Members' area

Here is a superb picture of the line-up of Ka13s at the annual Ka13 task week at St Crepin in the French Alps.

Please go to

https://doodle.com/poll/aragp96cn64gn77p

if you want to take an aerotow during week Monday 25th to Friday 29th May.

If you wish subsequently to cancel, please log on to the Doodle link and delete your booking
Thanks / DGR

Please goto
https://doodle.com/poll/q83rnv9fnhz9ngsm

if you want to take an aerotow on Saturday 23rd and / or Sunday 24th May

An email has been sent to all members with details of how to book an aerotow for this coming Wednesday
DGR / chairman

Please see the email Saturday evening 16th May about aerotowing on Sunday 17th May. To fly you need to email chairman@cotswoldgliding.co.uk so we can guage demand,

Following Government advice that General Aviation can re-start, a group of us were delighted to get back in the air today. Strict social distancing was observed during rigging and briefing by CFI Simon Lucas, and in compliance with government advice, it was solo flying only. The honours for the first flight from AD in what must be the best part of two months fell to Rob Corbin in his and Simon Buckley's Shark. It was a splendid day to be in the air with some strong climbs to 5,000'. We are very grateful to Jonathan May for bringing his Tug over from Turweston to do the aertows.

The EGU newsletter is worth reading to see what’s happening in other countries as regards gliding (though some info is 4 weeks old).

Please see the EAS Newsletter April 2020 which has some useful information for sailplane and power pilots.

Webinars - The club is putting on a series of webinars over the coming weeks to help us keep in touch whilst we can't fly due to the pandemic. Find out how you can get involved on the webinars page.

Online Payments - You can now settle your flying account balance online! Go to My Flying Account then click the payment button. Don't forget that the second half of your membership fee is due on 1st April.

With low cloud initially, but forecast set to improve Tim Barnes, Graham Turner and Martin Heyward set up the winch on the main runway having done the siting assessment and cable checks. I managed my personal new year resolution to give a briefing each time I'm on duty, but the first signs of rustiness there appeared when I forgot a couple of things I'd wanted to cover and which was indicative of how everyone was feeling. We needed a day of safe flying to get the "Scotchbrite" on the rustiness of us all!

We already had a full flying list by 9.30, but with only 2 K21's available we knew it would be difficult to fly everyone, which was made worse by 2 of the instructors ourselves needing check flights first! The days activity was 2 x ODCs, flown by Tim and Don, winter refreshers, a 5-year check for Gerry Holden and with a few members wanting to get airborne.

The ever enthusiastic UWE members were on site, and decided to sort their trailer out whilst the early check flying took place. Gerry also got the Venture out and shared the fun with a couple of the UWE team. The USK Grob also made an appearance with enthusiastic flying from the group, and the K23 was able to be used by the less rusty members.

The expected brighter weather appeared for just about an hour, but then it returned to grey and showers, with the wind picking up a bit and a consideration of winch / launchpoint and making sure drift corrections were appropriate. In the end the lowering cloud and slight constant drizzle ended the day, unfortunately before a couple were able to fly but sometimes the weather makes the decision for you! Those who flew know we still need to now add further polish but at least we did use up some flying Scotchbrite!

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped.

Paul Lazenby