29 July 2019

First Solo Congataulations to Quinn Cameron-Faulkner, age 14, who flew solo for the first time two days ago. Photo later.

12 June 2019

First Solo Congratulations to Andy Millls for achieving his first solo flight on the Tufty Club evening, 6 June 2019. The customary photo of Andy and his instructor is at this link.

Vintage Rally This annual event starts in less than two weeks - with gliders arriving from Friday 21st June onwards. Read more on the Vintage Rally page - see the link in the left hand menu.

Recgnitions  from Steve Marlor. Last weekend saw a flurry of activity maintaining our three Puchacz. A team lead by Warwick Horne and consisting of Colin Taylor, Mick Featherstone, Antoni Simmons and Alex Green spent most of Friday conducting 100 hour checks on G-CJRJ. Then on Saturday and Sunday Mike Stephens, Rob Harman and Liz Martin performed 50 hour checks on G-CKHW and C-CFXO. Many thanks to all who rolled up their sleeves.

Sailplane Grand Prix From John Shipley..The SGP 2019 is on at Cerdanya in Spain from 1 to 9 June. The action can be followed at this link

LPV Gets Wash and Brush Up Thanks to Cadence Grace, Ellis Brennan, Myling Moore, James Booth and Max Risley for cleaning the launch point bus at the end of a very successful Knutsford Juniors week (last week). Photo at this link

2 June 2019

Ground Training Card  Just to say that a link to this card is now in the Links Library - in the Pilot Development & Training section. Or the card can be accessed directly via this link.

Committee Meeting  The provisional version of the minutes of the extra meeting of the Committee on 23rd May are posted on the website and can be accessed via this link on the Committee minutes webpage.

First Solos  Ellis Brennan, one of the Knutsford Juniors, completed his first solo flights yesterday. Many congratulations Ellis.

Silver XC Airfields. There is a whole lot of information about 3 possible airfields at which to land when on a silver distance XC flight in a file linked to within the Silver Seekers web page. The specific link is this. Note particularly that the radio settings have changed.    

PVRC Day  Don't forget that as ever there will be an orgnised Pre Vintage Rally Clear Up - this year on Saturday morning 15 June - to tidy the site ready for our visitors.  Please bring your favourite gardening equipment, especially petrol strimmers and the like, along with the usual brooms, rakes and shovels. Please sign on to the Freeflight Jobs Whiteboard (in Members Admin). .

New Flying Start Member Welcome to David Cormack who joined a couple of days ago. David had a Dual flight on 23rd April. Apart from that, he is new to gliding. He lives in Sheffield.

New Chairman  Last night the committee met and appointed me as their Chairman.
I am honoured to be able to accept this post and I look forward to helping my fellow committee members to create a stable, happy and safe flying environment for all members at Camphill.
Warm regards,
Liz Martin

Courses for Members Places on these courses are filling up. Just a few left. See the latest position on the web page at this link.

Sad News Peter Harris has emailed members with the following: It is with much regret that I inform you that Nigel Howes was killed on Saturday 4th May in a gliding accident in Snowdonia, operating from Talgarth. No other information is known at this time (there is an AAIB investigation in progress). Our thoughts are with family and friends.

May Committee Meeting The provisional version of the minutes of the meeting of the club committee on 10 May 2019 have been published and can be accessed via this link.

New Members We welcome Keven Boscaini to the club as a new Flying Start Member. Kevin's home address is in Italy and his occupation is a Commercial Pilot.

13 May 2019

Committee Meeting. At its meeting on 10 May the committee recorded thanks to the following members ...

Brian Allen and Richard Dance for organising and conducting the ever popular and highly successful Pocklington aerotow trip.
To Dan Reeves for helping Dave Martin with the cleaning of the replacement LP bus.
Recognition and thanks are extended to Peter Gray for manufacturing a new wooden skid for K18 G-CJKU.

The final version of the minutes of the March meeeting were approved. That version now replaces the provisional version at this link. .

CFI's Notices  An addtional notice has been published in the series. This one relates to the minimum weight to be carried in the front seat of club two-seaters and in club single seaters. See this link.

Road Works From Dave Martin Through my local underground resistance movement, I have been advised that as part of the local essential service providers long term plan to isolate Camphill from the greater world, Severn Trent Water will be carrying out repairs to water mains on the Unnamed Road that runs from the B6049 (Tideswell X Roads to Bradwell) between the B6049 and Trot Lane. From May 20 to May 23rd. This may cause delays and diversions for those approaching Camphill from Tideswell Cross Roads. It should not affect the water supply to the club.

Recent New Memberships  An under 18 member, Ned Curtis, joined at the end of April after an introductory flight with Alister Hallum a couple of weeks earlier. Ned lives in Sheffield, and has no previous gliding experience. We have also welcomed another Knutsford Junior, Miles Padget. In April we welcomed as an U18 member, Eric Wichert. And Mike Stephens wife, Hilary, has joined as an associate member.

Recognitions From Steve Marlor On Sunday a team lead by Mike Armstrong rigged our T21 (The Ken Hardy). Those who assisted were Keith Armitage, Chris Ramler, Colin Taylor. Alex Green, Don Mackenzie and Garry Lewis. Thanks to all concerned. After being rigged the aircraft enjoyed a number of soaring flights and is now available for use for the rest of the season.

Safety Lessons Log Updated. The reports of incidents over the winter, up to March this year, together with lessons learned and actions taken, have been added to the log and this is accessible at this link.

Website Update - Introductory Flights  The agreed scheduling of slots for booking IFs for the 2019 season has been published at this link. The link can also be accessed in the Links Library, the link to which is in the left hand sidebar menu.

Club Events 2019. Just a reminder that the main events planned for the summer season can be seen on the website. The Calendar page at this link shows the dates for each event. The week by week schedule for the whole summer season is on this page. [Updated 26/4/19].

15 April 2019

Recognitions From Steve Marlor  Last Friday a team of helpers assembled to rig two of our aircraft which were our ASK 13 (G-CKRB) and our ASK 18 (G-CJKU). Thanks to Johathan Thorpe, John McKenzie, Keith Armitage, Terry Morley, Dave Spencer, Hans-Georg Werner, Liz Martin, Chris Overend and Eric Wichert for lending a hand.
The annual inspection of G-CKRB completed what has been a very busy winter of aircraft maintenance at the club. All nine of our club aircraft have had annual inspections completed. All five of the clubs Schleicher aircraft have also had glue inspections. In addition to the work on the club aircraft the workshop team have also completed annual inspections and ARCs on eleven privately owned aircraft. Once again the club owes a huge debt of gratitude to the workshop team lead by Warwick Horne and including Colin Taylor, Mick Featherstone and Steve Benn. They have been at the club every week throughout the winter to make sure we have aircraft to fly. Thanks to them the club is once again ready for the coming season.

Recent New Memberships Welcome to Andy Gill who has joined the club as an associate member. Andy is from Eastwood and has previously done a little gliding at Buckminster, but he realised he preferred to be on the ground rather than in the air! He knows Steve Benn through model flying. Is keen to get involved and help out around the club wherever necessary. And we also welsome to the club another "Knutsford Junior" - Myling Moore, aged 15.
Recognition This is to say thanks to Max Risley and Ellis Brennan for their enthusiasm in getting stuck in and providing invaluable help to Brian Whalley to fill in a sunken drain hole on the airfield on non-flyable Tuesday the 9th April!

Hangar Packing Layouts - Diagrams showing where and how the gliders in the hangar fit in can be seen via the Links Library. There are diagrams for the situations when either the K13 or the T21 is in the SW corner.

March Committee Meeting The provisional version of the minutes of the Committee's latest meeting can be seen via the webpage at this link. Also via that link can be seen the final approved version of the minutes of the  Committee's February meeting.

At the latest meeting, recognition of the following was recorded ....

Thanks go to Alex Oldham who very ably chaired the “Visionary Strategy” sub group and who was assisted by Richard Dance, Martin Willcox and four members of the committee. Born out of the September “Cunning Plan” presentation, the group was set up to canvass club members, particularly the newer members, for views as to how to improve and deliver a better flying experience for all club members. The group have canvassed club members’ opinions and summarised the conclusions; they have formulated ideas which it is hoped will resolve many issues and have spent a great deal of time over 4 months of video conferencing to deliver many new initiatives. Their work has now reached the point where they can stand back and let things take their own course although they will, of course, be taking a keen interest in developments.

Others also mentioned in dispatches:…

The club owes a massive vote of thank to Jonathan Thorpe for the many hours he’s spent on the Sim and installing Condor, so that it’s use for constructive pilot training is now up and running.

To Brian Whalley for chain harrowing the mole hills now phase one of the control measures have been completed. Any new activity will now be readily apparent thanks to his efforts.

Peter Gray for providing some gliding photos for the clubhouse and newly decorated bunk rooms and for having generously arranged to have them framed at his own expense.  

John Beksa: a thank you to John for providing laminated airway and radio procedure and frequency maps for all club and private gliders.

Dave Upcott: for pursuing the instructors for their pictures for the “who’s who photo shoot” board – coming very soon to a club house wall near you!

To Hans-Georg Werner for spending most of Saturday 9^th March helping to rub down the wings on G-CKNM prior to its painting.

A little known fact: the club has been paying 50p per litre for gas which is due to be increased to 55p. Thanks to John Sconce who has negotiated a price of 37p a litre with another supplier, saving the club a whopping £2,100 annually!·     

Weekend Duty Rotas Updated The rotas for the next quarter, April, May and June, have been been published and can be seen, downloaded, etc. at this link.

Ideal Start of Day Routine In his latest letter, "More Ramblings from the Chair", Peter Harris introduced some guidance to make the most of each flying day for all Members, with Check Flights completed as early as possible. The intention is to get as many flights as possible in a day for each Trainee, and to foster a mindset where we are all helping each other to fly. Its heading is "Ideal Start of Day Routine ". As well as appearing in places around the site it can be read at this link.

Rigging In A Blizzard... From Steve Marlor  We had two aircraft that needed rigging yesterday (Sun 17th). Our ASK-18 (G-CKNM) and our ASK-8 (G-CJOZ). No sooner had we opened the hangar doors and started to move the two Puchacz out of the way to make room than a blizzard descended onto Camphill. Some people might have been deterred by this. But, not our hardy band of helpers who continued with the task regardless. Those who went above and beyond and deserve a mention in despatches were Roger Fielding, Steve Hill, Dave Bailey, Quinn Cameron-Faulkner, Peter Gill, Mike Stephens, Terry Morley, Dave Spencer and Hans-Georg Werner. See the photo at this link.

16 March 2019

Glider Maintenance Workshop Gets Audited From Warwick Horne  Recently the glider maintenance workshop and some gliders were audited by a representative from the BGA Quality Audit team, Andrew Brind. Whilst this should be carried out every four years, the last time for us was in 2013 when we were still in the old Glider workshop, a far cry from the wonderful facility we now have.
The scope of the audit included the workshop facility, the storage of parts in compliance of Part M regulations, the recording, backup and compliance of Part M EASA and BGA Paperwork, the calibration and measurement equipment (barometers, manometers, weighing scales etc.), a sample of gliders (two) inspected for compliance with Part M and BGA CAMO regulations and a note of the number of inspectors and their ratings. (We have 3 inspectors, and four duplicate inspectors).
The formal report highlighted one or two areas that need to be addressed in some documentation and parts control, but overall the workshop facility and use of tools and measuring equipment was found to be satisfactory. In fact Andrew Brind kept saying what a marvellous workshop we had! - and he was satisfied with the condition of the two gliders sampled, and did in fact complement us a well maintained fleet of aircraft.

Daily Mentors Recruitment  From Peter Gill  Many thanks to our 20 plus DM’s who have volunteered to assist the club in training new members and assisting the LM, we are looking for a few more, please put your head above the parapet and help out, you probably already do most of the stuff mentioned in the Role Description and the Guidance Document, so this would be a great way of making it a slightly more formal way of ensuring safety and enhancing the enjoyment of all our members.
If you are interested follow the links below to see what it is all about, if you are interested then e-mail me at peterjgill@hotmail.com.

Daily Mentor Guidance Document @ this link. DM Role Description @ this link

New Defibrillator - Because the previous defib came to the end of it's working life, our H&S Officer, Kate Marlor-Gem has purchased a shiny new replacement. There's a photo of it in it's home up the steps, above the sign-in desk, opposite the heating boiler, at this link.

Daily Mentors Are Here From Peter Gill Congratulation and thank you for volunteering to the following members David Heimerdinger, Roger Lucas, Alison Wheeler, Mick Featerstone, Will Roper, David Spencer, Liz Martin, Rob Harman, Dave Upcott, Peter Gill, Simon Stannard, Alan Whittaker, Mike Stevens, Tony Kay, Andy Lomas, John Illidge, Peter Harris, on becoming our first Daily Mentors (DMs), they attended a launch meeting of the new initiative on Saturday 9th. DMs will identify themselves on the Flying Planner each day they are going to be at Camphill. Acting in their role as DM’s they will be assisting Launch Marshals by training and supervising our newer members in the whole range of vital flying support activities. More DMs are required. If you have enough experience and wish to help supervise and train newer members of our Club please contact Peter Gill at peterjgill@hotmail.com.

Pilots' Training Guide  An updated version of this has been published. There is a link to it on the Manuals web page. The latter can be found at this link. 

Members' Courses. The course dates for 2019 are published on the website calendar and on the webpage at this link. The number of places available on each of the 4 courses; as at the last update, are shown. Places can be snapped up early so don't delay if you want some intensive pre-solo training.

Hangar Rash Prevention  A briefing note from the Chief Launch Marshal, already circulated to all members, has also been published on the website at this link. This is a helpful reminder about the prevention, consequences and cost of repair of this type of damage.  

Recognition Mike Armstrong: following the submission of an application, in 2014 Sport England awarded the club a grant of £50,000 towards the cost of the new workshop and winch storage building. Committee thanks are extended to Mike who, since 2014, has been reporting every 6 months as required by SE, on our progress against agreed targets and explaining our ongoing performance and achievements.

Calendar Update  Many more events, extending into August, have been added today to the website calendar at this link.

Flying Blog A report of an exceptional wave flight on Friday 15 February has been added to the Flying Blog page at this link.

Committee Minutes for February The provisional minutes of the meeting on 8th February have been published. There's a link to them [2019_02P.pdf] on this webpage

Recognition and thanks are due to Dave Salmon not only for taking the parachutes to the new packer in Langar, but also for collecting and returning them to the club..

10  February 2019

Committee Meetings Minutes and Recognitions The final version of the minutes for the January 2019 meeting have been published at this link. At its February meeting the committee recorded it's thanks to those who had recently helped with the annual overhaul of Puchacz KHW listed below earlier and Kate Marlor-Gem for arranging the ordering and delivery of the new defibrillator.

KHW Back in Service From Steve Marlor, It was cold, wet, and very windy last Thursday morning up at Camphill. So much so that the plans to rig our Puchacz (G-CKHW) after its annual inspection were cancelled on the grounds of safety. However, just after lunch Warwick spotted a window in the weather and after a few phone calls a team was assembled and the aircraft was rigged and put back into the hangar. Huge thanks go to Mick Featherstone, John Illidge, Dave Spencer, Dave Martin, Liz Martin, Brian Whalley and Andy Wilkin who all answered the call.

KHW Gets Polished. From Steve Marlor A team of polishers gathered in the workshop on Saturday to give one of our Puchacaz (G-CKHW) a shine. Thanks to Peter Gill, Alex Oldham, Dom Breen, Kev Thurston, Roger Lucas, Dave Spencer and Richard Dance for providing the elbow grease.

See photos of the team working on the annual overhaul at this link.

KHW De-rigged From Steve Marlor The sub zero temperatures and high winds weren't enough to deter a hardy band of helpers who came up to the club today to help de-rig one of our Puchacz (G-CKHW). Thanks to Peter Gill, Mike Stephens, Dave Lee, Rob Harman, John Illidge, Dave Spencer, Dave Bailey, David Heimerdinger and Keith Armitage. Many hands made light work and the aircraft was in the workshop very quickly ready for it's annual inspection.

Peter Thornhill From Rob Faulkner. It is very sad to report that one of our Senior Members, Peter Thornhill of Great Longstone, passed away last Friday, 19th January. Peter and his older brother, John, were Members in the 1960s but left many years ago. The funeral will be held in Great Longstone at 1100 on Friday, 8th February.

Inter Club Leauge 2019 Our regional Interclub League event will be on the 4 - 6 May at Sutton Bank. Our return last year was a great success. If you are interested to have a go, simply fly alongside or enjoy the party, contact Jonathan Thorpe. More details to follow. In the meantime there's webpage to whet appetites at this link.

Fees and Charges. The webpage which lists the fees, subscriptions, rents, flying fees, etc. that will apply from 1st March 2019 has been updated. Please see via the L/H menu or directly using this link.

Website Dates  The calendar page for the early part of 2019 has been updated with notified events up to May and the schedule for the whole summer season, as it currently stands, have been published. See both at / via this link.

First Solo. Congratulations to Rob Harman who flew solo for the first time yesterday - and had some wave soaring as well! See Rob's photo in the solos gallery at this link

Flying Blog This page of great stories about days of flying at Camphill has been added to with an account of a good day yesterday. See this link.

Committtee Minutes. The provisional version of the minutes of the January meeting of the Committee have been published as filename 2019_01P.pdf at this link

12 January 2019

Recognitions  This month the committee extended their thanks to the following:
Tony Kay for all of his work over many years as "Chief Duty Clerk", leading on the organisation and duty clerk flight loggers. Tony has resigned from the post with effect from January. Kevin Williams has very kindly volunteered to rake up the role.
Mike Armstrong for the extensive time he has put into fitting out the T21 trailer.
John Sconce for painting the K18, G-CJKU.
Dave Reedie for updating all of the club aircraft radios to 8.33 Khz capability.
Jonathan Thorpe for his work on installing Condor on the Simulator.

And Nigel Aldred for services rendered in the MT workshop helping John Sconce repair club machinery.

Committee Minutes. The agreed final version of the minutes of the Committee's meeting in November 2018 have been posted on the website (replacing the provisional version) at this link.

11 January 2019

Local Airspace Summary  Further to the recent announcement of the update to the Wave box and Airway Crossing document, John Beksa has kindly taken the time and trouble to replace all the Club glider cockpit laminates which summarise the Letters of Agreement. You can download your very own copy via this link.  A reminder that all the information you need is on the Airspace page of the members web site at this link.

New CFI's Notices There are two new notices on the website. The first is about the change to 8.33 kHz separation between radio frequencies and the consequences for use of radio in gliding. The second is about the change to the prelaunch checks list from CBSIFTCBE to CBSIFTBEC. Both can be found at this link.

Weekdays Duties - The instructors and winch drivers on duty Tuesdays to Fridays for Jan to April 2019 are posted at this link

3 February 2017

DLGC on TV Again! From Roger Lucas A quick thank you to all who helped on the CBBC filming day in October. Clearly a great success judging by the result last Wednesday night!! The BBC in their wisdom decided to halve the programme length from the 1 hour planned and transmitted it a couple of hours later. All this should have cut our segment down to about 9 minutes. However thanks to the superb and comprehensive input from the stars of the show (you know who you are - we don't want heads any bigger!) we took a wacking 14+mins i.e. half the show. Various famous people hit the cutting room floor to allow us to get our message across - i.e. solo at 14! My only regret is that we didn't manage to get our name in shot anywhere as other contributors had done. Must do something about that for next time. So, well done everyone. I'm sure I can count on the 'A' team for future filming when again we will do what we do best. Mission accomplished! Head for the bar!! 

6 Oct 2016

Camphill on TV.  On Tuesday 4th October a merry band of members welcomed the BBC to Camphill to film a large segment of an episode on aviation for the Bafta Award winning CBBC series ‘ALL OVER THE WORKPLACE’.

Presenter Alex Riley joined two very inquisitive children (who wish one day to become commercial pilots) Sam and Akshita in their quest to discover how an aeroplane flies starting with the purest form of the art .... gliding.

They quizzed our very own Andrew ‘Scrabble’ Neofytou, Mike Armstrong and Dan Clayton at great length on all things aeronautical and enjoyed flights in our SIM and Puchacz KHW bristling with GoPro cameras. The bright sunny day and brisk ESE wind made for good photography with convenient reciprocal landings next to the launch point giving a short run for the camera crew to film the childrens' immediate reactions on landing

The same episode will include contributions from The Red Arrows; Chesley Sullenberger (A gliding instructor/Captain who successfully ditched an Airbus A320 in the Hudson river saving all on board); Liz Forsyth (ex. RAF Search and Rescue pilot who works for Bristow flying Sikorsky S92A SAR helicopters from Humberside) who had her first ever inspirational flight at Camphill on her 18th birthday; an A320 simulator at Woodford; a lesson in a light a/c at Barton and last but not least they are hoping to get permission to film ex. SAR pilot (Prince) William ‘Wales'..! A pretty impressive ( Camphill heavy) line-up for a prime time kids program! Watch out for the first airing in Jan/Feb next year on CBBC between 5pm and 6pm. I should get a heads-up from the BBC when it TX’s and let you know.

Many thanks go to our hard working stalwarts: Mike Armstrong, Peter Gray, Andrew Neofytou, Dan Clayton, Mo Bent, Shirley Johnston, Paul Reavill, John Illidge, Andrew Short, Mike Piggin, Colin Taylor, Tony Senior, Keith Armitage and catering by Niki Ramsden. The tight team-work and friendly atmosphere at the club was remarked on and appreciated by the BBC who thanked us all for making it happen. All this yet again proving that what the DLGC does best it does best…!

(from Roger Lucas)