Wednesday 24th May to Thursday 25th May 2017
Posted: 26/05/2017 17:41
Wednesday 24th. The High pressure remained in charge of the weather so it was another day of blue skies, light winds from the NWstern quadrant and shallow Cumulus in the morning, they disappearing during the afternoon. Take offs were from runway 24 with the majority of landings on 20. Private owners contributed 7 launches and First Flight pupils 4 to the 20 ATs flown on the day , with the available soaring leading to all but two of the day's flights exceeding 30 minutes with 10 greater than an hour. The majority of those flying stayed local, but visitors Barry Kerby and B Monslow visited Ripon and Boroughbridge in their Duo Discus while Duncan Pask rounded the Tontine and Helmsley in his LS10. The only other pilot to venture far from the site was Phil Lazenby who flew the Discus to Masham and back. Nigel Burke topped the endurance stakes with 4 hrs in his DG600, the aforementioned Barry Kerby and B Monslow having over 2 hrs in their Duo Discus, with Sharon Kerby having 1:41 in her ASW 27. Charles Willoughby had 2 hrs in the Discus while Derek Smith and Malcolm Morgan had 41 minutes in the DG1000 on the warmest day of the year so far.
Thursday 25th. The dominating High pressure had drifted off to the east of the UK so that the wind at site, generally light., had become a S'ly with a tendency to back into the SSE. Operations, were off runway 20, as the maximum temperature exceeded that of Wednesday, a value of 25,8C being recorded at nearby RAF Topcliffe. The flying day commenced at 1016 hrs and finished at 1641 hrs, during which time 33 ATs were flown behind either the Eurofox or the SuperCub, the launch total including 9 private owner launches and 5 for First Flight pupils. The conditions did not tempt anybody to go too far from the site as the cloud base beyond the confines of the North Yorkshire Moors was below 2,000' for the majority of the day. Indeed, it was quite unusual to be able to soar up to a 3,500' asl cloudbase over the moors and look down on the tops of the flat Cumulus over the lower ground to the south and west. Most climbs were of the 1-2 kt average variety, although with some strong surges. The day gradually went blue, although some Cumulus developed later in the afternoon. Barry Kerby, flying his Duo Discus solo for 3:17 was the only pilot to exceed 3 hours, venturing at far as Malton in the process, with Albert Newbery and Mike Smith in Albert's DG1000, George Rowden in his LS8-18 and Sharon Kerby in her ASW 27 all having between 2 and 3 hours. In total, 8 flights exceeded an hour and a further ten 30 minutes. with the longest of the two seater flights occurring off the second flight of the day as John Carter and Keith Davy had 47 minutes in K21 KLW. After the first flight of the day with Andy Parish, Paul Bulmer successfully soloed in K21 JVZ, and fitted in a second flight in the same glider at the end of the day, so congratulations Paul.
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.