Monday 15th to Tuesday 16th September 2025
Posted: 17/09/2025 12:11
Monday 15th. An Atlantic depression tracking to the NW of Scotland brought low cloud and rain at times so there was no flying.
Tuesday 16th. A period of rain and low cloud from 0500-0900 hrs delayed the start of flying to around 1100 hrs, but with a moderate W'ly blowing, 29 winch launches were subsequently flown off runway 24. The availability of hill lift on the western and northwestern escarpments of the North Yorks Moors. plus some thermal activity, led to 16 flights exceeding 30 minutes with 12 exceeding an hour, all the 7 private owners who flew contributing to the latter group with flight times ranging from 2:15 by Steve Ogden in his Discus to 4:06 by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2 ct. Steve spent his time locally, while Bob flew out to the west of Ripon with the aid his engine and a cloud climb to 7,300' asl, before returning for some local soaring. 2 pilots, Dean Crosby in his LS10t and Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct, used hill lift supplemented by thermal and in Fred's case a cloud climb to 6,200' asl, to fly to the Guisborough W TP via Tontine Inn. Fred made the O/R journey once, a distance of around 90 km, while Dean did it 3 times adding in a visit to the NW of Northallerton to log around 300 km. Using thermal lift to the NW of Northallerton was a popular choice, as Martyn Johnson in his DG600 and Chris Handzlik in his DG300 also spent time there. Chris doing a cloud climb to 6,100' asl. The main W'ly ridge as far N as High Paradise Farm was explored by Paul Bulmer in Astir DSU, while John Forrester in the Discus visited Boltby and James Shaw and Amelia Forrester in the DG1000 the Forward and Kepwick ridges, with flight times of 1:05, 2:13 and 1:08 respectively.
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.