YGC Blog

Saturday 6th.  A cloudy, damp airstream from the SE, with light rain slowly petering out as the day progressed meant that there was no flying.  However, the simulator was again put to good use for another group of Scouts, this time Sea Scouts from Bingley, with  Les Rayment and Stewart Heaton providing the instruction.   In the evening, the briefing room was packed for a presentation of ATC in the Vale of York by 2 representatives of the RAF from Leeming.  After a detailed description of RAF/Army Air Corp operations from the local militaryairfields, a lively interactive discussion resulted with the RAF stressing the benefits of YGC glider  and local General Aviation pilots keeping the RAF ATC informed of their intentions when flying away from Sutton and Bagby. 

Sunday 7th.  Saturday’s cloud and rain/drizzle had cleared away leaving a brilliantly blue and sunny day with a light to moderate SSE’lywind.   Initial problems with non-availability of  duty personnel were soon resolved by the members present and operations commenced  just after 1100hrs, continuing to 1745 hrs, by which time 41 ATswere flown, including those of another group of 7 Scouts.   With usuable lift virtually non existent due to the presence of a very strong, low level inversion, the emphasis was on 2 seater flying with all 4 club 2 seaters flying, but only the Astir of the single seater fleet.   In addition, 4 private owners flew and there were 4 Trial Lesson pupils.  Flight times were generally in the 10-20 minute range but Pete Thirlwell/Derek Taylor had 30 minutes courtesy  of a 3500′ tow in a club 2 seater, with Rob Bailey managing a minute more in the Discus off a slightly lower tow.

Monday8th.  Monday promised a repeat of Sunday with brilliantly blue skies but with the little wind there was, now coming from the NE.  Initially, a distinct inversion existed at 1500-2000′ QFE, but this broke down as the day progressed, allowing cumulus to form, with cloud base rising to around 5000′ QNH by mid afternoon with pilots reporting thermals peaking at 6 kts.   The excellent soaring conditions led to a complete reversal of Sunday’s glider utilisation, with only one of the club 2 seaters but all  the club single seaters flown.   Of the 8 ATs, 7 led to  flight times of more than an hour, the total hours flown for the day being around 12. Ken Duxbury had 2:10 in the Astir, David Hill/Mike Smith in the K21 recorded the longest 2 seater flight of the day, 1:21, and Duncan Pask took the Ka8 to 5000′ QNH.  Flying continued until 1630 hrs,  a medium level overcast having pushed in from the east mid afternoon, without apparently affecting thermal activity.

Tuesday 9th.   The day started off sunny with bright blue skies, the light to moderate wind now in the N.  A thick layer of medium level cloud was, however, visible to  the east and this  moved west , eventually bringing light rain by early afternoon and terminating flying for the day. Operations were off runway 02, with the control cabin and departure point being located to the W of the winch track to avoid traversing the track during the early part of the launch.   5 ATs were flown before the weather deteriorated,  all but one in the K21, withDavid Watsham flying the Discus on his last visit to the club before departing for his regular 3 month sojourn in the USA.  Hugh O’Neill, an ex power pilot, went up with Mike Wood on the first flight of the day and had 20 minutes off their 3000′ AT, Hugh greatly enjoying his first ever glider flight and subsequently signalling his intention to join the club.   Thereafter, flight times were in the 10-15 minute range as the cloud base lowered ahead of the rain.  The termination of flying activities did allow the wind sock to be disentangled from the mast, while Peter Clay continued his never ending task of buildings maintenance and the Super Cub had its 50 hr maintenance check.   Ian Plant, erstwhile chief cook and bottle washer,  appeared sporting a broken nose as the result of a fall.  Fortunately, the worry that this had occurred when he was sober turned out to be unfounded.

Wednesday 3rd.   After the soaring activity of Tuesday, the cloudy, flyable but circuit day on Wednesday didn’t appeal to the majority of members, with the result that the only flying was done in the Falke which had 2 trips.

Thursday.  With  the high cover of Wednesday cleared away, the prospects of soaring meant a good turn out of  members and 24 ATs were flown in a very  light E’ly that over the day backed into the W.    Cumulus developed by late morning with the result that all the club fleet with the exception of the DG500 flew.  Rob Calvert, one of the 2 private owners who flew, had 3 hrs in his Astir while his old adversary from their hang gliding British Championship days, Rob Bailey, had 2 hrs in the club Discus.   5 flights exceeded an hour with  pilots enjoying good thermals and a variable cloud base of  of around 3700′ QNH.   2 Trial lesson pupils flew, one of them, Mr Shields, having just under the hour in the DG1000 with Mike Wood. 

Friday.  Friday reverted to type for the year with a light NNW’ly that increased to moderate as the afternoon progressed, providing the usual windsock convolutions as the photo below shows.  On the first flight of the day, Ben Dawson, flying the club Discus, found some weak wave between Hood Hill and Gormire with the result that he had just  under an hour in  the air, maintaining around 1500′.   In all there were 5 ATs, all solo, with the Discus and the DG1000 flown from the club fleet while 2 private owners also flew.  George Rowden, finding no usuable lift near the site, turboed out to the NW and  found a 1kt “hot spot” near Leeming that eventually took him to 7000′ QNH.   He then went on a local tour but lost significant height turning Carlton and was unable to regain it, retreating to Sutton where he landed after 2:10.  Ritchie Toon, rigging late, had just under an hour off a high tow in his LS7.

Sunday 28th.  A light to moderate NNW’ly brought in a lot of low cloud and some light showers that restricted flying to a single Falke flight so another group of Scouts from N Yorkshire were flown on the simulator by Nick Gaunt.

Monday 1st.  The change from February to March brought a much needed improvement in the weather with Cu developing by late morning in a light, predominately NW’ly airstream.  6 ATs were flown and there were 2 Falke flights, the ATs being flown by the club Discus, Astir and K21.  There was some overdevelopment in the afternoon but 50% of the flights achieved or exceeded an hour with Rob Bailey having 1:20 in the Discus and Malcolm Winter/Duncan Pask having around the half hour in the K21. 

Tuesday 2nd.  With a forecast dew point of -4C and a forecast surface temperature of 6C in a very light NW,  the briefing room was well filled with eager pilots and the day didn’t disappoint.   Early flights found some very weak wave at around 3000′ QFE and cumulus started to appear at  midday with bases at around 4000′ QNH.  27 ATs were flown off runway 02 with virtually all the club fleet utilised and 2 private owners also rigging.  8 of the flights equalled or exceeded an hour with Reg Rowlinson in  the Ka8 and David Watsham in the Discus having around 1:30 each and Andy Parish/Ken Duxbury just under the  hour in the DG 1000.   The cloud base rose to around 4500′ QNH by late afternoon with small cored thermals giving average climb rates of up to 3/4 kts.   The 2 private owners justified their rigging by each having over 3 hours aloft although the day was somewhat tarnished for one of them by the first wheels up landing of the year.   The club welcomed back Harry Clark  and Duncan Pask had the last flight of the day solo in the K21.

Wednesday 24th  to Friday 26th.   Wednesday and Thursday saw the site in cloud with light rain on bothmornings with a persistent light to  moderate flow from an easterly quadrant.  Consequently, there was no flying, with  the only bright spot the return to site of the Astir after its CoA.   On Friday the wind switched into the NW but remained light to moderate, a  shallow low just off the east coast giving a very wet day with the rain turning to snow in the afternoon with the result that the site was recovered in another 5 cms. 

Saturday 27th.  Another slack pressure gradient produced a gentle N’ly and a great deal of low stratus that initially enveloped the site delaying the start of flying but allowing the Astir to be rigged.   The stratus eventually rose and broke up to reveal blue sky but remained a threat during the rest of the flying day, its base struggling to get above circuit height and contributing to some “will they get back” discussions at the launch point.  Flying was restricted to 5 ATs, utilising the K21 and the DG1000, off an increasingly soggy airfield as the lying snow melted.   Conditions were not suitable to fly a group of 10 Scouts from York, so  the simulator was used to give them a first taste of gliding.  In the evening, Steve Ball gave an interactive meterology lecture aimed at pre Bronze C pilots which was extended at the request of the attendees to cover the intricacy and output of tephigrams.

Sunday 21st.  A front moving northeast over the site brought a morning of snow  that deposited around 5 cms on the airfield, the generally light wind starting off in the E and then going into the NNW as the front passed at around 1300 hrs.  The passage of the front made little difference to the temperature that remained below freezing all day.   Most members left the site in the morning due to the possibility of being snowed in and, with clearing skies not appearing until around sunset, no flying was possible.     

Monday 22nd.  With another front staying well to the  south, partly sunnyskies and  a light to moderate NE’ly wind should have resulted in a flying day.  However, a lack of members meant no flying was possible.

Tuesday 23rd.   Members turning off the A170 onto the metalled road to the club were met by a road closed sign but the reason for this was not evident until later in the day when the local council put up some warning road signs on the approach to the club picturing a glider.  I asssume this refers to the dangers of low flying gliders to the passing motorist and not an attempt to put people off gliding.  It certainly didn’t put off the club members who turned up today and flew in spite of a snow covered airfield, a wind chill of -5C and a freshening ESE’ly that posed some challenges for operations off runway 20 in terms of circuit planning and cross wind landings.  7 ATs were flown into increasingly cloudy skies, including a Trial Lesson pupil.  In the absence of much usable lift, flight times were generally in  the 10 - 15 minute range but courtesy of a 3000′ tow, George Rowden was able to give Trial Lesson pupil David Gallier a 20 minute introduction to gliding and Chris Thirkell managed 16 minutes of a 2000′ tow.   Derek Smith took the Rotax Falke for a trip to practice field landings before operations ceased mid afternoon as the cloud base lowered and the wind continued to freshen ahead of an approaching front that promised more snow.

Saturday 20th.  A very light NNW’ly and sunny skies saw operations start on runway 20 at around 1000 hrs and then switch to take-offs from runway 24 and landings on 20  later in the day as the wind backed into the SW and strengthened slightly.  A total of 27 ATs were flown with the clubs K21s, DG1000, Discus, DG303 and a single private owner, Steve Ball in his LS8, taking to the skies.   Pre midday, there were no soaring flights but cumulus started to appear thereafter for a restricted period allowing 3 flights of over an hour and 11 flights over 30 minutes.  Steve Ball in his LS8 justified his rigging time by having 1.3hrs in  the air while John Marsh/Mr Chiolley had 45 minutes in the club K21, the best of the day’s 2 seater flights.   Chairman Graham Evison regained his instructor rating under the eagle eye of Dick Cole and the flying day was well and truly rounded off by the first solo of 2010 by Mark Hillyer in the K21.  Congratulations Mark. 

After washing the aircraft, packing the hangar and retiring to the bar for some liquid refreshment, the members moved to the briefing room to listen to Ron Beezer give a very informative talk on the crucial importance of angle of attack in avoiding winch launching and landing accidents.  As well as basing his talk on actual events, a video of  changes in angle of attack during winch launching a Puchacz was used to underline the points raised, the video also being used to demonstrate a high speed stall in the same aircraft.

Wednesday 17th.  It was pointed out that my last blog included Wednesday in the title but not in the text.  Not really surprising as Wednesday was another non flying day with the site in fog/cloud all day with very little wind.  Josephine and the auditors were however busy with the annual accounts ahead of the AGM.  The only other point of interest was the tracery of rime on the trees/bushes etc as the following photo shows.  North is to the right in the photo.

Thursday 18th.  With the temperature just above freezing, a very light SE’ly drift kept the site in cloud all day, so no flying was possible.  However, the lack of distractions meant the audit of the accounts proceeded smoothly.

Friday 19th.  Snow overnight meant a return to another white covering, albeit not enough to rule out flying in the sunny skies and light to moderate NNW’ly that greeted the day.  With the club K21 at the launch point a low (700′ QFE) overcast quickly developed so the erstwhile pilots retired to the clubhouse to await the better weather visible on the sat pics.  This duly arrived and flying commenced around 1130 hrs, the usual turbulent conditions on the take off and climb being continued for the whole of the early flights.  After a break for lunch and a chance to warm up,  flying recommenced and George Rowden, flying the K21 solo, found some broken thermal under the mostly cloudy skies to record the longest flight of the day, 34 minutes.   A snow shower again halted proceedings, before Derek Smith, again flying the K21 solo, looked to be on course to stay up for a longer time by maintaining around 500′ on  the southern part of the main bowl.  However, an approaching snow shower brought an end to the flight after 30 minutes.  In between this activity the Rotax Falke was busy with 4 flights, David Watsham doing his annual field landing checks with Albert Newbery on one of  these.   In all, 6 ATs were flown off runway 02.  Although the temperature briefly rose above freezing during the day, resulting in the snow cover melting, the cloudier conditions during  the afternoon saw the temperature fall back below freezing, with the result that the accumulated mud around the K21 main wheel had frozen solid by the time the aircraft was brought to the hangar for washing at the end of the flying day.  Meanwhile, in the warmth of the clubhouse, the auditors, assisted by Josephine, completed their work. 

Wednesday 10th.  The snow showers, albeit less frequent, continued throughout the day, carried on a chilly, light to moderate NNE’ly, the temperature never getting above zero C.  The gliders and the pilots remained indoors.

Thursday 11th.  9 ATs were flown off a snow covered 02 into a light to moderate NW’ly, the attendees enjoying blue skies and bright sunshine but still braving a surface wind chill of -5C at ground level.    The flying utilised one of the club’s  K21s and the DG1000 with the majority of the flights dual as pilots regained their currency.   Weak wave was in evidence and was utilised by Jesper Mjels with a flight of 1.1 hrs solo the DG1000, an AT to 5,500′ maximising the chances of contacting wave.   Albert Newbery/Mo Fay managed 47 mins off a 2000′ AT in the K21, only returning to earth to let others fly, including a Trial Lesson pupil who also  enjoyed wave flying at around 2000′ QFE with Mike Wood.   The approach of dusk ended flying for the day, the photo below giving a flavour of the day’s flying, snow and wave.

An email from Phil Lazenby in Western Australia gives an alternate flavour, noting nothing special in gliding terms, only 5 x 300 kms and blue thermals to 6/8000′!!!!      

Friday 12th.  A day of sunshine and showers in a moderate NNW’ly saw 3 ATs of runway 02, all in the K21, with Andy Parish/Colin Troise sharing a 31 minute flight off a 3000′ AT, soaring opportunities being strictly limited.

Saturday 13th.  A low cloudbase in a moderate N’ly flow that brought in some showery rain late afternoon, kept the gliders in the hangar but allowed a single Rotax Falke flight.  However, the simulator was put to good use giving a 7 strong group of visiting Scouts from Washington, Co Durham, some virtual air experience flights.  In the evening, John Marsh gave a lecture on Air Law and this was followed by an early Valentine’s day dinner provided by Brian.

Sunday 14th.  An early shower did not dampen enthusiasm and improved flying conditions compared to Saturday allowed 14 ATs off runway 02 into a moderate N’ly, the club K21s and DG1000 being flown.  Lift was sporadic, but Dave Latimer made  the most of it by flying the DG1000 solo for 58 minutes while Geoff Harrison took Trial Lesson pupil, E Spencer, for a 24 minute flight in the K21.

Monday 15th.  A damp, light to moderate SE’ly flow kept the site in cloud before rain arrived in the late afternoon, so no flying was possible.

Tuesday 16th.  A light and variable flow that started in the WSW before backing into the S was accompanied by partly cloudy skies and some early showers.  These uninviting conditions left the gliders in the hangar but the simulator was again put to use.

Sunday.  The light to moderate wind had gone into the ENE overnight but the airstream had retained its moisture so that the site continued to be enveloped in cloud with no flying possible.  The simulator was however put to good use.

Monday.  A fall in temperature to just above zero and a light wind from the E brought in some light snow showers throughout the day that recovered the site in thin layer of snow.   The snow coupled with a low cloud base kept the gliders in the hangars.

Tuesday.  A day of sunny intervals and snow showers brought in on a light to moderate N’ly wind, had the members who were present waiting for a sufficiently long clearance to allow flying to take place.  However, after a few false dawns it was decided that the frequency of the showers, coupled with their low cloud base, meant that flying was not possible.  However, Andy Parish/Nick managed to sneak in a flight in the Rotax Falke between showers, reporting a sporty take off on runway 02, with washing of the aircraft post flight taking place in  the hangar as another snow shower threatened.   A visit to the hangar revealed the absence of the Astir which has gone off site for its annual inspection,  while George Rowden/David Watsham changed the hoarding on the  advertising trailer.

Friday.   A thoroughly raw and wet, non-flying day with the site in cloud courtesy of a light, cold and damp SSE’ly flow.

Saturday.  Although the wind, of which there was very little, had switched into the N, the same raw conditions continued to keep the site in cloud.  Flying was confined to  the simulator with 7 flights, while Peter Clay repaired the glider washing pump.  In the evening Roger Burghall entertained and educated the assembled members with a lecture on the Principles of Flight, including the use of a hair drier and ping pong ball to illustrate Benoulli’s theorem.  This was followed by a pie, pea and chips supper courtesy of Brian.