that are considered local flying. I plotted a course on Saturday evening; with turning points at Breighton, Beverley, Bridlington Scarborough, Full Sutton before passing over York, back to Rufforth airfield. I marked up my map with headings and 5-mile markers to each TP. I added rough timings based on 70 knots, but we all know that gliders don't fly in a straight line at a constant speed, so this was more just to make sure the flight didn't go on too long. In all, the route just over 100 nautical miles. I purposely routed to the coast for some sight

I'm sure that most jobs have their busy times. For my current job, it's all about the first couple of weeks in August and the month or so leading up to them. I'm lucky though, in that even if I don't feel able to take a few days off - I can usually escape for a day here and there at fairly short notice, which ties in well with a hobby that can be dependent on weather conditions that only start to become clear a few days in advance. Friday looked like a day (or at least a morning) of steady westerly winds which once again offered up the prospect of some practice on the wire (following last weeks winch solo ) and some guaranteed ridge lift to help prolong a flight. It was a busy morning at the club, and both of our Astir's were claimed by other pilots - I pulled them out of the hangar and equipped them with batteries and 'chutes as if to will people into the air and back, so that my turn would come. Once ready to fly, I optimistically packed a ham sandwich