Sunday 19th to Monday 20th March 23
Posted: 20/03/2023 16:06
Sunday 19th. A light to moderate W'ly blew all day as initially blue skies became dotted and then covered in Cumulus/Stratocumulus. The conditions led to 29 ATs off runway 24, with 3 private owners rigging, a couple of cross countries flown and 9 flights of over 30 minutes, with 2 of these over an hour. The longest flight of the day was the 3:03 flown by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t in which he visited Thirsk and Northallerton, proceeded to 8 km W of Northallerton before returning to Thirsk and then on to Ripon before returning to site. A best average climb rate of 3.1 kts and a best altitude of 3,900' asl were features of the flight, which covered around 95 kms. The other cross country pilot was Rob Bailey in his ASG29t who set a 101 km task around Thirsk, Malton and York but, after struggling to get started, had to abandon the task on the Malton/York leg due to spreadout and consequently covered 71 kms. Rob's best altitude was 3,600' asl with a best average climb rate of 2.7 kts, his flight lasting 2:11. Simon Altman in Astir DPO had the next longest flight, 51 minutes, climbing to 3,400' asl as he used local thermals, while Pete Goodchild/Stuart Wallace in K21 KLW had 45 minutes and Toby Wilson in his Standard Cirrus had 43 minutes, both using local thermals. Later in the day, with diminished thermal activity due to spreadout, some hill soaring in the main bowl was to be had, with Jesper Mjels taking one of the day's 5 First Flight pupils for 37 minutes in K21 JVZ and Tim Stanley having 35 minutes in Astir DPO. The undoubted highlight of the day was however, Junior Ivan Mackza's conversion to the Astir. After a check flight with Chris Collingham, Ivan flew 3 good solos in DPO, so well down Ivan. Another aspect of the occasion was the fact that DPO has been fitted with new ballast weight boxes, so it can now accommodate lighter club pilots like Ivan. A photo of a very happy Ivan with DPO is shown below.
Monday 20th. The weather reverted to type with frontal systems crossing the UK bringing low cloud and rain, the former keeping the site in cloud for most of the day and the later lasting from 0800-1500 hrs, 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.