gransden times
DESCRIPTION
Magazine of Cambridge Gliding ClubTRANSCRIPT
T h e n e w t o y i s s u e
October 2009
Gransden times
4th October 5:42pm our new Robin tug arrives Membership on the up - page 13 ClearNav review - pages 15-16
Gransden times - the magazine of Cambridge Gliding Club - www.glide.co.uk. Editorial contact: [email protected]
PICTURES AT A
COMPETITION
KNIFE EDGEC’EST LA VIE
DIAMOND TIGERS IN THE SKY
WATCHING OVER YOU
ClearNav – the new dimension in soaring displaysThe NK ClearNav Flight Computer with IGC approved Recorder
An integrated cockpit navigational instrument and display providing full situational awarenessfor glider pilots.
ClearNav takes the potential of cockpit navigation to new heights. State-of-the art display Sophisticated software functions A full-function remote keypad Multiple installation options A simple user interface Integral GPS & secure flight recorder Airspeed/wind input compatibility Near unlimited memory and easy data transfer Vibrant, bright display eliminates squinting- easily readable in full sunlight Single screen and Glide-Amoeba makes viewing alternate landing spots simple and
straightforward Focus on flying with the Turn Area Task Management feature – stop making
distracting, constant adjustments and inputs in the air
Bright, Sunlight readable display Mounting Option 1 – on panel
Mounting option 2 – Tunnel mount Mounting Option 3 – RAM mount (Cockpit side or off-panel)
For more information and pricing contact the UK agents Airplan Flight Equipment Ltd, 01865841441 or e-mail [email protected] http://www.afeonline.com
GT 3 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
CGC is flying seven days a week until 4th October. From 5th Oct we are changing to winter operations and will fly Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Flying on Tuesday and Thursday will be by arrangement, please contact Rob T or the office. Motorglider flying will be available every day, Please phone the office to book. 01767 677 077
Gransden Regionals: the grotty weather couldn’t last forever and we had one of the best comp weeks of the season with six flying days. And for some, that meant six field landings. Lots of pretty pics and a ‘as it happened’ field report from Emilie House Pages 6-7
Chairman’s report and membership: Richard’s quar-terly report on club progress and plans for celebrating the club’s 75th anniversary. Tony Cronshaw has been quietly recruiting Pages 12-13
Paul Harvey, Editor, Gransden times
Athe point of the issue is...
Autumn, and another season is over. But for some, a new season will start in the diamond mines of South Africa or the Gold Fields of Australia. Others will opt for anoxia in the pearly clouds
of Omarama, New Zealand. However, there’s a new season starting in the UK - the glider hunting season. If you’ve got some spare cash, there are worse investments - see pages 8-11. To go with your new glider, you will need some new toys. James Kellerman reviews the new ClearNav flight computer and navigation aid which should reduce cockpit workload - page 15.
Some people of course can’t wait for the season to start and have bought a Robin tug plane. George Knight and Robert Bryce-Smith have promised a re-port for the next issue on bringing the new aircraft from Switzerland. Now back to this issue.
The early season’s good weather held out for our Regional, but for some it wasn’t good enough. Emilie House reports on what a windy week in a Junior is like - page 6-7 There are plen-ty of pictures to evoke fond memories too. In-deed, the fine weather held up until 4th October when GRL-HUS-BSE-GRL was flown by many at over 100Kph and provided an excellent start to the Kelman Clock competition season, which started on 2nd October and finishes at the end of March 2010.
Beyond flying, excellent progress has been made in recruiting new members. Through a mix-ture of targeted marketing and new courses, we have managed to recruit 35 new members, taking the full-flying membership to 174. Tony Cron-shaw explains how this growth was made pos-sible. Some clues may also be found in an article by Phil Seeney - Page 14-where he recounts a special trial flight with his friend, Andy Mirams.
Finally, fireworks night is 6th November.
Autumn 2009
Contents
Buying your first glider: if you have been enthused by the last season and didn’t work for Lehmans then you may just be in the market for a second hand glider. GT takes a look at some of the best Standard Class kit around and what to look out for when you think youv’e found your dream machine Pages 8-11
Club News: and lots of it. The season has thrown up some good flights and new solos. The club has a new tug arriving shortly and CGC now has access to CUGC’s ASW19B. Neil Goudie explains changes to the single seater scheme Pages 4-5
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]
Beyond gliding: Phil Seeney recalls a special trial flight with Jem Davies and his friend Andy Mirams in late September Page 14Clearly Better? CleaNav is a radical new navigation, logger and flight computer. James Kellerman is your navigator Pages 15-16
flyWithCE
Our new Robin tug plane Pic courtesy of: © Hans Domjanhttp://aviation.hans-domjan.ch
CUGC’s ASW19 now available for CGC
members
Autumn migration of
Erithacus rubecula
Robert Theil congratulates Matt Ruskin on going solo, after 43 flights, on his 16th Birthday
Delta Mike’s trailer with Cobra rails and belly dolly jacks built by Robert Verdier
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 4
The hunt for a second tug is over and as reported in GT (Jan 09) a Robin
has been bought from Switzerland. That just leaves the problem of getting it back to the UK. According to Robert Bryce-Smith: “It’s quite a complex ferry without Mode S and having to keep below 1200 ft crossing the Netherlands. It would be a long way to fly, without an autopilot or navigation aids, on your own: fortunately, George Knight has agreed to come along as co-pilot.”
There are also re-fuelling stops, flight plans and customs to be managed. So what are we getting?
Club Treasurer, Andrew Hulme, ex-plains: “It’s a 1979 Robin complete with four blade prop and silencer, though we will swap the prop with one we already have for optimum towing performance.
It has been in the same ownership since new and although the airframe has done 4,000 hours, the engine is only quarter life (500 hours) which is ideal as any teething problems since installation should have been ironed out.
“The cost to us will be around £49,000, depending on exchange rates: the Rallye funds will contribute £25,000. Agent’s costs for import, ferry costs and transition to the British Register will be extra but the final figure should be rather less than the maximum budget recom-mended by the committee and authorised by the directors.”
The new Robin will be the Club’s No.1 tug next year alongside the Pawnee.
STOP PRESSNever done one of these before but
the new tug has arrived and it’s too late to change the article.
Club news, Robin, ASW19, CUGC, Dates, Single Seaters, First Solo, Calendar, Delta Mike, 23 to solo
Competition Dates
You may have noticed CUGC’s new ASW19b on site and we thought we
would tell you all a bit about it. CUGC members have worked hard for a number of years to raise the money and we have combined that with some extra grants from the university and kind donations from Joanna Dannatt and the Faulkes Flying Foundation (in the form of the L23 Super Blanik) to be able to afford our new toy. We are quite excited at its arrival and the new opportunities it offers our members – it’s already been on silver distances, field landings and other adventures. We are keeping the competition registration CU and have acquired the G registration G-CUGC. We have also said goodbye to the ‘old’ CU – our K8b- which has found a new home up at Edensoaring.
So, can CGC members use it? . Yes is the answer. Obviously we want to pri-oritise CUGC use but if it is not being used and you have asked permission from a CUGC committee member (see http://www.cugc.org.uk for current committee) then you are welcome to fly it. It will be charged at the same rate as CGC’s high performance gliders. If you want to fly it and it’s not rigged, or you want to take it cross country, then you’ll need to be shown how to rig and de-rig it before you fly.Any questions, get in touch with us: [email protected]
Kate Woods, CUGC Treasurer
As anyone who has rigged the club Discus, Delta Mike, knows it can be
quite a physical affair. Indeed, it seemed to combine the very worst of all rigging options and frequently led to minor dings. To simplify rigging a new Cobra fuselage rail has been modified to fit the trailer and so make rigging easier. The work was carried out by Robert Verdier and he has also given the trailer a hard-wax and re-finished the winglets.
If you are unclear how to rig the Dis-cus, just ASK.
No sooner has one season ended than the competition dates for next year
are announced. The dates and venues of the 2010 British Nationals are as follows:15 Metre Class - Nympsfield, 3-11 JulyClub Class - Husbands Bosworth, 24 July-1 August: Open & Standard Classes - Aston Down, 7-15 August18 Metre Class - Lasham, 21-29 AugustJunior Championships - Bicester, 21-29 AugustGransden Regional will be August 21st-29th. You can enter on line now.
Guy Fawkes Night
Single Seaters in 2010
23 flights to solo. A model pilot’s story
Al (left) shows Andrew Beatty around his glider. Al went solo in 23 flights
GT 5 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
Club news, Robin, ASW19, CUGC, Dates, Single Seaters, First Solo, Calendar, Delta Mike, 23 to solo
For 2010 I plan to introduce some slight improvements to make it
easier to understand and encourage ‘new blood’ into the scheme.
The main change for 2010 is that I will opening up the waiting list for new entrants on the 1 October 2009. There is no commitment, until February 2010, on your part to take up the share allocation that you wish to have; but please no time wasters.
The waiting list will rollover from year to year so if you miss out one year then you have first refusal in the fol-lowing year. Those who missed out in 2009/10 will therefore be top of the
waiting list for 2010/11.Formal application, including share
allocations, will be requested from the 1st February 2010. This will be the financial commitment to join and existing members of the scheme will not be able to re-join if the applications are not received by the 1 March 2010. I am aware that a number of the scheme members are already moving onto private syndicates so I will be able to tell you informally about the chances of joining the scheme in January/Febru-ary 2010.
Payments to join the scheme will be debited from your accounts on the 1 April 2010.
The current rules/charges are on the website. There is no intention of chang-ing these significantly but I will produce FAQs on the scheme for publication in the next GT. This will ensure that all mem-bers’ expectations for the scheme are clear.
Please fire questions, by email, to me and I will collate them for this FAQ sheet. My email is [email protected].
One last thing, I intend to stand down from this role on the 1 April 2010 so I am looking for a volunteer to run it from then (the majority of the work isn’t until fol-lowing winter).
Julia Robson completes first silver distance in University’s ASW19B
Julia Robson with Roger Emms at Upwood
I started gliding in Grob 109B motor gliders with the Air Cadets in 2006. However, it wasn’t until I started University in October 2007, I had my first experience of real gliding and I was hooked. Having progressed to solo and then Bronze my next aim was silver. I completed the height and duration requirements during the Inter-University Task week at Pocklington. Then, later in August, I set myself the task of getting from Gransden Lodge to Crowland (and back). With the wind behind me, getting there was reasonably easy but the cloud street that had helped me get to the turn point with plenty of height seemed to have disappeared by the time I’d turned round. Having got back as far as Upwood, via March, each time I pushed back into wind after a climb, I seemed to end up back where I started. Realising I wasn’t going to get back, I landed only to find the gates were locked. Thanks very much to Peter Warner, my crew, for coming to retrieve me and to Roger Emms for coming to open the gliding club at Upwood to let us get the glider out.
Judith Brickwood will be coming to the club to cater for the fireworks evening
on 6 November and will be feeding the guests for a BGA motor glider seminar on Sunday 8 November to be held in the Clubhouse .Judith will provide her usual superb value meals to members on the Sunday and on Saturday 7 November. Brighten up a November weekend by having lunch in the clubhouse on Saturday whether you are at the airfield to fly, work on gliders or just for the fun of eating at the Club. A call to Joanne in the office would help planning.
My first flight was with Robert Theil in a K21. I can’t remember exactly how long it was but probably close to two hours. Plenty of lift and lots of smiles, Well that was me done! Hook, line and sinker!
My Instructors, Andy Beatty and Robert Theil, have been superb. I do a lot of instructing in my line of work, (flying model aircraft) and I know that a lot of the time, just because somebody is a great pi-lot, it does not automatically qualify them to be anywhere near a decent instructor. These two have been spot on for me. Not to soft not too harsh. Not letting me get away with too much, but never making me feel uncomfortable.
They and others at the club tell me that I have picked up the flying aspect re-ally quickly. I am sure like many others my solo could not come quick enough.
I guess I have been really fortunate.
Everything seems to have fallen into place for me. I have picked a great time of year to fly, as the weather has been pretty good. Even the days where there has been no lift or high winds have been ideal as these have fallen just at the time when I needed to do repetitive winch launches for cable break and circuit practices. My instructors and the Club have been super flexible. On occasions I have been driving past the club on the way home and popped in on the off chance of getting a flight, with not much hope as its peak time and the weather is booming…. Not once have I been turned away. Every time all those at the club have done what they can to get me airborne.
I did start to work out my fights to solo time and I think it was around the 22 or 23 flight mark. The one thing that has remained the same through all of it is the amount I smile when anything gliding re-lated comes into my head. Ali Machinchy runs Al’s Hobbies http://www.alshobbies.com and they do sell radio controlled glid-ers.
When I came across Cambridge Gliding Centre’s website. I was
impressed with the lay out and level of professionalism of the site, and even more impressed with the fleet of aircraft. So I called Joanne in the office to see if there was any chance of a trial flight that day. To my delight she pulled some strings and I was in.
I was also really impressed with first impressions, not only of the club itself but more importantly the people I met.
Robert Welford in his ASG29, 9th overall
Duo Discus, 440, Paul Rice, 2nd overall
YOUR STARTER FOR 1. Beatty and Verdier in Duo 871.They still haven’t decided who’s fault it was in Day 4 start zone.20th overall in Sport
Emilie House managed to find a different field every day. Club relations with farmers are now excellent, 20th
Gransden regulars, Jane and Steve Nash. They have been competing here for as long as I can remember, 15th overall
Steve Codd in Acro Twin2, 12th in Club
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 6
REGIONALS - ThAT wAS ThE wEEk ThAT wAS
One girl’s week: Emilie House files her report from the field
O n the eve of possibly the windiest week of the year, I found myself washing the dust off the wings of a club Junior, HEK. With mixed
feelings of excitement and trepidation, I was getting ready to make my competition debut. I wasn’t kidding myself about my chances of being competitive; I was just there to take part.
Ever since I joined the CGC cadet scheme seven years ago, I have spent the last week of August at GRL soaking up the atmosphere, meeting new friends and generally living in the competition bubble for a week. I’ve worked my way up from rope runner to glass washer to working on the bar, and I’ve been lucky enough to hop into the back seat of several private gliders and fly
the tasks. But this year I was in charge of my own destiny...
Despite being a BI and spending a disproportionate amount of my time at the club over the last few years, my cross-country
experience was limited, mostly due to my own uncertainty about when, how and where to send myself on tasks. This appeared to be
a bit of a dark art, finding a glider, reading the weather, setting a task, and finding a crew – it all seemed a bit overwhelming. A comp appeared to be the perfect solution: weather researched and task set for me, all I had to do was find a glider and fly it.
Finding a glider was remarkably easy. The committee agreed to let me book out
a club Junior. I had never been overly keen on the Junior but I was just happy to know I would have a glider for the comp. I bought a house this summer and suddenly a week of flying was looking very expensive. I was encouraged to write to the CFI and treasurer as the club had a bursary to put to good use,
and was delighted to receive £400 towards the cost of renting and launching the glider during the week.
The comp opened with an AAT on day one, which could only be good news for me. I picked some points just over the minimum distance with the intention of treating it like a normal task. I started early, on the basis that I would be flying slower than the rest of the grid, so by starting before them, they would overtake me and I could see where they went and tag along for as long as possible before they got too far ahead. Nice idea but it didn’t really work for an AAT. As most of the group headed west, deep into the first cylinder, I wanted to just clip the NE of that sector and then head to area two. I was soon on my own, battling a 20 knot headwind. I turned downwind as soon as I could and the second leg was a breeze. On track to the third sector I met another glider and we made our way
to what looked like an amazing street, but pretty soon we were both scratching away in the same thermal, slowly drifting north to the next sector. The Junior scratches well, but when the Discus was high enough to hop to the next cloud, from the same height, I couldn’t make it in the Junior. When I had finally worked my way to somewhere east of March (my northernmost turnpoint) I decided to push west, but with not many clouds to head for it was a bit of a shot in the dark. The sky looked like it was dying and at some point I must have subconsciously decided that I was not going to get round. Had I looked at my
watch I would have known that at 2:30pm, it was more likely that the sky was re-cycling. I
didn’t look at my watch and I learned the lesson 20 minutes later when I was sitting in a field just SW of Downham Market, looking up at a booming sky wondering why I wasn’t up there. Unbeknownst to myself and my crew, but unquestionably proved by the wonders of SeeYou maggot racing, Peter (my crew) flew overhead my field just after I landed. It was about 30 minutes before his phone was on; he was in a field not far away from me, close to an adult themed shop... Kate jumped at the chance to retrieve him, whilst Kevin and Dave who were visiting from Portmoak volunteered to come and get me – thanks again. Conveniently enough, Kevin and Dave had clearly de-rigged a junior before and it was a quick and simple retrieve.
The lesson learnt on day one went straight into practice on day two. I spent a memorable 45 minutes in an undesirable equilibrium,
scratching in a string of bubbles which were popping off some warehouses to the north of Corby and blowing downwind away from my turnpoint. I climbed away from 1200ft at least five times before I finally got high
enough to push over Corby and round the turn point. This flight ultimately gave me my highest placing of the comp at 14th, while only six people finished, and I met a good bunch at Crowland while I waited for Peter to arrive.
As always, a good time was had in the bar at the end of each day, and the atmosphere was buzzing with so many comp days and some great flights for both classes. Things were livened up somewhat with a cadet’s 18th birthday (still hungover Tom??); magic tricks and hilarious whale and cow stories from Steve Eyles who won the club class very convincingly; great food from Judith; and of course the excellent real ales and dynamic cocktail menu on offer.
It was one of these evenings in the bar that John Glossop summed up flavour of
the week and his words have stuck with me: “every competition has a theme... this one is windy.” It was windy from start to finish. Every day, turning onto the final leg (invariably into wind), was like a kiss of death for me and my Junior. Despite hanging in through the scratchy periods waiting for the sky to recycle; starting early; watching and learning from the other pilots; and even with John helpfully setting an AAT with a minimum distance of just 100km on day four, HEK and I triumphantly achieved six field landings out of six competition days – which you will be pleased to know I will not detail on these pages. As the days sped by and I accumulated a plethora of landout stories, I travelled probably the steepest learning curve I can remember. Experience gained by flying cross-country in two-seaters was invaluable in getting me started, but flying on my own taught me so much that I didn’t know I didn’t know. It would have been easy to get disheartened by the landouts and to give up on the week, but the many words of encouragement from competitors and club members spurred me on. In the end I learnt to really enjoy being in control of the flight myself.
In the week running up to the comp I had been asked ‘what PDA do you have? And what software do you use?’ To which I would
answer, ‘I don’t have a PDA.’ ‘What’s the trailer like?’ And I had to say, ‘I have no idea – I’ve never even de-rigged this glider before.’
I knew from the looks on people’s faces that they thought I was awfully unprepared, but I had a logger, a map and a crew – surely that was all I really needed. Well it turned out I also needed spare battery fuses (thanks to Alan Head and Robert Welford for helping me out there), a backup GPS (thanks Robert Thiel), a comp licence (I didn’t know to look out for a card in the post in return for my £15.50). I was surprised to find out at briefing on day two that I also needed an umbrella (thanks Neil Goudie and Price Bailey). It was technically a consolation prize for being the only actual landout on day one. It didn’t fit in the glider but it came in very handy as a parasol on the grid (Formula 1 style), which
brings me to my crew, Peter, without whom I would never have got though the week. Dubbed the ‘landout twins’, no doubt it will not be long before the retrieves are repaid in kind. Finally, thanks to the fantastic team who organised the comp and, as always, made everything run so smoothly. I had a fabulous week, and I can’t wait to take part again next year. Speaking of next year, does anyone have a shiny glider they would like to lend to a worthwhile cause in the last week in August?
(Pics and captions, Paul Harvey)
Duo Discus, 440
Former course instructor, Keith Sleigh, with Mark Robinson in back seat of Janus AA. 9th overall.
James Kellerman in ASG29E confirming that he has found the Corby turnpoint, 18th overall
Colin Smithers in M25. 0.1Km on day 4. He should have won. Came 6th
Comp Director, Neil Goudie, with Barbara Glossop from Control, DNF
GT 7 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
O n the eve of possibly the windiest week of the year, I found myself washing the dust off the wings of a club Junior, HEK. With mixed
feelings of excitement and trepidation, I was getting ready to make my competition debut. I wasn’t kidding myself about my chances of being competitive; I was just there to take part.
Ever since I joined the CGC cadet scheme seven years ago, I have spent the last week of August at GRL soaking up the atmosphere, meeting new friends and generally living in the competition bubble for a week. I’ve worked my way up from rope runner to glass washer to working on the bar, and I’ve been lucky enough to hop into the back seat of several private gliders and fly
the tasks. But this year I was in charge of my own destiny...
Despite being a BI and spending a disproportionate amount of my time at the club over the last few years, my cross-country
experience was limited, mostly due to my own uncertainty about when, how and where to send myself on tasks. This appeared to be
a bit of a dark art, finding a glider, reading the weather, setting a task, and finding a crew – it all seemed a bit overwhelming. A comp appeared to be the perfect solution: weather researched and task set for me, all I had to do was find a glider and fly it.
Finding a glider was remarkably easy. The committee agreed to let me book out
a club Junior. I had never been overly keen on the Junior but I was just happy to know I would have a glider for the comp. I bought a house this summer and suddenly a week of flying was looking very expensive. I was encouraged to write to the CFI and treasurer as the club had a bursary to put to good use,
and was delighted to receive £400 towards the cost of renting and launching the glider during the week.
The comp opened with an AAT on day one, which could only be good news for me. I picked some points just over the minimum distance with the intention of treating it like a normal task. I started early, on the basis that I would be flying slower than the rest of the grid, so by starting before them, they would overtake me and I could see where they went and tag along for as long as possible before they got too far ahead. Nice idea but it didn’t really work for an AAT. As most of the group headed west, deep into the first cylinder, I wanted to just clip the NE of that sector and then head to area two. I was soon on my own, battling a 20 knot headwind. I turned downwind as soon as I could and the second leg was a breeze. On track to the third sector I met another glider and we made our way
to what looked like an amazing street, but pretty soon we were both scratching away in the same thermal, slowly drifting north to the next sector. The Junior scratches well, but when the Discus was high enough to hop to the next cloud, from the same height, I couldn’t make it in the Junior. When I had finally worked my way to somewhere east of March (my northernmost turnpoint) I decided to push west, but with not many clouds to head for it was a bit of a shot in the dark. The sky looked like it was dying and at some point I must have subconsciously decided that I was not going to get round. Had I looked at my
watch I would have known that at 2:30pm, it was more likely that the sky was re-cycling. I
didn’t look at my watch and I learned the lesson 20 minutes later when I was sitting in a field just SW of Downham Market, looking up at a booming sky wondering why I wasn’t up there. Unbeknownst to myself and my crew, but unquestionably proved by the wonders of SeeYou maggot racing, Peter (my crew) flew overhead my field just after I landed. It was about 30 minutes before his phone was on; he was in a field not far away from me, close to an adult themed shop... Kate jumped at the chance to retrieve him, whilst Kevin and Dave who were visiting from Portmoak volunteered to come and get me – thanks again. Conveniently enough, Kevin and Dave had clearly de-rigged a junior before and it was a quick and simple retrieve.
The lesson learnt on day one went straight into practice on day two. I spent a memorable 45 minutes in an undesirable equilibrium,
scratching in a string of bubbles which were popping off some warehouses to the north of Corby and blowing downwind away from my turnpoint. I climbed away from 1200ft at least five times before I finally got high
enough to push over Corby and round the turn point. This flight ultimately gave me my highest placing of the comp at 14th, while only six people finished, and I met a good bunch at Crowland while I waited for Peter to arrive.
As always, a good time was had in the bar at the end of each day, and the atmosphere was buzzing with so many comp days and some great flights for both classes. Things were livened up somewhat with a cadet’s 18th birthday (still hungover Tom??); magic tricks and hilarious whale and cow stories from Steve Eyles who won the club class very convincingly; great food from Judith; and of course the excellent real ales and dynamic cocktail menu on offer.
It was one of these evenings in the bar that John Glossop summed up flavour of
the week and his words have stuck with me: “every competition has a theme... this one is windy.” It was windy from start to finish. Every day, turning onto the final leg (invariably into wind), was like a kiss of death for me and my Junior. Despite hanging in through the scratchy periods waiting for the sky to recycle; starting early; watching and learning from the other pilots; and even with John helpfully setting an AAT with a minimum distance of just 100km on day four, HEK and I triumphantly achieved six field landings out of six competition days – which you will be pleased to know I will not detail on these pages. As the days sped by and I accumulated a plethora of landout stories, I travelled probably the steepest learning curve I can remember. Experience gained by flying cross-country in two-seaters was invaluable in getting me started, but flying on my own taught me so much that I didn’t know I didn’t know. It would have been easy to get disheartened by the landouts and to give up on the week, but the many words of encouragement from competitors and club members spurred me on. In the end I learnt to really enjoy being in control of the flight myself.
In the week running up to the comp I had been asked ‘what PDA do you have? And what software do you use?’ To which I would
answer, ‘I don’t have a PDA.’ ‘What’s the trailer like?’ And I had to say, ‘I have no idea – I’ve never even de-rigged this glider before.’
I knew from the looks on people’s faces that they thought I was awfully unprepared, but I had a logger, a map and a crew – surely that was all I really needed. Well it turned out I also needed spare battery fuses (thanks to Alan Head and Robert Welford for helping me out there), a backup GPS (thanks Robert Thiel), a comp licence (I didn’t know to look out for a card in the post in return for my £15.50). I was surprised to find out at briefing on day two that I also needed an umbrella (thanks Neil Goudie and Price Bailey). It was technically a consolation prize for being the only actual landout on day one. It didn’t fit in the glider but it came in very handy as a parasol on the grid (Formula 1 style), which
brings me to my crew, Peter, without whom I would never have got though the week. Dubbed the ‘landout twins’, no doubt it will not be long before the retrieves are repaid in kind. Finally, thanks to the fantastic team who organised the comp and, as always, made everything run so smoothly. I had a fabulous week, and I can’t wait to take part again next year. Speaking of next year, does anyone have a shiny glider they would like to lend to a worthwhile cause in the last week in August?
(Pics and captions, Paul Harvey)
o
£...manufacturers smeared the moulds with clotted cream: on Fridays they used cottage cheese
IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUY A NON-SELF-CONNECTING GLIDER, JUST MAKE SURE YOU DO THE CONTROL CHECKS RIGOROUSLY.
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 8
“Don’t you think she’s looking tired.” With these words Dr Who brought down Prime Minister, Harriet Jones. In the same way, the words
“LS7s can’t climb”, have brought down many owners. It’s not that it’s a demonstrable truth, just that it’s passed into folk lore. The fact that the LS7 holds both the 100Km and 300Km UK FAI Triangle speed records seems to count for nothing. So what is the truth?
The Seven is a superb handling, high performance, well built docile glider. Its airbrakes are excellent and progressive. The glide ratio is second to none. The gel coat is better than average and rigging is simple and fast. Having owned two Sevens, (for a brief period I owned 22.5m of them) I think the issue with the climb rate is confined to weak turbulent conditions. When the lift is smooth and weak it will climb with the best and in normal UK conditions the glider climbs as well as any
other: but there’s always that nagging doubt. If you want one, make sure it has winglets; they not only help
the climb but give it 21st century looks too. Expect to pay £23K-£28K. A retro winglet fit is likely to be £3K and take the handicap to 99. With winglets, the ballast is reduced to 100l and side-slipping is prohibited. Speak to Rod Ward. So, if you are psychologically fragile, the Discus might be for you.
The Discus has been there and done that. It was bought by the best and they won in it which built its
reputation. However, there will be a price to pay. Not only because of its competition record but because clubs (which need gliders which can earn their keep) want to buy them as well. This ‘Club’ demand also has the effect that more people got to fly the glider and then wanted one themselves. It is rather like learner drivers buying the model they learnt in.
The Discus has a reputation for strong build, good brakes and is more forgiving of ‘wheels-up’ landings as the winch hook pokes out beneath the fuselage.
Typically you can expect to pay north of £30K for a good one. But like all the gliders here, you won’t lose money unless the Euro collapses.
The Discus was built in two forms, the ‘a’ and the ‘b’, with the ‘a’ having a smaller cockpit. There are also turbo versions. The glider is still built today under licence in the Czech Republic. As the club has one on site, (DM, with optional winglets) it’s a good idea to fly it to get a taste of what a high performance glider can do and to serve as a benchmark against all others. The only real downside to the glider is it’s side hinged canopy (though that might be a matter of taste) and some relatively crude fittings, such as the trim and ballast system. They also seem to need refinishing sooner than most: but you can negotiate that at time of purchase. Current CFI, Richard Maskell, has a Discus ‘a’.
Somewhere between the LS7 and the Discus sits the LS4. Like the Discus this glider is still in production
- it’s that good. Indeed, so good that it’s hard to fault. The only significant issues are the canopy hinge which allows quite a lot of movement when open and the heel brakes if they are not maintained. Also, only the later ‘b’ model is self-connecting. If you are going to buy a non self-conecting glider, just make sure you do the positive control checks rigorously even if it’s been left out over night.
The cockpit is larger than most and is very comfortable. The undercarriage lever is idiot proof, because it is awkward to open the airbrakes with the undercarriage retracted.
Immediately off launch you will find this glider beautifully harmonised. Stick and rudder will never feel more instinctive. Not as quick in roll as the Seven but the ailerons have authority and it’s very stable in pitch. The ideal first glider for a novice or pundit. The glide ratio is quoted at 40:1 (the Seven and Discus, 43:1) but you would struggle to tell that it was anything other than competitive. The handling is vice free with powerful progressive airbrakes and good control on the ground.
Now for the bad news. Rolladen-Schneider made over 1,000 LS4s and AMS have put it back in production. The qualities that drove demand in 1980 are still in demand now and this has kept resale values very high
- a good one will cost about £24K - and like the Discus, it is in demand by clubs. An ASW19 in contrast, will set you back about £19K and it has similar performance and build quality to the LS4. The LS4 is also much sought after by those flying Club Class competitions.>>P10
Buying Y ur First Glid r
LS7wL +Handling, airbrakes, looks and glide performance are superb. Heel brakes can be poor and canopy levers can eject the canopy by mistake. -Maybe the rumours are true
Discus +The choice of champions and clubs. Interior, canopy, trim and ballast dump valves mechanism are dated but the performance is 21st century -Agricultural and poor Gel
ASw24 +Highly respected for it’s comfort, glide performance, build and safety. But the best chose the Discus.Aileron effectiveness not the best-Doubts remain about the climb
e
£PANEL BEATERS
...batteries will last for eight hours; so you won’t have to spend your summer evenings mugging Duracell Bunnies.
Unless the TE is spot on, the vario needle will be like a physics lesson from a pole dancer
OK. There are exceptions. Steve Jones in a borrowed Ventus 2a at the GP 2006. But just look at the length of that power cable.
No matter what instruments you put in your glider, they won’t make you a faster
glider pilot. Safer perhaps - but not quicker. The ability to read the sky ahead, reject bad thermals and center quickly in the good ones is what makes world champions - and a readieness to make a pact with Satan in the afterlife.
Having said that, there are those instruments which are a legal necessity (ASI, Compass and Altimeter) and one that can help you
learn to get faster - the variometer. The vario is the only instrument that will tell you how good your decision to fly to where you are was, and how well you took advantage of that decision. Frankly, the rest of the panel is just male jewellery. For that reason, do not pay a premium for instruments if you are on a budget: put the money into the hull. Further, unless the TE (total energy) is spot on, the vario needle will be like a physics lesson from a pole dancer and your money would be better
spent in Peppermint Rhino. If you need a moving map, you
can get an Ipaq on Ebay for £50 and Navigator, from FlyWithCE, for £100. Loggers? If you don’t need
an IGC approved logger then try http://www.flywithce.com/ they have a portable logger at £80 and flight analysis software at about £30. The logger runs on rechargable batteries which will last for eight hours; so you won’t need to spend your summer evenings mugging Duracell Bunnies.
If the budget only runs to one variometer, get an electric audio one. The LX16 is probably the best and you can try it out in our K21, KFY. If you are feeling a little more flush, go for the LX 1600 which will feed Navigator with the necessary data for navigation and glide analysis. The UK agent is John Delafield, http://www.lxavionics.co.uk/variometers.htm
All of these instruments of course need wiring up, and that is a skilled job. too.
As for radios, get a hand held. They are not only cheaper but the licence for them is less too. Just remember to turn it off when you are not using it.
GT 9 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
“Don’t you think she’s looking tired.” With these words Dr Who brought down Prime Minister, Harriet Jones. In the same way, the words
“LS7s can’t climb”, have brought down many owners. It’s not that it’s a demonstrable truth, just that it’s passed into folk lore. The fact that the LS7 holds both the 100Km and 300Km UK FAI Triangle speed records seems to count for nothing. So what is the truth?
The Seven is a superb handling, high performance, well built docile glider. Its airbrakes are excellent and progressive. The glide ratio is second to none. The gel coat is better than average and rigging is simple and fast. Having owned two Sevens, (for a brief period I owned 22.5m of them) I think the issue with the climb rate is confined to weak turbulent conditions. When the lift is smooth and weak it will climb with the best and in normal UK conditions the glider climbs as well as any
other: but there’s always that nagging doubt. If you want one, make sure it has winglets; they not only help
the climb but give it 21st century looks too. Expect to pay £23K-£28K. A retro winglet fit is likely to be £3K and take the handicap to 99. With winglets, the ballast is reduced to 100l and side-slipping is prohibited. Speak to Rod Ward. So, if you are psychologically fragile, the Discus might be for you.
The Discus has been there and done that. It was bought by the best and they won in it which built its
reputation. However, there will be a price to pay. Not only because of its competition record but because clubs (which need gliders which can earn their keep) want to buy them as well. This ‘Club’ demand also has the effect that more people got to fly the glider and then wanted one themselves. It is rather like learner drivers buying the model they learnt in.
The Discus has a reputation for strong build, good brakes and is more forgiving of ‘wheels-up’ landings as the winch hook pokes out beneath the fuselage.
Typically you can expect to pay north of £30K for a good one. But like all the gliders here, you won’t lose money unless the Euro collapses.
The Discus was built in two forms, the ‘a’ and the ‘b’, with the ‘a’ having a smaller cockpit. There are also turbo versions. The glider is still built today under licence in the Czech Republic. As the club has one on site, (DM, with optional winglets) it’s a good idea to fly it to get a taste of what a high performance glider can do and to serve as a benchmark against all others. The only real downside to the glider is it’s side hinged canopy (though that might be a matter of taste) and some relatively crude fittings, such as the trim and ballast system. They also seem to need refinishing sooner than most: but you can negotiate that at time of purchase. Current CFI, Richard Maskell, has a Discus ‘a’.
Somewhere between the LS7 and the Discus sits the LS4. Like the Discus this glider is still in production
- it’s that good. Indeed, so good that it’s hard to fault. The only significant issues are the canopy hinge which allows quite a lot of movement when open and the heel brakes if they are not maintained. Also, only the later ‘b’ model is self-connecting. If you are going to buy a non self-conecting glider, just make sure you do the positive control checks rigorously even if it’s been left out over night.
The cockpit is larger than most and is very comfortable. The undercarriage lever is idiot proof, because it is awkward to open the airbrakes with the undercarriage retracted.
Immediately off launch you will find this glider beautifully harmonised. Stick and rudder will never feel more instinctive. Not as quick in roll as the Seven but the ailerons have authority and it’s very stable in pitch. The ideal first glider for a novice or pundit. The glide ratio is quoted at 40:1 (the Seven and Discus, 43:1) but you would struggle to tell that it was anything other than competitive. The handling is vice free with powerful progressive airbrakes and good control on the ground.
Now for the bad news. Rolladen-Schneider made over 1,000 LS4s and AMS have put it back in production. The qualities that drove demand in 1980 are still in demand now and this has kept resale values very high
- a good one will cost about £24K - and like the Discus, it is in demand by clubs. An ASW19 in contrast, will set you back about £19K and it has similar performance and build quality to the LS4. The LS4 is also much sought after by those flying Club Class competitions.>>P10
Buying Y ur First Glid r
ASw24 +Highly respected for it’s comfort, glide performance, build and safety. But the best chose the Discus.Aileron effectiveness not the best-Doubts remain about the climb
LS4 +Great handling, performance, airbrakes, comfort and landing gear. One of the few gliders pilots find difficult to fault. Now back in production- Wonky canopy hinges flyWithCE
...a brand new Cobra gets you back for supper; with a Home Built Special you will be lucky to make Christmas lunch
I should have realised that an Italian rubber fetishist didn’t design the tyre with rusty wire sticking out of the sidewall
TRAILER TRASh
Preparing the trailer for a retrieve
ASW19: probably the best value
Robert Theil’s LS4 cockpit: roomy with idiot-proof undercarriage
<<P9 In the years these gliders were built, manufacturers hadn’t heard of gel coat. They smeared the moulds with clotted cream, rubbed some raspberry jam on the nose and sent them on their way. On Fridays
they used cottage cheese. But DG had an allergy to dairy products so they used Schwabellack - a mythical product made from the breast milk of Mermaids. So it’s not so much the year the glider was built in as the day of the week it was finished. Any of these gliders built before 1990 is likely to need refinishing.
If you are looking for great value for money and a competitive standard class glider, the ASW19 is probably the one to go for: indeed, CUGC did. When it ceased production, the French
started building it and called it the Pegase. In this form it has a ‘softer’ wing but still benefits from a roomy cockpit (Steve Longland reports that you can see the tailplane when flying)and good handling though not as good
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 10
Parsberg, Germany, 9am. Six hundred miles to go and it’s snowing. Outside is 10m and
two axles of Cobra with 26.5m of newly refinished ASW22BL tucked up inside. For all the care and attention lavished on the glider (about £18k for a total refurb) a tyre has punctured on the trailer. Two hundred meters away I can hear the roar of traffic on the autobahn - but they have at least four spherical tyres, and I only have three. Worse, the defective wheel has locking nuts. A call to one owner, asking where the key is, elicits, “dunno”. The other, on his Boeing-sponsored Playstation deep in the Vindaloo capital of West London, is equally helpful.
Oh, did I tell you? It’s also a Saturday and the natives have hit the pistes. The hotel I’ve been staying in is closed from 11am till Monday morning and the girls on reception
are rehearsing their roles as villains in the next Bond movie. They couldn’t have been less helpful had I been a squirrel with chlamydia. BUT NOW I GET IT. You have to look after the trailer as well.
In part it was my fault. I should have realised, 400 miles back in Slovakia, that an Italian rubber fetishist didn’t design the tyre with rusty wire sticking out of the sidewall; that was for a totally different market. In the end I manage to find the only tyre fitter in Bavaria with a fear of heights and who hasn’t heard of Bomber Harris. The bill is 60 Euros. I give him 80, as much in gratitude as to spite the owners.
The reason for sharing this pain with you is that it is not only theraputic for me but instructive for you. For whilst the trailer won’t do much for your flying, it’s roadworthiness will
determine how long you spend in a field and how willing people are to collect you. Broadly speaking, a brand new Cobra gets you back for supper;
with a Home Built Special, you will be lucky to make Christmas lunch.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting you rush out and buy a Dangling Primary with a twin axle, solar powered, Thatcham alarmed, air conditioned, self steering Cobra shod with Pirelli P-Zeros. It’s just that there is a balance to be struck and maintenance work to be done. So, what should you look for in a trailer?
Top dog in the trailer park is the Cobra, and you can expect to pay a premium if the glider comes with one of about £2K. However, as the gel is so powdery, you will be able to charge desperate city-types £200 per day for snorting rites. Apart from the appearance, take the trailer for a drive around the peri track. If it tries to mate with your car under braking, the brakes or acctuation system will need attention and that’s a skilled job.
Next in the food chain are the Cobra look-alikes. These have the same clam-shell design and the glider is rigged on the trailer. You will look like a skinflint for not paying the Cobra premium but they work just as well.
Then there are the cavernous Shirenewton types. They have the advatage that having defaulted on your mortgage to pay for the glider,
you can live in them...To summarise: buy an ASW27B
with a blank panel for £37K in a cardboard box. You’ll get a great glider and spend less time with the in-laws.
BEfORE yOu Buy
Insist on inspecting the glider in a workshop under harsh light - daylight is flattering.If you can’t find anything wrong, take it to the main agent for an inspection.
a K6e is still a good x-country machine and will cost about the same as an LX8000 glide computer and vario.
in roll as the Discus. The 19 however earned a reputation for dropping a wing at low speeds but most owners get used to that. The glide angle is quoted as 38:1 but having flown against one in an LS7, I am sure it’s better than that. Later models (19B) had bigger water bags and a panel that lifted with the canopy. Winglets are an option. The only downside is that if it hasn’t been refinished, it will need one soon. Speak to Steve Longland. After the ASW19, Schleicher went back to the drawing board and built the ASW24.
With the ASW24, Schleicher introduced many innovations and safety features. AS used aramid fibres in the cockpit to enhance crash protection; carbon fibre in the wings and high cockpit sides. The investment included a new wing and fuselage. Despite this, the glider
gained a reputaion for needing a lot of work in thermals. The later ‘B’ model addressed many of these issues and included winglets. The real beneficiaries of this inovatio n are the current owners of the 27, 28 and 29. Overall, the glider has a very high quality feel to it and excellent comfort. You can expect to pay £29-£30K. But what if these gliders featured are out of your reach?
The generation before these gliders, built from the 1970s on, just as glass fiber was being used, include:LS1, Standard Cirrus, DG100, ASW15 and the Libelle. They will typically cost about £10K-£15K less than those gliders designed in the 80s and built through the 90s. Going further back, a K6e is still a good x-country machine and will cost about the same as an LX8000 glide computer and vario.
Prices in Europe have always been higher than the UK and it’s not just a Euro thing. Real world prices achieved in the UK are lower than than those being asked in Europe. Then there are the costs of transport and registration. Try and buy locally.
GT 11 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
Decide on your budget and if it’s not enough, consider a syndicate
If the club owns the type you are looking for, fly it first.
Get the manufacturer’s UK agent to check it out. The agents know their stuff and can save you a lot of mon-ey and heartache. Most of them will know the performance and can give tips on getting the most out of them. They should check for undercarriage damage, TE leaks, control surface de-flections, and structural damage. They should also check the ballast system for leaks. They may well know the glid-er having serviced it in the past. There have been at least two instances at the Club where not even the owners knew their undercarriages had been damaged. Take a good look under-neath between the nose and under-carriage - this is a vulnerable area.
If the budget is stretched, try and negotiate a deal with only basic in-struments.
The gel coat does more than make the glider look pretty, it also protects the structure from UV. If the glider needs immediate refinishing, take off £4K from the asking price, if the owner hasn’t done it already. You will never get all the refinishing cost back on re-sale but you will have a glider to serve you for the next 20 years. Smart owners allow for a refin-ishing budget.
Hours and launches. Rather like mileage on a car, the lower the better but it’s no guarantee of quality. Glid-ers typically need a 3,000-hour check, so if it’s getting close, insist on it be-ing done before purchase but be pre-pared to contribute to the basic cost but not any remedial work.
One good thing to come out of EASA’s interference in gliding is that modifications to the glider and ADs (Airworthiness Directives) should have been complied with.
Take a close look at the log book and DI book for the last three years flying. You should get a good feel for recurring problems with that partic-ular glider. If a major part has been repaired, insist on knowing who did the work.
Check the instrument wiring. If it looks a mess, it will probably be un-reliable. Also check that the ASI has the right range. I once bought a glider with the wrong ASI and leaking TE - goodbye to £450.
If the tail has been broken, lower the price but only if it has been re-paired by a reputable workshop - ide-ally the main agent or factory. If un-sure, walk away. If the wing spars have been damaged - run.
The owner may allow you to test fly it but it’s unlikely you will learn much unless you work for British Aerospace, and the owner may well ask for an undertaking to buy it if you damage it. Either way you might have to pay an insurance premium. By all means sit in the glider and ensure you can reach all the controls and that the weight limits are OK for you.
Speak to people in the club who own the type you are looking for and if you are low on hours, check with the CFI about converting to that glider.
My personal view is that you should invest in the hull (performance and quality) rather than instruments and trailer which can be upgraded over time. Finally, buy before the pound reaches parity with the Zimba-bwe Dollar.
2010 will be the 75th An-niversary of the founding of Cambridge University Gliding Club
By 31st August we had signed 35 new full flying members for a total full flying membership in ex-cess of 173
The good start to the year has lasted through to the end with an ex-cellent Regional, grow-ing membership and there’s an anniversary to look forward to. But there will be big man-agemnt changes in the new year
Richard Brickwood in ASW19, HLV
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 12
Chairman’s report
Where did the summer go? But what a one it was.
Although July did not produce as good a “high summer” as we may have wished for, August made up for it – and the fine and flyable weather has continued into September, when Rob-ert Theil sent Matt Ruskin solo on his (Matt’s) 16th Birthday - well done Matt.
Sadly, the mid-summer was marred by a fatal accident in Discus, G-GHOM, on July 9th in which Douglas Brookes was killed. By a tragic coincidence it was the 42nd anniversary of the day on which he and his wife Helen met. Douglas was an extremely experienced power pilot and an excellent tuggie who took to gliding soon after he retired and found yet an-other interest to pursue. We shall miss his quiet efficiency and perfect tows.
The AAIB (Air Accident Investiga-tion Board) are investigating the cause of the accident but it will be some months before their final report is published.
Our thoughts remain with his wife Helen and children all of whom visited Gransden Lodge shortly after the acci-dent.
In late August the organisers pro-duced a terrific Gransden Regionals and whilst so many people need to get in-volved to make it all work special thanks ought to go to Neil Goudie as the Comps Director and John Glossop for produc-ing so many varied and flyable tasks. Both are entitled to a well earned rest, although Neil has already announced the 2010 dates (August 21st-29th) and started
working on it. After this year’s success it is bound to be a sell out again so get your reservations in early.
By 31st August we had signed 35 new full flying members – for a total Full Fly-ing membership in excess of 173 (190 if all categories are included) which puts us well on the way to the stable member-ship of 200 which I set as our challenge three years ago. We are getting there. It is attainable – we just have to keep work-ing at it. Many thanks to everyone who has assisted in getting us to where we are today and who have worked so hard at at-tracting, recruiting, and training all these new members of Cambridge Gliding Centre; and a warm “welcome” to each and every one of you too. I hope that we are delivering everything that you hoped for – but if not , let me know and we will strive even harder to help you fulfil your aims.
The Committee are already looking towards the 2009/2010 season and have booked their annual Planning Day for Saturday November 21st. If any of our members have anything that they would like us to consider by way of capital proj-ects, or major organisational changes, this is the meeting at which such ideas need to be initially raised. Please let me have an outline by e-mail not later than November 10th and I will try to get your ideas onto the Agenda.
In similar vein we will be starting to draft the 2010 season club diary in early December, with the aim of releasing it in early January so, again, if you have any ideas for things which you would like to see included please let me have them as soon as possible and certainly by mid-December. We are always looking for fresh input on winter lectures (both infor-mal “club member delivered” and more formal guest events), the types of courses which would attract you and other events which will appeal to our membership and make CGC/GRL a fun place to be and from which to fly.
Prompted by the realisation that a number of our directors and officers will have fulfilled their maximum term (or availability) by the next AGM we have started a fairly major “Succession Plan-ning” process and with the intention of having it completed for release by the 2010 AGM. In the process we will be looking at who does what in the Club and what jobs or functions do not have clear, or perhaps duplicate, reporting lines. If that sounds all a bit too management
speak for a Club then I can only apolo-gise but we do need clear succession planning and we do need a clear idea of who is responsible for what – otherwise we, and you, simply don’t know and the Club is now too large and complex to be run in a traditional ad hoc a fashion. Hopefully, if we get it right, you won’t even notice that a more formal structure is in place, just that the Club seems to
be running more smoothly, and with less call on the time of the directors and offi-cers and all those other helpers who sim-ply make things happen. Wouldn’t that be worthwhile?
2010 will be the 75th Anniversary of the founding of Cambridge University Gliding Club and so your Committee are researching ways in which this can be marked jointly by both CUGC and CGC. It is probable that this will take the form of a black tie dinner at one of the Col-leges and the costs of that are currently being investigated. These range from £30 -£45 per head plus VAT and without wine which implies a ticket price of £50, which we recognise as a bit of a stumbling block. However, I am told that the 1989 Annual Dinner at Queens cost £22.50 so perhaps £50 is not too wide of the mark in today’s money. I wish we could do it at 1935 prices! Saturday April 17th would be the ideal day as it is 75 years and one day after the first official CUGC flight. We’ll let you know the answer as soon as we have got one.
And, finally, the season for the Kel-man Clock opens on Monday October 2nd – get rigged, get out there, have a good time.Richard Brickwood, Chairman, CGC
Emma Day and Laurence Evans, two of this year’s evening course students.
Tony Cronshaw (left) and course students with KFY, our ASK21
Against a background of economic crisis, unem-ployment and business failures, the R&R com-mittee led by Tony Cron-shaw has grown the Club’s membership. Paul Harvey reports on how they did it
GT 13 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
Against all odds
The Club really is little different from any other business and is sub-ject to many of the forces that affect
the ‘for profit’ sector. So it really is amaz-ing that in the last two very difficult years, (financially and meteorologically) that we have been able to grow the membership in what is a luxury business whilst other clubs, and the gliding movement globally, has seen falling membership. Much of this success has been down to running courses and converting the students to full flying members. Take a look at the figures for the last four years.
Number of pupils on courses, and types of courses:
2006: 12 – evening courses2007: 24 – evening courses2008: 26 – evening courses2009: 36 – evening + 5-day + Comb-
erton Village College + Friday courses
The Comberton Village Course is a completely new concept consisting of three evenings for ground school with use of a gliding simulator, followed by a Trial Lesson (two courses, and a total of 12 pu-pils so far.
Talking to Tony Cronshaw outside the
clubhouse late on a sunny September af-ternoon, I was keen to find out what had changed to get the numbers up so well.
Tony, who is an Image Technology Consultant, with a firm grasp of market-ing new projects to clients, says: “In mar-keting terms we are taking more of a rifle shot than a shotgun approach. This means targeting specific lists of people such as friends, colleagues, trial flights and open days. (The Club now stores the names and addresses of all flying visitors on a data-base)
“We have also had to realise that people want a burst of activity, rather like learning to ski or sail. There is also a strong element of ‘shared learning’ in the courses as opposed to being a single learner among ‘experts’.”
The other old bugbear used to be that of low flying time relative to time spent on the airfield. Courses are now run with an instructor: pupil ratio of two to one. Pu-pils, of course, still have to push gliders and keep the log, but even in sailing one has to prepare the boat and put the sails away at the end of the day: it’s just part of the sport. But the nature of the courses has changed as well.
“Previously the evening courses would not involve soaring. But on the rare occasions they did (with a late sea breeze front) the students’ faces would light up. For that reason we have now introduced the ‘Glide Friday’ when students can expe-rience soaring and not just gliding for two afternoons.” This also seems to suit the many students who are self-employed and have some flexibility in their work sched-ules. Incidentally, members seem more willing to crew for these course than for the more commercial trial flight evenings even though they don’t make as much
money on the night.
The other innovation is a ground school. This is more than just telling people how to push a glid-er. It’s also about telling them about the full breadth of the sport. But how do the figures stack up in the me-dium term?
“The propor-tion of students returning on an-
other course the next year is about one in three.”
And the proportion joining CGC? “About one in six.”
I asked Tony, “where do people find out about courses?” “Well, rough figures are Open Day about 40 per cent, Internet 25 per cent. People who have had trial flights 20 percent. Events and network-ing: 15 per cent.
Students typically spend (2007 fig-ures): £380 and have 13 winch launches (including course fees of £100/pupil).
Apart from driving the recruitment forward, Tony also helps out instructing, having got a BI rating in 2008, (complting his AsCat in 2009) though he’s been glid-ing since 1982 when the club was based at Duxford. He currently flies a Pagasus, G7.
The five-day courses have a differ-ent profile with, “the market coming to us” through a dedicated page on the web site (http://www.glide.co.uk/learn_to_fly/go_gliding.aspx) and they typically have little or no experience of gliding.
“The courses have proven popular however, with 12 pupils in total across four courses and very positive feedback from everyone. Robert Theil has done a great job in leading these.” What of the future?
“For 2010 we plan to have more cours-es, extend the evening classes to more col-leges (Tony has recently given a talk to the University of the Third Age) and we will try to attract more power pilots.
“However, we also need more Course Leaders from the instructing community to satisy this demand and ground crew.”
Of course, there are others in the Re-tention and Recruitment committee who have made this marking initiative a suc-cess including; Richard Brickwood, Julian Bane, Andrew Watson, Jason Holloway, Tony Weatherhead, Peter Warner and Da-vid Jokinen.
Andy Mirams (front) with Jem Davies
comments about breaking Lee’s legs to make it easier to get him in prompted the response, “well it wouldn’t make them any worse would it”
Phil Seeney reports on a special trial flight for his friend Andy Mirams with some help from club members
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 14
Beyond gliding
On Saturday, 19 Sept, I entertained a friend, Lee, her husband, Andy, family and friends at Gransden
and arranged for Andy and a friend, Claire, to go flying as my guests as An-dy’s 56th birthday treat. Lee had visited the Regionals after hearing me witter on about gliding etc and I had innocently said: “Would Andy like to go up in a glid-er?”
So why was this so different? Ev-eryone does this now and again…. Well yes it was a bit different because Andy is a quadriplegic and has no control of his limbs whatsoever from the neck down due to progressive MS. He controls his main wheelchair with his chin: Andy is literally a dead weight.
The idea of the flight was one thing and its execution somewhat different to what I had imagined. I had checked with officials at the club and ok’d it; I asked a couple of instructors who were on duty near Andy’s birthday, if they would be happy and willing (Peter Baker and Jem Davies) and got a very positive yes in re-sponse so I booked an afternoon slot as it takes a while to get Andy ready to travel anywhere – all sorted….mmm!. I might add Andy still does a full time job, as a manager for BT, even though he has no idea how long he can keep going; he just gets on with it and is one of the most in-quisitive and interested people I have ever
spoken to about gliding.So you see Saturday was kind of im-
portant to me and his family (probably less so at this stage to Andy).
Andy turned up at 11:30 and we showed him round some aircraft in the hanger, explained a few of the instru-ments etc and hoped the claggy weather would improve which it did a little. We
then took Andy to the launch point and started to consider the logistics of getting him in to the Puch so Jem could fly him in the afternoon.
Jem told Andy and family all about the aircraft (Andy’s wife is of polish de-cent so recognised the Owl immediately) and Jem generally made everyone feel not only welcome but settled and relaxed about flying. What happened then was simply amazing. Everyone who could help did, and I am sure some delayed their own flying to do so. Getting a life-less body with an inquisitive and talkative head into a glider is no easy feat. I use
those terms with endearment because ev-eryone was seeing the amusing side of things, Andy more than anyone. There was constant banter between Jem, Lee and her daughter Leigh; with Andy simply smiling knowingly. It seemed surreal that Andy and Lee were more worried about helpers hurting themselves and comments about breaking Lees legs to make it easier to get him in prompted the response “well it wouldn’t make them any worse would it” from Andy and had us laughing our-selves silly.
It took time and effort but finally Andy was ensconced and sitting com-fortably. Jem was happy with straps and control freedom and I suggested a 4000 ft aerotow as soaring was going to be mar-ginal. When ultimately Andy landed the smile said it all and Lee commented to me she had not seen him smile like that for years. But it didn’t stop there. “Whilst you are strapped in, would you like to try a winch launch” said I – the beam of a reply needed no clarification and off he went again.
After landing the second time, we pic-
nicked by the bus, chatted to other pilots, cut the birthday cake and ultimately went back to the clubhouse, put gliders away and the bar was opened. Andy comment-ed on the ‘feel’ of the club, the people and his truly amazing day as Lee fed him a beer or two and we all just soaked up the sunset. They left and both Lee and her daughter were a little emotional and I re-ceived the following soon after (extracted from a longer e-mail).
Dear Phil, sorry for the delay in writ-ing to thank you. I have spent 3 days try-ing to find the lead for my camera so that I could download the pictures. Unfor-tunately, it seems that this lead seems to have fallen into the black hole that exists in my house whenever I really need some-thing. I will have to get a new one before I can download them. Enough about the pictures! Andy has not stopped talking to people about the gliding. I think he keeps living through the experience. I cannot properly explain what this has meant to both of us and I don’t think I can ever properly thank you and everyone who helped on the day.
With kindest regards and our warm-est thanks
Lee, Andy & daughter, Leigh
I know what this flight meant to them and I am glad I didn’t put it off until next summer when I wanted to take him soar-ing – better weather perhaps, So you see Saturday was really something of a dream for Andy, something he never thought he could experience. Our club may not be the grandest in the country but I was amazed at the care and helpfulness of ev-eryone who chipped in or who gave up some of their own flying time to make Andy, his family and friends feel welcome and help him to fly. Particular thanks to Jem, Bill Bullimore and Robert Thiel and to the several others whose faces I know but names I can’t remember – hope the bronze test happened and went well!
I felt proud to be a member of CGC, not because of some super efficient pris-tine approach to pushing visitors through, but for the caring, considerate, nothing was too much trouble, relaxed approach that made Andy and his family feel wel-come, safe and cared for on his very spe-cial birthday.
Thank you all so much – it was a great team effort – truly great.
Regards, Phil Seeney
Clearly Better?It’s not often that a radical new piece of soaring kit comes along. But that’s what ClearNav is. If you can use a mobile phone, you can use this. James Kellerman is your navigator
As the German agent said at Freidrichshafen:
“The screen has to be big. I’m selling these units to pensioners”
Start and finish lines. Outbound track thicker. Digital boxes configurable as is the display of roads rivers, cities and terrain.
Big clear screen with excellent contrast. Hand held controller (inset) with zoom, menu and 2-axis area selector. Stick control option. Great ergonomics
GT 15 October 2009 www.glide.co.uk
The adjective ‘New’ is an over-worked word beloved of advertis-ers and politicians. It implies that
all before it has been swept away for a clean start when in reality it is just another repackaging.
ClearNav is new. It was conceived by frustrated glider pilots fed up with fid-dly over complicated equipment requir-ing a degree in logistics and computer programming before they could indulge in the already complex business of cross country flying. ClearNav were driven to improve on the diminutive dim displays of the PDA and their inherent unreliabil-ity. The design team is gliding orientated and at its core has Dave Ellis, the father of Cambridge Soaring Instruments and the famous 302 multifunction variometer.
The hard and software is manufac-tured by a Nielsen-Kellerman (NK). http://www.nkhome.com/soaring/soaringindex.html This company has a long track re-cord of making robust and reliable sports electronic equipment. Richard Kellerman, the project manager and co owner of the company, is an active cross country pilot
and recent winner of the Baron Hilton Cup. We also shared the same parents.
The General Aviation market abounds with GPS gizmos and moving maps. There are at least half a dozen PDA com-patible programs which will do many of the same functions, so why ClearNav? Because ClearNav combines custom built hardware with adaptable custom designed software. The first prerequisite was a sun-light readable screen which could run on standard glider batteries for 8 hours; big enough to read but small enough to fit the tiny panels of competition gliders. As the German agent said at Freidrichshafen: “The screen has to be big. I’m selling these units to pensioners.”
How does it differ from other units? Firstly, the screen: It’s readable very bright and large. The power save mode turns the current draw from 700ma to 300ma after 20 seconds of idle time. It in-stantly returns to very bright the moment any control button is touched. You can pre-select the brightness for the ambient conditions.
The user interface is one of the great strengths of this machine. Don’t read the manual. Play with it on the ground and then fly. It is that easy. The instinctive, intuitive user friendly interface takes the stress out of pre-flight planning. Touch screens may be great on terra firma but can be very difficult to use on good thermic days and some glider panels are difficult to reach. The nine-button stick mounted control is very easy to use. There are no buttons or knobs on ClearNav.
The software: this is currently NK’s own. Glider pilots have great loyalty to software as you become familiar with it. Fear not, this stuff is dead easy and great for really lazy people like me. Hav-ing used many other systems I found that this one does it all. You can configure it to be as simple or complex as you like but every feature has a role. Add or subtract parameters displayed. You choose. It also accepts and displays FLARM inputs.
NK’s software is currently the only one which works with the screen but I am told from reliable sources that this could change.
One of the great features is the “Glide Amoeba” which draws a line around your position enabling you to see at a glance which ground features are in glide range. The computation takes all the variables into account such as polar, wind, altitude and terrain database. This is particularly useful in mountainous or hilly areas.
The assigned area task facility is bril-
liant. It will compute how far and where you should go into any sector before turn-ing to enable you to meet the minimum time requirements of the task and maxi-mise distance.
But for me the best feature is the dis-play of airspace. You have to use it to un-derstand how well this works! The system will allow you to highlight each section of airspace on the map and display the pre-cise nature in a separate readable box with ceiling and floor altitudes together with its description and contact frequencies if ap-propriate. It does this without losing the map as the screen splits vertically into two halves.
The installation is a commitment
Clockwise: Configuring airspace: downloading traces: memory stick plugs into panel for trace download and software upload: setting a task:
Raising the Bar
Any surplus is used to fund things decided by the social committee such as new furnishings, BBQs, outdoor benches...
Andew Jude has simplified opening the bar and serving drinks. Now we can all help ourselves
Approaching airspace - highlight for detail. Lables can be longer. Audio warnings are given
www.glide.co.uk October 2009 GT 16
however. Most panel installations will require a rebuild but you could of course use a RAM mount. The instructions and
templates supplied with the kit were a joy to use. Forget about rulers. Stick down the hard plastic templates and be-gin to cut and drill with confidence. The Nexus connection box allows quick and easy inputs avoiding the “rats nest” wir-ing seen in most gliders.
This New Kid is great but it is still
evolving. There are annoying bugs to be resolved, such as the selection of turn-points, but NK is able to act quickly to sort these out and the updates are child’s play using the panel mounted USB sock-et and flash drives. It is still being de-veloped by glider pilots for glider pilots. The customer support is strong and the NK website excellent. The logger is now fully IGC approved with engine noise monitoring. The big news is that a total-ly new NK variometer is on its way and will compliment ClearNav next year.
Ed’s note. As James made clear, he is the brother of ClearNav’s designer!
I have not flown with ClearNav but I know Winpilot very well and it’s an extremely well specified piece of soft-ware for gliding. The problem is - the touchscreen, (an Ipaq) poor contrast in sunlight and the hassle of changing any-thing in flight. It also takes a long time to learn. The Ipaq was never designed for aerial navigation.
ClearNav, I found, was intuitive, simple, clear, and, due to the separate wired controller, (they rejected Blu-etooth for reliability reasons) very sim-ple to navigate through options, select airspace and zoom in on features. The latest versions come with an even bet-
ter screen. It also costs considerably more than Winpilot but a lot less than the LX8000 (£3992.80), its nearest ri-
val, though you need to add your own electric vario to ClearNav - James uses a Cambridge 302.
ClearNav costs £1,925 from http://www.Afeonline.com. The tunnel mount is £105 and a RAM mounting kit costs £57.50.
Having changed the way the bar works this year it seems to have had the desired effect and is be-
ing used more often. However, I still keep getting asked about how it works. Here are the answers to a few recent FAQs.
“What do I need to know to open the bar?” Nothing, anyone can open the bar as there is no longer any gas, taps, things to shut off or any paperwork etc. Open the front shutter and then just help yourself or hand over drinks. You can put money in the till but preferably just keep a running total in the accounts book.
“How does the accounts book work?” Please do not scribble down every drink or single amount and date you drank it etc. To keep it simple, just note down a total for that round, then next time delete this and add new run-ning total. Accounts are in name order not A/C number and if you are a social
member only, your name might not be shown, please feel free to add it in the next available gap. Usually the book will be deducted through your club ac-count within a month or so.
“What happens to the cash?” If there is any significant cash in notes when you leave, please put it in one of the orange canisters clearly marked BAR and drop it in the usual club safe.
“Do I need to stay around to close up?” No, there is nothing to shut off and now that the door is on a code, the last person out can simply lock the shut-ter and close the door. Just make sure the fridge doors are closed before you go as we seem to try and cool down the
entire clubhouse now and then. “Who benefits from any profit?”
You do. No one gets any pay or ex-penses with the one exception of a mini-mal rate during the annual competition
(unless you want to volunteer to be up to 01:00am nine days in a row). The bar is kept and run as a separate entity but makes a fixed monthly contribution back to the club, currently used to sub-sidise clubhouse overheads. Any sur-plus is used to fund things decided by the social committee such as new fur-nishings, BBQs, outdoor benches etc. Detailed accounts are held electroni-cally and administered by Gavin Deane. If you are interested or have a view on pricing please ask.
“What can I do to help?” Please wash up the inevitable stack of glasses that everyone else leaves by the sink imagining that they wash themselves. If there is space in the fridge at the end of the evening, please add more stuff from the boxes under the bar. If we are out of anything please let me know.
I hope that by making it much more accessible to the membership than it has been in the past, it will both benefit the club and take the effort out of running it. Finally, if you have any genius ideas, improvements or even just suggestions of what to stock please speak up or get involved.
Andy Jude.