tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53992690889329026122024-11-05T18:54:40.819-08:00A blog that is mainly about gliding from Sutton Bank and around Yorkshire.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-71261505181680550252022-11-15T04:09:00.001-08:002022-11-15T04:09:33.540-08:00

This fashionably late post continues the story of my gliding adventures into the 2021 season. Everything had been set up for the previous year to be the one in which I entered my first rated gliding competition. Silver badge done, some exposure to inter-club competition, club task weeks and a little bit of other cross country practice meant that the only thing to do would be to get on with

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-38887375272983404402022-11-09T10:11:00.004-08:002022-11-10T09:16:44.005-08:00

Well, it has been a while hasn't it? Between pandemics, parenting, work and every other thing that takes up my time I am afraid I have neglected this blog - and I had always intended to keep it at least somewhat up to date with my gliding adventures. The idea of it was that it was something to reminisce over later, or perhaps it might inspire someone who stumbled across it to take their gliding

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-578560671558324682020-07-22T12:45:00.002-07:002020-07-22T12:45:40.655-07:00

Well hasn't this year been fun, everyone?It's been a long time since I wrote anything - but that's because it's been a long time since there was anything to write. The weather in February was bad, even for February, and as we were looking forward to getting going again in March/April, along came a global pandemic!Thankfully we had the ability to get flying again as soon as regulations allowed in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-75677064492028797982019-07-09T08:31:00.001-07:002019-07-09T08:41:57.897-07:00

A Gold distance is defined as a 300km flight either in a straight line, or around up to three declared turn points - I guess you can complete it without returning to your original start point. If you do, you can also claim the Diamond Goal flight, which can be done as a 300km flight on an "out and return" basis or around a closed triangular course. I had therefore figured that on the right day,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000428.7067989 -42.5182331 79.7508679 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-77805401531211253082019-05-21T15:14:00.001-07:002019-05-21T15:37:48.944-07:00

In my last post, I ended with how much I was looking forward to the Inter-club league this year, especially since I'd organised it and it was being hosted at my home airfield. Sadly, it lived up to it's nickname - the 'inter scrub league' and we managed collectively to amass zero kilometres - even despite a mass relocation to a different airfield when we thought local weather conditions might

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-33328860445717508472019-04-10T15:10:00.001-07:002019-04-10T15:20:11.740-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, it would seem. It hasn't been a particularly busy winter, flying wise - I've managed to do enough to keep current, but Lima-Five-One has been in it's trailer in a nice warm barn, and only came out in March as the weather started to take a turn and the ARC was due. This is obviously the first time I have needed to take an aircraft through it's ARC, but it was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-62108052240822908272018-08-26T11:14:00.000-07:002018-08-28T11:43:56.447-07:00

I missed out on last years Task Week by becoming Bronze/Cross Country qualified about three days after it had finished, so I was looking forward to competing in this years 'friendly' competition. I had the week booked off work, I had a glider booked for the full week, and the weather looked as though it might have been a little better than it had last year too. Having sat in on a couple of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EX, UK54.238 -1.215000000000031828.7159655 -42.523594000000031 79.7600345 40.093593999999968tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-83876819316084249902018-07-16T15:24:00.000-07:002018-07-17T15:10:28.990-07:00

We're lucky to have a modern, high performance club fleet at the YGC - and those of us not yet fortunate enough to have our own glider, or a share in one are spoilt with a choice of either Discus or  DG-303 to go and have an adventure in. As you would correctly imagine, this system doesn't work so well on the good days. I arrived on the airfield at 8:30am intending claim the Discus for

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000435.8650894 -42.5182331 72.5925774 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-28407068462626798462018-07-10T15:32:00.001-07:002018-07-10T15:32:37.966-07:00

Thanks to some Yorkshire wave and a stroke of complete luck with regards to take off time and release point, I smashed Silver height earlier in the year without really having set out to do so, and so my journey to completing my Silver badge in 2018 officially began. (In case you feel that was cheating, I have now also completed a 4000' climb in thermals, we seem to be experiencing a strong summer

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-83101126086709861722018-06-17T14:16:00.000-07:002018-07-10T14:40:14.867-07:00

Five hour duration. This is the one I've least been looking forward to. It's not that there's anything wrong with flying a glider for five hours, because after all we fly because it's great fun (and because we're massive children who are fortunate enough to get to play with the best toys). It's just that five hours is a long time and with gliding one poor decision could see you back on the deck

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-48228658803999729512018-05-10T14:51:00.001-07:002018-05-10T16:04:01.596-07:00

The gliding season in the UK seems to be just about getting underway after a long, dull winter where not much could happen - even at our 7-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year club, most pilots have struggled to get flights in due to the conditions. My plan for the year is to go for the Silver badge (got my height gain a few weeks ago) and get some cross country kilometres under my belt. With the latter

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0The Airfield, Park Ln, Selby YO8 8LW, UK53.7495548 -1.097045999999977528.2275203 -42.405639999999977 79.2715893 40.211548000000022tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-47270863875722414662018-04-22T17:07:00.000-07:002018-04-23T02:09:18.653-07:00

Just time to catch up on this weekend before I disappear off on a weeks 'real' (non-gliding) holiday. I spent both Saturday and Sunday at the airfield, with a weather forecast that looked usable on both days. As it turned out, the forecast was a little bit backwards. Saturday Saturday looked like if anything were to happen, it would probably be after lunch and it would probably be

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-91885963119678701482018-04-17T14:03:00.000-07:002018-04-17T14:03:43.834-07:00

It's been a while since I posted an update. This winter has been so bad that barely any flying has taken place at all, and it's much less available when you only have weekends to do it (it's really not worth using leave days from work!). We've had rain (lots of it), snow, wind (generally in the wrong direction) and thick, grey cloud cover that seems to have lasted for weeks at a time made even

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-35850444957789249772017-12-27T04:31:00.000-08:002017-12-28T01:57:30.996-08:00

It's been a while since I posted - something to be expected I suppose - since it's the back end of the year and this is a blog that's mainly about gliding and soaring. It seems that Golf Oscar Delta (GOD) had decreed September 2nd to be the end of summer because the weather hasn't been up to a great deal since (on weekends, anyway). The prevailing southwesterlies have been anything but, and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000434.7559489 -42.5182331 73.7017179 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-81026986638404884842017-10-02T12:09:00.000-07:002017-10-02T12:09:04.486-07:00

There's not too much to write recently. September should have offered up some still good flying days and it all started well with my first cross country flight which took place on the 2nd. Despite two more trips to the airfield over the month, the only things achieved were lunch, some light socialising and depletion of the bar stocks by a little bit. It wasn't until the 30th that I managed to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-36499050644476804072017-09-14T12:12:00.001-07:002018-05-10T16:01:11.264-07:00

I'm a bit lot late in writing this entry, but a few weeks ago and immediately following on from getting my Bronze/XC qualification, I had a little adventure. It was another first for me, so I had to make sure I documented it for posterity 😃 September 2nd was already looking good when I'd checked the RASP forecast a few days prior, and it each day that passed, it continued to look like a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000434.7721654 -42.5182331 73.685501399999993 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-15531341611045935722017-08-30T15:08:00.001-07:002017-08-30T15:10:35.504-07:00

I'm pleased to finally be able to say that I have completed both my Bronze badge, and cross country endorsement! The skills test was the last hurdle, but having spent a little more time practicing and enhancing my knowledge in a couple of areas, I have done it and I am now a glider pilot! The check flight itself was slightly unusual, having been a cross country tow from Pocklington back to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000434.7722884 -42.5182331 73.685378399999991 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-21443782788620664992017-08-30T14:51:00.000-07:002017-08-30T14:54:25.052-07:00

I have just tasted my first competition flying experience; and where better to do so than in a competition specifically for two-seater gliders? This is an annual meet run by the Wolds Gliding Club at Pocklington, a mere 45km from Sutton Bank as the glider flies. We didn't enter to win. Rather, our club entered our DG-1000 so that early cross country pilots or those who haven't competed can gain

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0The Airfield, Pocklington Ind Est, York, Pocklington, York YO42 1NP, UK53.9232518 -0.7920133999999734434.466706800000004 -42.100607399999973 73.379796800000008 40.516580600000026tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-14978645971646059472017-08-28T14:55:00.000-07:002018-05-10T16:03:13.909-07:00

It's been a while since I have had any noteworthy experiences to post about, and the time to post them. We haven't really had a lot of calm weather recently - what we've had hasn't been a problem for flying and has even been enjoyable for the most part, but much of it has seen launches and landings occurring on our short runway and we've even had a few winching days.  All of that has

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000434.7405039 -42.5182331 73.7171629 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-73371413616164362162017-08-06T09:44:00.000-07:002017-08-06T09:52:44.705-07:00

After my venture towards the pennines in the club motorglider the other week, I was invited to fly again with the instructor in his own private machine (a Super Ximango), so that we could go and see some more of Yorkshire and pick up some navigation pointers. It would be again a learning exercise but also a bit of a sightseeing exercise - the main purpose was just to see some of the main

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Scarborough, UK54.283113 -0.3997520000000349754.208942 -0.5611135000000349 54.357284 -0.23839050000003498tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-51214049197791446552017-08-06T09:43:00.002-07:002017-08-06T09:43:53.768-07:00

I'm sure that most jobs have their busy times. For my current job, it's all about the first couple of weeks in August and the month or so leading up to them. I'm lucky though, in that even if I don't feel able to take a few days off - I can usually escape for a day here and there at fairly short notice, which ties in well with a hobby that can be dependent on weather conditions that only start to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-35435425593068096802017-07-30T02:16:00.000-07:002017-07-30T02:42:02.016-07:00

With the previous weekend's weather looking decidedly unfriendly for flying, and work being a bit on the hectic side, I decided to take Friday off work, stay over at the gliding club and get two days flying done. The added bonus was that as the end of the week drew closer, it started to look more and more likely that a reasonable strength westerly would activate the local ridge and offer the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000434.7319109 -42.5182331 73.7257559 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-1454981758901206142017-07-20T14:47:00.000-07:002017-07-20T14:49:56.335-07:00

Gliding is a hobby that keeps on giving you that little bit more to do. When I first started out just over a year ago, the thought of being able to do my own landing or take-off seemed like a million years away, but those milestones quickly passed. Thoughts then turned to solo flight, and with confidence and experience growing, that too came and went; the first one wasn't much more than an

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000434.7557999 -42.5182331 73.7018669 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-38704731562055923992017-07-10T15:27:00.000-07:002017-07-10T15:27:07.350-07:00

I didn't fly last weekend, because despite some very hard stares - the plaster on the walls of my new kitchen didn't dry in time, and so painting had to take priority. The room looks amazing, but it did mean that it had been a good three weeks between flights of any significant length, so it was good to be able to spend two full days this weekend at the gliding club, with the bonus of a promising

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7 2EY, UK54.2288334 -1.20963910000000428.7067989 -42.5182331 79.7508679 40.098954899999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5399269088932902612.post-32435477619930846162017-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:002017-06-29T13:32:00.785-07:00

Yesterday I had a valuable experience, it lasted for just 24 seconds and it's not one that I'm keen to repeat. Here's how it ended: Our K-21 glider nestled in some seriously thick weeds off the end of runway 24 And now, here's how it happened. I was flying as P2 from the front, with an instructor in the back seat. The flight started like any other, with pre-flight checks which included

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Sutton Bank, Thirsk YO7, UK54.238 -1.215000000000031834.765167500000004 -42.523594000000031 73.7108325 40.093593999999968