Monday 19th to Wednesday 21st April 2021
Posted: 23/04/2021 20:59
Monday 19th. The high pressure remained in charge so little change in the conditions at site, the wind remaining light from the SSE and blue skies predominating. The conditions didn't tempt too many private owners to rig, the 3 who did contributing 3 of the 5 flights to exceed an hour's flying time, with Nick Gaunt in his LS7 , 1:26, Martin Johnson in his DG600, 1:59 and Mark Newburn in his ASW20, 2:13, . The remaining 2 flights were by Dave Thompson and Chris Handslik both in the Astir with times of 1:16 and 2:04 respectively. Peak altitudes were around 3,900' asl and the North York Moors were the favoured hunting ground for thermals, although one of the day's pilots described the conditions as hot and sweaty. Bruce Grain and Dave Murgatroyd flying in first K21 JVZ and then in sister ship KLW, had the next two longest flights, 42 and 39 minutes, with a further 4 flights getting to or exceeding 30 minutes. The day's total ATs off runway 20 was 17.
Tuesday 20th. Little change in the synoptic situation meant another light wind day with a little cloud, but the main weather features of interest were very poor visibility and the mid/late afternoon arrival of a sea breeze front with an accompanying wind shift from the SSW into the N. The poor visibility led to Fred Brown in his Ventus noting that navigating back to the site was totally reliant on the GPS/moving map display as he visited local TPs, the Tontine, Helmsley and Sutton on Forest. Steve Thompson in his Ventus went further afield, with a 210 km flight around Rotherham, Sutton on Forest and York East, a flight made somewhat easier by Doncaster ATC agreeing to raise the Upton Corridor ceiling by 500' to allow Steve to take advantage of the 4,500' asl cloud base. Those staying local were treated to even higher cloud bases, around 5,000' asl, while the arrival of an active sea breeze front during the afternoon allowed several pilots to get to around 6,000' asl or more. These included John Carter and Dave Murgatroyd in the DG500, 6,000', Fred Brown in his Ventus, 6,200' and Bruce Grain and David Eccles in K21 KLW, also to 6,200'. Andrew Bedford flying KLW solo also got to 5,900' asl off the last flight of the day. After a morning of circuits, soaring began around lunch time with Polly Whitehead having 1:09 solo in K21 JVZ, and she was followed by the rest of the 6 flights to exceed an hour as a launch total of 13 was reached.
Wednesday 21st. A very weak cold front cleared the site by late morning, producing no rain but giving an initial overcast that slowly broke up to give some reasonable soaring conditions later. Steve Hunt in his ASG29 took advantage to fly a 120 km O/R to Goole NE, he being the only private owner to rig. The day's total of 9 ATs off runway 06 as a light to moderate NNE'ly and then E'ly blew, were predominantly in K21 KLW, with the Astir flown by Dave Thompson and then Andrew Bedford. Apart from Steve's flight of 1:37, the only other flight to exceed an hour was the 1:36 by Dave Thompson in the Astir, with John Carter, first with Andrew Bedford in KLW and then with Mark Newburn in the same glider, having 42 minutes each. Peak climbs had come down from the 6,000' asl experienced on Tuesday but was still a respectable 4,500+' asl, a maximum of 4,800' asl being achieved by Dave Thompson.
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.