Mike, one of our instructors, prepares to set off on a long cross-country flight.

Cross Countries

This page will be the source of information for cross country pilots at all stages of experience. It will contain weather reports, ideas for tasks and general information to make the life of the cross country pilot easier. It is also hoped that we can add your own contributions to this page and maybe one or two photos!

Cross-Country Book

Cross-country pilots may not be aware but there is a cross-country book. This is usually found on the bus. Any pilot doing a cross-country flight must complete the book prior to launch as per instructions on the cover. This is a safety requirement, it enables us to account for all aircraft and recognise those that are overdue returning to base.

Badge Claims

If you make a flight that might count for a badge, do NOT download and clear a flight recorder yourself! For a valid badge claim, an Official Observer must supervise this. Turning up a week later and asking for a trace to be assessed with no evidence that it came from your glider does not constitute a valid claim.

Inter Club League 2010 News

This information is duplicated in the ICL's own page, where more details are available

Provisional Dates - these have not yet been set, but will be added as soon as we have them.

Complete ICL rules will be available soon. I am looking for novice, intermediate and pundits for all meets. The maximum experience limits for each class are given below.

Novice: No previous competition experience + XC Endorsement

Intermediate: Regionals or Gold

Pundit: Anyone

Please email Sunay Shah for details. (Sunay is retiring as ICL organiser, after many years, and when we have details of the new organiser for 2010, we will add them here.)

NOTAMS

Information on NOTAMS is now available on the club computers.

The current software in use is SPINE. On starting, it tells you that the authoratative source for NOTAMS is AIS. Click Okay. Then, in the small control panel that appears on the left, click on Fetch NOTAMs - Do It. Next click on Plot on the larger information panel and the zoomable map will be displayed. Hovering over a marked area brings up relevant information.

For more details visit www.sky-web.net/notamsosftware.htm for a review of SPINE and similar programs and details of what they can do for you.

All pilots are encouraged to enter their cross country flights on the BGA ladder. Please log your flight on the ladder yourself or send the flight details and flight evidence to the ladder steward, John Wright.