Friday 26th to Monday 29th October 2018.
Posted: 29/10/2018 20:21
Friday 26th. An overnight, SE travelling, cold front had introduced an Arctic air mass leading to a large drop in temperature as a initially light NW'ly blew. Operations off runway 02 ceased after 4 launches as the wind strength increased to moderate with significant gustiness, leading to unflyable conditions on take off from runway 02. The 4 ATs, the first of which was for the only First Flight pupil of the day, were all flown in K21 JVZ but none exceeded 30 minutes, Andy Parish/Paul Newman's 28 minutes being the longest of the day. The cessation of real flying was followed by a period of virtual flying under much more benign conditions on the simulator.
Saturday 27th. The NW'ly had increased in strength to become moderate to fresh, the strength of the wind and its significant gustiness ruling out any chance of flying, with a period of heavy snow from 1100 - 14oo hrs just adding insult to injury. The covering did not last long, however, for even with a maximum temperature of only 4.7C, the snow soon melted and the airfield reverted to green.
Sunday 28th. The initally light NW'ly soon veered into the N, providing less challenging launches of runway 02, 13 being flown during the day. Staying up proved to problematical, with only 2 flights exceeding 30 minutes, both flown by John Marsh with 2 of the day's 5 First Flight pupils, the result of 3,000' tows. Mike Collins' day's total of 30 minutes flight time came as the result of 2 flights in the Ka8, the only single seater to fly, with the balance of the launches flown in K21 JVZ, the DG500 or the DG1000. However, it was very nice to see Mike Smith back flying after a break, Mike and Albert Newberry having 20 minutes in the DG1000.
Monday 29th. The wind had become a light to moderate NE'ly and with sunny skies, albeit with a cold wind, flying got underway before 1100 hrs off runway 02. The day's 17 ATs behind the Eurofox 120 hp demonstrator included one private owner and 3 solo flights, 2 in Astir HVK by Andy Tyas and Keith Davey and 1 by David Watson solo in K21 JVZ. Duncan Pask's 1:22 in his LS10 was the longest of the day, as a brief period of soarable weather developed in the early afternoon, with cloud base rising to just under 5,000' asl with vestiges of Saturday's snow still visible on the higher elevations of the North Yorkshire Moors. Three other flights exceeded 30 minutes, two as the result of the thermic conditions and one as the result of a high tow. John Carter and N Pike, a visitor from the Park GC in Wiltshire, had 40 minutes in the DG1000, while on the next DG1000 flight John and Mike Smith had 37 minutes. George Rowden, flying Sue Darbishire on a Mile High flight, crept onto the >30 minute flying list with 31 minutes in the DG500.
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.