April 2009
Monthly Archive
Thursday, 16th April 2009
Judith 17 Apr 2009 | : Boring stuff
More rain and low cloud. The Mynd wasn’t visible most of the day.
We worked, prepared for Saturday and I went to the gym to run some stuff out of my system.
Wednesday, 15th April 2009
Judith 16 Apr 2009 | : Boring stuff
A miserable, rainy day. We’re trying to do work and keep busy with DIY. We also did a lot of preparation for the Long Mynd social do, on Saturday (http://www.longmynd.org/calendar/show/111). Should be a good event, much needed after this week, with lots of pilots there, prizes, dancing, and, of course, beer.
Tuesday, 14th April 2009
Geoff writes: after Sunday, we were anxious to get out and fly – to get back on the horse – as soon as possible. Today we had a reasonable forecast, but it was very cloudy in the morning. We checked with Steve Dean who had gone to the Gyrn, but he said it was cloudy there too, sometimes raining, and some people had flown, but gone straight down. So we did a few jobs, and went to do some shopping. When we came out it was sunnier than before, so, after a few more phone calls, we drove up to the Gyrn. It was cloudy there, but soarable, and we both flew for a short while. Not the most epic flight, but good to be in the air.
On the way back we went by the village underneath Corndon, and dropped off a bottle of whiskey, on behalf of the Long Mynd Soaring Club, at the house of the paramedic who responded first on Sunday.
Monday, 13th April 2009
Normally we enjoy writing the blog. But yesterday, there was a fatality at Corndon. Gordon McGregor, a Scottish pilot who often flies here suffered a collapse and stall, and was too low to recover the glider, and didn’t manage to throw his chute. Judith and some others were in the air at the same time, in, more or less, the same thermal. This is not the place to speculate on the reasons for the accident, or to give a detailed description. However, his family have now been informed, and we know that people have been looking at this blog for more information, so it seems appropriate now to at least say who it was, so that people know.
This was a tragic event, and very traumatic for everybody present. The one good thing which can be said is that everyone pulled together and did their utmost to help. The rescue services were there very quickly, and in fact a paramedic was on the scene in minutes – he lives at the bottom of Corndon and saw the crash, and raced up the hill to help. The air ambulance followed soon after, but nothing could be done.
Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
Sunday, 12th April 2009
No blog entry today.
Saturday, 11th April 2009
Geoff writes: An interesting day at the Long Mynd. One of those days when it’s off to the South, nil wind, an epic sky everywhere with great clouds – except over the Long Mynd. All day, it was people just launching into thermals – or trying to. I had six attempts before I got away, slope landing four times. Basically, there were two good cycles. We missed the first, because we were too hesitant. A few people got up in that, including Steve Nash and Richard Chaffe – the former doing a big out and return, and the latter having a great flight but not quite managing the triangle he was looking for, landing, I think, near Bishop’s Castle.
Finally, late afternoon, there seemed to be a cycle where a couple of people launched and climbed, just to the right of launch, following some birds. I launched, Judith followed me, and it was a nice strong thermal – slow at first, but getting better – to base at just under 6000′ ASL. Almost no drift. We considered an out and return, but decided to go for distance – always more satisfying for us! We flew separately for most of the way, but made exactly the same mistake – heading to a cloud we thought was OK, but in fact it was decaying – but by the time we realised that we were in a shaded part of the ground, no sun, and couldn’t make the sunny bits. I landed first, and Judith followed me about 15 minutes later, into the same field.
Only 20k or so (see tracklogs on the XC pages) but a fun flight, and nice to land together, and a great retrieve from Wayne! Our first flight back in the UK, and a nice start to the season.
The lessons for today? Have patience. When it’s light and variable, watch out for the signs, like birds, and keep trying it out by launching and slope landing. Eventually, you’ll probably connect and get high. And once you’re up, in a sky looking like it did today, it’s easy to stay high.
Judith writes: How interesting what different perspectives you can have on a day.
We got to the Long Mynd and said hello to lots of people we hadn’t seen for six months, and then went to get ready. At around 12.30pm, the first person to stay up was James and I followed him off, thermalling up to a few hundred feet up. As I was turning, I realised that I hadn’t turned my radio on, and my harness was still badly adjusted, so when the thermal seemed to peter out, I top landed. Geoff was running along the fence, shouting into his radio (which I didn’t hear) and apparently I had a knot in my lines, which I knew nothing about. Read more »
Friday, 10th April 2009
Judith 10 Apr 2009 | : Boring stuff
Another miserable day. Cloudy and raining most of the day. I adjusted my cocoon in the garage, ready for any flyable weather we might get in the next couple of days.
By afternoon it had brightened up a little and we saw someone ground handling on the Long Mynd. It looked pretty south and light, but he managed to fly across to the bowl to the left of the gliding club, so we trundled up as well. It was too far off to stay up really and very light and we were frozen just getting out of the car. So we had a quick chat with Nigel and Ellie and then headed home again. Someone did fly later and got about 100′ ATO.