Friday 16th to Saturday 17th May 2025
Posted: 18/05/2025 21:57
Friday 16th. With little change in the synoptic situation, it was again a day with moderate NNE'ly winds and an overcast to start the day, this quickly retreating back to the coast. Winch launches were the preferred launch method off runway 02, with 16 flown, but there were 4 ATs for the day's 4 First Flight pupils. The First Flight pupils averaged 27 minutes flying, the result of tows to between 2,700' and 3,200' QFE and some weak wave located 1-2 km to the NE of the site, this either resulting in a slow descent or in the case of the first pupil, a climb from 3,200' to 4,000' QFE. The winch launched flights to around 1,000' were followed by flight times of 2-3 minutes, but James Shaw/Rob Bailey in K21 KLW, managed 6 minutes by briefly contacting the wave in the same place as the AT'd flights and maintaining their launch height for a little while.
Saturday 17th. Another day of cloudy skies to start, these clearing around 1300 hrs as a moderate N'ly continued to blow. Operations off runway 02 totalled 18 ATs with wave and thermal lift giving rise to 10 flights of over 30 minutes with 5 over an hour. I didn't have access to the Flarm traces for the day so apart from Bob Clavert, who emailed me details of his flight, plus photos, the only other information I have to report is flight durations. Apart from Bob, Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct with 3:14, Jamie Quartermaine with 1:35 in his ASW 27, John Forrester with 2:24 in Astir DPO and Yuri Kozhurov with 3:13 were the > an hour pilots, with Clive Swain/Jacob Gray having the longest 2 seater flight, 50 minutes in K21 KLW. Bob in his Discus 2ct had a trial run to contact the primary Helm wave west of Cross Fell and flew to Buckden, arriving there at 4,000' where he contacted the wave and climbed to 10,000' asl. From there a trip eastwards to Scarborough followed with a climb back to 10,000' over Wombledon on the way back to site, the whole flight taking 5:34. Bob's photos include complete cloud cover towards the coast and the wave at Buckden.
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.