Thursday 16th to Friday 17th May 2019

Posted: 18/05/2019 10:57

Thursday 16th.   The anticyclone to the east of the UK had started to move away and be replaced by low pressure moving north from France, so a different air mass resulted, giving a reasonable soaring day, although the wind, again from the ESE, had increased to become moderate.  Operations off runway 20 comprised 26 launches with all the club 2 seaters and 1 of the club single seaters flown, while private owners contributed 6 launches and 5 of the 7 flights to exceed an hour.  Rob Bailey in his ASG29, flew the longest of the 4 cross countries flown on the day, 203 km with TPs at Beverley, Garforth and Northallerton, while Bill Payton and Stuart Heaton in their DG1000 did an 175km O/R to Garsdale Head.  Chris Booker, flying his LS1 did a truncated declared task, covering 129 km with TPs at Ripon and Burn, while Toby Wilson landed out near Masham enroute to Leyburn after turning Ripon in his Standard Cirrus.  Pilots reported good conditions over parts of North Yorkshire although sea air incursion meant poor conditions in other areas leading to significant diversions off track, abandoned tasks and relatively slow cross country speeds.   Andy Parish and Peter Robinson flew the DG1000 to Kirbymoorside and back, covering 86 km, while Chris Knapp flew the DG303 for 1:35 locally.  Day course member G Thirlwell accumulated 1:26 of flying time from  his 2 flights with John Carter while Bruce Grain and Ron Linton topped the  11strong >30 minute list with 58 minutes in K21 KLW.

Friday 17th.  The increasing influence of the low pressure led to a change in wind direction from E'ly to N'ly, the strength being light to moderate.  Operations were therefore off runway 02, but generally cloudy skies were the order of the day.  A less than optimistic forecast seemed to have a negative effect on attendance, so only 7 launches were flown all day, with 3 of these being for First Flight pupils.   Cloud indicated wave conditions encouraged Alan Beaumont to take the K21 JVZ to investigate and he was rewarded with the longest flight of the day, 1:09, most of this being downwind of the site.  However, the lift was weak and although able to maintain height, Alan never climbed above his release height.    However, no one else contacted, with the most flights being around 30 minutes in duration.

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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