Gliding with Bannerdown Gliding Club: June 2006
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At the beginning of June, 20 Scouts and 4 leaders enjoyed an evening
of gliding courtesy of Bannerdown Gliding Club. The club provides trial
lessons for beginners at Keevil Airfield near Melksham, and we are able
to book a Friday evening to take everybody out to have a go.
The first thing that everybody gets is an initial safety briefing on
the airfield, the runway and how to use the parachute that they will
be wearing. So far nobody has had to though! After that the Scouts were
asked how much they weigh. This is important as eachplane needs to be
balanced in order to fly properly, and for some of the lighter Scouts
extra weight is added. Unfortunately only a few Scouts knew their weight,
and a reasonable amount of guesswork was employed to work out everybody
else!
Each person's flight lasted between 5 and 10 minutes. This doesn't
include the time it takes to get the gliders ready for each flight,
get the instructor and Scout strapped in and the winch cabled attached.
During the flight the Scouts get to fly the glider, enjoy the views
and sometimes see how good the instructors flying skills are!
This year the club had 3 different gliders in operation, which meant
that we got through everybody's flight in good time, leaving lots of
time to enjoy the bar-be-cue. The gliding club are kind enough to let
us camp overnight at the airfield, which means that we don't have to
rush home and can enjoy a relaxing evening and another night at camp.
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