Thursday 22nd to Monday 26th April 2021
Posted: 26/04/2021 20:55
Thursday 22nd. Another sunny day led to 27 ATs off runway 20 as a light SW'ly backed into the SE. A low inversion led to a morning of circuits, but around 1300 hrs Mr Hanslet flying the Astir found enough lift to remain airborne for 1:10 and he was followed by a number of soaring flights, although the blue soaring conditions remained tricky with only another 2 flights exceeding an hour. One of these was by Steve Thompson in his Ventus who not only had the longest flight of the day, 2:20, but attempted a cross country with TPs at Market Weighton, Helmsley and York. The task was eventually abandoned on the Helmsley/York leg with 161 km flown but nevertheless a noble effort. The other pilot to fly for more than an hour was Tony Drury in his DG303, with 1:15, but 10 other flights managed durations of between 30 and 52 minutes, these being led by Tor Tavener and Duncan Pask in the T21, 52 minutes, followed by Chris Handslik with 51 minutes in the Astir off the last flight of the day and 50 minutes by NIck Gaunt and Chris Handslik in the T21 off an earlier flight. Fred Brown and Ian Johnstone in K21 KLW and John Carter with Mark Newburn in the DG500 had the longest flights in club 2 seaters with 47 minutes each. Once soaring got underway, climbs to around 4,000' asl were achieved by a number of pilots, but John Carter and Mark Newburn's climb to 5,400' asl late on in the afternoon was by far the best of the day.
Friday 23rd. The sunny conditions again predominated as a light ESE'ly slowly increased to moderate, but some Cumulus developed in the early afternoon for a little while. The conditions led to 6 private owner flights but only 2 cross countries were flown, Rob Bailey taking his ASG29 to Ripon and then to north of Pateley Bridge, while John Marsh visited Thirsk and Helmsley in his DG303. Rob's 1:43 and John's 1:40 were the two longest flights on the day, with another 4 flights exceeding an hour out of the 25 ATs off runway 20. Other pilots to exceed an hour included Polly Whitehead with 1:34 in her ASW24, the first soaring flight of the day, Colin Troise with 1:18 solo in the DG500 and 1:15 by Chris Handslik in the Astir. Albert Newbery and John Dore led the 6 other flights to exceed 30 minutes with 59 minutes in K21 JVZ, a flight that also took them to 4,200' asl, this being an altitude achieved by a number of pilots early mid afternoon. Towards the end of the flying day, however, 2 pilots climbed to 4,700' asl, the aforementioned Colin Troise in the DG500 and Paul Bulmer in K21 KLW.
Saturday 24th. Saturday started with a light to moderate N'ly before it veered into the ESE by the late afternoon and there was also more Cumulus development. This encouraged 7 private owners to fly and although there were 11 flights of over 30 minutes from the 22 flown off runway 06, including 7 of over an hour, there was only 1 cross country flown. This was by John Ellis in his DG800, an O/R to Pontefract followed by an O/R to Ripon, with 165 kms covered. John's flight at 2:31 was the longest of the day with Fred Brown having 2;23 in his Ventus. Simon Altman with 1:46 in the Astir, Duncan Pask with 1:44 in his LS10 and Adrew Wilmot with 1:15 in his ASW19 were some of the other pilots to have flight times in excess of an hour. The longest flight in a club 2 seater saw David Watson and Chris Booker have 1:02 in K21 JVZ. The day's soaring window firmly shut by mid afternoon having provided climbs up to around 4,000' asl. However, flying continued until 1745 hrs as the club's pilots took the opportunity to get back up to speed after the long layoff due to the Covid restrictions.
Sunday 26th. A light to moderate ENE'ly blew all day and with Cumulus appearing early and a good soaring day forecast, the trailer park was soon a hive of activity and subsequently 11 private owners flew out of the day's 27 launches. 3 pilots, David Latimer in his Ventus 3M, Paul Whitehead in his Ventus and John Ellis in his DG800 flew the same 320 km task with TPs at Sheffield East, Masham and Burn and all completed the task, with Rob Bailey flying a similar task of 320 km replacing Burn with Pontefract as a TP. Conditions were reported as good over the majority of the tasks although overdevelopment in the southern part caused overall task speeds to be lowered for some. The local 100 km triangle with TPs at Pocklington and Rufforth was favoured by Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 and Toby Wilson in his Std Cirrus. Darren completed the task but Toby landed out at Rufforth, but after an AT retrieve produced the best climb of the day to 4,800' asl, 4-4,500' asl being more typical. A 134 km task with TPs at Market Weighton and Burn was the choice of Kelly Teagle in her ASW20L for her 1st cross country of the year, while John Marsh in his DG300 and Tor Taverner in his ASW20 both visited Thirsk and Helmsley. Those flying club gliders also enjoyed the conditions with Andy Evans having 2:11 solo in the DG 500 and Chris Ogden having 1:45 in the Astir. The all lady crew of Marian Stanley and Simona Latimer had an hour in K21 KLW as did Bruce Grain and Dave Murgatroyd in same glider.
Monday 26th. Thin, high cover provided something of a change to the bright blue skies of previous days. and this slowly thickened and lowered as an area of low pressure made slow progress south from Scotland. The initially light to moderate SW'ly eventually backed into the SSE but not before the day's 8 ATs had launched off runway 24, with runway 20 preferred for landing. It was essentially a circuit day with only one flight getting above launch height as Duncan Pask took his LS10 to 3,700' asl in his flight of 1:12, all the other flights in K21 KLW being between 18 and 23 minutes, the latter achieved by Bruce Grain with first Chris Handslik and then Roger Taylor. The increasing cloud and lack of lift led to flying coming to an end at 1435 hrs as Bruce and Tom Wiseman landed the last flight .
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.