Tuesday 31st May to Friday 3rd June.
Posted: 06/06/2022 12:38
Tuesday 31st. A flabby low brought a day of off and on light rain amounting to around 4mm, as a light SSW'ly veered and strengthened to become a light to moderate NW'ly. Consequently there was no flying.
Wednesday 1st June. A light N'ly slowly veered into the NE and strengthened to become moderate on a day of isolated showers and sunny intervals. The day's 9 ATs off runway 06 were split between 3 for First Flight pupils, 3 for a Day course pupil, 2 instructor training flights for Thomazs Rusin and Rod Brister's solo flight in K21 KLW, Only one flight exceeded 30 minutes, this being the 3rd flight of the Day Course pupil with Ron Beezer, when thermal activity extended the flight to 45 minutes. The next best was the 27 minutes by Nigel Burke and a First Flight pupil in K21 FYF.
Thursday 2nd. The prospect of a good soaring day led to a busy launch point, as a light to moderate SSE/S'ly blew, operations being off runway 20. At one time 3 tugs were employed to launch the day's AT total of 50, with 36 of the day's flights exceeding 30 minutes and 22 being over an hour. A number of cross countries were flown, with 9 posted on the BGA Ladder or on OLC with a 307 km task around Kirton Lindsey, Kirbymoorside and Beverley being flown by Chris Handslik in his DG300, Steve Thompson in his Ventus Bt and Paul Whitehead in his ASW24. A variation on this task was flown by Derek Taylor in his ASW22, who after completing the above task attempted to add on an O/R to Burn. Deteriorating conditions led to Derek turning back to site some 18 km short of Burn to record a task distance of 344 km. Pilots reported variable conditions, with occasional strong climbs to up to 5,700' asl but also periods where getting above 2,000' asl was a struggle. Another favoured task was Sutton, Burn, Tontine, Burn, Sutton, a distance of 258 km, this being attempted by Kelly Teagle in her ASW20 and Chris Booker in his LS1. This task proved to be more problematic, with Kelly abandoning the task on the Burn to Tontine leg due to rain around the TP, after covering around 120 km and Chris landing out at Bagby on the Tontine/Burn leg and having an AT retrieve back to Sutton, Chris's distance being 146 km. A variation on the above task was flown by Darren Lodge in his LS8-18, his 193 km task having TPs at Burn, Sutton and Pocklington. A completely different task was flown by Rob Bailey in his ASG29, a 338 km task with TPs at Horncastle and Grantham, Rob reporting dead areas around Grantham. The other cross country flight to be put on the BGA ladder was that by Guy Hartland, who took his guest Austin for a 62 km flight around Rufforth and Sutton on Forest in the DG1000. Other pilots to have more than 2 hours flight time, but who didn't post their flights were Bill Payton/Albert Newbery with 4;45 in their DG1000t, Ben Dawson with 2:49, Paul Bulmer with 2:01 in his Libelle, Tony Drury, 2:02 in his DG303, Dave McKinney with 3:35 in his ASW 28, Andrew Wilmot, 2:23 in his ASW 19, Clive Swain, 4:21 in his Kestrel and 2:45 for James Prosser in his Ventus ct. For those flying club gliders, Conrad Thwaites had 1:26 in the DG303 while Guy Hartland/John Dore had 1:16 in the DG1000.
Friday 3rd. The weather had reverted to a mainly flying rather than soaring day, as a light ENE'ly veered into the NE and strengthened to moderate to fresh, again with isolated showers. Apart from a brief period in the early afternoon when there were 4 flights of 30 minutes or more, with one over an hour, it was a day of extended circuits with operations off runways 02 or 06, 16 ATs being flown. 7 of these were for First Flight pupils, with one of these having a 30 minute flight with Guy Hartland, the other 2 >30 minute flights being by Guy Hartland/Ghuffar Usman, 35 minutes and Dave Slocombe/Duncan Pask, 34 minutes. The longest flight, 1:37 by Pete Goodchild in his Pic 21, saw him venture down to Rufforth and back.
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.