Sunday 31st May 2026
Posted: 01/06/2026 17:08
Sunday 31st. A moderate W'ly blew all day which was generally cloudy with some sunny intervals and thermal activity, although the conditions didn't tempt many people to fly XC, only 5 of the 11 private owners who flew leaving the local area. Cloud base eventually rose to around 3,500' asl and with average peak climb rates around 3,5 kts and relatively abundant thermals, 26 of the day's ATs off runway 24 led to 26 flights of 30 minutes or more, with 13 of these over an hour. Dean Crosby in his LS10t had the longest flight, 6:48, as he traversed a good swathe of North Yorkshire bounded by Northallerton, Ripon, Carlton Bank, Guisborough W and Snainton, flying 234 OLC km in the process. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct found a touch of wave SE of Northallerton during his 4:16 flight and climbed some 2,000', he also took a cloud climb to 7,200' asl, the highest of the day, but stayed mainly between site and Northallerton. Eileen Scothern in her Discus t, set off to the S but had to resort to her engine just N of Rufforth and again on the way back, 8 km SSE of site, while Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19 had 5:51, soaring within a 18 km radius of site. Les Rayment in his DG808 flew within the same radius of site, mainly to the S of Sutton, but did visit the Ripon area during his 2:29 flight. Peter Crawley in his ASH 31M had 2:39 visiting areas near Foston, Stamford Bridge and York E, where he had a low point, before flying off to the Ripon and Pateley Bridge area via Topcliffe, but on returning had to use his engine near Easingwold to return to Sutton and land. All the other > an hour pilots stayed local, including Kelly Teagle in her LS8-18t, 1:45, Steve Ogden in his Discus, 1:57, Ian Miskin in Astir DPO, who, after a couple of low saves at the beginning of his flight had 2:47, Tony Drury in his DG303, 3:13, Bas Sonneveld in his LS4, 2:54, James Horton in Astir DSU, 1:28 and Steve Scothern in his Discus t, 1:22, while Sarah Stubbs/Ben Dawson had the longest flight in a club 2 seater, 48 minutes In the DG1000. 8 First Flight pupils were flown and the Falke had a single sortie in the hands of Paul and Polly Whitehead.
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.