A busy last day for this weeks group.  With base just above the top on the morning flight I decided we should try for an XC towards Barco at 11am.  Abundant lift and a low level flight (max 2000m) for the 20kms to Barco for myself Nigel, Dave and Alan and then a snack before the main event.   Classic conditions with the base rising to 2900m and a 3/8Cu sky.   Apart from Tony, who did a bit of local flying, everybody (8 of us) flew over the pass after pushing quite to the north before the crossing.

Nigel reached Avila and started back a little, the rest of us were stuck in the N wind to the SW of Avila near Sotalvo.

We got back for a late evening flight for a bit of soaring before sunset then a meal at our house near Zapata.

Since the new terminal at Madrid airport came into being some years back the airports authority has snatched a large section of airspace to the north of the mountains to the east of  Avila.   This makes for problems for those 200km flights, though for us we are not so affected as the sailplane club of Fuentemilanos and the flying site of Arcones (which sits right under the normal approach).   The sailplane clubs have negociated a NOTAM running through the summer which allows less retrictive flying in that area.   Without it they would certainly go out of business as they would have few pilots interested in flying to only some 500m about the aerodrome rather than the 1000km yo yo flights they regularly do in summertime.

There had been some doubt as to whether they would get the Notam this year due to certain political problems.  However, luckily that has now been resloved and the Notam given is a larger area and less complex in its design than last year.   The Notam comes into vigour on the 20th of June.    Paul Russell is helping me with a map for the competiton events which will have the new airspace clearly marked.  When finished it will be downloadable from this website along with the turnpoints for the Pre and World Championship.

It is hoped that the routing of aircraft to Madrid will be changed in the future.  The current approach over the mountains is not favoured by airline pilots as they are crossing high ground on their finals and also if there are storms  they are  likely to be on those mountains and in their way.   A favoured route for them would be to approach the airport from the east.   This would leave us without airpace problems and the ability to fly unimpeded once again.

Last year extensive improvements were made to the launch area.  Much earth was brought in and the gradient made steeper.  In the orgional plan it was to be turfed, but we were told that the budget had been spend.   Now finally the topsoil is going on, though I think a little late in the season as it will be getting very dry from now on.  However, it will serve to cover the rocks exposed during the weathering over the winter.  At the moment we still the machines leveling and bringing earth in.  Nigel in the photo has found a nicely compressed bit of topsoil.

It seemed the best place to fly in Europe today was the UK or Russia.  As we have Russians and Brits here this week it was a great shame that perhaps the worse place to fly was here with the sudden groth of a low and rain and storms.   Oh well, a bit of footy might have cheered us up.  However, even that turned out to be rubbish with a zero zero draw.   To add to the depression my new pet geese and ducks have disapeared, probably to a predator.  Anyway, tommorrow and for a long time after it looks good.  A photo of Nigel over the Corrals on route to Avila yesterday.  

Lovely conditions today with light NW winds and moderate thermals to around 3000m.   The morning flight was easy to stay up and after tea and a snack we took off for the XC fligtht around 2pm.  A few dropped out at the pass but Nigel, Steve, Dave, Alan and myself crossed easily.  With a 4/8 Cu filled sky the route to Avila was simple, though with the light winds we did not reach it till around 6pm.  Alan and Steve dropped out around the bend in the road.

A very lifty evening flight with gentle restitution on which I flew tandem with Tatiana.

A great looking Cu filled sky but just to windy, even from early on.   We took the rafts and Kayak to the Tormes for a white water run.   Remarkably there was still just enough running water to make the trip worthwile and entertaining.

Back to flying after an unseasonal longish spell of very poor weather.   We were up early today, the first flight being quite easy to stay up, though with the low base  tricky to stay free of cloud.   We landed after around 40 minutes when the clouds seem to cycle up and start showing some showers to the NE.   Within and hour of landing  things had settled and we were off again with hopes of a flight to Barco.  However once again the clouds started to develop and also the wind in the valley started to pick up.   In less than an hour we were once again landing.   Strong winds prevented us from an evening flight.

The day dawned blue and Cus started forming from around 10am.  We made a very pleasant first flight, which was gentle but easy to stay with…though Brian lost his climb and landed short of the landing field.  The photo below is of our new house taken on that flight.   The second flight was similar but with increasing Cirrus comming in and the Cus developing more depth.  An easy flight to the Quarry, and just as I was radioing to Pete that we were landing near the Cemetery, Brian pulled out a low save taking him quickly towards the Pass.  Unfortunatel the wind had now picked up and having lost the thermal he had to land in turbulent conditions in a less than perfect spot.   I followed above then landed in a slightly better spot nearby but with plenty of wind as well.

This week flying alongside our very small group is Sandy Cochepane´s group from Chamonix (X World Champion and Winner of the Europeans in Piedrahita in 1998).   The picture shows them taking off for theie second flight.  You will see from the photo that much of the mountain now full of the yellow Broom flowers.  Every themal on the hill is a fragrant one.

This morning a new Sport 4 turned up for Brian our guest this week.  Brian has left most of his kit with Kelly in Austria, so I had to hund around for old harnesses, helmets and stuff to kit him up with his new glider.  On the XC flight the condtions were WNW with around 18-23km, moderate themals and a base of not much more that 2600m.  Brian with only his 28 hours and unfamiliar kit grabbed thermal after themal and we were soon over the pass and climbing on the other side.  As we approached Avila the wind was getting up more and a little turbulent so it was very much fighting our way down through the abundant lift to land around Niharra.  A great start to the week, though the next two days may give us some  difficult conditions

I got to fly rather than do the airport drive today.  Great conditions, also enjoyed by many of the fledgling storks on their first flights and thermalling up over town with us.