Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th August 2019

Posted: 29/08/2019 21:41

Tuesday 27th   Tuesday turned out to be the last of the hot days, with the hazy blue skies gradually clouding over from the west as a series of troughs and fronts approached.  The maximum temperature reached 26.9C as a light ESE'ly blew, so operations were again off runway 20.  the Tuesday evening group continued flying until just after 2000 hrs, by which time 34 launches had been flown, with the Falke adding another 1.  With the stable anticyclonic conditions, it was primarily a circuit day, although some soaring flights were achieved in the early afternoon in blue thermals.  Visitors Porter and Cooke in their Duo Discus flew 1:49,  the only flight in excess of an hour, while visitor A Pettie had 48 minutes, this time just being exceeded by Bob Beck and visitor Lawrence in K21 KLW with 49 minutes.  Steve Ogden, flying Astir HVK, had 41 minutes, with Bruce Grain and Sophy Scotter having 37 minutes in KLW, the only other flights to exceed 30 minutes being by Albert Newbery and First Flight pupil Paul Turner with 34 minutes in KLW and Bruce Grain and Dave Waring with 31 minutes in K21 JVZ. 

Wednesday 28th.  A thundery trough deposited 4.6 mm of rain overnight and the following fronts brought copious low cloud and periods of light rain during daylight hours that ensured there was no flying, as the light to moderate SSE'ly gradually veered into the WSW.

Thursday 29th.  A gradually increasing S'ly that slowly veered into the SSW, meant a busy day at the launch point of runway 24, as hill, thermal and wave lift beckoned.  None was particularly spectacular, but all contributed to a day when 28 of the 32 ATs flown exceeded 30 minutes and 12 of these exceeded an hour. There were 5 private owner launches, with Bob Symonds in his LS4 contributing 2 of these. LS8-18 pilots Darren Lodge and George Rowden both had over 3 hours soaring and both climbed to around 5,000' asl in wave, their climbs being terminated by closing wave slots.  Nora van Genugten also had over 3 hours flying in  the DG303.   Towards the end of the day the sky started to clear and Paul Whitehead and Rob Wood also climbed to around 5,000' asl in the DG1000 in their flight of 1:03, one of eight flights whose duration was between 1 and 2 hours.  Visitors Reid and Cooke in their Duo Discus had 2:06.   Dave Cambell and Diane Thomas had started the day off well with 51 minutes in K21 JVZ, while a number of other 2 seater pilots had fiights of over an hour, including Bob Beck and visitor Ray Lawrence, 1:13 in the DG1000, Bruce Grain and I Shannie with 1:06 in K21 KLW and Bob Beck and John Dore, also with 1:06 in the DG1000.   Pilots flying club single seaters also took advantage of the conditions, with Andy Tyas having 1:30 in Astir HVK and George Claydon having 1:25 in Astir DPO, while the Falke added a further 3 flights to the day's total.   

 

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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