YGC Blog

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.

Tuesday 2nd.  A cloudy and wet NNWly airstream  prevented flying, with precipitation changing from rain to sleet to wet snow as the temperature dropped during the day from 5C to 2C, the skies clearing as night fell.

Wednesday 3rd.  A bright but cold start in a very light SSE’ly flow saw flying commence at around 1100 hrs and continue to around 1600 hrs under increasingly cloudy skies.   13 ATs were flown using one of  the club’s K21s or the DG303, but with no lift, flight times were generally in the 10-20 minutes range.  Rob Bailey managed 22 minutes in the DG 303 while Mike Wood gave the 2nd Trial Lesson pupil of the year, J Nelson, a flight of 20 minutes in the K21. 

Thursday.  The SSE airstream and increasingly cloudy conditions of Wednesday,which had brought a period of snow during the evening, continued into Thursday, leaving the site in cloud all day with fog at lower levels.  Consequently, no flying was possible, so Andy Parish prepared the club Astir for its forthcoming ARC by hard waxing it, his efforts resulting in a nice shiny glider by the end of the day.

Sunday 31st.  The cold NNW’ly continued to blow and with skies remaining sunny, 29 AT’s were flown off runway 02 plus a single Rotax Falke flight, albeit with smoother climb outs as the wind speed had dropped compared to the previous days.  9 of the flights were with a group of visiting Scouts and consequently the club 2 seaters were well utilised as were the club DG303 and the Discus.  There was even a single  private owner flight in a Cirrus, the first of the year.  Flight times were generally in the range 10 -25 minutes, with Geoff Harrison taking his Scout passenger, Tom Richardson, for a 25 minutes flight in the K21 off a 2000′ tow and Rob Bailey managing 34 minutes off a 3000′ tow in the Discus.

Monday 1st.  Monday saw a light to moderate W’ly and generally cloudy skies, albeit at high level, but glider flying did not commence until 2-30pm although the Rotax Falke was gainfully employed doing 2 check flights.  The slow start to glider flying was  mainly due to  lack of customers, although a long blockage on the A170, Sutton Bank, didn’t help.   Glider flying eventually generated 6 AT’s off runway 24, with most landings on 20, although Rob Bailey flying the Discus, was persuaded by a somewhat variable windsock to land on 02.  The club’s K21, Discus and DG303 were all utilised with flight times generally between 20-40 minutes in hill lift with a suggestion of wave.  A member who shall remain anonymous landed after 44 minutes in the Discus having mistaken his take off time and consequently exceeded his 30 minutes of free flying.  Mike Smith had the first flight of the day in the the Rotax Falke with Dick Cole, before having an AT with Les Rayment in the K21 for the longest 2 seater flight of the day, 30 minutes, and then rounding everything off with a 38 minute flight in the DG303.  Thickening cloud as the afternoon progressed heralded an approaching front but more immediately cut off the Sun, leading to a very cold end to a truncated but enjoyable day’s flying.

Saturday 30th.   Overnight snow had reclothed the airfield in white, but insufficiently to affect operations, as the wind, while still in the NNW, had decreased in strength and skies were clear and sunny.  The overnight fall of snow had left the A170/Sutton Bank a little slippy in places for early travellers and initial preparations to open the  hangar doors were frustrated by ice in the floor tracks.  Determined work by Robin Hutchinson with a screwdriver soon sorted that particular problem, as the photo below shows, and a group of well attired members assembled in the freshly painted briefing room for the morning briefing.

          Not quite opening time

     The Ice Man cometh and chippeth.

Subsequently, 13 ATs were flown off runway 02 with landings on 300, mainly by the two club K21’s, with most pilots renewing their currency after the long weather induced lay off.  With only bits and pieces of lift to be found, most flight durations were between 15 - 25 minutes, but Roger Burshall/Jamie Davis had 32 minutes in the K21 with the help of a 3000′ AT and Sue Ahern had 27 minutes in the only Astir flight of the day.    The usual sporty take offs/climb outs were complemented by some tug induced blizzards as the photo below shows. 

                     Look no tug.

Wednesday 27th.  With a light to moderate W’ly blowing,  preparations for winch operations were soon put in place only to be forestalled by the arrival of light rain  mid morning as a weak front slipped south.   However, the rain did not last too long and flying commenced with one of the club K21’s, the Astir and the Discus utilised.   In all 6 winch launches were flown as well as a single Rotax Falke flight, with Bill Payton having 1.3 hrs in the Discus and Albert Newbery/Reg Rowlinson an hour in the K21, eventually gaining to around 1000′ QFE.  Cloud forming on the hill was a feature of the day and flying was terminated when this thickened and lowered.

Thursday 28th.  The wind had veered into the NW but remained light to moderate and, with a cloudbase of around 2500′ QFE, AT operations commenced off runway 02, the conditions generating the usual sporty climb outs.  These conditions, normally restricted to the first few hundred feet of climb, were a feature of the whole climb but early  flights found little usable lift with flight times in the 15 - 20 minute range.  Around midday, a few convective looking clouds started to appear and George Rowden, flying the Astir, utilised a street of these, finding occasional strong lift and having just over an hour in the air.  11 flights were flown in total by the Astir and K21 with a number of pilots requiring check flights after the long weather induced lay off.    Sue Aherne, flying her check  with Albert Newbery in K21 had  the longest 2 seat flight of the day, 20 minutes, before having 31 minutes in  the Astir.   With the field fully thawed, the end of flying saw the aircraft in need of a good wash, so it was all hands to the pump.  However,  the  pump supplying the water for washing decided to refrain from collaborating so it was back to bucket, brush and sponge as the following photograph shows.

All hands instead of the pump

Thursday 21st to Monday 25th.  Thursday and Friday maintained the cold, cloudy and moist ESE’ly airstream of previous days with a clearance to brighter conditions coming too late on Thursday to permit flying.   Friday turned into a very wet day with rain, heavy at times, from 11am to 5pm.   Saturday had a light W’ly, but with low cloud preventing flying and although Sunday saw very light winds and partly cloudy skies  with the site under the centre of a low  pressure system, no flying was again the order of the day, although the main reason was a lack of customers.  Monday reverted to the dull, overcast conditions with low cloud as the wind went back into the NE’ly quadrant, these conditions again preventing flying.

Tuesday 26th.  A very light E’ly with a high overcast that slowly thinned allowed flying to take place for the first time since the middle of December 2009.  8 ATs were flown off runway 24 with landings on 20, with one of the K21’s, the Discus and Astir being flown.   George Rowden took the first flight of 2010, solo in the K21, and was congratulating himself on some very accurate flying until he realised the string was frozen solid.  Meanwhile, Dave Campbell set a new club record if not a new world record by achieving all the following firsts on the  day.  First tug flight, Falke flight, instructional flight and soaring flight.   The latter was in the K21 with Frank McLoughlin, 30 minutes being achieved in weak lift that kept them at around 1250′ QFE for a while.   David Bradley had 25 minutes in the Discus off a 3000′ tow, while Steve Briggs progressed from a flight on the simulator to a check flight in the K21 before having 2  solo flights, one in the K21  and the other in the Astir.   Colin Troise had 2 solo flights in the K21 as the photo below shows.   Visibility was intially  poor above 2000′ QFE, but improved into the early afternoon before thickening cloud advanced from the NW as the wind went into the S and freshened slightly.  The opportunity to get into the air allowed the still significant amounts of snow behind walls and hedges to be seen as well as a still frozen Gormire Lake, while the extent of the tree felling to the E of runway 20 could be appreciated.  A few patches of ice still remained on the metalled access road although the major potholes on the club access road have been filled.

                                     

Tuesday to Wednesday.  A cold,  moist airstream from an E’ly quadrant was maintained on both days,  keeping the site in cloud and daytime temperatures just above freezing, while Wednesday brought periods of light rain/drizzle.  The  thaw has continued, but at a very slow rate, and although car access to the club car park is possible, the rutted, icy nature of the metalled access road necessitates a cautious approach as does the potholed nature of  the club road.  While no flying has been possible, Andy and helpers have been busy getting the club DG500 into the workshop for a hard wax and polish, both wings having been completed by the time I called in at the club late on Wednesday afternoon, with Andy, Glyn Jennings and David Whatsham just about to  put the second wing back in the trailer.  The tug’s engines have also been run up, so all that is required to start operations  is some flying weather and some eager pilots, preferably preceded by some drying winds as the site is still quite wet in places. 

Just in case any of you YGC pilots haven’t seen Josephine’s email, Andy’s lecture on Human Factors will take place at the club this coming Saturday as scheduled, starting at 5pm if it is a flying day and at 4 pm if not.   After this long weather induced lay off, it’s very encouraging to even have the possiblility of flying.

Friday to Monday.  The moist SE’ly airstream continued through Friday and Saturday keeping the site in cloud.  The wind speed  increased slowly to around 20 knots on Friday  and then decreased on Saturday, while  around 25 mm of sleet/wet snow fell over the period, mostly on Saturday.  Thankfully, the temperature rose above freezing during daytime Friday and continued to rise, reaching the dizzy heights of 6C on Monday with the result that a relatively rapid thaw started.   Sunny intervals and a  light W’ly on Sunday brought a number of members to the site, but the state of the metalled access road persuaded many to park at the Visitor Centre at the top of Sutton Bank and walk in.  John Marsh, aided by Robin Hutchinson used the bucket equipped Red tractor to clear the worst of the snow from in front of the hangars, but with the thaw well underway, the field was too wet to allow flying operations.  A number of members availed themselves of the presence of Vicky in the office  to pay their annual subs.   Visiting the site on Monday the 18th, I was dissuaded from using the metalled access road by a passing motorist as it was covered with rutted, wet ice.  After parking near the Visitor centre, my walk along the metalled access road confirmed is perilous state,  although the road surface was visible in a few places.  The approach to the right hand bend was particularly difficult with a combination of wet ice, deep ruts and slush.  The airfield had turned green, with the  vast majority of the snow gone, the only significant  areas of snow being around the buildings and trailers.  A walk up runway 24 and 02 revealed the former to be in surprisingly good condition, although the usual wet patches still had melting snow in them and the pond along the winch track was extensive.  Overall, runway 20/02 was much wetter.   While on site Les Rayment and Bill Payton arrived, both having driven down the metalled access road and Bill having driven onto the site.  With no prospect of flying due to the state of the airfield and low cloud, although wave was visible both from the site and on the satpics,  we all left site around lunch time, with  Les and I performing a little road maintenance work around the  worst of the icy ruts on the metalled access road, allowing Les to make a successful departure while simultaneously giving me a lift back to the Visitor centre.   The weather forecast for the next few days promises above freezing temperatures during the day and no  significant rain, so conditions should continue to improve  both on the site and the access road.

Tuesday to Thursday.  After the brief excursion into temperatures just above zero on Monday, the weather reverted to type with the next three days providing consistent light to moderate SE’lys, temperatures consistently below zero and the site in cloud.   The only variation to this theme was some more generally light snow on Tuesday and  overnight Wednesday/Thursday.  A phone call to Josephine on Thursday, manfully (or should that be womanfully) maintaining the office services (See picture below), revealed that she had parked her car on the road near the visitor centre and had been transported from there to the club byAndy Parish in his Land Rover.

Josephine at work.

 The metalled part of the route was considered passable with care by 2 wheel drive vehicles but the club access road was definitely not.   Armed with this knowledge, I set off through the murk, with light levels getting significantly higher as I neared the top of Sutton Bank.  However, on cresting the top the visibility returned to being very poor and remained so for the rest of the journey.  Turning cautiously off the A170, I found the first 50 yards of the the metalled access road very icy, but beyond there, the driving surface was packed snow, with some evidence of the  road having been ploughed.  The laden, all terrain logging lorry that emerged from the gloom as I drove up the road, was able to drive round me, and my journey up the rest of the road was not a problem, although the compacted drifts just before the right hand bend provided an undulating ride.  On arriving at the entrance to  the club road I initially drove just past and tried to back in but this proved impossible, so I backed up and drove in frontwards, the snow here being firm and packed down.  

Parked safely.

Once arrived on site, I found the snow levels had barely changed, but the lying snow had developed a frozen crust which occasionally was strong enough to support your weight.   Andy had got out the ex Carlton tractor with the bucket and had attempted to start to clear the snow from in front of the hangar.  However, a lack of grip foiled this attempt, as the photo shows.

Stuck tractor.

However, with  two of us now on site, we took the red tractor round behind the trailer park where its bucket resided and, after connecting the two,  spent a profitable and very enjoyable time clearing  the car park of the worst of its snow cover, as shown below.  You pay a fortune at Digger Land for this sort of entertainment.

Andy enjoying himself.

  With the car park now cleared of the majority of its snow cover, and the light starting to fade, we put the tractor back in its shed and Andy returned to the office to do some more admin.  I returned to the car down the rutted club access road.

Access road from club end.

 I had an uneventful ride home, although I did manage to see some blue sky and sunshine through a wave slot just downwind of the ridge  north of Gormire, as a descended Sutton Bank.   For all you YGC glider pilots suffering withdrawal symptoms, I include below a photo of the some of the toys snug in one of the hangars.

Snug toys.

Sunday 10th.  Sunday dawned with bright skies and a light to moderate ENE’ly wind that slowly veered into the E.  As the day progressed cloud spilled in from the S and the temperature ROSE ABOVE ZERO for the first time since New Years Eve, bringing the prospect of improving approach road and airfield conditions in the not too distant future.  Perhaps even flying!!!. 

Monday 11th.  Spurred on by Chairman Graham Evison call for people to attend the club today,  an unsuccessful attempt was made.  A light to moderate E’ly was bringing in continuous low cloud and light rain at low levels which was helping in a general thaw and road conditions were good up to the club access road off the A170 which was still snow covered.  Here, the rain had turned to sleet/wet snow with cloud base below hill top level.  Encouraged by evidence of more vehicle movements than on my previous visit,  I ventured down the access road, successfully negotiating an increasing number of drifts which had turned the normally flat surface into a series of undulations.  On approaching  the bend where the road goes right to the club,  the ground clearance of the car became less than the depth of the tracks I was following with obvious results.  Out came the spade to dig out the packed snow under the car when first Dick Cole and then a local turned up and, after more digging and pushing, out came the car backwards.  Our plan was to reverse down the access road and turn round where the tree felling crew had parked their vehicles, before going back to the visitor centre, parking there and getting to the club on foot.  The first part of the plan worked admirably, apart from the fact that trying to back down a snow covered road keeping in the wheel tracks in poor lighting conditions is quite difficult.  However, but by the time we had both turned around, the snow was well and truly coming down so, discretion being the better part of valour, we went off to our respective homes.  If you want to visit the club, parking near the visitor centre and walking is recommended until the snow cover on the access road has diminished.   In conversation with one of the tree felling crew he informed us that his earlier venture up the access road had revealed a Toyota Land Cruiser stuck in the same drift, but that too had obviously been recovered.   Incidently, the last of the trees should be felled this week, while the Met Office aviation forecast predicted wave, confirmed by some nice wave bars over the Pennines on the day’s Sat pics.