"Mistakes wot I have made" by Dr Rex Hayden
Rex has: `A` Cert. at RAF Fairlop with ATC flying a Kirby Cadet, June 1945, on 19th slide/hop...course record! ( Yes, I flew in the war).
Gold distance and Diamond goal 1974.
Intermittent gliding till joining EGC in 1970, then instructing from 1975 for the next 20+ years.
Full Gold with height leg at Aboyne 1990.
Photo (left) : checking parachute before flight. 1974. This is the lovely Skylark 4 which gave me my silver on the first cross country and the gold and diamond legs on the third, the latter, never to be forgotten, lasting 8 minutes under 9 hours
1945. First solo in a solo Kirby Cadet, open cockpit, no instruments. The ground instructor asked if one of us would hop in for him to show what the stick and rudder did. Guess who. This was all the instruction we had, except he suggested we took note of the speed of the wind hitting the face after take-off and not to ever let it get less than that. And off we went. Piece of cake.
I don`t know why we have so many instructors these days.....they are really not necessary.
Looking at the other cadets I don`t think I was the only one lying about my age!
Tales:
1. My first was probably in 1971. For a Bronze badge check in those days, I had to be observed from the ground doing a spin solo. I did one, in a Skylark 4, which was not too good, so I pulled straight up into another one which was really good! Feeling pleased I looked to return to North Weald airfield, but It was nowhere in sight. I did a 360 but being disorientated I did not know in which direction to look. So I had to land in a field and await rescue! My lesson was, the lower you are the less far you can see!
2. Soon after that, I was having a lengthy scratch in very weak lift. Eventually it began to improve and then became unbelievably strong and I shot upwards feeling very proud of myself. Then there was a colossal bang and flashes of light. Probably for the first time in the flight I took my head out of the office and found to my horror I was under the largest thunder cloud I had ever seen, stretching from North Weald right across London! I tried to come down by diving at VNE with open air-brakes, but was still climbing! I tried a spin but still climbed, and cloud base started looking a bit near. I radioed that by then I was being sucked up into Heathrow`s corridor. I raced away at right angles to the cloud, but not before being sucked into it for a little while, until regaining control. After about 30 minutes I was able to return and land. My lesson……do not only look at the instruments, keep a proper lookout. And always check the weather forecast.
3. My first cross country was for one part of the Silver badge, from North Weald to Ipswich airport in the Skylark 4. The weather was idiot proof (I thought). I got there very easily and since it was so easy to stay up I thought I would try a second leg in the same flight and stay up for 5 hours. After a while I thought why not try for the complete thing and do the climb bit. I then found that cloud base was low enough to stop me getting high enough. I knew how the artificial horizon worked so switched it on and tried to enter cloud. The first couple of times I fell out into clear air within 30 seconds. So I started flying on instruments before entering and this worked. It was magical to come out of the top into bright sunshine and look down on the Persil white clouds at about 7000 feet. Feeling really pleased with myself I looked to see where I was. To my horror all I could see below between clouds was water! I was over the North Sea!! First thought…glad I`m a good swimmer. I decided that England must be to the West, so looked at compass and flew accordingly.Fairly soon I could see the coast and picked out Felixstow. I landed at Ipswich airport after 5 hours 28 minutes and more than enough height on the barograph. If BGA knew what I had been up to they would probably not have let me have the badge. My lesson…remember that clouds move, and do not do something new without a briefing.
4. In wave over the Scottish hills one sometimes climbs with the lenticular cloud sitting right behind your tail, where it should stay throughout the climb, with both you and the cloud being stationary over the ground. On my first go at doing this, I was flying the Silene, and was climbing well in that wonderfully smooth air of wave when I noticed an occasional little fluff of cloud just in front. Before I could cotton on I was suddenly inside cloud in complete darkness! So I had to suddenly start flying on instruments (I was not quite so silly as not to have these running. But what if I hadn`t!). I began to dive quite steeply but went on for ages in the dark. I lost a worrying 3000 feet before emerging into clear air. Lesson…..keep a good eye on the cloud behind as it can overtake you! I later realised that by diving steeply my horizontal speed was reduced, so do not overdo that.
5. One sometimes accelerates forward to the next lenticular to get better lift. But this gap of 2 or 3 miles always means you fly through strong sink and lose much height. I saw a glider ahead going across without seeming to lose much height, so I sped the Silene forward and went and into the most awful sink! I had another look at the other glider and this time perceived a propeller.
6. I was at Aboyne again, flying the Silene solo in wave at about 14,000 feet when I got hungry for lunch and opened the brakes and put the nose down. When down to about 5000 feet the whole canopy suddenly froze over! I peered through the clear vision panel and thermalled. It all unfroze after 15 minutes and I went in and landed. I told the local instructors about it and they asked what speed had I descended at. I said as fast as allowed at near VNE. I was told the glider was still at minus 40 or something when we hit humidity near cumulus clouds! Lesson…come down slower.
7. Just a curiosity….While flying in a snowstorm just under cloud base, I saw snowflakes floating inside the cockpit. I couldn`t see how they were getting in. Then I realised they were forming as I breathed out!
8. At height one evening over Aboyne in the Silene I had a wonderful view of the sun going down above the clouds. The ground far below looked very dark so I asked what it was like down there. Now perhaps I misunderstood in thinking I would have to start coming down in another 10 minutes. It took 20 minutes to get down to circuit levels and it was night!! They were very kind and used car headlights to show up the runway. Lesson….when at height you can still see the sun, while at ground level it is below the horizon. Also it takes a long time to descend from height.
9. During a cloud climb at Aboyne in an October, the instruments in the Silene ALL froze and stopped working. I expected to lose control but went through the motions of levelling off and listening to wind noise and luckily emerged safely quite soon. Lesson…..the locals said to ask what height the temperature falls to zero at before doing a cloud climb in October. But this seldom happens anyway.
10. At 9000 feet over Wales, flying the Silene from Shobden, I was looking down at a series of wave clouds, when the gaps between them all suddenly filled in and I could not see the ground. We had no GPS then. I turned into wind, opened air brakes and descended as slowly as possible to minimise ground speed should I meet earth. I entered cloud and lost a lot of height with a bit of worry about hilltops. I emerged at 3000 feet so no worries but had to land in a field and buy rescuers the beers. Lesson……I don`t know!
11. Finally, a few years ago, I took a K13 up solo on the wire. The speed suddenly increased to 70 and I did a brisk too fast signal to the winch. The canopy suddenly shot open. I grabbed the retaining string to try and stop it departing and hitting the tail. This was difficult due to it`s enormous size. The glider was extremely difficult to control and it wallowed all over the place. I worried about it spinning at 500 feet. I realised it must have back released from the cable and I was able to close the canopy by sideslipping to the right. But I could not lock it so had to from now on fly with only the right hand while the other held the canopy down. So I did a short circuit and did a `no air brake` landing, using side-slip. It was my luck to have a glider sitting right in the middle of the airfield, right in my way. I missed him but then flew on and on and on the way it does. The winch at the other end began to look a bit large so I made a grab to open the brakes and then grab the canopy and all ended well. I was very upset later when nobody had thought there was anything wrong with my landing. Do I always land like that! Also, someone said they were glad I was the one it happened to! Lesson……we found that the canopy bolt had been greased ( not to do) and I remember putting my left hand against the side of the fuselage to steady myself when giving the too fast signal as I was being thrown about.
PS. I may as well admit to my most embarrassing moment not to be mentioned to anyone. While thermalling with a good steep bank, I decided to have a drink. I looked at the ground below and the sky above, tilted the flask appropriately and filled my ear with water!
Safe flying.
Rex
Ken and ? someone Clark near the Skylark 4
Ken and Thelma Durno obviously find gliding pretty hard work!
Well, I didn`t want to have to walk the glider back! No discipline those days.
An Eventful First Cross Country
In September 1972 at North Weald Airfield there was a day with perfect soaring conditions, so two of us novices decided to try and do the distance leg part of the Silver badge. We decided to attempt flying to Ipswich Airport which was a distance of 82 Kms and over the requirement.
After doing the official stuff to make the flight verifiable, I was comfortably sat in the Skylark 4 with parachute on, map, water and sandwiches stored.
After an aerotow to 1500 feet I found the conditions were perfect so l soon set off on course and made radio contact with my wife who was optimistically towing the trailer to Ipswich. I would have to have been pretty bad not to reach Ipswich quite soon with the conditions so good. We had warned the Airport to expect us, so l let them know l was about and they gave me landing instructions.
But I was enjoying the flying so I flew around sightseeing. After a while thought, why not do another leg of the Silver, the 5 hour duration. So I let my wife know, who was already on the airfield. I soon started to want to do something other than just looking around, and it occurred to me to try for the last leg of the Silver as well, the height gain.
I climbed up to cloud base but found the height gain was not enough. This was the moment I seemed to have lost my sense of reason! I had been a Flight Sergeant in the ATC during the war, and I remember reading how to use an artificial horizon, and it looked fairly easy. So, I switched the device on and after it had warmed up, I climbed to a cloud base and entered it, concentrating on looking at the instrument. After not long I lost control and tumbled out of the cloud wondering which way up I was. I regained control and had another shot, but the same thing happened.
Next time I started flying on the instrument for a while before entering cloud. After doing that for a time I risked a quick look out and was quite frightened to see nothing but grey! I vowed not to look out again! Soon I was feeling quite comfortable doing it and even moved my circling a bit to the North where I could tell the lift was stronger.I seemed to be going round and round for an awfully long time before finally bursting out into bright sunshine and a clear blue sky. There were the tops of persil white clouds to be seen everywhere, a fantastic sight. I felt in heaven and full of self-congratulation.
It was time to get my bearings and head back to the airfield, so I looked down between the clouds and had the shock of my life. There was nothing to see except the sea........ I was over the North Sea!! I had forgotten clouds can move, so there I was, a novice pilot, finding himself in a bit of danger. My first thought was thank goodness I'm a strong swimmer.
I did a 360 but no land in sight. I then tried to think (not easy) ..... which direction is England. I decided on West and told myself to be sure that was correct. So, l set off on compass course. Soon I saw the coast and knew I could get there safely with the very good height I had and let out the breath I had been holding.
I recognized Felixstowe and as I passed over the coast and imagined I was flying a Lancaster back from a raid over Germany. I landed on the grass beside where my wife and my fellow pilot were waiting by the trailer. After the weekend my wife took the barograph to the BGA office in London. The lady there expressed surprise and said she did not recall anyone doing all three legs in one flight. They had more sense.
GOLD DISTANCE AND DIAMOND GOAL
MAY 1974
In my first cross country I had scared myself silly by somehow, incredibly, unbelievably ending up over the North Sea with no land in sight!
So, I vowed to be sure to have nice safe, peaceful ones in future.
Hence, back in May 1974 at North Weald airfield, I discovered that two of our experienced cross-country pilots, Mike and Stan, were going to do an out and return to RAF Cranwell, a distance of 300 Kms.
So, I thought it would be a good idea to tag along. All I had to do was follow them.
A piece of cake.
This would be my third such venture and turned out to be a little more exciting than expected.
So, with a promising weather forecast we had our photos taken by the blackboard detailing the task. I then secured the barograph and camera into the cockpit of the faithful Skylark 4 and climbed in.
It proved difficult at first, with a struggle to even reach 2000 ft.
After an hour or so Mike was on the radio to say he didn't think conditions were good enough and decided to give up and land.
But soon conditions improved a bit, so Stan set off and I soon followed
After struggling along for 10 miles I lost Stan but then I spotted him lying down in a field, beside his glider. I had no manners in those days and waggled my wings at him and carried on.
Things then improved and I made proper headway, and later in the day I managed to find the famous RAF Cranwell. I got to the further side of it and took the necessary photos.
Then the troubles really began. I got the dreaded middle of the day over development, and cloud covered the sky!
All thought of navigating vanished and I just worked really hard on remaining airborne, for what seemed hours, and probably was, looking for patches of ground that were dark or had a bit of sunlight showing. I kept getting low enough to pick a possible field for landing and wondered if I would get arrested should I land on the Cranwell airfield!
Eventually, patches of blue began to increase, and thermals were getting stronger, so I began to think of other things.
I suddenly had a most dreadful thought. If I landed out here, someone would have to come 100 miles by road with the trailer to collect me and then drive 100 miles back.
I would not be popular!!
It was getting well on into the afternoon by then and it was not looking realistic to get all the way back. So, I decided to start flying the return journey at a fast as possible speed to shorten the retrieve.
I worked out my position and made to just head south on compass and not bothering with navigation for a time. I knew there was no danger of violating airspace. In my first cross country I had achieved a cloud climb, albeit after falling out of the cloud on the first two tries! So, I felt I was now a bit of an expert and took a cloud climb.
Then at a good height I shot off south on the compass at high speed, sometimes slowing to get lift as I went through a cloud
I finally recognised Peterborough and began to follow a railway line and take more care on navigation. At last, I relaxed a bit and got out my sandwiches for a belated lunch. While in a thermal I decided to have a drink of water. I turned my head and put the bottle to my mouth and filled my ear with water! I realised that my personal gravity no longer pointed at the ground! This novice still had a lot to learn.
Halfway through a sandwich I had a shock. The railway line came to an end and it should not have done!
Off to one side with the food and out with the map. I soon saw where the correct line was and altered course.
It was now in the evening, and I reached Stansted airport. There were no airliners taxying and none to see in the sky so I went straight over the middle (yes, we could do that then!). Lift was getting weak and I saw a solitary cumulus left in the sky which lay between me and North Weald, so I managed to get under it. It gave me enough lift to maintain my height, so I just stayed with it as it slowly drifted towards North Weald with the light north wind.
It was only then that I wondered if I could actually get all the way home in a final glide. I could see the airfield in the distance and thought it may be possible.
I could see that the club was still doing wire launches towards me so I radioed them and explained my situation, asking if they would mind stopping the launching while I attempted to get there in a final glide and land downwind.
So, they stopped launching and gaped at this glider circling under the only cloud left
in the sky.
I knew that if I set off, I might find I could not reach the airfield and have to do a possible crash landing somewhere.
Feeling very tense, I finally took the decision to go for it. I took a deep breath and set off at what I hoped was the best speed for distance.
As I had been taught, I watched the image of the airfield on the front of the canopy to see if it was going down and tell me we would make it. It went neither up nor down so I got more tense!
Finally, I scraped in quite low over the hedge, finally landing at 7.30pm., after a flight of 8 hours, 52 minutes. I was dying to get to the hedge to do you know what but first had to listen to the CFI telling me off for not keeping contact with them on the radio!
I did see the point and apologised. I had turned the thing off early in the flight as I couldn't concentrate on the flying with that thing barking away.
I was later awarded the Club Chairman's Trophy for best flight of the year and found I had achieved the highest honour in gliding for cross country flights, the Gold and Diamond leg awards with only height legs needed to get the badges. I was surprised to find the flight reported in the local rag the following week!
The thing was, nobody had told me the task would be difficult!
Soon after that day I was made an instructor, which was to give me 20 years of enormous enjoyment. Because of my job as a GP, it did the leave me with little time from then on to do my own private gliding. But absolutely no regrets.
Thank you to Rex Hayden for these contributions. If you have any contributions you would like added. Please let us know!