Monday 21st to Tuesday 22nd April 2025
Posted: 23/04/2025 12:55
Monday 21st A weak front brought low cloud in the morning and rain in the afternoon, the SSE'ly declining from moderate to light over the day, so there was no flying.
Tuesday 22nd. A day with sunny intervals and a light to moderate SW'ly that brought in isolated showers resulted in a busy day, with 46 ATs and 2 self launches off runway 20. The showers disrupted some cross country plans, but 27 flights exceeded 30 minutes with 23 of these being over an hour. Cloud base rose to around 5,000' asl, with peak average thermal strengths typically between 4 to 5 kts, although visitor Mike Biggs in his ASH 26e had a average climb rate of 6.1 kts. 7 pilots flew cross country with task distances ranging from 127 to 216 km, although some had to resort to their engines. James Prosser in his Ventus 2ct initially had a land back after coming off tow early but finding no lift, but later flew 216 km visiting at or near Knaresborough, Ripon, Pateley Bridge, Masham, Thirsk, Carlton Moor and then spending time soaring in the triangle between Northallerton, Ripon and Sutton where he took a cloud climb to 9,000' asl. Bob Calvert also took a couple of cloud climbs, the highest to 7,700' asl as he visited at or near Ripon, Masham, Aysgarth, Leyburn and Boroughbridge covering 154 km. Although mainly a thermal based flight, Bob found some weak wave and also a convergence and provided the following photos.
Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2bt was one of the pilots to have his XC task disrupted by showers. Declaring a 264 km task with TPs at Staindrop, Market Weighton and Masham, Steve had to abandon his task on the way to Market Weighton due to a big shower blocking his route, so flew 201 km by continuing on to Ripon and Masham, where it rained again, having earlier received clearance to transit the Teesside Class D on his way to Staindrop. Rob Bailey in his ASG29t was another who abandoned his task, ultimately flying 176 km visiting at or near Masham, Sutton and Leyburn, while Dean Crosby in his LS10t spent some time flying locally before setting off on a 153 km journey with TPs at or near Sutton on Forest, Sutton, Masham and Pateley Bridge. Martin Newbery had to resort to the engine of his Ventus ct 3x as he visited Ripon and Boroughbridge, while Les Rayment in his DG808 did an O/R to within 4 km of Fridaythorpe. The majority of the visiting pilots soared locally as they posted flights of 2-3 hours, with Ryan Berry in his AS 33 extending local to mean ± 20 km and Peter Brown in his Ventus 2ct flew within 3 km of Carlton Moor, although had to use his engine twice during his 3:28 flight. Those flying club gliders also made the most of the conditions with Roger Burghall having 1:13 in Astir DSU and Andreas Rieder/ Tim Hockins having 1:06 in K21 JVZ.
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.