Saturday 22nd to Sunday 23rd June 2024
Posted: 25/06/2024 12:41
Saturday 22nd. A light to moderate W'ly blew all day as sunny periods and dotted Cu tempted private owners to contribute 16 ATs to the day's total of 32, these including 5 for First Flight pupils. With cloud base around 4,500' and peak average thermal strengths around 3.5 kts, although some pilots found up to 5,5 kts, the day saw Sam Batchelor in Astir DSU, seventeen year old Dan McClean in Astir DPO and Martin Joyce in his ASW19 all achieve their Silver Distances, with Sam doing an O/R to Burn, thus also completing his 100 km Diploma. Dan completed 67 km of the same task doing his first land out on the way back to Sutton and while I don't have details of Martin's flight, congratulations to them all. Eileen Scothern in her Discus bt also visited Burn but had to resort to her engine while close to site on her way back. Dean Crosby in his LS10t initially tried for wave in the Dales visiting Aysgarth and Leyburn but, finding none, returned to Sutton before setting off for Alton Towers. However, poor conditions further South led to an abandonment on reaching Bakewell, the return to Sutton proving the hard part of his 340 km task. John Ellis in his DG800 flew 212 km with TPs at Doncaster, Thirsk and Rufforth but had to use his engine at Linton on Ouse in order to remain airborne, while Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, like Dean, flew into the Dales, climbing to 6,300' asl near Aysgarth and being accompanied for part of the time by Bill Payton in his DG1000t, although their Flarm traces are not good enough to know exactly where they went on their 5:03/5:05 flights. Rob Bailey in his ASG29t visited Bedale before flying around the Rufforth, Pocklington triangle, while Tony Drury in his DG303 also completed the same triangle, his syndicate partner, John Marsh having earlier had 1:41 initially hill soaring the main bowl at 7-900' QFE before visiting Northallerton. Ian MacFarlane/Naomi Kennard had the longest flight in a club 2 seater with just over 2 hours in K21 JVZ and TobyWilson/Reuben Johnson in K21 KLW had just over an hour, both soaring locally.
Sunday 23rd. The light to moderate W'ly continued to blow and with little change in the synoptic situation it was another mainly thermal day at Sutton. The day's 24 launches, including 4 for First Flight pupils and 10 by private owners, resulted in 16 flights of over 30 minutes, 11 of these being over an hour, one of which was wave based. This was by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, Bob contacting the wave just N of Thirsk and then climbing to 6,100' asl near Masham with a peak altitude of 10,000' asl over Aysgarth. A visit to Brough was followed by a visit to Wetherby before a return to Sutton. Bob supplied the following photos from his flight, noting that the higher wave clouds were over the Warcop Danger Area.
Dave Latimer in his Ventus 3m, also visited the Aysgarth area via Ripon and Harrogate N, but didn't fully contact the wave, having a maximum altitude of 5,800' asl and then struggling to find a good climb near Masham. Returning to Sutton, Dave then did an O/R to Rufforth in his 4 hr flight. Dean Crosby in his LS10t and John Ellis in his DG800 both had around 3 hours but poor traces meant details of their flights are not available. although John appeared to visit the Ripon area. Kelly Teagle in her ASW 27 was another pilot to unsuccessfully try to contact the wave locally, but gave up and flew the local 100 km triangle around Pocklington and Rufforth, finding the thermals to be broken and only occasionally consistent enough to be utilised, while Chris O'Doyle in a Discus bt. also flew this triangle but in the reverse direction surviving a low point 5 km SSE of Rufforth S. Toby Wilson had just over an hour flying locally in his Std Cirrus, having taken off mid afternoon, while other pilots to have flights of between 1:04 and 3;25 included Pete Crawley, Andy Wilson in his Olympia, Roger Burghall in his ASW 20 and Clive Swain/Josh Jackson in K21 JVZ.
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.