Saturday 22nd to Monday 24th October 2022
Posted: 25/10/2022 21:24
Saturday 22nd. A light to moderate SSW'ly slowly veered into the SW providing a good day's soaring in hill and wave lift, the day's 34 ATs off runway 24 resulting in 29 flights of over 30 minutes with 20 of these being over an hour. Indeed, it wasn't until the 20th launch of the day at 1345 hrs for one of the day's First Flight pupils that the 30 minute flight time was not reached. I was not able to access my usual data sources on the day so did not have a full picture of what went on, but fortunately, a few pilots put their flights on the BGA ladder and this report is based on their entries. Fred Brown in his Ventus ct flew 210 km, with TPs at Brough, Garsdale Head and Wetherby climbing to a peak altitude of 14,200' asl over the A19 near Thimbleby before setting off to the west after having a engine burn to help initially connect with the wave. Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2t flew around 276 km but only claimed 223 km, this being the fastest part of the flight around Tontine, Stanhope, Darlington, Leyburn, Eastgate and Catterick which he flew at 112 kph. Steve reported well defined, good reliable wave and received a good ATC service from Newcastle when negotiating airspace and had a peak climb to 11,500' asl after having his first climb to 9,000' asl over the forward ridge. Jesper Mjels in his DG400 used his engine to climb to 5,000' asl and then climbed to 7,300' asl over Newby Wiske in the wave. Masham, Brough and Newbiggen were then visited, with Jesper's peak climb to 14,500' asl being just to the north of Alston before he returned to site via Harrogate. Kelly Teagle in her ASW20 spent nearly 2 hrs between 3 - 4,000' asl before climbing to 9,000' asl just north of Borrowby and then getting to 11,100' asl over Leeming, while Sarah Stubbs in Astir FSH climbed to 10,400' asl over the forward ridge, her best wave climb so far.
Sunday 23rd. Sunday was a day of low cloud with rain and drizzle at times to there was no flying.
Monday 24th. A moderate to moderate to fresh SW'ly blew all day, with the Pawnee and Eurofox sharing AT duties off runway 24, the majority of landings being on runway 20. 26 ATs were flown, with visitors and members contributing to the launch total of 26, 16 of these being by visitors and YGC private owners. Hill and wave lift were available so that 14 flights of >30 minutes resulted, 6 of these being over an hour. Wave was encountered close to the site straight off tow for many pilots, but was only strong enough to delay or reduce descents, with hill lift being the main soaring environment. Most pilots were able to maintain between 700' and 1300' QFE Darren Lodge using hill lift to claim the second longest flight of the day, 2:51 in his LS8-18. Visitors Noble and Cleeve in their ASK 21 had the longest 2 seater flight, exactly an hour, with Bruce Grain/T Underwood's 40 minutes being the longest in a club 2 seater. The main bowl was the favourite soaring location, with a few pilots making excursions north to the end of the main western ridge at High Paradise Farm. Two pilots searched for better wave climbs out to the west with Steve Thompson in his Ventus bt using his engine to get to the W of Thirsk and then going further to 5 km ENE of Masham, but not finding any significant lift, returned to site at 200' QFE and used the hill lift to climb to 1400' QFE in his flight of 1:10. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct was more successful, but after using some weak wave N of Topcliffe and then N of Helmerby, had to resort to his engine twice before contacting good wave 2.5 km W of Ripon and climbing to 9,500' asl, his peak altitude. A search for wave near Pateley Bridge proved fruitless and Bob returned to site at 1300' QFE before again going west to the East Coast Main line but finding no lift, returned to land after a flight of 3:46.
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.