ESGC On Circuit Newsletter No7 2013 by Adrian Tills

OC       Weak links are expensive aren’t they?

CD       Not half!  They cost a fortune at around £70 each. That’s because they are solid forged rather than joined.  I’d like everyone to make sure that each day of flying the weak link is checked before every launch.  If the little hole in the middle is starting to stretch and elongate then put that link in the weak link bin in the launch vehicle as it’s on the way to letting go.  It’s dangerous and also very expensive when we lose several on one day’s launching.  If they let go at low altitude the pilots have not got much time to react and if they let go at the top it could land on the winch one day.

OC        Colin, I’m sure Club Members will be grateful for all your work on the ‘chutes, wind socks and weak links behind the scenes to help keep us flying. Hopefully they’ll stop arguing with you about which way the ‘chutes are supposed to go when they’ve read this.  Thanks for talking to “On Circuit.”

Building for the Future – The voice of Club Members in shaping the future of ESGC.

Make sure you attend the AGM Saturday 23 March 2013 19.05pm

The ESGC Committee are keen to engage the Club Members in an on-going dialogue about the kinds of things the membership would like to see happening and the way you see the club developing in the future.  There are some interesting projects and potential facilities which the Committee are considering and the Committee need to know what the views of the membership are.  These are significant potential opportunities and may require significant financial investment by the club so it is really important that the views and opinions of the Club Membership are taken into account before going ahead.  It is your Club and the membership voice needs to be heard.

In particular there are a number of projects to be scoped out and evaluated to see if they are something the membership would want and would value.

Three key projects are under consideration at present.  These are:

1. A Series of Training/Briefing Packages and appropriate PowerPoint and screen facilities for those bad weather days.  The basic idea is that when people turn up to fly but the weather is poor, rather than waste the journey or the time, an illustrated briefing or talk is given by one of the Instructors.  After an hour or two briefing on a flying topic the weather might start improving anyway and if not it would be a positive and constructive flying related activity to help generate and retain motivation. Graham Wright – Club Chairman is sponsoring this project and is keen to get your views and ideas about how to make this work.  Graham can be emailed on chairman@esgc.co.uk or, you can respond to the thread on the Burble Room or, why not just be old fashioned and speak to Graham when you next see him at the Club!
2. Flight Simulator – The Committee have been discussing whether a flight simulator would be a useful asset for the Club to invest in especially as the global climate seems to be changing and there have been less and less good flying days over the last three soaring seasons.  A simulator could be another good training tool as well as an alternative on bad weather days to help generate attendance and motivation.  However, if the club is to invest in this we need to be sure that it is something which the membership would want and would use.  We know that some other clubs are building these or already have them in use.  A volunteer is needed to carry out some background research on this, to provide a focal point for the membership to feedback to and also to champion this as a project if it gets the go-ahead.
3. Additional Member Hangar Space – The Committee have also been discussing whether it would be worth investing in some additional hangar space so that members could leave their private gliders rigged and ready to go.  There are a number of financial and planning questions to be answered here: How much would it cost the club to build? Is it something enough members would want to make it viable?  How much would it cost for a member to keep a rigged glider in this space etc.? Again, a volunteer is needed to carry out some background research on this and also to provide a focal point for the membership to feedback to.

These ideas and any others which come from the membership will be discussed at the AGM on Saturday evening 23 March 2013.  Apart from being a good social event it is imperative that as many members as possible attend the AGM so that the membership can make their voice heard.  Just two volunteers are needed to champion these projects and it would be great if this was led by a member of the club who is not also a Committee member.

See you there!