Monday Aug 6th – Wednesday August 8th
Posted: 08/08/2018 22:01
Monday:
Another pleasant very warm day at Sutton Bank with a light, mainly southerly, wind which freshened a bit from the SW later in the day.
John Carter, Stan and George Rowden started the ball rolling in the 2-seaters soon after briefing with other instructor members joining in to help during the day. Martyn Johnson was the first private owner to launch quickly followed by Steve Thompson. Both had flights of just under an hour in what we assume was an unsuccessful attempt to find weak wave or decent thermal conditions. Late in the afternoon Ron Beezer took off in his Nimbus 2 and had more success enjoying over two hours soaring before landing last at 7-15pm.
There were other notable log entries at the end of this day. John Carter test flew the DG303, the aircraft having been grounded for a day or two due to concerns about the control linkage. Some of the sealing tape at the port aileron was replaced which rectified things. After a check ride with Steve Thompson in the K21, Peter Robinson achieved his first solo flight in that glider, successfully landing the glider back on r/w 20 thus making a fairly routine day memorable. Congratulations Peter.
Tuesday:
Andy Parish was welcomed back at briefing after he, along with Kelly Teagle and Peter Goodchild, returned from Hus Bos where cracking conditions had given them six days of excellent x/c soaring in the Challenge Cup comp. It was good to see YGC pilots completing large tasks at high speed in conditions that favoured the locals from “down south”. Our more demanding Yorkshire weather would soon find them out!
Three of the club 2-seaters were in action from the word go as early Cu and hints of wave generated enthusiasm. Alan Beaumont was the first to exploit this with over an hour in the DG500 solo. Martyn Johnson (again) and Rob Bailey got airborne soon after, both flying for over three hours and enjoying making the best of conditions Rob described as “tricky”. He turned a number of TP’s in North Yorkshire to rack up 214km for his ladder claim, the only YGC entry of the day. Martyn ventured out to Masham and the Northallerton area in a search for wave. For once he missed out (bottled it in his words) and had a closeup view of the local terrain before making it back to Sutton Bank. With the 303 back on line, Frank Wilson gave it a good airing with a flight of two hours over an extended local area. Last of the private owners to fly were Stuart Heaton and Bill Payton in their DG1000T. They contacted the wave up to a height of c7500ft near Masham and continued to Staindrop andHawes.
Yet another pleasant Tuesday evening ( who chose Tuesdays? - It seems every one has been good!) allowed the group of evening instructors and trainees to get in valuable airtime. Thanks to Paul Whitehead and Steve Thompson who sat in the back seat.
Wednesday:
With a series of Atlantic fronts beginning to influence our weather the forecast suggested a mainly cloudy but dry day hopefully with some sunny spells. In the event the latter were in short supply and it was only as the hangar packing started that the skies opened up leading to a very pleasant evening.
A light, occasionally fresh, SW wind meant that hill lift was to be had most of the day. 14 of the days 17 flights were flown by the club 2-seaters with flight times ranging from around 20 minutes to about one hour. All these flights were flown by our flying staff. The club 303 and the Astir each had one flight, M Greenacre keeping DPO in the air for 1hr 10 mins and Frank Wilson having 1.5 hrs in KJH. Frank set off after release to follow a beckoning cloudstreet but this gave up on him round about the A1 causing him to scrape back to Sutton Bank and the safety of the ridge. Other private owners to take a launch were Jonathon May with an hour in his glider and father and son Newbery in their DG1000T having the longest flight of the day – just over two hours. We heard the distinctive sound of a turbo close to the site and surmise this was the Newberys prolonging their flight.
So after a distinctly ordinary day those on site had to view developing Cu with suggestions of wave just after the hangar doors were shut. Gliding can be a frustrating sport at times.
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.