Monday 13th to Tuesday 14th February 2023
Posted: 14/02/2023 20:01
Monday 13th. A low overcast persisted all day as a light to moderate SSW'ly slowly backed into the SSE. The 1,700' asl cloud base restricted launches to around 800' QFE, with Guy Hartland/Steve Morgan in K21 JVZ having both of the day's 2 ATs with an average flight time of 5 minutes.
Tuesday 14th. A light to moderate SSE'ly blew all day under sunny skies at site, but it was a different story in the surrounding lowlands as fog persisted all day. However, the area between site and Sutton village cleared enough to provide emergency landing areas in the event of a launch failure, thus allowing flying to get underway around 1130 hrs. George Rowden took the only First Flight pupil of the day for a 15 minute flight in K21 JVZ off runway 20, keeping an eye on the fog, which threatened to overlap the airfield at the White Horse ridge at times. This threat diminished as the fog slowly cleared in the area between the site and Thirsk but the lowlands to the south of the site remained hidden all day. A paucity of members meant flying was restricted to 7 launches, with Bruce Grain/Dave McKinney having 2 aerobatic sorties in JVZ and Konrad Kawalec having 3 flights in Astir DSU. Pilots reported areas of reduced sink and zero at times, with Bruce and Dave's first flight in JVZ lasting 30 minutes, aided by a 4,000' tow. The remaining flight saw Polly Whitehead take Bruce for a 15 minute flight, the last of the day. The Falke had 2 flights with Bob Beck/Simona Latimer doing launch failure and field landing practice and Jesper Mjels visiting the Tontine and Guisborough West between a few touch and go exercises on runway 20.
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.