Pennine Soaring Club Articles

GASCo Safety Evening

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 12:22:47 Z

GASCO Safety evening - Monday 19^th Feb, 7:30 to 9:30 pm at the Sea View Inn.

This is a joint event with Bowland Forest Gliding Club and is a safety talk delivered by GASCOo (General Aviation Safety Council).

These are very informative, interactive and thought provoking events. This will be a tailored event covering topics across both our disciplines including Threat & Error Management, Loss of Control accidents, Electronic Conspicuity, Human Factors, we are also looking to have the opportunity to discuss the local issues, particularly the shared airspace around Parlick.

It is likely to be a packed room so turn up early!

Repack 27th March 2022

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 12:14:23 +0100

A big thanks to Barry Sayer for organising this at the Chipping Village hall on Sunday.

We had a morning and an afternoon session with Guy Richardson from Ginger Nomad who gave us all the benefit of his expertise to have a repack session. His guidance in interpreting the sometimes unclear packing instructions and a combination of instruction and demonstration ensured that everyone was able to get their reserves ready for the new season.

Pilot Lecture 2 – 17th January 2022

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 16:46:30 Z

Metoerro, Mereteology, Meterelegy Weather

An excellent turnout of Pilot candidates attended a presentation at the Sea View as part of our series of talks preparing members for their exam. Our own Jacob Cleverley treated us to a thoroughly-researched presentation on the complex topic of weather, or ‘met’ as real aviators call it – Jacob should know, he works with the best.

This is a demanding, complex area of theory and Jacob’s presentation cut through the dense scientific theory to make it understandable by everyone and will have given all who attended a very thorough grounding. Highlighting several of the topics, Jacob was able to give practical examples relating to local sites and his own experiences flying them. However, the old hands in the ‘naughty corner’ at the back of the room could have done without being shown what the East coast looks like from 3500’.

A big thank you from the club and especially the Pilot candidates. We look forward to reading of their successes in the near future.

Download presentation as PDF

Winter Club Night - November 2021 - Neil Charles - Live tracking, FLARM and flight deck gadgets

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 14:45:17 Z

Here is the talk given by Neil Charles for the PSC club night on the 8th November 2021.

For more details, see the Get Tracking link on Neil’s page.

The Paramotor Code

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:31:19 +0100

Over the last few months, the BHPA has been working with the CAA to try to educate those who fly Paramotors with no training. Together they have worked up the Paramotor Code.

5 Tips for Beginners

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 10:44:54 +0100

Jack Pimblett shares some of the tips which have helped him progress as a pilot.

Pilot Revision–Airlaw

Thu, 22 Nov 2018 12:18:13 Z

On the 19th Novemer, Richard Butterworth gave a review of the airlaw part of the pilot exam, along with additional hints and tips and some exercises to help in everyday flying which are not on the exam.

The you tube video of a similar session presented by Gordon Bishop to the Derbyshire Soaring Club can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxmMRsRGuGk

Coaching Exercise - Navigation and Instruments

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 21:05:00 +0100

For those taking part in the coaching exercise on navigating with your instruments - make sure you read and study the manual for your software/instrument. Download the two waypoint files, unzip them and install them in the correct place on your instrument. Check that you can access them. On the day you will need to assemble a task using selected waypoints, edit the size of the waypoint circles, then complete the task.

PSC Training Waypoints

Kobo instrument night with Phil Colbert

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 19:04:00 +0100

Wednesday, September 23 at 7:30pm

The Boaryard Inn. Bolton Road. Riley Green. PR5 0SP.

Phil Colbert will host a Pennine Soaring Club instrument night focusing on the use of a Kobo tablet and the use of LK 8000 and XC Soar. Points to be covered : GPS connection , sounds/warnings , screen profiles , maps , waypoints and tasks using XC Planner . Illustrations by way of computer projection so we can all see the instrument manipulation.
Phil Colbert will welcome input from members already using Kobo. Please bring your Kobo to the instrument evening.

Getting waypoints into your GPS

Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:58:00 +0100

How to get waypoints into your GPS the easy way.
If you've got the electronic version of the Defined Tasks Coaching guide, you'll also have a GPX file of waypoints. Getting these waypoints into your GPS should be fairly straightforward, if you've got one of the popular units supported by GPSDump.
If you haven't already got GPSDump, get it now from here.

The first thing you need to do is establish communication with your device. If it's a Flytec or a Brauniger, make sure it's switched OFF, then plug it into the USB port. If it's a Garmin, make sure it's switched ON, then plug it into the USB port. Don't know about any others, but you should be able to work it out. In extreme circumstances, you might like to check the manual.
Once it's plugged in physically, it's time to see if GPSDump can see it.
Click the "Logs" menu, and select an option that mentions your instrument. If you're lucky, it will start reading logs straight away. If you're not, it will say "Connecting to GPS" and start counting down. This means it can't see your instrument. If it's plugged in and properly connected physcially, this just means it's looking in the wrong place, i.e. the wrong COM port.
To change the COM port, click the "Misc" menu, and select the top option, "Set COM port". A drop down menu will present you with some options. Pick one, and repeat the process of trying to read logs. Eventually, you should get a working connection.
Now you have a working connection with your instrument, it's time to get all 78 waypoints into your instrument in just a few seconds, with no typing in.
First, load the waypoints into GPSDump. Click "File", then "Open wpts.". Navigate to wherever you've put "Paragliding waypoints database full.gpx", and click on it. You will see the list of 78 waypoints. If you don't have a copy of the GPX file, it's available from simonpblake@hotmail.com
Now you need to send them to your instrument. Click "Edit", then "Select All". This will select all 78 waypoints. (If you want, you can just select a few, just the Grid Challenge waypoints, say. For now, though, select all of them.) Now click "Wpts", then "Send to..." and whichever option mentions your instrument. It should take just a few seconds to confirm that all the waypoints have been sent.
If you examine your instrument, you should now find all the waypoints are present. You may need to set the correct radii - most are the standard 400m, but some are smaller. Check the Defined Task Guide for details.
You can now set up routes using those waypoints - consult your instrument manual for details of how to set up routes. For details of what the routes are, see the Defined Task Coaching guide.
A summary of the routes is given below: