June – July 2002
Those few glorious days in April reminded us all what the English summer should be about. Use this issue of S&G to brush up your understanding of the best way to join thermals (courtesy of National Coach Simon Adlard) so that you can take advantage of the next good spell of weather. At the same time, you can refresh your winching knowledge with the help of BGA Instructors Committee Chairman Bob Pettifer. After all, you don’t want to be sitting on the ground when the thermals are popping.
By way of contrast, you can also find out more about the wonderful wave soaring that Scandinavian pilots (and a couple of British ones) were so lucky as to enjoy in an exceptional season. Regular readers, remembering Ian Dunkley’s flights from a frozen lake in Finland, won’t be surprised to learn that he was in the thick of the action on another one, this time in Sweden; Robert Danewid, meanwhile, describes a day during a Norwegian wave camp when every second launch gained Diamond height.
Other treats in this issue include a beautifully-written, reflective article by John Bridge describing a mountain flight when he achieved a long-held goal, with the help of advice from record-breaking pilot Klaus Ohlmann. And a 60-year-old story of wartime glider pilots’ skill and courage is revealed for the first time in this issue.
Finally, if you reckon you’ve had some hairy moments in the air, spare a thought for Dave Shorter. Turning at the end of a beat in ridge lift, he found himself heading straight for the forest… Find out in the June-July issue what happened next.
Helen Evans
Editor, Sailplane & Gliding
Flight test: Lambada
Jochen Ewald tries out a Czech microlight motorglider that’s both a tourer and a soarer
How to join thermals
In the first in a series of articles on thermalling and lookout, Simon Adlard explains how and why to get your thermal entry right
The way to winch
Bob Pettifer takes a look at the basics of winching in the first of a series for anyone who’s interested in learning new skills or keeping existing ones up to scratch
That was the worst moment
Dave Shorter recalls his terrible realisation that trees and gliders don’t mix – as his sailplane headed straight for the forest
A nightmare on tow
John Nesbitt-Dufort was a test pilot for part of the war (as a rest from operational duties!). This previously unpublished account reveals what he and Robert Kronfeld did when a night aerotow went wrong…
Diamonds and Dali clouds
Ian Dunkley, Paul Bramley and Robert Danewid describe the great wave soaring that pilots in Scandinavia enjoyed earlier this year
Confront the unknown
Perhaps, as John Bridge suggests, you could achieve more by allowing curiosity to overcome fear
Catching the wave
In the fifth article of his series on soaring in the mountains, Gavin Wills describes how to get into wave
30,000ft in a cu-nim
Midland GC’s Mark Wakem suggested this classic tale from 1960 by Gordon Rondel
Go fly a kite?
Forget paragliding – these days, kitesurfing is cool. Junior World Gliding Champion Jay Rebbeck gives it a go
Also in this issue:
BGA and general news; Your letters; BGA Technical News; BGA Development News; Reviews; Superships from America; Gliding Gallery; Club News; Club Focus (Needwood Forest GC); Obituaries; BGA Badges; Incident and accident summaries; safety articles (Be careful with those canopies; Turbo tips; and A good way to become a prat).
Tailfeathers: Plat muses upon the differences between gliding in the USA and the UK and commemorates a significant electronic anniversary
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