ESCAPE - European Soaring Club Annual Pilots Expedition!  A group of seven UK glider pilots are off for one last expedition to Ontur in Spain lead by Ian Atherton . 

35 flights, 71hrs 42mins logged (including Ian's hours as P.1 in the Duo). 

We did managed a bit of XC flying - totalling 1000km or so between us - mostly in the first 2 days.  

Average flight time per glider flight over the whole week was 1hr 18min. 

Our thanks to all at E.S.C. - in particular to Roger for all his help & his excellent towing.

The final flying day. 

To our relief the wind had dropped - not a breath to start with.  The weather was fine, but a cold front was forecast to arrive early in the afternoon, so we made a start straight after breakfast.

Ian flew with Steve in the Duo for the experience of landing 'down the hill' on RWY 13, then Steve took his first flight in the LS4 'H4'.  He caught the first thermal of the day and soared for over an hour.  Tony was also briefed and made his type conversion flight in the other LS4.  So far, so good.

However, the cloud cover was approaching from the west and we were keen to keep flying; Ian & Jan took a tow to 1600' and released straight into a thermal off the ridge marked by swifts.  They flew the Duo for 1hr 41 but by now the wind at height had strengthened and made it difficult to go anywhere.  Keith launched in the Astir and climbed away nicely, Paul soared away in 'H4' and Tony took a relight.  Inevitably, the cloud cover from the approaching front cut off the sun, and with rain approaching the thermals died and we were all back on the ground by 2:30.  We'd made the most of the soaring and everyone but Alex had flown.

Reluctantly, we packed the hangar and retired for a late lunch.  Luckily we'd run out off beer...

Amazingly, however, a couple of hours later the front had gone through and a  blustery post cold frontal sky was now above us.  The wind had shifted to give a 8-10kt cross-wind making take-off and landing more challenging, but the sky was again looking good and we unpacked the hangar to make the most of what remained of the day.

Ian & Alex launched the Duo for its final excursion of the week, contacting a 5kt thermal straight off tow that whisked them skywards to over 7500'QNH, and they pushed upwind along the street through some light showers.  The drizzle formed minute spots of ice on the leading edge of the wings, but this melted quickly once the Duo got into the sunlight making for the next good looking cloud... 

Meanwhile, Jan and Steve also launched in LS4s to make the most of the unexpected bonus soaring.  

The Duo eventually reached the beautiful lakes in the mountains 35km to the South and South West.  Here it was joined in a thermal by a magnificent Golden Eagle which kept perfect station on the opposite side of the thermal - the highlight of the week for Ian!  Then, after a few short privileged minutes, the Eagle vanished.  With the threat of heavier showers ahead marching eastwards they decided to turn back for a quick look at Jumilla before heading back to base to clock up just over 100k. 

The LS4 pilots had seen the showers marching across the landscape and were just landing as the Duo arrived overhead.  Ian couldn't resist a low pass at 120kts to 'dry off the wings' - pulling up into a left-hand climbing turn round the hangar onto final for 31.  As the Duo rolled to a halt outside the hangar Jan snapped a photo of the glider framed by a beautiful rainbow... what a great way to finish the week!

Stats for the day - 8 hrs 32 mins, 10 flights average flight time 51 minutes.  The longest flight of the day was Ian & Alex in the Duo at 1:47.

Tonight we had the traditional final night meal at the Hotel Encarta in Fuente.  The seafood paella was excellent as always and was washed down with a few glasses of local red wine.  Over coffee Ian made a quick speech and presented some rather tongue-in-cheek awards (novelty pencils) for the weeks 'achievements'.

XC Award - Alex for 225k on day one.

Sniffer Award - Keith for flying in hope even when it was barely thermic.

Maintenance Award - Paul for his 'dismantling' abilities.

Best Female Pilot  - Jan for being the only lady to fly.

Most Improved  - Tony for arriving completely uncurrent but achieving type conversion to the LS4.

Best Newcomer  - Steve for being the only pilot new to site.

Ground-crew - Jane (Steve's wife, the only none pilot) for keeping us all fed.

Bravery Award - Roger the tuggy, for his skillful towing.

Back-Seat Driver Award - Ian for being chauffeured around in the Duo.

Special Awards:

Expert Tea-Making Award (Box of Chocs and a Teapot Stand) - Jane.

Outstanding Exped Member Award (Ceramic Twin-Pig Piggy Bank) -  Paul for all his Admin and work in the background, so Ian could concentrate on the primary task of getting everyone flying.

Adios Ontur!

A frustrating day.  Sunny but the 30kt+ gusts meant that the toys stayed tucked up safely in the hangar.  The wheely bin was blown over and was leaning against a tree and proved a useful indicator that the wind was indeed stronger than yesterday...if the wind dropped the bin would fall onto 4 wheels again.

However, the team were determined to fly something and Paul & Ian made a make-shift kite from Paul's coat.  This proved to be airworthy, but aerodynamically unstable! We also went into Ontur for a wander round and to our surprise found an ice-cream van and couldn't resist.  We also stopped off in Leon's for a coffee. 

Tonight we enjoyed another excellent Tapas meal at Bar Capri in Fuente, and staggered back to the hotel.

Stats: Paul's coat - 10 minutes! 

Just the two flights today, both in the Duo.  First to launch were Ian and Keith into the teeth of a howling gale.  The launch as viewed from the ground was 'interesting' enough to persuade Paul to get the LS4 back in the hanger before the tug had returned.  As reported by Keith, the air up to 600' was vey rough - a day for tight straps and trousers tucked into socks.  Ian and Keith stayed local and got up to over 4000' AGL, staying up for an hour and a half.  The lift was a mix of thermal, ridge and small bits of wave.  This was all sampled and involved good climbs and fast pushes back into wind.

About 6.20 pm., Ian and Paul launched.  The wind had dropped to fractionally and the sky looked interesting with wave bars forming, rotor cloud underneath (cycling quickly showing the classic curl over on the upwind side) and the occasional cumulus.  As with the previous flight, the lift was a mixture and the intrepid duo experimented with it all.  Some excellent lift was tempered by areas of off-the-clock sink.  Again, a height of over 4000' AGL was attained.

The view, as the sun lowered, was magnificent with the parallel ridges of volcanic rock backlit, the shadows emphasising the ground features  and all contrasting with the sunlight reflecting off the distant lakes south of Hellin.

The Duo landed at 7.55 pm and fifteen minutes later, we were on the road to Hellin for Chinese meal and the first Cruzcampo.

A sporting day.

Jane and Steve read the weather well and took a day off to Murcia. The rest of us hung around the airfield in hope.

Unfortunatly the weather was much cooler.  Although pleasant the thermals didnt pop, Ian and Keith flying the Duo as sniffers only managed to scrape 20mins.  The only other enthusiastic pilot, Paul won the day by declining to launch and saving himself the cost of a tow.  We retired to drink beer!

Tonight we are out at the Bar Juan tapas bar in Ontur.

Weather blue, inversion was lower at around 6500ft, however there were standing blue thermals with tight cores of up to 8knts.  Typical Spanish weather however the blue thermals made cross country difficult for us Brits.  Take offs and landings were from the top end of the airfield, interesting landing downhill!

Stats: 6flts 8hrs 38mins, average 1hr 26mins.  Longest flight Alex in LS4 3hrs 38mins.  Keith drew the short straw launching at the end of the day as the weather collapsed and he only got 12mins.

Evening - Jane organised an excellent Spanish Barbeque which was the best wé·ve ever had at Ontur.

Weather was good again, and following an excellent breakfast (thanks to our chefs Paul, Keith and Jane), we prepeared for a good days soaring.  Today proved slightly more stable but still good thermals with cloudbase of 7000ft. 

Both Keith (2hrs 30) and Paul (1hrs 43) reaquainted themselves with the  LS4s and both had excellent soaring flights but didn't venture too far.  Jan flew the Astir  for 1hr 36 then later the LS4 for nearly 2 hours clocking up 100km.  Alex flew the LS4 later for 1hr 29.

After an hour and a half in the Duo, Steve made his first solo on site in the Astir clocking up another 1hr 25.  Meanwhile, Tony had his first flight of the week in the Duo with Ian.

Stats: 8 flights, 15hrs 18mins.  Average 1hr 55min. Longest Flight Tony and Ian 3hrs 17mins in the Duo. A small amount of XC flying totalling 370km. 

This evening we met up at Fuente for tapas and bacon and eggs (!!!) in the Bar Capri, plus some liquid refreshment, of course - luckily it was only a short stagger home for those of us staying in the nearby  hotel!

We all arrived safely last night and Ian, Steve, Jane and Jan had a nice evening at the hotel in Hellin. 

Weather for day 1 was brilliant with a light NW wind cloud base going up beyond 8900ft QNH.

We all flew long flights with over 16hrs between the 6 of us and Alex Jenkins in the LS4 had longest flight at nearly 5hrs.

Ian flew the Duo with Paul(two wheels)Duffy, Keith Marchant and Steve FH.  Tony wangled a flight with Brian Spreckley in the K13 and learned a lot. Jan flew the LS4 and found thermal averages over 8knts.

WOW what a great start to the week! The forecast for tomorrow is much the same.

Stats: 8flights, 16hrs 14mins, average 2hrs 02mins.  605km flown.  Longest flight Alex in the LS4 4hrs 50mins.

The evening was rounded off by a great meal and tarte aux whiskey in the Fuente at the Hotel Encarna where 6 of us are staying.

Hi Ian and Jan, Just testing the system. Thanks for all your admin. See you tomorrow, Keith.

More weather links:

General for Ontur;

http://www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/localidades?l=02550

Isobar chart;

http://www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/isobaras

Temperature;

http://www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/temperaturas

Precipitation;

http://www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/precipitacion?dia=pmna