Thursday 29th October to Monday 2nd November 2020
Posted: 02/11/2020 19:25
Thursday 29th. A dull and wet day with rain from 0930 hrs into the evening meant a non flying day, the wind starting off as a light to moderate SE'ly and veering into the SW and increasing to moderate to fresh later.
Friday 30th. A light to moderate WSW'ly wind blew all day under cloudy skies, allowing 14 ATs off runway 24 behind the Eurofox. There were a couple of sorties to Boltby along the westerly ridge, but most people made do with what lift there was to be found in the main bowl, this being a little soft and patchy. Accordingly, there were only 5 flights in the range 30 to 60 minutes, with visitor R Hodge in his glider W5 having the longest flight of the day, 49 minutes. Bruce Grain and John Dore joined the >40 minutes list with 44 minutes in K21 KLW, while Fred Brown/Chris Thirkell had 31 minutes in the DG500 and Les Rayment with First Flight pupil Mr Mortimer and Dave McKinney with another First Flight pupil, Mr Oakes, each had 30 minutes in KlW and the DG500 respectively. Alan Beaumont in the DG500, Dave Thompson in KLW and Steve Ogden also in KLW, were the only YGC pilots to fly solo. The flyable weather allowed Eurofox HETY to complete her flying test, with the associated documentation subsequently sent off to the LAA. HETY's introduction into service now awaits the completion of documentation by the LAA/CAA, hopefully in a few weeks time.
Saturday 31st. Another front and more rain, some 6.1 mm, from 0900 - 1500 hrs had the usual associated low cloud. The initially SSE'ly wind veered into the WSW and increased to fresh with 35 kt gusts, as the front went through around 1300 hrs, so there was no flying
Sunday 1st November. Early morning rain stopped around 1000 hrs, the wind being a light to moderate WSW. However, low cloud and an increasingly gusty wind meant that only one AT was flown off runway 24, this being by Steve Thompson and Tomaz Rusin in K21 JVZ, this lasting for 19 minutes.
Monday 2nd. Another 15.7 mm of rain fell overnight making the airfield very wet. The rain had ceased by dawn but the moderate to moderate to fresh WSW'ly brought in a number of showers, the wind gusting into the low 30kts around the middle of the day. In the event, the only flying was by the Falke which had a single flight in the middle of the afternoon.
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.