Java 2017 Week 1 - Day 1

The majority arrived without any problem but Ray had a few "difficulties" which started when he missed his flight from Bristol airport. He finally got to Santa Cilia at 2:30am which was remarkable given the number of times he had got lost enroute.

Fortunately Monday had a leisurely start as the weather briefing is now at 10:30 but at least this allowed time for all the paperwork to be done at the office. Although the weather was bright and sunny, the forecast wasn't that promising with a maximum cloudbase of just over 6000' and some wave that was likely to weaken as the north easterly wind went even more easterly later on.

The plan was for Bob and Ray to fly in the Duo, and Merv and James to fly in the DG1000 on the first sortie with Derek and Mark to fly afterwards.

In nearly all respects the day didn't turn out as planned...

E6 launched first followed immediately by the DG and Duo into tricky wave affected thermals requiring perseverance to stay airborne as the conditions slowly improved.

E6 were unlucky to find heavy sink ending up in an excellent field just to the west of Jaca which attracted the attention of the local police. Morag, Nick and John eventually managed to extricate both the pilots and glider.

The out landing in E6 was all too much for Jeff (Nice field though)

Meanwhile Ray and Bob worked their way up to just over 8000' with Mervyn and James getting to 14000' further to the east before returning for the second sortie.

View North from the Duo

The plan changed when the DG1000 undercarriage collapsed after a gentle landing, blocking the main runway so the priority became getting the glider back in its trailer and clearing the runway.

Putting the DG1000 away after yet another undercarriage failure

Once the glider was on the trailer it became obvious that the undercarriage lever was no longer connected to the main wheel. Further investigation is planned for tomorrow but a K21 is available, so hopefully everyone should get a flight.

In all the chaos Mike stepped in to cook and excellent chilli for everyone in the instructors apartment. The other highlight was Morag's challenge to get a cork from inside a wine bottle using only a plastic bag. There were plenty of suggestions with Jeff the first to succeed but he was marked down for using the "wrong" technique.

The forecast is better for tomorrow so we are hoping for a less eventful day.

Bob.