Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th March
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.
