Safety
Temporary Restricted Airspace. Details of the latest Temporary Restricted Airspace to protect Red Arrows displays has been published in AIC Mauve 064/2014. This, along with details of all other RA(T)s, is available on the AIS web site: http://nats-uk.ead-it.com/. Please ensure that gliding is not guilty of infringing these restrictions which are for the safety of everybody. A month-at-a-glance view of all upcoming RA(T)s is available throughout the summer months at https://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/airspace/rats.php.
Former Airfield at Moreton-in-Marsh. Please do not attempt to land on the old disused runways at Moreton-in-Marsh or anywhere else on the Fire Service College site. Although this was an RAF base many years ago, the area has been used as the Fire Service College since the 1970s. The old runways have been built on and there are a number of large LPG-fuelled training rigs across the site. The college could be undertaking fire training at any time of day or night and on any day of the week; landing there could be extremely hazardous.
Regulatory
Pilot Licence Conversion. Applications to convert BGA Gliding Certificates and Endorsements to Part-FCL sailplane licences are now being accepted by the BGA. Pilots intending to fly EASA aircraft after 7th April 2015 must have either a LAPL(S) or SPL licence, together with a valid medical. Please read the notes at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/licensing/easalicensing.htm before applying. The application form is also available via this page. Whilst we urge pilots not to leave applying until the last minute, it would be wise to convert to the licence and all additional ratings, certificates and authorisations that you are qualified for in one hit. For some, this may require delaying their conversion application.
ARC Signatories. An updated list of ARC signatories is at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/technical/documents/arc-signatories.pdf
BGA
Instructor Courses. In response to demand, we have scheduled additional BGA FI(S) A and C module courses. Places are going fast but, at the time of writing, space is available on the A module courses at Bicester (10/11th August) and Lasham (31st August/ 1st September) and on the C module course at Lasham (21/22nd September). Current availability and more details are at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/bgacourses.htm. Please book via the BGA office.
Save the Date! The 2014 BGA Conference will be on Saturday 1st March at the Nottingham Belfry. More details will be available shortly.
Competitions and Cross-Country
Silver for Ayala. Ayala Truelove has won her second successive silver medal in the Club Class at the Women’s World Gliding Championships, held last month at Issoudun in central France.

Going into the final race with a slim lead, Ayala finished the fortnight-long competition in equal second place along with German pilot Doerte Starsinski and just 14 points behind gold medallist Christine Grote (GER). The Club Class was one of the most closely fought championship classes ever, with the lead changing on an almost daily basis. Team mates Claudia Hill and Helen Hingley finished 7th and 10th respectively. In the Standard Class, Kay Draper and Gill Spreckley were 7th and 8th overall which meant that TeamGB was able to see off the competition from Poland to take second place in the overall team placings, behind Germany. Full results are on the championship web site at http://wwgc2013.aeroclub-issoudun.fr. Well done to the whole team.
European Gliding Championships. There were no medals for Gliding Team GB at the European Gliding Championships (unflapped classes) at Ostrow, Poland. Our highest placed pilot was Tim Milner who finished 11th in the Club Class with Liz Sparrow 16th. The winner was Roman Mracek from the Czech Republic. In the Standard Class Sarah Kelman was 18th and Howard Jones 21st. The first 3 places in this class all went to Polish pilots with Sebastian Kawa the winner. Full results are on the championship web site at http://www.egc2013.eu/
World Junior Gliding Championships. At the time of writing, the Junior World Championships at Leszno in Poland are in progress. After six competition days, the British trio of Ollie Barter, Matt Waters and Charlie Jordan are 8th, 12th and 26th in the Standard Class whilst, in the Club Class, Mattt Davis, Luke Dale and Sam Roddie are in 18th, 33rd and 38th places respectively. You can follow the action from the last few days at http://www.jwgc2013.eu/
World Glider Aerobatic Championships. 15 year old Robbie Rizk finished in a highly creditable 9th place in the World Glider Advanced Aerobatics Championships which were held last month at Oripaa, Finland. The other British pilots, Richard Brown, Jack Newman, Chris Bowden, and Chris Cain came 19th, 20th, 21st and 37th respectively. Full results are at http://www.civa-results.com/2013/WAGAC_2013/multi_R003s01s02s03.htm
National Champions. Congratulations to Dave Watt (Windrushers) on retaining his 15m National Championship title, in the competition held at Husbands Bosworth. Matt Cook (Lasham) finished second with Derren Francis (Windrushers), who tied for the title with Dave last year, third.
Inter-Club League Final. The Inter-Club League Final will be held at Bidford on Saturday/Sunday August 31st /September 1st. Enquiries etc to Mike Jefferyes - contact details available from the BGA office.
General
Air League and Boeing Flying Scholarships. The Air League and Boeing were at the London Gliding Club at Dunstable last month celebrating the success of the young people who have completed (or nearly completed) their flying scholarships. The scholarships are designed to use the skills acquired to fly gliders as a way to boost interpersonal skills and self-confidence while sparking an interest in aviation. Targeted at students who might not have considered taking up gliding, let alone a career in aviation, the scheme has been a huge success and we are grateful to Boeing for providing the funding to enable this scheme as part of their Global Corporate Citizenship work (http://www.boeing.co.uk/community). ITV were there to record the day and you can see the footage on the ITV London News web site at http://www.itv.com/news/london.
Aerobility Raffle. Aerobility is running a fundraising raffle, to be drawn on 1st September. They have some excellent prizes on offer, including lunch with Buzz Aldrin! For details of the prizes and how to obtain your tickets, please visit www.aerobility.com/raffle/raffle-2013.php