The next generation of pilots

On Monday we hosted the Pocklington 1st Beavers as they work towards getting their RAF Air Activities Badge.

The kids took it in turns to look round our hangars and sit in a real glider - testing the knowledge of our Chief Flying Instructor as he attempted to answer all the questions.

They then spent some time in our gliding simulator - and some genuine talent was demonstrated (as anyone who knows how to fly a glider will testify from the photo below!)

Wave if you can see me

Great day gliding this week. A few of our members managed to take advantage of a meteorological effect called ‘wave’ to climb to over 10,000ft (2 miles!) above York.

York from 2 miles up (click to see larger image)

Rainbow in the distance - below!

‘Surfing’ along the edge of the ‘wave bar’

Wave is a fairly rare occurrence this far east in Pocklington. It happens when a strong south westerly wind hits the pennines (50 miles away) causing a ripple in the atmosphere which acts like a wave - which gliders can use to surf up high.

The pilots above only stopped at 10,000 feet because they didn’t have oxygen with them (or thick enough socks!)