Tuesday 9th May 2023
Posted: 11/05/2023 14:15
Tuesday 9th. A light to moderate W'ly blew all day, declining to become light from mid afternoon. A sunny start led to early Cumulus development and skies became overcast later in the day, but forecast heavy showers did not materialise locally during the flying day. 5 private owners flew, contributing to the day's 15 ATs off runway 24 and also accounting for all but two of the >1 hr flights, with Guy Hartland providing the other 2, the first,1:20, with John Dore and the second,1:04, with Ron Brister, both in the DG500. Guy and John climbed to around 4,000' asl while Guy and Ron climbed to 4,700' asl while doing an O/R to 3 km SW of Ripon with Guy supplying the following photo of Boroughbridge taken during the flight.
The cross country exploits of the private owners were probably constrained by the forecast of heavy showers, but made use of the building Cumulus Congestus with some cloud climbs. Chris Handzlik took his DG300 to 7.800' asl while flying an O/R to Pateley Bridge, commencing his final glide from his maximum altitude before reaching the TP, this resulting in a 61 km glide back to site. Arthur Docherty in his ASW20 also did a cloud climb to 6,300' asl near Thimbleby, using the altitude to venture a few km north of Tontine, but spent most of his 2:11 flight locally. Bill Payton/Dave McKinney in Bill's DG1000t spent their 2:02 hr flight flying to 5km north of Carlton Bank and 5 km NNE of York while staying below cloud base, while James Prosser flew his Ventus 2t to 5 km SE of Northallerton and 10 km SW of Ripon, but otherwise stayed more local in his 3:40 flight. Thomaz Rusin soared locally in his DG300 for 1:07 to complete the list of >1 hr pilots. At the end of the flying day Austin Hartland and Roger Burghall each had 38 minutes, Austin in Astir DSU and Roger solo in K21 KLW. Overall average climb rates were 1-2kts with best average at 3,5-4.5 kts.
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.