WAVING GOOD-BYE TO SCOTLAND
Neville and Richard Allcoat 750 km 2 Seater Diploma No 7. The first from Scotland.
Having just watched the video once again, it never ceases to amaze me how many things conspired to make the 8th of September 1997 a remarkable day. Our 750 km Diploma in the bag, a first from Scotland and a 45 minute video film of the flight.
Diary Sunday 7th Sept 97. 7 p.m.: BBC 1 forecast was for the overnight South westerly gales to veer west at ground level by morning and to remain at 25 knots, with a maximum daytime temperature of 18 C and a rising pressure of 1013 mb. This usually spells 'good wave' as the winds veer with height, so I rang my boss and begged the Monday off. So far so good. 7.15 p.m. phoned Dad, confirmed forecast and make sure all batteries charged and that he will be up with the lark.
Diary Monday 8th Sept. 97. 9 am: Forecast was correct and we met at Portmoak air field with wave already visible to the north west. We uncovered our DG-500/20mtr Winglets, loaded her up and we were ready to launch at 9.50 am. Our declared task was Portmoak Caravan Site (PCS) - Edzell (EDZ) - Helensburgh pier (HEL) - Aboyne Clubhouse (ABO) -then Free Distance.
Declaration signed, photo's taken, then we winch launched at 9.52 am to 1.500 ft. Having climbed overhead Bishop Hill to 2.500 ft we pushed west for a mile contacting wave over Loch Leven. 4 knots of lift at 4.000 ft and off the clock at 7.000 ft. Climbing through 10.000 ft with a wind strength of 45 knots NW we set off for EDZ a distance of 75 km. Progress was slow but the wave well formed and we turned EDZ after 75 mins, Heading for HEL 165 km away. The wave was set up parallel to the Grampian mountains running 070/250 but the wind was from WNW, giving a strong into wind component along the wave running west to the next turn point. For over 2 hours we battled along the wave bars and into wind towards HEL. Cloud cover had increased from 3 to 7 octas from East to West coast, forcing us to climb to 12.000 ft in order to view the few gaps ahead. The last visible gap to the west was fortunately just beyond Helensburgh, and having lost 4000 ft getting there we were very pleased to round the turn point in lift, then heading rapidly N/E towards ABO 170 km distant.
Now we had the advantage of a tail wind component along the wave and progressed rapidly to ABO in clearer air and strong wave maintaining 8- 11 000 ft. We were careful to keep Callender on our right to avoid Glasgow air space. Cloud cover was now reducing and we were able to stay between 7-11.000 ft flying fast to ABO.
Rounding the turn point we called the Aboyne gliders to say 'Hello'. It was 2:30 p.m. and at 10.000 ft Portmoak was easily within reach, but rather than flying very fast we decided to conserve height and arrive back at Portmoak as high as possible hoping that we could get clearance from Scottish FIR to transit across Edinburgh towards Jedburgh and Rufforth.
The next problem was organizing a retrieve from the Yorkshire area if we were heading South because with a 45 knot tail wind we would not be coming back! Gavin Goudie was flying his Discus locally, and valiantly volunteered to land, hitch up our trailer and head down the A1.
Scottish FIR could not obtain clearance from Edinburgh for us to transit over-head but suggested that we route East along the Fife coast to Buckhaven, cross the twelve miles of the Firth of Forth to North Berwick and report when clearing East Fortune airfield. This we complied with and NATS wished us a safe onward journey. The wave was well formed over the Scottish Borders so we made good progress at ground speeds often in excess of 120 knots. Slight diversions East to avoid the Otterburn danger area then South West to miss the Newcastle airspace, we waved good-bye to Scotland.
John Ellis in his Nimbus 3T (112) flying from Sutton Bank radioed to say hello and suggested the Pennine lee wave was very strong over Derwent Reservoir and then to the South, so we headed towards him. Twenty minutes later he passed us, heading North at over 200 knots closing speed, 8.000 ft high still showing 4 knots of lift.
With less than 200 km to run to Rufforth and 10.000 ft back on the altimeter we could sit back, enjoy the evening sunshine and watch the Pennines and the Yorkshire moors roll by. By 6 p.m. we were overhead York letting down from 5000 ft to a welcoming committee on Rufforth 24 West runway. Bob McLean helped us park our glider and his wife provided us with very welcome cups of tea, after all one of their DG's had come home.
Crew arrived at 9 pm and we were heading North by 9.45 pm. After 8 hours 17 minutes flying a total distance of 770 kms and a 5 hour drive home we were back at Portmoak overjoyed, needing more than a little sleep, but already planning the next adventure.
Richard Allcoat