Saturday 28th September 2024
Posted: 29/09/2024 19:06
Saturday 28th. A ridge of high pressure brought a dry day with initially sunny skies which tended to cloud in, as a light and variable wind settled to become a light to moderate W'ly, the day's AT total of 24 off runway 24 including 14 for Private owners and 3 for First Flight pupils. The day's thermals were generally weak, with cloud base limiting climbs to around 4,000' asl. although Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct managed to contact wave just to the SE of Masham by using his engine and eventually climbed to 8,600' asl some 5 km WSW of Richmond. After progressing to the N of Richmond, Bob flew to Knaresborough and returned to site via Northallerton having covered 201 OLC kms and taken the following photo during his flight which was limited by increasing cloud to the west and showers.
Of the other private owners who flew, 5 had flights of over an hour and 5 had flights of between 30 and 60 minutes, with all staying local, although Chris Teagle in his LS8t-18 almost reached Northallerton before returning to site, Chris taking a late flight as wife Kelly had 2 earlier flights in their glider. Eileen and Steve Scothern were another couple to have flights in their glider, a Discus t. Rob Bailey in his ASG29, Martin Newbery in his Ventus 2ct and Chris Handzlik in his DG300 were all > an hour pilots, with Chris spending 10 minutes of his flight at or below hill top level in the Hood Hill/Main bowl area and Martin having to resort to his engine at one point. Visitor Graham Morris may have totted up some XC kms during either of his 2 flights in his ASW27 but he didn't leave a Flarm Trace. Fred Brown, taking one of the day's First Flight pupils in K21 KLW, topped the duration list for club gliders with 30 minutes. The Falke did do a couple of XC's, with John Tayler/Baz Sommerfeld visiting the Pocklington area and York in one flight and Pocklington and the Wetherby area during their second.
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.