Aboyne Day 5 (evening)

Flying began on Thursday at mid-day, with John and Kevin taking the Duo to 10,000ft. The interesting thing about today was the runway in use: we launched on 27 but landed on 30 due to the north-north-easterly crosswind. John has been coming to Aboyne for 15 years and this was the first time he’s used 30; David, with 30 years’ experience of the site, has used it once before.

In the afternoon, John and Dave Paffett went on a photographic sortie and spent a lot of time looking at cloud sculptures, and kept climbing and descending as the gaps narrowed and widened. David and Helen took the last flight of the day but found only gaps that narrowed.

Above: This shot of Aboyne, from the Duo, shows the two parallel runways running from west (left) to east, and the cross runway, 30 grass, starting in the bottom right-hand corner of the airfield. The meanders of the River Dee and the woodyard (just under the wingtip) help locate the site (Pic: Helen Evans)

Above: A crowd of spectators came out of the clubhouse to watch the circuits and landings on 30 (Pic: Helen Evans)

Above: John and Kevin landing on 30: the tarmac in the foreground is runway 27 north; note the crosswind (Pic: Helen Evans) 

Above: The view from SH4 at about 5,000ft near Morven; 775 is visible in the distance (Pic: Darren Smith)

Above: David managed to find a slot to fly with Adrian Pearson, a Lasham member with Bronze badge and Silver height, who is in Scotland on business. It was Adrian’s first wave flight, his first soaring flight above cloud, and they reached 6,500ft (Pic: Adrian Pearson)

Above: The view from 775 of Darren flying SH4 (Pic: David Williams)

The post below, from earlier on Thursday, contains a selection of photographs from the week so far