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what flying at Walney is all about
We have created a link page for The Lakes Gliding Club on
see
what flying at Walney is all about
December 2012. No flying so far Xmas is on
us. This card summarises December - All the best for Xmas and a happy New Year
to our friends and members.
November
2012. The Annual Dinner was on the 3rd and brought a number of our friends
from other clubs. Our Kate (now mother and Mrs Fox, AKA the wife of the National
Coach) kindly presented the prizes. There will be a stew
ards enquiry on the
Wooden Spoon as too many of the "Officials" had made their minds up who should
get it. The full details of the Dinner with photos and results can be found at
Annual Dinner 2012. Flying between showers, snow and hail stones on the Saturday with wave
and sunshine on the Sunday. Remembrance Day and Peter Craven takes wave to
10000ft and has a trip round Keswick and Morecambe. Danny Shaw gets his first
hour in the K21. John Burdett clocked up his first 1000hrs in gliders last
weekend, he hasn't bought us all a drink yet. The 2013 dinner will be on
Saturday November 2nd at the Abbey House Hotel.
October 2012. What do you do when the ground
is water logged? Come and fly at the Lakes Gliding Club with 3 tarmac runways,
ridge, thermal and wave. Check out our latest video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmUFMMuOe5I and note the lakes of water on the
grass to the side of the runway at the start of the flight. The Starter Package is going down well, we
welcome Steve Metcalfe who joined us at the start of the month. Steve has prior
form as a power pilot. Wonderful day on 22nd, light SE wind and nearly a summer
day, wave found in both new and usual areas with most flights participating in
it. 10 to 15 knot N to NNW wind on the 27th giving very weak wave in the usual
places and new wave found on the north face of Coniston old man going to 8600
and higher.
September 2012. Good weather with wave on the
first weekend. The wave running in a curve from Walney up to Thirlmere, best
lift being found in the lee of Coniston Old Man. Lovely day on 22nd and we
welcome Steve Wilkinson as a new member from Kendal, (getting ready to fly-photo
on left). 23rd and a good number of
Air Experience flights and we welcome another new member, Danny Shaw from
Barrow. Photo on right shows Danny flying over Barrow on his first flight. Photo
from Sturge's wingtip camera.
August 2012. The French expedition to Louroux
was great fun with Burdett and Craven both competing in the 100 Chateaux
competition. The Capstan Team returned from the Two Seater competition with the
best wood trophy again. Cub Fox (the little one checking out the refreshments!) was nearly crawling round the Team Capstan
hospitality tent. The weather was not very kind to either the UK or French pilots.
July 2012. Although not expected from the forecasts we have been having some good flying weather. Those going to France this year are getting organised, ferries booked, trailers fixed, French licences organised. Bets are being placed on whose trailer or car doesn't make it this year. We are a bit short of instructors at the moment due to holidays and medicals expiring. A rota for instructing and tugging is being organised for when key members disappear to France for their gliding holidays. The bus has been vandalised again, someone obviously fancies our rear bus windows for something, best guess is a boat cabin. One member, who shall remain anonymous (me), chose to land downwind at approaching glider traffic - he missed the sea breeze had come in. Sunday 15th and good flying for members and visitors with wave, thermal and ridge for all.
June 2012, The Capstan went to the Vintage
rally at Sutton Bank and had some good flying compared to everywhere else in the
country. The tug went to get the dynamo fixed and then we discovered that the
voltage regulator also needed renewing, the tug is now back. The launch
point bus has had a new radiator fitted and the leaking water pump removed - as
you can guess, not much gliding so far this month, must get better soon. There
were four national competitions down south in the first week of June and they
barely flew, so much for global warming. Lewis Alderson joined the Capstan on
tour at Camphill and was treated to two entertaining landings straight off the
ridge in the Capstan. Lewis also soloed for the first time off a winch launch,
Allan Jolly sent him solo.
May 2012. Some excellent soaring weather with predominantly north easterly winds. Many gliding sites still suffering from being water logged. We changed the gate padlock combination code and username/password for the Members only section, contact Peter Redshaw if you need more information.
April 2012 April 1st was a good flying day,
apart from cloud base being about 1400ft over the airfield. The month started
with a
bang!
Well I would say that as there are two types of pilots - those that have landed
with their wheel up and those that will land with their wheel up. I am in the
first category, our thanks to the BAE fire crew for hosing the white strip off
the runway and collecting our runway end light protection boards which we
subsequently left out. A particular club member is well on his way to winning
the wooden spoon this year.
We had an enjoyable visit from the 'USA' Hackett's,
AKA Deb and Willy, on the 7th, fortunately the duff weather finished up with
amazing wave. Mattie Bull went solo on the rudder pedals in the K21, a new
experience for him! Mid April and an excellent soaring day with Lewis Alderson
gaining a Bronze leg and also nearly getting his Silver height - take a
barograph next time! 22nd April and we held our AGM with pie & peas after an
amazing flying day, inland was all CuNims and heavy showers, on the coast we had
wave. Peter Craven was elected as Chairman.
March 2012 The tug is back, collected Saturday 3rd March. Flying tomorrow, forecast is OK. It took the CAA an extra week to process the paperwork!
February 2012 The tug is still away and the K21 has had it's annual C of A. More than that it has been rubbed down, cleaned and polished - it is in pristine condition. The weather has been kind to us in that we have not had any flying days whilst the tug has been away. It should be back soon as there were no unexpected problems this time.
January 2012
A happy New Year to you all.
See the Web Diaries within the
Archive
section for previous years monthly updates on activities. Wet & windy so
far, drainage by the hangar has been improved. The tug will depart on the 29th
January for it's annual inspection and will probably be away for two weekends.
The K21 annual will be done at the same time. Mid January and the weather is
good, some good wave flying with most of the gliders out, spectacular
lenticulars over the Lakes. The picture shows a classic taken by Sturge, wind
was 15knt SE at ground and 33knt S at 5000ft . John Collins' resurfaced and had a good flight. The
hangar AGM was held and well attended after flying. 10 mice in a week so far
from the traps in the bus. The tug was flown to Blackpool for its
annual inspection at the end of flying on the 28th January, it will be away
for about two weeks. We will now do the K21 annual inspection, all members
welcomed to help and see what is done.
Back to Welcome Page Members Only Web Diary 2005