London Gliding Club regional comp (July 2009)

Been a while since I’ve posted any photos now. I’ve been globe trotting and trying to sort out which university I plan on spending my next 3/4 years! Got a lot of photos to catch up on, and you guys at keypub have plenty of photos from both HKG and SYD to look forward to!

Anyway, as part of my commitment as a cadet to the gliding club, I’m required to spend at least one week during the summer helping out there. Of the two competitions that were held here during the summer, I was on the wrong side of the world for the larger one. However that is not to say that this competition wasn’t interesting too!

Onwards with the photos, starting with some action from day 1.

This here is whats known as “The Grid”. It’s an incredible sight as 7 tugs work constantly like clockwork to tow these aircraft into the skies. There’s always something launcing or landing. A thoroughly exciting place to be. Unfortunately I was required to help with the launching, so no photos of the launches themselves!

Another one of my jobs during the week involved helping to retrieve gliders that had “landed out”. A surprisingly common occurance in competitions. If the pilot does not have enough height to continue flying safely or return home, he simply picks a field, lands in it, and calls home to arrange a pick up. The glider is then packed away in it’s trailer at the scene and driven back to the airfield. The first one here managed to land out at the furthest point on the course, in Leicestershire! Thankfully, the other three were much closer to home.

Finally, some action from Day 6. I found a much better spot this time and caught some very interesting passes as the pilots celebrated crossing the finish line.

That’s all for now. Any comments, tips or criticism is especially welcome. I am aware that some of these are not high quality, but have added them more for the subject than for the quality.

On a side note, has anybody else been having troubles with ImageShack recently? This post has taken me about 10 times longer (no exageration at all!) than it should have done. Thanks to that dodgy website!

Dan.