Tuesday 31st March to Sunday 5th April 2026
Posted: 07/04/2026 21:25
Tuesday 31st. A busy day at the launchpoint on runway 24, with 23 ATs and a single Falke flight, as a moderate WNW'ly slowly backed into the WSW. 13 of the day's flights exceeded 30 minutes, with 9 of these over an hour, including 5 by all the private owners who launched, most of whom stayed local although some short XCs were flown. Derek Smith/Sam Batchelor in K21 KLW started the soaring day off well with 1:05 of local soaring from the days first AT at 1110 hrs, with Fred Brown in his Ventus 2bt, Steve Ogden in his Discus, Bas Sonnerveld in his LS4, Rob Bailey in his ASG29t and Chris Handzlik in his DG300 following with flight times of 2:24 to 4:07. Maximum altitudes reached over 4,000' with peak average thermal strengths of 3-3.5 kts, with Fred visiting Topcliffe and flying 2/3rds of the way to Northallerton, Rob doing 3 x O/Rs to Tontine to cover 147 OLC kms and Chris covering 103 OLC kms by visiting Tontine, Northallerton and 9 km SW of Sutton. Andreas Rieder/Duncan Pask in K21 JVZ, John Carter/Ryan Parker in the DG1000 and Clive Swain/Ian Miskin in KLW all locally soared for over an hour, mainly in thermal, although hill soaring the home bowl was also employed. The day's flying also included flights for 2 First Flight pupils.
Wednesday 1st April. A moderate WSW/SW'ly continued to blow, providing hill soaring and thermal, but while 9 of the day's 15 ATs led to flights of over 30 minutes, with 5 of these over an hour, Dean Crosby's visit to Black Hambleton in his LS10t via hill lift was the furthest anybody flew from site. Dean's 1:41 was the longest flight of the day with the other > an hour pilots being Chris O'Boyle in his Discus t, 1:17, Andreas Rieder/Ian Miskin in the DG1000, 1:06, Andrew Wilmot in his ASW19, 1:15, and Andreas Rieder/Duncan Pask in K21 JVZ, 1:12. Hill soaring the main W'ly ridge was typically between 700' and 1300' QFE with peak altitudes in thermal being around 2,500; asl.
Thursday 2nd. A light NNW'ly slowly backed into the SSE and increased to moderate on a day with a cloud base of up to 4,900' asl and peak average thermal strengths of up to 4 kts. The conditions led to a number of XC flights with Dean Crosby's 360 km in his LS10t being the longest of the day. Dean flew Snainton/Southwell Minster/Leyburn finding good conditions over the first part of his task but trickier conditions approaching Leyburn due to an approaching front and wave interference. Fred Brown in his Ventus 2ct flew a 152 km O/R to the Humber Bridge and Chris Teagle flew a 182 km O/R to Scunthorpe in his LS8-18t. Other XC pilots found the going somewhat more problematical, with Rob Bailey in his ASG 29t getting to Pocklington on the return leg of his 335 km Tontine/Horncastle/Sutton Task, but then having to resort to his engine, covering 295 km. A similar fate befell Peter Crawley in his ASH 31 Mi, who had to resort to his engine some 9km S of Kirton in Lindsey after getting there via Goole East. Chris Handzlik in his DG300, after visiting York, Knaresborough and the Aysgarth area, found himself in an area of no lift some 6 km S of Northallerton and landed out after covering 169 OLC km, while Clive Swain in his Kestrel 19, flew 103 OLC km with visits to the Malton area and Castle Howard. The other > an hour pilot was Beau Basson in his ASW 20. who, on his 2nd flight of the day, had 2:23 of local thermal soaring. The day proved to be a good one for Ian Miskin who celebrated his solo flight in K21 KLW with 42 minutes of local soaring, so congratulations Ian with the customary photo shown below.
Friday 3rd. Approaching Storm Dave brought strong winds and rain so there was no flying.
Saturday 4th. The aftermath of Storm Dave was a day of generally cloudy skies and a light to moderate SE'ly wind, with little in the way of soaring potential. Accordingly, the day's 12 ATs off runway 20 were all extended circuits, with flight times from 7 - 24 minutes dependent upon launch height, John Marsh/James Mcarthur claiming the 24 minutes in K21 JVZ off the last flight of the day.
Sunday 5th. A mixture of hill and thermal soaring as a light to moderate WSW'ly blew, enabled 5 of the day's 9 ATs off runway 24 to exceed 30 minutes with 2 of these exceeding an hour. These latter two flights were by Toby Wilson in his Standard Cirrus and Adam Sayer in his ASW 19, both of their 1:57 and 1:43 flights including a foray to Boroughbridge in thermal, accompanied by some soaring of the home bowl. John Marsh/James Mcarthur in K21 JVZ, Fred Brown/Conrad Thwaites also in JVZ, and Jamie Quartermaine/Ted Rathmell in K21 KLW were the other soaring pilots, with flight times of 31, 35 and 33 minutes respectively, all via soaring the home bowl.
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.