Welcome to 2402 (Burghfield) Squadron Air Cadets Website.
Thinking of joining? - Our Next Recruitment Evening will be Wednesday 16th May 2012 at 19:40
at The Scout Hut, Hollybush Lane
Flying and Gliding Overview
Author:
Cdt Perkins
Gliding and flying are of course part
of the activities that the squadron takes part in. There are plenty of opportunities open to cadets when flying, from aerobatics in the new Grob Tutor to practising stalls in a Grob Viking glider. There are also exciting opportunities for cadets to learn how to fly, with scholarships for both powered flight and gliding. In general, every cadet will be given opportunities to fly during their time as an active member of an ATC Squadron. We are fortunate to be located within a short drive of 612 Volunteer Gliding School (VGS) at Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Below is a brief account of one of our cadets experiences on a gliding trip in June 2010.
On Saturday 18th of June 2010, 612 Volunteer Gliding School (VGS) at Abingdon (Abingdon) held their 'Longest Day' event, in which as many cadets as possible are flown in the Vigilant glider. 2402 (Burghfield) squadron were lucky enough to be allocated places to this event.
Our journey started on Friday 17th of June 2010 at 2402 squadron HQ in Burghfield Common. We were taken by minibus to Abingdon Airfield, just outside Abingdon. The journey took around an hour. When we arrived, we started pitching our tents in the allocated area. When our tents were pitched, we went off in our allocated flights to have our gliding safety briefing, in which we watched a short video outlining flight protocol, and having ourselves weighed.
When we trudged back to our tents for dinner, the weather took a turn for the worse. With our waterproofs on, we wandered over to the mess tent, where we chose dinner. Most either had the stir fry or the spaghetti bolognese, which warmed us up. After dinner, we had another briefing, explaining what time our flights would be waking up and flying. Then, at 10:00, we had an early night, as most of us were getting up at 3:30 in the morning.
We woke up around 3:30 on Saturday morning. Dozy and dreary we were, the anticipation of the flights was unmistakable. We kitted up into our No. 2 working dress (Blues), and stepped out into the cold morning. Fortunately, the constant patter of rain on tents had long since subsided, and we were left with a cloudless sky at dawn.
As we were transported to the caravan by minibus, we watched as the first flights were taking off down the runway. Waiting for around half an hour at the caravan, it was finally time for the flight.
As the flight took off, I looked down as the ground speedily left our glider, leaving us in the air. We flew around the local area, over Abingdon and some other smaller villages before returning back to the airfield. The flight was around 20 minutes, but seemed like much longer. During the flight, I had the chance to try some things in the glider, including yawing, pitching the nose up and down and learning to read the cockpit instruments. In my flight, I had more time controlling the aircraft than the pilot did!
After the flight, we were taken back to the campsite, where we packed away our gear and tents, loaded up the minibus and headed for home. I would highly recommend the 'Longest Day' gliding to anyone who is interested in gliding, flying or just wants the experience.
Author: Cdt Perkins