Wednesday 30th September 2026
Posted: 01/10/2026 10:03
Wednesday 30th. After a very warm night, the temperature locally not falling below 17.3C, the low cloud associated with an eastern travelling cold front did not clear the area until late morning, delaying the start of flying until around 1330 hrs. Thereafter, 19 ATs were flown off runway 20 into a light to moderate/moderate SSW'ly, the post front airmass eventually providing good soaring conditions mid afternoon, with cloud base rising to around 5,500' asl and average peak climb rates around 2-3 kts. As a result, 9 flights exceeded 30 minutes of which 5 were over an hour with 2 pilots electing to fly XC's. Visitor Graham Morris in his Ventus 2cxt initially soared locally never getting much above 3,000' asl and having to use his engine some 40 minutes into his flight before conditions improved, with Graham then visiting Wetherby and Helmsley, a post engine distance of around 100 OLC km. Dean Crosby in his LS10t was the other XC pilot. Dean also had to initially contend with moderate thermal conditions but flew out to beyond Ripon, survived a low point there before returning to visit the Thirsk, Easingwold and Boroughbridge areas, covering 129 OLC km in the process. Visitors Martin Langford in his LS6, Peter Brown in his Ventus 2ct and Richard Brown in his LS6-18 all had between 2 -3 hrs of local soaring, with the longest flight in a club glider being the 44 minutes by James Shaw and one of the day's 2 First Flight pupils in K21 KLW, the flight comprising a thermal climb to 4,800' asl followed by a straight descent.
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.