With four students lined up for training I headed out to Big Collin at 10:30am even though the wind appeared to be calm. On arrival, that was the picture in the landing area - windsock planted by Ken McConnell who had arrived before me was hanging straight down although the one he had on top showed some wind.
My student GT Jakutis arrived and we got started on ground handling, soon to be joined by Jonny Morton as the wind had picked up to 8-12mph. The wind then increased as a number of other UHPC members arrived and took off. It was obviously a bit rough. I took off on my Firebird Raven about half way up the hill in 14mph wind to check conditions for the students but found it too gusty, with big lift followed by big sink as I soared along the lower ridge, eventually landing by the lane near the car.
GT and Jonny spent the rest of the day practicing reverse launch and other ground handling exercises with both the Firebird F1rst and the Firebird Trainer in the gusty wind that was quite strong at times. The experienced club pilots who flew were getting a bit of a bumpy ride but all landed safety.
With my students getting tired but having succeeded in mastering the wings we called it a day at 4pm. Although I had texted the other two students on arrival on site, they did not turn up.
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