MAY 2016

Editor’s notesChris Leggett

As I prepare this edition of Cabletalk the goodweather seems it might be just around the corner.We have had some days where coats can be left inthe cars but then a week later everyone issheltering from the cold. At least all the gliders arenow able to take off from the grass again thanksto the drying ground.

In the last edition I asked for people to supplycopy for future issues and I am delighted to saythat one of the air experience people has actuallydone that and his article ‘Ageing Flegling’ isincluded in this issue. To the rest of the members

please consider writing something for inclusion inthe summer issue as I am fast running out oforiginal material. Photos would be great as well.

Paul Hayward (Safety Officer) has startedmonthly meetings for members and these havebeen very well attended (despite having to movea piano, but that is another story!). These are heldon the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30pmin the clubhouse, seats are on a first come, firstserved basis. The last one in April (the third ofthese meetings) was packed as Steve was kindenough to give away some of his thoughts andtips on how to thermal properly. An addedaddition at this meeting was a Fish and Chipsupper organised by Shona – seemed to be a real

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hit and the food was excellent. If there are thingsyou would like discussed at these meetings thenplease talk with Paul.

The winter has also seen a lot of work done on theclub fleet (see Steve’s notes below) and on anumber of the private gliders – most of whichhave now passed their Annual Inspections. One ofthe K6 private gliders has had a major fuselagerefinish and it is nice to see it back in the air afterso much work.

From the ChairmanAdrian Hewlett

2016 – a Leap Year – but will it be a leap into theunknown? So far this year we’ve had some grimweather, along with most other clubs, but wehave something many don’t – hard runways. Sowhile the first of the Grobs went away for itsannual and some extra work, we were able to‘borrow’ a K13 from ESGC, which also gave theirmembers a chance to fly while Ringmer was thenearest thing to a bog! The second Grob thenwent to Poland – but Steve can tell you aboutthat.

My main concerns at this time relate to mattersoutside our control. The first relates to the EUinfluence on gliding matters, especially pilotlicencing and the new arrangements for traininginstructors. We at the Club are especially at risk ofnot replacing instructors mainly as a result of thenew regime for training instructors.

The second relates to our use of Kenley Aero-drome. As you will know, Air Cadet gliding wassuspended two years ago for reasons notexplained at the time. In March this year, astatement was presented to Parliament about thefuture of Air Cadet gliding. In short, the cost ofbringing the whole fleet of 146 aircraft back intoservice has been deemed too expensive. So theplan is to bring back at least 73 Vikings (Grob103s) and to disband about half the VolunteerGliding Squadrons (VGS) but to have larger VGSwith a regional focus with regional VGS hubs withthe facility to provide overnight accommodation.The next stage in the relaunch will be anannouncement of ‘MoD estate rationalisation’later this year. Given that Kenley is the only VGSlocation in the South East, it seems very likelythat we shall see some development which mayhave a limiting effect on our activities especially inthe summer. The key unanswered questions aretherefore ‘If, When and How much?’.

I end, with fingers crossed, by thanking themembers who have rejoined and wishing that youall have fun and stay safe!

Steve’s notesSteve Codd

Cold, windy, rain, hail and snow – that’s notwinter, that’s just the weather experienced in one1 hour flight today. This sport of ours is just great.

As you all know one of our two seaters has beenaway most of the winter, fortunately we had theRingmer K13 in its place, but that had to go back.Well the good news is that the Polish factory havejust about finished a complete refurbishment of

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T40 and I’ll be going back to Poland to collect itnext week. We’re hoping to have it back flyingover Kenley the week commencing 9th May.

Earlier this year it was good to see many of you atour annual dinner and awards presentation. Agood night was had by all. I could list who gotwhat but if you look in the trophy cabinet you canread the names on the trophies.

It’s great to see so many of you flying new gliders,hopefully this is going to result in many morebadge claims and some real x-country from oursite, and also, more expeditions to other sites.

Some of you will have seen the poster in theclubhouse advertising a vintage week in June. Thisis a week when hopefully we will have a numberof pilots from all over the country turn up with alarge variety of older gliders to fly from our site.With a bit of luck there will be some two seatersincluding a T21 and T31 for those of you who mayhave flown them when Pontius was a pilot toreminisce.

As for our flying program for the rest of the year,things are looking busy with a good smattering ofevening groups coming up. Please look on thecalendar in the club house and help out as youcan, these are a very important source of incomefor the club and can be great fun.

That’s all I’ve got to say for the moment otherthan fly safe and enjoy.

Solo to solo, 1982–2015(Part 2)

Jon Hill. . . continued from February

So there I was, sat in the front of our Grob T40with the first of six instructors behind, Mr Coddgave the guided tour, pointing out the standingwave of Coulsdon Downs, yes wave at Kenley butunfortunately we couldn’t get there. Visibility wasamazing, Hampstead Heath to the north ofLondon down in the Thames basin, toy aeroplanes

landing at Heathrow and the South Downs pastGatwick, but now I had to learn to fly one of theseslippery glass gliders! Launch two, ‘attitude . . .look ahead . . . yaw string’ came from the back . . .and quite right too as recent thermalling attemptshave shown. I was obviously more rusty than I’dhoped.

My plan had been to fly through the winter whenthe fair weather flyers were snoozing by thefireside to go solo again in the spring, but I hadsome work to do. Come the New Year MrHayward climbed in behind me, ‘what are youdoing Jon’? . . . ‘launches all the way, trying to getthe hang of circuits in a glass glider andlandings . . . and not closing the airbrakes aftertouch down because it takes off again’. . . .‘Sounds like you’ve learnt a bit then, fly me round,you have control’. Just a five minute up round anddown, a few turns sniffing at thermals that eludedme, though I didn’t hear any tuts from behind! It’seasy to visualise a box circuit but the 45 degreeadjustable leg was taking some getting used to, aswas speed control on the approach. Input fromthe back seat usually came in the form of, ‘do youthink you are in the right place’, or ‘watch yourspeed’, or ‘no, wait a little longer till you turn in’,the guidance made you think and only when I’dgot it quite wrong did, ‘I have control’, come frombehind.

Now, flying by Mk1 eyeball is for a reason. Ourtwo Grobs have different altimeters, so when withMr Swan I found myself low at high key I realisedI’d misread the altimeter to which I owned up,which if I’d stuck to eyeballing the heightwouldn’t have happened. Obviously well withinMr Swan’s capabilities, who announced, ‘I havecontrol’, and flying an abbreviated circuit put usback on the grass. Immediate admission on mypart earned me a, ‘well at least you recognised itimmediately’, and another lesson learnt.

Something which helps me is to ‘talk’ what I’mabout to do and why, it seems to help my thoughtprocess, so when I ‘talk’ the wrong thing, ‘are yousure?’ comes from the rear. Instructor feedback is

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that they like it, they worry about the quiet ones, Iguess it gives them less thinking time to work outwhat us student pilots might do or not do!

I don’t know why it took me so long to work outthat once trimmed correctly the glider will fly itsself, even round thermal turns and it certainlyreduces the work load. The other frame of mindthing was to appreciate, they’re not air brakesthey’re lift dumpers. Mr Swan had me start a finalapproach long and high, maintaining the attitudewith the air brakes out gave me confidence. I stillhad to crack consistent circuit planning and sorealised at this early stage whilst sat in the cockpitpre-launch if I thought through where my highkey areas should be followed by what a goodcircuit should look like it gave me a plan, all-be-ita fluid plan.

27th February, it really is all worth it. With MrCodd, thermalling with a buzzard, Jct 5 to EpsomDowns at 2000ft porpoising from cloud to cloudat 80 knots losing just 100ft on the way back, itreally is worth all the effort. Come early April at

700ft up the launch he pulls the plug on me. Stickforward to gain attitude for approach speed andthe cockpit was full of grass, quite took me bysurprise!

Late April once again with Mr Swan who had mepractising blue thermalling, surely a dark art! 25minutes later after lots of recovery from variousattitudes and more thermalling, feeling a littlerough, I was happy to complete a satisfactorycircuit and landing.

End of April, stand by your beds, CFI approaching!I’d by now paid my full membership but hadn’tmet the clubs CFI, Mr Fitch. We went thermalling,‘just open up here for a couple of seconds, nowturn again’, we squeezed thirteen minutes earlyone morning, then we tried spinning . . . to noavail (no problem in the old Bergfalke!)

Blue thermalling with Mr Codd finally got us to2000ft from where with some quite positivecontrol inputs we got the Grob to spin twice,

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though the maestro recovered rather quicker thanI managed, dramatic and exciting but all incontrol.

15th May, after inconsistent circuits, yo-yoingspeed control, indecision regarding the airfield’svicinity, instructors plug pulling, thermalling tilldizzy and not forgetting the launching andrecovery of fellow members, it came together . . .again. There came a point when it became easier,planning happened ahead and though my flyingwas far from perfect it became consistent, well Ipresume so because Mr Hayward said, ‘how doyou feel about going on your own?’ I’ve alwaysreckoned instructors don’t let you loose with anexpensive glider unless they are confident you’llbring it back for the next person to have a go. Solaunch 58, after returning to gliding, the canopyclosed and no-one replied, my straps are secure. Ifelt relaxed as the slack came out of the cable. Idid smile as I went up the launch rememberingthe quiet in the Swallow at the top of my first soloall those years ago, thankfully that experience andthe hours of instruction all our instructors freelygive ensured my modest 4 minute re-solo wasuneventful and safe. The second solo flight of theday I eeked out to 9 minutes, most satisfying.

Thanks must go to all our instructors (Steve,Steve, Paul, Roger, Mark and Richard) includingthe ones visiting from other clubs without whomI’d never have achieved my goal. They all instructdifferently which really fits with no two day’sgliding are the same and being adaptive isimportant. That goal was to get back to where Ileft off in 1984, in a K8. I’ve now achieved that,converting to our club K8 late in May with athirteen minute followed by an eighteen minuteflight.

Where now? Having really only scratched thesurface gaining time in the air improving mythermalling skills, cracking half an hour would benice and becoming more precise at landing wouldreduce the walk back! I’d also like to takeopportunities to fly at other sites. Finally, thanksto all who run SHGC.

Ageing FledglingJulian Wolchover

The first time I flew in a glider was 1959 and I wasa 14 year old pupil at Leighton Park School inReading. It had the distinction of having built itsown Slingsby T21, called Min, under the aegis ofJohn Simpson, one of the Physics teachers and amassively experienced instructor and pilot (hewas also the author of “Tackle Gliding This Way”,a very accessible handbook on gliding and soaringwhich was illustrated by another teacher at theschool, Robert Gillmor, who is a world renownedbird artist). I was hooked from the moment Isee-sawed my way round my first ever circuit andas a result was a very poor student in school timeand, I must admit a mediocre, but committedstudent pilot.

Aside from John Simpson another advantage wehad was flying at Lasham and being affiliated tothe Surrey Club. Derek Piggott was the CFI andindeed it was he who sent me off on my first Soloduring a week’s flying in the summer holiday of1962. I had learnt to drive the tow car and thewinch cable retrieve tractor (an old Ferguson withwater filled tyres to give it enough traction) andhad a whale of a time aged just 16. I left schoolthe following year and started work. Thanks to myparents and the encouragement of one of myfather’s customers, Dan Smith who flew a Skylark3 at the 1964 Nationals with me as retrieve crew,I was able to continue gliding for a while andDerek put me in the Swallow in June of that yearand enabled me to achieve my C Certificate.However, it was all getting too expensive for mymeagre articled clerk’s salary and I had to admitfinancial defeat and stop flying.

Fast forward 50 plus years and in May 2015 I hungup my overalls and retired from work. My lovelypartner, Maureen, knowing that I hankered aftergliding again, bought me a 4 launch experiencevoucher at Surrey Hills. I developed Parkinson’s afew years ago but have learned that it does nothave to stop me living and doing what I want! My

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Min over Lasham 1958, John Simpson in P1 seat

This is me running ‘Rudolph’s’ wing in 1962/3

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consultant and the BGA are happy that myfaculties are un-impaired and so, after 3 cancella-tions due to adverse weather, Monday 4th April2016 saw me back in the cockpit of a Grob, analtogether different machine from that T21 of1959 not least because of the help I needed to getinto it! But what friendly and willing help it was.

That first winch launch took my breath away! Nosedate ride to 800 ft. but an express lift to 1100 ft.and I have been hooked again. I shall takeadvantage of my temporary membership to makesure that I really can do it again and then a flyingmembership beckons. Who knows, I might evensolo again in another three years!!!

Contact DetailsClub Chairman Adrian Hewlett

Secretary Marc Corrance

Treasurer Mark Kidd

Membership Russell King

Safety Officer Paul Hayward

Club Instructor Steve Codd

CFI Richard Fitch

Equipment Steve Skinner

Cabletalk Editor Chris Leggett

You can contact any member of the teamthrough the club at:

The Surrey Hills Gliding ClubKenley Aerodrome, Victor Beamish Avenue

CaterhamSurrey CR3 5FX

Tel: 020 8763 0091Web: www.southlondongliding.co.uk

Email: surreyhillsgc@gmail.com

Comments on this newsletter and anycontributions or photographs are welcomed andshould be sent to the “Cabletalk Editor” at theclub.

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