Sunday 1st to Monday 2nd January 2023
Posted: 02/01/2023 21:30
Sunday 1st. Rain overnight gave way to a sunny morning as a moderate to moderate to fresh SW'ly blew in a few showers. Flying commenced around 1100 hrs with Steve Thompson/Dave Thompson taking off from runway 20 in K21 JVZ, recently returned from its ARC. Finding wave to the ESE of the site in the vicinity of Wass, Steve/Dave climbed to around 5,400' asl before returning to site after 1:11. The 3 other flights that followed them all found wave straight off tow in the same location, with Darren Lodge climbing to 4.600' in Astir DPO, Toby Wilson/Sarah Stubbs climbing to 4,700' In the DG1000, and Rob Bottomley getting to the same altitude while flying JVZ solo, all asl. All three flights exceeded an hour, with Darren having 1:18, Toby/Sarah 1:47 and Rob 1:11.
Monday 2nd. Some more overnight rain had cleared by dawn, leaving a gin clear, sunny day that remained cloudless, although cloud was visible on the southern and western horizons. A light to moderate W'ly blew, so operations were off runway 24, although some pilots chose to land on 20. Tony Drury/John Marsh took of in the DG1000 on the second AT of the day and, taking a high tow, found some wave that took them up to their peak altitude of 4.500' asl near Husthwaite and extended their flight to 30 minutes, the first of 10 flights to have 30 minutes or more. 8 of these were between 30 and 59 minutes, with 3 of these having 40 minutes or more. Sarah Stubbs headed this group with 51 minutes in Astir DPO, climbing to 4,000' asl over Thirsk, John Forrester had 44 minutes in Astir DSU finding some weak wave in the vicinity of the site, while Rob Bailey had 40 minutes in Astir FSH as he slowly descended from his release height. The 2 flights to exceed an hour took off within 15 minutes of each other, with both releasing into the wave between Bagby and Sutton village. Nigel Burke/Albert Newbery in the DG1000 climbed to 5,300' asl here while George Rowden in Astir FSH climbed to 5,100' asl. Both flights then found the wave disappearing in this region and both reconnected with the wave over Thirsk, with 5,400' asl being the maximum altitude reached on both flights. Both flights were characterised by extensive areas of zero. Nigel/Albert returned to site after 1:14, with George having 1:08. The wave then weakened, with a number of later >30 minute flights finding only zero or occasional weak lift. The club's 3 Astirs were well used, contributing 8 of the day's flights, while the tows were provided by the Pawnee, Eurofox TY and Eurofox OF, the latter having finally completed its paper work after an engine change.
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.