Friday 5th to Saturday 6th November 2021
Posted: 07/11/2021 10:27
Friday 5th. Sunny skies and a light to moderate W'ly meant a busy day's flying at Sutton with the first AT off runway 24 at around 1030 hrs and the last landing around 1615 hrs. All 4 club 2 seaters were flown as well as 2 of the single seaters, while Messrs Watson and Atkins flew their ASW20 threeS times, the only private owners to launch. The day's 27 launches gave an average flight time of 31 minutes, but only 5 flights exceeded 30 minutes with 2 of these exceeding an hour. The aforementioned Watson and Atkins provided one of the > an hour flights, 1:12 by Mr Atkins, and one of the >30<60 flights, this being 32 minutes by Mr Watson, club members providing the remaining longer flights. The longest flight was by Dave Thompson in the DG303 with 2:20, while Bruce Grain/S Wallace in K21 JVZ and John Carter/Mark Newburn in the DG1000 both had 50 minutes. Soft hill lift and gentle wave later in the day provided the means of staying up with the wave nicely photographed by John Carter, the low level wave cloud also providing a nice Glory as shown below.
Wave climbs were limited, however, with only 4 flights getting to 4,000' asl or more. Andrew Watson climbed to 5,000' in his ASW20, Steve Thompson/Phil Turner to 4,400' in the DG500, Mr Atkins to 4,200' in his ASW20 and John Carter/Mark Newburn to 4,000', all asl. After the end of flying, members and visitors assembled for a traditional Bonfire evening with fireworks, food and a splendid bonfire which, in the strong wind, was quite spectacular. Thanks are due to the organisers, those who constructed the bonfire, obtained and let off the fireworks and catered so admirably, with £200 collected for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Saturday 6th. A moderate to fresh WSW/SW'ly ushered in a day of winching off runway 24, with 12 launches completed before approaching rain put a stop to proceedings around 1300 hrs. The club also welcomed 3 students from Durham University GC on a day of hill soaring and some weak wave which led to 2 flights of over an hour, 4 more between 30 and 60 minutes, some moderate wave climbs and a land out. The latter saw Jesper Mjels, flying the DG1000 solo, venture as far north as Crathorne before landing out near Thimbleby on the way back to site, The retrieve, photo below, was assisted by the Police who set up a rolling road block on the A19, while speculation as to the cause of the land out included the notion that as a DG400 owner and pilot, Jesper forgot he didn't have an engine or perhaps he was just staking a claim on the Aux Vaches trophy for the closest genuine field landing to Sutton. (Claim currently accepted/successful - Ladder Steward)
Jesper was one of the 3 flights to climb to over 4,500'asl, getting to 4,800' while Guy Hartland and Rod Brister flying K21 KLW reached 5,300' and visitor Mr Atkin in his ASW20 topped out at 5,800' asl. Jesper and Chris Handzlik in his DG300 were the two pilots to exceed an hour, while those having between 30 and 60 minutes included Andrew Watson in his ASW20 with 57 minutes, the same duration being achieved by the aforementioned Guy and Rod in KLW.
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.