5th July 2026 - Gathering of the Flat Earth Society.

5 brave souls decided to try their hand at some flat field flying this morning and brave the heat. I was there just after 9 to unlock the padlock that secures the field. Attendees today were myself, Nick P, Nick V, Robin A and Mick J who came along just to have a look as its some 40 years since he had participated in this discipline.

The Field

Nick P I think had the best day with a few gliders of which he used his own bungee to get them airborne along with his powered gliders. I must say he had a rather neat bungee attachment for the ground. Associated tools required were very long bolts and a powered drill.

Ground Attachment Device.

Nick V also had a nice day flying but the morning turned into more of a social event.

Nick P - Gliders

Poor Robin A struggled with a major droopy flap fault which wasn't fixable on site. Even Nick V tried some in depth fault diagnosis but to now avail.

Nick P.

In summary a very nice morning out with great company.

Already looking forward to our next outing. 

Finals to Land.

Saturday 13th June 2026 at Itford Hill

On Sat 13th June Scott and I had arranged to meet at Itford Hill as the wind looked a reasonable Westerly.
We both arrived at 08:30 and made our way up to the flying area. As we ascended the hill the wind was getting stronger, so things were looking good for flying.
I had arranged to meet Graham H in order to give him his first flying tuition and he actually caught us up as we were walking up the hill.
I brought the club Wildthing and the buddy transmitters, Scott brought his Middle Phase and SAS Mamba.

There was a charity walk going along the South Downs way which meant we had to fly more to the Northerly end of the hill to avoid the walkers.

Later we were joined by Robin A who brought his Salto

Here you can see the walkers in the background - they didn't cause us any issues and we were able to fly unobstructed most of the time.

I gave Graham H a number of very long sessions of tuition with the Wildthing and he flew remarkably well - I hardly had to intervene at all except for the landings.

The weather was bright but a bit cool in the very strong Westerly wind.

We all had a great morning's flying.