Friday 22nd June 2018

Posted: 24/06/2018 12:15

Friday 22nd.  Yesterday's NW'ly had veered into the N and become light to moderate, this moderation continuing throughout the day as the wind declined to light and backed into the W, this eventually causing a runway change from 02 to 24 by the middle of the afternoon.  The skies remained blue for most of the day with a few shallow Cumulus appearing by late afternoon, the thermals being narrow and strong but extending up to around 6,000' by late afternoon under the clouds.  A number of the 13 private owners who launched set off on cross countries, with most finding conditions tricky at times, leading to some pilots having to recourse to their engines.  Those who didn't included Derek Taylor who flew  his ASW22 on his first cross country flight of the year around Rotherham, Thirsk and Goole to cover 305 km,  Jim McLean in his ASW24 who flew 143 kms, abandoning his declared task after turning Market Weighton and Masham and returning to Sutton, and Peter Clay who visited Pocklington and Burn, clocking up 126 km.  Andy Wright in his Nimbus and John Ellis in his DG800 both had to resort to their engines at some point in their flights but continued to explore the countryside of North Yorkshire.  Based on their Flarm traces, Andy visited Sutton on the Forest, Thirsk and Pontefract while John turned Stamford Bridge, Masham and the Tontine with estimated flight distances of 160 and 135 km respectively.  Lindsay McLane did an O/R to Grantham, a distance of 305 km,  again based on his Flarm trace, but I am assuming it was an engine free flight.  Chris Booker, flying the Discus, climbed to 6,000' asl over the site and used the height to do a quick O/R to the Tontine at 130 kph.  The day produced 17 flights of over an hour and a further 14 over 30 minutes, with Graham Taylor having 2 flights of over 2 hours in the DG303 and Phil Lazenby having 2 flights in the Astir, the second of 2:05 being somewhat more successful than the first, which saw Phil back on the ground after 17 minutes.    Tony Drury gave his Mile High pupil an hour in  the DG1000, with all the other 4 First Flight pupils having soaring flights.    Soaring continued into the early evening with Ron Beezer and Jerry Henderson having just over an hour in the DG1000, taking off at just before 1800 hrs.  Ian Freestone, having flown up from Husbands Bosworth in his Pik20E on Thursday, flew back down there today and the day's flying was completed by 2 Falke sorties and the flying of a group of 8 Scouts by Tony Drury and Toby Wilson in in the evening, the last flight landing at 21:32 hrs, the day's launch total being 48.

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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