Saturday 7th to Sunday 8th June 2025
Posted: 09/06/2025 17:16
Saturday 7th. A forecast of heavy showers and the risk of thunderstorms led to the day being scrubbed.
Sunday 8th. A moderate W'ly blew all day, the skies remaining generally cloudy with a few showers, although these did not affect flying too much. The day's operations comprised 7 AT's and 8 winch launches off runway 24, the ATs taking place in the morning into the early afternoon with the winch launches commencing at 1400 hrs until the end of flying at 1805hrs. The 7 ATs were for the day's 5 First Flight pupils, their flights averaging 23 minutes, one for visitor Steve Codd and one Tony Drury in his DG303. Tony had 2:01 utilising a mixture of hill lift and weak thermals and operating between 1300' to 2,300' QFE as he flew the main W'ly ridge as far as its northern end. The 8 winch launches generated 7 flights of over 30 minutes with 3 over an hour, 2 of the latter being by private owners. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct had 2:18 , during which climbed to 2,400' QFE and used his engine to search west to Topcliffe for wave but without finding any. Kelly Teagle in her LS8t-18 had 1:10, mainly using lift on the main W'ly ridge with the occasional thermal, but never climbing above 1,700' QFE. The other > an hour flight saw Les Rayment/Sarah Stubbs share a 1:14 flight in K21 JVZ during which they hill soared at 700-1100' QFE and used thermals to climb to 2,500' QFE. While most pilots restricted their hill soaring to the main W'ly ridge, Bruce Grain/Sarah Nolan also soared the Cowesby Bowl and forward ridge in their 39 minute flight in K21 KLW.
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.