CGC Task Week 2023 Summary

26 Aug

We have just concluded our Task Week 2023. This is a week of flying during which solo pilots focus on the opportunity to take on flying assignments which add to their experience and qualifications. Naturally, task activity is weather dependent, however; whatever the weather – it is all great fun. It is a week of ‘firsts’ for everyone who participates.

The gliding movement has various badges and awards which mark a pilot’s progression from the day they begin training. Going solo for the first time is a big step, however; beyond that there are many other special moments – achievements which are officially recognised and others which are not but are equally important in the growth of a pilot. These achievements include flying different gliders for the first time, flights of increasing duration, height, and distance flown. A major achievement is also to use all the experience you have gained and pass this on to other people via air experience and instructional flying.

It may sound like hard work but achieving is very satisfying and is recognised by the award of Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond badges as pilots progress further. And that is just the formal stuff. So how did this Task Week go?

Well, importantly, on each day we had more than enough people with the right experience to operate efficiently and safely. Whilst glider pilots are individuals in the air – each of us need a team of people to help us get airborne. We flew every day of the week although on a couple of days this was despite the weather rather than because of it.

In total we did 254 flights and flew 146 hours. Within these flights our pilots flew cross country in single seater and two seater gliders; there were numerous flights of 2, 3 and 4 hours duration; a number of pilots converted to gliders they had not flown before – notably the Astir, K18 and Oly 2b – whilst other pilots consolidated their experience in gliders they were new to; a couple of pilots did aerobatic training; two pilots qualified as Tug Pilots; our new Basic Instructor pilots consolidated their experience flying visitors and one pilot completed a week of Flight Instructor training; a number of pilots attempted Silver Distance (50km), Silver Height (3281 ft height gain) and Silver Duration (5 hours) flights. For a bit of fun, we all participated in a competition flight trying to get closest to a 4-minute duration flight as well as spot landing. A bit of fun but with outcomes that demonstrated our skills – especially important if we have to land in a field during a cross country attempt. It all adds up to a great week.

For those who like more granularity, we had:

10 days flying, 254 flights of which 10 were self launched in SF, 41 were aerotow and 203 were winch. 146 hours 10 minutes flown in total.
Numerous cross-country flights were carried out in V66 (Paul), R6 (Jon, Greg, Phil), 69 (Mick), 335 (Martin), TC (Humza, Josh), 26 (Paul and Tony Disbrey, Luke and Dmitry).
Numerous long flights occurred in the ASW 15 (Mark), the ASK 18 (Arthur, Peter Ward, Laurence), 26 (Greg, Josh, Bryan and Jim, Josh and Greg, Brian and Tom), the ASK 13 (Laurence, Brian and Tom), R77 (Ben, Tony Disbrey, Dmitry), EDW (Graham), HXU (Ethan, Tony Disbrey) and R28 (Tony Disbrey, Arthur, Jan and Malica, Bryan).
We had a number of conversions - Dmitry (R77), Peter Ward (R48), Martin (Oly 2b), Josh (TC), Greg (26).
We had two new tug pilots - Paul and Adrian. Thank you to Martyn Pike for all his efforts in this regard.
Rob Saddler, our Officer in Command, qualified as a basic instructor.
Brian Gough also conducted 5 days of FI instructor training with Tom Wilson.
There were various Silver C badge flight attempts - Arthur, Ethan, Dan, Tony Disbrey.
Many field Landing checks were carried out - Josh, Mark, Tony Disbrey, Bryan. Bryan did his with Brian...imagine the cross cockpit chat and handover!
David Fothergill had an IFP aerotow currency check with Al.
Arthur and Dan did aerobatics training with Paul. Weather stopped play - the only day it did.
Our new member - Rob Hines - completed site checks on more than one of our runways, as did Peter Ward.
Dan Kearney, Ben King and Dmitry consolidated their experience in the Astir, as did Peter Ward in R48, as did Mark in the ASW15. Ethan also did some very nice landings in HXU after some long flights.
We also flew a number of visitors - assisted by Martin, Tony Disbrey, Tony Heritage, Josh, Greg, David and Laurence.
One visitor was Service and an ex Cosford pilot who last flew in 1998. He did all the flying from the top of the launch to low key in a 45 minute flight. He will hopefully take up the sport again.
Taff and Laurence also kept up public relations by speaking to a lot of people on the airfield boundary, answering their questions and generally 'spreading the word'.
Jon D had two great winch launches to 850 feet on runway 25 in his Tutor whilst Paul in V66...well...didn't...sorry, Paul.
Finally, we held a competition in R48 - closest flight duration to 4 minutes and a spot landing. Brilliant fun. Arthur went first and achieved (much to our horror) 3 mins 55 seconds and 6 steps beyond spot. Laurence was 29 seconds over but 2 steps short of spot.