Wednesday 19th to Thursday 20th April 2023.
Posted: 20/04/2023 21:01
Wednesday 19th. An E'ly blew all day, increasing from light to moderate to moderate to fresh, the higher wind speed leading to the abandonment of flying around midday due to the increasingly turbulent conditions on take off and landing on runway 06. The abandonment limited the day's AT total to 4, with only 1 of the visiting Air League sponsored young people getting a flight. The E'ly did, however, generate some lee wave downwind of the site, which was exploited by the day's first 2 flights and, although not generating any climbs above launch height, did result in the these flights being soaring ones of over 30 minutes. Clive Swain/Iain Weatmorston in K21 KLW took the first flight of the day towing to 3,000' QFE into a wave slot downwind of the site and aligned from Sutton village to Felixkirk. Although not able to climb in the weak wave, Clive/Iain were able to maintain their launch height for the majority of their 43 minute flight. Clive/Iain were followed by Dave McKinney/Neil Amos in K21 JVZ who similarly were able to maintain an altitude of just around 4,000' asl in the same area for the majority of their 35 minute flight. This signalled the end of wave soaring for the day, the remaining 2 flights, one with Clive and Tony Kirby and the other with Dave and Sophie Keany, the latter sponsored by the Air League, being extended circuits.
Thursday 20th. With the high pressure starting to decline and shifting its centre to between Iceland and southern Norway, the wind at site was a moderate NE'ly, this slowly increasing to become moderate to fresh by early afternoon while showing a tendency to veer into the E, this change in direction and increase in wind speed again causing the abandonment of flying. However, the flyable conditions in the morning allowed all 11 of the young people sponsored by the Air League to have a flight, while the visitors from Husband Bosworth also took advantage of some high cloud base, strong thermal conditions, (best average climb rates of 4-5 kts) to post 2 of the 3 flights on the day to exceed an hour. Visitors Steve Wilks/Nigel Walklett in the HB Duo Discus had 1:50 and climbed to 5,300' asl, while fellow visitor John Cox had 1:24 in his Silent 2E, during which he climbed to 4,800' asl. The other >an hour flight was by Martin Newbery in Astir DPO, Martin's flight time being 1:05 during which he climbed to around 5,000' asl and landed on runway 06 with all the day's soaring flights remaining local. With Steve Thompson/John Dore also having a flight in K21 KLW, the day's launch total was 16 before flying was abandoned for the day.
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.