13 Logbook 2014

Date

Pilot

From

Task or Route

T/O

Land

Time

Kms

IGC

Pics

07-Mar

631

O Binder

Ostheim

Test flight

13:25

13:35

0:10

Local test flight

21-Mar

632

Steve

Dunstable

Oakington-Buckingham

12:33

15:05

2:32

198

First flight after 3000hr check, everything seems to work. Unstable blustery day. Too many showers near the end.

23-Mar

633

Steve

A Harrison

Dunstable

Chiltern Ridges

11:12

13:12

2:00

133

Running down the ridges prematurely stopped by one big shower

04-Apr

634

Steve

M Mangion

Dunstable

Local

14:00

15:02

1:02

Local & ridge

09-Apr

635

Rob

C Allen

Dunstable

Rougham Field-Stoney Stratford

12:12

16:36

4:24

301

Low and weakish generally and had to cross under thick mid-level cloud on return, the cu then quickly became 8/8ths

11-Apr

636

Steve

R Hodge

Dunstable

Scunthorpe O/R

12:12

15:49

3:37

389

Remote start due to poor local conditions. At first, promising improvement heading north, until it started getting turgid (soft climbs) in the Doncaster area. Expecting clag back home later in the afternoon, we abandoned some 50k short. Then had an improving run as we got further south, with still plenty of day left, so maybe should have pushed for York.

13-Apr

637

Steve

T Stuart

Dunstable

Halesworth-Colsterworth

10:58

16:46

5:48

420

Good run out east, then it started to cycle coming west, between 8/8 spread out and back to sunny gaps. Nearly abandoned in glook near the "E" place, but was driven on by Trevor Stuart's optimistic comments from the back, and the sunshine did return. Climbs after that were often unpredictable, and operating in a fairly narrow height band. First completed declared this year.

14-Apr

638

Rob

A May

Dunstable

Gainsborough-Cambridge-Grantham

11:56

16:56

5:00

517

Father/Son effort, so speed was more the thing than distance. Around Gainsborough and down to Peterborough we found things hard work, but everywhere else produced good thermals and some nice runs.

15-Apr

639

Steve

R Colbeck

Dunstable

Worcester-Halfway House-Cottam

10:41

16:39

5:58

515

Soggy around HalfWay House for a while, then nice run east although tending to blue. Straightforward run home apart from a low point near Corby. Roger Colbeck did the difficult airspace brilliantly. Very enjoyable day.

24-Apr

640

Rob

Dunstable

Hungerford-Talgarth NW

12:00

16:50

4:50

424

Forecast not promising. Crept away under low cloudbase expecting to have to give up at some point. Thermals OK but only patchy areas where base was 2,000'ASL, could see over the tops when at 2,500'! Followed the drier ground of the Chilterns, base went right down after Goring, operating 1,000-1,500' AGL, pressed on slowly and were rewarded by improving conditions past Swindon, then a good run in and out of Talgarth, glad we weren't going much further as low and overdeveloped. No problem until Brize on the way back, bit weak then last few hundred feet to make sure of it under a shower line at Aylesbury - finished the way we started, low and slow...

26-Apr

641

Rob

S Brown

Dunstable

Kettering-Daventry NW

13:36

16:29

2:53

203

Juniors Winter Series training flight with Simon Brown. Bands of good lift separated by showers or dead areas all with a 22 knot wind to contend with. Some flying for Simon at the end.

30-Apr

642

Rob

Dunstable

Hurstbourne Tarrant-Rugby-Newmarket-Woburn

12:01

16:26

4:25

416

Not a bad run into wind to HUR, some gaps evident to the W. Actually better than expected as the blue was just filling in with cu on the way north. Went a bit soft 60-70km from Rugby but a decent climb before the turn got us round and into stronger sun away from the cirrus coming in from the W. Thermal structure became rather odd, then flew into crap vis about 80km from Newmarket, could barely see the next cloud plus base went down to just above 3,000ASL. Crept in and out of NMT, lots of mid-level spread and altocu but survived. Burst into the sunshine near Bedford and were rewarded by 6kts to 5,500 then a fast glide home.

01-May

643

A Roch

Dunstable

Local

0:36

Revalidation flight

03-May

644

Rob

A May

Dunstable

Wragby-Royston-Sleaford

11:35

16:57

5:22

535

Real world not quite as good as the forecast for this part of the country, but a nice flight nevertheless. With Andy May who wished he could throw it around more!

04-May

645

Steve

S Eyles

Dunstable

Shipston on Stour-Fakenham

11:20

16:19

4:59

411

Grovel til we got to Bicester. 1st TP was as far as we wanted to go west, much better 2nd leg, largely flown (like an LS4) by Steve Eyles (of Nymsfield). Actually, he was excellent (Trevor). Cu became few & far between on last leg, but had a couple of really nice climbs to get us home (slowly)

12-May

646

Rob

Dunstable

Goring-Llangyndir Bridge-Bwlch

11:03

16:55

5:52

513

Determined to fly at the first opportunity as it'd been a long time. Showery forecast but with a slot between troughs to the east, south and west. A bit overdeveloped locally but soon improved to 4,000'+ and decent climbs. Knocked down by a rapidly brewing shower near Brize but recovered. Long glide out to Monmouth, OK at the turn then a cautious leg over Mid Wales. Took a cloud climb to get to BWL as it looked (and was) scrappy. Got back into the better air near the Mynd then followed a kind of inland sea breeze to Worcester with 5K base. Became moister and lower on the return but played it safe and made glide without too much excitement. Lots of changing gear, visibility was superb which allowed more route planning. Fun to be back in the air!

14-May

647

Rob

Dunstable

Rotherham-Brecon SW

10:57

17:03

6:06

608

Great flight, 601 @ 101.4kph. Good into wind run managing to keep circling to a minimum, bit scrappy at turn, but a superb run across the Peak District made up for that. A little soggy crossing the Severn, but then a good run to Brecon with cb now 5500'. Big spreadout after Brecon slowed us down a bit but overall a great day out.

16-May

648

Steve

J Loadman

Dunstable

Blandford-Alton-Marlborough

11:01

16:14

5:13

411

First thermal over the high ground at Princes Risboro (as forecast by Robin), then some nice cu & improving conditions til the Boscombe Area, where they asked us to divert round to the south, into weakening sea affected conditions in & out of Blandford. After which, had choice of either the coastal route, or coming back inland around the Solent airspace, which seemed preferable. Longer glides in & out of Lasham, but was surprised to still have ok conditions under 7/8 into Marlborough. Last leg was mostly under 8/8, but isolated cu still worked, especially the ghost of Didcot past which gave us a cracker almost onto glide. Excellent task setting by Robin May, as I was well confused by the day forecast. With Jeff Loadman who says he had a fantastic time!

17-May

649

Steve

P Brown

Dunstable

Darlton O/R

11:32

15:44

4:12

318

I went the wrong way, I guess. Poor blue conditions gave a really slow run north, so we abandoned our intention to continue( to Telford & Stratford) and returned home from Darlton. We met cu for the first time in the day at Corby southbound where there was clearly a good cu band running SW/NE. Should have tasked there.

18-May

650

Rob

R Banks

Dunstable

Papworth-Skeffington-Ilsley

12:53

16:42

3:49

318

Nice flight with others on a club task. Central areas good, fringes weak

25-May

651

A Harrison

Dunstable

Strubby-Newbury North-Docking

10:10

17:39

7:29

759

Excellent run after starting to Strubby at 160kph with only one thermal just short of the turn. Energy lines dissolved coming back into wind and had difficulty connecting the climbs in places. Surprisingly OK at Newbury with higher base than forecast and a nice run back past Bedford. Clouds became bigger and base rose with a bit more structure to the thermals, faffed a bit at the turn and after but eventually connected with a line that took most of the height required off the final glide. Started the glide rather conservatively having had long runs of nothing earlier in the day but in the end it was very good. Lots of changing gear again today but really enjoyable all the same.

31-May

652

Steve

G Nixon

Dunstable

Downham Market O/R

10:43

14:25

3:42

235

It never really happened. Was due to get better in the east, but the sun never broke through the top cover. Abandoned on first leg nr Downham Mkt, and returned with conditions weakening past Cambridge, leading to a brief burn nr Cardington.

01-Jun

653

Rob

Dunstable

Tontine Inn-Cross Hayes-Watford Gap-Pewsey

10:07

18:41

8:34

760

Had great difficulty setting the task, ended up weaving around/under/in/through/over all sorts of airspace to stay in the middle of the country. OK first leg, TON probably a bit too far, York would have been better. Nice run past Sheffield and over the Peak District. Frustrated by airspace on the way between East Mids and Brum, eventually got a good climb at Banbury to 5,500' then a bit weak thereafter. Were being chased by cirrus & altocu on the way home, made it back with 10mins to spare, we think. Phew!

05-Jun

654

Rob

R Lennard

Dunstable

Whitchurch-Llanfair Caereinion

11:30

16:53

5:23

516

Going SW from Dunstable first thing was a good idea as the cloud became less spread-out moving away from the overnight front, and a good base too. The downside was the 200km crosswind leg that followed, what a pain. But after crossing the Severn, things perked up with a stunning climb off Shobdon to 6000' being the highlight. Central Wales didn't look very inviting but it kept going and relief when finally turning downwind for a nice run home.

08-Jun

655

Rob

Dunstable

Louth-Woolley Down-Newport Pagnell-Aylesbury

10:07

16:29

6:22

537

OK to start, ran downwind taking the odd climb, felt a bit soft though. Base dropped 1,000' by LOU but picked up about 50km south. Lots of long glides to thermals which I would place in the -difficult- category, maybe even -frustrating-. Rather rough low down and was being tossed around like a crisp packet in 800kg of glider. Gave up on the leg out to Norfolk as a) we weren't really going fast enough and b) high and medium cover appeared to be coming in from all directions at once.

12-Jun

656

Rob

Dunstable

Bodmin O/R

10:30

17:10

6:40

667

Looked like a good day for exploring convergences down the SW peninsular. Not a bad run out but not much in the way of convergence. Went blue beyond the turn, so didn't go any further, conditions improved a lot when back in the centre of the country. Furthest SW we've been so far.

13-Jun

657

Steve

C Honey

Dunstable

Ivybridge O/R

10:51

18:25

7:34

573

13's 2nd attempt in 2 days to find the convergence. Was a bit more defined today, certainly westbound. Then ran into poor air after Exmouth, such that we abandoned 6k short of the TP to stand a chance of getting back to soaring conditions. Good that we did, as it was weak much of the way til Honiton area. Then clouds dictated a more southerly route back as the sea air from the north side was killing it. Buttock clenching final glide.

21-Jun

658

H Roberts

Dunstable

Dorchester-Willersley

10:51

16:41

5:50

538

Little bit weak and low on the way down to DOR, improved going north but had to abandon declared 650 near Shobdon due unwell P2. Nice run home.

22-Jun

659

Rob

B Hutchings

Dunstable

Frome-Evesham-Thrapston

11:51

17:31

5:40

422

Found a variety of conditions and cloud bases, but no real problems. A training flight for Bradley Hutchings, who hopefully learnt a thing or two.

09-Jul

660

Rob

St Rambert

Millau

via Aubenas

14:26

18:04

3:38

242

10-Jul

661

Rob

Millau

Pirineus

via Lezignan and Cerdanya

10:44

16:39

5:55

371

11-Jul

662

Rob

Pirineus

Soria

via Huesca and Zaragoza

11:47

16:58

5:11

358

12-Jul

663

D Chilcot

Soria

Fuentemilanos

13:32

17:48

4:16

293

13-Jul

664

Rob

Fuentemilanos

NE128-Portugal

13:07

19:29

6:22

753

14-Jul

665

Rob

Fuentemilanos

Portugal and Gredos Mts

12:17

19:19

7:02

727

15-Jul

666

D Chilcot

Fuentemilanos

Yoyo convergence

11:44

18:37

6:53

1024

16-Jul

667

Rob

T Mills

Fuentemilanos

Teruel-Soria

12:20

20:06

7:46

910

21-Jul

668

Rob

T Mills

Angouleme

Cholet

inc Loire

12:33

17:42

5:09

341

22-Jul

669

Rob

T Mills

Cholet

Alencon

12:46

16:58

4:12

237

25-Jul

670

Steve

L Bennett

Dunstable

Pontypool-Old Radnor

11:49

16:17

4:28

417

Slower to start at DUN than expected, so cut task back from plan. Initial run to BIC was very poor, then rapidly improved. Lovely 2nd leg up the eastern faces of the Black Mountains, soggy around Shobdon for a while, then v good run home. Showers/storms not an issue where we were, but looked grim to the SE as we came in.

27-Jul

671

Steve

M Barrowma

Dunstable

Scunthorpe-Long Sutton-Chipping Norton

11:15

16:49

5:34

513

Dodgy first leg (I always start too early) with close look at the Cottesmore runway. Some awkward conditions circumventing Scampton RAT, and long glides southbound. Cracking conditions from the Wash into wind. Thanks to those who said I was being a wimp at my proposed 400k, they were right.

29-Jul

672

L Duhaney

Dunstable

Spilsby-Stockbridge-Thame

11:24

16:14

4:50

526

A bit weak in and out of Spilsby with a fair amount of cloud but improved after that to excellent conditions. Medium level cloud from approaching front appeared later on but it wasn't really a problem.

30-Jul

673

Rob

Dunstable

Blandford-Hastings-Salt Hill Mast-Hungerford

10:58

17:20

6:22

609

A little weak to start with but improved towards the SW with some good climbs. A thin band of cirrus dogged us into and out of BLD, Southampton allowed a crossing of their zone. Blued out beyond Portsmouth, followed the downs then saw a few puffs down by the coast. Followed a weak convergence to Hastings, then more organised on the return and very good after Parham.

03-Aug

674

Steve

A Roberts

Dunstable

Fakenham-Oxford-Fakenham-Oxford

09:56

18:05

8:09

764

Just a lovely flight up and down wind.

04-Aug

675

Rob

Dunstable

Mendlesham-Wragby-Northampton-The Camp

11:58

18:14

6:16

623

OK to start with then cloudbase went up dramatically past Cambridge with good climbs. 120kph to the second turn at Wragby then lots of spreadout and a few showers. Went very tactical from then on and eventually it cycled and we ran a ragged street into The Camp, which decayed, then picked up a convergence forming between the overcast and the sun over Brize which picked us up nicely onto glide.

07-Aug

676

Rob

D Jamin

Dunstable

Burn-Horncastle

10:56

16:54

5:58

502

Declared Guisborough and the start was stunning, cloudbase up 2000' in 30 minutes and strong climbs until Lincoln, then mid level cloud slowly turned the lights out. North of Doncaster, required a backtrack to stay up. Threw it away North of Burn and then looked at East Lincs for a convergence, nothing usable without strong convection. Looked like a difficult return, in the end clear skies South of Northampton gave an easy run home.

15-Aug

677

Steve

K Francis

Dunstable

Saltby O/R

13:01

15:49

2:48

228

Was completely indecisive, whether to fly etc & thought showers would be a problem. As it was, there were strong climbs northbound with wide gaps to cross in between. But beyond the Belvoir ridge, there was unsoarable high level 8/8, and I decisively abandoned just north of Saltby. It rapidly worsened with the sun cutting off southbound.

16-Aug

678

Steve

S Hayley

Dunstable

Great Yarmouth O/R

11:13

16:32

5:19

391

Improving conditions to the east coast & a lovely run up to Great Yarmouth. Nice to thermal beyond the coast. Much spreadout from then on, eventually abandoning at Mildenhall, where we lit up, after which we limped home from the Cambridge area. Co-operative controllers at Norwich and Lakenheath.

17-Aug

679

J Calvert

Dunstable

Stockbridge-Grantham-Great Yarmouth South

10:42

17:13

6:31

654

Good first climb but went a bit squiffy after that on the 1st leg. Cloud climbed to get in and out of STK then became more showery. Crossed what was probably a trough line N of Oxford then slowly improved, still needed to take it into cloud to cross the gaps. Mega street out of Grantham with 5,500 base, no problem to Gt. Yarmouth, Norwich helpful as usual. Was dreading the return into-wind but some good runs and cores and a tactical cloud climb put us on glide without any real issues. Just got ahead of a shower to land.

22-Aug

680

Steve

M Biggs

Dunstable

Butser Hill-St Katherines Point-Treyford-Abingdon

11:18

16:13

4:55

344

IOW veterans re-union. A slow start, stuck at Chinnor, then a day of crossing excellent streets, with much cycling. Not much thermal activity on the IOW until reaching a lovely convergence nr the south coast, saw 10kts on the averager. A reasonable run back north, excellent street into ABN, and then....NOTHING. Completely dead air, a big hole west of Aylesbury, & a technical landout at Thame.

23-Aug

681

Rob

Dunstable

Framlingham-Rushden-Frome-Stockbridge

10:31

16:39

6:08

609

Rather soft on the first leg until about 30km from Framlingham, then better cores. Nice run back west with showers making themselves evident to the north. Fair amount of spread into Rushden but it didn't seem to affect the thermals too much. Tactical to Frome with a crossing of Brize and long gaps, improved round the turn and to STK. Shower line running across track near Benson but just made it through in time for an easy glide back.

24-Aug

682

Steve

P Purdie

Dunstable

St Neots-Melksham-Newbury

11:13

15:48

4:35

341

Generally pretty weak, starting with a poor run to St Neots, better when back at LBZ. Topcover & spreadout were the theme of the day. As forecast, better to the SW with higher climbs and the odd 5 knots, but was so slow that we didn't attempt the final TP.

07-Sep

683

Steve

S Astley

Dunstable

Hay Bluff-The Mynd

11:51

16:54

5:03

411

Wales was really not good. broken & disorganised thermals even though little wind. Great from the Mynd, and Stefan Astley flew really well on that leg. Nice to complete a task in September.

08-Sep

684

Rob

R Colbeck

Dunstable

Frome-Grafham Water-Rushden

12:24

16:53

4:29

410

Good run down to Frome in a good band of cu between low base cloud to the South and blue to the North, then mainly blue until we found a few decent cu around Grafham Water and Rushden.

09-Sep

685

Rob

A Kefford

Dunstable

Pickenham-Claydon-Naseby West

12:27

16:22

3:55

412

Great day for September, some interesting streets formed over East Anglia even though there was no wind. This gave a particularly fast run from Claydon to Cambridge. 108.3kph for whole flight

10-Sep

686

Steve

S Halsey

Dunstable

Cheltenham-Avebury-Chipping Camden

11:31

15:47

4:16

310

Reasonable day for late Sep. Operating band only c 1000' up to mostly 3000', but some well-behaved thermals to make use of. Became increasingly spreadout as the day wore on, with few opportunities after Banbury, culminating in engine start 20k out.

24-Sep

687

Rob

R Parris

Dunstable

Didcot-Chinnor

12:24

15:21

2:57

167

Some soaring to 3900', also flew Chinnor ridge. Strong wind made a decent September day too tricky to do a task.

26-Sep

688

Steve

K Frampton

Dunstable

Edgehill-Winslow-Thame

12:46

15:12

2:26

173

After passage of first of two fronts, was seduced by street off top of launch, so abandoned any idea of a task for a lovely run to Edgehill. Conditions varied significantly after that so spent a delightful couple of indecisive hours

27-Sep

689

Rob

P Halzyak

Dunstable

Lyneham-Oxford-Towcester

13:15

16:18

3:03

255

A few hours soaring after the 8/8ths cloud sheet broke up. A few hard to find good thermals to 4500'

05-Oct

690

Rob

S Venables

Dunstable

Chinnor-Bedford-Calvert

12:33

15:24

2:51

182

Autumnal wander

10-Nov

691

Rob

T Walker

Dunstable

Local

12:40

13:40

1:00

Engine exercise and dry out flight

05-Dec

692

Steve

J Jeffries

Dunstable

Bicester O/R

13:54

15:01

1:07

A couple of good engine runs

08-Dec

693

Rob

R Page

Dunstable

Finmere-Chiltern Ridges

10:17

13:39

3:22

135

Strongish Nwly, Looked for wave but didn't find any, spent a few hours on the Chiltern ridges

19-Dec

694

Rob

Dunstable

Radnor O/R

09:52

15:39

5:47

378

Strong wind profile but wave weak, took a long time to find any and then climbed to 17000', -21C. Slow climb behind Radnor to 12000 before a fast glide home 42 mins to cover 177km

10-Dec

695

Steve

E Johnson

Dunstable

Aston Down O/R

11:11

15:04

3:53

241

308:28

26563

Time

Flts

2014

Rob