Saturday 30th May 2026
Posted: 31/05/2026 13:32
Saturday 30th. A light to moderate SSE'ly blew all day, accompanied by sunny intervals that provided some patchy thermal soaring conditions for those attempting XC's and even those staying closer to home, as initially cloud base was around 2-3,000' asl with moderate strength lift. The day's 18 ATs and 1 Self Launch off runway 20 led to 12 flights of 30 minutes or more, with 7 of these over an hour. 6 XC's were attempted but only 2 were completed, with the unsuccessful ones comprising 1 land out, 1 abandoned and 2 by engine use. The successful XC's were by Neil Paveley in his Nimbus B who flew 231 OLC km with TPs at Pocklington, Northallerton, Ripon and Garforth, initially contending with the low cloud base and moderate thermals, but eventually getting a climb to 5,600' asl near Ripon and doing a 37 km final glide. The other XC was by an OLC unregistered glider for which I have no information, but whose pilot flew 138 OLC km with TPs at or near Ripon, Harrogate N/Pateley Bridge and Richmond. The unsuccessful XC pilots included Martin Newbery in his Ventus ct who, after circumventing Sutton on Forest, had to resort to his engine some 7 km NW of the TP before carrying on to Carlton Bank, Tontine, Sutton, back to Tontine and finally back to Sutton. The other engine user was Les Rayment in his DG808 who, after finding some good conditions during the first part of his flight around Northallerton and Topcliffe, then struggled to find a climb and resorted to his engine near Cowesby. Beau Basson in his ASW20 set off on his task of Doncaster NW/Burton upon Stather, but abandoned the task 5 km NE of Wetherby S and struggled to stay airborne near Rufforth before finding a climb that enabled a return to Sutton, while Sarah Stubbs/Chris Hanzlik in the DG1000 completed the first part of an O/R to Tontine but landed out in the field of an unfriendly farmer near Cowesby on the way back. The other > an hour pilots who stayed local included Paul Smith in his Ka6e ,1:03 and, Yuri Kozheurov in hid PIk 20D, 2:37, with Bob Calvert/ John Marsh taking the day's 4 First Flight pupils for their gliding experience. The RF5 from Pocklington also landed and later took off on its return to Pocklington, on a day of mixed fortunes at Sutton.
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.