July 2010 issu of the magazine of the Cambridge Gliding Club
16
The song remains the same Gransd en Times July 2010 Open Day From the Chair: Club News and Events: Just Beat It: Derek Coppin When the tide goes out Sarah Kelman flies: Gransden Stansted Luton Sixty Years On Gliders have come a long way in 60 years. Where next? Life in the back seat James Kellerman on training to be a BI and why you should Bluebell at 60 10,000 hours 72,000 launches £500,000 in revenue Joshua Hope wins the first Neville Anderson Award Emilie House on flying the interclub league
Transcript
The song remains
the same
GransdenTimes
July 2010
Open Day
From the Chair: Club News and Events: Just Beat It: Derek Coppin
When the tide goes outSarah Kelman flies: GransdenStanstedLuton
Sixty Years OnGliders have come a long way in 60 years. Where next?
Life in the back seat
James Kellerman on training to be a BI
and why you should
Bluebell at 6010,000 hours 72,000 launches £500,000 in revenue
The first cuckoo of spring says that winter is over. The first pleading email
for a winch driver, from Jo in the office, says that the summer trial flight season has begun. The pattern is so well established that the global-warming lobby monitor that first email for evidence of climate change: in truth, it's the best data they have. I am certain that the hassle of arranging crew puts members off inviting family, friends and colleagues to go gliding in the evening.Does it have to be like this?
The last issue of Gransden Times carried ads for all the club vacancies and Richard Brickwood was pleased with the response: but those emails from Jo keep coming.
On a more cheery note, the Euro is falling against the pound which might just put that über ship you've
been dreaming about in reach; or a new LX900. Of course, if you own an über ship already then you might be feeling ambivalent about it. The future of the über ship is speculated about on page 15.
For the second year running we have had a great start to the season. Phil Jeffery has set a new 500Km record in the 20m class and Sarah Kelman set a new record for Gransden - Stansted - Luton. It is a record unlikely to be beaten unless Iceland goes up in smoke again - and I am not referring to that country's economy. The story starts on page 13.
The next big club event is the Regionals, starting on 21st August. Neil Goudie explains the changes to club operations and accommodation on page five.
There have been a few changes to Gransden Times with this issue. The masthead change is the most obvious but the page design has also been cleaned up. The intention is to make the magazine easier to read and navigate. I hope you agree.
GRT 3 July 2010 www.glide.co.uk
Sixty Years On: Page 15Between Bluebell and the K21 glide angles doubled. What will they be in 60 years time? Spray-on solar panels, boundary layer control, hypersonic vacum trains and the end of jet travel. No one will tell me I was wrong.
Chocolate and flowers: Page 8-9Bluebell is 60, and all pilots of her should qualify for a heating allowance. On April 29th, the club gathered with Ted Warner (her first pilot) to celebrate the club's first two-seaters. But how will we view the K21s in 60 years time?
The Song Remains the same: Page 10Emilie House takes an LS7 WL to Wittering for the inter-club league. You can read her lyrics on page 10.
Their life in your hands: Page 7James Kellerman swaps his ASG29 for a K21 and talks us through becoming a BI. It's not just for budding ASCATs
When the tide goes out: Pages13-14Iceland took it's revenge on the UK last April with a fireworks show that grounded every airliner. But it didn't stop Sarah Kelman visiting Easyjet's depots at Luton and Stansted in her ASW28
Club News and Events: Pages 4-5Phil Jeffery breaks the 500Km record in the 20m class. A Junior nearly catches fire and if it had, we have a new ASW24 to console ourselves with. Neil Goudie talks us through the changes for the Regionals
From the Chair: Page 11Richard reports that unemployment is falling in the Gransden Lodge area of the country with the appointment of new grass cutters and maintenance personnel: the boy, George, will be pleased. But there's a £4,000 bill for road resurfacing. RIB remains chipper.
Gransden Times is produced by Moltenlight.com for The Cambridge Gliding Centre Ltd. (www.glide.co.uk) All material is the copyright of contributors. The views expressed in Gransden Times are not necessarily those of the Cambridge Gliding Centre Ltd or its editor. For more information contact: [email protected]
Just Beat It: Page 6 CFI, Richard Maskell, outlines what is and is not acceptable when doing a racing finish. The 'Law' has a view too
CGC Open Day: Page 12Joshua Hope wins the first Neville Anderson Award
Paul Harvey, Editor, Gransden Times
the point of the issue is...
Contents
Junior, HEK, nearly caught fire whilst being towed to the
launch point (22) last April. A broken wheel bearing al-lowed the tyre to rub against the wheel-well. By the time the damage was noticed, the wheel rim and bearing case had been destroyed. The glider was unservicable for three weeks..
In 2006, a Duo Discus Tur-bo from CGC was destroyed by fire due to a binding wheel brake.
Windfarms – the one at Graveley was refused
but went to appeal. Although this may not DIRECTLY affect us at GRL having an eight pylon, 450’ obstruction, on a final glide from the north 6nm away from GRL is not to be welcomed. The main purpose in showing interest is that there is a revised application for the anemometer mast at Arrington. That is a precursor to an application for a wind farm which could be less than 1.5nm from the end of 22 and 16.That really could affect us and so we have come out strongly against it. IF the mast application is approved and IF a windfarm application follows we really will need everyone’s help in trying to get it refused. There are many strong rea-sons why it ought to be and much local support on our side. Watch this space.
This issue's font cover picture was taken by club
member, Sarah Kelman.It was shot on a Nikon D300 with an exposure of 1/640 sec at F11 on a 38mm lens with a 'film' setting of ISO 200 .
Sarah set her camera to take two pictures per second and then merged the images using the 'layers' feature in Adobe Photoshop CS3.
The glider is our K21, HTV, launching on runway 04 in April.
The cub is still short of Winch drivers – really all
solo pilots should be on one of the senior rosters, usu-ally starting on the Launch Marshals’ or Winch drivers’ rosters. If you’re a new solo pilot, please do join one of those rosters. Please contact me (at [email protected]) for more information. Training is provided for both roles.
The first set of duty rosters for the winter season will be prepared in Mid August. The availability page is now open, and lists the dates for which we will be require a rostered crew, and a reminder of your rostered roles. When record-ing your availability, please leave afternoons allowed on at least one weekend day and please only exclude date on which you are unable to attend the airfield. The news page of the Operations sec-
tion of the club website http://www.glide.co.uk/ops/ will be kept up to date with the information about the roster preparation.
Recently, there have been a few instances of members not arranging swaps in good time. Please do keep track of your duties, and sort out any neces-sary swaps early. Remember that the most effective way to find a swap partner is to phone around. If you do chose to try the email lists first, please do so early and be prepared to phone around if you do not get a suitable reply. Please to not leave it to the office to try to arrange your replacement.
In order to arrange swaps it is necessary for rostered members to be able to contact one another. There is a contacts list on the club website. The list needs to be opted-in to, and a majority of rostered members already are. The list is only viewable by logged in members so please do opt-in if you are not already.
To aid keeping track of your duties, there is now a person-alised “unified” duty list on the website. It’s the “Your Duties” item on the “Your Profile” menu. This brings the weekend duty rosters, the weekday instructing and weekday tug rosters together onto one list. It also allows Instructors, BI’s and Launch Marshals to access details of bookings and opera-tions on their upcoming duty days (a link appears where this facility is available).
Steve Kaszak, Rosters Manager
LX Avionics recently an-nounced the LX9000, with
a large (5.6") screen and vario. Coming shortly is their new MiniMap and vario sytsem. They recently announced the LX166 with final glide display and vario - see page 16.
GRT 4 www.glide.co.uk July 2010
At 116.6Km/h Phil Jeffery set a new 20m, 500Km
triangle UK record on 22nd, April, 2010, in his 18m Ventus 2CXT, 64.
the sport this is the oppor-tunity to watch competition gliding at close hand.
As the name suggests, this competition is held locally and is generally the first serious competition that budding racing pilots enter. It is a handicapped, i.e., each glider has an assigned handicap rat-ing according to its calculated performance (an old wooden glider may have a handicap of about 80, whereas a modern machine may have one of about 109). Each day (one task) has a maximum score of 1000 points for the winner; this can be devalued if very few gliders get around the task (the idea being that if only a small pro-portion of gliders get home, then luck probably had a lot to do with it!). The scores are as-signed according to the speed relative to the winner.
This year we will have around 50 gliders competing in 2 classes and we would expect launching to take place around mid-day with finishers arriving back from mid to late afternoon.
Although, inevitably, the club operations can be delayed during launching (which takes just over one hour) we try to integrate the competition into the club normal flying opera-tions as much as possible.
In fact, with extra launching capacity, nine days of on-site catering and bar open every
evening it is great time to bring friends and family along to see the club.
There are a number of events planned for the week for competitors which club members can join in with, keep an eye on the website and email for more details about Curry and Hog Roast nights.
The small print. The competition infra-
structure will be set up from the weekend before. The east trailer park has to be moved to a temporary area at the west end of Runway 09/27. A reminder about this will be sent out to members in mid-August but if your trailer is in this area please can you move before Sunday 15th August.
On Wednesday 18th August Judith (our caterer) will be set-ting up in the kitchen. Please can members remove any food from freezers and fridges which are in the kitchen. Unfortunately, food will be disposed from the Thursday onwards.
From Friday 20th to Sunday 29th August the kitchen will be unavailable for general use. Please ask Judith if you need to access to the kitchen. A tap for drinking water (especially designed for Camelbaks!) has been installed in the disabled toilet.
All non competition pilots must obtain permission from the competition Launch Mar-shal before towing out to any position other than the back of the grid. People allowed to tow to the front of the grid should expect to clear the grid as instructed by the Launch Marshal.
Club Launching during the Regionals
As we said it is important
that we integrate the com-petition into the normal op-erations as much as possible. Although we try to satisfy all our members and visitors it is
really up to everyone to make this work.
To this end the competition, and club, launching operations, will be the responsibility of Ju-lian Bane (Competition Launch Marshall) from the beginning of the day and until the last of any launching of any gliders related to the competition (or periods of any significant competition 're-lights').
Due to the fact that more and more competitors come to the competition without a dedicated crew the Competi-tion Launch Crew will now only launch gliders directly related to the comp (i.e. both classes, official HC entries, official snifters and comp relights) and will hand over to a rostered, or appointed, launch marshal like any normal club day.
Club members can tow out to the back of the grid (behind any official HC entries) in preparation for club opera-tions providing there is room. If there is no room please await instructions from the Launch Marshall to decide where to park.
Any pilot wanting to launch off the front of the grid must contact the Competition Launch Marshal first (the marshal will be available on any ground radio at all times other than during briefing). Pilots who tow out, without warning, to the front of the grid, or any other point, will simply be directed to the back of the grid.
If we can all work this procedure then there is a very good chance we can efficiently launch gliders before and after the grid launch with the minimum of confusion!
Hope to you see you there.
FLY'sFirstFlight
The best things in life are worth waiting for. The latest
addition to the club fleet had better be very good indeed.
Bought in autumn last year, FLY, an ASW 24, eventually flew for the first time under club ownership on 26 May.
After months of refurbish-ment, which included a new paint scheme, lettering and nose hook, registration and re-wiring, FLY took off into the blue with Robert Welford. FLY replcace a Junior in the hanger.
Another glider which took to the air again was CUGC's ASW19, CU. The glider now has a panel that lifts with the canopy and a new nose hook has been fitted. The glider is also available for club use.
FLY behind club Pawnee with Robert Welford on the test flight - 26 May 2010
Normal service will be resumed shortlyThe GRL Regionals are held in August. Neil Goudie, Competition Director, explains the changes to club operations
In light of some of the flying done so far this year I'd like to clarify what I consider
acceptable flying / airman-ship when it comes to high speed low flying. Some of us, myself included, enjoy finishing a cross country flight with a "practise competition finish". Roughly this involves build-ing up speed during the last phase of the final glide, arriv-ing low and then pulling up and joining the circuit.
After a fatal incident several years ago the BGA introduced guidelines for such flying during competitions.
Primarily this banned hedge hopping where com-petitors flew the last field in ground effect (very low). Its unclear from the current
competition handbook what the exact recommendations for heights are as it states:
Competitors shall be reminded in the local rules that all pilots must be aware of and fly within the requirements of CAP393 ANO Rules of the Air Section 2 Article 5 (low flying rule) and Section 1 Article 74 (reckless or negligent endangerment of any person or property). To meet this requirement, regardless of the posi-tion of the finish line, all approaches towards the airfield should prescribe a descend-ing profile(other than to go-around where necessary), the landing area should be in the pilot's sight, and the airfield boundary must be crossed at a height which cannot endanger persons(seen or unseen), vessels or property.
I understand that these are competition rules but
they give a good indication of the legal / CAA view and therefore are reasonably ap-plicable to finishing non comp cross country flights. I don't believe we currently have a problem with pilots flying too low while finishing a flight, however I am very concerned about where they are flying.
This whole area is a minefield for CFI's. One approach is to ban them all together, another is to set minimum heights, draw lots of diagrams etc. This just tempts some people to work around the rules. Clearly pilots have differing levels of experience and ability. Learning how to manage the energy in a glider is an advanced skill and takes some training, practice etc.
My primary concern is that anybody doing this sort of thing doesn't endanger other people on the ground or in the air.
So under no circum-stances should such low level flights pass over or aim at people, struc-tures or vehicles. This
includes the clubhouse area, car parks, trailer parks etc etc. The "pul-lup" must not cross the approach line to an ac-tive or potentially active runway. If you are arriving back late why shouldn't some-body else be coming back low from the other direction?
The flying orders already say that you shouldn't plan your final glide and/or compe-tition finish in such a way that you do not fly through the circuit or the extended centre line and approach-arc of the runway in use at Gransden Lodge.
If you have any doubts about what is acceptable then err on the side of caution, you could always check with the CAA's legal department to see what they mean by "reck-less or negligent endanger-ment of any person or prop-erty". I am happy to discus this with anybody if they feel it needs clarfication. Basically it comes down to good airman-ship and common sense.
GRT 6 www.glide.co.uk July 2010
Good FinishCompetition finish: make sure you know where you can do them
Michael Jackson implored us to 'just beat it'.Richard Maskell lays down guidelines for comp finishes
There are many reasons for becoming a Basic Instructor: free flying, meeting new people,
impressing young things with your flying prowess but the strongest reason, I believe, is the joy of sharing your passion with other people. I had one further motive - the need to become a better trained pilot.
Flying training is odd. You tend to become invisible to scrutiny once you have soloed. Yes there are the annual checks but they are a very small window in the life of an active pilot. It is a little like passing your driving test. Once the test is over you get on with it and never (hardly ever) get re
tested. I will admit to being a very nervous passenger and would ‘ground’ nearly everyone I have ever had a lift with. Poor judgement, random gear changes, poor positioning on the road, careless cornering and the unnecessary use of brakes with poor speed control are common. Hang on a minute; that sounds just like all the problems you might experience with a poor pilot.
First stop was to sit in the back seat of the Puchatz and take some pre course rides with senior instructors. The message was loud and clear, ‘DO NOT CRASH’ and I thought that this was a reasonable starting point
when passenger flying. The next message was ‘DO NOT TAKE ANY UNNECESSARY RISKS’ and I was happy with that. The final message was ‘MAKE IT FUN FOR THE PASSENGER’ but not the same sort of fun that you might want out of the flight. It’s for the pupil stupid. I’m beginning to understand.
Ten flights later and I had overcome my fear of backseat flying. Now I would need the approval of the CFI to do the course. Would he simply convulse with hysterical and uncontrolled mirth at the thought of me becoming a BI? He held his composure well and the first hurdle was crossed.
The courses are run by the long suffering and infinitely patient Alan Dibdin. The syllabus itself is not exactly rocket science but the added value came from the Alan ‘extras’ gleaned from his cross-country flying and training experience.
A whole weekend in the middle of winter was needed. The field was water logged and as a consequence we were the only people flying so the other victim, Colin Hinson I were able to complete the ground school and flying exercise. We completed the course with Alan adding cryptic comments that still allude me. Not a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ but something subtle like, ’competent’ or ‘good’. I was too embarrassed to ask what the terms meant but no matter as the final arbiter is still the CFI, Mr Big.
The acceptance (or not) flights were with Richard Maskell. The mantra was clear in my head: CBSIFTCBE DON’T CRASH. My
flying was it’s usual mix of indifferent but safe circuits, cable breaks and landings. Mr Big seemed satisfied and the papers were duly signed.
The big day arrived on the eve of CGC's 75th anniversary dinner. Loads of ex members turned up for a flight and there were no BIs to be found except me. My first passenger had 2,000 hours in gliders and was a former Canadian national champion from many moons ago and had forgotten more about gliding than I learned! The second flight was with my son, Nicholas, and was a very special experience for both of us but that is another story.
All passengers and pupils are precious and when you fly your own family you owe it to your own conscience to be properly trained. Do the BI as extra training even if you never intend to fly a passenger. You will feel happier about your flying.
James Kellerman in his ASG 29E'...my first passenger had 2,000 hours in gliders and was a former Canadian
national champion'
Their life in your handsIn the first of an occasional series, GRT looks at the jobs members take on. In this issue we look at the role of BIs. James Kellerman has recently qualified: so, what's it like training for the back seat ?
Chocolate? This really had me baffled. What make? Plane or milk? Liquid or solid? I also
needed a reminder as to what it's like to fly a T21b built in 1950 in Kirbymoor-side, Yorkshire, and called Bluebell.
On hand, to remind me, on an overcast morning on 29th April was a moonlighting Easyjet captain with strong family ties to CGC's first two-seat training glider: Robert Bryce-Smith. As a treat for club members he has brought along his BA pilot sister, Susie. The pair launched first (after some sibling squab-bling resolved by Bryce) with Robert taking the left hand seat and BA picking up the launch cost.
As flights in Bluebell don't last long, 10 minutes later I'm strapping in and readying myself for Bluebell's 72,000-and-something flight and adding another four minutes to the 10,000 hours clocked to date.
Stepping into Bluebell is like get-ting into a classic car; there's a sense of bemusement. You know what you should do, but it doesn't seem quite right doing it. CBSIFTCBE still applies but she has spoilers that are irrelevant and a trim only a Mayfair hairdresser would charge
for. There's only one setting for it and that's back.
Though the fixed seating is upright the controls fall easily to hand except for the airbrakes, which one has to lean forward for. Cut out of the plywood and aluminium dashboard is a glove box containing a hooter; Robert explains that: "it's mid 20th century FLARM." The cockpit is a world away from the 'Land of Leather' cabins in the P1's day job.
In knots: the ASI starts at 8, stall is 22, best glide 32 and approach is 40.
Best L/D? Somewhere in double figures. The optimum winch speed is 35Knts on a dedicated white strop. Time for the launch.
With wings level I pull the stick off it's forward stop and run it around the
box, stretch my legs on the rudders and try the spoilers - all controls feel well weighted and harmonised. We'll see. Because the ailerons are at the wing tips the wings must be level to check them and Susie is on hand to help, as well as confirming spoiler operation. The stick feels very heavy relative to a modern glider because of the poor single-tab trim, and this doesn't change in flight. There's no fin tank.
As the strop and parachute snake away and align with the cable, the accel-eration on 'all-out' is remarkably smooth, quiet and undramatic - like a train pull-ing out of a station. There's no feeling of being drawn into an event horizon. Also, because the nose hook is well forward of the CofG, the angle of climb is limited and this limits the launch height. Today, with only five knots on '22' and drizzle, we get 900ft. Robert hands me the con-trols at the top and I ignore his advice of,
"do everything slowly" and bank to the right as though in an LS7. With the tight turning circle, there's a risk we'll bump into our own rudder. As there is little lift, Robert suggests I take off some bank and explore the stall.
At this point I should remind dyslex-ics about the difference between a K21 and a T21: it's more than 60 years. The T21 will spin in an unhurried dignified way and it likes to be recovered in an unhurried dignified way too. There was little warning of the stall and still less of the wing drop. After about 90 degrees of rotation I applied full right rudder and eased the stick forward. After spinning the Puchacz, recovery seems to take an age but the ASI needle swept past 40 Knots and we returned to level flight.
There was something else I had for-gotten and that was how cold one could
GRT 8 www.glide.co.uk July 2010
Fathers and sons: from left to right, Robert and Bryce Bryce-Smith, Ted and Peter Warner at CGC, 29th April 2010.
robert and susie bryce-smith: look who's in the left hand seat
'all-out' is remarkably smooth - like a train
pulling out of a station. There's no feeling of being drawn into an
event horizon'
Chocolate and FlowersSixty years ago Bluebell joined the fleet. There was no Champagne - she was christened with chocolate. Ted Warner, her first pilot, joined the celebrations on April 29th. Paul Harvey crashed the party
get in Bluebell and though she's 60 years old, there's no cold-weather heating al-lowance.
All this playing around has taken it's toll and at 700ft we join the circuit. Robert's brief is to keep a close watch on the vario as prolonged and severe sink will mean having to abbreviate the circuit we are about to start onto 22. Just beyond the boundary of 22 I turn in and Robert suggests 40 knots is a good approach speed. On finals I release the back pressure on the stick and open the spoilers. Magically the ASI reads 40 knots: but Bluebell has done this 72,000 times before and knows her way home.
There's one final reminder from Robert - the ground run.
Because the pilots don't sit in the middle, one has to look directly through the wind deflector on your side during landing, otherwise you tend to veer to one side. One final point: concentrate on keeping the ailerons neutral as they
extend to the wing tip.After landing, the rain started and
Ted Warner arrived with his son Peter. There was an excellent turnout and after tea and cakes, Ted flew Bluebell again.
Ted , who has flown and instructed in her countless since that day in1950, said: "It's always a joy to fly Bluebell. I long ago stopped counting how many thousands of flights I've made in her or the hundreds of people that she and I have taught to glide. I'm happy to see that the latest generation of pilots are just as fond of her as I am, and are taking
such good care of her." Richard Brickwood said: "Ted was
our Chief Flying Instructor for many years, and Bluebell was the main trainingaircraft; together they were the mainstay of this club for over two decades. We owe them both a huge debt of gratitude, and are proud to continue their work teaching young people to fly."
One thought: will we remember the Grob and K21s with such affection in 60 year's time?
(Additional reporting by Andrew Watson)
GRT 9 July 2010 www.glide.co.uk
an eventFul liFe: Bluebell crashed into Coldhams Lane Post Office circa early 1960s
sixty years on: Ted Warner in Bluebell with son, Peter, 29th April 2010. Ted first flew Bluebell 60 years ago to the day
'Will we remember the Grob and K21s with such
affection in 60 year's time?'
GRT 10 www.glide.co.uk July 2010
despite the 6,000ft of runway at Wittering, I
still had to pick out fields as we crossed the
airfield boundary at 200ft…
The song remains the same
Fresh from her agriculture sabatical at last year's GRL regionals, Emilie House enjoys a fine tradition that is the Interclub League
It is perhaps slightly ironic that, having spent the duration of the 2009 Gransden Regionals wishing for a glider that would penetrate
into wind better than a Junior, I was now sitting in a beautiful, shiny LS7 WL (it used to be mine, so look after it, Ed), staring gloomily at an overcast sky. If I was at the gliding club I’d probably have pulled the Junior out to scratch around in the no doubt weak and broken thermals, but I was at Wittering and about to take part in the Inter-Club League.
I’d had a slightly impromptu attempt at the Gransden round of ‘Inter-Scrub’ last year, where I managed to get a couple of points for the club by getting past Y before chickening out and coming home. For those of you not familiar with the format, there are 3 classes: Novice, Intermediate and Pundit. Scores are on a ‘grand prix’ style system, with the day winner in each class getting 6 points, second place 5, and so forth, and anyone who takes a competition launch automatically gets 1 point for their club.
This was the first time I’d competed at a different site, and I took the day off work beforehand to make sure I had everything I needed – and to get a bit of extra flying in! It turned out to be an interesting day, with my first landout of the year, a fairly late return to Gransden, and a landout story better suited to the bar than to print! I set off for Wittering the next and arrived late, at 10:30, to be told there was a re-brief at 11, so I hadn’t missed anything. My glider was rigged and ready to go in 30 mins, and I headed off to briefing. The task was a 125km polygon to the south with a fallback task of 85km, and several airfields along the way. It was carefully planned to avoid nasty airspace – a good thing for me as I still haven’t invested in a PDA.
It was clear that it was going to be a hot and humid grid squat while we waited to see if the sky was going to be
capable of holding 18 gliders in thermals. Tasks were re-set for the 3rd time that day, and I made my way from the front of the grid to my glider parked at the back, repeating the mantra, MEM-XXX-MAD, to check I had the turn points in my GPS. I was soon greeted by a cheery man whose name I don’t know, and later on Phil Jeffrey, ensuring that I not only knew the new task, but also that I had everything I needed: something to clean the old task off my map with, a pen to draw the new one on, and a general question and answer session with the man himself, were all part of the service.
The pundits were at the front of the grid, and the EB28 pilots launched themselves as a ‘sniffer’ and only just got away. Russell soon followed them in his JS1 (with a very funky curvy tailplane) and when they reported 2kt climbs at about 2,000ft the grid was launched. I took a very lengthy aerotow behind G-FLKE, the motorglider based at GRL before BODU, and despite the 6,000ft of runway at Wittering, I still had to pick out fields as we crossed the airfield boundary at around 200ft… Incidentally, and as I had noticed the previous day, there aren’t many landable fields about at this time of year!
I scratched around for about 20 minutes, enjoying the change of scenery and the very inviting huge runway at Wittering just beneath me, which was getting significant use as gliders fell out of the sky and took relights. I soon became one of them, and entertained regular users of tarmac runways with what they perceived to be an undershoot but what was in fact a deliberately short landing so that I could see just how far a glider would roll along the runway - it turned out to be quite a long way! I hung around at the launch point for a while and saw several other novices (in fact all but one) land back and take a relight or two. I learnt from their experience and didn’t take a relight myself, but instead parked my glider up at the rigging area and did what glider pilots do best on mediocre days; sit around and tell stories…
One novice got around the task, and everyone else landed out or back. Peter Belcher and Phil Jeffery got on the board for Cambridge with third place in their
respective classes, and were beaten by Hus Bos and Cranwell.
That evening we were treated to an excellent dinner, a cheap bar and a spectacular thunderstorm. My tent stayed intact and even more impressively, entirely dry, and I awoke the next morning to drizzle and a blanket of cloud. Briefing was at 11, but by 11:30 we had scrubbed for the day and we all made our separate ways home.
Overall, although not a great deal of flying was done, my ICL experience was an enjoyable one. Glider pilots by nature tend to be very helpful, but this can sometimes be lost in the heat of competition; not so at ICL. The comp director, his team of helpers, and fellow
competitors alike were all friendly and helpful at all times, from rigging to re-tasking, to cooking me a special veggie meal! If you want to get started in flying in comps, this is a great way to begin – it’s only a couple of days, so not a huge time or financial commitment, there are only about 17 other gliders to look out for (not the daunting 50 as in the regionals) and you will always be able to find someone to help you out if and when you need it!
W hat a great start to the year. As the Club points tables show, April and
May produced some glorious flying weather although early June is doing its best to live up to the traditional British summer of three fine days and a thunderstorm. We all hope that the season soon reverts to our preferred mode of cool nights, hot days and evenly spaced cu stretching from horizon to horizon.
Meanwhile, a quick summary of where we are from the Chairman’s perspective might be in order. Not bad actually.
Membership continues to grow (another 17 so far this year), including a number of “rejoins” who are warmly welcomed back into gliding; it is certainly good to see M19 back in the trailer park rather than the long term store of the Romney Hut park.
Thanks to a terrific effort by a whole team of people led by Robert Verdier and Robert Welford. FLY, our ASW24, is now in the fleet and, frequently, in the air. Details of the conversion qualifications were recently advised by Richard Maskell – and the Flight Manual is on the web site. Form an orderly queue at the launch point having read the manual AND having been shown how to rig and de-rig her!
The SitsVac column in the last Gransden Times produced a great result so a big “thank you” to Paul Ruskin who has taken on Airfield and Ground Equipment Maintenance from Rhod Turner
(just in time to get the Case tractor fixed when the hydraulic pump drive sheared). Please refer any equipment failures to Paul in future either directly or through Robert Verdier, Paul Dickinson or Jo in the office. Then we can get them fixed. Luckily Ashley Weller, who trades as Performance Fabrications and who now does all our “heavy” maintenance and servicing, has all the kit and skills to do the job on site which will speed it up and keep the cost down, but it is still significant. Paul Ruskin also arranged for the entrance track mortar bomb holes to be filled. Please drive slowly and carefully; anything else takes money to repair, £4,000 so far this season.
Thanks too to Lorna Sleigh, George Cheeseman and Josh Hope for agreeing to add to the grass cutting crew. Now, as soon as we get the Case back on line, we can continue with where we left off.
Martin Pointon also responded and has taken over George Sanderson’s role of Internal Publicist which will, we hope, continue to build upon George’s work on publicising events, courses and expeditions in plenty of time for everyone to know about and join in on them. Lorna Sleigh also volunteered for
the role of S&G correspondent. It would be very helpful if you could let Lorna know of suitable events/achievements/stories which she could use in the column.
The Regionals – at the last count this was up to 48 entries which only leaves two available before the list is full. Another great result for which Neil Goudie and his team deserve huge credit. It’s a lot of work getting it even this far. Now all they have to do is actually run it – but to an organisation put together by Neil that’s a walk in the park.
Web Site – a lot has been done, mainly by Jason Holloway, to get glide.co.uk further up the response pages when gliding is put into a web search engine. Even the early results look good and it will be fascinating to see how these are supported by the more established figures towards the end of the year.
Evening Classes – Tony Cronshaw, aided by David Jockinen, has had a recent push on recruiting into the evening classes as sign-ups are somewhat down on last year, perhaps as a result of the Open Day being a bit slower too. (Actually Open Day was manic on occasions but, overall, the number of public
attendees was somewhat down. The R&R Committee are already reviewing how to correct this for 2011).
A key Open Day guest was UKIP MEP, Stewart Agnew, who listened attentively to several conversations on EASA, Pilot Licensing and Standardised Rules of the Air. He gave us several good pointers as to how to begin to combat Eurononsense and offered to help wherever he could. He certainly seemed to enjoy his flight in a DuoDiscus courtesy of Richard Maskell. Given that the Standardised Rules of the Air are about to come alive again it is possible that Stewart is about to discover that there is no such thing as a free launch.
Evening Flying – we only have about six slots still available for Evening Flying Groups through to the end of the season. We would love to fill those too partly because they are great fun, partly because the revenue is a “nice little earner” and partly because we do need to make the Club assets work for us whenever we can. If you have booked a Flying Evening for friends, colleagues or neighbours in past years now would be a really good time to repeat the experience and, as you know, Jo in the Office will make all the arrangements so you simply need to bring your friends along and have a great time!
See you at the launch point.
Richard Brickwood, Chairman, CGC
GRT 11 July 2010 www.glide.co.uk
'...UKIP MEP, Stewart Agnew, certainly enjoyed his flight, but is about to discover that there's no
such thing as a free launch..'
Richard Brickwood
From the Chair
This year's open day showed how valuable these occasions are and the spirit of the club. Joshua Hope turned up at last year's open day
and joined the club. This year he was
awarded a commemorative bursary in a ceremony at our annual Open Day.
Anna-Marie Della Sala and Delphine de Groot presented the Neville Anderson Young Pilot award in memory of Anna-Marie's husband, who recently died aged 53 after a short illness.
The award's first recipient is Joshua Hope of Orwell. Joshua, a pupil atThe Leys School, joined the Cambridge Gliding Club after first visiting during its 2009 Open Day. He is now a cadet member with 50 flights and ten flying hours under his belt.
Anna-Marie Della Sala said: "Neville was always thoughtful and kind, andgentle in a caring and charismatic way. Other than his love for his family
and friends, he loved to glide. It is very important to us that Neville isremembered.
"This year Delphine, Neville's sister, and I have donated £200 to recognise and encourage young pilots in developing their flying skills and achieving their goals. This will give them opportunities to maybe enter competitions, assist with their general training or develop their cross-country flying skills.
"We're delighted to present this first 'Neville Anderson Young Pilot Award' to Joshua Hope, a very active member of the Club who is working towards going solo by his 16th birthday. We hope this token will assist him in achieving this goal, and would love to know how he progresses."
Joshua Hope said: "I'm extremely grateful to Anna-Marie and Delphine forthis generous award. Coincidentally, it was exactly a year ago that I firstvisited Cambridge Gliding Club, at last
year's open day. Having alreadyflown in a friend's light aeroplane, I already knew that I enjoyed flying,and was very happy to be accepted onto Cambridge Gliding Club's cadetscheme. It was great to begin flying gliders, and also to be entrusted withresponsible jobs on the ground like using the club's two-way radios. Theaward money will help me work towards my goal of going solo on my birthday in April next year."
The weather, in contrast to most of this season was not the best. This no doubt was a major factor in the reduced attendance at this year's open day. However, the momentum of the election did bring out the Mayor of Cambridge, Russ Mcpherson, and local MEP, Stewart Agnew. Even though the election was three days prior.
(Additional reporting and pictures, Paul Harvey)
GRT 12 www.glide.co.uk July 2010
Andrew Watson reports on the first Neville Anderson Award.
(l to R)Tony Cronshaw, Martin Gregory and Jason Holloway at 'checkin' Flight information on the Open Day
CGC Open Day
2010
Anna-Marie Della Sala (left) and Delphine de Groot with Joshua Hope
Former Mayor of Cambridge, Russ Mcpherson with Richard Brickwood
April was an extraordinary month for air travel. Ash from the Icelandic volcano,
Eyjafjallajokull, drifted over Europe and the authorities responded by closing controlled airspace to IFR traffic. It was also a period of settled high pressure with very reasonable soaring conditions, so, on Sunday April 18th, I decided to take the opportunity of a lifetime and explore two areas usually high on a glider pilot’s “avoid” list – the Stansted and Luton Control Zones.
This was a flight of principal. I had been seconded to the BGA Airspace Committee at the start of the winter and had first hand experience of the sort of battles the Committee have been waging for years. NATS (the UK air traffic service provider) and the Civil Aviation Authority continue to
stare in disbelief at the sort of flights we achieve on a regular basis and at the sheer volume of glider movements on a nice day. They also adamantly believe that gliders can easily transit Class D controlled airspace without understanding the nature of cross country soaring flight nor the needs of gliders. Controllers I have met are understandably reluctant to allow an unpredictable glider into their airspace as they have little or no experience of us. The Airspace Committee is continuing to try to introduce some basic appreciation of what we do into recurrent air traffic controller training and have a DVD planned to assist this.
So, this was a perfect example to give my local controllers some first hand experience of a gliding cross
country. Initially I was going to just set Gransden – Stansted – Luton - Gransden but this looked a little short and I wanted to use proper waypoints. So I studied the chart and decided that Gransden – Newmarket – North Weald
– Northampton South – Gransden would be suitable and take me (with a minor detour) via the Stansted and Luton control towers.
As I don't carry a transponder, I called Essex Radar early to get a feel for whether I would be allowed to cross so I could head off into darkest East Anglia instead if necessary. Stansted is infamous for rarely permitting any VFR crossing by anything, and it seemed like every man and his dog was on the frequency to get a transit to the overhead or a low approach down the runway. It was almost as busy as when I’m trying to get a call in my Big Orange Airbus during the easyJet rush hour.
The controllers had been refusing light aircraft without transponder so I was pleasantly surprised to be granted the crossing. The radio work was quite intense as they only had an intermittent primary radar trace on me
so kept calling to ask my position and to give me traffic information. It was also tricky as conditions went blue at the zone boundary and I was nervous of the easterly wind drawing in stable air from the Thames estuary, and because I was not permitted to climb above 3500ft into the Class A airspace as this was “contaminated”. The other challenge was VFR navigation. The area looks quite different on a half mill chart compared to the instrument approach plates I normally fly with.
The Stansted ramp was a ghost town of abandoned airliners but did give the expected great thermal off the apron. I had the airspace to myself as all the light aircraft wanted to fly as low as possible whilst I was up at 3400ft. I turned North Weald comfortably and set off for Northampton via the Luton overhead. This part was especially challenging as I would come close to the area where the Class A drops to 2500ft amsl (around 200ft above ground). Stansted tried to get me a clearance through this but failed and I was having starting to struggle with
the workload of scrabbling along so low down and changing from Essex to Luton Approach for the next >>
GRT 13 July 2010 www.glide.co.uk
hazy approach into stansted: not volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull, just haze from a 'lazy' airmass. Sarah heading south into Stansted in her ASW28
..and explore two areas usually high on a glider pilot’s “avoid” list – the
Stansted and Luton Control Zones'
'I don'tcarry a transponder, so
I called Essex Radar early to get a feel for whether I would be allowed to
cross'
'The ramp at Stansted was a ghost town, but
gave me a great thermal off the apron'
When the tide goes outonce in a lifetime the forces of nature provide access to forbidden places. this time the force was volcanic and the places Stansted and Luton. Glider pilot and airbus captain, Sarah Kelman, writes in a week when the UK stopped flying
the ramp at stansted: a great source of thermals
clearance. Luton was much quieter and made
a nice respite in the radio chatter which was fortunate as I found it quite awkward to get back up once clear of the low Class A boundary. The Luton ramp was even more packed than Stansted had been, with corporate jets double parked on all available tarmac.
With that detour complete, I headed due north over Luton town and back to the cumulus to make my last turnpoint. All in all, the flight in itself was an unremarkable 230km at 87kph in probably the worst soaring areas of the day, but certainly a unique experience in recent soaring history.
On Thursday 24th of July, we bade farwell to Derek at Cam-bridge Crematorium, a ceremony
followed by a buffet at the Golden Ball, Boxworth.
Derek took up gliding in 1975, flying from Booker originally and then spending 20 years at Lasham, where his son Garry is also a member. Upon taking early retirement in 2004, Derek relocated
to Cambridge and became a valued and popular member of Cambridge Gliding Centre.
He was quiet and easygoing. Ad-jectives relevant to describe how he was seen at the club include, knowledgeable, generous with his time and assistance, encouraging, supportive and pro-active. If a job needed to be done Derek would start and complete it before the need was flagged up. He would quietly act whilst many of us would wonder what to do and always seemed to have the right tool for the job!
Derek was an accomplished, determined and modest pilot, quietly achieving long distance flights, the drama they entailed only being apparent when the recorded traces were examined. He allegedly flew down the High Street in Wantage on the way back to Gransden and read the "sale" advertisements on the way!
Derek’s enthusiasm was infec-tious and he introduced many members into flying by taking them up on trial flights most Wednesdays during the sea-son. He was also a skilled winch driver and found time to drive the winch for at least one working day of the week.
Just before Derek was taken ill he flew to Lincoln, winning the “Kellman Clock” for the longest flight between the dates when the clocks are put back in October and moved forward again in March, an award he has sadly been unable to receive due to his incapacity and untimely death. Late into his illness he made many cross country flights as principal pilot in his syndicate two-seater, until his heart attack finally grounded this courageous and determined man.
His absence from the airfield and clubroom is very evident to all the mem-bers. We miss his modest, motivating presence and he will not be forgotten by his friends at Cambridge Gliding Club.
GRT 14 www.glide.co.uk July 2010
luton (leFt), as Few glider pilots have seen it: Sarah on a busman's holiday. And inset, the 'ramp' as seen from above. But will Stelios appreciate her dedication? Note the black yaw string.
nuts about nats - Sarah explains: 'Nats had banned all IFR flights. Heathrow, and also the airspace above the Luton and Stansted CTAs is all Class A. Rules of class A mean that no VFR is allowed, therefore, as Nats had stopped all IFR flights, this meant that nobody could go there! How ridiculous is that'.
About the authorSarah Kelman is a Captain on the A320 for EasyJet when she is not flying her ASW28 from the Cambridge Gliding Centre. She also sits on the BGA Airspace Committee
Bluebell at 60 really is a time to reflect on just how far gliders have come. Even the material used in today's modern glider (carbon, aramid, amides) had not been invented when Bluebell was just a pile of balsa wood
and Bostick. Indeed it was only a fluke (he forgot to turn the oven off) that Wallace Carothers invented the polymer, nylon, in the 1930s whilst working at DuPont. And he was only working on that because video games hadn't been invented. As a measure
of his creativity, he com-mitted suicide by drinking a cocktail of lemon juice and potassium cyanide, in 1937. But Carothers changed the lives of millions of women and probably quite a few men too.
Bluebell, techni-cally a T21, but referred to in 'performance circles' as a greased house brick, was, as
David Cameron said of Tony Blair, "the future once." Then, an aspect ratio in double figures was a novelty; in 2070 100:1 will be the norm for 30m gliders. These glide angles are not a flight of fancy, they just need a change in the gliding rules. A forecast. Within 10 years the IGC will allow the use of suction pumps to control the boundary layer and the 18m class will be achieving 70:1 and you'll need two 300Km flights for your silver C.
There will be conditions of course - the energy to drive the pumps will have to be carbon neutral, and that means biofuels. Peri tracks will be dug up and tailer parks cultivated to grow the biofuels to feed the pumps. And the use of biofuels will open up a whole new area for bureaucracy. At competitions,
officials will check your fuel for fossils: one am-monite and you're out.
The driving force will not only be the Green Police, but the glider manufacturers. Today's Jonker 29 XJA Mk10 is the end of the road. Classical aerody-namics has nothing left to offer: we are at an
evolutionary dead end. We probably arrived there with the LS6 a quarter of a century ago. The manufacturers need something new to sell. By 2070, spray-on solar panels will power the pumps and pilots will look forward to blue days. Indeed, what we now see as a classic gliding day, of evenly spaced cus', will become a challenge to find the best lift and a route in the blue to make the best glide. If the solar panels are really good, then managing the stored solar energy will be a core competitive advantage. And that's where new software will come into play.
We can be certain that some form of aerial WiFi will be developed. Glass panels (already the norm in commercial jets) will be superseded by miniature projectors on your glasses beaming critical data into your eyes. Head-up displays will be old technology. The brains behind the panel will have to com-pute new parameters, which are currently managed intuitively by our top pilots. Satellite data (cloud coverage and IR hotspots) will be streamed continuously into the onboard computer. At-mospheric data modelling will constantly be refined with data transmitted by other glider pilots, nationally, and the best thermal sources plotted. There will also be thermal finding software based on the noise an ascending thermal makes, with the frequency indicating the strength of lift. Once in the thermal, differential total energy systems, detecting the relative air velocities caused by horizontal and vertical air movements, under each wing tip, will indicate where the best lift is. For the differently gifted, an electric motor will get you home - with the jeers and ridicule from fellow club members: that much will remain the same.
Glider ownership will be over 10,000 in the UK with over a thousand gliders in the air on half-decent days. The top pilots will be able to trade in their Japanese lingerie models every 18 months - much as F1 drivers do today. And in 2070 gliding will be the only affordable form of aviation. Only the military will have jets. But what of commercial travel?
The death of the jet won't stop people travelling inter-nationally. However the days of getting up at three o'clock in the morning will be over. Construction will begin in 2035 on a trans-global rail tunnel network linking all the continents. The trains will run in a vacuum.
In the hypersonic, magnetic levitation, mon-orail vacuum train, pas-sengers will be stacked at check-in and put to sleep. It will be as great a revolution in inter-continental travel as containerisation was in the 1950s. There will be no hosties, no security, no duty free. And when you are asleep there's no class, no comfort, no status and no time. Troublesome passengers will get sodium thiopental, which is currently reserved for the United States's naughtiest prisoners. Criticise the Green Party and they will add potassium chloride to the preflight cocktail. Older members will reflect that it was like this at the end of the Brown era.
'At competitions officials will check your fuel for fossils: one ammonite and you're out'
'Wthin 10 years the IGC will
allow the use of suction pumps
to control the boundary layer'
'In 2070 gliding will be the only
affordable form of aviation.
Only the military will have jets'
'In the hypersonic vacuum train passegers will be put to sleep. No hosties, no security, no duty free'
Sixty Years OnThe year is 2070. Glide ratios are one
hundred to one and our biggest threat is the Green Police. Paul Harvey has seen the future
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