Thursday 28 May

Cold and a little overcast in the morning - there was no great rush to get the aircraft out. Gerhard turned up - very opportune for Richard as today we made him fly the Jantar standard. Gerhard is the absolute master at helping people to get comfortable in the Jantar and briefing them to fly it. 

Phil Anderton came out to tow for us - thanks Phil.

Chris and I did four flights in the  Puchateck - the tug became rather unreliable and kept waving us off. Other times the rope broke. Strange how that happens when there is an instructor in the back. There was no lift - the air was very still and smooth with just a light crosswind - perfect for landing on runway 20. Time for a spot of lunch, but just as we were going to the clubhouse the Jantar emerged from the quadrangle, so Phil and I went back to work!

Richard was feeling confident after being briefed by Gerhard, and got ready relatively quickly. He took off flawlessly, and took a high tow. Phil and I grabbed our lunch.  After a 20 minute sledride Richard greased on the landing in the Jantar, and was grinning from ear to ear again.  He spent the rest of the afternoon helping Chris and I.

Back to work, and that wretched tow rope broke again just off the end of the runway. One more standard circuit, and Chris was ready to do it alone. He accomplished this in style with a good landing on runway 20, and followed this up with another solo to land near the hangars. Meanwhile Richard did another flawless take off and landing in the Jantar.

Celebrations all round!

Not a great gliding day, but perfect for what we were trying to achieve. Started to rain a bit in the evening.