Saturday 21st to Sunday 22nd April 2018
Posted: 23/04/2018 20:27
Saturday 21st. A light SE'ly opened the day, but this soon increased to moderate with a tendency to veer into the S and flying got underway just after 1000 hrs when John Marsh and Dave Murgatroyd took the first of the 34 ATs of the day in K21 KLW behind the Eurofox off runway 20. They later had a flight of 40 minutes in the same glider, one of 6 flights to exceed 30 minutes.. The 2 seaters were busy all day with members, 7 First Flight pupils and check flights for the visitors from Lasham, but significant soaring opportunities were hard to come by, with only 3 flights exceeding an hour, The first flight to get to 30 minutes was by Martin White in his Pegase in the early afternoon, but shortly afterwards, Andy Parish and Marian Stanley took the DG1000 aloft for 1:18, during which time they climbed to around 6,000' asl in wave. Another pilot to contact the wave was Chris Booker, who, flying the DG303, climbed to around 7,500' asl in his flight of 1:35 and in doing so claimed his Silver height, so congratulations to Chris. The best of the rest included Charles Willoughby who had 53 minutes in Astir DPO, Robin Hutchinson and Dave Latimer who had 49 minutes in the DG500 and John Marsh and Naomi Kennard with 36 minutes in KLW. The day saw 7 private owner flights, mainly by the visitors from Lasham, while Paul Whitehead and Derek Smith were kept busy all day as they checked out some prospective Motor Glider pilots from the island of Ireland in both the YGC Falke and another Falke from the Northumbria GC at Currock Hill.
Sunday 22nd. An initially light to moderate S'ly wind saw operations start off runway 20, but the passage of a weak front led to the wind veering into the WSW and increasing to moderate, so a runway change to 24 resulted. The passage of the front also led to the skies brightening with some soaring opportunities from early afternoon onwards. That is not to say that the morning was without its own highlights for off the first flight of the day Toby Wilson, flying with Derek Smith in K21 KLW, was successfully passed out as a Basic Instructor, so congratulations Toby. That was not the last of the pilots to successfully pass out as Paul Whitehead and Derek Smith took the rest of the Island of Ireland pupils on their Motor Glider validation flights which culminated in them all emerging with broad smiles and a definite air of satisfaction on successfully satisfying their examiners, so well done to them. The improved conditions post midday led to a combination of hill and thermal soaring with CFI Andy Parish having a bit of a busman's holiday as he flew the Discus for the longest flight of the day, 1:41. Other pilots to cross the 1 hour flight time mark included Chris Booker with 1:29 in the DG303, Charles Willoughby with 1:20 in Astir DPO, T Wilson with 1:08 in the Discus, Steve Thompson and Brian Ogelby with 1:07 in K21 KLW and Derek Smith and Jamie Quartermaine with 1:05 in the DG1000. Flying came to an end just after 1800 hrs, the day having also enabled 4 First Flight pupils to experience some of the joys of engine-less flight.
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.