New addition to the BGC Fleet

Friday saw the arrival of  G-CJZB, a Glaser-Dirks DG-505 which was purchased from a syndicate based at Bicester. Richard Abercrombie collected the glider on Thursday and brought it back to Milfield for rigging on Friday.

On Friday morning, a very enthusiastic team gathered to rig our new purchase with Andy Bardgett and Barry Lytollis supervising the process.  Andy, Barry and Geoff Forster had been part of the BGC team who had inspected and flown G-CJZB prior to purchase and were familiar with how it should go together. 

Andy gets the ball rolling
Having got the glider out the compound, we waited a few minutes until our Chaiman and chief negotiator, Mark Fielding, arrived before opening the box! During his time as Chairman, Mark has been a driving force of the club's aim to have a modern gliding fleet and he was excited at the prospect of flying our new arrival. 

Rigging commences




















Wings on


Main pins in





Almost there






















All done - DI'd  and ready to fly
























Andy and Mark took G-CJZB for her first flight at Milfield and enjoyed it so much they went back up again. In fact it was hard to get Andy out of the glider all day as he checked out pilots and instructors. Rumour had it he was removed with the batteries when it was put back in the hangar in the evening!!

Andy and Mark ready for the first flight






















Andy and Dennis Westgarth looking for wave

















Last flight of the day - Barry finally gets to fly!