Friday 20th to Monday 23rd October 2023
Posted: 24/10/2023 20:37
Friday 20th. A thoroughly wet day with persistent low cloud brought in on a fresh E'ly that slowly backed into the NE. Consequently, there was no flying. Interestingly, Leeming recorded 4 mm of rain overnight and only 1 mm during the day while Leeds Bradford airport recorded 26 mm and 36 mm over the same periods.
Saturday 21st. 4 mm of rain fell overnight at Leeming with the rain stopping around 0900 hrs, however, low cloud persisted until the mid afternoon as Storm Babet moved away to the north, the W'ly wind decreasing from moderate to light to moderate with the improved conditions coming too late for flying.
Sunday 22nd. A light to moderate SSW'ly blew under sunny skies, these developing Cumulus around the early afternoon that allowed some limited soaring, with 9 of the day's 29 ATs yielding flights lasting over 30 minutes, with 4 soaring for over an hour. Most of the soaring flights used weak thermal, sometimes under streets, with maximum heights of around 3,500' asl, with some pilots utilising weak hill lift on the Main Bowl towards the end of their flights. The pilots having over an hour included Toby Wilson in his Std Cirrus, 1:30, (the only private owner to fly), Malcolm Morgan/Dominic Hammond in K21 KLW, 1:14, Sarah Stubbs in the Discus, 1:25 and Adam Sawyer in Astir DSU, 1:11. The best of the rest were Austin Hartland with 44 minutes in Astir DPO towards the end of flying, mainly making use of hill lift rather than thermal, while earlier, Ivan Maczka had 38 minutes in Astir FSH, the observant of you concluding, successfully that all 3 club Astirs were flown on the day.
Monday 23rd. Low cloud and generally murky, misty conditions persisted all day, so there was no flying, as a light and variable wind blew from the eastern quadrant.
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.