YGC Blog

Saturday 12th.  A light NW’ly that backed into the W later, provided a good soaring day, resulting in a crop of cross countries and 50 ATs as an anticyclone replaced the low pressure systems that had dominated May so far.  Approximately 3,500 km were flown by 13 gliders, with Dave Latimer in his Ventus ct leading the way with an undeclared 662 km with turning points at Newmarket and Pendrock in Wales.   With the evening approaching, Dave had to get his engine out after passing Rufforth on the way home.  Conditions were not however, straightforward, as areas of overdevelopment caused some tricky moments for Derek Taylor in his ASW 22 on his 529 km YoYo, while Rory O’Conor had to resort to the engine under grey skies after having completed 411 km of an O/R to Newmarket.  Andy Wright, attempting an 750 km, completed 420 km in his Nimbus 3t before he succumbed to the overdevelopment in the Midlands and likewise, Steve Ball/John Ellis in Steve’s Duo Discus xt managed 108 km of an  300km O/R to Grantham when one of the Trent valley power stations failed to provide any lift.  Other cross country pilots were Stewart Heaton/Albert Newbery in their DG1000t, Lindsay McLane in his Ventus, Rob  Bailey in his ASG29, Peter Goodchild in Sam St Pierre’s DG200, Richie Toon in his LS7, Kelly Teagle in her LS6c, Tim Stanley in his ASW 20 and Derek Smith in his Ventus ct.  Maximum flight times were in excess of 8 hrs with 26 of the day’s flights exceeding an  hour.  Among all this cross country activity, 4 Trial Lesson pupils were flown, there were 2 Falke flights, while among club glider activity, Dave Campbell had 2:07 in the Astir and Fred Brown/Robin Hutchinson  1:22 in the DG1000.

Sunday 13th.  The anticyclone had drifted off to the SE, and with a low pressure system to the north, the day was characterised by cloudy skies and a moderate to fresh SW’ly that  provided a busy day’s winching.  Starting at 1000 hrs and continuing until 1740 hrs, 39 winch launches were flown in the majority of the club fleet with 7 private  owners also launching.  12 of the day’s launches gave flights in excess of an  hour, with Bob Calvert having 2:39 in his Discus, Jon May/Steve Ball 2:01 in their Duo Discus xt, while Ron Beezer had 2:08 in the club DG303 and Colin Troise/J Davis, 1:03 in the DG1000.  Chris Teagle, flying his LS6C managed to find some wave that took him to 5, 000 asl over Northallerton.  6 Trial Lesson pupils were flown.

Monday 14th.  The rain bearing fronts of the depression to the north had crossed the North of England overnight, leaving the site in a showery, moderate to fresh WSWly that veered into the W late in the day.  Most of the showers missed the site, allowing 16 winch launches to be  flown, with Jesper Mjels, one of  the 2 private owners to fly, staying aloft for 5:34 in his Pik 20, one of the 8 flights to exceed an hour.  Fred Brown took advantage of the conditions to practice  winch launch failures with Ian Plant, while John Marsh, after enjoying 2:23 in the DG303 combined with Ken Duxbury to post the 2 longest flights in  a club 2 seater, 31 and 34 minutes in the K21.

Wednesday 9th.   An initially light and variable wind became a  light to moderate ESE’ly before veering into the E at the end of the day, as another depression approached from the SW.  Soaring conditions were the norm for much of  the morning and early afternoon, but thermal activity declined as the cloud cover increased later.  20 ATs were flown with all 4 club two seaters, the DG303, Ka8 and 2 privately owned gliders contributing, 8 of the day flights exceeding an hour.  There was a single Trial Lesson flight.   Rob Bailey completed a Sut/Pickering/Pocklington/Sut triangle as his sought to increase his average cross country speeds and Bob Calvert continued to reduce his capital cost/flying hour in his Discus.  Chris Thirkell had the longest flight of the day, 2:16 in the Ka8,  while the course members continued to amass hours and launches with Andy Parish/Mike Cox having an hour in the DG1000.  The undoubted highlight of the day was Diane Thomas’ first solo, initial nervousness  quickly giving way to calm contentment as a good circuit was flown and Diane’s  subsequent receipt of her wings from Albert Newbery is captured in the following photo.

With a non-flying day confidently predicted for Thursday, the course members made a night of it in the bar, providing DIY music and finally retiring to bed at 4 am.

Thursday 10th.  Yesterday’s approaching depression had arrived by first light Thursday, so a day of low cloud and rain ensued, keeping the hangar doors well and truly shut.  The time was, however, profitably spent in repairing a radiator leak on one of the tractors.

Friday 11th.  The remnants of the low cloud and rain from Thursday’s depression dragged their feet across North Yorkshire, giving a morning of low cloud and rain in a moderate NW’ly wind.  The course members were however busy with lectures on circuit planing and airmanship.  Following lunch the skies started to clear and with a moderate WNW’ly blowing, the first flight of  the day, at 1445 hrs,  saw Bob Beck and remaining course member Tony have 41 minutes in  the K21, during which a large shower gave them off the clock  climb and sink rates before forcing  a landing.  Colin Troise and Jesper Mjels followed them aloft on the second and final flight of the day in the DG1000,  only to be quickly brought back down to earth by the same shower.  With the airfield very wet, the time taken to wash the DG1000 wasn’t that much less than its flying time.

Sunday 6th.  A light SE’ly, blue skies, with Cu blossoming late morning promised a good soaring day and so it turned out, although hail and snow showers developed to hinder those on cross countries.  Flying commenced just after 1000 hrs and continued until just before 1800 hrs, generating 41 ATs, including 18 by private owners.  The T21, after a long lay off, graced the skies in the hands of Mike Wood and co.    The good conditions led to over 1500 km being flown cross country and 27 flights over an hour, with virtually all the club fleet flown, and the 5 Trial Lesson pupils certainly chose a good day for their first flights.  Derek Taylor in his ASW 22, Andy Wright in his Nimbus 3t, Rory O’Conor in his DG800 and Chris Teagle in  his LS6C all completed 300’s, Derek doing a round tour of North Yorkshire, Andy an O/R to Belvoir Castle, Rory an anticlockwise circumnavigation of the Doncaster Class D air space and Chris a YoYo along the eastern flank of the Pennines.  Steve Ball/Robin Huchinson did 146 km in Steve’s Duo Discus xt, visiting 5 Yorkshire turn points, while Phil Lazenby, flying the club DG303, tried to improve on an previous >100 km FAI triangle time, but although completing the 133.5 km task, was thwarted for speed by hail showers over the Wolds that required a long and slow diversion to get to the Fridaythorpe turning point.  The good soaring conditions persisted until late, with the last two flights of the day both  exceeding an hour, with Karl Schneider Zapp and Katherina Zapp having the longest flight in a club 2 seater with 1:13 aloft in the K21.  Ken Arkley, flying his LS8t, visited Eggborough power station for a top up on his flight and provided the following picuture.

Monday 7th.  Today saw the start of the second course  week of the year with members Peter Wright, Nigel Dixon and Tony Drury.  Cu blossomed early in a moderate SE’ly and although the skies progressively clouded over as a depression approached from the SW, flying was unaffected and  continued until 1700 hrs.   15 ATs were flown, all in one or other of  the club 2 seaters with Derek Smith and Junior Andrew Forman managing the only flight in excess of an hour with 1:17.  The opportunity was also taken for the course members to fly on the simulator, while 2 Trial Lesson pupils were flown in the real world.

Tuesday 8th.  A moderate SSW’ly led to the temperature reaching the dizzy heights of 12C, resulting in some reasonable soaring conditions, 8 hours of operation, utilisation of all but one of the club fleet  and 5 private owners launches.  11 of the day’s flights exceeded an hour, with Bob Calvert in his Discus spending 5:45 aloft in what proved to be a fruitless search for wave.  Lindsay McLane also disappeared for a significant period in his Ventus,   while Ken Arkley had 2:20 in his LS8t.  David Campbell took Astir EBM for a 41 minute test flight, following which, Phil Lazenby took  the same glider for a flight of  1:27.  Albert Newbery/M Hollowell in the DG1000 and Bob Beck/Peter Wright in the K21 each had 1:06.  The day’s flying also included 3 flights with  Trial Lesson  pupils and 2 flights in the Falke.

Friday 4th.  The N’ly flow continued to bring in a low overcast and showers and the course members called in a day (or a week) in the early part of the afternoon and departed.    Later the skies cleared but too late to allow any flying.

Saturday 5th.  The weak cold front that had moved south on Friday did nothing to change the persistent N’ly flow but did bring in even colder temperatures under initially clearer skies.  So with 2 Day Course members, 4 Trial Lessons and any number of frustrated glider pilots to fly, the launch point on runway 02 was soon busy.  However, so was Cu development, with the result that showers were soon visible around the site.  The ones that crossed the site were mostly  light and fell as hail or snow grains, but  a significant shower caused an hours cessation of flying around lunch time.  Apart from the showers and areas of overdevelopment, some good  lift was available, with 9 of the 44 ATs of the day generating flights of over an hour and the conditions tempting 8 private owner launches.  Jon May and Steve Ball had 4 hours aloft during which they did an O/R to Hawes in their Duo Discus xt, with a bit of help from their engine, something David Latimer could have done with over Masham in his Ventus ct, his engine failing to cooperate and resulting in  him landing out.  Bob Calvert continued to reduce the cost/hour figure on  his newly aquired Discus with a flight of 3:19.  Robin Hutchinson/Fred Brown topped  the endurance stakes in the club 2 seaters with a flight of 1:21, a loop in strong lift resulting in a full regain of height and a second loop.   Duncan Pask, flying the Astir had the longest flight in  a club glider with1:25, finding the conditions improving towards the end of the flying day as the skies cleared to leave some nice looking Cu.  Meanwhile, Mike Smith found time from his flying to assist John Ellis to repair a further section of the hangar doors.

Wednesday 2nd.  A moderate to fresh  N’ly blew all day, accompanied by extensive low cloud so the course members again availed themselves of  the training available on the simulator before brightening skies in  the afternoon led to a investigative weather flight in the Falke.  This revealed a hole in the overcast close enough to the club to be utilised, although the general cloud base was still only around 500′ QFE.  David Campbell and Dave Winter took the first flight in the K21 at around 1515 hrs to confirm the hole was a wave slot, the resulting lift enabling them to put up the longest 2 seater flight of the day, 1:28.  Thereafter, all the course members enjoyed their first taste of wave soaring, with flight times in excess of an hour and gains to between 4,100 and 6,200′ QNH.  Andy Parish/Resh Khodabocus also jumped to the upwind slot that had appeared and explored it to the east towards Wombledon airfield.   The wave lift was effective from quite low down and while the wind was a moderate to fresh N’ly at airfield level, it veered into the NE and reduced to light/moderate at altitude.  On the 6th and last flight of the day, Jesper Mjels, flying the Astir, gained to 9,500′ QNH in his flight of 2:19.

Thursday 3rd.  The N’ly flow continued to bring in overcast skies, but this time no breaks appeared, the cloud base  increasing briefly from 500′ QFE to 1000′ QFE during the afternoon before lowering again.  The conditions did however allow the course members to do some circuit training in the Falke.  Pawnee Tango Mike was also returned  to site, the cause of its recent mechanical fuel pump problems having been traced to  the fact that the gear having the cam which drives the mechanical fuel pump had been fitted in the wrong place during the engines recent rebuild.  The opportunity was also taken to fly the Super Cub down to Bagby to have its charging problems resolved, while course members assisted in the re-rigging of Astir EBM after its recent ARC.  John Ellis and George Rowden meanwhile, aided by Bob Calvert, used the bucket equipped tractor to fill in a large depression in runway 20/02 abeam the members car park.  The bare patch was then re-seeded and clearly marked as an area to be avoided to allow the grass to germinate and become established.

Saturday 28th.  Low cloud, showers and a moderate to fresh NE’ly kept the gliders in the hangar but meant that the simulator was put to use.  The enforced rest from actual gliding meant that the members were fresh for the AGM in the evening, one of the highlights of which was the presentation of the Chairman’s award to Albert Newbery for his services to the club, not forgetting his recent and notable TV appearances with Hugh Dennis. Presentations were the order of the day for in addition to Albert, Nick Gaunt was formally appointed Club President.  In his speech of acceptance, Nick noted that some 60 years ago he had been asked to leave the club as he was deemed unsuitable, which just goes to show the benefits of persistence.   Photos of Albert with his award and Nick being presented with the President’s Badge of Office by Chairman Graham Evison  are shown below.

Sunday 29th.  A dull morning with a moderate to fresh NNE’ly all too soon turned to heavy rain and sleet as the temperature struggled to stay on the positive side of zero.  With the wind gusting to over 30 kts, it was a day to stay at  home with the central heating on.

Monday 30th.   A much brighter, drier and warmer day saw the  first gliding course of 2012.  This got off to an exciting start when, on the first flight of the day, Pawnee Tango Mike suffered a mechanical fuel pump failure, the resulting aborted AT providing both Les Rayment, flying the  tug and David Campbell, flying the K21, with the opportunity for some rapid decision making which they both completed successfully.  Thereafter, a further 18 ATs were flown,  mainly in the two K21s with a couple of flights in the Astir for good measure.  Conditions in the late morning were encouraging, for although cloudbase was only 1700′ QFE, thermal strengths were good and the course members profited with David Campbell and Alex having the longest flight of the day, an hour in the K21.  Prospects for better soaring conditions as the cloud base rose were, however, dashed, as the initially moderate ENE’ly  freshened as  sea air pushed in, killing convection and resulting in circuits for the rest of the day, although Duncan Pask, flying the Astir did manage 27 minutes aloft during the afternoon. 

Tuesday 1st May.  Overcast skes and a moderate to fresh, gusty NNE’ly wind with occasional rain, forecast to become more general, led to a decision to concentrate training on lectures and simulator work for the course members.  Ian Plant provided an informative Powerpoint based lecture on approach and landing techniques and this was followed by time in the simulator to allow 3 of the course members to put the theory into practice.  Resh Khodabocus, the other course member, spent his time in the hangar being briefed by David Campbell on flying the Astir in anticipation of a possible conversion flight later in the week, weather permitting.  The course members then set off to visit the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington.

Tuesday 24th.  The second day of the aerobatic course provided a light and variable but mainly NNW’ly wind and skies that gave good local soaring conditions late morning but also sufficient gaps to allow the aerobatic course members high tows.  In all 20 ATs were flown, split equally between the course members and general flying.  David Lynch celebrated his recovery from a broken leg with 1:08 in the Ka8 while Ron Beezer had 1:04 in the DG1000.  Howard Marshall, David’s syndicate partner in their Ka6 chipped in with 30  minutes, also in the Ka8.  Pawnee Tango Mike had its engine run which indicated a little bit of further work was required before it could return to full flying duties.

Wednesday 25th.  A moderate to fresh E’ly was accompanied by cloudy skies to start, the low base precluding flying and heavy rain set in by early afternoon, continuing for the rest of the day.   With prospects for the rest of the week looking dire, the aerobatic course was terminated although one of the members, Fran, remained on site.

Thursday 26th.  With the low pressure centred nearby, the light SE’ly backed to N as the day progressed and strengthened to moderate.  Low cloud in the morning was accompanied by heavy rain from early afternoon, creating a airfield more suitable for float plane operations than gliding.

Friday 27th. The fronts responsible for the rain of  the past 2 days had moved south, leaving the site in a moderate N’ly and, with skies brightening and recognisable Cu forming by mid morning, a flying day was in prospect.  An inspection of the airfield revealed a number of flooded/wet patches but not sufficient to prevent flying and Andy Parish/Ross Hume took the first launch just before noon and returned just over half an hour later to report 2-4 kts under a cloud base of 1700′ QFE.  Thereafter, a further 9 ATs were flown, 2 for Trial Lesson pupils and 1 for Bob Calvert in his new purchase, a very smart Discus, HSJ.  Bob had 1:48 in the air and took a cloud climb to 5000′ QNH, reporting 4-5 kts in cloud.  Colin Troise, flying the DG1000 managed to find one of the really soggy bits of the airfield on landing, creating a spectacular bow wave of very muddy water that reached the upper surface of the wings and the tailplane, requiring the glider to be returned to the hangar apron for a overall wash before being returned to the flight line.  A short period of overconvection mid afternoon coincided with Mike Wood’s first flight in the Astir resulting in a landing after 20 minutes, but undeterred, Mike took a second launch and more than doubled his first flight time with 43 minutes, the cloud base having risen to around 2700′ QFE.  On the last flight of the day, Colin Troise and George Rowden had 1:07 in the DG, a low save after around 25 minutes in the air being followed by a climb to just under 4000′ QNH, the sky by this time having completely clouded over.  In spite of this complete overcast, patches of weak lift allowed the flight to continue, the clearing visibility allowing a good view of a number of flooded river valleys.  Interestingly, between 2500 and 3000′ QFE, the wind was a light NE’ly with a temperature of -3C.  The day’s flying was completed by the movement of Pawnee Tango Mike to Bagby by Jesper Mjels, while Diane Thomas spent her day titilating up the ladies loo.

Wednesday 18th.  A nearby depression gave a day of low cloud and steady rain, so no flying was possible.

Thursday 19th.  The depression had not moved much so another non  flying day of rain and low cloud ensued.

Friday 20th.  The low cloud and steady rain of  the previous days had now moved away, but with low pressure dominating, the day was one of frequent and heavy showers that prevented any flying.

Saturday 21st.  At last, a flying day, albeit not a particularly good one, as a day of showers, heavy at times was the norm.  Flying commenced just after 1000 hrs and continued, off and on until just after 1600 hrs, but only 7 ATs were flown, all in the club 2 seaters.  1 Day Course member and 2 Trial Lesson pupils were flown, the Day Course member, G Sharpe managing the longest flight of the day, 48 minutes with John Marsh in the K21.  All this excitement was too much for a couple of club members as the following photos show, with some members suggesting a new source of revenue for the YGC as a respite care centre.

Sunday 22nd.  The heavy showers with hail continued to dominate the weather, but although the site seemed to be ringed by them for most of the day, a reasonable flying day was had, with 2 private owners rigging and contributing to the 15 ATs flown.  In addition to the club’s 2 two seaters and 2 single seaters, the Falke was flown twice and 3 pilots topped an hour in the air.  Rob Bailey and Andy Hatfield had 1:12 and 1:09 in the DG303 respectively, while later in the day Rob flew the Discus for 1:09.  Jim McLean and Polly Whitehead put up the best time in a 2 seater with 46 minutes in the K21.  Another Day Course member and a single trial lesson were flown.

Monday 23rd.  Grey skies, low cloud and a cold, if light, N’ly flow greeted the members of the week’s aerobatic course led by Paul Conran, but the lower layer of cloud started to break up as the wind veered into the ENE and freshened slightly.  Flying started just after 1100 hrs with 2 Trial Lesson flights for Father and Daughter Cunningham, there being suffiicient gaps in the lower cloud to tow to 3000′ QFE off runway 02.  There was even a hit of lift under some of the lower cloud .  The improving situation allowed the aerobatic course to commence, this being a reasonably international one, with Peter from Portmoak, Fran from the Dublin GC and Chris Gill reprsenting the YGC.  An increase in the lower cloud and some very light rain led to a non flying interlude around lunch time, but thereafter, conditions improved with the persistent upper overcast going up slightly and  finally allowing ATs to 4000′ QFE  This  allowed the ground based onlookers to witness some prolonged inverted flying and rolling from the course members.  The day was also full of some determined aircraft/hangar shuffling as Pawnee Tango Mike’s engine replacement was finally completed and  the aircraft  taken out of the back of hangar No 1 and repositioned at the front of hangar No 2 in readiness for a final check and engine run on Tuesday.

Saturday 14th.  A moderate N’ly blew all day, bringing in general cloud, a few showers and becoming somewhat gusty around the middle of the day.  The showers/cloud delayed the start of flying until midday and the gusting wind restricted the trials of the Eurofox to the first 2 launches.  In all, 7 ATs were flown, all in 2 seaters, and with no lift to speak of, the longest flight of the day was 28 minutes by Kelly Teagle and Mr Walton in the K21.   In the evening, a much smarter set of pilots and partners assembled at the Golden Fleece Hotel in Thirsk for the Annual Dinner.  Guest speaker,  Group Captain Terry Jones from RAF Linton on Ouse entertained the guests with a few reminiscences from his flying career before presenting the annual flying trophies and awards to a goodly cross section of the membership.

Sunday 15th. The N’ly still blew but slowly moderated and veered into the NE.  Initially clear skies were soon filled with Cu and 10 private owners rigged, contributing to a day’s total of 28 ATs.  The Cu soon developed into showers, some of which fell as snow, with the temperature on site peaking below 5C.  Bill Payton/Lindsay McLane disappeared for 5 hours in Bill’s DG1000t, and the private  2 seaters amassed another 2:40 when Jon May and Steve Ball took their Duo Discus xt flew an attempted Sut W/Burn/Market Weighton/Sut task, but had to get the engine out on the way back to Sutton,  having completed 122 km, 89% of the task.  Pete Thelwall  set off on a Sut/Burn/Sut/Pontefract/Sut task but after dodging showers, was confronted by a “great wall of grey” and landed at Rufforth having 85 km, 43% of the task.  He was joined on the ground at Rufforth by Les Rayment in his Ventus ct.  Among all this cross country activity, 5 Trial Lesson pupils were flown, Andy Hatfield had 45 minutes in the DG303 and Paul Whitehead/Katherina Zapp had another 45 minutes in the K21. 

Monday 16th.  Although the air mass retained its  characteristics, the wind now blew gently from the SW, giving another good soaring day.  15 ATs were flown with 4 private owners launching.  Phil Lazenby flew a 174 km triangle, Sut/Garforth/Bev/Sut, (213 km on OLC), in  the club DG303  and a number of other pilots declared cross country flights including Albert Newberry in his DG1000t, Rob Bailey in his ASG29 and John Ellis and Ken Kelso in the club DG1000.  Rob flew Sut/Elvington/Market Weighton/Malton/Castle Howard/Tontine/Sut reaching 5,800′ asl over the Wolds, but the completion of the other tasks is currently uncertain.  In spite of strong lift, areas of overconvection and heavy sink contributed to two landouts.  Martyn Johnson landed out at Oulston in his DG600 and Ian Plant, flying the  K21 with Tor Taverner, just failed to make it back to the airfield, landing out on the Gallops some 1.6 km away and putting himself in contention for the 2012 Aux Vaches trophy.  5 of the day’s flights exceeded an hour and, in addition to a single Falke flight, 2 Trial Lesson pupils were flown.  David Campbell flying the K21 solo and John Marsh flying the Ka8 each recorded just over an hour in the air.  Among all this aerial activity, a contractor proceeded to drive a slitter over the quieter parts of the site to improve the sward.

Tuesday 17th.  Briefing was conducted with the site in cloud but with the promise of a clearance later.  So it transpired, with winching commencing at around 1300 hrs and continuing until after 1700 hrs, generating 11 launches.  A moderate to fresh W’ly  that slowly backed into the WSW provided good hill soaring conditions, but most pilots took advantage of the good thermal conditions  with 3-4 kt thermals and cloud base eventually rising to around 4500′ asl, any showers being light.  Martyn Johnson in his DG600 and George Rowden in his LS8t put up the longest flights of the day, 3:11 and 2:44 respectively, George being at one point the meat in a Eurofighter sandwich, the leader passing underneath with his wingman passing overhead courtesy of a quick dive from the LS8.   Barbara Rees, who had arrived over the weekend in her yellow Auster, first had 1:14 in the rerigged K21 and then a flight in the Ka8, in which, while hill soaring, she had a helicopter pass overhead.    Brian Wise and Ross Hume had 55 minutes in the K21.  Hangar packing was completed just before a much more substantial shower with hail arrived.

Thursday 12th.  The cool and showery, light to moderate flow from a N’ly quarter  continued initially giving some good lift, but under a relatively low cloud base, before the showers developed.  4 ATs,were flown, principally for the benefit of 3 Trial Lesson pupils with flights of between 20 and 32 minutes.  The only club member to fly was Ross Hume who, off the first flight of the day in the company of Andy Parish, had 45 minutes in the K21.  As on Wednesday, the showers duly developed and gave the  hangar packers a good soaking.

Friday 13th.  The cool, now N’ly flow continued, but with lighter winds.  Generally cloudy skies started to clear and with Cu forming, flying started around 1100 hrs and thereafter continued intermittently  until around 1630 hrs.  The intermittent nature of the flying was caused by overconvection,  which lead to leaden skies and no lift, conveniently around lunch time.  Thereafter, skies started to clear with the formation of some good Cu.  Mike Smith, hoping to brush up his thermalling techniques, took a pre lunch launch and was happily contemplating a couple of hours in the DG303 when the overconvection led to his arrival back on the ground after 1:08.  Andy Parish, flying with new member Steve Nesbit on the latter’s first flight,  had 51 minutes in the DG1000, a potentially marginal return to site being saved by some accomodating lift.  After the lunch break and with skies clearing, Ian Plant/Pauline Luty were all set to start their downwind leg in the K21 when a nice thermal took them up to cloud base at around 4000′ asl, extending their flight to 1:08.  Duncan Pask and George Rowden then launched around 14:30 hrs  into the more promising skies to the SE of the site.  Duncan subsequently had 1:36 in the DG303, while George completed a 107 km triangle in his LS8t, Sut/Snainton/Stamford Bridge/Sut, having to tiptoe around the Snainton turn point, but finding a large Cu on the last leg that gave 6-8 kts lift at 100 kts.  The day’s total of 7 ATs were supplemented by a single trip for Andy Parish/Reg Rowlinson in the Falke and the arrival a EuroFox for AT trials over the weekend.  The latter is shown taxiing to the club house on the following photo.