Friday 29th July and Tuesday 2nd to Thursday 4th August.

Posted: 06/08/2016 09:48

Friday 29th July.   It took until after midday for the low cloud and rain to clear the site so that flying did not get underway until just after 1400 hrs, with 10 ATs being flown before flying finished at 1800 hrs, all but one of the flights being in the club 2 seaters.   Some convection did eventually make its presence felt but not enough to allow anyone to breach  the hour mark, although 3 flights did exceed 30 minutes, with Fred Brown and Andrew Chandler having 48 of them in the DG1000.  The two other flights over 30 minutes were by George Rowden with Mile High pupil Daryl Smith with 43 minutes in the DG500 and Brian Wise with Jan, another  of the day's 5 First Flight pupils, with 42 minutes in the same glider.  The afternoon's better weather was also appreciated by those who flew in the Falke.

Tuesday 2nd August.  A nearby depression kept the site in cloud with rain and drizzle at times during the day, so there was no flying.

Wednesday 3rd.  The departing depression left the site in a light to moderate Wly, the unstable air mass containing a number of showers that required dodging or accepting by those soaring the ridge.  12 winch launches were flown, with the 4 visitors from Lasham taking advantage of the conditions to post the 3 flights which exceeded an hour, the 500' launch height providing a new experience for them.    Ingram Gavan and Bob Johnson led the way with 2:14 in their DG1000, Clive Thomas and Jim Pereira had 1:17 in their Duo Discus and Bob Johnson, this time with Gerry Higgs, had 1:07 in their DG1000.  YGG pilots Graham Evison and Murray had 50 minutes in K21 JVZ, Chris Gill took Stuart, the only First Flight pupil of the day, for 47 minutes in the DG1000 and John Carter and Alex Constantime had 46 minutes in JVZ.

Thursday 4th.  The wind remained in the W, continuing light to moderate, but the showers were virtually absent.  Unlike Wednesday, alternative launch methods of winch and AT were flown, 4 of the former and 13 of the latter, both methods providing a number of flights of over an hour, 4 from ATing and 2 from winching.  Bob Beck and John Tayler flying the DG1000, posted 1:35  with John then having 1:02 in the DG303, while Bob and Martin Newbery had 33 minutes in K21 JVZ, all  these being winch launched.   The Lasham visitors preferred ATing and again made the most of the conditions, posting all 4 of the AT'd flights to exceed an hour.  Thus Clive Thomas/Jim Pereira had 2:59 in their Duo Discus, Gerry Higgs and Ingram Gavan  2:14 in their DG1000 and Gerry Higgs, this time with Bob Johnson, had 1:30 in the same glider.  YGC pilot Nigel Burke had 2:14 in his DG600, with Steve Thompson and A Constantime having 53 minutes in K21 JVZ, while David Watson and R Barata had 35 minutes in the DG1000.

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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