Practice Day Tuesday 28th April

6am. Not enough sleep. I had eventually got home from the previous day's fun at 1am in the morning, having had to stop for a power nap on the way back. I've learnt to stop driving at the first signs of driver fatigue so at least I had snuck in another half hour.

Tea in bed, iPad open, checking the forecast. WNW wind, switching around to SW by mid afternoon, but probably a bit blowy. And with RASP looking so good, it would be rude not to try. Things were still looking good for Frocester, Showered, dressed, light breakfast, and I was back on the road. My drive to the site was delayed having stopped to help a young mum push her car off the road with her three kids inside - why was everyone else driving past? Unbelievable. With a quick trip to the petrol station to get her some fuel she was soon back on the school run, much to the chagrin of her children! By 9.30 I was sat in the car at the Coaley Peak car park, looking out over the Severn Vale. Being a Cotswold boy, this is where I used to come for family picnics and kite flying, often lying on my back in the sunshine watching the sail planes soaring above. Little did I know then that one day I too would be able fly from here, often passing over both my primary and secondary schools, the open play fields of Minchinhampton Common, and the family home where my parents still live. Special indeed. 

Panorama over the Severn Vale

After a brief walk to the spur to check conditions, it was fairly obvious that the wind forecast was accurate in terms of strength and direction. Good and bad. Right direction, but maybe too strong. Oh well, I had made the effort to get here, so off the roof came the glider, and by 10.15  I was rigged just in time for the tops of the tress to start blowing over in a two fingered salut to my endeavours. Not to be beaten, I retreated to my car to finalise and declare my flight, and make sure the GPS was correctly programmed. Ambitious it might have been, but a 200km flight to goal at Kings Lynn was set, having carefully chosen a landing field near the train station as I would need to get back home to make sure I could get to an important meeting the next day.

Frocester Hill
A technical site. Lower tree line clearly visible.

Struggling to avoid conflict with gliding operations

Suddenly the wind dropped. A lull? A couple of minutes later and it was still blowing a steady 15mph.  Action stations. Glider checked, instruments on, clipped in. Wind? Still good. Three steps later and I was airborne, turning right over the trees which I had expected to climb over. Frocester is a technical site at the best of times, but when its turbulent it is very challenging. Landing fields are not easily accessible, and a quick decision has to be made when getting low to be able to reach them. I spent the first few beats almost at the base of the trees (if you know the site, you know that is "landing approach" time), but I managed to scramble back up in gnarly punchy lift, just in time as the wind switched within minutes to SW. I was lucky to have got airborne, but the hard work was only just beginning. As I gradually gained height in a three steps forward, two steps back fashion, the drift now was taking me along the ridge and not "over the back". I was struggling to stay off the end of the runway of the adjacent Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club, and was making every effort not to inhibit their winch launching. Losing the battle I opted to go with a broken climb, lower than I had wanted at 2000ASL, but at least I was on my way.

Cranking it over in a punchy climb over Selsley

Slowly sinking I glided on to Selsley Common hoping to pick up a better climb from the ridge. With memories of my last flight there still vivid in my mind, I did not want to get too low, but with the wind now SW it was a gamble. Luckily, the gamble paid off as I stumbled in to a broken rough climb that allowed me to drift over the Stroud Valleys, hopefully to gain enough height to proceed over the rising Cotswold escarpment.

Cloudbase at last!

I had to drift for most of the flight in broken thermals, quickly covering ground with the strong wind but mostly between  2000' and 3000' ASL. Not high above hilly terrain in weak, broken lift surrounded by strong sink. As I passed to the West of Brize Norton ATZ during the highest point of the flight,  I could see a good line of clouds off to the East which I gauged to be in the airspace - would they be clear by the time I glided to them? I couldn't take the risk so I continued to glide on track. 

Damn. Better sky but probably in airspace...
So its off to an overcast sky.

A windy landing at Wychwood  golf course

Getting low again, a ploughed field kicked off some bubbling air, so I drifted on, often just maintaining height in the hope that either I would drift over a better source, or the sky would "cycle" and my thermal would mature in to a "boomer". The sailplane whizzing in beneath me obviously thought the same, but soon sped off to find something better. Eventually I became nauseous from circling for nearly two hours, interspersed with only a couple of short glides. I was becoming disorientated.
Erring on the side of caution for a safe landing in large field with no upwind "rotor inducing" obstacles, I glided on towards Chipping Norton for the village of Wychwood and its golf course. My initial choice of field turned out to be the driving range. Fearing a few air to ground missiles, I opted for the field over the road and made a perfect landing.

Retrieved in style.
And why does the sky always look good after you've landed?

A short walk to the edge of the field next to the main road and I sent a "landed safe" message to Hilly. As always I immediately started de-rigging, first packing harness and instruments, then the glider. The familiar "whistle" of a text message. Hilly: "I'll come and pick you up and take you back to your car..." Seriously? I was expecting to have to either hitch back or take public transport. Perhaps this would cost me a late lunch in a Cotswold hostelry? Oh, what a hardship. No sooner had I packed the glider and propped myself up on my harness to enjoy the rays of Spring sunshine, than I was awoken from my slumber by the throaty growl of an Audi TT pulling up next to me. An impressive retrieve in every respect!

A hard earned 55 kms, but all good practice for the start of the British Open Series in a few days time... 

Practice Day Monday 27th April

Limited time. Limited weather. With only a couple of short flights under my belt and the first round of the British Open Series looming, I had been champing at the bit to get out and "do some miles". The forecast during the previous week had been showing some promise that Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th April would be the best flyable days of the week so I shifted my contract work around to free up the time and started making plans. 
The night before the wind forecast had changed significantly, indicating that it was going to be a light, variable wind day, with only the south coast showing some signs of a consistent north westerly. So, it was either going to be a hill launch from the Dyke or a tow somewhere mid-country. Unfortunately my local tow group couldn't come out to play but after a quick phone call to Andy Hollidge, I had a slot booked with Flylight Aviation at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire for a 2000' tow. 

Monday morning. An early start helped along by a glorious sunrise. After a pleasant drive up from Wiltshire I met Andy near the aerodrome for a coffee, decided where our goal field would be (just out of Sywell ATZ), left my car there, transferred my kit to Andy's truck, then made our way to the airfield.

Andy Keate rigging by the tower

I do like flying from active airfields - there must be something about mixing with the other aircraft that makes it exciting. With Andy Keate from the local club supervising our visit, we were soon rigging near the tower and our hosts Flylight Aviation. Helicopters, prop planes, microlights... it was all going on. Ollie Chitty was there, looking somewhat bleary eyed after his great 180km flight to South Wales from near Luton the previous day - the long retrieve meant he had only just got back and had gone straight to work. 

After a quick test flight Tom the tug pilot was ready to get us in the air. I had declared a 100km triangle starting from just outside Sywell ATZ to the South West, with turnpoints at Stowe School to the South near Silverstone, and then Bedford to the East before returning to the start point. Andy declared a more ambitious triangle of about 150km, with turnpoints extended from mine. The sky at 11.30am was starting to look good. Time to go.

I was first on the tow, and had an amazingly "mellow" climb out behind Tom who was flying at just the right speed, and predictably taking us in a left hand circuit to some great looking clouds near the start point. As we cruised at 2000' I got out of shape in some turbulence so immediately pinged off the line, expecting to be able to locate the lift associated with it. After a quick unsuccessful search pattern I headed off to the clouds but met bad sink - looking back at the airfield it was make or break time - do I glide on to the clouds or head back within gliding distance of the airfield? If I needed a relight then it had to be the airfield. Now at only 500' above the ground things were not looking too good. But as I passed over some houses and trees, the air started bubbling. Right, time to start gently searching again. Bingo! I found the start of the thermal that would eventually, after some considerable time working broken lift, get me up to cloud base. Phew.

Just within striking distance of the airfield

High at last :-)

Right, time to start the task. With a straight glide over the first turn point (conveniently a large roundabout on the edge of an industrial estate, I headed to the South of Northampton to some fine looking clouds. I made sure my track took me over green areas of the town in case I bombed, and found a good climb over what looked like a large commercial  building plot that had been cooking in the sunlight. Up I go, with a couple of buzzards joining in as it turned in to a stonking 900' a minute climb. As I called it on the radio, I could see Andy already headed over towards me. Coming in over the top of me, he climbed very quickly and then sped off again. 

So that's where the Chinook is...

Before reaching cloud base I headed off to turnpoint two, partly to keep flying with Andy, but also to push on faster while we had good lift and a rising cloud base. Silverstone race circuit was now clearly visible. As I approached I could suddenly hear the "thud, thud, thud" of a Chinook helicopter, but couldn't for the life of me see it. I put a call out to Andy to keep his eyes peeled. Getting louder, I still couldn't see it, so I put in some tight 360 turns to make the glider as visible as possible just in case they hadn't seen me. Luckily, the noise passed away, as did any imminent danger.

Fantastic sky with Silverstone below

Approaching Stowe School near TP 1

Past Silverstone and I intended to glide straight for the turn point, then find a climb. But, with a strong headwind and a sky starting to get just a little bit too over active, I found myself getting low 1km from the turn point and eyeing up Stowe School cricket field as a landing site. Taking a weak climb over a ploughed field I managed to work my way back up slowly, but at the price of drifting further away from the turnpoint. With the sky definitely deteriorating I made a glide for the TP, clipped the proximity circle,  and immediately returned to the weak thermal I had left, gauging where the drift would have taken it. Luckily with the help of my GPS I was back in the lift and drifting towards my second turnpoint near Bedford.

Looking around, nearly the entire ground was now in shadow. The cloud base also seemed to be lowering - not something I expected to happen at around 2.30pm. Cautiously tiptoeing around broken lift, and doing short glides in-between climbs, I kept myself in the game, passing to the north of Milton Keynes at around 3000'. As rain started to fall, I glided off towards Newport Pagnell, hoping that the buildings would have retained some heat and would be now kicking off lift. I headed for a housing estate, with a nearby park for landing, but sank all the way there, reaching the area with about 500'.

Searching low over Newport Pagnell

After a quick search I was down to 300' but the air was starting to bubble. Quickly assessing the situation, I was prepared to try and work it, but the landing options downwind were not good. Game over after 66km. Rain stopped play. With a quick base leg over the trees I landed  my Wills Wing glider with ease close to the gated entrance. Half the battle of cross country flying is having the confidence in your flying and your wing that you can land out. The predictable handling of my Wills Wing T2C makes it very easy. Just love it.


As I unclipped and started sorting my instruments and harness out, a couple of dog walkers came by and passed the time of day. Very pleasant. That is until another dog-walker came through the gate and with his dog on the lead, allowed it to go up to my glider, cock its leg, and p**s all over the wing tip. Some people. 

Now quickly de-rigging the glider my phone pinged through a couple of messages. Andy was down and had tried to call. I soon found out he had landed further south of my first turn point, was  relatively near an airfield and was going to walk there to try and cadge an "air taxi" back to Sywell. I decided to get packed up and try and hitch a lift back up to my car some 25 miles away. Its worked before, especially with my "Glider Pilot Needs A Lift Please" sign.

Buzz Lightyear does in style...

...while I take the poor man's retrieve!

But oh no. Having walked through town to what I thought was the correct main road, I ended up on a dual carriageway without any stopping places. 3 miles later, and I turned off back towards Newport Pagnell. One and a half hours of walking with my harness and I was back where I started. Andy texted me a picture. Flash bugger. He had got a lift in a light aircraft back to Sywell and would come and pick me up. Just about to give up with hitching a lift, an ex airline pilot who had seen my grovelling sign, stopped and gave ne a lift to Olney, half way back to Sywell, where Andy met me en route to pick up his glider. 

As it was now late in the evening we stopped for a curry in Buckingham before heading back up to my car near Sywell. Reluctantly declining Andy's kind offer of a bed for the night, I opted to drive back home as the next day promised a good day from Frocester in Gloucestershire.....

Super Saturday

6am. Saturday 11th April. I had set the alarm early after the previous days chatter of a record breaking day in the UK. The weather forecast had been promising an excellent soaring day with relatively strong winds, indicating that a long distance XC was not only possible, but could also lead to a selection of British HG records being broken, including Open Distance and flight to a declared goal, both for Class 1 (flexwing) and Class 5 (rigid).

Dawn with the front passing through

The forecast good conditions were dependant on a front going through, switching the wind from SW to WNW, and paving the way for the following unstable air to trigger thermal activity. As I looked out of the bedroom window at the rain drenched car below , a beautiful sunrise was starting to develop. Perhaps the forecast was going to be right after all.

The RASP forecast - yellow and and red is good!

With my instruments charged and packed the previous night, and preliminary flight planning done, I downed a bowl of porridge, loaded my harness in the car, and headed off to the hangar to pick up my glider and then on to Frocester, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. The forecast had consistently shown the wind switching to the WNW, then coming back round to WSW by early afternoon. This site can potentially handle that variation, but arriving on site at 8.45am it was clear after a walk to the spur and by observing the low clouds, that the wind was more NW and blowing up to 30mph. Wrong site, and marginal conditions. 

Nev Almond arrived shortly afterwards and after a quick assessment decided to head off to Selsley up the ridge towards Stroud - a small NW site with minimal landing options but at least, in these conditions, the potential for a launch to start an XC. After a few minutes hesitation (was the wind going to come back round in the next hourt?) I followed Nev up to Selsley where we were soon joined by Grant Crossingham, Paul Harvey and Tim King. Carl Wallbank had woken early in the Wirral with a view to driving down south to join the record breaking gaggle, but the early rain and howling wind had swayed him to stay home. 

Rigging in the dip

All systems checked and ready to go

Soon gliders were being rigged in a convenient dip in the common land, providing some shelter from the strong wind. By 10.30am we were rigged and the final preparation of instruments and declaring flights was taking place. An ambitious flight to the South Downs then along the coast to Deal in Kent was programmed in. Could we beat Carl's 276km flight from Wales to the South Coast? As I checked my cooridnates and submitted my declaration, there was a sudden flury of activity and a noticeable anxiousness amongst some of the pilots. The wind was backing to the west sooner than expected. Damn. Should have stayed at Frocester. Gliders were quickly being "floated" to the front. I opted to do final checks clipped in by the car and with Hilly holding the nose, made my way across the common to the front. With the glider at a 45 degree angle to the path to keep the glider in to wind, I knew that launch was going to be very interesting. Seeing first Nev then Grant take off and be thrown around low to the ground did nothing to allay those fears.

As I approached the front Paul managed to escape off the hill after nearly being ground looped twice, while Tim hung back from the launch, keeping his glider safe. "Be very careful Ben. The launch is VERY turbulent". He wasn't wrong. With Hilly on the nose and Carmen kindly offering to take a wing, I gingerly made it to a launch spot where I did not have to immediately overfly the trees just below. Luckily the wind was being pulled straight up the hill and felt (relatively) smooth, so after some final instruction to the superb ground crew, I lifted the nose of the glider, shouted "release" and launched. Immediately the glider climbed, and almost as quickly started sinking towards the hill. Pulling on even more speed I flew towards the lip below then gently converted to height to clear the hill and climb away. 

Selsley Mountain....

Paul on his rigid marking better lift

Flying above launch

As bad as Mexico! No landings...

Being flushed out down by the trees

And the roller coaster experience continued. Trying to explore various parts of the ridge to find out where the potential lift would be coming from, I noticed that the end of the ridge East towards Stroud,  where Grant and Nev had climbed out, was pumping up in cycles. Keeping an eye on Paul, I worked some lift there until it broke up,  and glided over to join Paul who seemed to still be climbing faster. But my short journey towards him was through monstrous sink, to the point that I was soon below ridge height and contemplating a landing in... well, that was the problem. There wasn't anywhere that could be described as a landing field. Small, sloping fiends with power lines, rotor inducing buildings, Cotswold stone walls, roads.... As I flew just above the tree tops at the bottom of the hill, I sized up the only field that I would attempt to land in. Turning in on finals I hit an incredibly strong surge so instead of straightening to glide to the field, I continued to "S" turn my way back up the hill until I could squeeze in a 360. As I quickly cleared ridge height, I was able to 360, so I stayed with it. As the thermal consolidated I was soon committed to going "over the back". Thank feck for that. I had no intention of hanging around on the hill.

Getting high(ish) at last

Searching over Minchinhampton Common

Climbing in broken lift I drifted over the valley behind towards Minchinhampton Common. With my climb petering out, and after a short search pattern, I glided on towards Minch where I would hopefully find a better climb to help me connect with the fantastic clouds that were now creating some inviting streets.Over "Tom Longs Post" in the centre of the common,  I connected with a broken thermal which I worked hard to stay in with its ever moving core. Just about maintaining height over Minch, I heard Tim updating the pilots on the radio. He was still on the hill and had opted not to fly. A good call. Paul Harvey was still trying to get away from the hill and Tim informed everyone that I had gone over the back. 

Grant: "Just passing the lakes" (Cotswold Water Park)

Ben "I'm struggling low over Minchinhampton".

Grant: "Stick with it  - once you get past Cirencester the lift sorts itself out. Keep circling"

So I did. But I was going down slowly! With Kemble ATZ airspace just ahead I knew I needed a miraculous climb to get over it. Staying where I was not going to deliver it. 

Running out of options with Aston Down top right

Watching a recently winch launched sailplane circling over Aston Down Gliding Club, I glided towards the aerodrome, keeping off the centre line of the runway where towing was talking place, hoping to pick up lift from a brown field lined with trees ahead, or even from the hangars as a last ditch attempt to stay up. But my luck had run out. 

Flying around the perimeter road I turned in to wind, having to pull on lots of speed to stop flying backwards. It was like a top landing on a windy hill top.

Perfect touchdown

A perfect touch down, in a big wide open space. Partially relieved to be down in one piece, I felt the pangs of frustration as I heard Grant making good progress towards Swindon, talking to Malcolm Beard as he flew over top of him launching at Liddington. Oh well, better to be safe and to fly another day. I phoned Hilly to organise retrieve and started the usual process of packing harness and instruments first, then de-rigging the glider. Being her first experience of hang gliding I was expecting there to be some delay in the car turning up. I could not have been more wrong! Having just had time to get the battens out, I saw the welcome sight of my car coming around the perimeter road. A well deserved pub lunch followed.

Grant climbing over Swindon

Cloud streets forming all over the place

I knew that Grant and Nev had every chance of doing a big distance. And they did not disappoint. As the day unfolded I received a phone call from Paul Harvey, who had done well to escape the hill and get to Newbury. He told me that he was on his way to Ashford to pick up Grant. Ashford? In Kent? Bloody hell! He must have been very near to smashing the record. Wow.

The Facebook comments in the evening were filled with a mixture of praise and disgruntled rumblings by those who hadn't made an epic flight. Ironically, Grants flight had not been meticulously planned as some claimed. Speaking to him this morning, he had not pre-programmed the flight, and had experienced problems with an airspace update on his instruments.

Ben: "You went over the top of Kemble airspace without much clearance, and was even sinking early in to crossing it. You must have balls of steel!"

Grant: "I just decided that if I stayed directly above Nev, then I should be OK! I flew the second part of the flight from memory".  Got to love him! 

Grant and Nev's tracks. Awesome!

So, a flight of 266km on a flex wing, with Nev a few kilometers behind on his rigid. Just 10km short of the British Record. Unfortunately Nev just clipped airspace so his flight is DSQ, but you cant take away the fact that both pilots achieved a remarkable feat. Well done, guys. Inspiring flights. 

Just love to fly :-)

Back in the saddle.

Seven months? SEVEN MONTHS? Is that how long it had been since I had last flown? Over the last couple of weeks the weather had shown signs of Spring arriving so I had already checked over the glider and replaced an upright (oh, did I forgot to mention that in my last post?!), and made sure all the electronic gizmos were working and charged. A useful check as I discovered that the rechargeable batteries in my Alinco radio had failed. I decided to order the latest Chinese built radio with an 8W output for the princely sum of £49 - along with the new harness aerial I should be able to get a signal out even in the most remote of locations.

Itching to get back in the air after the long winter lay off, I had been watching the forecasts with interest, willing the RASP forecasts to show some exciting Spring conditions. Nev Almond started posting that it was looking good, and Luke Nicol announced a "Wondrous Wednesday", encouraging more excited Facebook chatter! My fake weather forecast posting on FB, to discourage the anticipated swarm of Paraglider pilots from descending on the local sites, was soon rumbled :-) One thing was for sure though, and that was all the forecasts were showing an "early" day, with chances of cloud over-development by mid afternoon.

Picking up the glider from the hangar

Waking up early in the morning, I declared my intended flight from Combe Gibbet. Nev had set an ambitious 100km  triangle, but I downsized to a 60km triangle, planning to first go south with the prevailing wind, and then push North in to wind as the day grew stronger, with the last leg back to Combe cross-wind. Having dropped by the "hangar" at our tow site at Castle Eaton to pick up my glider and after the relatively short drive to launch, I arrived at 9.30am to find three hang gliders already rigged, and more arriving, along with the a large number of PGs. 
I immediately rigged the glider, mounted the instruments and cameras, and prepared to launch. Nev Almond was the first HG off the hill at around 1045am, following some PGs who had already found some half decent climbs. With Nev climbing out to the West, I prepared to launch. The sky was increasingly busy so I was looking for definite signs of lift and some clear space. A small gaggle of PGs had pushed out just in front of my launch area, and were gently climbing. 

Climbing on the West part of the ridge

Gliding forward with PGs

Suddenly a Red Kite started climbing from the base of the hill between me and the gaggle of PGs. With a quick check around, I immediately launched to join the kite. Hey Presto! First one 360, then another... above hill height... still climbing... clear of PGs. Phew! At about 500' above take off I glided off to the West to explore for lift above the trees in clearer air. Bingo! Another climb. With some strong surges and averaging 2-3 up, my lift petered out at about 2000' ASL so I decided to push North to my first turn point. I had been watching Nev and a couple of PGs working lift up wind. Quickly losing 1000' I pulled on speed towards three PGs who seemed to be maintaining height. Now only a few hundred feet above the ground and with no chance of getting back to the hill, it seemed pretty hopeless as the grey gloom seemed to be spreading quickly, inviting me to check out landing fields. As I came in underneath the lowest PG, the air started bubbling. For over ten minutes we worked the weak lift, both hunting around for the strongest parts, but flying well together. It was a real pleasure to fly with this pilot. Slowly but surely we were drifting back towards the hill, sometimes slowly descending, but hanging in for the thermal to mature and we were indeed rewarded with a stonking climb that catapulted us back up in a 6 up that occasionally showed 9 up. 

Great flying with my new PG chum!

Looking back at launch
What are those strange shapes in the ground?

Cloud base must have been just under 3000' so I decided that I would bin my task and just enjoy the flying. I could hear Luke Nicol and Paul Harvey on the radio, flying some 60 miles away on the South Downs. As I pushed to the East to create a small triangle, the ground became increasingly in shadow. Looking back at the hill, I could see a lot of pilots landing. Malcolm Beard had just launched and was struggling to stay up and landed quickly along the ridge to the West. After a brief weak climb, I decided to glide back to complete my flight.

Random in-flight shot as I messed with the camera!

Top landing at Combe is not that straight forward. It involves crabbing up the hill from the East and then turning in to wind for touch down. Overshoots are not uncommon, so I made sure that I started my approach early from the road, crabbing along the track up to launch and finally turning in to wind to make a perfect landing. Job done. First flight of the year successfully completed.

Soon the skies were empty, with most pilots trapped on the ground, while a few had managed to stay high and left the hill. As the skies became more murky, a few hail stones started falling. Nev would be on the ground. Or so we thought. As Craig Dolwin patiently waited for conditions to improve, I suddenly spotted Nev gliding in quite low from the West. As he flew over the Gibbet I expected him to carry on East then turn 180 to the left to crab up the track. But Nev had other ideas. With a sharp, banked, sinking turn to the right he disappeared downwind behind the parked cars, now covering the ground at high speed  Expecting to see a cart wheeling glider, I ran up to the field, and over the track to see a rather cool looking Nev nonchalantly taking off his helmet and messing around with his instruments... A bit too cool, methinks. I expect a change of underwear might have been needed.

I think that was the last flying of the day. The wind had dropped right off. Maybe Craig, Miles and Malcolm hung on but I decided to pack up and get an early finish to the day. 
My 60km triangle turned in to a 11.2km epic, but which scored 28km! Nev and the few PGs made it up to Membury then over to Devizes before heading back. Oh well, I've got some points on the board, and all good practice for "the big one".