Thursday 13th to Monday 17th October
Posted: 17/10/2016 21:23
Thursday 13th. A light to moderate E'ly blew all day, with the low cloud and rain in the morning, some 8 mm of it, resulting in the only flying being on the simulator where Amelia Bell did some flying under the instructional gaze of Albert Newbery. The rain stopped around lunch time, but the low cloud persisted, precluding all glider flying except for the Falke which was taken on a trip by Nigel Burke accompanied by that man again, Albert.
Friday 14th. The wind had veered into the SSE, another 5 mm of overnight rain stopping around 1300 hrs, with showers thereafter, these conditions plus the low cloud base meaning no flying was undertaken.
Saturday 15th. Conditions remained similar to Friday, a light to moderate , warm and moist SSE'ly flow bringing in copious amounts of low cloud. John Carter and Kevin Kiely's 18 minute weather recce flight in K21 JVZ in the early afternoon, only confirmed the unflyable nature of the day.
Sunday 16th. A moderate to fresh SE greeted the day as a front approached and then crossed the site around midday, bringing another 4 mm of rain. The passage of the front led to a diminution in the wind strength to light to moderate and a veer into the S, the improving conditions leading to flying commencing around 1500 hrs and then continuing until 1730 hrs. A 8 strong group of patient Scouts with their leaders were the main beneficiaries, as all were flown in one or other of the K21s, flight times from their 2,000' tows varying between 17 and 22 minutes. The longest flight of the day, at 35 minutes, was for Mile High pupil David Todd who was taken up and down again by John Tayler to complete the day's flying activity.
Monday 17th. Initially blue skies soon clouded in as the light to moderate S'ly wind soon started a progressive veer into the W. The first of the day's 25 ATs found some wave to use, but the rapidly changing cloud cover meant that climbs were limited. Showers were visible in the airmass but, apart from a brief sprinkle around 1300 hrs, passed the site by, the skies then clearing apart from some lenticulars denoting the continued presence of wave. Most pilots, including visitors from the Nene GC, Banbury, Husbands Bosworth and Christchurch in New Zealand, experienced some wave flying, although most climbs wereat best of the 1-2 kt variety and height gains were moderate. Apart from all the club 2 seaters, the only club single seater to fly was the Ka8, while 3 private owners flew, 2 of them, Martyn Johnson in his DG600 and Steve Thompson in his Discus recording the longest flights of the day, 2:46 and 3:38 respectively. Martyn also recorded the best climb of the day from 500' QFE on the ridge to 4,600' QFE, while Steve, taking a high tow to contact the wave didn't and spent most of his flight trying to get back above launch height which he eventually did after a low point of 300' QFE on the ridge. George Rowden flying the 4 First Flight pupils of the day in the DG500, found wave on all of them and had a best height of 3,700' QFE. Ron Beezeer and Christina Griffiths in the DG1000 were one of the 4 flights on the day to get to an hour, exactly in their case, while Duncan Pask had a pleasant 1:22 in the Ka8. As well as the above, a visiting Piper Cherokee flew in and the Falke had 4 sorties, one of them for Rich Hornsly, the Rufforth Tug Master, who flew with Paul Whitehead.
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.