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Feedback - a volunteer will receive your general feedback on the club operations and suggestions on what might be done to improve things at wgcfeedback@gmail.com . This is not for rants and raves, which are likely to be deleted. Emails will then be forwarded to whoever is most likely to be able to do something.

January '11 News

Happy New Year! And yes we did fly on 1st January, to get the year off to a flying start.

The refurbished winch engine was fitted during the second week of January, and it can now launch a K13 to 1300' in dead calm, with power in reserve. Higher launches equals more airtime, longer training flights. Enjoy.

As you can see, we now have a link to our new web forum.

December '11 News

Pete Stratten has asked us to point out that several people and their gliders are going to Sisteron at the end of April / early May. Other members are welcome to come along as well with their gliders. If anyone is interested in hearing more about this, they should contact Petestratten @ gmail(dot)com. This link provides some idea of what visitors from the UK typically get up to in the Southern French Alps
http://www.aircross.co.uk/sisteron/

We had our AGM on Saturday the 3rd December, and the following candidates for the Board of Directors were elected:
Bob King (also voted in as chairman), Roger Crouch, Dickie Feakes, OJ Garrity, Lee Hitchins and Marie Mitchell.

We also presented the Club Trophies, and the recipients list will appear here shortly. There will be a slight delay in getting the minutes on line as the poor web master is working hard on some other club projects just now.

Chairman's Trophy
Awarded to the Member who, in the opinion of the Chairman / CEO, has made a major contribution during the last year to the Club Operation

Tim Harrington - for all his work on online banking, payments and related items.

Most Meritorious Flight of the Year
This trophy is awarded to the Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most meritorious flight during the year

Ollie Bosanko for his 502km flight in his ASW20 – the only first 500 this year.

Member of the Year
The Member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most progress during the past Year

Charles Jessop - for his rapid progress through Silver, BI and AssCat.

CFI's Trophy
The CFI's Trophy is awarded to the Club member, who in the opinion of the CFI, has been the mainstay of the flying operation during the past year.

Richard Chapman - for all his work on the winches and their engines, saving the club literally thousands of pounds.

The Alfar Memorial Award
The Alfar Memorial Award is awarded annually to the Windrushers Gliding Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee, has made a significant voluntary contribution to Club operations without thanks or favour.

Debbie Thomas - for her work on winch strops, instructing and tugging

The LX Cup
Awarded to the Member who, in the past year, has completed the fastest handicapped 200km closed circuit task.

Dave Watt, for a change from Derren, for Duo Discus with Dickie, Bic – Potton – Manton –Bic, 213.9km, 1:53:06 actual 113.5kph, handicapped 111.3 khp his first flight in that glider.

Xmas Dinner - It was fantastic! Everyone says thanks to Marie for a meal that meant some of us didn't need to eat again until 2 days later! Yum.

November '11 News

Bonfire Night! It went with a bang, didn't it. Well, quite a few bangs to be more accurate.

The Hardship Fund is now live, thanks to some hard work by Ollie and the Junior Group. The fund is not just for junior members, however, as explained in the recent news alerts. Those wishing to donate to the fund can now print out the donation form and return it to the office.

We had a photographer visit us recently to grab a few shots for a University course project, and he put some of them online for us to admire.

Candidate statements from those standing for election at the AGM can now be found here online.
The web master appologies for uploading an earlier draft of the proxy form and forgetting to put the link here, but his bathroom sprung a leak and distracted him.

October '11 News

While autumn is still hiding from us and temperatures have been pleasantly warm, we still have the more traditional marker for autumn and winter approaching - the students are back. We welcome the newbies from all three University groups and hope they get as hooked on gliding as the rest of us. Be nice to them, as we will be seeing new faces on their first visit even into November. So don't assume that they know how things work. The Discus is back, treat that nicely too.

Several Bicester members have been voted into the Worlds team group. Pete Harvey is a certainty for the Open Class, while Dave Watt, Derren Francis and Dave Allison (who is a power member and glides elsewhere) are also in the team group. The latter two are likely to be reserves.

September '11 News

We had a group of Scouts visiting us on 2nd - 4th Sept. for a taste of adventure in the form of gliding. They certainly seemed to enjoy it. Coming soon is the RAFGSA Reunion Party, to which all club members are invited of course.
Update: Many older faces from a few years ago turned up for the reunion and about 80 people partied away all day and night, both ex-GSA and WGC members.

We have a small fly-in by CFI on 16th - 18th Sept, when some Fournier motor gliders will be visiting us. Relax however, CFI= Club Fournier International, not a bunch of Chief Flying Instructors

Dave Watt came second in the 15m Nationals at the end of August, and Pete Harvey won the Open Class Nationals. Congratulations to both pilots.

July/August '11 News

We've been very busy recently with the Standard Class Nationals, and then the Bicester Regionals. These comps have their own little web sites accessed from the menu on the left under Flying Program >Competitions. Meanwhile Derren Francis came second in the 18m Nationals.

June '11 News

This month starts with the Air League visit, to encourage young people's interests in aviation, and hopefully they will enjoy gliding at Bicester.

Comp news - several Bicester members went to the large German gliding competition at Hahneweide. Owain Walters and Martin Durham did particularly well, coming overall 2nd and 4th respectively in the Standard Class. Owain came 1st, 3rd, 1st, 3rd, but his firsts were on underset lower scoring days, and the overall winner coming 4th, 1st, 3rd, 2nd and his only first was on a high scoring day, enabling him to squeeze ahead. Derren Francis and John Spencer took part in the 18-m Class

The end of this month sees the Standard Class Nationals return to Bicester, with the first prize (a Nano flight recorder) sponsored by LX avionics and LX Nav.

April-May '11 News

It's been very busy recently. The recent (April) Portmoak expedition participants all enjoyed themselves, although not as much flying as they'd like took place. However several members did have some great flights. Another rival expedition is taking place in the French alps with some of the Duo Discus team out there in May.

Midweek flying has re-commenced, and we are back to seven day a week operations. The midweek staff are busy flying the many Groupon customers who have decided to give gliding a try.

We regret to report the passing of John Cooke, who flew at Bicester regularly in the 70s and 80s.
Details of the service on 7th May are available online.

A recent BI course produced four new BIs, (see the achievements page).

The 21st May BBQ was a great success, with Richard Wilkens and few other musicians entertaining us after the meal, which around 30 or so turned up for. Watch out for the next one!

March '11 News

Several of our members were honored at the BGA conference.
John Delafield, Dickie Feakes and Roger Crouch received a BGA Diploma for their work in bringing Windrushers back into existence and making it such thriving club, while Pete Harvey received a BGA Medal for his competition successes, in particular for winning the European Open Class championship three times in a row. Finally, Fran Aitken won the Spitfire Trophy, for winning the Junior Ladder.

There will be a members' meeting with the directors on April 2nd, 2011, at 6pm.

February '11 News

We have come to the end of the Winter lectures now. The members with a Bronze C are now looking forward to using their new knowledge to progress to Silver C level. Those who didn't have a Bronze have taken the exam and Lee Hitchins, Andrew Preece, and John Potter (complete with broken ankle from taking his kids out to play) have all passed, while Robin Matinus has passed the Pre-Solo exam. Congratulations all round.

Congratulations are also due to Fran Aitken, who has been chosen to represent Britain in the Women's World Gliding Championships in Sweden (15/6/11 - 27/6/11), and to Dave Watt and Pete Harvey who have been selected as British team coaches for the next two years.

January '11 News

Once again Danny Lamb will be presenting a series of lectures over the winter period to prepare new pilots for the coming great soaring season ahead. These lectures will be suitable for Pre-solo Pilots and solo pilots who have not yet achieved their Bronze qualifications(They will also be helpful to those who reached Bronze level at the end of last year and need a revision session.) The dates are as follows :

The lectures will start in the lecture room at about 5:30 when the hangar doors are shut and will be 1 to 1½ hours long.

As usual we managed to get some flying in on 1st January, to welcome the new year the way we like to.
And we have had soaring flights of 15 to 40 minutes already this year...

December '10 News

We are having our annual Xmas dinner in the club house, and tickets are selling out fast. The airfield is a whiter shade of pale, but we are still flying.

Dates for your diary - Danny Lamb will be running a set of Bronze C Lectures over winter in the briefing room, commencing about 1730 – well just as soon as the hangar doors are closed and everyone has a drink – and will last a maximum of two hours each. Subjects to be covered will be available shortly. The dates are:
8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th January and 5th, 12th and 19th February.
You don't need to be close to completing your Bronze badge to gain from attending these lectures, and you don't need to attend every single one to benefit either.

Update: The Xmas dinner proved to be very popular and 50 pilots and pilot's friends were treated to a great meal and a very sociable night out/in. Congratulations to the team of cooks and waiters, who had to eat between cooking and serving.

The Standard Nationals coming to Bicester, again. The club that originally intending to run the Standards in 2011 had to change its mind at the last minute, and the BGA competition committee offered us the chance to run it instead. As this will be smaller than the comps we normally run, it would not impact on club operations too much, and so we are pleased to announce that we will be hosting this prestigous competition on 25th June - 3rd July 2011.

November '10 News

Bonfire night is, as usual, one of our most popular social events of the year, and we will be partying on Saturday, 6th Nov. with food available for £6 (£3 for under 12s) by the Ladies who do Lunch.
Food will be served at 6:00pm, fireworks will go with a bang at 7:00pm
Update - it was a great fireworks show! Special thanks to those members who ran it for us, and the Soup Dragons for feeding us.

Bicester Gliding on the telly - if you missed it, then it is available online here in Episode Four, Clips.

The AGM on 20th November was well attended.
The following were elected as new directors of the club: -
Marie Mitchell
Tim Freegarde
Dave Morgan
Ollie Bosanko

Club trophies were awarded as follows

Chairman's Trophy

Awarded to the Member who, in the opinion of the Chairman / CEO, has made a major contribution during the last year to the Club Operation
Chris Pilgrim- for all his work on the tugs and their engines, saving the club literally thousands of pounds.

Most Meritorious Flight of the Year

This trophy is awarded to the Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most meritorious flight during the year
Debbie Thomas - for her successful 302.6km flight in her little Ka6e, which is ten years older than she is.

Member of the Year

The Member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most progress during the past Year
Pete Garrett - for his recent solo and good progress since then.

CFI's Trophy

The CFI's Trophy is awarded to the Club member, who in the opinion of the CFI, has been the mainstay of the flying operation during the past year.
Marie Mitchell - for her continual help around the club in many different areas, and for keeping us all well fed.

The Alfar Memorial Award

The Alfar Memorial Award is awarded annually to the Windrushers Gliding Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee, has made a significant voluntary contribution to Club operations without thanks or favour.
Tim Harrington - for his continual help with the accounts and finances in general.

The LX Cup

Awarded to the Member who, in the past year, has completed the fastest handicapped 200km closed circuit task.
Derren Francis, again, for achieving 114.7 kph around a task of 310.6km (2hrs 42mins 30secs), in a borrowed Discus 2 - his first flight in that glider.

October '10 News

With October comes cooler temperatures, autumn mists, multi-coloured leaves laying on the ground, thoughts of thermals long gone and those cross-countries we enjoyed so much eariler in the year. And The Students!
Yes, it's UniTime once more.
Remember that for almost all of them, this will be their first days on an airfield, so be nice to them. (And they will be paying for your pension eventually, remember, and some may even be wielding a scalpel with you on an operating table, so it's best to be nice to them just now, and invest in the future...)

The AGM is scheduled for 7:30 pm on 20th November. The previous minutes are posted online in the same area as the Management Committee Minutes, as well as being available at the club itself of course..

September '10 Wedding

Just in case any members didn't know, Alan and Gabbi got married on 4th September and went honeymooning in Devon.

Instructor re-validation checks are now on the new system - speak to the CFI if you are unsure of what you need to do.

We hosted a BGA meets Air Cadets weekend recently, to share training ideas.

Late 2010 Regionals Update - all igc files in one zip file (15MB)

August '10 University Task Week, Junior Nationals

After our exciting Regional Gliding Competition, (we achieved 6 racing days, which, with UK weather, is good) we are looking forward to students from all over the UK visiting Bicester for the Uni Task Week. And after that, we have the Junior National Championship.

Last month we had Maz Makari and others from the aerobatic group competing in the World Championships; this month sees the end of the World championships, with Pete Harvey (three times European Champion) competing in the Open Class.

Update: Pete Harvey came 6th in the World Open Class Championships; but for one bad decision, he would probably have won, or definately got a top three place.

We have some scholarship winners flying with us the third week in August, just before the Juniors.

Speaking of the Juniors, they have a website to enthrall you with the task, results etc.

July '10 Air League visit, Regional comp

The first weekend of July sees the Air League visit Bicester Airfield yet again. This is a group whose sole aim is to promote aviation, especially amonst the young, and they appreciate our facilities so much that they just keep coming back each year. Update - great fun, lots of flying and a breath-taking display by G-TWST and G-RIOT.

The end of July sees our extremely popular Regional Gliding competition, which has the biggest entry of any UK comp, yet again. Obviously the boy (and girl) racers like us too. Club flying will take place, as usual, around the grid launching.

Congratulations to Debbie Thomas in achieving 300km in a Ka6e, to Nigel Gough and Fran Aitken for their recent 500km flights. And to Maz Makari, Mike Newman, and the rest of the regular aerobatic boys for being selected for the World Glider Aerobatic competition (17th - 24th July).

Update - Maz came second in the Advanced Known Program!

We have a group of visitors from Vectis Gliding Club and also from Yorkshire. Hope they have a nice time. We've also had groups from Weston on the Green and Banbury on several weekends.

June '10 Mini Grand Prix and other stuff

The month starts with the second round of our Grand Prix event. A dozen or more official competitors, and quite a few extras who followed them round. Unfortunately the weather didn't play fair, and the comp only had two flying days, but as Dan Pitman won both days, there was no doubt he deserved his victory. There's already talk of a second such event later in the year as all competitors thought it was great fun.

National Aerobatic competition - Bicester pilots almost managed a clean sweep, winning four out of five of the classes, with second place in the only one they didn't win! Results are as follows:

Beginners - Rachael Brewin 1st, Gem Roberston 2nd,
Sports - Sally Cooper 1st, Richard Chapman 3rd,
Intermediate - Dave Morgan 1st.
Advanced - Maz Makari 2nd ( very close 2nd ).
Unlimited - Mike Newman 1st

We've had a couple of new solos recently, and some badge claims - see the acheivements page.
And we've had many good cross-country flights mid-week.

Debbie does 300km - in a glider ten years older than herself! Well done.

And I've been asked to point out the InterUni Task Week and it's separate web site. We're hosting it , 7th to 15th August.

PS do you read the blog (see menu) and weekly news alert?

May '10 Vintage gliders, GSA Reunion

In the last week of May we have the Vintage Glider Club's annual rally. There should be several interesting aircraft flying arround, so do have a look and chat with the pilots. Also, on the last weekend in May we have the RAFGSA Reunion, a chance to meet up with some of our formers members who left when the RAF moved house to Halton.

The Bicester Aerobatic comp was a success, and Bicester pilots did well, with Paul Macha winning the Beginners with Gem second, Richard Chapman winning the Sport, and Dave Morgan coming second in the Intermediate - out of two...

The Vintage Rally was a great success, with flying and soaring on every day of the event except one. They certainly seemed to be having a great time.

April '10 General News

The trip to Portmoak by several members, along with lots of University students, was a great success. Many are already considering going next year yet again.

March '10 General News

At the end of this month we go seven days a week, so now there wil be no excuses for missing a great soaring day (apart from being at work). Dave Watt will be making his soarablity reports again this year as well. And to celebrate the great weather that's coming, we are having a Start of Season Party on 27th March.

February '10 Happy New Glider

We have invested in a new glider, to give club members a higher performance glider for those wonderful cross-country days we are looking forward to this year. Say hello to T19, the Discus. By now you should have received a newsalert detailing the experience level required to fly this great machine.

27th Feb - Mexican Night - food, drink, party. Talk to the Office about tickets, £10, so that they know how many to cater for. Sombreros are optional.

January '10 Happy New Year, Winter Lectures

The New Years Eve party was a success, we flew on New Years Day, as usual, and soon the Winter Lectures will start. Danny Lamb will be giving the first lecture, on 16th January, discussing Air Law, Airspace and Navigation. These lectures are for pre-solo and pre-Bronze pilots, and the full list can be found on the Winter Lectures 2010 page. Do come along, as these are extremely useful for any one expecting to get through the pre-solo exam or the Bronze exam.

Some brave souls (and soles) decided that they wouldn't let the snow stop them flying.

Oh, and we've had some pilots thermalling already - Lukas, on 24th January appears to be the first.

Meanwhile, entries are coming in for the Fabulous Bicester Regionals 2010. Don't be left out...

December '09 General News and AGM

I don't think we've mentioned this before, but if it's old news to you, sorry. Several of our members are keen photographers, and have an account with Flickr where they upload lots of pretty pictures. (Search Flickr on bicester gliding or bicester regionals or windrushers to find them). Well, there is now a Flickr group specially for pooling the best images you have. That doesn't mean lots of piccies that are really a private joke only a very few people will ever understand, or dozens of pictures of the same glider (no names necessary, just think jet), or silly people doing stupid things. The club does not administer this group, it was set up by one of our members, and we wish them every success.

The AGM has taken place. The minutes will be published online soon, in the members sections. Paul Jessop and Roger Wilson were both voted in as directors. The following club trophies were awarded:-

Chairman's Trophy

Awarded to the Member who, in the opinion of the Chairman / CEO, has made a major contribution during the last year to the Club Operation
Richard Chapman - for all his work on the winches and their engines.

Most Meritorious Flight of the Year

This trophy is awarded to the Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most meritorious flight during the year
Bob King for his successful 757.6km flight in his ASW27b, in 9hrs 11mins.

Member of the Year

The Member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most progress during the past Year
Mary Jullien - for her recent re-soloing after a long break.

CFI's Trophy

The CFI's Trophy is awarded to the Club member, who in the opinion of the CFI, has been the mainstay of the flying operation during the past year.
OJ Garrity for his continual help.

The Alfar Memorial Award

The Alfar Memorial Award is awarded annually to the Windrushers Gliding Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee, has made a significant voluntary contribution to Club operations without thanks or favour.
George Tvalashvili, for turning up so regularly to help out in many ways.

The LX Cup

Awarded to the Member who, in the past year, has completed the fastest handicapped 200km closed circuit task.
Derren Francis, achieved 120.7kph actual, 109.7kph handicapped, around a 251.4 km task in 2hrs 5 mins in his Ventus jet.

November '09 General News

The AGM this year will be on December 12th, at 7:00pm in the briefing room.
You should have received notification of this by post - if not contact the office and they will send you details, including how to apply for a postal vote and the deadlines involved.

The Course dates for 2010 are now available. Includes NPPL courses.

October '09 University students expected soon

Yes, it's that time of year again, when, with a bit of luck, we will have a whole bunch of new students to train, from Cranfield and Oxford Universities. The Cranfield students should be arriving first, from 10th October onwards, followed sooner after by the Oxford students from the 17th October onwards. Do give them a warm friendly welcome, and please remember that as they are new to the airfield, they don't yet know what to do. So be patient and helpful with the new set of faces you will see each week for the next month or two. (You were once a beginner too.)

You might think the cross-country season is over, but we've had several good flights in late September and early October, some of which are mentioned in the Bicester Blog

Meanwhile, George Tvalashvili and Pete Cadle finished their Basic Instructor course on October 11th under the tutelage of OJ and await their acceptance flights from the CFI.

September '09 More visitors and comps

This month is starting with a visit by 20 members from a power flying club, coming to experience real flying.

And our competition successes continue, with Dave Watt coming second in the 15m Nationals, a mere 10 points behind the winner, while Fran Aikten finished 8th in the Junior Nationals.

August '09 Cross countries, visitors and comps

After taking first place in the Europeans, Pete Harvey has added the UK Open Class title to his list of successes!

We have had a spate of long cross countries recently, 6 or 8 300km flight being flown two weekends in a row, and lots of 200km flights too. And Andy Smith has been notching up 500km flights a bit regularly.

We have visitors from Portmoak (Aboyne visited earlier in the year).

July '09 Competions!

Pete Harvey has won the European Open Class Championship - for the third time in a row! After a titanic battle between Pete and several former World Champions, the Windrushers pilot finished in first place. Congratulations from everyone.

The Bicester Regionals are running from 18th to 26th July, with lots of club members giving their free time to make this the premier Regional Championships in the UK. As usual, club members will be able to fly when the competition gliders are not about to be launched and after the races have started.

Regionals Update - Congratulations to the following Windrushers pilots in the Sport Class
First * Sunay Shah * Second - Mick Boik / Ian Smith * Third - Cris Emson / John Staley
and to those in the Open Class - * Second - John Roberts * Third - Martin Durham

June '09 Warm weather and more flying

We had a reasonable result at the first InterClub League this year, and hope to do well in the remaining ones - the next one is 13th / 14th June, at Bicester itself. Midweek flying is now a good opportunity to get in some practice and even some cross-country flying, so we hope to see some more of you coming out. Our full time staff are eager to help you progress your flying.

Club member Pete Harvey is off to the European Championships soon, to represent Britain yet again. We wish him luck. You can follow his progress at Nitra, Slovakia. The Comp dates are 27/6/09 - 11/7/09.

The aerobatic boys and girls (the BATS and the BAGS) are off to the National Championship on 12/13/14 June.

Update: Maz Makari wins Sports Aerobatic Comp, while Corbin Davies was 4th in the Beginners, only 0.22% short of a medal. Well done to both pilots, and to the rest of the team.

May '09 Interclub League Dates

The dates for the ICL have been announced, the first event being at Hinton, on 23/24/25 May. Contact Sunay Shah if you are interested in this informal, friendly but competative cross-country event. See its entry in the menu for the basic details.

April '09 Newsletter, Badges, Buses

The latest Spring edition of the Newsletter is now on line.
Although the lovely Nancy is having a holiday over Easter, alternative catering arrangements have been made for that weekend.

The large group who went to Portmoak for a week's flying have returned with smiles on their faces, and persuaded a group of Portmoak pilots to come visiting us in the summer months, and we are also hosting a group from Aboyne and a group from Portsmouth over the summer as well.

We have had a string of badge claims recently, mainly cross country claims and heights. Congratulations to Corbin, Rogier, Charlie J, James B, Jeremy H, Marko (300km!) and many others who I have forgotten about to mention. Non-badge flights of note include 500km by Dave Watt, Owain Walters and Ken Hartley. Plus many 300km flights as well. And it's still only April!

Our Luxury Launch Point Facility has been seen out at the launch point and is looking good.

And the Bicester Aerobatic Team will feature on Radio Two, Chris Evans Show, 6:45pm Friday 1st May !

March '09 - Trips away, and work in progress

With Spring finally sprung, a group of members are going to Portmoak for Easter, along with several University students, including groups from other Unis, not just our own favourite one, Oxford. Work on the briefing room is still progressing, new lighting has been fitted, the ceiling updated, the walls plastered and the skirting board on the window side vastly improved. The big bus has had the seating re-arranged, with tables and side-seats now in place, and mainly just the back end remains to be re-styled. But help is still needed for these projects, so contact Pete Cadle or OJ and lend a hand.

We have had a good set of Fridays recently, with a fair amount of winching, soaring and even cross-countries being done. The new soaring group have had a couple of pep-talks from World Class competitor Dave Watt, and a new mailing list has been used to pass on good weather / good cross country reports.

You can read regular reports on what we have done flying-wise at The Bicester Blog

Hugh Browning's talk at the end of February was an eye-opener to some members, and we can safely recommend any club after an evening talk to book him. Computer simulations of winch launching clearly drove home the safety points.

The bar ceiling and lighting has been given a make-over recently and has brightened the place up considerably.

February '09 Briefing Room Redecoration and other items

Work on redecorating the briefing room is progressing well under the leadership of Pete Cadle. Volunteers to help are always required - this isn't a one-man job. The entrance foyer area is also being redecorated, after the room is completed. So don't feel you missed a chance to help out, when you can also help in the foyer - these sort of special offers don't come along every day.
AND the new "Luxury Launch Point Facility", aka The Bus, has arrived and OJ is leading the work on that - again, don't feel left out of things, if you ask OJ nicely, he will let you join in the work. A list of tasks will be available soon.

On Saturday 28th February, at 18:30, we have Hugh Browning coming along to give a talk on safety - a subject where you can't know too much. See you there.

The British Aerobatic Association running a training weekend in Bicester March 7 till 8. The aim is to promote glider aerobatics and to train pilots in it. There will be training available for beginners and intermediate pilots. For the beginners training, the Oxford University K-21 will be available. Please contact Lukas Brandt lukas.brandt@merton.ox.ac.uk if you are interested in using it. There will be also an informal judging school.

January '09 Happy New Year

Advanced notice - Hugh Browning will give one of his well-respected gliding safety talks on Saturday 28th February at 18:30 in the (new) briefing room at Windrushers.

Our motor glider G-CFMW is proving to be so popular that a nearby club has added a picture of it to their blog! Obviously trying to present a good image.

December '08 Latest News

It's cold outside. And the latest addition to our web communication system is now on line - the Bicester Blog - check out the menu under Members. It will provide short news items such as what we did today flying-wise. It will have two editors - Mike P and me - to reduce the workload I have running the main site. Main news items will still be posted here of course.

The new Falke 2000 - G- CFMW - is now ready to fly.
Notes for those with an SMLG have been prepared by Alan Smith, outlining the differences between this aircraft and the other Falke, which is still available. Check with Alan, Dave Watt, Mike Pettican or OJ before flying this aircraft.
Currently G-CFMW costs £54 an hour to hire.

November '08 Latest News

Agenda for next committee meeting
Nominations required for committee posts before the AGM
And there will be food by Nancy at the AGM - buy your tickets soon from the office.

And the results of the elections at the AGM are as follows:

Directors - Cris Emson and Dickie Feakes were re-elected
Committee - John Wright (Secretary), Alan Smith (Marketing) and John Staley (Treasurer) were elected.
Due to a lack of candiates for some posts, we may co-opt some assistants to the committee.

Club Trophies Awarded

Chairman's Trophy

Awarded to the Member who, in the opinion of the Chairman, has made a major contribution during the last year to the Club Operation
John Wright - for all his web design work, regular instructing and stepping in as secretary

Most Meritorious Flight of the Year

This trophy is awarded to the Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most meritorious flight during the year
Debbie Thomas for her 262.2 km in a Ka6e (a handicapped distance of 323.7km)

Member of the Year

The Member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee has made the most progress during the past Year
Seth Helstrip - soloed 6th Sept 2007, Bronze July 08, then got his 50km this year

CFI's Trophy

The CFI's Trophy is awarded to the Club member, who in the opinion of the CFI, has been the mainstay of the flying operation during the past year
Tony Cleworth for endless help mid-week

The Alfar Memorial Award

The Alfar Memorial Award is awarded annually to the Windrushers Gliding Club member who, in the opinion of the Management Committee, has made a significant voluntary contribution to Club operations without thanks or favour.
Gail Stevens for turning up so regularly to help out in many ways

The LX Cup

Awarded to the Member who, in the past year, has completed the fastest handicapped 200km closed circuit task.
Dave Watt, in his Ventus 2A 15m - Bicester - Stockbridge - Shrivenham - Alton - Bicester, 304.5km in 2hr 48mins 24secs, actual speed = 108.5khp, handicapped = 104.3kph

October '08 Bonfire Night

It's official, says Rachel, we will have a bonfire, yet again. All welcome.

Lots of new Uni students learning to fly - instructors, this is your chance to help them.

September '08 New CFI, Diary Dates

Dave Watt has taken on the role of CFI.
The replacement Robin tug has proved to be popular.
Motor glider joins the club fleet.

Instructors meeting - 27th September
Bonfire Party - 8th November
AGM - 22nd November (provisionally)

Pete Cadle has finally managed his 50km flight

Flight logs were updated on 18th Sept, and will be updated two days after the last flying day in September, to help instructors with their annual returns for renewals - had your Year 3 or Year 5 checks done yet boys and girls?...

August '08 Nationals etc

We've had a spate of 50km flights recently, and Jolien Chow, Seth Helstrip, Dan Grey and Seb Cassell have been added to the list. Some of these may be a full Silver - if you know, tell me.
Philippa continued her relentless XC flying with a 200km flight, then a 300+km one into a field. Sadly for the 300 she forgot to leave the logger switched on...

After the successful Regionals in July, we will be hosting the 18m Nationals. As aerotows are more likely than winching during this comp, the committee has decided to give full club members who are not taking part in the comp reduced rate launches - £20 to 2000' - to compensate for the inconvenience of the comp. If you are willing to help out during the Nationals, contact the office.

July '08 Comps and Stuff

Well, it's been a wet month so far, so let's hope it improves for the first of our comps, the Bicester Regionals. The web site is live now, so you can follow the adventures of the brave boy and girl racers. See the menu under Flying Programme, Regionals 2008. The 18m Nationals web site will be up soon, if I get a chance to sit down in between all the other things I have to do.

With 36 entries in the Open class and 38 in the Sport class, our little regionals seems to be quite popular...

After doing a 9000' Silver height, Philippa Roberts has done her Silver distance during the comp - 62km into a 20kt headwind! She likes a bit of a challenge does Philippa. Some of you boy racers may have to watch out if she does a comp.

Terry mitchell took 7th place in the Open class at the Regionals, and Bob King took 8th place, while in the Sports class, Sunay Shah finished in second place, with Ken Hartley in 10th. Well done to all of them, and the other club members who took part. And all those who gave up their free time to help run the comp.

June '08 More General Stuff

Dave Watt Talks - Saturday June 28th at 18:30 in the briefing room
This time the talk will be on "Your First Comp". This is about how to prepare for the competition, to avoid losing before you start. Parts will also apply to your early cross-country attempts.

The next (first!) inter-club league is scheduled for the weekend of 21st/22nd June at Oxford Gliding Club (Weston). We are looking for team members in all 3 classes (novice, intermediate and pundit). This is also a good opportunity to fly a competitive task even if you are not taking part in the comp. Inter Club League page

Jolien Chow has won one of the prestigious Air League Scholarships! This will provide her with 12 hours of motor glider flying towards her ppl. Well done.

May '08 General stuff

Tara takes to the skies solo!

ICL 2008 Dates Announced. - Team members wanted - novice, intermediate and pundit. First meeting is at Hinton on 24/25/26th May.
Other dates:

Contact Sunay Shah (sunay.shah@sharp.co.uk) to enrol into the team and
for further information. See also the Inter Club League pages

BBQ announced for 10th May. Flying accounts updated 2nd May and 17th May.

 

April '08 Committee Changes and Office PC Died

The club's Secretary has changed for various reasons, and John Wright is now temporarily filling this post until the next AGM/EGM. The office PC has died from old age, but a shiny replacement that was already on order arrived the next day, and is a much faster and more stable platform. Due to some prior planning, everything was backed up to an external hard drive, so LogPile's data is intact. Because of the workload of re-installing everything and copying stuff over, the accounts and flight log were not updated for a couple of weeks, but that has now been rectified. So check what you owe us.

The Portmoak Expedition appears to have been a great success, with Philippa doing a Silver Height gain of 9000' for example! She likes to be sure of things...

The latest version of the newsletter should be available very, very soon.

The first of the Go for Solo courses was well attended, and lots of flying and soaring done. They certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.

 

March '08 Mode S update and further consultation

The committee recommends you read the following news update on Mode S from the BGA. The management committee and directors are considering their own response, but individuals are encouraged to read the CAA proposal and make their own response as well.

Pete Stratten will be going to the important BGA/CAA Mode S event at Lasham on Friday 4th April at 7pm, and can take three passengers along as well. As some members have been rather vocal about Mode S, this is your chance to speak up. Glider pilots are being given a chance to express their worries over Mode S, so don't miss the opportunity.

The eavesdropping report on the March committee meeting is available now. Hopefully the full minutes will follow soon. And a new Newsletter is due soon as well. Read your email for our News Alerts - apparently some of you still don't know we have flight logs and accounts available online in the private members area. Contact John Wright if you don't know how to view your accounts.

So who will be the first Windrushers pilot to go cross country this year?

 

Feb '08 Soaring season has arrived - do you still say there is no global warming effect?

The soaring season started today 27th Feb. with cloudbase at 3,800 and 6 knot thermals popping everywhere! Our mid-week flying saw 10 members flying taking 43 launches. Three K13 flights of just over an hour each gave some much needed soaring practice. Our Astir and the Skylark were also flown. Despite having a winch driver and three instructors one member didn’t get airbourne through lack of instructors. Please – if you see a good day coming along on Wednesday or Friday and you can help instruct – let us know, you’ll be welcomed with open arms.

AND Kirsty went solo! First of the new year.
Followed a couple of days later by James Krautgartner going solo.

Feb '08 Trouble finding the launch points?

Sometimes it's difficult to find the launch point and park the vehicles in the right place. Or to find other clubs when on an exped. But not if you use a Sat-Nav system. Just right click and download these two files, unzip them and stick them in as a POI file and off you go. Launch points and gliding clubs were produced by Alan Smith. he missed out the bar as most people seem to be able to find that without Sat-Nav.

As well as the Mid-Week Flyers calendar, we have added a general calendar for flying events to the site (see the menu under Flying Programme). This has been incorporated into the Mid-Week calendar so you can see what else is on at the same time, but only the Office and webmaster can edit the general events. Instructions on using the Mid-Week calendar, however, are in the members' area.

Eavesdropping on the February committee meeting is also online.

The Agenda for the Management Committee Meeting on Sunday 2nd March on now available in the Members Area.

 

Jan '08 Going for Solo and XC Courses, Committee emails

The club will be running several Going for Solo courses and some Cross Country courses this year - see the courses page for more details. Only a limited number of spaces are available, so make you mind up soon. Notes from Dave Watt's XC meeting are available now - talk-1 summary, questionnaire and general summary. All as Word docs. Note the new links above

Useful contact emails for the committee members are now available in the private, members' area as well.


Jan '08 Cross Country Talk and YOUR Plans for the 2008 season

Dave Watt, one of our top Nationals (and International) pilots, will be hosting a Cross Country talk in the briefing room on Sunday 20th January at 17:00. We would encourage all pilots to attend, but in particular those who have just gone solo working towards Bronze, Bronze pilots wanting to get their Silver, and pilots aiming at 300 and 500k's this coming season.

We look forward to seeing you there!


Jan '08 Happy New Year, and New Newsletter

A group of members had a "civilized" New Years Eve party in the club house bar to welcome in the year, at least I'm told it was civilized. We also have the first edition (a rare collector's item!) of the new club newsletter, Helios, produced by Dan Grey. This is a 458 kb pdf file, so you need Adobe Reader installed (but you probably have that anyway). Dan would like more articles from you sometime for the next edition (news, exciting flights, expedition reports, whatever) to cut down the workload of producing it. Remember, an article in the newsletter could lead to a career as a writer (it did for me after I had an article published in S&G, so why not one in Helios?), so get to work now!

More eavesdropping on the January committee meeting for those who can't wait for the official minutes.

Older News can be found here