Tuesday 18th to Friday 21st October 2022.
Posted: 21/10/2022 17:02
Tuesday 18th. A sunny start with a light WSW'ly was soon replaced by partially cloudy skies and a light to moderate NE'ly, with initial operations off runway 24 soon changing to runway 02. The sky initially looked promising, but the cloudiness became extensive by the early afternoon, so that useable lift was hard to find, with only 1 flight of the 14 made on the day exceeding 30 minutes, that by visitor Richard Hodge in his own glider who had 36 minutes. Tony Drury had 2 launches in his DG303 but could not find any lift on either, while the longest of the day's 2 seater flights were all flown for First Flight pupils by either Steve Thompson or Paul Whitehead, their 24-27 minute durations being the result of 3,000' tows.
Wednesday 19th. A depression advancing from the SW brought a steadily decreasing cloud base and a wind that quickly backed from the SE into the E and increased from moderate to fresh. Only 3 ATs were flown, the first off runway 20 and the others off runway 06, with launch heights successively decreasing from 2,200' QFE, through 1500' QFE to 1100' QFE. John Tayler and the only First Flight pupil of the day had the longest flight of 22 minutes off the highest tow, finding some reduced sink over Cold Kirby, while Bruce Grain/N Clarke had 14 minutes off the lower launch height on the second flight, the result of using an area of weak and patchy lift just E of the site to maintain 900' QFE for a while . Bruce/ Laurie Clarke completed the day' flying by using the same area of weak lift to have 12 minutes off their 1100' tow, all the day's flights being in K21 JVZ.
Thursday 20th. A non flying day as Wednesday's depression continued it slow progress northwards, keeping the site in cloud and giving the wettest day for quite a while, some 20 mm being recorded at nearby RAF Leeming.
Friday 21st. Low cloud and rain at times was again the order of the day so there was no flying.
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.