Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th August 2022.
Posted: 14/08/2022 12:13
Thursday 11th. Another hot, blue day at site, with occasional afternoon Cumulus over the Pennines and a light SSE'ly blowing, this slowly veering into the SSW during the day. 27 ATs were flown off runway 20 behind the Eurofox, with 10 flights of over 30 minutes and 7 of these greater than an hour. 2 private owners launched, contributing 2 of the flights of greater than an hour, with club 2 seaters adding 3 flights and 2 of the club Astirs the remaining 2 flights. The majority of these flights remained local, but Matt Woodhouse flying Astir DPO flew 134 km, with TPs at Market Weighton and Burn at a handicapped speed of 85.9 kph, while one of the day's flights in the DG1000 went 3 km to the west of Pickering and 13 km SW of site. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2t did an O/R to Pocklington,, recovering from a low point there to his best climb near Stamford Bridge, 5,600' asl from which a 30 km final glide resulted. 8 of the day's flights climbed to over 5,000' asl, with 3 flights climbing to over 6,000' asl as the temperature at RAF Leeming peaked at 31.2C.
Friday 12th. Light and variable winds eventually became ESE and strengthened to light to moderate, so it was again another day of operations off runway 20 into a cloudless sky, although a few Cumulus appeared during the hottest part of the day over the Pennines. There were 4 private owner flights, 3 by members of the T21 syndicate, all of which were of limited duration, with Chris Handzlik in his DG300 doing an 98 km O/R to Aysgarth, finding stronger thermals enroute and climbing to 6,300' asl, the only flight to exceed 5,000' asl, with those staying local having climbs to between 4 and 5,000' asl. Ron Beezer/Diane Thomas in the DG1000 joined Chris as the only flights to exceed an hour, their 1:20 being exactly half the duration of Chris's, and their best climb to 4,800' asl being the best locally to Sutton. The best of the rest saw David Slocombe give two of the day's 6 First Flight pupils 40 minutes each in K21 JVZ.
Saturday 13th. A similar day weather-wise, again saw operations off runway 20, although the change from a light and variable wind to a moderate ESE'ly later in the day provided some good practice of cross wind landings. It was another hot day, although the temperature at RAF Leeming peaked at just under 30C, and soaring was confined to a brief period during the afternoon, from around 1400 to 1530 hrs, during which 3 flights exceeded 30 minutes with 2 of these an hour, the day's launch total being 14, including 5 First Flight pupils. Visitors Hollowell and Johnson flew their DG1000t on a meandering O/R to just west of Grimwith Reservoir in the Pennines, having a low point of around 1000' and a high point of 5,900' asl, during their 2:17 flight, the straight O/R distance being 104 km. John Ellis in his DG800 had 1:35, finding the local thermals restricted in altitude and strength compared with those further west, where a few Cumulus were visible, John's best climb being to 3.800' asl. The other > 30 minute flight was by Fred Brown and Fred Hill in K21 JVZ, their flight time being 43 minutes, with all three of the above gliders sharing a local thermal at one point.
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.