Pennine Soaring Club Articles

Longridge Fell Site Update

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:12:04 Z

We have been informed by the local farmer that they intend to put sheep and lambs on the fell in the coming days. There will be NO site closures, however they will be locking the farm gate leading from the car park.

Can all pilots use the adjacent kissing gate? please do not climb the farm gate, if you have a large bag please pass it over the gate and pick it up the other side.

Thank you

Andy

Sites Officer

Edenfield Lambing Closure

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:02:33 Z

Edenfield will be closed for Lambing from 1st April 2026 to 25 May 2026 inclusive.

Please adhere to the closure.

Thanks

Andy (Sites Officer)

November 2025 Club night - Pilot progression, XC and Starting Out in Comps

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 09:30:59 Z

Our Competitions Secretary Elliott Brown talking about his impressive progression journey.

Edenfield Lambing Closure Update

Thu, 08 May 2025 14:29:16 +0100

Update on Edenfield Site Access

Last month, I reported that after discussions with the farmer grazing sheep and lambs on the landing field, we had managed to keep the site open with an extended restriction period. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

Earlier this month, following southerly winds, several members were approached by a different farmer while flying on the fell. Further discussions have since taken place with both farmers, and a new agreement has been reached.

Revised Arrangements:

Edenfield landing field will be closed for lambing from 1st April to 25th May.
The Edenfield site will return to the usual closure period of 25th April to 25th May.

Please respect these closure dates.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Andy
Sites Officer

Thank you for your cooperation.

Andy
Sites Officer

Bonus April 2025 Club Night - Pete Logan - 100km or Bust

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 13:41:17 +0100

As a special treat, we’ve had one more club night before the break until next winter. Pete Logan, Dales Club Chief Coach kindly agreed to come and talk to us about getting to the next level and flying that dream 100km.

View Pete's presentation from the night.

EDENFIELD LANDING FIELD CLOSED FOR LAMBING

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 18:17:50 Z

Edenfield landing field will be closed for lambing from 1st April to 25th May. Unlike previous years when the entire site was closed, we have reached an agreement with the tenant farmer to keep the site open while closing the landing field for an extended lambing period.

Please respect this closure and avoid landing in the field, land on the the fellside instead.

Signs have been placed on the gates at the top of the access track as a reminder. We encourage everyone to remind fellow pilots about the closure when on the hill.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Andy
Sites Officer

Pennine Soaring Club Social Night

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 22:35:01 Z

Monday 13^th January 2025

You weren’t there? You missed a treat! A break from paragliding, we had two engaging and entertaining speakers telling us all about alternative ways to enjoy the air. First up was our own Simon Scott who led us through the benefits of taking to the air under power. I’d certainly never realised there were so many options, up to and including 3-axis microlights that are to all intents and purposes real aeroplanes. Simon gave us the lowdown on the steps to be taken to obtain the necessary qualifications and finished up with some great views of Parlick turned into a snowy winter wonderland. Fantastic tuff, thank you Simon.

Next up was Philip Shultz, talking B.A.S.E. This was a roller-coaster ride around some breathtaking sights as Philip gave us a detailed insight into the world of base jumping. Far from being something only for crazy daredevils, we learned of the detailed planning and scientific attention to the finest details of design, construction and packing of the rigs used in this exhilarating sport. From low cliffs that barely seemed to have enough room for a parachute to open to tall buildings with incredibly tight landing options in parks between trees and roads festooned with lamp posts. Just getting to some of the locations was heart-stopping. Thanks Philip, quite an eye-opener for everyone.

Another successful PSC social night, enjoyed by everyone there.

Winter Hill – New Gate Code active from Fri 10th Jan 2025

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:42:28 Z

Hi all,

The gate code for Winter Hill has been changed as of Friday 10th Jan 25 @3pm.

Please contact a member of the committee for the new gate code (WhatsApp/text/Telegram/email/FB messenger)

Please follow the rules:

Generally only the lower gate will be locked.
If both gates are locked they will have the same code.
The lock codes will be changed every 3 months or sooner if required.
Do not allow anyone to tailgate you through the gate.
Make sure the gate is locked shut behind you. Do not leave unlocked, even if you know another member will be on their way in a few minutes.
On securing the lock ensure you scramble the code, DO NOT leave it on the unlock code.
PSC members must obtain the code from a member of the committee, DO NOT distribute it further.
Report any suspicious behaviour to a member of the committee.

Thanks

Andy

PSC Sites Officer

Amazing Flights with Richard Meek

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 11:15:23 Z

Monday 11^th November Club Night Meeting – SeaView Inn – 7:30pm

This was yet another excellent evening with Richard Meek presenting a well put together collection of slides and videos covering his flying exploits over the 2024 season.

Richard covered a very detailed preparation process which involved checking weather forecasts, national forecasts, finding the best site for the day (where-ever that was in the whole UK) and the potential routes and goal setting. Everyone was impressed by the level of panning Richard puts into this, even down to using Google Earth for the picking of potential landing fields close to his chosen goal. Indeed Richard even looks for railway stations nearby and the time tables for trains taking him back to this TO location. The only thing Richard, didn’t seem to do was pre-book his train ticket prior to the day!

Richard also showed some excellent videos of his epic flights and competition tasks, but also showed his human side of when things didn’t quite go to plan, such as the epic recovery of his wing when caught up in a significantly large tree!

I think all members present would agree this was an excellent informative and entertaining evening. Richard has presented at Club nights previously, and hopefully will present at future meetings to come. Certainly not one to miss!

December Club Social Night

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 17:11:23 Z

India

If the mission of the BBC is to “Inform, Educate and Entertain” then they could take several lessons from Steve Kirby and Paul Redman who did all of that and more for an audience of enthralled pilots at the December Social. We were delighted to welcome 5 new faces belonging to some aspiring and recently-qualified pilots; let’s all do our best to make them feel at home in the PSC.

This was so much more than just a run-through of flights, as they packed in a whole world of sight-seeing and exploration of this fascinating country. Gradually drawing us in to the sights, sounds and overwhelming sensory experience that is India. Paul and Steve broke their journey up into 3 stages – the initial sight-seeing tour, followed by a free-wheeling adventure trip through the country before culminating in the full-on experience that is flying at Bir. They packed their talks with a wealth of facts and tips such as how to avoid getting your satellite tracker confiscated.

Thanks so much Paul and Steve for sharing your experiences, and being so open about your reflections on the flying. Inspiring stuff, and a lot of food for thought. To get a flavour of the talk, here is a link to some of their photos and videos.

https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.app.goo.gl%2FnWYQnNEHNbWPtM8y7&data=05%7C02%7C%7C442c0561f9504a4e1f0008dd19123e4d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638694288321510357%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=K9P%2FA6L8jhWyFjwSq1xaodb0fLJjRA1PF6sbWLFC1YQ%3D&reserved=0

Social Night October 2024 - Weather forecasting to fly

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:14:04 Z

Pennine Soaring Club first Club Night of the season. Weather forecasting to fly. Various speakers to help to simplify good to fly, safe to fly and choosing the correct site.

Thanks to Brian Stewart, Andy Archer, Simon Baillie and Neil Charles for presenting.

Links to sites mentioned:
RASP - https://rasp.stratus.org.uk/
LazyRASP - https://lazyrasp.com/
XCWeather - https://www.xcweather.co.uk/
Weather School - https://weatherschool.co.uk/
Weather School YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherSchool
WeatherWebdotNet - https://premium.weatherweb.net/
Met Office Aviation Briefing Service - https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/transport/aviation/regulated/national-aviation/uk-services/pre-flight-briefing-services/abs/index
Mountain Weather Information Service - https://www.mwis.org.uk/
Wind At Altitude - Hilltop Analytics - https://apps.hilltop-analytics.com/weather/

Here is Brian's presentation from the night:

Pendle Hill–East Face

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 08:45:00 +0100

Hi all,

We have been informed about an accident that occurred on Pendle Hill on Sunday 11th August 24. There are limited details regarding the circumstances of the incident or the condition of the injured pilot, but wish him a speedy recovery.

We are unsure whether the injured pilot was a PSC member or a visiting pilot. If anyone does have further information please let our Safety Officer Barry know by email safety@penninesoaringclub.org.uk. There maybe safety learning point that other members or visitors could benefit from.

As Sites Officer can I remind members that we have been asked not to fly the east side of Pendle Hill, this is at the request of the landowner. Use of the east face could jeopardise our continued use of the NW face of the hill.

Can all members and visiting pilots please familiarise themselves with the sites guide for Pendle and any other of the PSC sites?

http://www.penninesoaringclub.org.uk/sites/pendle/

Thanks

Andy Archer

PSC Site Officer

sites@penninesoaringclub.org.uk

Winter Hill–potential access restrictions due to cable replacements.

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 18:01:00 +0100

Winter Hill Transmitter Mast is now a construction site and under the control of a contractor, this is due to replacement of the stay lines that are supporting the structure. The contractor will be managing the site from now until the 3rd of October 2024 and there will be some periods of significantly reduced access when the new stays are being lifted over and alongside the site access road, the work will also include weekend work.

During working hours the gates on site will be locked and set to a code held by the contractor, out of hours (from 6pm – 8am) the code for the gates will be set to the same code as the Winter Hill barrier at the bottom of the hill.

The site managers contact details will be displayed on the gate however he is very unlikely to give access during normal working hours without a permit to work or legitimate cause to drive further up the hill to reach the other masts.

As such can I ask for this period, that members avoid using the access track? instead please park on the car park on Rivington Road and walk up the front face of the hill to take off.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/FDkwkiKyyyWwwcXPA

Arqiva the mast operators apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Thanks

Andy Archer

PSC Sites Officer

Edenfield Closed for Lambing

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 18:48:57 +0100

Edenfield will be closed for Lambing from 25 April 2024 to 25 May 2024 inclusive.

Please adhere to the closure.

Thanks

Andy (Sites Officer)

FLARM issues

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 10:38:34 Z

https://xcmag.com/news/xc-tracer-flarm-collide-over-software-update/?fbclid=IwAR2z4Ei6UPEwglIT37pRsV0rmh-oInNF2nTu_Cvl2W7raaWD_KHb9UXzK74

Club Night - BHPA. Mark Shaw technical officer

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 11:16:00 Z

A 3 hour evening of explanations of what the BHPA are actively progressing to keep the future of paragliding safe, insurable, cost effective and accepted by other general aviation users.

An extremely interesting insight to the hard work and progressive BHPA well explained by Mark Shaw.
A good attendance by the PSC members who all would welcome a return visit by the BHPA.

Pennine Soaring Club Awards 2023

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 14:55:09 Z

The awards for the 2023 season were awarded at the well attended AGM. The winners are as follows:

Paraglider Pilot Improvement Award

Ed Knowles

and

Matt Baird

(not present)

First 25km XC Flight

Ed Knowles

33km flight from Parlick on 9th July 2023

First 50km XC Flight

Scott O’Neil

53.9km flight from Parlick on 9th July 2023

PSC League Overall

PSC League Sport

Best XC Flight from Pennine Site

Phil Wallbank

124km flight from Parlick on 16th June 2023

Loop League

Paul Winterbottom

Best Local Flight

PSC League Fun Class

John Murphy

29.84km FAI triangle on the 7th April 2023

Representing the Club – National

Elliot Brown

1st place in Buttermere Bash Lakeland Charity Open B comp. and 1st place in LCC B comp.

Representing the club – International

John Oliver

British sports, St-Jean-Montclar: 1st in Reynolds, 4th overall

https://airtribune.com/bst2023/results/task6176/comp/overall-winner

British champs: 1st in Reynolds, 3rd in Sports,16th Brit, 52th overall.

Most chuffed about been first sports on one of the task's and been in sight of the leaders.

https://airtribune.com/bpc2023/results/task6295/comp/overall

World Civl rank 1318, UK Civl rank 48

Retrieve Award

Brian Stewart

Retrieve from Tebay for Jim and John

Club Award

Neil Charles

Creating the Wind at Altitude app

Club Award

Paul Redman on behalf of MRT (not present)

For their assistance involving an incident at Parlick

Bent Upright

Andrew Clegg

For best tent landing!

William Marshall Trophy for Services to the Club

Simon Scott

For services as chairman

Special Lifetime Achievement Award

John Murphy

For 27 years dedicated service to the club committee

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!

Club Social And AGM

Sun, 11 Feb 2024 14:42:44 Z

In addition to the important business of the club AGM, our own Neil Charles will be giving us an update on the latest in Electronic Conspicuity and developments on his excellent Wind at Altitude site.

Winter Hill – New Gate Code active from Fri 2nd Feb 2024

Sun, 04 Feb 2024 14:46:35 Z

Hi All,

The gate code for Winter Hill has been changed as of Friday 2nd Feb 24 @3pm.

Please contact a member of the committee for the new gate code (WhatsApp/text/Telegram/email/FB messenger)

Please follow the rules:

Generally only the lower gate will be locked.
If both gates are locked they will have the same code.
The lock codes will be changed every 3 months or sooner if required.
Do not allow anyone to tailgate you through the gate.
Make sure the gate is locked shut behind you. Do not leave unlocked, even if you know another member will be on their way in a few minutes.
On securing the lock ensure you scramble the code, DO NOT leave it on the unlock code.
PSC members must obtain the code from a member of the committee, DO NOT distribute it further.
Report any suspicious behaviour to a member of the committee.

Thanks

Andy

PSC Sites Officer

Safety Notes January 2024

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:16:26 Z

Happy new year everyone, and let’s look forward to a record-breaking year of banging thermals and wide open skies. Here’s a page from BHPA to get you ready for the coming season:

And here is some wise advice shamelessly cut and pasted from Guy Richardson in the DSC page:

1: Currency – this is the biggest cause of accidents, how long is it since you flew last? Are you desperate to fly? Is the weather going to give us a quick ‘Gap’? Being rusty is very common, Even the instructors go out and do a little practice. Make the time on a dry day (HAHAHA) to get your wing out and just do an hour ground handling – one hour is far more than you’d ever do sitting on a hill. Team up with a CP Buddy from the group and have a little fun. If you’re not sure where to go then give your coach a shout….. they’re not flying either!
2: Weather: Cold systems and slightly off directions tempt us to fly on a beautiful clear day, couple this with I’m rusty and it wont be pleasant. Watch the wind speeds at height, look out for the wave effect too. As it gets warmer we also have the land starting to release energy, when it starts its violent ‘Spring Thermals’ sometimes they feel like a small bomb has gone off! Be very aware, traditionally it’s the time of year in the club where we have the most incidents.
3: Kit: bring it out of the bag and fly after 3 months not flying and it’s a recipe for disaster. Do a full wing inspection – your lines shrink slightly in storage so it affects the handling of your wing, all the more reason to stretch those lines ground handling! Check your Harness, defluff your Velcro, extract your reserve to check it and while you’re at it, repack it! You’d be amazed how many reserves repackers find incorrectly installed! Check your carabiners (5 years life span). Charge and discharge your radio, make sure you have your Time out set (TOT) – normally 30 seconds to 1 minute. Check your Helmet for cracks.
Good - all ready….Me too! Don’t forget the repack event on 11th February and register if needed, there’s only a few places left.
IMSAFE
I – Ilness
M- Medication
S – Stress
A – Alcohol (& Drugs)
F – Fatigue
E – Emotion / Eyesight & Observation

Will Geordie Have His Cat Aboard Today?
W – Wind and Weather
G – Glider
H – Helmet
H – Harness
C – Controls
A – All Clear
T – Turn Direction

And finally, to reprise something I wrote about a couple of years ago, take care when people are ground handling/ launching wings. Last Sunday on Winter Hill, conditions were very light, almost not soarable. People were inflating and practising near the edge, and I stood behind someone, not really thinking about the danger. The wing suddenly came down on me, and wrapped some lines around my face. The calm had suddenly become gusty and the wing thrashed around but luckily I had my hand between my face and the lines, so nothing more than a surface scratch. But, the lessons here:

Don’t stand behind people launching or ground handling – if it goes wrong, it’s only going to go one way, into you
When you’re ground handling or launching, be aware of spectators who may stand in the wrong place and put themselves in danger – gently point out the problem to them

I know better, and still got caught out.

Tight lines

Social Night December 2023 - Andy Archer - Learning to fly microlights & the adventures beyond

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 13:14:04 Z

On Monday 11th December 2023, Andy Archer gave a talk on learning to fly 3 axis microlights.

A big thanks to Andy for giving this talk, For the benefit of anyone who couldn’t attend, we’ve recorded the meeting, click on the YouTube video below to watch.

Social Night November 2023 - Richard Meek - Six Flights for the 2023 UK XC League

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 13:14:04 Z

On Monday 13th November 2023, we had a good turnout for Richard Meek’s talk on his six flights which won him the XC League title in 2023.

A big thanks to Richard for giving this talk, For the benefit of anyone who couldn’t attend, we’ve recorded the meeting, click on the YouTube video below to watch.

Safety Notes November 2023

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 16:12:14 Z

Just a brief one today: this video from GASCO is well-worth 13 minutes of your time, in which they discuss the human factors involved in spotting other aircraft and the role of Electronic Conspicuity devices in enhancing or degrading a pilot’s ability to spot potential conflicts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zVqdQNqbFM

Stay safe!

October 2023–John Oliver Live!

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:56:19 +0100

We kicked off the winter club nights at the end of the year with a discussion of the incident on Parlick the previous day. For more information on this see Safety Notes October 2023

John Oliver then gave a talk covering such items as

Flight preparation using Microsoft Flight Simulator or Condor to get familiar with the terrain before travelling.
Pictures taken through the season
What equipment used to take pictures, how to configure the camera and how to post process the pictures captured.

Simon Blake captured some notes below:

1. A suggested minimum spec for a PC to run Microsoft Flight Simulator useably for paragliding purposes would be nice.

Hard drive size: 400GB, It uses a lot!
The scenery is not stored on hard drive, but cached from the internet as needed. So an ok internet speed is needed
A graphics card, GTX1080 ok. I used a GTX1660. Only upgraded to GTX3070 to max out settings with complex 3rd party aircraft (A320 with weather radar and Cu’s reflecting in lakes ect)
Tuning up graphics quality and using 3rd party aircraft increases demand.
20 fps Minimum frames per second required before glitches occur.

2. Details on that sailplane simulator - what's it called, what kit do you need, what's nice to have, what's the Discord server stuff?

Condor 2. Low spec computer ok. Internet only required for multiplayer.

Download from https://www.condorsoaring.com/ 60 euro. And you may end up buying 1 or 4 extra aircraft. Such as a K8 and ASK21 that Boland club fly (To feel how much rudder it requires!)

The multiplayer servers.

https://www.condorsoaring.com/serverlist/?wdt_search=cndr2

Yorkshire gliding club at Sutton bank are the most active uk users.

https://www.condor.club/comp/competitions/202/

The XC league of online soaring. And where the tasks are shown before they appear on the live server list.

Discord is a sever for voice chat used by gamers. Very high quality, no lag sound.

It is also been used as a forum more and more these days.

The UK Virtual soaring club

https://discord.com/channels/647177273232850965/647177273660932145

Yorkshire gliding club at Sutton bank are the most active users.

3. Some recommends on joysticks and other interface devices?

Any joystick ok. Rudder with a twisting joystick or dedicated pedals.

Microsoft sidewinder force feedback 2, USB version form eBay. Made in the 90’s. They don’t make em like that anymore. Not the precision.

Rubber pedels

https://flightsimcontrols.com/product/vkb-sim-t-rudder-pedals-mk-iv-2/

£200 approx. Higher quality than most real aircraft. Pivot style rather than slider, as found in sailplanes.

Head phones and mic.

4. What was that tablet with the colour e-ink screen? Tech specs, manufacturer, purchasing source etc.

I use a TLC S8. Only exported out of China with English operating system by one person on Ali express

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004500210787.html

Sorry, the price has gone upto £510, but he will knock some off if you ask.

Too big for none comp use. RLCD has no back light. Other TLC products claiming to have “NexPaper” are not RLCD

5. What was the app you were using in on for competition? (and what are the alternatives? and do they work on that tablet? (Is it android?))

I use XCTrack. Most comp pilots use it now, plus another device. The task is passed around via a QR code. The XCTrack layout can be very different on a large screen.

6. What was the flight planning app you were using? (Flyxc.app, formerly Thermikxc, if I recall correctly...).

Yep, Fly app.

https://flyxc.app/?s=20&l=ukn

7. I've written "flying with others" - I think there's a whole talk on this but just the recommendation to fly in gaggles.

Yes, defo! Maybe Richard Meek's talk will contain some more on this?

8. What's the name of that woman doing the research about vultures? Where can one find out more about that?

Hanna Williams

https://www.hjwilliams.space/research

Clouldbase mayhem epposide link

https://www.cloudbasemayhem.com/episode-160-soaring-birds-with-hannah-jane-williams/

9. What are the alternatives to Lightroom? (Is GIMP any good for instance?)

Just get lightroom! Everyone uses it.

10. What size monitor do you use, what did it cost etc.?

Ultra wides are made for photo editing. I use a 1440p 34” LG 34UM95. It was £600 years ago and only 60hz. Now there is much more ultra wide choice and they are much cheaper. Unless you want one of the new 4K OLED, HDR, wide gamut, high speed 120hz+ gaming ones!

4k is over kill for a TV at the opposite side of a room. But it is more useful when you are close up to a big monitor. I might need to upgrade. Although don’t get sold on resolution. Like camera mega pixels, The resolution is one of the least import factors, its just easy to sell with. Colour gamut eg 99.7% of RGB or better is more important. Deep blacks, ok dynamic range ect

I calibrated it with a https://www.xrite.com/categories/calibration-profiling/i1display-pro

But my monitor was very close to correct. Just brightness and colour balance where a little off. Sign of a good one. Some bad ones are very far off.

Microsoft Fancy zones

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzones

Good for managing window size on large monitors. As i still view some stuff, like webpages, at 16:9

11. Details of the printing service you use?

https://dscolourlabs.co.uk/

Every one uses them.

Good prices for professional quality

If the print doesn’t turn out how you expect, its your monitor settings that are wrong.

Free test prints too

12. Recommendation for a lens - wide vs. distortion

I’m out of touch. I only know the full frame models. The professional stuff is expensive, but they don’t depreciate. So if you buy / sell a lot, they are cheap after the initial payout. I mostly break even. But the len's don’t break, even if you drop them. Ebay: buy mid-day during the week, sell 7pm on a Sunday.

Google “Flickr lens pool <name of lens>” to see if you like how a lens looks

https://www.flickr.com/groups/14725517@N22/pool

For full geek out read https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/

13. Recommendation for a body, if you're doing body/lens thing?

As above, i went Sony when they made the first large sensor that was stabilised. Now i know the button layout i stick with them. There is so much choice now. The Sony RX100 used to be the goto good small camera. But also many more options now.

14. Is there a simpler camera that's still a camera that would be usable for flying?

Small is fiddley. I find larger simpler. They all have the same auto functions.

15. Megapixel recommendation - is it always more is better, what do you use etc.

With small sensors, more is normally worse. Apart from smartphones that are using the extra pixels for noise cancelling and to give the AI sharping more to guess with.

Apple proved 12mp was the peak of a phone unless AI was involved.

For a large sensor 12 ok if you dont crop or print large canvas size. Best for low light use, Due to the seize of each pixel.

24pm average these days.

42 over kill. But I like it for deep cropping in. Only the best, mostly modern lens can resolve more than 24mp. So no use without a sharp lens.

Mega pixels is not the measure of how good a camera is. Its just easy to sell with that number, so they are often used in marketing.

To geek out on low megapixel street photography cameras, watch youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@GxAce

16. What are the settings you really need to use in Lightroom and what do they do?

The right hand panel lays its functions out in order of importance. Exposure, white balance and cropping are what are important. The rest is optional.

Import Raw files. And only convert out to jpeg if you need to share.

The evening was well attended and was a great start to the winter evenings!

Pennine Soaring Club Articles

Longridge Fell Site Update

Edenfield Lambing Closure

November 2025 Club night - Pilot progression, XC and Starting Out in Comps

Edenfield Lambing Closure Update

Bonus April 2025 Club Night - Pete Logan - 100km or Bust

EDENFIELD LANDING FIELD CLOSED FOR LAMBING

Pennine Soaring Club Social Night

Monday 13th January 2025

Winter Hill – New Gate Code active from Fri 10th Jan 2025

Amazing Flights with Richard Meek

December Club Social Night

Social Night October 2024 - Weather forecasting to fly

Here is Brian's presentation from the night:

Pendle Hill–East Face

Winter Hill–potential access restrictions due to cable replacements.

Edenfield Closed for Lambing

FLARM issues

Club Night - BHPA. Mark Shaw technical officer

Pennine Soaring Club Awards 2023

Paraglider Pilot Improvement Award

Ed Knowles

Matt Baird

First 25km XC Flight

Ed Knowles

First 50km XC Flight

Scott O’Neil

PSC League Overall

PSC League Sport

Best XC Flight from Pennine Site

Phil Wallbank

Loop League

Paul Winterbottom

Best Local Flight

PSC League Fun Class

John Murphy

Representing the Club – National

Elliot Brown

Representing the club – International

John Oliver

Retrieve Award

Brian Stewart

Club Award

Neil Charles

Club Award

Paul Redman on behalf of MRT (not present)

Bent Upright

Andrew Clegg

William Marshall Trophy for Services to the Club

Simon Scott

Special Lifetime Achievement Award

John Murphy

GASCo Safety Evening

Club Social And AGM

Winter Hill – New Gate Code active from Fri 2nd Feb 2024

Safety Notes January 2024

Social Night December 2023 - Andy Archer - Learning to fly microlights & the adventures beyond

Social Night November 2023 - Richard Meek - Six Flights for the 2023 UK XC League

Safety Notes November 2023

October 2023–John Oliver Live!

1. A suggested minimum spec for a PC to run Microsoft Flight Simulator useably for paragliding purposes would be nice.

2. Details on that sailplane simulator - what's it called, what kit do you need, what's nice to have, what's the Discord server stuff?

3. Some recommends on joysticks and other interface devices?

4. What was that tablet with the colour e-ink screen? Tech specs, manufacturer, purchasing source etc.

5. What was the app you were using in on for competition? (and what are the alternatives? and do they work on that tablet? (Is it android?))

6. What was the flight planning app you were using? (Flyxc.app, formerly Thermikxc, if I recall correctly...).

7. I've written "flying with others" - I think there's a whole talk on this but just the recommendation to fly in gaggles.

8. What's the name of that woman doing the research about vultures? Where can one find out more about that?

9. What are the alternatives to Lightroom? (Is GIMP any good for instance?)

10. What size monitor do you use, what did it cost etc.?

11. Details of the printing service you use?

12. Recommendation for a lens - wide vs. distortion

13. Recommendation for a body, if you're doing body/lens thing?

14. Is there a simpler camera that's still a camera that would be usable for flying?

15. Megapixel recommendation - is it always more is better, what do you use etc.

16. What are the settings you really need to use in Lightroom and what do they do?

Monday 13^th January 2025