ICGC Winter Tour Long Mynd, Shropshire Tour Dates 28th December 2015-1st January 2016 Attendance 10 Current Imperial Students Jon Pring (Captain) Teddy Szemberg O'Connor (Equipment Officer) Luka Dragovic Thilo Braun Ignaty Romanov-Chernigovsky Simon Schams Thomas Pleece Henry Wong Milla Puolamaa Benhur Johnson Ayala Truelove and Tom Arscott kindly instructed for the week and Guy Dutton brought another shedload of fireworks for New Year's Eve.
Tour Report The weeks leading up to winter tour were dominated by tense monitoring of pressure charts and weather predictions, that seemed stuck on one setting, Storm Desmond. The benign sounding name in fact led to sever flooding in much of the north and west of the UK. High winds and old age caused the Forth Road bridge to be shut at the beginning of December. Our plan to spend a pristine week at Portmoak, with everyone flying in immaculate wave was looking less likely by the day. Like the minutes before an inevitable land out, everything was pointing towards us not flying at Portmoak. What finally caused us to shift tactics was the images on the web cam showing an archipelago instead of an airfield. After scouring the UK for interesting winter sites, we looked fondly towards the Long Mynd and the brilliant time we had last year with the Midland Gliding Club (MGC) hosting us so well. It is on top of a hill, had plenty of bunks available for us and the '496', and there was a chance that the centre of the low pressure system that was persistently sitting over Ireland could generate westerly winds. Illustration 1: This image is from Portmoak's web cam from February 3rd 2016. Over Christmas the whole field was covered with puddles.
Day 0: Jon Pring loaded up his Land Rover Defender with '496' in the early hours along with Tom Arscott towing '296'. Teddy drove the minibus and Ayala met us there. By mid-day we had all arrived at MGC with not a hint of ice or snow. Such a contrast to last year; it felt like a different airfield. Rob and Fay weren't quite expecting us so early but as ever, there was a meal ready and waiting. After lunch Tom Arscott gave a walk round of the airfield, familiarising the new pilots on where to land and to definitely miss the tumuli and the dew pond! That evening we went down for a curry at the local in Church Stretton and hoped the weather for the next day stayed dry.
Day 1: Sun and rising cloud greeted us in the morning and continued throughout the day. We set up on the South run and the fact that the locals turned up to fly was a good sign. Everyone got a flight, most two. The wind teasingly swung between south south east and south south west. Those who flew in the morning managed to run the northerly part of the ridge but by the afternoon it back to circuits. For many of the new pre-solo pilots this was good practice to familiarise themselves with a new airfield.
Day 2: A total wash out. High winds that puts the weather station through its paces and caused the sheep to desert the top of the hill. It was clear from the morning that there was definitely not going to be any flying that day. Instead we rumbled down to RAF Cosford for a good look at the old aircraft they have on display. Film and a meal and off to bed to try and make the most of the small flying window that was emerging for the next day. Day 3: The majority of the stormy weather had moved on by the next day. Although bands of rain were threatening to stop flying, there was a large window from mid-morning till sunset. The main factor was the wind. The K13 was on the edge of its ability to penetrate into the strong wind. Combined with quite severe curl over near the gully to the north gave those who flew it some lessons to remember! Air brakes are your best friend when the stick is on the front stop and the rotor throws you towards the ground, causing you to lose forty knots on an eighty knot approach in a second. Most had a flight but strong winds caused an early end to the day. That evening the MGC invited us to their usual Chinese meal new year's eve celebrations, which involed taking part in 'The Lancaster' (luckily the fire was in a MGC member's 'engine'). Day 4: New years day brought an easterly wind which is the only direction in which the locals will not fly in. Essentially, the bet launch is about eight hundred feet towards the trees with no launch failure options. If you do manage to get to the top of the launch, the curl over is so severe that the flight ends up being a short downwind leg, turning finals as high as possible and just making it in. Air
brakes not required! We decided to pack up and get home before the surface temperature fell to below freezing. Summary: The Mynd is an excellent winter tour site. It offers wave, ridge running, good circuit training practice and bungee launching if the wind is from the west. The hosts are fantastic and the prices are very competitive. We were unlucky this year due to the weather but still had a fun time. It should definitely be considered for future trips.