Tuesday 4th to Friday 7th August 2020

Posted: 07/08/2020 21:59

Tuesday 4th.  A dull, cloudy day with a light to moderate SSE'ly blowing saw light rain from 0900 to 1400 hrs deposit 2.0 mm of rain, wth the post rain period continuing with low cloud so there was no flying.

Wednesday 5th.  A light to moderate SSW'ly increased to moderate over the middle of the day before reducing in speed as the afternoon progressed.  2.8 mm or rain had fallen in the early  morning and another 2 mm fell in the late afternoon bringing flying to an early end.  The flying had comprised 6 ATs off runway 20, all in K21 JVZ and predominately dual, but Malcolm Winter had a solo flight of 25 minutes just before the end of flying.  Initially, conditions were not condusive to soaring with Bruce Grain and  Dave Thompson having flights of 8 and 9 minutes off 1100' tows.  However, their next flight  was the longest of the day at 1:27 and was followed by a 41 minute flight by Albert Newbery and Stuart Heaton.

Thursday 6th.  A light to moderate SSE'ly opened the day and the first launch off runway 20 saw Albert Newbery and David Eccles take K21 KLW for a 14 minute flight.    At the next launch, the Eurofox oil pressure gauge indicated low oil pressure so the launch was abandoned and all subsequent flying was via the Falke with 7 flights, 2 of these by John Carter via a mainternance flight to Bagby and back.

Friday 7th.  A light to moderate SE'ly meant operations were again off runway 20 and with the Eurofox's oil pressure problem resolved (an incorrect low oil pressure setting being the cause) 22 ATs were flown.  Soaring conditions were initially poor, with a cloudbase of only 2,000 QFE and weak lift, as demonstrated by the fact that of 5 private owner launches pre 1400 hrs only Darren Lodge in his LS8-18 managed a flight of over an hour and Paul Whitehead in his Ventus and George Rowden in his LS8-18 both had to resort to engine power and still were back on the ground after 39 and 26 minutes respectively.  Conditions slowly improved so that the 6 private owner launches during the 2nd half of the day generated 4 flights  of over an hour and a further 2 of over 30 minutes.  Rob Bailey in his ASG29, Darren Lodge in his LS8 and Tony Dury in his DG303 all had second flights with Rob Bailey having 3:13 during which he visited Knaresborough and Wetherby, having visited Castle Howard during his earlier flight.  All other pilots remained relatively local, although Jim Mclean in his ASW24 (1:27) and Nigel Burke in his DG808 (2:33) both visited Easingwold while Darren Lodge added another 2:16 to his log book.  Cloudbase had by this time had risen to around 3,500' QFE while those landing towards the end of the flying day had to contend with turbulent conditions on runway 20 as the wind had veered into the W.  The club aircraft were also busy, with 10 dual flights in K21 KLW, 2 flights in Astir DPO and one in the DG303, with Steve Sanderson having 34 minutes in the Astir.  At the start of the day Ron Beezer, flying P1 in the Falke reported wave in the lee of Cringle Moor  which lies on the northern edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.    

 

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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