Friday 31st December 2021
Posted: 04/01/2022 20:23
Friday 31st. A moderate SW'ly that veered into the WSW brought mainly cloudy skies but with a base that didn't restrict flying, the conditions providing hill soaring for most pilots and a good wave flight for one. Initally, ATing was the launch method of choice, with Paul Whitehead in his Ventus and Steve Thompson/Tomer Altman in the DG1000 the towed pilots. Both flights had over an hour, Paul going as far west as South Otterington and climbing to around 4,000' asl and Steve and Tomer soaring the Kepwick Bowl and Black Hambleton to the north of the site. Winching then took over with a further 8 launches flown. Off the first of these Chris Booker contacted the wave and eventually climbed to around 10,200' asl, visiting the Tontine and Boroughbridge in the process of his 1:53 flight. The below video lets you join Chris in the cockpit of his LS1 as he has his first and last wave flight of 2021.
Another pilot who had over an hour was Laurie Clark with 1:18 in his DG300, while Guy Hartland/Simon Altman in K21 JVZ, Les Rayment/Nigel Burke in K21 KLW and Steve Thompson, this time with Jacob Reeves in the DG1000, all had between 36 and 48 minutes hill soaring time.
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.