Saturday 10th to Wednesday 14th February 2024
Posted: 15/02/2024 12:19
Saturday 10th. Although the site was initially in clear air, it was surrounded by low Stratus/fog which meant there were no landing options in the event of a failed launch at low level. The cloud eventually encroached onto the site, so there was no flying, as the light to moderate NW'ly slowly backed into the W.
Sunday 11th. Rain overnight persisted until around 12 noon, the rainfall total being around 25 mm. The light NW'ly backed into the WSW as the clearance arrived in the mid afternoon, this being too late and the airfield too wet to allow any flying.
Monday 12th. A moderate W'ly blew, tending to back into the WSW towards the end of the day, a combination of hill and early season thermal lift allowing all of the day's 16 launches off runway 24, 11 winch and 5 ATs, to lead to flights of over 30 minutes, with 7 over an hour. Fred Brown/Ivan Maczka in K21 KLW had 1:06 off the first flight of the day, generally maintaining 1400' QFE while hill soaring the main W'ly ridge, with 3 additional ATs flown, 2 for First Flight pupils, before the first winch launch by Bruce Grain/Tony Kirby in K21 JVZ which lasted 56 minutes. Steve Thompson, taking a high tow in the Discus to search for wave, found none and descended to hill top height before reconnecting with the hill lift on the main W'ly ridge and climbing back to 1,500' QFE. A sortie to Thimbleby led to another low point, so it was back to the main ridge via the forward ridge, where a thermal climb over the home bowl to around 2,200' saw Steve fly up to the Tontine. Regaining the main W'ly ridge at 300' QFE via the forward ridge, Steve climbed back to 2,200' asl before getting to his peak altitude of 2,600' asl in a thermal near Felixkirk before landing after 2:25. The day's peak altitude of 4,000' asl was flown by Chris Handzlik in Astir FSH, Chris mainly using thermal to operate between Thirsk and Northallerton in his flight of 1:49. Other >1 hr flights included Fred Brown/Louis Camps with 1:03 in KLW, Conrad Thwaites with 1:18 in the Discus, including 2 O/Rs to Black Hambleton, Bill Payton with 2:11 in Astir DSU, also visiting Black Hambleton as well as Thimbleby and Bruce Grain/Mark James in JVZ, whose 1:05 was mainly in hill lift as the thermals faded in the mid afternoon. All in all a good, if somewhat cold, soaring day at Sutton.
Tuesday 13th. A cloudy day with isolated showers and a light to moderate SSW'ly that slowly backed into the S, saw flying restricted to 2 Falke sorties, one of which flew to the Hutton Le Hole area before returning to site via Castle Howard.
Wednesday 14th. A cloudy day with rain at times meant no flying, as the light to moderate SSE'ly slowly veered into the SW.
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.