Wednesday 31st July to Monday 5th August 2019
Posted: 06/08/2019 20:51
Wednesday 31st. Heavy, frequent showers brought in on a light to moderate WNW wind that slowly veered into the NNW, meant no glider flying apart from on the Simulator where Bruce Grain introduced a party of Scouts to gliding. However, there was a sufficient gap between the showers to allow the Super Cub to return to its home base of Pocklington.
Thursday 1st August. The change of month didn't bring much change to the weather, so flying was again curtailed with only a single Falke flight in the real world. However, virtual flying on the Simulator continued as another group of Scouts were introduced to gliding by, this time, John Carter.
Friday 2nd. A light WNW'ly slowly veered into the N over the course of the day and was accompanied by some showers and lots of cloud, the base of which was low enough to prevent any glider flying, although Ron Beezer took the Falke up for a flight. Conditions elsewhere in the UK were more condusive to gliding and YGC members Andy Wilson flew his Silver 5 hours from Tibbenham, so congratulations to him.
Saturday 3rd. The slow moving depression that had meant a succession of non-flying days has now moved sufficiently away to the east to allow a full flying day. The remnants of its cloud sheet did initially cover the sky but soon disappeared to leave a reasonable soaring day, allowing 41 ATs to be flown off runway 20 behind Denbigh's Turbo Eurofox. The 17 private owners who launched generated virtually all 21 flights to exceed 30 minutes, with 12 exceeding an hour and a number of pilots went cross country. Rob Bailey in his ASG29 tried for Newark, but turned back short of the TP due to overcast skies. A return to Sutton followed by a visit to Harrogate North did however, notch up 304 km on a day Rob described as tricky low down and one that meant some big detours to find lift. Jon May, flying his Ventus around Goole, Catterick and Rufforth, 255 km, described the day as low, sticky and unpredictable, while Derek Smith flew what he described as a cracking task around Burn, Sutton and Boroughbridge in his DG800,147 km at a handicapped speed of 82 kph, the above comments illustrating the varied nature of the UK's soaring weather. John Ellis, also in a DG800, visited Market Weighton, Burn and Boroughbridge and recorded the highest altitude of the day, 5,700' asl, with the general cloudbase rising to between 4-4,500'. Visitor Graham Morris in his ASW 27 also visited Market Weighton as well as Rufforth, Goole, Carlton and Northallerton. Maximum flight times were in excess of 4 hours,. Back at site flights around an hour were a feature of the day, with Steve Codd and Tasha Dodds having 1:16 in K21 KLW, while Peter Robinson had 59 minutes solo in K21 JVZ.
Sunday 4th. A light to moderate SSE'ly blew, leading to operations off runway 20, and although it was a predominately cloudy day, there was limited convective activity that allowed some of the 11 private owners who launched to embark on relatively local cross country flights. Thus, Bill Payton and Nora van Genugten visited Malton in Bill's DG1000t in a flight of 1:36, one of 5 to exceed an hour, with the majority of these being towards the end of the flying day as the cloud tended to break up. Rob Bailey visited Northallerton and the Tontine in his flight of 2:21, while visitor Graham Morris had the longest flight of 2:52 and the highest altitude, 5,000' asl while staying local. Bruce Grain and Lee Grinrod had 1;05 in the DG500 off the last flight of the day, with Bruce earlier having 52 minutes with James Law in K21 JVZ. The conditions did not, however, tempt anyone to fly a single seat club glider and after flying had come to an end an evening thunderstorm deposited 10 mm of rain on the site.
Monday 5th. A moderate WSW'ly blew all day so operations were off runway 24 via a mixture of AT and winch launches, 4 of the former and 13 of the latter. Streeting of the Cumulus was used by some pilots to fly cross country, while others went cross wind and both thermal and hill soaring were wave affected, although only Martyn Johnson in his DG600 managed a significant climb to just under 12,000' asl over the A!M, Martyn reporting the wave as very localised. Ron Beezer, flying his Nimbus, found a strong climb to around 6,000' asl at which point it frustrtatingly stopped and in spite of trying for over 2 hours could not make any further vertical progress. Rob Bailey utilised the cloud streets to fly Ripon, Scarborough, Pontefract and Snainton, 302.5 km, but still found negative wave influence well to the east of Sutton. Steve Thompson in his Discus elected to fly cross wind and used hill lift to the Tontine to aid his early departure. Thereafter, he flew south to Doncaster NW where contact with ATC led to the Upton Corridor ceiling being raised to 5,000' asl. Steve, reporting very good conditions at times, arrived back at site not long after 1500 hrs, having again visited the Tontine to cover 220 km, but regretted not having set a longer task. Paul Whitehead in his Ventus also flew up and down wind to cover 211 km as he visited Ripon. Pickering, Ripon and Garforth but after returning to Sutton and extending the flight to Richmond, found only sink after rounding the TP and has to resort to his engine. The shortest flight time from the day's 13 winch lauches was 41 minutes, with 11 of them leading to flights in excess of an hour with Tony Drury, Duncan Pask, Jim McLean, John Marsh Dave McKinney and Ron Beezer all having between 2 and 3 hours. Those flying club gliders also enjoyed the day with Malcolm Winter having 1:02 in Astir HVK, Andrew Bedford having 50 minutes in the same glider after having 1:01 with Bruce Grain in K21 KLW, Bruce also having 1:09 with George Claydon in K21 JVZ. To round off a good flying day, Mike O'Neil had 1:15 solo in KLW off the last AT of the day, landing back at site just before 1900 hrs.
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.