Tuesday 18th to Friday 21st October
Posted: 22/10/2016 22:03
Tuesday 18th. A light to moderate S'ly soon became a W'ly as a cold front disappeared to the east after having crossed the site at 0530 hrs. The wind speed did not encourage the use of the winch but instead 15 ATs were flown off runway 24 until the wrap around occluded front from the depression to the north of Scotland brought a period of rain amounting to 10 mm during the afternoon, during which the temperature dropped to 4.5C. bringing an early end to flying. Visitors Dave Mansfield in his DG300 and Dave Hartley in his Pegase made use of the hill lift and weak thermals to record flight times of 1:33 and 1:03 respectively, while YGC's Nigel Burke had 1:27 in his DG600. Most of the 8 flights to exceed 30 minutes were by the club 2 seaters, with Steve Thompson posting 50 minutes with Ray Cass in the DG1000 and 42 minutes with Robbie Robinson in the same glider. Ron Beezer and Christina Griffiths had 45 minutes in K21 JVZ while the 2 First Flight pupils of the day also enjoyed the day's soaring opportunities. The day's aviating was completed by a single sortie in the Falke.
Wednesday 19th. A moderate N'ly blew all day but was accompanied by frequent showers that restricted flying to a single late morning AT, this seeing John Carter and Chris Haresnape have 19 minutes in K21 KLW.
Thursday 20th. A moderate to fresh NNW'ly soon decreased in strength to become light to moderate and although the air mass contained showers these were much less frequent than on Wednesday allowing 12 ATs to be flown. Soaring opportunities were, however, noticeable by their absence with no flights in excess of 30 minutes, the nearest to this particular mark being by John Carter and Konrad Kawalec who had 28 minutes in K21 JVZ, while visitors Roger Ems and G Muir had 23 minutes in the DG1000. The day did, however, allow 5 First Flight pupils to be flown and Mike Greenacre had a 10 minute flight in Astir DPO to record the only solo flight of the day.
Friday 21st. A cloudy start in a light to moderate N'ly wind led to a slow improvement, with eventually the sun getting out and even a brief spell of thermal activity in the middle of the afternoon. Low cloud to the north of the airfield and at one point a sudden appearance of orograhic cloud over the airfield threatened to halt flying but apart from a brief pause there were no other interruptions and the high base of the morning overcast even allowed the Mile High aspirant to achieve the desired release point. 15 ATs were flown behind the Super Cub, K21 KLW and the DG500 providing the means of getting into the air. George Rowden's Mile High flight duration of 34 minutes with pupil Steve Taylor in the DG500 threatened to be the longest flight of the day but the improving weather and the aforementioned brief thermal activity allowed Tom Dale flying the DG500 solo and Ken Arkley doing the same in KLW to savour some late season soaring, Tom having 34 minutes and Ken having 27. After a couple of flights with Steve Thompson in KLW, Reg Rowlinson re-soloed in the same glider, thoroughly enjoying the experience as the following photo, provided by Steve, shows.
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.