Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th February 2024
Posted: 01/03/2024 13:42
Tuesday 27th. Morning rain delayed the start of flying until 1240 hrs and then low cloud limited launches to 2, Derek Smith Dave McKinney in the DG500 and Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t. Derek/Dave managed to maintain their release height of 1,600'QFE and even climb a couple of hundred feet for a while in weak wave some 2.5 km S of site. but returned to land on 20 after 20 minutes, the wind being a moderate SSE'ly. Bob's AT off runway 20 was also restricted by the cloud, but using his engine to fly to clearer weather to the west, contacted wave 7 km NE of Boroughbridge and climbed from 4,000 asl to 8,000' asl. Proceeding to the S, Bob climbed from 5,500' asl to 8,800' asl 7.5 km to the SSE of Boroughbridge and then flew to the NNW, climbing to his peak altitude of 10,000' asl just to the E of Ripon and from there flew to just S of Catterick before returning to site via Knaresborough and letting down over Topcliffe. He landed on 24 after a flight of 3:05 with the wind now from the SSW. Some views from Bob's flight are included below.
Wednesday 28th. Another predominately cloudy day, with rain arriving in the afternoon, the wind being a moderate SSE'ly. 9 ATs were flown off runway 20, including one for a First Flight pupil and although most flights were back on the ground in 24 minutes or less, Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t again used his engine to contact wave to the NNW of Thirsk climbing initially to 6,900' asl. He then flew west to climb to 9,000' asl just to the N of Ripon before climbing to his maximum altitude of 12,300' asl near Masham. An excursion further W took him to the vicinity of Hawes before returning to site via Pateley Bridge and Boroughbridge, landing after 3:33 with Bob providing the following photos.
Derek Smith/Dave McKinney took a high tow in order to carry out some spin exercises in the DG500, landing after 25 minutes, while off the last flight of the day, Guy Hartland/Duncan Pask had 24 minutes in K21 JVZ, being able to maintain their release height of 1,500' QFE soaring the White Horse ridge for a while.
Thursday 29th. A light to moderate WSW'ly that slowly backed into the SW brought another day of wave activity that resulted in a number of pilots climbing to 10,000' asl or more and flying cross countries. The pilots climbing to 10,000' asl or more included Bob Calvert in his Discus 2t, 11,300', Chris Handzlik in his DG300, 10,700', Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct, 10,200' and Paul and Polly Whitehead in the DG500, 10,000' all asl, while Konrad Kawalec climbed to 6,900' asl in Astir DSU and Bruce Grain took Astir DPO to 4,100' asl during a Test Flight following its return from its ARC. Polly supplied the following photos from her flight with Paul in the DG500.
Most pilots contacted the wave in the vicinity of Thirsk or slightly further N in the Felixkirk/Knayton area, although earlier in the day, Jesper Mjels flying DSU had a slow climb to 3,800' asl just in front of the home ridge. Bob and Fred used their engines to contact the wave but those without engines found climb rates to be initially low, The cross country pilots were led by Chris in his DG300 who flew 187 km with TP's at Murton (5 km E of Appleby) and Hawes and operated between 8,000' and 10,000' asl with the outside temperature around -10C, regretting leaving his warm socks at home. Chris's intention to fly further NW was abandoned due to poor looking wave conditions in that area. Bob in his Discus 2t flew to the vicinity of Masham, Grassington and Pateley Bridge before turning Wetherby S and returning to site, a distance of ~155 km, while Fred in his Ventus 2ct flew around 130 km visiting Masham, Leyburn, Richmond, back to Masham, Pateley Bridge and Ripon and hence to Sutton. Paul and Polly in the DG500, flew 86 km via a north/south O/R to near Newton Aycliffe in county Durham. The majority of the day's flights contacted the wave or hill soared the home bowl, resulting in 8 of the day's 14 launches exceeding 30 minutes and 6 of these exceeding an hour, with the day also seeing 2 First Flight pupils flown. So February ended with 3 wave days in a row and a number of very happy pilots.
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.