News

February 2022 was mostly damp and gloomy, with The Weather Gods conspiring to limit flying from Camphill.  By contrast, Sunday 27th February was clear and bright, if a little blustery, with a fresh wind east of south.  With the soaring forecast indicating string winds at altitude, there was a possibility of wave lift.  Alex Green and […]

It has been a slightly frustrating January for the club’s weekend warriors, with cracking wave days during the week giving way to grey skies and low cloud at the weekends that have mostly prevented flying from taking place.  So there was a good turnout on Sunday 30th January when a narrow gap between storms Malik […]

What a stunner. Conditions were challenging on Saturday, with strong wave influence on the hill. Most often, wave is somewhat elusive, but sometimes it smacks you in the face. David Heimerdinger’s photo shows the lee side of a bar upwind and to the west of the club, and clearly illustrates the gap downwind of it […]

Tuesday 4 January The first flying day of 2022, and what a great day it was.  A brisk west/north westerly airflow produced consistent wave lift throughout the day.  All 15 club members who attended that day were able to take advantage of the excellent soaring conditions to see the Peak District from a vantage point […]

Guy Martin flew with us… While filming for the documentary honouring WWII bomber pilots back in September, Guy Martin and his film crew found Camphill to be a very useful support location. Not only was their Tiger Moth refuelled here, but they were also restocked with flour bombs. You’ll have to watch the program to […]

Prize-giving at the AGM 2021 Life showed another sign of adapting to a new normality yesterday when the club held its AGM in the clubhouse, with the twist of an extended audience: approximately half the attendees joined from home, via Zoom, resulting in a much larger turnout than usual. Fitting then that the club also […]

Dave is the first of many Our winch drivers are important to us – essential in fact. They work in partnership with the pilot to achieve the highest and safest launch possible in the conditions. Dave is the first of the crop currently under training to become qualified under our club system. Congratulations, and welcome […]

It was worth the wait Saturday’s forecast was for strong and gusty winds, with rain until mid to late morning. The upside was that it was predicted to be Westerly, and for the sun to come out. So the day went ahead, with ridge flying eagerly anticipated. The morning started with briefings for those wanting […]

Congratulations to Steve Pearce Steve is looking very happy after being sent solo by Brian Allen yesterday. Steve has worked hard to achieve this over the shortened season this summer. His efforts were well rewarded, with three solo flights in conditions somewhat more demanding than the usual ‘solo scenario’. Great effort Steve. And from the […]

Welcome back! Following a break of a couple of years, it is good to see instructor Jonathan Thorpe back in the air as a solo pilot. Here is John MacKenzie congratulating him after flying a Puchacz, before Jonathan later went on to fly the K18. Good to see you back!

Into Edale and beyond Despite, or perhaps bevause of, good looking skies, Mike Stephens declined the use of his syndicate’s ASW27B (JPT), in favour of his partner’s refamiliarisation with Jupiter. But when the opportunity arose to fly the club’s ASK18 (JKU), he leapt at it, and made very good use of it too. Initially joining […]

A rare sighting of this form of the Brocken Spectre Seen in wave forming over Camphill yesterday. Brian needed three attempts to connect with the wave lift from the ridge, catching it later in the day. Being above the clouds creates the opportunity to spot your Pilot’s Bullseye! Photographing it is an added bonus. In […]

Another enjoyable day in wave Not an exciting forecast but a sunny day appeared. A quick assembly of the glider and an early launch found that there was plenty of rising air (wave lift) that quickly wafted me up to over 5,000 feet, allowing views over much of the Peak District and as far afield […]

A great day out It’s that time of year when wave occurs, often accessible from the ridge, with moderate cloud and incredible visibility. Yesterday was one of those days. Enjoyed by many, but especially by Liz who captured some glorious shots for our Album,  from above the airflied and nearby.

Not one, but two… Alex Green is the second of our members named Alex to be awarded his Ass Cat instructor rating in the space of the last two weeks. Unable to finish all the elements of the examination a couple weeks ago (they do try to cram a lot in), Alex made a return […]

Our doors will open again from 1 Oct. It’s been a long time. We are pleased to announce that after a long period of lockdowns and flying off the backlog of guest flights, we will resume new sales of vouchers for Introductory Flights. These flights make a great gift, and are a fantastic way to […]

Alex qualifies as an Assistant Instructor. After a great deal of hard work and practise, Alex Oldham has recently completed the final module of his Ass Cat training, passed the examination and been given his rating by the BGA. Very well done, and welcome to the instructing team. The author couldn’t find a picture of […]

Ed is congratulated by his instructor. Ed Mayson looking rightly pleased as he is being congratulated by Alan Jolly on the occasion of his first solo flight on Tuesday 24 August 2021.

Chris and Mike take the Arcus to Pately Bridge We both took a day off work as we wanted to practise flying the Arcus cross-country before our trip to Lasham at the end of August. We had an idea to follow the good weather up past Leeds without setting a task. It felt like there […]

…after enjoying the local sights in our back yard Peter Gray added to the Flying Blog: The day gave us a wind of about 20kts/240 on the surface with a few gusts but nothing untoward. The edge was working with entrained thermal that somehow had the feel of wave influence. I spent a while on […]

Despite a poor outlook, Saturday turned out to be a perfect soaring day. Lots of dark threatening skies to the north, but it was fine over Camphill. Machiej had a team to serve him all of his own! We had a super soaring flight in front of towering clouds that took us up to 3500ALT […]

Mike celebrates, Covid-style Once flying resumed after lockdown, club members got stuck into their training with renewed vigour. Mike Carter celebrates the results after being sent solo by instructor Brian Allen during the Thrusday evening Tufty Club on 3 June 2021. Pictured here after compleing his flight in one of the club’s two-seat Puchacz gliders.

Tufty Club celebrates Emily’s first solo Teenager Emily Lockwood is rightly looking very pleased with her success after completing her first solo glider flight on 27 May 2021. Emily did much of her training after school, thanks to the support of the Tufty Club (our Thursday evening flying group). Seen here being Covid-congratulated by her […]

…celebrate Mr Richardson’s first solo Dave Richardson elbow bumps Dave Bailey, whilst receiving congratulations on his first solo glider flight. Coming on the back of a long lockdown, Dave (R) was very pleased not to have forgotten his earlier training, and now has the season ahead of him to start the real learning! And the […]

2020 was due to be a very special year for Camphill… but we will now be celebrating 25 glorious years of our Vintage Rally in 2021 instead. We have a lot planned to make it “the one to remember”. In addition to the usual Gala Dinner, with fully stocked bar, there will be a very […]

Release Day, 29 March 2021, proved too windy to start flying again, with 50-knot gusts, but following day was a beautifully warm sunny day, with a light SW wind. 13 pilots enjoyed 36 flights totalling over 8½ hours, with two pilots reaching over 5000ft in weak blue wave. An excellent start to what we all […]