Sunday 19th to Wednesday 22nd March 2017
Posted: 22/03/2017 17:52
Sunday 19th. A moderate SW'ly soon veered into the WSW and increased to moderate to fresh, with gusts reaching 40 kts before the wind moderated slightly. An early weather recce flight by John Carter and David Watson via the winch in K21 JVZ, determined that the conditions, including a low overcast with showers, were not conducive to flying. A later winch launch, around 1500 hrs by John Carter and Andy Hatfield in K21 KLW, found the hill to be working, but developing shower activity meant a return to earth after 20 minutes and the end of flying for the day. Due to the inclement conditions, the group of Scouts & Leaders who had camped overnight were given some virtual flying on the simulator by Graham Evison and Andy Hatfield.
Monday 20th. A predominately moderate to fresh W'ly wind that varied between SW and WSW over the course of the day, gusting at times over 30 kts, was considered to be marginal for flying given the number of members on site. Consequently, there was no flying.
Tuesday 21st. The overnight passage of a front led to 3.8 mm of precipitation, some of this falling as snow. The post front W'ly wind increased to fresh for the start of the flying day, with gusts of 35-40 kts, the wind being accompanied by generally cloudy skies and frequent showers, some of which continued to be wintry as a colder air mass arrived . Late in the afternoon, the wind backed into the WSW and decreased to moderate as the skies cleared, but this came too late for any flying to take place.
Wednesday 22nd. A depression over the south of the UK led to a cloudy and very wet ESE'ly flow at Sutton, with 31.2 mm of rain recorded over the flying day, the rain being particularly heavy during the afternoon. Consequently, there was no flying, although Christina Griffiths spent some very useful time on the simulator and George Rowden entered a clutch of wave flights from the 8th and 15th March onto the BGA Ladder.
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.