Sunday 2nd to Monday 3rd April 2023
Posted: 04/04/2023 15:10
Sunday 2nd. A developing anticyclone brought a day of light NNE'ly winds, warm sunshine and scattered Cumulus, with 26 ATs off runway 02, 14 of which resulted in flights of over 30 minutes, with 6 in excess of an hour although nobody went cross country. All three Astirs were flown and the 2 seater fleet was back at full strength with the return of the DG500 from its ARC, with Fred Brown/Derek Taylor taking it for a 1:20 test flight, climbing to 4,200' with a best average climb rate of 4,4 kts and going as far north as Black Hambleton and overhead Topcliffe. Only two private owners launched, Darren Lodge having 4:24 in his LS8-18 flying locally and Tim Stanley having 46 minutes in his ASW20. Other pilots to have soaring flights of more than an hour included Dave Thompson in Astir DSU, 2:12, Toby Wilson/Charles Frenchville in K21 JVZ, 1:13, Steve Thompson/Paul Frost in JVZ, 1:02 and Malcolm Morgan/Dominic Hammonds in K21 KLW, 1:01. The longest of the flights of > an hour saw Malcolm Morgan/ Sanjay Nally have 50 minutes in the DG1000, while the day's 4 First Flight pupils had between 22 and 43 minutes flying on a pleasant soaring day at Sutton. The day's activities also included 2 flights in the Falke for Bob Beck and Bruce Grain.
Monday 3rd. The anticyclone was still in place but had intensified, its associated inversion lowering to around 3-3.500' asl and its change in position providing a moderate SSE'ly flow, this resulting in 25 ATs off runway 20. The more difficult soaring conditions led to a reduction in flights of over 30 minutes compared to Sunday, with 7 achieved, of which 2 were over an hour, one of which was by Steve Thompson in his Ventus 2t. Steve flew the only cross country of the day, a 148 km task around Burn, Rufforth and Pocklington, and found the conditions somewhat tricky, with the relatively low cloud base and broken thermals below 2,000' asl. essentially confining his operating band to around 800-1,000'. The only other > an hour flight saw Clive Swain/Amelia Forrester have 1:10 in the DG500, having a best climb to just over 3,000' asl and venturing some 13.4 km to the SE of the site. The best period for soaring locally was around 1430 to 1530 hrs with 3 flights exceeding 30 minutes. The first to benefit were Guy Hartland/Tor Taverner in the DG500, having 44 minutes and climbing to 3,300' asl, followed by Laurie Clarke/Naomi Kennard in K21 KLW with a climb to 3,500' asl, with Clive Swain/Polly Whitehead completing the trio with 57 minutes in K21 JVZ and climbing to 3,400' asl. The exception to this burst of soaring was the 56 minutes flown by Laurie Clarke/John Dore in JVZ just before midday in which they climbed to 3,100' asl. While all the above was proceeding, Bob Beck and Bruce Grain continued their motor glider training in the Falke with 3 flights, including a visit to Trimdon in County Durham.
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.