Monday 18th to Thursday 21st May 2026
Posted: 22/05/2026 16:29
Monday 18th. A light to moderate SSE'ly blew all day with some isolated heavy showers in the afternoon and some patchy thermal conditions, the best providing cloud base at around 4,000' asl and peak average climb rates around 4 kts. In the event, only 6 of the day's 20 ATs off runway 20 led to flights in excess of 30 minutes, with 2 of these over an hour. The longest flight, 3:13, was by the visiting pilots in their DuoDiscus who visited Ripon and the area between Pateley Bridge and Grimswith Reservoir, having a cloud climb there to 5800' asl before returning to the Sutton area and then doing an O/R to Ripon, covering 122 OLC km in the process. The other flight over an hour was also by a visiting pilot in his ASW28t, who stayed local during his 1:10 flight. Visiting pilots flying LS6 FBE and DG 300 FCM had 38 and 40 minutes of local flying, being joined by the YGC member flying Astir DPO who took off just after 1700 hrs.
Tuesday 19th. A moderate and at times moderate to fresh SSE'ly slowly veered into the SSW on a day of low cloud and off and on rain so there was no flying.
Wednesday 29th. Early morning rain cleared around 0700 hrs leaving the site in a cloudy, moderate SW'ly airstream that slowly veered into the WSW with hill soaring being the day's option. The 20 winch launches off runway 24 led to 16 flights of over 30 minutes with 10 of these over an hour, the > an hour flights comprising 4 in YGC two seaters, 2 by YGC private owners and 4 by visiting private owners.
Thursday 30th. A WSW'ly wind of 4 to 19 kts signalled a wave day, although cloudy and rainy conditions prevailed until around 1100 hrs. Thereafter, 19 ATs were flown off runway 20 with initial landings on 20 but landings quickly changed to 24, with Take Offs from this runway being taking place towards the end of the flying day. 10 flights climbed to over 5,000' asl with 5 of these getting above 10,000' asl, with the highest climb recorded, by visiting pilots in their Duo Discus, 13,300' asl. Most flights contacted the wave straight of tow just to the west of site, but the Duo Discus pilots scrabbled around for a while and had to use their engine before contacting the wave, but then flew 166 OLC km visiting areas around Northallerton, Leeming, Masham and Pateley Bridge. The presence of the wave had been signalled by the first flight of the day which saw the pilots of K21 JV|Z reach 8,800' asl locally in their 1:19 flight. Samuel Batchelor in the Discus climbed to 9,300' asl in his 3:43 flight covering 222 OLC km with visits to or near Leeming, Masham, Knaresborough, Harrogate N, Ripon, Grimworth Reservoir and Hawes but claimed an 130 O/R to Hawes on the BGA Ladder. The pilots of visiting Janus JVV, flew 126 OLC km , with a best climb to 12,200' asl, the same altitude being reached by Dean Crosby in his LS10t, his OLC distance being 212 km, after visiting TPs at or near, Masham, Hawes, Kirkby Stephen and Pateley Bridge. The pilot of LS8st, KSX, flew 161 OLC km with a best altitude of 10,600' asl adding a visit to the Richmond area to the more usual Yorkshire Dales destinations, while Martyn Johnson in his DG600 stayed relatively local, but climbed to 12,100' asl in his 2:16 flight. The wave appeared weaken mid/late afternoon with visiting pilots in their LS8-18,HMD, ASW24, JRU and LS6, FBE all staying local and climbing to 8,400' asl, 6,000' asl and 9.300' asl 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.