Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th March 2018

Posted: 10/03/2018 20:16

Thursday 8th.  A small depression brought heavy snow to the area from 0830 t0 1130  hrs, ruling out any chance of flying, although at low levels the snow went as quickly as it came, the light to moderate wind backing from the NW to become WSW'ly by the end of the day with clearing skies.

Friday 9th.  An initial  light to moderate SSW'ly backed into the ESE by the end of the flying day, and with all the snow gone and runway 20 dry enough to operate from, flying got underway around 1030 hrs.   Some weak wave provided the opportunity to stay aloft and even climb, the former objective being best achieved by pilots flying the Ka8, Bill Payton having 1:11 and Phil Lazenby having 50 minutes.  The climb objective was, on the other hand, best reached by Polly Whitehead who, flying K21 KLW solo, climbed to 5400' asl in her flight of 56 minutes.  Other pilots to exceed 30 minutes flying time included Nigel Burke with 41 minutes solo in KLW and Mike Smith who took one of the day's four First Flight pupils for 33 minutes in the DG500. In all the day saw 13 launches behind Pawnee Tango Mike with flying coming to an end around 1540 hrs.

Saturday 10th.  The veering wind and increasingly cloudy skies of Friday presaged the approach of an occluded front which brought a long period of rain that amounted to 9 mm, the air mass behind the front raising the temperature to 10.1C, the attendant humidity keeping the site in cloud all day.  Consequently, there was no flying except on the simulator where a group of visiting Scouts were introduced to gliding.  The club also welcomed visitors from Booker who arrived, complete with a number of gliders, mid afternoon.

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.

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