What happened yesterday?

Latest news & happenings from the club. For the latest weather click here
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News Archive

Forgot what happened last year, or merely interested in the club history ? We now archive the News and Yesterday pages every three months or so. Click on the link below to download the pdf file:

It's time for a new Yesterday page, please place any new yesterday posts on the new blog site.

http://bggcyesterday.wordpress.com

If you wish to contribute rather than simply commenting on posts you can begin by leaving a comment, this will come to me for moderation and if the comment says "make me a contributor" then I will. This is not a Big Brother deal, far from it.

Posts can contain images, and links if you understand a little HTML, the post editor should be easier to use for most people and for everyone else, keep it simple. It is possible to post via e-mail, which is very simple, you send an e-mail to a special address and that's it, if you would like to post this way let me know. Only the authors of a post may change it, I will not know individual user passwords, however if anyone is inappropriate with their postings (bad language, insulting personal comments etc) then these comments or posts will be blocked. Obviously there will be complaints and niggles to overcome but then that is what progress is all about. Any problems contact me.

Before long, this page will be archived along with the others and available through the new blog page.

Happy new year everyone !

Dave

Wednesday 30th December

Dismally cold and rather damp - only those continuing the work on the Bar cellar and ARC renewals about.

Sid

Tuesday 29th December

Rain and snow, not much to do with flying, we did manage to fly on Monday it was quite a nice day. I put the lack of general enthusiasm down to post Christmas fatigue and the evil cold that seems to be going round.

Dave

thursday 24th December

SEASONS GREETINGS TO ALL!

Not much flying to report, the orographic sat on the hill all day keeping the temperature low. Oh well the bar can open a little earlier than usual.

Dave

Tuesday 22nd December

As yesterday, clear and cold with plenty of wind, southerly. The super fridge project is progressing well, the walls are nearly covered and most of the sheets have been used. Barry walker and I worked out why the kitchen water tasted bad and made the appropriate changes, Welcome back proper water.

Dave

Monday 21st December

It was cold, with a modeate southerly, probably just about flyable but no takers. Instead we got on with the fridge project. Now it may seem a little odd to be building a fridge in the depths of winter but it is needed. Everyone has to take global warming seriously, so it is encouraging to know that the club is taking steps to reduce it's carbon footprint. And still keep the beer cool. Barry Liles is leading the project he has given us two days this week. The floor is down and a wall.

Tomorrow.....

Dave

Sunday 20th December

The weather forecast lured quite a few people into rigging with the prospect of a Bath-and-back westerly. Alas it was not to be, apart from the Nimbus, who sneaked an out and return after motoring away from a winch launch.

Although the forecast failed with its prediction of a suitable glider friendly wind, it was unerringly accurate with the temperature, which was on the southern side of chilly. The cold didn’t seem to deter the students or P2 who continued to keep P70 and EUC flying all day. Only a decision from the frozen instructors and the onset of darkness was enough justification to persuade them to stop.

The fly-for-free K8s were out and about and benefiting from some exercise at the hands of early solo pilots. They were also subject to some strange and previously unseen aerobatic manoeuvres by one of the club’s more experienced Alpine flyers.

Let’s make the K8 point again. The K8s fly for free, there are no soaring charges, you only pay for the winch launch.

-CJE

Saturday 19th December

A bright but very cold morning - we would have started earlier were it not for every vehicle refusing to start (apart from the Pawnee!). While we coaxed thing into life and managed to find the combination to the keysafe, the DG505 tailwheel was fixed.
A first flight at 10:15 nevertheless - lots of check flights and a large band of students from various locations made it a very busy day.
We welcomed back Dan Welch after a 2 year non-gliding stint in New Zealand and after re-soloing today, he hopes to shortly get back to instructing.
After filling a full three logsheets worth of flying, encroaching low cloud and a few snow flurries made it too gloomy to continue flying

Sid

Friday 18th December

Snow, well why not we've had everything else. As we got the gliders out it was obvious that the canopies were not going to freeze with the air cold and a little drier. Crystals of ice blew in the air and lit by the low sun looked magical. The odd blizzard and some frozen brake lines in the bus delayed the start a little but when we did fly we were treated to a Christmas card landscape, frosted with snow, great!
The ridge just worked and there was evidence of some weak wave, providing the controls were used properly. As a result everyone came down wearing broad smiles.
We flew as long as the light allowed, and packed the hangar in near darkness, what a nice day, cold and I mean COLD! but hey we are here to fly.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Dave

Thursday 17th December

Clear sky at last, we got the toys out but it was cold. Ice formed on the canopies and wings as soon as we got them out of the hangar. The sun available but did not seem to be doing it's job properly. As soon as we cleared the ice it formed again and it seemed as though we might loose the day, which seemed a little mean. Just before noon we started to make progress and at last I was able to start flying. The Cambridge expedition were pleased to fly and enthusiastic about ridge flying. With the north ridge buoyant, Andy flew another 2 seater to keep going and the baby grob was out too.

After all the work on the canopies and wings they did not re-freeze perhaps the air had dried a little, it was the snow shower that stopped play, although Andy managed one more flight as the shower cleared.

What a nice day but it was very cold, thanks to everyone who suffered the cold to help the day. Friday looks like a dice roll, it may be that we can fly, if we get a window and we can escape the icing.

Dave

Wednesday 16th December

It is said that Eskimos have no word for theft but many words for snow, it's getting like that here with fog. The grainy air that shrouded us all day, again was as usual cold and damp.
The current jigsaw is a picture of a tiger in the jungle, most of the day went to solving the edge.
On a lower note one or two of the stalls have been a little sluggish on the flush. So the men with the big iron elephant came along in the afternoon and spent several hours evacuating and scouring the underground storage facility. And now whoosh!

Thursday may be flyable we may have some ridge action too. OOOO!

Dave

Tuesday 15th December

The fog continues, perhaps it might be better to say the size of the rain varied. Not much to do outside, thankfully it's cold! 1 flat battery and an LS4 wing delivery to Rogers. Some of the rest of the day was spent installing and then removing a vital M****soft update. I suspect that a number of people had this problem as the M****soft support website collapsed, server busy, perhaps they installed the update too!

Oh well, we can hope!

Dave

Monday 14th December

Monday morning and fog, the Cambridge expedition got on with their jigsaw, it said 7-12 years on the box but they had it finished by nightfall.
We also set the "sim" up in the bar and they flew around the Slovenian mountains for a while.
The insulation for the bar cool room arrived and is stood in the lobby for now.
I upgraded the memory in the members computer, so that should help.

tomorrow, well let's wait and see.

Dave

Sunday 13th December

Lightish Northeasterly

A complete reverse to yesterday - a lot of enthusiasm from the group of Students from Cambridge and Bristol got the gliders out early in the low damp gloom.
Unfortunately despite lots of optimism and much pacing from Nick Wall who was aftrer a check-flight, the gloomy orographic stayed firmly at low level and the gliders were put back to bed after midday

Sid

Saturday 12th December

Light Northeasterly

Everything ready to fly & bright sunshine by 9:30 but no pupils. By 10:00 the forecast clag had drifted out of the valley & over the airfield with about 200' cloudbase. Nick strolls up for his annual checks and he's first in line.

At 13:00 a proper clearance comes though with large gaps & some Cu at 1100'. A couple of hours flying before canopy misting stops flying. For the first couple of flights visibility is very bad and some mist to avoid on approach.

A Group of students from Cambridge arrived for a few days and we managed to fly some of them and Nick got half his annual checks done. A few private flights too. Some reduced sink on the ridge and Nick & Russ manage a couple of turns in a very weak thermal near cloudbase. The satpic had shown some wave earlier and although the clouds had some hints of this in their shape higher up none was found.

Russ

Thursday 10th December

A bit warmer, drier and with lighter winds, a day! Several members came out for some local soaring and training, generally enjoying a pleasant time on the field.
Remarkable flight of the week(?) was awarded to John McWilliam who borrowed CZ for a test flight and went to Pontypool! where he found soarable conditions, then Usk and back and while I understanding that he used some engine it is still a notable flight. Back in the club house I noticed him writing a letter, over his shoulder I glimpsed the opening line, "Dear Father Christmas, I have been a good boy all year......".
Just after 1430 the air temp dropped and we started to get misting problems, no amount of duster work would improve things and sadly we had to stop.

Thanks to everyone who helped, we all had fun, however I am expecting a letter from the squirrels.

Dave

Monday / Tuesday 7/8th December

Wind and rain, the forecast is for improvement later in the week, fingers crossed for the high pressure.
On the ground, I finally got the last piece of the puzzle to post the weather station to the web, and it works, however more changes are needed. I suspect that the 20% reduction in machine time at the main office computer will become tiresome fairly soon.
Simon came out yesterday and fitted the new winch hook in the k21, he also put the new polishing mop together(only for use by suitably licensed members).
Big day Saturday!

Dave

Saturday 5th / Sunday 6th December

Not much flying, although a few persistant souls did get P70 out for check flights until the cross wind and rain stopped play on Sunday.

Nigel, Simon and a few others continued with the K21 CofA. The nose hook was replaced with the aid of an angle grinder and several hammers.
LS4 (MY) continues with it's mid-season tidy up.

Kevin

Friday 4th December

A bright start with an expected front moving in by noon. The tug was signed off early and after a test flight to check power settings it was allowed back on line, which came in handy. As a bonus Toby seems to have fixed the radio as well, good job Toby.
The wind began nicely in the west but as the day developed it went more and more southerly, we stopped as the rain began to fall, having wrung as much as we could out of this week, flying 4 out of five days. It was like a deram....

Sorry about yesterday's yesterday but the internet connection was down, it's back up now!

Dave

Thursday 3rd December

A nice day with a bit of NW ridge fun, what about that for a change, a flyable day!

Strangely only a few members came out to play but the conditions didn't mind at all. Alan in 802 reported wave locally and Trevor who prefers to stay away from wave romped off in the starship. I'm not sure where they went but I'm sure we can guess. Jed and Gill flew their gliders too. When the rain came, Alan and Stuart got caught out and landed near Dursley.

Given the weather recently, it was a very good day.

Dave

Tuesday 1st December

December begins with strong southerly winds and a fresh frost. The cross wind prevented us from winching, so we got on with sorting out the vehicles, Andy the mechanic went through the usual vehicles getting everything ready for the winter. The winch truck now has a new Radiator, which is nice and they all have anti-freeze, which is necessary.

Toby from Roger's got the tug running, we await signatures and perhaps a bit more tweaking.

The aircraft building team began to prepare their working space in the tug hangar, sweeping and moving boxes, it will be interesting to watch the project develop.

By the way I noticed that google earth has updated the Nympsfield area and presumably quite a lot else, the shots of the airfield capture the morning team getting the gliders out, see if you are there.

Dave

Update?