HusBosApproach.jpg
HusBos1.jpg
HusBos2.jpg
HusBosViewSouth.jpg
Northampton.jpg
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My best flight of the year! I had all but given up on 2008. But today I was lucky and grabbed the only Discus in the ballot. I then flew Lasham - Rivar Hill - Stony Stratford (Milton Keynes) - Husbands Bosworth - Lasham for 314km. It was my first visit to Hus Bos. I also couldn't resist some new shots of Silverstone on my way home too!
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| Approaching Hus Bos from the South. | Hus Bos from the Southeast. | Looking down at the clubhouse area of Hus Bos as I turn HUS. | Looking Southwest from Hus Bos. Stanford Reservoir at the bottom edge of the picture. Lasham is 139km away to the South. | Northampton from the Northwest as I passed by from the North. |
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| Northampton South (NOS) turnpoint from the West. | The finish line at Silverstone. | A zoom of the start grid and surrounding area of Silverstone. | Silverstone from the North. | Silverstone from the South seen while soaring with another glider. |
A balloon landed at Lasham early in the morning. I first saw it below the tree line north of the airfield and road. It then popped over the trees, then barely a few feet over the roof of the main hangar, then touched down just inside the peri track.
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| Balloon having just cleared the hangar. | A close up of the Gondola (from same pic). | Wider view of the incoming balloon. | Touchdown. |
Another fun flight. A bit too much top cover. But cirrus above made for some beautiful coloured arcs as you can see.
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| A distrail spotted before launch as thermals get going. | Circumscribed arc above the sun (up is diagonally top right) and part of a 22 degree halo. | Chilbolton telescope undergoing maintenance? | |
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| Pictures taken around Hurstbourne Tarrant. An air strip SW of Hurstbourne Tarrant, seen from the NW. A mansion to the West of Hurstbourne Tarrant. And Hurstbourne Tarrant from the SW. | Paragliders thermalling with me under a cloud. | |||
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| Somewhere near Bullington Cross just after 1pm I saw the most amazing patch of colour in a cirrus cloud below the sun. This is a circumhorizon arc, only visible in the summer when the sun is very high in the sky. | After landing, a B1-B bomber from the Farnborough air show did a low flyby of Lasham! | |||
At last! A decent cross country flight and good visibility. My first chance since February to test the new camera some more. I accidentally took all of today's shots using ISO200 resulting in a bit of graininess but I think it's barely noticeable after resizing. The pics still look pretty good and the extra resolution is a big boon!
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| Two views of Oakhanger from cloudbase over Alton, processed from the same photograph. The resolution means I can see details not before possible at the same distance with the old camera. | Looking towards the south coast under increasingly overdeveloped skies. | The South Downs ridge as seen from near Petersfield. | The South Coast seen through low bits of fractus as I approach Harting. | Looking East along the South Downs ridge from Harting. | |
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| Two pics of Harting derived from the same photo, from the South. The 2nd zoomin centres on the church which represents the BGA turning point 'HAR'. | Soaring with 620 as I rescue myself from a low point near Petersfield under the local overcast. | Petersfield from the Northwest, mercifully getting smaller after an urban thermal rescues me from my low point. | Heading north back towards Lasham. Beyond this dark area is more open and better sky. | ||
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| Some scruffy oik in a Discus leaving that dark mass of cloud at cloudbase and headed for better skies. | Decaying cumulus with its spreadout still distinctive in the moist layer, looking like a mushroom as a result. | A couple of cloudshots as I go past Lasham. Note how the cumulus is interacting with the moist layer above. | The customary view of Lasham airfield from the North. Both shots derived from the same photo. The second shot shows the brand new caravan site on the South side, as well as the site for the proposed hangars. | ||
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| Soaring with glider EKP just north of Basingstoke. | Passing Aldermaston on my way to Newbury. In the same photo a glider can be seen. From this angle Brimpton is just in front of the glider. But in reality the glider is almost certainly clear of airspace. | Back to cloudbase over an industrial area on the Eastern end of Newbury. | Looking down at Newbury Racecourse (BGA turnpoint 'NEW') from cloudbase. Both shots derived from the same photo again. | ||
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| Cloudbase now quite variable. Under the dark streets the scraggier bases are well below the main base at the sunny edges. | Diving under some of the darker lower cloud. Sunlight getting through a huge gap to the north. | Passing Hungerford in the dark cloudshadow of the monster street I'm following. | Marlborough from the Southeast. I got here from Newbury without turning. Just followed a huge bloated cloudstreet. | Burbage from the north. The 'BUB' turnpoint is the big roundabout at the far (Southern) end. | Is that some ghostly cat knocking on the bigger cloud with a hammer? |
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| Is that a giant also wielding a hammer? Or an axe? | Andover looking South. The giant roundabout on the right is the turning point 'AND'. | Is that a winged spectre holding a giant club? | Whitchurch from the Southwest. The turning point 'WH2' is where the big road crosses the railway near the left edge of the shot. | A race in full swing on a dirt race track just East of Popham airfield. | A closeup of Popham airfield from the Northwest. |
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| The whole of Popham airfield from the Northeast. | A huge cloudstreet over Basingstoke. | Looking Northwest under a light shower in the huge Basingstoke street. | The pic doesn't show it well but the ripples in those Basingstoke ponds were quite dazzling. | More variable cloudbases. | A tiny puff of cumulus accompanies a much larger and darker companion. |
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| HurstbourneTarrant from the Northwest. The turning point 'HUR' is the junction just right of centre. | To the north of Bullington Cross the cloudstreet had a 700 foot difference between the lowest and highest cloudbases. Climbing to the highest cloudbases gave me some stunning views! | ||||
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| Squeezing through a clear gap between clouds and emerging from the other side. | One last shot running alongside low clouds. | |
My new camera's first trip to Lasham and up in the air. Needless to say I played with the 6x zoom to see what I could do with it. So far a mixed bunch of images. Some with more noise than I would like despite bright conditions and low ISO. But fairly good otherwise.
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| My trusty steed for the day. | Lasham's brand new Grob 109. | Two K13's landing together. | A landing Robin. | Using the 6x zoom on a K13 coming in to land. | |
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| The retrieve winch. | An intresting looking approach by a landing Cub. | The winch from maybe 1200 feet up. | The refinery to the Northeast of the airfield. | Testing the zoom again. The launch point from over a mile away. Plus a wider view. No launch point bus, as it broke down earlier in the day and had to be towed away. | |
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| The viz was good, but to the south in the valleys it was hazy and misty. | Lasham under a strong low inversion. (Looking NW.) | While I paused for lunch someone took an aerotow in SH3. I caught the moment he released from tow too with the rope falling away. | T21 landing. | ATC Lasham from aloft. | |
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| The clubhouse. I can see my car. :) | Looking South through lens flare at the solent, misty valleys and that strong inversion. | Looking down at 776 as we circle together. Lucky shot but too much motion blur. If only I'd got it pin sharp... | 776 flying past with the clubhouse visible in the background. | An interesting looking aircraft crossing the peri track between me and the broken down launch bus as I walk back to the clubhouse. |