new Windsock - Buckminster Gliding Club · new Windsock May 2018 [email protected] p.1...

new Windsock

May 2018 [email protected] p.1

Buckminster Gliding Club, Saltby 007

This fantastic picture of the Lunak was taken by professional photog Keith Wilson in November last year for PILOT magazine. Dave Unwin was the pilot and this Editor was flying UG with Keith. More of Keith’s Saltby pictures are on Page 4.

May’s big news is that the office is once again populated (we can’t really say manned). Carol Freer joins us as Office Manager from the company from which we bought some of the Club signs.

Carol lives in Saltby village and knows Angie well. Angie in fact has kindly come in to show Carol some of the office mysteries. The picture shows George going through Alchemy for Beginners.

Carol is currently on a vertical learning curve but has kindly agreed to be interviewed for the next issue of new Windsock.

N eedless to say there was no flying in January and February but by mid -March

the weather started to improve and we did 13 trial flights. Into April the trial flights increased to 23 and up to date we have 42 booked in for May, with June getting busier by the day. We also have a lot of group flights booked over the next few months, so requests for help will be going out in due course. Those visiting us for group flights are from Melton Scouts, 107th Derby Scouts, Loughborough Round Table and Melton Round Table. In addition John Davies has two Group Flight evenings booked in June.

Fleet News:

K21 – Serviceable

Perkoz – Serviceable

FTH – Serviceable

FSH – Awaiting ARC renewal

JNN – Serviceable til 17th June

TTUG – Servicable

BUFR - Serviceable

KK – Work on KK is continuing (Mick Woods)

Winch – Serviceable

Yellow Tractor – Serviceable

Bread Van (Blue Truck) – Serviceable

New Blue & White Tractor – Serviceable

KK has the engine fitted but needs lots of work still. Talk to Trevor Henson if you can help with this project.

Welcome to the Club:

Lyn Ferguson Dalling, who comes to us from Upwood, w/o Roy FD, owner of a lovely Club Libelle, and a working Full Cat Instructor.

Adam Hoskin, as a Full Member and aeros specialist, on a move to Notts University.

The new ‘Trailer-Bus’:

Work is about to start converting the container in the car park into the launch point vehicle. Alan Middleton is PM and will be looking for massive assistance.

If you could spare the time and have skills to offer please do talk to him about what you might do.

Dates for Your Diary:

Sunday 11th June – Saturday 16th June

D Module Instructors course

Friday 20th July – 22nd July

Open Aerobatic Competition

Monday 6th August – 11th August

BGC Members Task Week

Millfield Expedition visit to Saltby

Thursday 23th August – 26th August

National Aerobatic Competition

(Sunday will be a reserve day)

Manager’s First Update from Carol Freer

Welcome Carol

new Windsock


In this issue of new Windsock, sadly we say goodbye to another long term member,

John Smith. Martin Hands, who knew John from the age of 14, has written about him on page 3. He was a good man.

Danny Lamb and Emma Burns contrast April’s fortunes with May’s (so far) on this page, and we have a whole page of Keith Wilson’s super pictures at BGC on page 4. John Teesdale, another long serving member, has recalled gliding in 1954 on page 3, and John Elkington has written another article on seasonable crops as the land-out season approaches.

However the big news must be the arrival of a new office Godmother, Carol Freer. Carol lives locally and comes to us from the company who made some of our signs. We should have a full interview with her next month.

Chris Davison has not only updated the simulator story, but has also generated another seventh page with the rules on getting a club trophy, and your name apparently does not have to be Les, but it probably helps.

So it’s a massive 8 pager this month, hopefully never again, but please keep writing. ALM

Editorial

3rd April The weather initially looked ok, but the later reports indicated that as the day went on it would become windier and windier. Phil bravely took a flight in Buffer and came down to advise us that it was like flying in a tumble dryer; the vote then was no flying. Danny led a presentation-based discussion on Cross Country flying. More tea was drunk and we went home early.

10th April Weather indicated ground level cloud and drizzle; spot on, even the Glider pilots’ optimistic outlook did not improve things. A low attendance day, so we finished early again.

17th April Weather very poor again; has it got something against Tuesdays? It was dry, it was even sunny, but the 20 knot gusting 35 knot southerly was a bit outside our limits. So more tea, a discussion and

demonstration on Glider Control connections was completed and early going home.

24th April The weather report gave us a flyable window up to noon so we rushed about and actually got a glider out and DI’d. However Berian found some broken bits on the EuroFox and when Alan had a look at it he found some more, so the tug was grounded. We started to work out if we could get the winch out with only a few of us with no coach, when it started to rain early Arrrggghh !!!!!!! Put everything away, more tea and another early finish.

Well who would have thought it? NO TT flying for a whole month and in April as well. Our luck must change soon.

Tuesday Tailspinners Report #5 from Danny Lamb - “so now for April”

S ince Easter, club members have been going from success to success. Over our Easter break, we had our Easter Training

Week at Shenington to tie in with the Junior Winter Series, with 28 members attending. The weather for most of the week resembled grey soup, with only a few flyable days. However, the poor weather was made the most of as Ben Jenner, Miles Isted s’Jacob, Jack Vincent and myself passed our Bronze theory paper!

At the end of the week, Juniors from up and down the country started to arrive as did the sun. All three days of the weekend were thermic! On the Friday, Jack Vincent achieved his solo endorsement in the afternoon after sitting his Bronze theory in the morning! Some of our members also did their first launches and landings as well as learning to soar!

Left: Bronze Theory Passed! Left to Right: Miles Isted s’Jacob, Jack Vincent, Emma Burns, Ben Jenner

Bank Holiday weekend saw very hot weather with painfully blue skies! There was still something to be gained, which started with Miles completing his Bronze Badge on Saturday! On Sunday, the weather got even hotter and even bluer, regardless of which Harry Entwistle completed his Cross-Country Navigation and Field Landing assessment with thanks to Malcolm Huddart in BUFR. Jack was signed off on winch driving by James Walker and both Lawrence Broad and

Jack converted to the K8! On Monday, Simon Fredholm nailed his landings and James Smith signed off spinning and stalls!

Right: Jack Vincent goes solo

Below: Miles Isted s'Jacob completes his Bronze Badge

Right: Harry Entwistle completes his Cross-Country Navigation and Field Landing Test

We had a single seater spot landing contest on Monday, with James Walker spot on the mark, but disqualified for bouncing; Ben Jenner close but disqualified for using the Astir wheel brake; leaving Lawrence to take the lead in the K8!

K8 conversion Left to Right: Jack Vincent, Lawrence Broad

Emma (me) ready to launch with Rance

To celebrate our successes and a bank holiday that wasn’t raining, we finished the weekend with a BBQ at the launch point as the sun set on a great few days had by all!

Loughborough Students Success! from Emma Burns

new Windsock


C ongratulations on new Windsock, so many interesting articles to read! I thought you might be interested in my

first gliding experience, on a five-day Course at the Bristol Gliding Club. They operated from an airfield called Lulsgate Bottom, which I think, is now Bristol Airport. This very much shows the somewhat casual approach there was to flying, a mere nine years after WW2, compared with today !

About 12 or 13 of us, including two or three girls, assembled in a hostelry near the airfield on a fine October Sunday evening in 1954, to meet our Instructor for the week. He was an ex-RAF Sgt. Pilot with an RAF moustache, of which he was very proud! Almost his first question to us was, “Who can drive a car here?” One other person and I, were the only two to raise a hand! How times have changed !! We were told that we would be launching the Course, and that he and I would be launching each other. There will be a Club Member here in the morning, to show you how it’s done! At this point I, and almost all the others, had only ever seen a glider in a photograph!

The next day, Monday morning, while the others were shown how to take the only aircraft, a Slingsby T21B, the old Open Two-Seater, to the launch point, my co-driver and I were shown the mysteries of auto launching by a couple of Club Members. They used an

old Humber Snipe, stripped down to 2 seats, a concrete block, and a standard release hook. Laid out on the runway was about 1200 or so feet of piano wire, with the Launch Point end much as it is today, with a drogue, rope and rings, and just rings on the other end.

The drill was to start the launch at 90° to the side of the runway, and using bat signals, drive diagonally across the runway for ’Up Slack’, then on signal ‘All Out,’ roar down the runway. The glider had to be made to release in time, to run the wire out, as it fell to the ground, or else one had a nasty heap of wire! The springy wire would wear badly in places, when it returned to the launch point, so ‘cable breaks’ were frequent.! These were mended with a simple reef knot. True to their word, we had help for an hour or two, then my co-driver and I, complete beginners, were left to ourselves. No Health and Safety worries in those days!!

However, I enjoyed every minute of that

week. I only managed 15 launches, the longest being seven minutes. There were no mishaps, and I think everyone enjoyed it. With the aid of our instructor, well-versed in RAF off-duty life and before the days of the breathalyser, some of us certainly gave Bristol a good workout after dark.!

My flying continued with the Cambridge UGC, (including several camps to the Long Mynd for bungy launching and ‘five hour’ flights). Then in 1957, as a Founder Member of the Four Counties RAFGC, we started operating at RAF Wittering, almost on my doorstep! I stayed with them until 1970.Three of us built the club a winch from scratch. I qualified as a Junior Instructor, and had a third share in a new Olympia 463. These were fourteen very enjoyable years with 4CGC, with visits to lots of places, including Italy.

The next two decades were given over to Family and Farm, until I was fortunate enough to find and join our great club in 1994.

Safe Flying in 1954 from John Teesdale

J ohn was born and lived all his life in and around Leicester where he attended City Boys

Grammar School. John had a love of all things to do with aviation and as soon as he was able he joined No. 1 (Founder) Squadron of the Air Training Corps, reaching the rank of Flight Sergeant. In the ATC he discovered gliding.

Having completed the ATC course he continued gliding with the RAF Four Counties Gliding Club at North Luffenham and Spittlegate. Later on, having obtained his Private Pilots Licence, he joined the staff of No. 644 Gliding School flying Venture Motor Gliders at RAF Syerston.

After Leaving School, he worked first for the Leicester Building Society. After leaving the Building Society, John went into business building kit cars and campervan conversions until recession meant that the business had to close. He then joined the civil service in the Tax Office. John's liking all things

mechanical included MGs, of which he owned several at various times, and other ‘interesting’ cars.

In 2002 he joined Buckminster Gliding Club, where he enjoyed flying the K8 and Motor Falke, which to him was always the Venture as it was called in the ATC. He was also a keen member of the Dimona syndicate.

John was a member of his local British Legion branch where he had been Secretary and a Standard Bearer. Tragedy struck when his first wife, Ida, was killed in a riding accident. With the help of family and friends John carried on and later met Cynthia who was to become his second wife and enthusiastic Rock and Roll partner. John enjoyed a pint and in earlier life a pipe! He had a wry sense of humour and was always immaculate

John leaves his wife Cynthia, three children, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He will be sadly missed by his family and all who knew him.

ATC camp RAF Benson 1958, John off duty as immaculate as ever. Why the flowers? I never knew.

John Smith 23.05.1940 to 03.05.2018 from Martin Hands

new Windsock


Keith Wilson has been actively involved in aviation publishing for more than 30 years and is probably best known for his striking air-to-air images in Pilot magazine. During his extensive air-to-air photographic career, he has photographed almost 2,000 different aircraft; featuring a very broad range of subjects, from gliders, microlight, vintage and veteran, aerobatics and general aviation subjects right through to high altitude research aircraft, business jets, commercial jets and military fast jets for a variety of customers and marketplaces.

During this time Keith has amassed a photographic library of around 250,000 images in film stock, in addition to almost 350,000 digital images.

Not surprisingly, Keith’s hobby is flying. He obtained his PPL back in 1981 and continues to fly at every opportunity. Aside from writing the occasional flight test article for magazines, Keith also undertakes the ferry flying of aircraft in and around Europe. Last year, Keith flew a single-engine Pilatus PC-9 from Peterborough to Sandford, North Carolina; a trip that took a leisurely five days and was not without its incidents!

Keith is the author of a number of aviation books

Dave Unwin flies with Chris Rayner in his lovely little SONEX kit built aircraft, fully reported in a recent PILOT magazine. Positioning this one was ‘tricky’.

new Windsock


The rape seed is tiny. The crop is like barbed wire

Summer Crops from farmer John Elkington

A

A

B

C

C

C C

B A

B

AERIAL SHOT FROM 1500 FT

A B C

OIL SEED RAPE IN MAY Fields will be easily identified by their brilliant yellow colour. They could be up to 1.3 – 1.8m tall and very dense.

Best avoided at all costs

PLOUGHED/HARROWED FIELD IN MAY This could have a rough unworked surface or could have been freshly harrowed and sown with a crop that has yet to emerge. Land in the direction the field has been worked if possible.

WINTER SOWN CEREAL FIELD IN MAY Fields will be relatively even and smooth. Watch out for tramlines, landing across them would be very rough and could result in some structural damage. 0.6-0.8m in height. Dark green in colour

W hen allocated to the Ninth Air Force in February 1944, Saltby had three concrete runways, 33 loop and 17

pan hardstandings, and four T2 and plus one B1 hangars.

The 314th Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-47s and C-53s, occupied the station from February 1944 to March 1945, when it was handed back to the RAF.

However, it was used briefly in May 1945 by a detachment of the 349th Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-46s. [They carried British paratroops to Norway -Ed]

[Manning a Transport Carrier Wing was a massive undertaking with up to 2000 personnel in 4 squadrons, a glider unit assigned, and many support staff (Military Police, Medics, Logistics, cooks etc), for around 80 transport aircraft.

C-47 of 62d Troop Carrier Squadron, the 314th Troop Carrier Group, and Waco gliders, at RAF Saltby, England. However the Saltby gliders were not used in any actual operations.—Ed]

C-47 Skytrains of the 32nd Troop Carrier Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Barkston Heath? Saltby?' from the Roger Freeman collection

[It’s worth remembering that entertainment was warm weak beer in the local pubs and a bicycle could name it’s price. A great night out was a trip into Grantham, ideally on a Thursday—Ed]

The airfield closed in late 1945 & the station was used for storage until 1948. Sold in 1955, much of the site has since been demolished and returned to agriculture, but part remains active as Saltby Airfield, home to the Buckminster Gliding Club since 1971.

May 1944, the USAAF is at Saltby and D-Day Approaches

in part from the IWM web site— American Air Museum

new Windsock


Simulator update #4 (Two step forwards, one step back!)

from Chris Davison

The last month has seen some major progress on the BGC simulator project, followed by what might be called some ‘learning opportunities’! The first major step forward was the very kind donation of the Yellow Peril’s fuselage by Dave Brooks and Trevor Henson, following the unfortunate case of glue failure that has afflicted many wooden gliders, including their mighty K6. Never one to say no, it was about two hours after they had made their kind offer that the fuselage has been sawn in half, loaded onto a trailer and carefully taken to Andrew Cluskey’s workshop.

To turn the fuselage into a realistic control for the simulator, you need to somehow connect the real stick, rudder, airbrakes and trimmer to the simulator hardware and additionally make sure the feel of the controls is reasonably realistic. Gliders convert the pilot’s stick and rudder movements into movements of control rods, which in turn move the glider’s ailerons and elevator. By connecting sliding potentiometers (more of which later) to these control rods, you can in theory capture the control movements and send that information to the PC running the simulator software. Tension, to give the controls a reasonable feel, can be added using elastic bungy cords. Sounds easy, right?!

Amazon were all out of “attach a sliding potentiometer to K6 control rod, which in itself has to move in multiple degrees of freedom” devices, so Andrew had to get creative.

The final design, which involved using copper piping, old ski poles, piano wire, double sided tape and cable ties is nothing short of genius! By creating a sleeve, with one end fixed to the control rod, the other end fixed to the glider and mounting the potentiometer on top, control movements can be turned into potentiometer readings. So simple, what could possibly go wrong? With input into the simulator sorted,

thoughts turned to the output, in turns of the realistic instrument panel.

The K6 cockpit is a little small, so it had already been made bigger, allowing for the panel to be moved forward and upwards. A small VGA screen was purchased to provide the real-time instrument display and a small tablet running XCSoar, provides a large enough screen for the pilot and interested parties to be able to view navigation and final glide data. Finally, the K6 yellow bung was replaced with a yellow button, for the cable release.

All that remained now was to get the fuselage into the Simulator room and to connect it all together. The first task proved to be much simpler than expected. Using the purpose made access door, 6 of us carried the wooden fuselage up the stairs and with appropriate safety planking, passed it over the railings and into the room.

So far so good, and the aim to have the simulator up and running by the end of May was looking on track. Meanwhile, Keith Ford had finished the projector housing and

screens off. The day to connect the fuselage to the PC had arrived.

When we started the project, we bought some cheap sliding potentiometers, to test out the theories and prove the design. They worked, although they were not 100% reliable, occasionally dropping out or giving poor readings. This was to be expected given the price. For the final version, we had ordered some very nice and highly recommended Swiss made units, which duly arrived and were wired up and mounted in the simulator. The wiring was attached to the PC and testing could begin, except that testing did not work, at least not as expected. Normally, a linear sliding potentiometer should give say a reading of zero at one end, ten at the other and five in the middle, which can be nicely mapped into full left rudder, centre rudder and full right rudder. Rather that 0-5-10, my testing was showing 0-2-10! To cut a long story (and much frustration) short, our highly recommended potentiometers were highly recommended for those wanting a logarithmic output, not a linear one! Two steps forward and one step back. As I type this, potentiometer set number three, a linear set, is currently wired and ready to be installed!

There is still much work to do. However, the aim is still to have the simulator in a working state by the end of May. There are still jobs to do please. The fuselage could do with a rub down and fresh coat of paint, some carpet tiles would be nice and of course we need to develop some lessons. Many thanks to all of those who have helped. Here’s to getting ‘airborne’


new Windsock

Chris explains the 2018 Rules for Club Cross Country and Height Gain Trophies More from Chris Davison

B elow are the rules used to judge the varies club cross-county and height gain trophies. I have tried to make these clear, but if you have any queries or would like help using the BGA national

ladder to record the flights, please contact me, Chris Davison – [email protected].

Fastest handicapped speed Saltby 100km:

A flight of between 100km and 200km, launched from Saltby and using one or two declared turn points. Where the club 100k triangle tasks are used, no declaration will be required. Achieved speed will be based on glider handicap. Flight and trace must be loaded on the BGA ladder. (These rules mean that adding the club triangle to the end of another task would be valid, however selecting the fastest 100k part of a larger flight would not).

Fastest handicapped speed Saltby 300km:

A flight of 300k or more, launched from Saltby and using one or two declared turn points. Where a suitable club task (as per the BGA Ladder) is used, no declaration will be required otherwise a declaration is required. Achieved speed will be based on glider handicap. Flight and trace must be loaded on the BGA ladder.

Longest distance UK Flight by BGC member:

The longest UK handicapped flight achieved by a BGC member, using a maximum of three turn points. The flight does NOT have to be declared in advanced and does NOT have to be flown from Saltby. Achieved distance will be based on glider handicap. Flight and trace must be loaded on the BGA ladder. (This allows for a long, undeclared flight to be included, for example adding extra distance on a declared task or flying a ‘down-wind dash’).

Height Gain:

Maximum height gain achieved in the UK by a BGC member. The flight does NOT have to be declared in advanced and does NOT have to be flown from Saltby. Flight and trace must be loaded on the BGA ladder.

Longest Club-Wood Flight: New for 2018!

The longest UK handicapped flight achieved by a BGC member, in a either a club glider (the ‘Club’ part) or any glider with a handicap of 89 or less (the ‘Wood’ part) using a maximum of three turn points. The flight does NOT have to be declared in advanced and does NOT have to be flown from Saltby. Achieved distance will be based on glider handicap. Flight and trace must be loaded on the BGA ladder. (This is to encourage cross country flying in club and lower handicapped gliders). This replaces the ‘best wooden flight’ award.

Fastest 100k in a Club-Wood glider:

The rules as for the ‘fastest 100km’ trophy, but limited to club gliders or gliders with a handicap of 89 or less.

Open Ladder:

Best overall BGA ladder score by a BGC pilot

Club-Wooden ladder:

Highest number of BGA ladder points, based on the best 6 flights, flown using club gliders or gliders with a handicap of 89 or less.

Notes:

Whilst all cross country flights should be encouraged, to be eligible for a trophy, flights must have been loaded onto the BGA ladder and contain some proof they happened, namely a logger trace (which does not have to be from an IGC logger).

Where a two seat glider makes a flight, the BGA guidelines of awarding the ladder points from the flight to the pilot with the most cross-country experience will apply and that person should be a BGC member. Any winning trophy from such a flight will be awarded to both pilots if they are BGC members.

Pilots should attempt to ensure that the club achievements board is kept up-to date, to ensure that other pilots know what they have to beat. In all cases however, valid flights logged on the BGA ladder will be used to make the annual awards.

For all declared or club flights, a valid start must be made. This may mean returning to your start sector after you have been launched. The start sector can be any valid BGA sector, for example line, cylinders or semi-circle.

Club Tasks:

The following tasks are the nominated club tasks on the 2018 BGA ladder. Please ensure you check the NOTAMs for the day, which may make these tasks unsuitable. Remember that if you are planning to use these tasks for badge flights, a valid declaration will be required and as always, pay attention to airspace – don’t just fly in a straight line!!


new Windsock

Who does what? - The Board

Chairman / IT James Walker

Secretary Chris Prideaux

CFI / Treasurer George Rizk

Treasurer elect Kevin Williams

CTO Julie Matysik

Director / Site Maintenance Brian Barnes

Director / Hangar Plans John Elkington

Board Member / DCSO Luke Walker

Board Member / LSUGC /

Child Protection Officer

Emma Burns

Others you may want to contact:

DCFI - Aerobatics Mark Erlund

DCFI - Motor Gliding Martin Hands

DCFI Ground instruction & record keeping / AME

Paddy Yeoman

Mentor to solo David-John Gibbs

Mentor to solo Mike Sheehan

Mentor X-Country Chris Davison

Mentor post-solo Vacant

CSO / Windsock Alan Munro

Tugmaster Gareth Bustin

Winchmaster / BMFA liaison Trevor Henson

Instrument Maintenance John Margrave

Avionics Malcolm Huddart

Club Website Guy Roberts

Social Media Liam Green

Office Manager Carol Freer

What does it all cost?

Full membership £345.00 pa or £31 pm (DD)

Country membership £245.00 pa or £22 pm (DD)

Self Launching £400.00 pa or £35 pm (DD)

Social membership £75.00 pa

NPPL membership £150.00 pa

Juniors 18 - 25 £75.00 pa (Juniors < 18 Free)

BGA capitation fee £31 pa

EuroFox aerotow to 1200 ft £10.00 then £1.00/100 ft

Winch launch £8.25

Flight time single seater £0.20/min (Juniors Free)

Flight time two seater £0.40/min (Juniors Free)

T61 Venture £60.00/hr

Hangarage, trailers, caravans etc Call for prices & spaces

Bill Veitch demonstrates how to rig the

Club Astir

A great rigging demo from Bill after putting in a massive amount of work on FSH’s annual. Great advice from everyone else, but sadly the tail plane would not fit despite an expensive repair. FSH should be flying again shortly, if not already. Thanks Bill.

new Windsock - Buckminster Gliding Club · new Windsock May 2018 [email protected] p.1...

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Transcript of new Windsock - Buckminster Gliding Club · new Windsock May 2018 [email protected] p.1...