BOOKER GLIDING CLUB

WYCOMBE AIR PARK, MARLOW, BUCKS SL7 3DP

INFORMATION SHEET October 2000

From the CFI

End of the season, time to take stock. Firstly, congratulations to those Booker pilots who have been so successful in competitions this year:

 		 

Dave Watt and Al Kay

2nd and 5th in European 15m

Ed Johnson

1st in 15m Nationals

Chris Rollings

3rd in Open Class Nationals

Graham Saw

1st in Aerobatics Nationals, Intermediate Class

 

I think that’s all the really significant results. Anyone who feels left out can come and bend my ear! Well done everyone.

It’s been a dreadful year for weather but at least we’ve had a successful season of training with nearly 30 new solo pilots in the year. That’s over 10% of the membership. Thanks are due to our volunteer instructors and of course the professional staff who have had a really busy time this season. You can expect more of the same as bookings for training flying remain high. This means of course that it is perhaps difficult sometimes to get a chance to fly "casual" in a two seater at the weekend – a problem that I will be addressing for the next season.

We will be reviewing the season’s training at the forthcoming instructors meetings:

As there are a lot of new solo pilots we will be running a full course of Bronze C lectures over November and December. Saturday mornings at 09.00 sharp! starting on Saturday 11th November and running through each Saturday until just before Christmas. The lectures will be given by Booker instructors who are studying for their Full-Ratings so you can expect a good effort since they will be under test! A few of the more experienced among you may care to turn up as well and see if you remember the basics…

Candidates for the Bronze C should turn up with their log books as we will also have a chance to assess progress and maybe do a bit of flying after the lecture.

That’s all for now – see you at the launch point. Wrap up well.

G

TUG PILOTS – SEPTEMBER 2000

JULIE ANGELL

ROY HIGHFIELD

ANDY PERKINS

NEIL ARNOLD

DOUG HILTON

GLYN READ

WAYNE ASPLAND

TIM HIRST

DAVID RICHARDSON

TED BELBIN

KAT HODGE

MIKE RICHARDSON

PAUL BRICE

KARINA HODGSON

DAVE SARNEY

DAVE BYASS

ALISTAIR KAY

ROY SCOTT

TONY CROWDEN

PAM KURSTJENS

SHEP SHEPPARD

G DALE

GERRY LEECH

ALISTAIR SMITH

BOB DAVEY

HILARIE LUXTON

GUY SUTHERLAND

ED DAVIES

JACK LUXTON

ELAINE TOWNSEND

JED EDYVEAN

JAN MCCOSHIM

ROLAND WALES

MIKE EMMETT

MARY MEAGHER

JEFF WARREN

RICHARD GARNER

TOM MOUTRIE

DAVE WATT

ADRIAN HEGNER

PAUL MURPHY

PETE & SALLY WELLS

Everyone on the list is now JAROPS compatible.

Autumn/Winter Ops

Summer has left us for the moist/windy weather after the Equinox.

 

Prepare and brief yourselves for towing, making allowances for the following contingencies:

Windy weather

associated turbulence, wind gradients and taxiing problems

Wet/muddy airfield surface

take off roll and height over the hedge with reference to glider weight, wheel size and minimum take off speed

Carb icing

read the CAA publication in the clubhouse

Ridge tows

get a briefing and check ride as necessary

Pawnee

get a briefing and check ride as necessary

Do not put wet/muddy boots or tow ropes in the aircraft cockpits.

All these extra factors need to be considered every day during the poor weather in addition to:

Noise abatement

Engine management

Correct towing speed

Glider pilots experience and needs

Avoiding hangar rash

Keeping the tugs clean

Avoiding controlled air space

Next Summer

The CAA have closed the self improver route. This means getting young lads determined to fly 700 hours in our tugs is no longer possible.

One possible way of dealing with this is for club member tug pilots to commit to a days towing. We need two tug pilots every day midweek in the summer and one each weekend to do what the seasonal tug pilots used to do.

If you can, and honestly want to commit yourself to a days towing on a regular basis during the period April to September inclusive, please write to me with your level of commitment.

 

New Tug Cards

These should be in circulation by now.

Tows are logged on one side only, any snags or suggestions on the other – if a tug is not flown due to being unairworthy, fill in the snag page and put it in Dave Sarney’s pigeon hole in the office.

Glider snags can also be reported in the same way, glider only snags in my pigeon hole please.

 

DR

LATEST FROM ABOYNE

Congratulations to John Denne, Marjorie Hardwick, Patrick Onn and Andrew Perley all of whom obtained their Diamond Heights on Wednesday 4th October. There is a satellite picture and further updates available from the web page >click Here<

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