December
2008. A good start with two flying days and the 'Combe working. A new member
from Bowland, we welcome
Nigel
Dickenson who has brought a Slingsby Gull with him. We are having an
incredible month for mice, so far we have caught 13 in the bus and 1 in the club
house. There are many more mice that will not be visiting the new hangar. Tom
Sturgeon, 11 year old son of Graham, had his first flight in a glider which
included aerobatics - certainly put a smile on his face.
November 2008 The 1st kicks off with a good flying day and new members. The
2nd produced wave to 12000ft.
Lewis
Alderson from the Kendal Air Cadets and his grandfather
Sid.
Lewis is particularly welcome as he now picks up the title of our youngest
member and he will benefit from ours and the BGA's reduced rates for junior
members. The Annual Dinner that should have been
on the 8th of November is being rescheduled, probably to February 2009.
Octobe
r
2008. There is an airspace restriction over the site from 24th Sept to
24th Dec to allow the BAE UAV team to carry out trial flights. From the Club perspective it
should not affect us unless they need to fly a
t weekends. If they do, the tower
will be manned and we fly under the control of the tower as normal. The gate
will be manned 24hrs a day during this period. We welcome
Marijn Wijbenga from Holland as a
new member. Len Redshaw's old Photo albums of our Gliding Club from 1930
to 1970 included in History and Photo Album pages. The trip to Portmoak was a
success with the weather being kinder than experienced in the last few years.
Team Capstan has a new crew member. Corentin, who helped 23 rig in France, is
seen wearing his Capstan jacket in his F16 on his way to the UK. Note the
missiles on the wing tip, these are expected to come in handy at the next two
seater competition.
September 2008, Sunday 14th and we load the new hangar
with gliders for the first time - it all fits. There is space for the club
aircraft and 6 private gliders, trouble is we had a waiting list of 10
private
gliders, a draw cured this
problem.
Graham Sturgeon a past & staunch club member did
the draw. Graham has just rejoined after several years absence in which he
progressed to flying those metal people carriers with big engines. Welcome back.
Everyone seemed disappointed that N2 (Roy & Rod's) with its big heavy 20m wings
did not get in the top 6. Maybe next year we will be able to rest our backs.
Dave Bull, another past member resurfaced on the airfield a couple of months
back as a pilot for BAE. Building Control has issued the completion certificate
for the hangar and the trailer park is drained and has hardcore down, no more muddy feet.
The control bus has a new computerised flight log system thanks to Andy Tebay.
A Typhoon came over a
few weeks back at low level, nearly fell off the digger.
July/August
2008 With the exception of some concrete sealing walls the new hangar is
complete and the K21 and tug are now in the new hangar. The single seaters can
go in when it is completely finishe
d as access is required to the side walls.
The webmaster has been off on the 100 Chateau comp in France and won the best
photo of a chateau prize, Amboise from about 1000ft. The two seater comp starts
at Pocklington mid August and a big team is going to defend our reputation.
Well, we came 20th overall, 2nd wood and retained the Capstan Cup after a fight.
the weather was not kind and the campsite became flooded. However a new Gin
drinking record was achieved, 24 bottles being consumed during the comp. Our
website is now 10 years old.
June 2008 and the weather has been kind to us. Flying Saturdays and Sundays and catching up on a number of air experience flights. There are two camps on the airfield at the moment, the bus lot and the hangar lot. Kate turned up in her steel toe capped multicoloured wellies to help with the laying of concrete. More photos of progress added to the hangar gallery. The erection has started. Peter Craven has obtained a copy of our original Articles of Association and pointed out that the first two Directors were named Craven and Redshaw in 1936. These are now in the Members Only section for those that like a bit of history. Rose went to Hus Bos and had foul weather whilst we had the sunshine. All the main steelwork was up by Sat 14th and covered by the end of June - amazing, special thanks to all those that took a weeks holiday to help. Even BAE was impressed. You can now buy a trial flight as a gift online.
May 2008 The spoof 500km flights on the 1st April caught out not only some
of our Club members but also the news of the "amazing achievements" spread round
various websites and bars. Gotcha - don't believe every story you pick up
about the Lakes Capstan. The new hangar is ordered and due for delivery at the
end of May. The groundwork needs doing in May so we can erect in June. Good
news, BAE has finished the repairs to No1 hangar apron and we are now back in
our end of the hangar. May 17th & we fill all the holes for the hangar uprights
with 12 cu m concrete followed by soup, bangers & buns c/o Rose. New photo
album of hangar progress added,
Gallery 15
April
2008 An excellent start to the month, on the first day of flying the Capstan
completed a 503km triangle at a remarkable speed of 59kph. This is the first
500km by a Capstan and only the second 500km
from Walney. Neil Moffatt achieved
463km in his Lak 19 being forced to land at Cark by the rain and at the base of
the Haverthwaite ridge. An article will be in the next issue of S&G. We are about to order our new hangar an
d the new trailer
parking area has been prepared. The new EASA regulations are still holding up
the completion of the K21 C of A and the Astir is now due for its C of A.
Several other gliders have experienced delays due to the new EASA regulations.
Breaking news, Neil
Moffat apparently did not land out at Cark in the rain as he actually managed to stay airborne in lift from a large house roof. When
the rain stopped, a thermal set off from a garden bonfire which allowed him to
gain enough height to just make the railway line to the west where he would have
been forced to land out in a field, but Jan (one of our members) happened by in
his train and he was able to get just sufficient lift from the bow wave to make
Walney, making his approach under the bridge to Walney Island to complete a
total of 504km in 2hours 35minutes." The AGM took place on the 27th
April, and a lively very well attended meeting it was. Check out the changes in
Club
Officers following the AGM. We have a female Chairman for the first
time in our history, well done Rose. Our thanks to the retiring Officers for all
their time, effort and contribution over the years.
March 2008 some good flying going on and the days are getting longer. The apron outside No1 hangar is being repaired so we will be swapping ends with BAE for 4/5 weeks. The tug will be in one of the No3 hangars (thanks lads) and we may have to rig the two seater each weekend. The funds for the new hangar are being collected and lots of paperwork being generated to satisfy BAE Systems. We are still online to erect the new hangar in June. Dave North (CFI) has changed his mobile number.
February 2008 and the Tug is back. It got held up waiting for the CAA paperwork. Let's get flying again. The K21 has finished its C of A and progress is being made on evaluating new hangar options. Anyone wanting an update on hangars should talk to Dave North. Did you know that our Club has been flying from Walney airfield for 57 years of its 78 year history, ask Peter R for details he was there in 1945 and remembers it well (just).
And a Happy New Year to all. 6th January 2008. The tug has just left for Sherburn for its C of A and the K21 has been given its annual inspection. The tug is likely to be missing for 2 weeks. The Club gliders are now coated in numerous Golf registrations and more of the private owners are following suit - thanks EASA. We still have the IS28 and Astir to C of A, so help is needed. The gliding holidays for 2008 are being organised and a new Trial Flight Certificate has been produced, see Club Management section. Last year was not the best for gliding weather at ours and many other clubs, got to be better this year. Don't forget that you will need check flights if you have not been flying over the winter months. The username and password have changed to access the Members and Club Management section, contact Peter Redshaw if you have difficulties in logging in.
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