Tuesday 13th to Friday 17th September

Posted: 18/09/2016 10:05

As a post script to the weekend's flying, the following photo show Gerry Murphy receiving his wings from Kevin Kieley after his first solo on Saturday 10th.  Congratulations are also due to Richie Toon who, flying his LS7, won the Mountain Soaring Competition held recently at Aboyne after a less than intensive pre-competition training programme.

gerry-murphy-sept

Tuesday 13th.  A light to moderate SE'ly accompanied one of the hottest, if not the hottest day of the year, the  site temperature reaching 26.5C, but this was insufficient to produce much in the way of convection, only 2 of the day's 33 ATs generating flights of over 30 minutes and none over an hour.  The wind also progressively decreased to become light and from the south as the course members continued to add to their flying experience.  Visitor Adrian Lake had 2 flights in his LS6 and almost managed 30  minutes on his second flight, his 28 minutes being also achieved by John Carter and Christina Griffiths in K21 JVZ and by David Campbell and Mr Howar in K21 KLW.  Tom Dale, flying the DG500 solo, posted a 30 minute flight but John Carter and Nigel Must in KLW found and used the only convective help on the day to stay up for 52 minutes.  The day's flying activities were completed by 2 flights in the Falke while 2 First Flight pupils were flown.

Wednesday 14th.   Early morning stratus soon burned off as a light to moderate N'ly blew, this declining to become light by the end of the day, but the generally blue skies failed to yield much in the way of convection so that only 3 of the day's 28 ATs produced flights of over 30 minutes and none over an hour.  Course instructors John Carter and Ron Beezer were joined by Tony Kendall from Pocklington on a day when only the club 2 seaters were flown and John Carter, this time with Christina Griffiths in K21 JVZ again had the longest flight of the day by a significant margin, their 53 minutes eclipsing the 38 minutes achieved by Ron Beezer and Andy Copland in the same glider and the 33 minutes by John and Christina again, this time in K21 KLW.  Although the conditions were essentially non-soarable, they were appreciated by the 4 First Flight pupils who were flown on the day.

Thursday 15th.  Thursday was virtually a repeat of Wednesday weatherwise, the  only differences being that the N'ly wind was much lighter and the low stratus took longer to burn off, delaying the start of flying until around 1130 hrs.  With again no convection to speak of, some of the course members indulged themselves in low cost, 1000' ATs behind the Eurofox, while the 5 First Flight pupils of the day were given 3,000' ATs to ensure that they had at least 20 minutes in the air.  One of these, Howard White,  was a Mile High pupil, with the result that, in the company of Ron Beezer, their flight in K21 JVZ lasted 34 minutes, while another First Flight Pupil, K Odling had 27 minutes off a 3,000' tow in JVZ with Andy Parish.

Friday 16th.  A thundery front crossed the country overnight with the site in cloud and light rain for most of the morning.  Clearing skies during the afternoon, as the NNW'ly decreased from moderate to become light, failed to generate much enthusiasm for flying so the hangar doors remained shut.

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.

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