BMGC Flying Reports
2008 Archive
Black Mountains Gliding Club |
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BMGC Flying Reports2008 Archive |
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Link here to: Latest Flying Reports
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Monday 29 December 2008
Wind has slackened and veered to the SE from the preceding NE mega wave
days. Fewer pilots around and a notable absence of private owners
flying except for Ralph in his Dart and myself. A very thin band of
wave set up along the Cwm Du and later in the lee of the main ridge
when the wind shifted a little more to the South. Best height of the
day was 8,000' in a small wave hot spot, and believe, me the last 500'
was very hard work. The most notable feature of the day was the
appalling visibility below the inversion level. Into sun, you could
just make out the murky outline of Mynydd Troed from Y Das. Still, on
the bright side the weather looks as though it's improving for the New
Year.
Sunday 28 December 2008
It was the third day in a row that Talgarth has had wave lift to over
10,000'. There were too many pilots present to list individually.
Everybody seemed to get to over 11,000' – the best height of the day
was Clarkie who topped out at 12,000' in his Nimbus II. (apologies if
anyone got higher I didn't hear about). It was a typical NE wave day.
I was flying in the back of one of the club K13s. The best climb rate
I achieved was off the clock at between 5-6000'. There was a lot of
sink around too. I learnt a salutary lesson by going downwind past
Brecon, then turning back at 7,500' and only just making it back to
Mynydd Troed and managed to climb away again. I've put my trace on the
BGA Height Ladder if you want a good laugh.
Sitting at FL125 with the brakes cracked and no commercial traffic in N864 all day just looks like "they're having a laugh" and soon we may have to carry a transponder to do even this - what a waste of space - on so many counts.
As high as we can go, why? No commercial traffic all day! Graham and Tony so right about the sink (the lift we take for granted) - I have never seen it quite so crucial. Descending through cloudbase (rotor base) I felt like I was being thrown at the ground. A "circuit- plan" gets revised several times a minute as the acceptable angle changes through such a wide range so quickly. Be prepared to be in the right place for an approach - whatever it takes.
Looks like this will last for another week at least, based on current
forecasts.
Just to add to the excitement, I thought I’d try the Talgarth Triangle starting from 10,000ft. Burley Gate and Leominster were rounded fine, but the glide home looked marginal through the cloud layer so I dropped into to Shobdon for a re-light. On the subsequent flight I reached the 12,000ft already mentioned and went back to Shobdon (almost). I’ll be putting the trace on the ladder in due course.
Happy New Year to you all,
4 flights in 3 days, between 26-28 Dec, and each over 10,000' (qnh), approx 5.5hrs total time - what more could a visiting pilot (and newly signed up member!) ask for!?
Thank you all for being so welcoming. I look forward to returning to
the BMGC in the coming months, and getting to know more of you in due
course. Glad I didn't scare you too much Tony!
IS32 in wave, 27 Dec Finding a spare K13 at the launch point Anne Crowden and I commandeered it for a mutual flight.... an unexpectedly smooth tow to 1500 feet in front of Y Das and a gentle 360 revealed where the wave was. The smooth lift gave spectacular views of the valleys of the Brecon Beacons and beyond towards the coast, blue and misty . I regretted not having a camera, but was glad I had remembered my gloves!! A single climb of between one and 4 knots took us up to about 8000 QNH. At this point it became a little elusive but we soon found it again and continued up to 11300 To the east the cumulus covered the Black Mountains evenly and we spotted a single horseshoe shaped cloud sprouting up from the general layer, picked out sharply by the sun, no doubt another wave effect, there are so many in this area you sometimes just accept what you see and dont try to work out how it happened. The peaks of Snowdonia were clearly visible as were the windfarms beyond Rhyader. After an hour we descended slowly, a relatively smooth landing after quite a turbulent circuit as usual
Another truly magical flight at this unique gliding mecca...!!
Saturday 27 December 2008
Y das at Sunset 27 Dec - RR
25kts ENE on the field with a great wave profile on the forecast ...
turned out to be a super wave day with mostly everyone everyone going
up to the base of the airway at 11,500ft above site. Off tow behind
Chris Mann in PA (Great tows Chris ... thanks!) at around 1700ft in
front of the hill into HUGE lift .... the vario usually came back off
the stops at around 4000ft and then super smooth wave all the way up to
11,500 QNH with beautiful misty views to the Beacons and well beyond.
Out playing were Don Gosden, Gerry Martin, John Horley, Richard Robins,
Robin Howarth, Graham Bowser, Roger Hurley and a few visitors who were,
to say the least, gobsmacked! Apologies for those members I have not
mentioned ... sorry to those who missed it.
Yes great day, massive lift and massive sink ! Clearly visible rotor clouds above the club showed what was in store below cloudbase. Almost had to buy a second tow after pulling off early and droping to 1000ft before locking in to a rotor climb. Topped out 12224 ft because of airspace - possible Diamond height day without that obstacle. On return towards the field I experienced most extreme sink I have ever encountered - my SeeYou .igc file shows sink peaking at MINUS 28.7 knots ! more of the same for the next 7 days ?
Boxing Day 2008
Had three flights in Easterly wave each one up to 10,000' – my best
height was 10,400', but was beaten by Mike Rossiter who got to
10,800'. Lovely views of the peaks poking out of the haze. By the
way, all the snow has gone from Snowdonia! Others out to play were
Keith who was towing, suitably festively attired in a red and green
bobble hat – thanks for the tows - also Richard Robins, Martin Brock,
Graham, a visitor from Lee-on-Solent GC and last but not least Anne who
had a flight with me (and we're still talking to each other!)
In fact Mike only beat Tony by 100 ft. but it was a very good afternoon with beautiful mists/haze in the valleys far below and outstanding late sky colours on the drive home too. Also we enjoyed isolated patches of 2kt lift over the main mass of the mountains.
Black Mountains from wave, 27 Dec - RR
Wednesday 17 December 2008Not a bad turn out again with 9 flights in total including one "Mile High" punter flight done by Robbie. Very little wind on field and orographic cloud shrouded the tops of the hills but the front edges were working quite well with a 20-25kt wind at 270-280 degrees and weak low level wave up to 4300ft QNH. The amount of cloud became a problem for a while but everyone had a pleasant enough time floating around in the cold.
Others out included Robin Howarth, Mike Short, Tony and Anne Crowden,
Mike Williams, Mike Tomlinson, Geoff Stinchcombe, Mike Jackson and
Laurie Jarrett who had the joys of flying with Tony again and looked
well frozen by the time they landed at dusk.
Wednesday 10 December 2008Like I said Wednesday will be the better of the days!! sorry Clive, nice report yesterday, description felt so real i.e. scary Anyway today was soarable but a little soft to start with and we were plagued by low pornographic cloud which kept forming very low onto the hill, but otherwise it was a pleasant enough day, if a little chilly (minus 2ºC in my glider - brrr). Those out included Tony Crowden who was good enough to fly with Laurie Jarrett, Anne, Robbie who first flew in 464 and then flitted off with Keith in the Europa and had a trip around Cardiff Bay - how nice. Mike Codd bunking off work again!, Geoff Stinchcombe, Mike Tomlinson trying out his "other" glider (a Cirrus), Peter Saundby flying 464, a group from Banbury that included Chris Nicholson, bob Cronk, T Wheeler, Bob Johnston, and Peter Finchlay and finally Richard Robbins turned up a bit later and flew the K6. total of 11 flights and nearly 20 hrs total soaring time - not bad for the middle of winter mid week.
I'll download some photos so you can see how cold it looked and was.
Sunday 7 December 2008Brrrrrr it WAS VERY cold but we had a good turnout and it turned out to be a great club day. Wind was very light from NNE direction. I tried soaring the cats back to the east of Hay bluff unsuccessfully whilst others tried various combinations of ridges, high tows etc but nobody connected with anything meaningful for some time. Steve "spuds" Kessler, in a K13 with Martin B, were the first to suss out that there was a bit of wave down the Cwmdu and managed to soar for a short while. However later in day Andrew Richards, flying the junior, contacted some weak, shifting wave down the Cwmdu valley near to the burnt patch and cruised around for an hour at up to 4700ft QNH, which was pretty impressive considering the average flight time up till then had been around the 20 mins. Others out braving the cold were John Coward, Martin Brock, Martin L, Mike Codd, Gordon Dennis, Robin Howarth, Chris Mann and Peter "Doc" Saundby sharing the tugging, Mike Barratt, Rhona Wakem, and Anna Baik.
At the end of the day Martin L showed everyone the art of self
launching his model plane! Popular opinion was he didn't have his
"eventualities" fully sorted and his launching skills were, well how
shall we say, agricultural!!! ok I'll say no more otherwise I'll be on
check flights for the rest of the year! Anyway thanks Martin for
giving us all a good chuckle and glad there wasn't any serious damage
to your model, ended the day perfectly.
A completely clear sunny day with nil wind on field but about 10 kts SW
at 1500' which was enough to make the back bowl and the ridge along to
Y Das work quite well albeit a little softly at times. Managed 14 flts
with the max duration going to Andrew Richards in the club K6 who
stayed up for over 2 hours and then only landed because the sun had
set. There was a pronounced frost line where the valleys were covered
in frost having suffered katabatic flow over night with the temp
dropping to –6, above this line the hills poking out above the haze
were frost free. The air above the haze was exceptionally clear and
Snowdonia Nat Park could be seen in the distance with snow still
covering the peaks.
Monday 1 December 2008
A good winter's day at Talgarth with great views - cu capped mountains
poking up out of haze covered valleys. The wind was N 10kts. The North
end of Hay Bluff was giving lift up to 4,000' QNH in weak wave, and the
Northern third of the Pandy run was working along with the bowls on the
main ridge (just). The strange thing was that the only people to turn
up to fly were tug pilots and instructors!
Not v much cloud till 1.30 then it was possible to see that the f'cast 20Kt. 360 deg was real and i towed to 3k to cheat straight into wave at glasbury(of course) and put on a magnificent ht increase of 150' for an hour and a quarter to avoid being under the cloud and getting cold. James Metcalfe demonstrated some very nice ridge scraping below the hilltop and so we all went home happy.
The turf never thawed out so it was good to fly in my (small wheel ) heavy glider in winter wave for a change
Tuesday 25 November 2008Yep; it was well worth booking holiday from work at short notice to join the in the midweek fun today. (Can you believe some members actually thought I was bunking off work without permission?!) Wonderful crisp day with good visibility, if a little chilly in the wind (generally 16Kts at 350 degrees). After a couple of hours running the NW ridge and pushing out into evasive shifting patches of weak wave, a hot spot was discovered just overhead Glasbury at around 3,000' QNH. There was no visual indicator, it was just a case of feeling your way into the best bit. This yielded a solid 3 knot climb up above the patchy-looking cumulus to around 7,300' QNH. The approaching dusk then enforced a descent in the "down" part of the wave North of Hay. I have posted some photos for the record.
Thanks to Martin our Roster King for
organising another midweek day, and to Tony Crowden and Don Gosden for
their services as Duty Instructor and Tuggie.
Tuesday 25 November 2008My fingers have only just thawed out enough to be able to type this!!! Another good turnout on a very cold but beautifully bright clear day. wind at first was 40º at 20kts but backed as the day went on to 355º and moderated to 15kts. I spent 3½ hrs trying to get into some imaginary wave and within 5 mins of giving up and going in for a landing Mike Codd duly chirped up with "I'm established in wave at 5500ft and climbing at 3kts"! Mike eventually got to approx 7500ft but had to pull out because of the fading light. Well that naffed off yours truly, but well done Mike, you deserved it for persevering where I gave up. John Horley had a slight moment when the tow rope weak link broke low down whilst towing out Snoopy, but I'm told he very skillfully got the glider back without any mishap. Those out having fun also included Robbie, Mike Barrett, Rhona Wakem, Geoff Stinchcombe, John Poland, Mike Rossiter, and Graham Bowser.
Thanks from all to Don G for being tuggy on another good Tuesday.
Tuesday 18 November 2008Well not a bad day, bit dull and grey to start and not as much wind on field as I'd expected. Wind between 345 - 0º at about 16kts on the ridge so working all the way to the Bluff and the first part of the cats back (only just!). Tried for a couple of hours to get into the wave without any success and then all of a sudden a slot appeared and three of us, Me, Robbie and Rod Weaver climbed away - and what a climb vario at 6kts for about 2000ft but then gradually slowed and stopped at just under 8000ft, whereupon all the gaps duly closed and left yours truly above the cloud with no ground references. The older and wiser ones realised what was happening and had already descended back onto the ridge. Descent thro cloud, about 2000ft of it, was ok, after making the necessary calls, however popped out a bit further north, at Llyswen, than I'd wanted but still made it back to the ridge (just).
Those out incl Tim Barton, Mike Williams and Mike Jackson in BMW, Rod
and Maureen Weaver who trailered their glider up from Usk again, John
Poland, Geoff Stinchcombe, Robbie, Mike Hutchinson, Anne and Tony in
a K13 and Peter "Doc" Saundby flying 464.
Wednesday 12 November 2008Forecast was right, yes you did read that correctly. Mod NW wind or to be specific 300º at 16kts! Excellent turn out for mid week winter flying with 16 launches by tuggy John Horley. Ridges worked from the Bluff all the way down to the south end of Llangorse. Sparodic wave was contacted at various stages throughout the day but nothing really stuck. Most of us were getting to around 5000ft amsl but Don G in the Jantar got to approx 7700ft amsl briefly. Simon France, Rod and Maureen Weaver trailered there gliders up from usk whilst others out included Martin Brock, John Coward, Mike Jackson, Graham Bowser, Robbie R, Keith Richards (yes flying a glider!), Trevor Davies, Richard Robbins, Mike Rossiter, Mike Hutchinson and Mike Enwisle. Field was surprisingly firm for launching,considering the rain we've had, although it was still quite soggy underfoot when rigging.
So all in all a good winter day's flying without any mishaps.
Friday 31 October 2008Last day of October and it's been a good month, probably one of the best this year. Mod/Fresh NNE wind and those first off soon contacted wave on the NE side of Mynydd Troed. Quite a lot of low cloud with bases at around 2800ft amsl but once thro this there was a good consistant climb varying 2-4kts all the way to the underside of the airlane at FL95. I ventured up to Builth but found very little to work, although there were quite large areas of zero lift/sink (which meant that it was actually rising air!). I landed after only 1½hrs, not wanting to make a pig of myself again, and left before most others had landed so not sure if it got better/worse etc.
Those out that I can remember were Robin Howarth, Richard Robbins,
Graham Bowser, Doc, Don G tugging, Robbie robertson, the Banbury K21,
Gerry Martin, Paul Hepworth, Laurie Jarrett, Geoff Stinchcombe, Mike
Rossiter.
Monday 27 October 2008The start of the last week of 7 day operation this year was fun ..... dodging storms on the main ridge. Out playing were Mike and Rhona, Lawrie Jarret, Alan Cridge, Robbie Robertson and a few visitors. I can confirm that hail stones hurt when you meet them in Snoopy at 2000ft! En route home, nice to see 3 red kites above Tretower. Thanks to Keith for towing.
Sunday 26 October 2008As there have been flying reports about Friday and Monday I'd better add that Sunday was lovely too. All ridges working really well from NW to SW with a little wave and some thermal activity. There were lots of happy visiting pilot faces at the end of the day.
It's been a great soaring Autumn and we've gained quite a few country
members who are looking forward to joining us for some good winter
flying.
Friday 24 October 2008Yet another epic day for October. Moderate westerly wind on ridge at 15-20kts increasing sharply to 30 kts at 4000ft QNH. At first there was some low level wave up to 4000ft QNH, which gave way to some solid 3kts thermals and cloudbase up to same sort of height. All ridges working well, particularly the Cwmdu. Cloudstreets set up mid afternoon which meant some of us ventured some 20 km NW of site before remembering it was late October and we retreated before getting ourselves in a land out position.
Later in day thrmals gave way to some excellent smooth ridge lift which allowed circuits down Llangorse ridge, jump over back to Pen Cerrig Calch (Scree slopes), back up to Tal, up to the Bluff and back around again, and again and again - wonderful. Sun setting over Beacons was so beautiful and the end of another 7 hrs + flight - ahhh! Those out incl Mike Rossitor, Robbie Robertson (instructing), John Horley, Doc (tugging), Robin Howarth, Anna Baik doing yet another solo soaring flight expertly, Roger Hurley, loads of visitors some from Shennington all enjoying the conditions.
So in summary we had our summer last week!
Roger Hurley even reported 6Kt thermals in the cloud streets to the west , whilst Martin Pingel reckoned that if we'd had the same day in june it would have rated as a great day.I really flying the valley in the almost "syrupy " air after 4 o clock..........you couldn't tell if you were in ridge or wave lift - it was that smooth !
Tuesday 21 October 2008What a fantastic day for October. Mod West wind meant that the ridge to Hay Bluff, the Cwmdu Valley and Llangorse lake were all working really well so you could spend all day going around and around - which is exactly what I did for nearly 7 hours - landed just as the sun set over the Beacons - beautiful. Some weak wave early on and then later only to about 4-5000ft QNH. In the middle of the day it was quite thermic with 3 kt thermals and a cloudbase up to 4500QNH - amazing for this time of year. Lots out incl a group from Shennington, Tony and Anne Crowden, John Price tugging, John Horley, Robbie Robertson, Geoff Stinchcombe, Simon Withey, Robin Howarth, Martin Brock, and I'm sure I saw Doc at the end of the day, etc?
PS - note to treasurer - any chance we could invest in landing lights?
NO !
After 7 hours you want more !!!!
At Aston Down and Nympsfield there were well defined streets as far as eye could see.
Saturday 18 October 2008Much better conditions SW mod/fresh which veered to west and the Cwmdu valley was working well, as was the south end of Llangorse ridge. Managed to contact wave 3 times, max 5000ft, but each time had to pull thro coz of increasing cloud. Anna Baik on only her 6th solo flight soared for 45 mins and even contacted wave over Ydas in the K13 and cruised up to 4100ft before cloud again spoilt play. OK others out incl - Mike Codd, Richard Robins, Martin Brock, Doc, John horley, Clive M, Jill Banks, Anne and Tony Crowden, Keith R, Mike Rossitor, Adrian Thomas, Tony Bartlett, group from Devon, group from Banbury, and a few others that have slipped my memory. Martin Pingel
Friday 17 October 2008Very light WSW wind of under 10kts, smooth (i.e. no thermals) and just soarable on the west facing slopes above the spine. Quite a few out which made things quite interesting (busy) on the ridge but everyone was sensible and had a good time. Don Gosden soared for over 2 hrs without doing a loop, spin, or going upside down - truly amazing! Martin Pingel
Friday 10 October 2008Interesting wave day on Friday. Took a 3000' launch to Llangorse and promptly fell out onto the back bowl. It then took me over one a half hours of ridge grovelling before I contacted at 1500' over Llangorse reservoir. Straight forward wave climb after that up to a max 12,100' down at the far end of the Beacons. I landed after a 4:15 hr flight feeling really pleased with myself having got the highest flight of the day only to have Anne take off in our LS and get to 13,586' in half the time! Nice one Anne!
I've put some pictures up on the photo gallery to give an idea of what it was like. The undersides of the clouds had a lattice work of tendrils which were amazing; I've never seen wave clouds quite like it. I took my camera with me but none of my attempts did the views justice…….then the camera battery decided to give up! Oh, and to top it all I managed to lose my .ICG trace so I couldn't put it on the BGA Height Ladder.
Friday 10 October 2008It was a conflict of opinion with Tony saying an ace day ,and Jerry saying he'd seen a lot of nice skies like it but most of them didn't really live up to much. At this point I think it was Paul Hepworth that coined the expression that it was probably only going to be "treasurers wave"..........the multilayer lenticular pattern did look high and patchy. Tony and Brock launched first , with Tony promptly falling back into the south bowl having failed to contact wave. There was then a delay to launching while we waited for the wind to go around a little more westerly. In the meantime Tony had managed to get in wave and launching resumed about midday. Mike in the open cirrus took a 2500' tow and worked upwind to the big W to E gap just north of the beacons where eventually to FL106 about 3 miles NW of Pen-y-fan. More launches succeeded in contacting wave upwind and every body seemed happy until Jerry in T10 replied by radio that he wanted to be there but he didn't have the penetration ! Our visiting pilot took three tows in order to satisfy himself that he'd got into the right bit of sky but commented aftrwards that he'd had a good day and that it had all been worth it. Alan Thomas went instructor flying with Jerry and got into wave anyway. Anne outflew everybody in her LS 6 going up to 13000 feet and seemed very pleased. I measured the wind at 8500 feet as 245 deg 28 to 30 Kt. and launching was a bit turbulent when clearing the treetops , but we really knew it in circuit with quite severe turbulence before flaring to land just when you thought the air had settled down.
Everyone got back safely and a glass of red wine settled the stomach quite nicely after the kit was all stowed away. All in all a lovely days October wave flying and i hope for more as its been a long time coming.
Friday 3 October 2008A storming NNW wind - can't remember the last time we had one but it was a refreshing change. Visiting expedition from Dunstable got to sample one of the reasons that make it great to fly at Talgarth in the winter. Tow out was very exciting, don't think I've seen the Pawnee dance in front of me so much and seen the rope bow so alarmingly (or was it me out of control behind?). Anyway once thro the low level wave induced turbulence the ridges worked really well and from the word go the wave was evident. Tony Crowden eventually topped out at around 12500 QNH at a point between Hay on wye and Shobden and one of the dunstable guys got to around 11,000 ft near Brecon. Meanwhile most of us struggled to get to around 7,000ft in very patchy, shifting wave patterns. Wind was around 23kts at 3000ft and 0ºC and at 7000ft it was up to 28kts and -3ºC. Not sure what it was doing higher. Landing approaches over the gate and thro the gap in the trees weren't as bad as everyone had anticipated as the wind very gradually slackened to the extent that by 6pm it was almost nil. Geoff King stayed up for 5½ hrs (we think it was coz he was too frightened to land!) and there were at least two other flights of over 5 hrs and a handful between 3-5 hrs. All in all a great way to spend the day. Those out included Martin Brockington (white knuckle tugging), Mike Ashton, Tony and Anne Crowden, Dick, Robin Holdworth, Clive Micklewhite, Bo Neilson (last day before his return to New Zealand), the expedition from Dunstable and later in the day a K21 and a group from North Hill arrived and flew.
And today? - back to wind and rain dammit!
Thursday 17 Sept 2008A pleasant enough day with useful thermic lift commencing at about 1 o' clock , but you had to tow to a ht >1500' as Gerry Martin found , by unfortunately landing back after a valiant 'scrape' about 25 mins.later.The sky resembled a double gloop with liberal dollops of gey/white nebulous fluff which were just about recognisable as cumulus after critical analysis.This was actually quite unsettling as 'red skylark' Mike reported on landing after an hour of intensive lookout. In fact it didn't seem too bad from ground level but it soon dawned on 'open cirrus' Mike that the haze amount was very high.....or at least it seemed to be having flown in mainly clear vis. for some months. Thermals eventually made about 2 to 3 kts. in average strength and Gerry went to Abergavenny and the beacons after a 'relight'. Conditions were definitely i.f.r. in the sense of any cross country nav.......i follow roads ! that is. Those flying included John horley, John price, Mike Tomlinson, I think Geoff Stinchcombe and a few others who ...apologies i cant now recall....as well as visitors flying with our intrepid Bo Nilsson. Most soaring seemed to finish at about 5 ish with the notable exception of Mike Tomlinson ........I wonder where he went? Mike Rossiter
Report from Mike Tomlinson:Thursday was nice if gloopy at height. I didn't do anything spectacular - I just wandered down to Abergavenny, Brecon, Builth and Hay for a local jaunt. It was still working after nearly four hours at 6 ish - just wanted to make the most of it before the winter!MT
Norfolk GC Exped Report Sun 7th - Sat 13th Sept 2008report by Ian Atherton
Day 1 - Sunday
Day 2 - Monday
Day 3 - Tuesday
Day 4 - Wednesday
Day 5 - Thursday
Day 6 - Friday
Day 7 - Saturday
All in all another fun visit with good company and good nights out at the local hostelries. I think we made the best of the available soaring and experienced Ridge, Wave and Thermal on what was generally a poor weather week for most of the UK. The highlight of the week was certainly Mike Hallewell's wave climb with Bo.
August 4 - 8 BMGC Aerobatics course
Monday 4th August
Tuesday 5th
Wednesday 6th
Thursday 7th
Friday 8th
Monday 21 July 2008
17 launches on this beautiful day!
Weekend 19 - 20 July 2008Two days of good October weather i.e. windy and cold. Quiet on Saturday and only got going after a small trough went thro at about 4pm and then it turned into a beautiful end to the day with a mixture of thermal, ridge and wave lift to 9100ft QNH.
Sunday and much the same but with a lot of cloud at times and when I left at 4.30pm not much in the way of wave contacted.
Wednesday 16 July 2008An unpromising forecast turned into a day of weak wave mixed with a little thermic lift at lower levels. Driving patchy and weak to very weak waving below a few thousand feet, the NWly wind tantallised with signs of more inspirational stuff higher up. The skilled and determined stayed airborne from mid-morning to late afternoon operating around 2-3000'. Conditions suited a series of trial-lesson flyers noticeably including a husband and wife, matching twin girls and a retired gentleman from Dusseldorf whose wife said that he had just fulfilled a life-time's ambition.
The Junior got lucky with four little 1-4 kt climbs in and out of
windward edges of a line of lumpy little wave-assisted cumulus just
South of the Wye to get into pure wave between Hay and Hay Bluff .
The luck came in transitioning from cu to wave through the tephis'
tallish inversion. Once in pure wave, 2 knots of climb from 4500'ish
held steadily all the way until Shobden at FL80. The idea of an
improptu Siver Distance to Long Mynd eventually dawned in the brain;
the logger was running and Bo said 'Go' on the radio. However, wave
cloud over the Mynd with visible beginnings of the forecast
underlying stratus, all visible from Shobden down the widening wave
slot, put me off and I came home instead.
Sunday 13 July 2008
Sunday and the cu started from very early which is not normally a good
sign as overdevelopment usually follows. However by mid day the sky
was looking quite good with some large black masses to the south but
lots of small cu to west, north and east. Cloudbase varied from
3500ft in the west to 5000ft in the east but the climbs were pretty
random from half a knot to 5-6kts and it was almost impossible to know
what you were going to get. Mike Tomlinson and Mike Hutch did the
Talgarth triangle in our K21, Mike Codd went to Brecon, Hereford, and
Abergaveny, Phil Swallow did Brecon SW, and then past Hay, I did
Sennybridge, shobdon and return. Tony crowden went north and played
around over Llandrindod whilst Alan Cridge decided to land out on the
common for some field landing practice!
Saturday 12 July 2008
Saturday promised wave but
never really delivered although early in the day I managed to get up
the side of the cloud and later Robbie also did but it never "pulled"
us away skywards. Cloudbase was quite low at around 3500ft amsl and
there were a number of showers to be dodged. BBQ saturday night
didn't materialize because it was just too cold and windy on the field
(bit more like October than July!)
Monday 30 June 2008
Day started very cloudy with both high level and low cu's scraping
over the top of the Black mountains. By 12am things had improved
enough for a few of us to venture skywards. Wind was about 245
degrees and 12kts at 2000ft. cloudbase went up to around 4000ft QNH
and sky started to look better but the air in places was very rough -
aha wave!
Sunday 15 June 2008
Sunday was another super day. It started to work well after lunch and
got better and better Brocky did a fantastic job as day boy and seemed
to be aloft all afternoon I had about an hour and a quarter in the
junior .The thermals were 2 to 8 knots to 4500ft. Tried my first 80 nt
final glide from downstream of Hay and managed to dodge Munyd Troyed.
Saturday 14 June 2008
Turned out to be unexpectedly good/epic. Gerry Martin was one of
first off with his XC head on so I knew that something was up. Early
on it just wasn't reliable but then about 12.00 noon it really started
going. the cu's off to the north looked classic so I headed west!!
Got to Cray and then thought ok better go and play up north. Very
scrappy lift over the firing range but once I got past Builth to
Newbridge on Wye it really started working. From here to Mynd it was
5000ft QNH all the way. Coming back via Shobden was equally as good.
Gerry did Welshpool return and we both kicked ourselves for not being
a bit more adventurous.
Sunday 8 June 2008
The Black Mountains were probably the best place to be in
southern Britain - a convergence line set up between south of Builth
and Abergavenny with a cloudbase touching 6000ft QNH in which
everything was flying around in, Gliders, paragliders, hang gliders,
old mattresses, anything with a large enough surface area could stay
up, it was so easy.
Saturday 7 June 2008
Great weekends flying but surprisingly so few club members out.
Conditions on Saturday were particularly good between the Black
Mountains and The Malverns with cloudbase around 4500-5000 QNH and
fairly regularly spaced thermals.
Sunday 11 May 2008
The viz was quite poor (about 5k into sun and 20k down sun). There was
a gentle 5kt SE breeze on the field and it felt quite humid.
Tuesday 6 May 2008
There was wave mid a.m. which Bo and a visitor flew the first launch, then weak thermals seemed to disrupt the system so we waited till mid p.m. to tow out into a promising cloud street extending from Mynydd buchan towards the firing range.
Bank Holiday weekend
Well bit of a disappointing weekend but at least it was warm and
pleasant for just relaxing around the club. Not sure what happened
Saturday but I did see some gliders being towed into the south bowl
when I passed by on my bike! Wind was a fresh SE.
Tuesday 8 April 2008arr tal. @11.30 for Keith to tell me that monday held at least 5 soarable hours but the sky was improving fast which i put down to a "mini" ridge between the trough and the approaching front to the west. Towed out at 12.30 NNW by Keith into good lift at 1100' from which i circled away. Potent shower in the Cwmddu valley avoided and the showers kept fortuitously well away all day. Thermic lift was strong at between 5 and 10 kt with 6kt+frequently seen on the lx1000's averager. The combination of Mike Tomlinson's gizmo audio interfaced to my lx was superb , with supreme sensitivity and a vocal range at least as good as Diana Ross'. Cloud streets(2) were extremely strong (avoided in the darkest bits due to possible electric discharge) and the valley of dead air between them allowed the opencirrus to fly on for ages in wave like smoothness surrounded by a truly awesome cloudscape from 6200' amsl. Landed at 1530 electing to return to ground after one of the best early spring flights i can ever remember from Talgarth. p.s. lucifer will try to authorize a further release of heat from the embers to ensure a repeat condition.
Saturday 5 April 2008Well what a great day was had by all? Over 25 flights today amassing a total of about 45 hrs! Three greedy pilots, Tim Barton, Mike Codd and me, did over 5 hrs each. The brisk Northerly was quite turbulent on tow and was a sure indicator of wave. Sre enough after a short time Tony Crowden in the K21 got to about 8500ft in the Beacons and then a bit later me and Geville Earl got to 7500ft QNH before it completely clouded over and ended our fun - so we thought. The second part of the day couldn't have been more different, great climbs of up to 5kts and the cloudbase had lifted to 5000ft amsl. Not sure why the big change but must have been a weak front or trough passing through. I'm sure those with more knowledge will know.
The conditions looked very local however and I only ventured up to
25km from site.
Thursday 3 April 2008As mentioned on the 7.55AM Radio 4 weather (Honestly!), mountain waves were present from the word go! Classic bars as far as the eye could see to the NW gave several of us great views from above the tops. It was Geoff Stinchcombe's first flight in the club K6 and in wave..... his face afterwards was a pleasure to see. Also up there was Mike Rossiter, Robin Howarth and Robbie in the K21 with a visiting pilot from Usk.
I will add a couple of photos to make you jealous!
Monday 31 March 2008
Average kind of day with Rhona and Mike flying and some visitors with a
duo discuss from Hus Bos who rigged then derigged. Jill Banks did
aerobatics with Don G in the K21 and managed to fly about a mile
inverted! Rhona was concerned to see this glider near her with a
peculiar attitude until she realised it was inverted! Jill flew a
couple of loops and went solo again yesterday so setting herself up for
the season ahead. Clive flew both days and has promised to get his
bronze this year!! [again!]
Norfolk GC Easter Exped Week Stats Notes by Ian and Jan Atherton Below are the stats for the NGC exped week. Despite some `challenging' weather which allowed only limited launching on a couple of days the exped was a great success, with all the NGC pilots coming away inspired by the opportunity to experience flying in this beautifully rugged environment. Good Friday, March 21 - Day 1 3 flts, total soaring 1:24, average flt time 28mins, longest flight 51mins - Tim Highton with John Clarke in K13. There was 1hr 14minutes available flying time. Saturday, March 22 - Day 2 4 flts, total soaring 3hrs 33mins, average flt time 53mins. Longest flight 1hr 23mins Paul Wilkinson with Ian Atherton in K21. There was 2hr 27minutes available flying time. Easter Sunday, March 23 - Day 3 10 flts, total soaring 12hrs 47mins, average flt time 1hr 17mins. Longest flight 2hr 34mins visitor from Lasham. There was 5hr 52minutes available flying time.
Easter Monday, March 24 - Day 4 16 flts, total soaring 17hrs 51mins, average flt time 1hr 7mins. Longest flight 2hr 11mins club member Ralph Johnson in Dart 17. There nearly 8 hours soaring available, broken by a heavy shower in the mid afternoon. Tuesday, March 25 - Day 5 9 flts, total soaring 11hrs 35mins, average flt time 1hr 17mins. Longest flight 2hr 52mins club member Mark Fisher. There was 6hrs 46minutes available flying time.
Wednesday, March 26 - Day 6 2flts, total time 4hrs 26mins. Average flight time 2hrs 13mins. Longest flight 2hrs 42mins Ian in the ASW20. Maximum available soaring time at least 5 hours! Thursday, March 27 - Day 7 There was a total of 21 hours & 5 minutes soaring over 12 flights, giving an average flight time of 1:45. Thermic conditions lasted over 5 hours, with the ridge still soarable well after we'd packed up. What a great day! Friday, March 28 - Day 8 Only 2 flts, 1hr 10min total flying, average flight time 35mins. Longest flight of the day John Roche-Kelly flying with Ian in the K13. Total available soaring time about 1hr in between showers! Saturday, March 29 - Day 9 Scrub! No flying due to poor weather.
Sunday, March 30 - Day 10 Ian and Jan flew the K21 for 1hr 20mins flying mainly in thermal, Cloud bases were just over 3000ft QFE. We left in the late afternoon and the club was still soaring with some very long flights to be had.
Overall stats:
Stats exclude Day 10 soaring (due to incomplete data as we left well before the end of play), The week provided significant ridge and thermal soaring opportunity. Overall, between Day 1 to Day 9, 58 flights were made culminating in 72 hours and 35 minutes soaring with an average flight time in excess of 1:15 per flight. The shortest flight was 13 minutes due to a rapidly approaching rain shower. The longest of the week was 4 hours 14 minutes flown by local
Comments from NGC pilots:
"I have to say that given my previous experiences with flying in Scotland, this was much more challenging & will remain my preferred hill site!"
Expedition notes by Ian Atherton and Jan Atherton
Sunday 30 March 2008
Another good flying day as the showers that were forecast for Wales
didn't materialise. Light SW wind which allowed the Cwm Du ridge to
work, but it was sometimes spoiled by 6kt ave thermals going right up
to cloud base which reached 5000' AMSL in the afternoon. We only
managed 15 flights as a lot of `the regulars' were missing (you should
know by now that Talgarth generates it's own weather so you shouldn't
believe the general forecast). Jill Banks managed to get her second
bronze leg with a flight of an hour and twenty minutes. Mike Tomlinson
and Brocky disappeared for a couple of hours in the K21 to get Mike up
to speed in the a/c in preparation for him to start his Xcounty
coaching. I risked life, limb and a divorce by giving Anne her annual
check! Luckily she passed so our marriage is still in tact!
Thursday 27 March 2008Today turned out to be very good and probably even better than last Wednesday. Light NNW wind backing throughout the day to west but the thermals at times were a solid 5-7 average all the way to cloudbase which varied between 4 to 5,000 AMSL. I managed to get to shobdon, then back into the Beacons
One flying report's not enough to say how pleasantly surprised we all were by the improving conditions today...... it was still booming at 4 pm. I'll certainly confirm Martin's averager readings of 5to7 kts , and for the last hour i didn't even look for lift - just pointed towards any old vaguely promising section of sky and flew at 60-80kt in the 17 M cirrus without bothering to circle much at all. Hopefully this might just be the forerunner of a a better summer where global warming works for rather than against. Surely there's got to be a balancing factor in the overall equation to make up for all the regulatory Eurocrap we're enduring.
Please note the correct use of apostrophes( c.f.computer americrap)...........oh there i go on my orange box again.
Tuesday 25 March 2008A bright day and no disappointments today. Virtually everyone had gone home after the miserable weekend, and there was a maximum of 3 or 4 gliders at any one time flying in the abundant NW ridge lift and thermal that was on offer. Wind was NW backing to W, with the ridges from Llangorse up to Hay working and also in the Cwmdu valley later.Wave looked a possibility but no-one contacted any. A wonderful day's flying and the only reason to come down after 2 or 3 hours was the cold. Mark Fisher
Monday 24 March 2008A truly miserable day with poor visibility, frequent hail showers and howling winds. After a few brave souls flew out of desperation the kit was eventually put away and we closed the hangar doors just before 5pm... Then it happened.... a thin blue line of sky appeared on the horizon.... The sky opened up and within minutes the cloud cleared the hill and classic ridge conditions presented themselves.
The thoughts of those resigned to derigging in the cold suddenly turned to soaring.
A tug pilot was located and the hangar doors were opened.
Easter weekend 2008The Easter XC comp was a great success with 2 scores being entered on Monday. The bottle went to second placed Gerry and Chris as the winner is a non drinker. Gerry and Chris clocked up a 40k triangle in K13 amassing 290 points with the winner scoring 350 points with a 70k zig zag in a Nimbus 2C.
There were plenty of visitors around over the Easter weekend, it’s a pity
the weather wasn’t more co-operative, but we did get at least one new
country member from the flat lands and it all looked very pretty waking up
to the white scenery on Sunday morning.
Wednesday 19 March 2008
Those also out included Robbie, Geoff Stinchcombe, Tony C tugging, Tony Bartlett, Martin Langford (he who must be obeyed!), John Scott, John Horley, John ? oh hell my minds gone blank again, you know John from Rhayader who practically lives on site! and two pilots from Usk enjoying themselves.
Oh, and finally for those interested the K21 is up and running. GAZPA
is having no problems getting it airborne so long as the field doesn't
get any wetter.
Tuesday 4 March 2008
Sunday 2 March 2008
An amazingly good weekend, especially considering the bleak forecast from earlier in the week.
On Sunday a fresh westerly provided excellent ridge soaring conditions all the way up to Hay Bluff and back.
Cloud base increased to nearly 4,000 QNH with some nice big blue gaps opening up in the afternoon.
Later in the day there were also thermals and several cloud streets stretching upwind towards Brecon.
Pilots out flying their own gliders included Mike Entwisle, Alex Jenkins, Mike Tomlinson, and Geoff King in his shiny new DG - Nice landing for your first flight on type Geoff.
Saturday 1 March 2008
looking east from Hay Bluff (1 March 2008) RR
What a day....apart from being St Davids day! There was a good turn out at the club with I believe about 20 launches. Westerly winds 25-30kts at 2000ft 7/8ths cloud cover with bases at about 3000ftQFE. The main ridge was working well, the Cumdu ridge was working and also the Llangorse ridge.
Saturday 1 March 2008
A decent day which lasted longer than the forecasts suggested , in which all the club gliders were in use (xcept K21) and there were about 22 a/tows.
Saturday 1 March 2008Saturday 1 March was great fun with a strong westerley and lots of promise of wave. Lots of wild ridge flying on the main ridge, in the Cymdu valley and on the Llangorse ridges but unfortunately no wave to talk of although we could see some lovely lennies over England. Mike Tomlinson got highest but about 6 of us had a great time. Robbie Robertson
Wednesday 27 February 2008
6 of us out flying today, Geoff Stinchcombe solo in the K13, Martin
Brockington, Mike Tomlinson, Robbie Robertson, John Horley and myself.
Martin Pingel
Sunday 17 February 2008
No wind but cold and sunny. 8 launches today.
Saturday 16 February 2008
It was a lovely day on site - sunny with clear skies, and despite very
little wind low down there was weak easterly wave. 21 launches today.
Can't really add much to Anne's report except
a few photo's to give you an idea of the sort of day it was. Note the
sharp line of the inversion which was at about 1500ft AMSL. Lift was
very odd and open to some discussion. We had a light 6kt wind from
around 110-120 and yet the turbulence at times was more akin to a
30kt wind. Sink was off the clock at times and the lift was best
described as erratic. We were flying the lee side of Ydas and the
burnt patch using very weak shifting wave which appeared to be broken
up by lee side thermals being triggered by the very cold air
descending off the mountain. Most of us struggled to stay up for
longer than 45 minutes and had two attempts. But fair do to Mike Codd
he seemed to suss it out better than anyone else and stayed up for
1½hrs, which was no mean feat - well done Mike.
Tuesday 12 February 2008
Back by popular request another talga flight report.
Kieth and John Price flew to the midlands to get his paperwork signed off but not until Adrian and Mike bla bla had rigged the big cirrus and Kieth towed me on a wave chase into the cwmddu where 1-2kt of lift to ...eventually.....4200qfe at the scree slope. Mike Rossiter (Bla bla)
Sunday 10 February 2008
So you thought it would be only sledge rides today at Talgarth?
Wednesday 6 February 2008
What a beautiful day it was. Moderate NW wind dropping throughout day and slightly backing. Blue, yes blue, skies with some weak half knot thermals up to about 3500ft QHN. Although I did get a rogue thermal at 3.5 knots for about 1000ft. People out included John Horley in IS32, Robbie, Don G doing aerobatics in the K6!!!, Jeff (from Bridgend), and myself who cruised around enjoying the views for nearly 4 hours - ahh what a life!
Keith did the tugging expertly as usual, so all in all a good day but
shame so few turned up.
Mike flew the k6 also and spent nearly half an hour trying to stall it in what could only be described as an exercise in earth repulsion, Nearly 900 hours flying and it was the first time i've flown a 6..........quite a delightful experience.
Wednesday 30 January 2008No wind at first and then rain so those that had turned up were looking a bit bemused as it wasn't supposed to be like that. Any way by mid day it opened up and we all got airbourne into the mod WNW wind. Small amounts of cloud floated around at about 3000ft QNH. Ridge working well from Bluff all way down Cwmdu and there was some weak wave over Bronllys, which i managed to get into, up to 6000ft
Those out included John Horley, Robbie, Don G, myself, Robin. Keith
flew off in his Europa. Others around incl Tony C, Mike Rossitor and
Adrian Thomas.
Sunday 27 January 2008
Amazing, another flyable day although it wasn't quite as good as
yesterday.
Saturday 26 January 2008
Good days flying with wave up to 10,200ft QNH. Quite a few out including Mike Codd, Gerry, The Crowdens, Richard Robbins, Clive, Don G, John H and Some visitors from North Hill. A few of the Usk guys were out and we could all hear the Shobdon pilots in the wave as well.
Martin Pingel
Sunday 6 January 2008
Lots and lots of pilots out enjoying the average conditions. Plenty of
check flights, training flights and privateers enjoying the SW
light/mod wind which increased to fresh and backed to SSE throughout
the day. Got a little crowded on the spine back at times and a bit
congested on the airfield on at least one occasion but otherwise
everyone had a good day without any mishaps. Many thanks from all to
John Price (and John Horley) for the tugging, and especially John Price
who must have had an "interesting" flight back through the Beacons in
deteriorating conditions.
Link here to: Latest Flying Reports | 2007 Archive
Updated: 16 February 2009 MF |
Hay, Builth Wells generally collecting
turn points again.
Hi all, well what a great day it turned out and took most of us by
surprise. Some really good thermals, some dud ones and some great
cloud streets at times. I got a 7.5 average on my computer for about
1500ft at one stage. I flew around collecting turn points at Hay on
Wye, Cray Reservoir, Builth Wells and Abergavenny (where I topped out
at over 6000ft amsl!) Gerry Martin got to Knighton and back. 
Rushed up to the club after a morning of business meetings, yawn, yawn
and was in the air within 45 mins. Straight off the end of Hay Bluff
and into weak wave which eventually topped out at around 11,000ft AMSL.
Two out from Usk flying their Nimbus 3 with a 25m span, John Horley
was tugging, Doc Saunby was in the IS32 and Clive in a K13. Robbie
had flown earlier but was leaving when i arrived. Sorry if I missed
anyone else off this report. Great couple of hours.
