Tuesday 2nd September 2025
Posted: 03/09/2025 15:44
Tuesday 2nd. A good soaring day with a light to moderate/moderate SSW'ly and plenty of tall Cumulus that some pilots used for cloud climbs, although initially cloud base was only around 3,000' to 3,500' asl, rising to around 5,000' asl later in the day with average peak climbs around 4 kts, although Dave McKinney found a 5.3 kt climb. The combination of the weather and Tuesday's evening group flying resulted in 41 ATs and 2 self launches off runway 20, with 19 flights of over 30 minutes of which 13 were over an hour. while 4 First Flight pupils were flown. 8 pilots flew XC's, although overcast skies S of the Humber meant no one ventured out of Yorkshire. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct was first to depart on a XC visiting Burn, Pocklington, Malton and Tontine . Fred did a cloud climb to 6,900' asl and covered 183 OLC km, but when 7 km from site had to use his engine to recover from 700' asl. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct also did a cloud climb, this time to 6,800' asl, while visiting at or near Burn, Market Weighton, Pocklington, Fridaythorpe, Driffield, Sutton on Forest and Boroughbridge with 202 OLC km flown. Visitors Craig Lowrie/Geoff Burtenshaw in their Duo Discus t did an O/R to 5 km WSW of Burn to clock up 141 OLC km, while Ian Bullous in his DG808 went 123 OLC kms around Boroughbridge, Sutton on Forest and Rufforth South before retuning to site via Sutton on Forest to do some local soaring. The day's other DG808 pilot, Les Rayment, flew down to Goole before going back N to Pickering and site and then visiting areas around Foston and Pocklington, with 177 OLC km flown in total. Rob Bailey in his ASG 29t set off to fly south into Lincolnshire, but overcast skies there caused a change in plan, with Rob flying 157 km with TPs at Market Weighton and Beverley and a start and finish at Sutton Bank Control Point N, while Dave McKinney in his ASW 28 flew 103 OLC km visiting Sutton on Forest, Linton on Ouse and the Helmsley area. All the other soaring flights stayed local, although Paul Whitehead in his ASW 24 did fly to points 16 km from site in both NNW and SSE eections. Longest flights in club gliders saw Sam Dawson have 1:22 in Astir FSH and Sarah Nolan having 1:11 in Astir DPO, with Bob Beck/Paul Ellis having 1:06 in K21 JVZ.
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.