Sunday 21st to Thursday 25th July 2024
Posted: 26/07/2024 21:57
Sunday 21st. A mainly cloudy day, but with a few brighter intervals, yielded 34 launches off runway 24 with a few landings on 20, as a light to moderate WNW'ly blew, the day's 34 launches resulting in 18 flights of over 30 minutes with 5 over an hour. Most pilots remained local mainly using thermals, with the ridges providing optional weak lift, but a few went cross country, again mainly in thermal with, in addition, some wave activity. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct contacted wave near Osmotherly with a climb to 5,700' asl, and gradually gained more altitude with climbs to 7,100' asl near Northallerton, and 8,400' asl 9 km NE of Leyburn before returning to site via the Hawes and Ripon areas, covering 178 OLC km in the process. Dean Crosby in his LS10t, Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct and Les Rayment in his DG800 also went cross country but none contacted the wave and all had to use their engines at least once to stay airborne, Dean covering 164 OLC km visiting areas around Northallerton, Catterick, Rufforth and Ripon, Fred 124 OLC km around Northallerton, Ripon twice and Leyburn and Les around 50 OLC km with an O/R to the Ripon area. There were no flights over an hour in club gliders, but Clive Swain/Chris Daniel? in the DG1000 had 52 minutes, mainly hill soaring at 7-1100' QFE, while the unknown pilot of Astir DPO had 54 minutes thermal soaring locally. Cloud base was around 4,500' asl with average peak thermal strengths around 3-3.5 kts.
Monday 22nd. Low cloud delayed the start of flying until late morning, but with the skies slowly brightening 15 launches were flown off runway 24 with most landings on 20 as a light to moderate SW'ly veered into the WSW. The improving soaring conditions led to 7 of the day's launches exceeding 30 minutes with 2 exceeding an hour, all of the soaring flights being in the late afternoon following 5 flights for First Flight pupils . Dean Crosby in his LS10t and Jesper Mjels in his DG400 both contacted wave to the NW of the site and eventually climbed to 8,800' and 9,700' asl respectively, both going further west, Dean to Leyburn and Barnard Castle and Jesper to the Masham area. covering OLC distances of 127km and 91 km respectively. The longest of the flights in club gliders saw Sanjay Nath have 55 minutes in Astir DPO and Guy Hartland/Ivan Maczka have 45 minutes in the DG500, both hill soaring the main bowl with occasional thermal assistance.
Tuesday 23rd. Another low cloud start led to the start of flying being delayed until early afternoon, the clearance being relatively short lived, with an overcast returning late afternoon, but not low enough to prevent flying continuing on into the evening. The day's 26 ATs off runway 02 into a light to moderate NNW'ly that veered into the NNE'ly generated 7 flights of over 30 minutes, with 5 over an hour, 4 of the latter for visiting or club private owners, Neil Paveley adding his 1:20 in Astir DPO to this list. Thermal lift was the order of the day, with Dean Crosby making the most of it with a 222 km task with TPs at Driffield, Sutton Turn Point N and Burn, while most other pilots stayed within 10 km of site. Cloud base was typically 4,000' asl and average peak thermal strengths around 2,5 kt although Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 found some weak wave over the forward ridge that took him to the day's best altitude of 4,700' asl in his 3:24 flight. Visitors Simon Zielonka in his Ventus and Phil Morgan/Jamie Minx in their Janus had 2:04 and 2:11 while the longest flight in a club 2 seater was 40 minutes by Guy Hartland/Chris LLoyd in K21 JVZ , with the day also including 5 flights for First Flight pupils.
Wednesday 24th. A light to moderate S'ly blew all day, with initially cloudy conditions giving way to brighter skies before more extensive cloud returned. The result was a full flying day with 32 launches from just after 1000 hrs to just before 1600 hrs, including 4 for First Flight pupils, although soaring flights of over 30 minutes were limited to 10, but with 7 of these over an hour. Cloud base was typically 3,500' to 4,000' with averaged peak thermal strength around 2-2.5 kts and most pilots stayed local, but the patchy lift led to Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct and Steve Thompson in his Ventus bt having to resort to their engines to stay aloft. Bob Calvert, on the other hand, after using thermal to get near Guisborough W, found some weak S'ly wave near Danby and took a slow climb to 6,700' asl NW of Churchhouses before returning to indulge in some local soaring having covered 104 OLC km. None of the > an hour flights were by pilots in club gliders, but Tomer Altman in Astir DPO had 55 minutes and the longest flight in a club 2 seater was by Clive Swain/Steve Kirk, their 36 minutes being in K21 JVZ.
Thursday 25th. An initially light to moderate SE'ly soon veered into the WSW, but low cloud delayed the start of flying until the early afternoon as the skies brightened, the subsequent 15 launches off runway 24 leading to 9 flights of over 30 minutes of which 6 were over an hour. Soaring was mainly using hill lift and weak thermal,with visitors James Minx in his ASW 15, John Douglas in his LS7 and Phil Morgan solo in his Janus having 1:07, 1:17 and 51 minutes respectively. while YGC member Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct had 1:53. Jesper Mjels in his DG400 and Albert/Martin Newbery in their DG1000t both used their engines to get to the Masham/Ripon area and were rewarded with wave climbs to 11,700' asl and 11,400' asl respectively, Jesper proceeding further west to the Leyburn/Aysgarth area. The only indication of wave local to site was by Nigel Burke, whose 35 minute flight with one of the day's 7 First Flight pupils in K21 KLW maintained around 2,700' asl for a while just to the NW of Gormire.
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.