Wednesday 5th to Saturday 8th October
Posted: 08/10/2016 22:20
Wednesday 5th. A moderate ESE'ly blew under mainly cloudy skies and so flying started off runway 06 around 1045 hrs. However, after 2 flights, the wind had become moderate to fresh with gusts into the high 20kts, so flying was stopped with the hope that conditions would calm down. This they eventually did, but not until 1800 hrs, too late to allow any further flying to take place. However, while real flying came to halt in the late morning, the simulator came to the rescue with 3 of the day's budding pilots spending time in more equitable conditions with Richie Toon. The 2 early, real, glider flights had included one for the only First Flight pupil of the day, Sheila Brown, who had 31 minutes in K21 KLW with Andy Parish, while Neville Smalley had 15 minutes in K21 JVZ with Richie Toon.
Thursday 6th. The reduction in wind strength late on Wednesday continued into Thursday, the direction being E'ly with operations again off runway 06. The sky was soon showing signs of convective activity with long streets of Cu forming and the good thermal conditions were appreciated by those were on site. 14 ATs were flown, with 2 flights exceeding an hour and an additional 7 30 minutes. Andy Parish and Jinn Tsai indicated what was in store off the first flight of the day, this lasting for 41 minutes in K21 JVZ, with Richie Toon and Tony Kirby going slightly better later on with 44 minutes in the same glider. It was left to the single seater pilots to post the longest times with Graham Taylor having 1:32 in Astir DPO before having another 57 minutes in the Discus, while Mike Greenacre had 1:07 in Astir DPO. The day also saw 4 First Flight pupils flown.
Friday 7th. The light to moderate E'ly flow continued but in contrast to Thursday, it was a much cloudier airstream that also contained a number of showers. These led to flying coming to a halt just after midday, but not before 6 ATs had been flown, 2 of which were for First Flight pupils. The overcast skies meant that soaring was not possible, with Andy Parish and Keith Womac in K21 JVZ having the longest flight of the day at 26 minutes, with Andy and Chris Weir, again in JVZ, having 20 minutes. Chris went on to have 2 other flights, but these were short duration circuit planning excercises off 1,000' tows. The cessation of flying around lunch time led to Albert and Martin Newberry retiring to the simulator to sample some drier conditions.
Saturday 8th. The wind was now a light to moderate N/NNE'ly so operations were off ruwnay 02, a medium level overcast occasionally breaking up to provide sunny skies, these short lived breaks nevertheless leading to convective activity. 29 ATs were flown, with all 4 club 2 seaters utilised to accommodate members, 3 First Flight pupils and and 9 strong group from the Morgan Owners Club, including our own Dick Cole. The short lived convective activity was best used by those flying the Discus, with Mike Collins having 34 minutes and even managing to gain 500' of height, while his co-Discus pilots, Tony Drury and Steve Ogden, had 33 and 30 minutes respectively. The only 2 seater flight to get to 30 minutes was by John Marsh and Jinn Tsai in K21 JVZ. First Flight pupils Claire Hayton and Nick Hayden enjoyed the experience so much they each had another flight later in the day while Mark Newburn and Tom Dale shared a flight in the Falke. Saturday also saw the return of the DG1000 from the YGC expedition to the Border's GC at Milfield, together with some of the returning YGC members, well satisfied with a week of good wave and thermal flying as the following report by Colin Troise and Polly Whitehead indicates.
Thursday 6th. RASP was again forecasting wave, this time in an easterly and downwind of the airfield. Although wave was initially visible, the strong wind and the sun turned the wave into streets, and that’s how it remained all day. Many people neither rigged nor flew, but of those that did all had some good streets under the 2000 feet cloudbase and John Ellis recorded a 123 kms task.. The 1000 flew once with Martin and Bob, and once with Bob and a visitor
Further to Colin’s post, I added up all heights flown to by YGC pilots, and have come up with a total approximate figure of over 150,000 feet this week. May even be nearer 200,000 ft as I couldn’t get everyone’s figures. There were also 3 thermic days, so all in all, a good week. The 1000 has been flown extensively. The Borders club have worked their socks off to get us launched, sometimes under very challenging conditions.
After all its flying the DG1000 was given some tlc before its return to Sutton as the following photo shows.
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.