Wednesday 24th to Thursday 25th July 2019

Posted: 25/07/2019 21:13

Wednesday 24th.  Thunderstorms in the small hours deposited 14 mm of rain and come morning, extensive low cloud brought in on a light to  moderate E'ly meant a delay to the start of flying.  Conditions slowly improved with the wind veering into the SSW, allowing operations to commence off runway 20 around 1300 hrs.  2 privately owned gliders launched, Rob Bailey in his ASG29 having 2:07 as he went S to Sherburn in Elmet, climbing to 5,500' asl while doing so.  The other privately owned glider was the T21 which had 2 flights, the first with Nick Gaunt and Justin Wells on board for 44 minutes, the second with Tor Tavener and M Ongal for 17 minutes.  Ian McFarlane and I Swannie were the only other pilots to break an hour, having 1:34 in K21 JVZ, while of the 5 flights to exceed 30 minutes, Colin Troise was the list topper with 48 minutes flying JVZ solo. The only other solo flight in a club aircraft saw Tom Goodall have 39 minutes in Astir DPO.  Cloud base eventually rose to around 3.500' asl as the week's course members under instructor Graham Evison added more flights and times to their log books from their contributions to the day's 21 ATs. 

Thursday 25th.  The day's synoptic charts indicated a day of light S'lies, but in fact a moderate E'ly blew all day meaning operations off runway 06.  Sun cream and readily available water were the order of the day as under generally cloudless skies the temperature rose to 31.9C.  Phew!!  Soaring flights in excess of 30 minutes were hard to come by, in spite of brief indications of wave over Ampleforth, the best climb of 500' and the longest flgiht of 34 minutes being achieved by George Rowden in K21 JVZ with one of the day's 4 First Flight pupils.  Only 3 other flights from the 17 flown on the day managed 30 minutes or more, George Rowden providing another of 30  minutes, again with a First Flight pupil, Colin Troise having 33 minutes solo in K21 KLW and Graham Evison and Chris Thornhill having 30 minutes off the last flight of the day.  With rough climb outs and tricky landing conditions, thanks are due to Tuggie Albert Newbery for sterling service, especially given the hot conditions that had many a pilot looking decidedly hot and eager to open the canopy after landing.

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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