Black Mountains Gliding Club

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Wednesday 1 February 2012

Wave to FL125

After a lot of sterling work by John Horley, we finally got the tug started and off we went to find the easy blue wave above the club. John unerringly dropped us in the wave and we all contacted easily and several of us climbed right up to the base of the airway at FL125 above site.
Cold, (Hooray for electric feet!) but great visibilty looking down on the snowy mountains. What a great day! A couple of photos here to make you jealous.

View from the Junior in East Wave at FL100

Table Mountain from 10,000ft in the Junior

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Great fun!

Robbie Robertson

and a couple from Alan Langlands...

view from the DG300

Rigging in the cold...

Thursday 19 January 2012

Martin's slight worries about a slow start when he called a flying day were justified. Low cloud until around 1200hrs woth showers threatening and no signs of the promised wave. With only a few of us there, the weather cleared around 1300hrs and we squeezed in 3 launches...Alex Jenkins in Kilo 13, Mike Williams in BMW and John Horley and me in Snoopy. We all had nearly an hour dodging rain and cloud in rough conditions. Fun? Well maybe ... but at least we flew!
Robbie Robertson

I certainly would also like to thank Robbie, Don, Alex, John, Tony for making an "initially duff sort of day" into a good soarable day on the ridge. Yes, it was a bit bumpy, and we all landed to avoid the rain showers, but it was good fun. The flying, and cups of tea made it all worth while. Nice to see Snoopy up and away in the sky too! May I recommend Robbie's latest video offering starring Snoopy - hopefully he will stitch something for Youtube.
Mike Williams

Sunday 15 January 2012

SE wave to FL125

It was a pleasant sunny SE wave day with the field drying out quite nicely. Only a few private owners rigged but all the available club machines were kept busy all day. Best height of the day was done by Grev, aka Greville Earl who bounced his DG off the base of N864 at FL125. Most people managed between 8-11k in the wave which set up between the club and the hill. I managed 11k in the club Pirat - see BGA Ladder. For those of you who are observant you may notice a small blip at the beginning of the trace. This was me demonstrating what happens when you pull off too low, with a badly misting up canopy, lose the wave, and attempt to beat the tug down.

On a serious point for a moment please do not use too much polish when cleaning a canopy and make sure you clean off all the residue after. The Pirat canopy went completely opaque when I turned into sun on my first flight and I had to use the DV cut-out to see out. Yes, it was my fault for not double checking the cleanliness for the canopy before I took off, but on the ground what was a light barely noticeable smear changed dramatically into a thick opaque film as the temperature/humidity changed inside the cockpit after I became airborne.
Tony Crowden

I decided to fly the club Junior rather than rig as it was there doing nothing at the launch point... a rough aerotow to 2400, followed by very smooth strong lift up the side of a pure white wall of cloud and then into the clear air above. Very peaceful up there. The eventual descent had to be forced.... full airbrake and 70kts was needed to descend into the increasingly turbulent and murky lower air. It would be easy to overcook this near the normal circuit height where the sink can be extreme anyway... sink and turbulence present as usual down to a couple of hundred feet, then smoothing out just in time, with an approach speed of 70kts which did not prove to be too much!!

Mark Fisher

the view at about 7000 feet...

nice lennies ahead...

Saturday 7 January 2012

A great NW wave day

NW Wave to 15,352 ft on 7th January 2012

Air brakes out and time to go down before the slot closes up

At first the ridge wasn't working very well despite 20+ kts of wind but the clue was in the views of lenticulars all around. Obviously the wave was out of phase with the ridge lift and the mix was pretty horrible at times. Eventually it got more into phase and working better and everyone got into the wave with heights between 8k up to 15k+. At 15k it was minus 12 degrees and blowing 60 kts so flying backwards was easy to achieve. Lots of people out including Chris Mann as instructor who had the widest grin on his face at the end of the day coz he'd had 3 wave flights in succession in the K13. Field was a bit soft and left it's mark all over the gliders and tug but thankfully everyone got stuck in and cleaned them all before putting them back in the hangar or boxes

Martin Pingel

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Wave to FL54

      T10 from K13 flying in wave today - photo Mike Cudmore

At last a good sunny day with a strong SW wind blowing. The field has dried out quite nicely and there was plenty of ridge and some wave. Best ht of the day were Geoff Stinchcombe and Robin Howorth flying T10 who got to FL54. Wind at ht was 40kts+ so all in all quite an interesting day.
Tony Crowden

Saturday 3 December 2011

Wave to 9K

looking for wave with Skylark 4 BMW - 2 Dec (MF)

over Llangorse Lake looking towards the Beacons - 3 Dec (MF)

Much brighter start than yesterday, with the expected front clearing earlier than forecast. a bright day with WSW wave. early launchers were able to get quite high - around 9K out towards Llangorse and Brecon,later flyers found the increasing cloud a problem. wind at flying height of around 2500 was about 25kts. radio calls on 130.10 suggested probably much better wave east of the Black Mountains, with pilots from other clubs - possibly Sleap - making their way down a big wave system around the Malverns to the Hereford area. Shobdon pilots also on the radio calling wave. Later cloud clearing in the local area, Very soarable though over a wide area between the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons, but the entry points to the higher wave system eluding many! Westerly ridges working well but sometimes rough and wave influenced.
A great day for all at Talgarth.
Mark Fisher

Friday 2 December 2011

Ridge and wave

T21 (Snoopy), Club Libelle and Skylark 4 ready to go... (MF)

Snoopy in the south bowl (MF)

Strange day, not the ridge of high pressure we were expecting but nevertheless perfectly flyable. 10 of us out with 8 Launches in total, although we very nearly didn't get started as Keith had a real problem getting GAZPA up and running with even a few very loud backfires thrown in to scare the crows away!
West ridges were working with a bit of weak low level wave but cloud was a problem as it drifted in and out around the ridges.
All in all a day worth calling.
Martin Pingel

Sunday 27 November 2011

Ridge and wave to 12K

      W wave, looking towards Llangorse Lake

Fantastic club turnout plus a few visitors who all had a great day playing on the ridges and in the wave.
A good WNW blow ensured the ridges were working well but also the predicted wave didn't disappoint with height of over 12k by Martin Brock and myself. However, wind speed at that height was around 45 kts so forward progress was rather limited.
Main wave set up on a line from Bronllys to Hay on Wye with entry at approx 3000ft QNH relatively easy. Climbs initially were around 4kts but generally 2kts. Once at height attempts to go NW to clear the FL 125 airspace proved unsuccessful however wave systems were found to be working over Pen y Fan and to the west around Cray reservoir. These had to be aborted at 9000ft as the sun set over Swansea Bay - spectacular!
For the stats geeks there were 21 launches incl 3 Air Ex flights and 2 successful AFR's completed.
Great day
Martin Pingel

Friday 25 November 2011

Wave to 5K in strong and turbulent SW wind

Day started well enough, clear blue skies and what appeared to be a light/mod SW wind but as soon as we got out of the shelter of the airfield it became apparent that the wind was stronger than we first thought, and quite rough with it.
Surprisingly the ridge wasn't working that well but once higher up wave kicked in only to be spoiled by increasing amounts of cloud at varying levels so most had to abort going higher than around 5k.
Wind at this height was over 40kts which made forward progress difficult and Dave Unwin in the K6 certainly had his work cut out.
The air in the circuit was less than favourable, strong and gusty presumably caused by out of phase wave.
Rain stopped play at around 1.30pm by which time we were all safely on the ground.
Martin Pingel

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Low cloud, showers, turbulence and tall tales.... but we all flew

Optimism was high - or perhaps it was enthusiasm to fly! Daylight saw a southwesterly flow with low cloud just on the ridge, occasionally filling the bowls with milky, frothing cloud; it looked turbulent and later when the clouds had lifted well clear of the ridge tops, we discovered it was! Though the wind speed was not high, the first 2 sniffers came back after half an hour or so on the Spine, complaining of tumble driers. So we made tea and told tall tales while waiting for an expected clearance, which never came. However the cloudbase did lift sufficiently for a further 8 launches where we all got to stay current on the importance of maintaining a good airspeed near the hills. BMW had nearly an hour and a half and several others nearly made the hour, curtailed by judicious landings to avoid a rain shower. In fact there was no significant rain. All in all, not condition I would have deliberately set out to go flying in - yet here we are having had 10 launches with some safely-executed, challenging flying and we've kept ourselves current. The club is expected to be open tomorrow as we have a tow pilot on site and the weather is expected to be drier and sunnier. Call before you come though - if the weather is no good, he'll be going home early
Phil Swallow

OK not the best of days and definitely not as forecast, no surprises there I hear you say!
A very damp, cloudy day with a moderate SSW wind but surprisingly some very enthusiastic (i.e. desperate) members all rigging so I had no choice but to follow suit seeing as I was the culprit who called the flying day!!
10 Launches in all - quite a nice club atmosphere as we all blew the cobwebs away.
Martin Pingel

Sunday 13 November 2011

... unlucky for those who missed out today!

at 10k in wave

15kts SE gave us some sporting tows behind Tony Crowden in Papa Alpha into the all too obvious wave (Lucky we ignored the briefing which stated that wave was very unlikely today!.) Robbie pulled of at 1200ft above site demonstrating that he cannot read an altimeter ... thought it was 2200! Managed to get away and it was a smooth climb right up to FL110. Geoff King also made it to the same height and several members contacted and got to over 5000ft above site. A lovely day.
Thanks to all especially those members who helped out on the airfield but were unable to get off the ground.
Robbie Robertson

Saturday 22 October 2011

Diamond height in the Beacons

The wind was 180/15 (and gusting a lot higher) and occasionally quite turbulent on site which made for some interesting take-offs and some very character building SE approaches! The Southerly wave formed off the Beacons across the Cwm Du valley and the Llangorse Lake area but during the morning increasing cloud cover forced several pilots to return to site. Later on it opened up again and launching restarted allowing a few more wave flights. I managed to get a pre 10am tow (thanks Geoff) before conditions deteriorated.

I've been asked by about half a dozen people to put a how-I-dun-it in the flying report so for those of you aren't interested please look away now:-

The forecast for wave was good – warm sector – straight isobars close together – the low pressure system not too close – reasonably dry air mass - Skew-T diagram showing a low level inversion and winds steadily increasing with height all in the same direction.
The Flight - Geoff towed me down the Cwm Du valley and I pulled off at 2,000' in 1-2 knots. There was a huge area of weak wave indicating it was a very powerful system. I climbed about 1,000' to establish myself then pushed West to keep clear of the cloud closing in below me. There were gaps all along the downwind edge of the Beacons but no clear edges that you normally associate with wave conditions. Once I was clear of airspace it was a fairly uneventful 2-3 Kt climb all the way up to FL190+. The wind at height was 190/55 – this wind speed started to confuse my iPaq which occasionally didn't know which direction I was flying in. You can also see from my trace on the BGA ladder that more than one turn at a time was not a good idea. I learnt the hard way when after 3 continuous turns it took me 3,000' to get back into the lift! I tried unsuccessfully to make it to FL195 but gave up at 19,415'. Even with the sun shining in the cockpit it was extremely cold at height. Throughout the flight most of the wave gaps stayed open downwind of the Beacons. After the flight I checked my height gain on my .igc trace and found I'd done another diamond height with 74' to spare.
Tony Crowden

Thursday 20 October 2011

WSW ridge flying after a cloudy start

      Mark Fisher in FYG on westerly ridge (back of S bowl) 20 Oct 2011
- photograph by Will Newman

A slow start with almost no wind on the airfield, Bo eventually found some weak wave over Llangorse during a trial lesson flight around lunchtime.... This encouraged the Southdown visitors Rod and John to have a final bash on their last day in the Talgarth K21, after which the wind picked up enough to encourage some private glider rigging! The wind being fairly light and WSW, the main bowl, and the South bowl were working and the Cwmdu valley run was also working but it was not easy going. For the few who ventured down the Cwmdu valley it was certainly possible to get down to the scree slopes at Crickhowell and back at around 1800 feet QFE with careful flying and local knowledge!
Another great Talgarth day.
Mark Fisher

Wednesday 19 October 2011

NW ridge

a cloudy start but steadily improving during the day, and the wind more round to the NW, we were able to use the NW ridge as far as Hay Bluff. There were hints of wave all the time, some pilots may have made use of this.
Late afternoon produced very bright conditions and care was needed landing into the sun! Some pilots including myself waited on the ridge long enough for the sun to go behind the evening clouds and put the airfield into shadow before landing. Landing W rather than SW sometimes mitigates this, but today it was no help...! moving away from the ridge to descend to the circuit revealed another area of lift to the west of the airfield in late afternoon.
Visitors flying today from Lasham (DG1000), Parham (flying BMGC gliders), and Germany (DG400).
Another good day at Talgarth!!
Mark Fisher

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Wave to 6000, plus ridge + thermal

Today's photos are from Robbie Robertson - stills taken from his wingtip Muvi HD video camera

464 pair flying in wave - Cwmdu valley

464 near Hay Bluff

A moderate to fresh SW airflow and bright conditions giving an exceptional flying day for those that flew. early part of the day was giving wave to 6K and this gave way later to good ridge lift and thermals. The wave returned later with slightly lower height gains and those of us still flying at 6pm found lift everywhere, eventually I had to use airbrake to get down at all.
The day was made up of 19 launches including training flights, trial lessons and private flying for local and visiting pilots.

Just over 43 hours were flown in 19 flights. An outstanding day.
Mark Fisher

Friday 7 October 2011

Wave to FL120

The airmass was very unstable with a lot of showers going through. The wind at ridge top height was about 290/20 with 6/8 cloud coming down to about 1800' above site at times. Every time the wave set up a large line of wet cu would come in and kill it. A couple of visitors got a little ambitious exploring for wave in the valley and landed out near Hay Common. Eventually the air mass dried out allowing the wave to establish itself properly. The best height of the day was FL120 from a climb in front of Pen-Y-Fan.
Tony Crowden

Flight report (taken from National Ladder comments)

Couldn t get away from the main ridge or from Llangorse lake due to lines of heavy cu coming in and killing the wave so I tried the Beacons. The Beacons were a little rough as the wind was too Westerly for comfort. I contacted after a ridge climb off Pen-Y-Fan and milked it all the way up to FL120. It wasn t straight forward low down as the wave bars were shifting around a lot and the 6/8 cu was reaching 6k+. Eventually I got above the cloud tops which made it a lot easier. Wind at height was 290/50.
Tony Crowden

Monday 3 October 2011

SW Wave to FL105

A brisk SSW wind gave us a sporting tow and approach but rewarded us with wave over Llangorse that had visitors from Parham, Oxford and Cranwell (though very few Talgarth members) bumping their heads against airway N864 yet again. Best heights were around FL105 found a bit further afield. The afternoon was cut short by encroaching and descending cloud cover, but a good time was had by all, except possibly the crew who retrieved a visiting pilot from Nympsfield which didn't have our cloud - best distance of the day!
Anne Crowden

Saturday 1 October 2011

S Wave to 7500

Very few if any clubs can claim to get wave in all wind directions and that is where BMGC excels. Saturday was no exception. It was yet another bright, hot day but with little wind at ground level we did not expect too much.
First launches by both K13's showed that the south wind was still kicking off wave from the Beacons and Troed. My first flight with a Dunstable visitor looked like it would be a sled ride but an amazing kick at 600ft on approach above the hospital took us into good S wave which got us to around 4000ft
Blue wave set up over Llangorse early on and was there all day for the taking. Highest was, I believe, around 8000ft above site including some trial lessons in the K13. Were they impressed!!! The Dunstable boys have had a great week with lots of good climbs in the south wave with stunning views looking down on the Beacons. Last count for the week was 2 Gold climbs and a Silver gain and duration with many flights above FL100 with best around 14,000ft.
What a great week and what a place to glide!
Robbie Robertson

Had site check with Robbie Robertson in the morning and was on finals when we got 8 kts up in rotor, climed to 2000 ft agl and then contacted wave over Llangorse Lake. Got back, rigged and took a flight up to 9,000 amsl. Good vis and views of Cargigan Bay (I think). The Brecons looked particularly good in the low sun, with the remains of the radiation fog in the valleys. Some day I'll get Gold height, but meantime I will settle for the views!
Aidan Paul - visiting pilot from LGC, Dunstable

Wednesday 28 September 2011

11 gliders reach FL100 in SE wave (reports from visiting pilots taken from National Ladder comments)

Excellent late afternoon flight from Talgarth, one of some 11 flight over FL100 that day in South Easterly wave. Initial tow to the North West of Llangorse, climbed in wave to about 5000 before heading west toward Brecon for some nice consistant climbs ranging between 1-4 knots and some spectacular views of the Beacons. Very enjoyable flight.
Dave Bromley - visiting pilot from Cranwell

Southerly wave at Talgarth. I've now flown in wave at Talgarth from all wind directions. What a great place and only 3 hours from home
Rob Brimfield - visiting pilot from LGC, Dunstable

Gold height in southerly wave from the Brecons on the annual London Gliding Club expedition to BMGC Talgarth. One of three height claims by London Gliding Club pilots at Talgarth that day. Probably more than a dozen pilots flew to around FL100 West of Brecon that day.
David White - visiting pilot from LGC, Dunstable

Most (all?) LGC pilots on our annual visit reached 10,000, 2 golds + 1 silver. So far every day bar one has given wave, (& the other was soarable but 'soft')
Andrew Sampson - visiting pilot from LGC, Dunstable

SSE Wave in the lee of the Brecons. Superb scenery and a bar from Llangorse lake to the far side of Sennybridge. Had to come back as the sun was setting.
Mike Pettican - visiting pilot from Windrushers GC, Bicester

Sunday 18 September 2011

Wet. One of those days when, by standing on the shale parking area adjacent to the clubhouse, you could create a new puddle as the water rose up from the ground - rather like the effect you get walking on a beach a low tide! However, the optimistic members, visitors and trial students who did show up were rewarded by several flyable hours, including hooting ridge lift, from 14.00. The viz was remarkably good and, with the sun relatively low in the sky, the light across the tops of the Black Mountains was stunning. The task for the day - dodging the showers, some heavy and wide but all predictable.
Thanks to Don G (DI), Graham & Annette (instructing/trial lessons) and John Poland (tuggie) for turning out on a day with a rubbish forecast and for making the day possible.
Dick Jeffcoate

Sunday 24 July 2011

10K wave

Mad rush to get in air by 11am as tug was promised to Usk for Rockpolishers. Needn't have bothered as air was very ordinary with cloudbase only 2k ft off the field. Nevertheless some had a good time - Dewi in the Junior showed us all the way and then Emily with Tony had a great time racing around the ridges.
Greville got into wave early when everyone else just couldn't work it out but later it all came together as the wave kicked in and we all got above the clouds into the lovely warm sunshine.
it opened out mid afternoon so I was off for a second flight and wasn't disappointed. Slow climb up front of cloud and after some patience got to 10k ft before setting of upwind in search of a better climb. Got 2 more wave bars but no better than the first.
Eventually most of the cloud evaporated and I was left to cruise around in the crystal clear skies. The views were amazing - north Wales and Snowdon to the north, Malverns to the east, Gower to the south and the Cambrian mountains, Elan valley reservoirs all spreadout in front of me - wonderful. Got back to club with still 5k of height so had to use airbrake to get down as wave was still pulling me up! I was Last to land but was greeted by Gerry with a glass of wine - life can't get any better than this can it?
Martin Pingel

Saturday 23 July 2011

Thermals and wave

This saturday we may have the best day for wales flying for a long time,as MP and I wandererd past Builth Wells between strong thermals, a wave found us tis a strange and good place we fly
Gerry Martin

it was the best day I've had this year but it took us all a bit by surprise, no tasks set and everyone flying a bit conservatively as it was expected to o/d and spread out . Also we had to get off early, before 11am, coz the tug was promised down at Usk for Rock Polishers but it wasn't a problem as the thermals were working from early.
Cloudbase increased from 4k to almost 6k QNH and the WNW increased from 8 to 15kts during the day. Gerry, Anne Crowden and myself flew over a large area from Newbridge on Wye to the north, Abergavenny to the south and thro the Beacons to Cray Res to the west. The air was quite rough in the Beacons and kept my mind concentrated as I worked up the spine from low down!
I'm sure if the more adventurous pilots had been here today a big flight would have been possible.
Martin Pingel

Thursday 14 July 2011

Strong thermals to 6500

Started to go well at around lunchtime then went atomic in the afternoon. Cloud base went up to over 6,500' amsl. The thermals were strong and consistent with the occasional 8-10 knotter thrown in just for good measure. The pessimistic forecast over development didn't happen and the cumulus stayed at about 4/8 for most of the afternoon with it slowly going blue in the early evening.

You know the old saying... "It was one of those days were you had to bolt the hangar door down otherwise it would have taken off and done 300k on its own."
Tony Crowden

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Grey start to the day but thermals gradually built thro the day with base reaching 3500ft above site. Not an easy day as there was a lot of spreadout and thermals were not where you would expect (As Bo found out!) Friendly farmer, good field and lots of help made for an easy retrieve. Thanks for the wine Bo!

      K13 retrieve near Lyswen

Robbie Robertson

Sunday 3 July 2011

Clash of the Titans - a flying visit?

Lovely day at the club, no wind, warm - how strange for Talgarth!!
Once off and established I headed south to Tor y Foel (conical hill just east of Talybont reservoir) and sure enough it delivered as usual and I was then able to explore south of the Beacons where the air was looking good.
Just north of Tredegar at Trevil quarry there is a film set for "Clash of Titans 2" and it was in full swing when I flew over. I could see some classic Greek column sets and various encampments and a huge amount of vehicles, and support equipment. Smoke was billowing out at various points and then a helicopter appeared a couple of thousand feet below. Suddenly there was lots of smoke and then huge flames estimated at 50ft high - things were obviously kicking off so I was out of there!!!
Actually it went on for some time and during my 3 hrs flight around my old hang gliding haunts at Merthyr, Tredegar, Aberdare etc I kept going back for a peek!!
All good fun but not as good as the conditions, south of the Beacons, which gave some very reliable thermals to around 5500ft amsl and then a sea breeze front set up from Abergavenny to the west along the tops of the Brecon Beacons, quite rough at times but soooo easy to use.
Day was finished off in good old fashioned style with a pint at the Castle - ahhh great day!
Martin Pingel

Saturday 25 June 2011

Late evening wave

      Late evening SW wave above Abergavenny

Grey all day but definite signs of wave above the murk which was right down on the hill. After the committee meeting was well under way in the evening, a wave gap was quite obvious towards Llangorse and Bo kindly offered to tow me in 464 to the SW. Took off around 1830 hrs amd released at 1700ft south of Llangorse lake in a wave gap. Climbed to 3500ft above site and went east towards Abergavenny. Was it pretty!!!!!
Crept back under the gloom after an hour and arrive at BMGC with cloud well down the main ridge.
Thanks Bo!
Robbie Robertson

Tuesday 7 June 2011

I stood in as Instructor for Bo today who had to be off site.
Forecast was dire but around 1300hrs the showers stopped, the thermals started and boom boom boom! Only two training flights in the K13 plus Les Hay in his DG300 from Rufforth launched. 15kts SW gave us South Bowl, Cymdu Valley, 10kt plus thermals ands even some wave to the base of the airway above Crickhowell for Les later in the day.
Shame there were not more out playing!
Beautiful day.
Robbie Robertson

Saturday 4 June 2011

      Mike Rossiter in East Wave

East wave was there again but, with a lot of cloud cover, it proved quite tricky to contact and a heavy rain shower in the afternoon encouraged most to derig. However, about 1700hrs, the rain stopped and it was clear that good wave was still around so Tony Crowden/Phil Abbot in EGZ and myself in 464 launched and were soon well established. Very rough with 10up/10down close together but I explored down to Crickhowell where it was much smoother with lots of lennies showning me where to go. Had to land at 1900hrs to have free bear at Doc Saundby's excellent BBQ to celebrate his 60 years in gliding.
Robbie Robertson

Friday 3 June 2011

East wave to 10K / Thermals to 4K

      Lenticular from east wave above Troed

Signs of east wave were visible from first thing with the cloud drift and the windsock telling opposite stories! Visibility was fabulous and many people contacted the wave either directly from Troed or via thermals which were booming up to 4000ft above site. Best height of the day was Martin Brockington who reached 10,000ft before pulling the brakes. Delightful to fly right round the cumulus clouds that were punching through into the wave.

      Squeezing between lennies 6000ft above Tretower

Robbie Robertson

Friday 27 May 2011

      27 May

Only the second flyable day of the XC week so a bit disappointing but it is the UK so why are we always so surprised that the weather messes us around? Anyway to cut a very long story short the tasks was TAL-BRE-PRE-TAL (90km)for novices and TAL-BSW-WAL-TAL (130km)for pundits. Day started with moderate WNW and 8/8th cover so off we went at 11.30am lobbing onto the ridge in anticipation of the forecast wave. Early afternoon and the cloud started to break up and some fairly good thermals got going, although they were found to be quite unreliable at times. A bit later the forecast wave kicked in and some of us got to around 7000ft QNH over Hay and the Painscastle area before it collapsed and left us with moderate thermals and ridge lift to around 4-4500ft QNH.

      27 May

I think that only 2 completed the pundit task, John C in his Nimbus C and Jamie Sage in the DG1000. Stuart landed at Shobdon and managed to arrange a tow back out. Most others completed part of the task but abandoned the final legs out to Presteigne or Walford (no not the one in Eastenders!!) and just enjoyed the conditions around the Beacons, The Black Mountains and north towards Builth which were still going at 7.30pm when the last one landed (me). All in all a great day, despite the fact that the task wasn't taken seriously by a lot of us - but that's the relaxed way we like it at TAL.
Martin Pingel

Wednesday 25 May

At last some decent conditions for the cross-country week. It was a breezy west wind day with some very strong thermals and sink to match. People flew Bidford O/R, the Talgarth Triangle and various other cross countries. And of course some good ridge flying was also available.
Best of all, Jill Banks flew more than 5 hours in her K6 to gain the first of her Silver legs. Congratulations.
Anne Crowden

Saturday 30 April

It was blustery NE wind day with the Pandy run and other NE facing slopes working well and wave between 6 and 7k near the airfield. Not the great heights of Friday, but all good fun.
Anne Crowden

Thanks to our instructors today for looking after everybody on a day which could be described as 'not one for widows and orphans'. Also to Don for towing in such tricky conditions. Good character building stuff for all.
Mike Rossiter

Monday 25 April

So there I was in the office "again" when all of a sudden it started kicking off and turning out to be a better day than I originally thought. An hour or so later I had driven to the club and was in air. All the others had already gone off on a task that was probably too late for me to start. So I decided to go "round the block" - Bluff, Abergavenny, Brecon SW and back before the forecast spreadout developed. Not a difficult flight but had that feeling you could find yourself on the deck very quickly if you made a wrong move so tried to stay as high as possible, which generally worked.
John C did Mynd, Sennybridge and back, Ralph nearly did the same. others did a variety of tasks and free flying. Cloudbase up to 4500 QNH, thermals a bit broken and unreliable in places but sink wasn't too bad.
Martin Pingel

Not an easy day with several low points, glad of the ridges at times.
John Clark

Saturday 16 April

Just over 5 hours in my glider today to blow out the winter cobwebs . Conditions were quite average but pleasant and soarable. It was overdeveloped much of the day. However it was surprising how well the thermals kept going even without direct sunlight on the ground. Maybe because the ground is so dry, especially for Spring. Some average climbs of up to 3 knots in places and a cloud base of 4,500 QNH at best. Greville was out flying his DG and Andrew Richards took the club's Pirat for a spin around Brecon and the Wye Valley. A Nice fun day out. Thanks to Don for the tows.
Mike Codd

Tuesday 12 April

Talgarth pilots go xc!!

mmm......how best to express this delicately for those not able to make it into the air today.
O.k theres no easy way ,so it was thermals eventually to 6000'amsl and x-c by most including mike tomlinson, robbie, john clarke, stuart, peter (congrats on achieving your 5 hour duration flight), rosso, martin brock, and some others.....apologies for my memory for names(lack of !).
Flights to Swansea, Ludlow, CCC, Mynd, were some of the destinations and a declared task by John Clark Tal-Wal-Bui,Sar,Tal (203 kliks @71kph) was achieved only to be followed by a soothing o/r tal-Ccc flight in order to settle. Martin and Mike Tomlinson also flew this task I believe. Thermal strength averaged at 3 to 4 kt but 5+ ktters were also around in plenty esp in the cloud streets.............
Excellent in the Brecon beacons too of course
Mike Rossiter

Wednesday 6 April

SW wave to 17000

Typical good Talgarth wave day. All the lennies disappeared just before we started to launch at 10:30, (I did say it was typical!), leaving high thin cirrus, hazy sunshine and no indication where the wave was situated. The wind on the ground was about 10kts SW. The rotor low down was quite strong at times and occasionally cut off the hill lift around the South Bowl. The Booker exped and several locals all enjoyed good wave flights. The best height of the day was 16,917'. See BGA Height Ladder for details. Thanks to "Boris" aka Pete Marshall who provided all the tows using the Booker tug as G-AZPA is again u/s.
Tony Crowden

Tony's comments from his National Ladder entry

I did the initial climb at the North end of the Cwm Du Valley then went over to the lee of Pen-y-Fan for the remainder of the flight. With no clouds the views of the Severn Estuary and the whole of the Welsh coast up as far as Snowdonia were spectacular. The last 8,000 of the climb took two and a half-hours which works out at an average climb rate of about half a knot!. It just goes to show what sheer bloody-minded determination can do. Finally I would like to thank my wife Anne for the loan of her glider.

Saturday 2 April

Classic ridge, wave and thermal day

We had a real 'Talgarth' day yesterday. Hill soaring from Hay Bluff to the scree slope at the end of the Cwm Du valley, stong thermals to 4,000' and wave to FL75 (at least that's the best height I heard about). All enjoyed by lots of members and visitors from Booker
Anne Crowden

Quite difficult get into the wave low down as it was very weak ,broken and working in a very small area. At about 6,500 it suddenly developed into a consistent 2-3 knot climb. Unfortunately it was also under the base of the N864 airway so I had to break off the climb at FL75. I explored the area to the West away from the airway but couldn t find anything so I gave up.
Tony Crowden

Sunday 20 March

A poor forecast tuned out to be wrong and several two seater flights were made soaring the South Bowl.
Robbie Robertson

Saturday 19 March

4kt thermals to 4500>

      Andy Sutton in Snoopy

First day of the club working weekend but many of us still had some great flying with 4kt climbs to around 4.5K and some cross country flying to boot. Too many out playing to name but good to see our new instructor Andy Sutton out airing Snoopy.
Robbie Robertson

Friday 18 March

6kt thermals to 6000QNH

Despite not being a "called flying day", Martin Pingle turned up after lunch, rigged and flew EBF. Spurred on by his calls of 6000ft QNH cloudbase and 6kt thermals, I downed tools, rigged and flew 464 just to prove he was lying! He was'nt! We both flew for 2-3 hours in superb conditions with a genuine 6K cloudbase and super vis. Black Hill was working as well making it a great day. I had a slight scare at 5000ft above site on the other side of Llandrindod Wells when the cockpit suddenly filled with a horrible smell of burning .. but it was just the smoke from a hill fire immediately upwind. Phew!
Robbie Robertson

Sunday 13 March

WNW - ridge and thermal

It was a cracking day with light W/NW winds on the ridges plus 6 kt thermals to 4500QNH and visibility to die for. Lots of us out playing inc Mike Rossiter, Alan Cridge, the Snoopy team, John Horley, and many others. John Clark did a sterling job in the back of the two seater. Best day of the year so far and you missed it! (At least, some of you did!)
Robbie Robertson

I nearly missed out on it too as i first thought that with so much low pressure nearby it would be duff , but then realised it would likely provide enough instability , coupled with the early passage of the cold front to likely give a good afternoon .Luckily it did and really got thermic at 15.40 onward.
Mike Rossiter

Post cold front had to be worth rigging for. launching in the Club Libelle FYG at around 12:30 into improving conditions with excellent visibility, the lift on the NW ridge down to Hay Bluff was reliable with occasional thermals, getting better as the day wore on. Landing at 14.35 I'd had a great flight up to 3000 in thermals but the conditions improved after that as the thermals improved in strength and height. As Robbie says the best day of the year so far, and only a few taking advantage....
Mark Fisher

Tuesday 8 March

Wave to 6K

Our day started soft, but thermals at miday& the sw ridge a little later, gave some fun,Brocky had the only wave to 6K in the late afternoon,he stopped the climb as 3hours of soaring gave him cold feet.
Gerry Martin

Thursday 24 February

Web cams are a wonderful thing! - I was in work and casually clicked on the club web cam and saw people rigging!!! within the hour I had got to site, rigged and was on the ridge and then magically climbing in wave over the top of the low orographic cloud that shrouded the tops of the hills. - Went around a few turnpoints whilst cruising about (no task). There was total cloud cover over Pen y fan in the Beacons but enough gaps further east for safe flying. Ah now that's got rid of some of the winter blues.
Martin Pingel

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