Sunday 29th January to Wednesday 1st February 2023
Posted: 02/02/2023 15:21
Sunday 29th. A moderate to fresh W'ly with accompanying clear skies saw 10 ATs off runway 24 before flying came to a halt in the early afternoon as a lowering overcast prevailed. A mixture of hill and wave lift led to 6 flights of over 30 minutes with 3 of these over an hour, Sarah Stubbs with 1:28 in Astir DSU, Fred Brown/James Prosser with 1:18 in the DG1000 and Steve Thompson and visitor A Wening with 1:08 in K21 JVZ being the > an hour pilots. DSU's Flarm was not operating so I do not know where Sarah went or how high she climbed, but Fred/James took a tow to 3,000' QFE and then climbed to 5,300' asl over the forward ridge before getting to 5,700' asl over Bagby/Thirsk. Steve and his P2 had a similar flight path, climbing to around 4,000' asl over the forward ridge, then to 6,400' asl over Bagby and then reaching 7,000' asl over Sutton village. Others to climb in the wave included Kelly & Chris Teagle who climbed to just over 6,000' asl over Kilburn in their 37 minute flight in the DG500, while Toby Wilson/Andy Wilson in JVZ climbed to 4,800' asl off the last flight of the day as the weather closed in. The Falke had a single flight, this including a transit of Teesside airspace to Bishop Middleham followed by a visit to Saltburn before the return to site.
Monday 30th. Clear blue skies prevailed all day as a moderate to fresh WNW'ly blew, so it was a winch launching day off runway 24. most landings being on 30. 17 launches were flown with the emphasis again being on familiarising members with the launch procedures relevant to the Skylaunch winch, with most flights being short duration and confined to the main bowl, with operating heights being typically 8-900' QFE. The exception was the 1st flight of the day, John Carter/Bruce Grain taking the DG500 on an O/R to High Paradise Farm and maintaining 8-900' QFE with a peak height of 1300'QFE in their 17 minute flight. This duration was only exceeded by the 18 minutes flown by Chris Collingham/Les Rayment in the DG500. The day also included some simulated winching failures, Clive Swain/Dave McKinney electing to land on runway 02 from theirs.
Tuesday 31st. A fresh to strong W'ly gusting to over 40 kts meant there was no flying.
Wednesday 1st February. The W'ly wind slowly declined to become moderate/moderate to fresh allowing flying to get underway around 1315 hrs. 5 winch launches were flown off runway 24 with K21 JVZ being the only glider flown and Bruce Grain and Toby Wilson providing instruction to Tony Kirby and Dan McClean. Although the ridge was working well with operating heights around 800' to 1100' QFE, allowing O/Rs to High Paradise Farm, the limited time available before sunset led to most flights being around 30 minutes. The last flight of the day was also the longest, Bruce Grain/Dan McClean having 36 minutes as they did an O/R to High Paradise Farm before landing around 1625 hrs.
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.