Sunday 25th to Monday 26th July 2021.
Posted: 27/07/2021 12:13
Sunday 25th. A light to moderate NNE'ly flow brought partially cloudy skies and soaring opportunities. 3 private owners launched, with Rob Bailey in his ASG29 visiting Beverley and Garforth and Toby Wilson in his Standard Cirrus venturing to the south but not quite getting to Rufforth before returning to site. Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 remained relatively local for 2:31, all 3 private owners having flight times of over an hour. None of those flying club gliders had over an hour but 5 of these flights had between 30 and 59 minutes, with the best 49 minutes via a flight in K21 JVZ. I didn't have access to the written log so the pilots have to remain anonymous. The day's 13 AT's off runways 06 or 02 didn't feature any flights in club single seaters but were complimented by 3 flights in the Falke.
Monday 26th. A light and initially NNW'ly slowly backed into the S by the end of the flying day, the better soaring conditions compared to Sunday resulting in 8 private owners rigging and flying. The day's launch total of 21 contained 18 flights in excess of 30 minutes with 10 of these greater than an hour. All the private owners had flights of >an hour, ranging from 4:04 for Rob Bailey in his ASG29 to 1:14 for Duncan Pask in his LS10, with Paul Whitehead/Phil Lazenby in the DG500 having 1:04 late in the day and Andy Tyas having 1:01 in the Discus. 3 of the private owners remained local with the remaining 5 flying further afield with Goole and Pocklington being favoured TPs. Steve Hunt in his ASG29 flew around both, while John Ellis in his DG800 added in a visit to the Tontine. Thomasz Rusin in his DG300 did an O/R to Burn while Ron Beezer in his Nimbus 2 visited Northallerton, Helmsley, Boroughbridge and Rufforth. Rob Bailey in his ASG29 attempted a 316 km task around Pickering, Clitheroe, Shap and Barnard Castle, but a low cloud base over the Pennines meant Clitheroe couldn't be reached and while Shap and Barnard Castle were, a shower at Shap made for a tricky portion of the 269 km flight. Private owners were not the only cross country pilots on the day with Paul Whitehead and Phil Lazenby's flight in the DG500 taking them to Helmsley, Kirbymoorside and Easingwold. Colin Troise's 53 minutes flying K21 KLW solo topped the list of those having between 30 and 59 minutes on a day when cloud base eventually rose to above 5,000' asl.
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.