Thursday 12th to Sunday 15th September 2024
Posted: 16/09/2024 13:17
Thursday 12th. A light to moderate N'ly brought a cold day of sunny intervals and occasional showers and opportunities for soaring via thermal and in one case wave lift. The wave pilot was Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct who used his engine to contact wave 5 km to the SE of site, climbing there to 5,700' asl and then proceeding to fly to the Leyburn area via Tontine, climbing to his peak altitude of 7,700' asl before returning to site via the Ripon area, an OLC distance of 127 km. Bob provided the following photos of the afternoon's convection which enabled Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 to cloud climb to 10,100' asl while staying within 30 km of site.
I don't have the paper log for Thursday, so I am unsure of who flew what, but one of the visitors flew his LS6 around the 100 km local Rufforth/Pocklington triangle while also taking a cloud climb to 7,700' asl, a task also completed by 3 more of YGC's visitors in their club LS4 and a Janus C, although the visitor flying his DG300 landed out at Pocklington. The YGC member owned DG1000t flew around 260 OLC km , the rather patchy Flarm trace indicating TPs at Louth, Burton upon Stather and Burn, while Craig Lowerie flew his DG808 just over 200 OLC kms with TPs at or near, Carlton Bank. Tontine, Rufforth and East Yorks 1. Chris Handzlik took his DG300 on an 100 OLC km O/R to Leyburn while the visiting ASW 27 pilot stayed relatively local. In all, the day's 26 ATs led to 16 flights of over 30 minutes including 13 of over an hour, with the longest flight in a club 2 seater being 54 minutes and none of the club single seaters flown. The Falke meanwhile flew up to Millfield before returning later in the day.
Friday 13th. A light NW'ly slowly backed into the WSW providing a day of sunny intervals and good thermal soaring as cloud base reached 5,500' asl with average peak thermal strengths of over 5 kts. The 29 launches off runway 24, including 5 for First Flight pupils, resulted in 21 flights of over an hour and a number of thermal based XCs, with 3 posted on the BGA Ladder and 7 others of over 100 OLC kms. The 3 Ladder reported flights were by Dave Latimer in his Ventus 2M who flew a 264 km Wetherby/Thorngumbald/ Guisborough triangle at 97.2 kph, Chris Handzlik who flew 168 km triangle with TPs at Wetherby and Hawes and Sarah Stubbs/Adam Sayer who rounded Rufforth, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Leyburn in the DG500 to cover 132 km. Two of the other XC pilots flew 300+ OLC km, Bill Payton flying his DG1000t solo and visiting Bolsover SW and Horncastle in a task of 340 km and visitor Craig Lowerie in his DG808 who flew 312 km to or near Northallerton, Barnard Castle. Driffield, Knaresborough, Ripon and Tontine. Other XC pilots included John Ellis in his DG808 with 195 km, Chris O'Doyle in a Discus t with 160 km, Ian Bullous with 140 km in his DG808 after using his engine locally and visitors Andy/Catherine Balkwill who flew their Janus C 134 km, all OLC kms. Les Rayment, flying his DG808 turned Driffield and Goole NE, but had to resort to his engine near Pocklington before carrying on to turn Pickering before returning to Sutton. Bas Sonnefeld had the longest flight in a club single seater, 1:40 flying locally, while Mark James had 2 > an hour flights with Clive Swain and then Guy Hartland in the club K21s.
Saturday 14th. Medium and high level cloud cover meant a bright and occasionally sunny day as a light to moderate SW'ly blew, accompanied by warmer temperatures and some good wave conditions. Those taking off in the mid to late morning contacted the wave straight of AT, but contact proved to be somewhat more difficult later, with engines utilised and peak altitudes in the 6,500' - 8,000' range rather than the 10,000' - 12,900' range of the earlier starters. The latter group included Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct who climbed to 10,200' asl while visiting Wigton, Kirkstone Pass, Settle and Boroughbridge and covering some 240 OLC km, James Prosser in his Ventus 2ct with 11,100' asl, who confined his 244 km wanderings within the boundaries of Masham to the west, Catterick to the NW, Harrogate North to the SW and Darlington to the N and Craig Lowerie who took his DG808 to 12,200' visiting the Catterick/ Ripon area. Ian Bullous initially used the engine of his DG808 to contact the wave and then eventually climbed to 12,900' asl just west of Thrisk, spending most of his time between Thirsk and Northallerton, while Sam Batchelor in the Discus, climbed to 11,000' asl and flew 114 OLC kms visiting at or near Northallerton, Catterick, Masham and Knaresborough. The group of pilots who flew after midday and contacted the wave included Geoff Burtenshall who climbed to 8,400' asl in his DG303, Kelly Teagle in her newly acquired LS8t-18 who climbed to 7,000' asl and did an O/R to Northallerton, Dave Latimer who, after spending time at 2,500-3,500' asl, used the engine of his Ventus 3M to contact the wave and eventually climbed to 7,100' asl and visited the Masham/Catterick area. Adam Sayer flew Astir FSH up to 6,500' asl as did Darren Lodge in his LS8-18, both staying local, as did Andy Tyas in Astir DPO who climbed to 5,900' asl. In all, 17 of the day's 24 launches off runway 24 exceeded 30 minutes with 10 over an hour, although the longest 2 seater flight was the 44 minutes by Toby Wilson/Sam Batchelor in K21 JVZ off the last flight of the day.
Sunday 15th. A front slowly tracking SE brought of day of low cloud and rain so there was no flying.
This blog describes a snippet of life at the Yorkshire Gliding Club. Why not take a flight and try it yourself, or we can teach you to fly as a full club member.