Friday 3rd to Tuesday 7th June
Posted: 07/06/2016 21:52
Friday 3rd. Friday continued the trend of the earlier part of the week, the light to moderate N'ly wind bringing in a low overcast that prevented any flying, although, similar to Thursday, the cloud did break up in the late afternoon, too late to allow any flying to take place. The non-flying weather did, however, allow Steve Thompson and helpers to get on with repainting the outside of the clubhouse.
Saturday 4th. At last a flying day, with the low overcast breaking by late morning to allow flying to get under way from 1230 hrs, the wind being a light to moderate NE'ly. 3 of the club 2 seaters and 2 privately owned gliders contributed to the 19 Ats flown on the day, although a lack of any lift meant that there were no flights of over an hour and only one over 30 minutes, this particular honour falling to Darren Lodge in his LS8-a8 who hung on to record 32 minutes flying time. Fred Brown and one of the day's 8 First Flight pupils, S Irvine, almost made the half hour with 28 minutes in K21 JVZ while John Marsh and Tony Drury had 26 minutes in the same glider. The better weather also allowed the Falke to have a couple of sorties. Many of the First Flight pupils who fly with us do so having been given the flight as a birthday present, but few actually make the flight and birthday coincide. This, however, was the case today, when Mr Sreenivas was not only given a surprise birthday flight but also a surprise birthday cake, both of which where received with much pleasure, as the following photo shows.
Sunday 5th. Sunday dawned bright and sunny and remained that way all day, allowing flying to start around 1015 hrs and continue until 1820 hrs, by which time 39 ATs had been flown into initially a light N'ly wind that progressively veered into the S. The anticyclonic inversion limited the generation of usable lift so there were no flights of over an hour but there were 10 of greater than 30 minutes, although a number of these came from high tows from pilots desperate to achieve some reasonable flying times. Thus, John Marsh and Tony Drury had two tows to 4,000' QFE to generate flight times of 25 and 35 minutes in the DG1000, while Colin Troise and Nigel Burke also had two 4,000' tows in the DG1000 with flight times of 32 and 31 minutes. As both these two parings are syndicate partners perhaps it was also an opportunity for bonding! Jamie Quartermaine, taking a 3,000' tow with First Flight pupil D. Whittaker, can be proud of the 33 minutes they had in the DG500. Conditions became more soarable towards the end of the flying day with Tony Drury, yes him again, having the day's best time of 50 minutes in Astir KRN, while Tim Stanley, taking off shortly after Tony in his ASW20, had 43 minutes, this being his second flight of the day. The highlight of the day was however the first solo of 15 year old Anton Mahnke, the following photos bringing the flavour of the flight from launch to touch down, together with the subsequent award of his wings by Paul Whitehead.
Well done Anton.
Monday 6th. The ridge of high pressure remained in place, so it was again of day of light to moderate winds, now from the SE, and blue skies to start, although eventually, Cu developed over the North Yorkshire Moors. 14 Ats were flown, with 2 of the club 2 seaters, Astir KRN and a single private owner rigging and flying. The presence of thermic lift helped two pilots to exceed an hour aloft, with 6 exceeding 30 minutes, the > 1 hour pilots being Rob Bailey in his ASG29t with 2:32 and Phil Lazenby with 1:10 in Astir KRN. Both made use of some strong lift and 4,000' asl cloud bases over the Moors, but Rob added in a excursion to Guisborough SW through dead air, being grateful to a thermalling Buzzard for his low save after arriving back over the Moors. Undeterred, Rob crossed the Moors and continued south over the Vale of Pickering but turned back after rounding Castle Howard due to the lack of lift, arriving back at Sutton after having covered 117 km. Rob provided this view of Rosebery Topping taken during his flight.
Back at site, Albert Newbery almost made the 1 hour mark, first with Tony Smythe in K21 JVZ with 58 minutes, following this later with 56 minutes in the company of Geoff Turner in the same glider, while Baz Sonneveld had 47 minutes in Astir KRN off the last flight of the day.
Tuesday 7th. The forecast for the day predicted more widespread thunderstorms than on the previous day, but it was a day of somewhat milky blue skies at Sutton, the wind again being light from the SE before veering into the S later. Towering Cu to the North and West were visible from early on in the day and it was to those to the north that Rob Bailey flew in his ASG29t, taking a high tow before connecting with a 4 kt thermal that took him to 5,600' asl. Using this height and taking advantage of the lift under the convergence, Rob visited Carlton, the Tontine, Guisborough, Churchouses and the Tontine for the second time before returning to Sutton, covering 95 km with minimum circling in a flight time of 1:10. Back at site, 24 other Ats were flown, as 5 First Flight pupils, members and Paul Field, a visitor from Booker flew. With limited thermal activity over the site, there were no other flights of over an hour, but there were 3 over 30 minutes, with Martyn Johnson and George Rowden, who had both rigged their gliders but didn't fly them, each taking 1 of the day's 5 First Flight pupils for flights of 35 and 37 minutes respectively, the result of finding some blue thermals over the southern ridge. Martyn also took visitor Paul Field for a 31 minute flight in the DG1000. Phil Lazenby took the recently refurbished Ka8 for a 20 minute test flight, while Peter Wright posted the longest flight in a club glider with 25 minutes in Astir KRN, just pipping Joan Wilson who had 24 minutes in the Ka8. The Falke had as single sortie as the privately owned T21, back from its ARC, had its wings and fuselage reunited before being put back in the hangar. As all this was going on, Steve Thompson was continuing with his work of repainting the outside of the clubhouse.
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.