From the Committee

The airfield maintenance programme has been blighted by drought. Although the airfield was rolled with limited success after the last significant rainfall, the ground was still really too dry. What can be done has been done, e.g. in-filling of larger depressions and close-cutting and collecting. Further cutting by Agripower is taking place today (12th May), but further rolling at the moment would be ineffective. We now need some good downpours (probably a couple of inches of rain), otherwise unfortunately no further significant progress will be made until the autumn.

Briefly on our business operations. Sales of introductory courses and trail lessons were down earlier in the year, but may be recovering. Sales of intensive courses and PPL conversions have improved dramatically over the last two months, and it seems likely that they will exceed last year’s sales.

Don’t forget the Booker regionals. So far we have eighteen entries, so some more would be very welcome.

From the CFI

Roy Scott will be giving a lecture on ‘The Principles and Possible Pitfalls of Instrument Flying’ on Sunday 25th and Saturday 31st May.

Attending would be a good idea for anyone planning to do some instrument training in gliders this year.

Ground handling of gliders and tugs

We have recently suffered an epidemic of stupid and careless ground handling accidents to both tug aircraft and gliders. Broken canopies, holes smashed into wings, rudders dented or broken – you name it.

This is totally, completely unacceptable.

We are all supposed to be aviators. Every single member (including trainees) is personally responsible for maintaining a safe operation. The club cannot afford this constant, careless damage. We all need to sharpen up and pay attention to what we are doing.

Safety is your personal responsibility.

Regionals 2003

There are still spaces on the Booker Regionals competition list – the dates are 14th – 23rd June.
Please contact the office to reserve your place.

Aboyne 2003

We have booked to visit the Deeside Gliding Club again this Autumn.

There will be up to 4 club fleet gliders based at Aboyne with me from 28 September until 18
October inclusive. Accommodation is pre-arranaged in a log cabin with 5 double rooms for the first two weeks. Other accommodation options are also listed on the Deeside Gliding club web site and in our office.

Aboyne is situated east of the Grampian Mountains between Aberdeen and Braemar. Any weather with a westerly wind component gives excellent wave soaring. Our record is 8 Diamonds in one day!

Deeside in Autumn is very picturesque and a popular place to visit, we share our first two weeks with the Queen’s holiday at Balmoral, 10 miles from our log cabin.

Private Owners – Book your aircraft in with Mary –Rose Smith on 01569 730687 for £30 per week, if you would like to stay in our log cabin, book that with the office with a £50 deposit.

Club Pilots – The only qualifications are a tow bar on your car to get the kit there and back. Call the office and put your name on the list if you are interested, any queries contact me.

David Richardson

Cross-country training

We are blessed at Booker with the presence of a good number of extremely capable cross-country pilots. We also own an extremely capable high-performance trainer: The Duo-Discus.

It has always been hard to get the two together at the same time and place as a student. To this end, a number of the most experienced cross-country and competition pilots have volunteered their services on certain days to offer advanced training. A calendar will be placed in the clubhouse and on this will be indicated which days training is available. If you wish to fly, then enter your name on the calendar and turn up on the day.

The level of training will be tailored to your requirements and will be from first cross-country up to National competition level, so if you wish to fly an outstanding two-seater with one of the country’s best pilots (or me) get your name on the list as it appears.

Any questions, contact me, G or Matt

Dave Byass

From Wendy in the Office

A big thank you to everybody who sponsored me for the London Marathon. I did manage to complete the course and thanks to your generosity managed to raise over £2000 for the Anthony Nolan Trust.

From the office

This month we start sending statements by email, if you wish to use this method please be sure to notify the office of your email address. Also for a couple of months you will receive a posted version until the system is proven.