BOOKER GLIDING CLUB

From the chairman

As Dave Byass said in the last newsletter I have (as of Tuesday 24^th September) been co-opted on to the committee and voted in as chairman. I have not been active at Booker for the last few years, mainly through airspace committee work and rebuilding an old house, but I am now in a position to get back in to gliding in the way that I used to. I have already renewed my instructor rating and have been checked out on the Cub and have spent quite a lot of time at the launch point and trailer park listening to as many peoples views as possible. In taking over as chairman I would like to build on the good work that has been done in the last few very difficult years. Im glad that I didnt have to deal with rent reviews, flooding and foot and mouth all in one term as Dave had to. Thanks Dave for all your hard work.

I know we will never be a club with a social side and facilities as Lasham and it would be wrong to try to emulate that as we have our own style and circumstances but I do feel strongly that we need to have some social focus in our club. I have set up a working group to look in to the costs of replacing our existing club house which needs some repair work, with a temporary building of the log cabin or porta- cabin type building in the trailer park. This would give us a quiet spot on the airfield that we can call our own away from a busy car park or the noise of helicopters. I must stress that I am not claiming this as my idea, it has been floated by many, many members and raised at the recent forum, I just happen to think it is a particularly good idea and would be happy to look into how we make it happen. Tim Orchard is keen to support us in this!

I want to be a chairman rather than an unpaid manager and this means that I will need a lot of support from you the members, we should perhaps think of ourselves as a professionally assisted club, more of that in the next few months!

We have had one committee meeting last week and have the next one on Monday. Our main focus has been allocating roles and looking at areas where we can save money.

Richard Garner is looking at the office, IT and telephone side of things and has several ideas already, if you have any thoughts please contact him. I am going to look at the staffing levels and have already reduced the staff level in the office.

Alan Green is looking after airfield liaison. Alan and I have met with Tim Orchard for a meeting that was friendly and productive. We have identified several areas that are giving us problems and Alan has called in a specialist in airfield maintenance to advise us on how to look after the airfield and we are getting quotes for grass cutting, rolling, levelling and draining which we will discuss with Tim Orchard. (I would like to say thanks to Peter Wells for putting us in touch). Repairs to the peri track are already under way.

Jack Luxton has kindly agreed to be our treasurer and we will be looking at our costs and charges at Mondays committee meeting.

We will be running a regionals in June (date to be confirmed) and a 15 metre Nationals in August (23 to 31^st). I need help to organise both, particularly in terms of scoring and social side, please contact me directly if you want to help or have any ideas to make these competitions as much fun as possible.

Last but perhaps the most important point. Our towing operation needs to be looked at, as we appear to be short of tug pilots. With 5 tugs to fly we need to be doing around 10,000 launches and that means that we need lots of tug pilots who can jump in to a tug and do a few launches whenever there is a queue. We should be able to offer National SLMG PPLs at Booker very soon (we are just finalising a few details). For a silver C pilot it should be just 10 hours in the motor glider followed by about 3 hours differences training in a tail wheel aeroplane (possibly at Hinton in the Hedges) to get a National PPL and be ready to start tug pilot training (approx £1000). We are also hoping to do PPL and NPPL renewals in our Robin MM over this winter, this will be easier than using a Cessna at Wycombe Air Centre. We should be able to confirm this in the next few weeks. Our seasonal tug pilots can only fly two tugs between them so we need club pilots to cover the other tugs rather than using paid instructors, which would be a poor use of our resources. Launching is our core activity and we must ensure that everyone who wants to glide can get a launch when they want it, we are a professionally assisted club, and this is one area that member involvement is urgently needed 7 days a week all year round.

Well thats it for the first newsletter! If you have any comments, offers of help or suggestions please get in touch. Bruce Cooper 01628 525313 or bruce.cooper68@virgin.net (please do not use my mobile as Im frequently overseas).

From the CFI

You will find enclosed in this newsletter information from the BGA on new medical requirements for glider pilots. This new directive will affect everyone who does not hold a JAR class 2 medical or above, including all private owners, so please take the time to read and understand the changes.

The current system will stay in place until the start of March 2003. There are grandfather rights, which will delay the introduction of the new requirements for some members. However it is essential that everyone contacts the office before March 1st 2003 to verify their medical status is current and correct.

Please bear in mind that this update to medical requirements has been imposed on us by agencies outside our control.

I have no choice but to enforce the changes, and therefore anyone who has not updated their medical status by the above date will not be allowed to fly here until they have done so.

Jaca 2003

We will be running an expedition to Jaca early in 2003. At this stage plans are for Andy Perkins to take the Duo down and we may possibly take a single seat Discus. I am very keen to see this happen everyone who went last year had a great time and the club needs to do more of this sort of thing.

If you are interested please take a note of the following:

· Meeting 12:00 hrs Saturday, 26th October 2002

· Proposed dates last two weeks in April 2003

· To be confirmed by Jaca, especially concerning Easter weekend

· Please attend meeting or register an interest with the office before Saturday, 26th October to allow planning to commence

Staffing this winter

I am lucky enough to be working in Omarama for a period this winter (trying to improve my own flying skills). For the time I am away Matt Cook will be acting as my deputy. Please give him all the support and help you give me: none of the staff can do anything without the help of the membership.

RT Courses

It is highly recommended that all cross country pilots have a radio licence and you can go on a one day course at Wycombe Air Centre to gain the necessary qualifications at a cost of £50. The contact name is Kevin Dearman on 01494 443737.

PPL & SLMG Licence Renewals

JAROPS is now firmly in place across Europe. Because we are a JAROPS participating state you must renew your licence under JAROPS requirements. Depending on its age, your licence will include ratings for SEP and/or TMG or Group A and/or UK SLMG.

SEP = Single Engine Aeroplanes

TMG = Touring Motor Gliders ie Motor Gliders with an engine at the front

Group A = SEP

UK SLMG= Any motor glider with a G registration.

To revalidate any of these ratings, except UK SLMG, you must provide evidence of having completed the following within the 12 months preceding the expiry date of the rating

· 12 hours of flight time in SEP or TMG aircraft to include

a) 6 hours as pilot in command

b) 12 take off and landings

c) a single flight of at least one hour with an SEP/TMG rated instructor who must countersign your log book remarks column after the flight

NB 1

· If you have a licence that has a page in it issued by the CAA with SEP and TMG entered on the ratings page you may revalidate in either SEP or TMG.

· If you have an old fashioned licence for Group A only which does not mention TMG, you must do your re-validation in SEP and only flying in SEP counts towards it.

· You must have all the elements mentioned in a), b), c) above, ie 12 hours total, 12 take off and landings, a one hour instructional flight and have your licence signed before its two year validity runs out. Failure to do so will result in you having to complete a licensing proficiency test with an authorised examiner (a GFT at a flying club in other words).

· I have recently renewed my SEP/TMG and UK SLMG instructors ratings. You can do your mandatory one hour instructional flight any time during the last 12 months of your two year licence validity period with me in our tugs and motor glider, if you wish. The content of this flight has some mandatory CAA elements, discretion can be used to make the rest of the flight relevant to the individual and the type of flying they do.

NB 2

· Those of you with a UK SLMG rating on your PPL still need proof in your log book of five hours flying in any motor glider with a G registration in the previous 13 months and your log book stamped and signed by a suitably qualified chap.

The autumn/winter period is a good time to do this as tug utilisation is much less. I am away at Aboyne until October 22nd, at the club most of the time after that.

Hope this info is useful.

David Richardson

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