Monday 2nd to Thursday 5th December 2024
Posted: 06/12/2024 16:10
Monday 2nd. A day of low cloud, occasional rain and a moderate NW'ly wind meant there was no flying.
Tuesday 3rd. A light SEE'ly blew all day with patchy, medium level cloud on an otherwise bright day. A lack of any lift meant it was a day of extended circuits, with flight times of 8-20 minutes mainly dependent on launch height. Paul Whitehead took new member Viv Dutton for two 20 minute flights off 3,000 tows, while Martin Newbery managed 20 minutes off a 2,000' tow in Astir DSU. There were also 2 flights in the Falke. The highlight of the day was Neil Amos's conversion to the Astir, a happy Neil being pictured below after his landing, so congratulations to him.
Wednesday 4th. The initially ESE'ly wind slowly veered into the SE and increased from light to moderate over the day, the bright morning clouding over, with rain arriving in the evening, but not before the day's flying, comprising 5 flights in K21 JVZ, 1 in Astir DSU and one by Steve Ogden in his Discus was completed. Another day of no lift meant flight times of 8 to 20 minutes, with the latter by Simon Altman in JVZ with the day's only First Flight pupil, while Polly Whitehead had 19 minutes solo in JVZ and Yuri Kozhevrov had 18 minutes in DSU.
Thursday 5th. Another approaching depression meant another truncated flying day, with only 4 flights from a start at around 1100 hrs and and a finish at around 1400 hrs as rain threatened from the west, the moderate WSW'ly backing into the SSE and decreasing to light to moderate in advance of the rain. The pre frontal conditions brought pre frontal wave, with all 4 flights contacting, with Guy Hartland restricting his flight time in K21 JVZ as it was with the day's only First Flight pupil. The other 3 flights were aloft for between 58 minutes and 2:20, with Neil Paveley taking Astir DSU to 8,400' asl just to the west of Richmond to record the longest soaring time and Bob Beck/Sue Aherne getting to 4,300' asl in-between Thirsk and the Forward Ridge before experiencing a very slow descent while flying the main bowl ridge to record the shortest. Bob Beck/Steve Morgan then had 1:10 while climbing to 6,500' asl some 5 km to the east of Northallerton before returning to site and holding at 3,000' asl for a while before landing back before the low cloud and rain arrived.
This blog describes a snippet of life at the Yorkshire Gliding Club. Why not take a flight and try it yourself, or we can teach you to fly as a full club member.