Thursday 28th March to Monday1st April 2024
Posted: 01/04/2024 20:03
Thursday 28th. A deepening low pressure centred in the SW Approaches brought heavy showers and an increasingly strong SE'ly wind so there was no flying.
Friday 29th. A light to moderate S'ly blew all day, bringing in some isolated showers in the afternoon with low cloud reducing launch heights in the morning. However, by the end of the day, 23 launches had been completed, comprising 14 ATs and 9 via the winch off runway 20. Some thermal lift was available but proved hard to find, with only 4 flights exceeding 30 minutes of which 2 exceeded an hour. Both the latter were by Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct, his first off a low AT lasting 1:27, being entirely engine supported, as Bob searched unsuccessfully for wave, going as far SW as Ripon. Bob's 2nd flight off the winch started with a low scrape in hill lift over Gormire and lasted 2:14, thermal lift and some engine use contributing to the flight. Those having between 30 and 60 minutes included Bruce Grain/Adam Sayer in the DG500, their 44 minutes the result of some weak thermal, while Dan McLean in Astir FSH had 37 minutes in weak thermal maintaining 1,300-1,800' QFE for a while. The only winch launch to initiate a flight of over 30 minutes was by Clive Swain/Adam Sayer in K21 JVZ, their 33 minutes being aided by 2 weak and short thermal climbs.
Saturday 30th. A light to moderate S slowly backed into the SSE, the early blue skies soon filling with Cumulus, with cloud base starting around 2,000' asl and rising to around 3800' asl. The launch point on runway 20 was busy all day, with 41 ATs completed, including 5 for First Flight pupils and 13 for private owners. Conditions proved to be trickier than indicated from observing the sky, and although nobody landed out, a number of cross country flights came to an end via engine use, were otherwise abandoned and/or included some low, low points. Average thermal strengths were typically 1,5kts with average peak rates of up to 5 kts. Steve Thompson in his Ventus bt flew 202 km around Grassington, Hawes and Wetherby South, Dean Crosby in his LS10st flew to Doncaster NW and returned via Pately Bridge 2, some 174 km, while Chris Handzlik took his DG300 round 107 km of his 181 km task abandoning it en route to Hawes after turning Wetherby south having spent 2 hours trying to get away from the local area. Another abandonment, this time due to engine use, was by Rob Bailey in his ASG29t, who after turning Churchhouses and Guisborough had the abandonment near Stamford Bridge after covering 104 km. Bob Calvert in his Discus 2ct flew an estimated 168 km, turning Pontefract, Burn, York and Fridaythorpe and indulged in a cloud climb to 5,400' asl, with Sarah Stubbs in the Discus flying 40 km around Northallerton and Thirsk. Other > an hour pilots stayed local and included Darren Lodge in his LS8-18, 3:04, Neil Paverley in Astir DSU, 1:00 and James Prosser in his Ventus ct, his 1:20 including an engine burn. Jamie Quartermaine/visitor Merry Li in K21 JVZ and Adam Sayer in his ASW19 came close to joining the above with 56 and 51 minutes respectively. In addition to the above there were 2 Falke flights.
Sunday 31st. A light SE'ly soon veered into the NNE and increased to light to moderate with the result that initial operations off runway 20 switched to take offs on 20 and landings on 06. Partially cloudy skies did not provide much in the way of lift, with only 4 flights exceeding 30 minutes and none exceeding an hour. Weak thermal lift enabled Tony Drury/John Marsh to have 41 minutes in the DG500, while the other 3 soaring flights clustered between 30 and 32 minutes, with pilots being Sanjay Nath in Astir FSH, Clive Swain/Elliott Hall in K21 KLW and Simon Altman in the Discus finding some weak lift over Kilburn village.
Monday 1st April. Rain and low cloud associated with occluded fronts slowly moving north across the region meant there was no flying, the movement of the nearby centre of a shallow low pressure resulting in the initial light to moderate N'ly slowly backing into the west towards the end of the day and decreasing to light.
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