On entering the airfield the first challenge was to find the hangar. The closer you got to it the thicker the fog. The met man had promised the fog would burn off and we’d be bathed in bright sunshine so it was just a matter of being patient. We managed to keep ourselves occupied. While Ken H and Paul B solved the mystery of lack of power to the radio on the reserve winch the rest of us derigged JMX and moved it into the workshop and clubhouse. By early afternoon toys were out and we were ready to fly and the launch point (at the south end) was in bright sunshine. Problem was, from there the winch was not visible. Waited a little longer and it appeared but orographic cloud still coming off the ridge. Time came to take a weather check and as the winch power disappeared when I was at 1,200′ half way up the field, I realised that the winch driver must have lost sight of me. Line of cloud below me very noticeably following the ridge. Found my way back to the launch point and we waited another hour. Everyone who wanted to fly got a launch before canopy misting brought an enforced end to the day. Just a dozen launches and Rob J claimed longest flight of the day with 8 minutes (which the log keeper claimed was more to taking off just before the minute clicked over and landing just after another minute clicked over). It was one of those days that we seemed to have more problems than usual but we over came them, flew and ate donuts (thanks to Paul B filling the donut gap while Peter M is recovering).
top of page
bottom of page
Comments