Thursday 29th September to Saturday 1st October 2022
Posted: 02/10/2022 23:26
Thursday 29th. A moderate and at times moderate to fresh NNE'ly brought in a few showers but didn't affect flying with a mixture of 10 ATs and 14 winch launches of runway 02. The winch launches were courtesy of a Skylaunch winch on trial at site and gave 1500-1600' launches, but with little in the way of lift, resulted in flight times in the 5-10 minute range. Both 2 seaters and single seaters were winched with Arthur Docherty taking 3 launches in his ASW20. The 10 AT behind the Eurofox towed to between 2,000 and 2,500' QFE the higher tows generating flight times of 22 minutes, one for Laurie Clarke and the day's only First Flight pupil and the other for John Forrester flying Astir DSU solo. Laurie also flew one of the day's 2 Day Course members with Nigel Burke flying the other. A photo of the Skylaunch winch is given below plus a link to a video clip of a launch from a runway not normally used for winching.
Friday 30th. A day of low cloud, rain from 1100 hrs and a moderate to fresh and gusty SSE'ly wind meant there was no flying.
Saturday 1st October. Yesterday's active front left the site in a moderate and at times moderate to fresh and gusty W'ly that slowly backed into the WSW. Some early showers largely missed the site with the first of the day's 40 winch launches off runway 24 at 0920 hrs, this being by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct who went off wave hunting. 36 of the winch launches were via the Skylaunch winch before it left site late in the day, the balance being by YGC's own winch, with the performance of the Skylaunch being appreciated by pilots. Some of the early launches were for currency reasons and this, coupled with the ridge not providing much lift, led to a number of flight times under 10 minutes and the only AT of the day, as one the day's 4 First Flight pupils was given a 28 minute flight. However, the wind then picked up and the hill lift improved, complemented by wave and thermal lift resulting in 15 flights over 30 minutes, with 15 over an hour, including 2 over 5 hours. Bob Calvert's wave hunting flight lasted over 7 hrs with Bob's best height of 6,800' asl being achieved 8 km SW of Ripon, helped by the use of his engine. Martyn Johnson in his DG600, Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 and Steve Thompson in Astir DPO, didn't have to go that far for a wave climb, with all three contacting the wave near Boltby, Martyn climbing to 6,800', and Darren and Steve 5,100', all asl. Their flight times were 2:42, 5:07 and 2:03 respectively, with Clive Swain having 6:04 in his Kestrel as he soaring locally. Although a number of pilots had some wave climbs close to the site, no one else climbed above 5,000' asl except Jesper Mjels, who like Bob, went west in his DG400, climbing to 6,700' asl 10 km NW of Ripon before visiting Pateley Bridge. Wave-affected thermal activity and hill lift were also utilised, with a number of pilots visiting the forward ridge and Black Hambleton, with Conrad Thwaites going as far north as the Thimbleby ridge in Astir DSU, Chris Booker going further north to the Tontine solely in hill lift in his LS1 and Bill Payton/ Adam Sayer going even further to Carlton Bank in Bill's DG1000t. Bill and Adam had to spend a little time on the ridge near the Tontine after visiting Carlton Bank in order to get higher than the 500' QFE they arrived there at and continue their return to site, which they did after a flight of 3:20. Eleven private owners launched on another good soaring day at Sutton. After the end of flying the clubhouse, and some of the members, took on an Hawaiian feel as a sumptuous BBQ was enjoyed by goodly number of member and guests, with thanks to Kelly Teagle, Julian Gerretson and team for organising the event and providing the food/drink and decoration.
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.