Monday 1st to Tuesday 2nd November 2021
Posted: 03/11/2021 16:06
Monday 1st. 5 mm of frontal rain overnight left a legacy of low cloud that delayed the start of flying until early afternoon. However, the fronts passage and the resultant clearance had left the site in a moderate Wly flow, so an afternoon of winching and hill soaring resulted. The day's 6 winch launches all provided flights of over 45 minutes with 3 flights broaching 1 hour, Bill Payton and Andrew Watson having the longest flight, 1:34 in Bill's DG1000T, followed by Clive Swan and Andrew Bedford's 1:25 in the DG500 and Tor Tavener's hour solo in K21 JVZ. Maximum soaring heights were in the range 1000' to 1400' QFE with the outliers being Bill and Andrew's 2,000' and Tor's 850' QFE. The internet programme that provides post flight tracking data was not working so I do not know how far anybody went or if the hill soaring was augmented by wave of thermal, but I am sure the afternoon's soaring was enjoyed by all.
Tuesday 2nd. A light to moderate SSW'ly wind slowly veered into the WSW as 17 ATs were flown off runway 20, all but 2 landing back on the same runway. Lift was non existent, so flight times of over 20 minutes were the exception with only 3 flights achieving this mark. John Carter and David Watson flying the DG1000 topped the list with 28 minutes followed by Bruce Grain/Mike Schustt with 22 minutes in the DG500, Andrew Watson taking one of the day's First Flight pupils for the same time in K21 JVZ. Visitor Phil Atkin was the only private owner to rig and fly, his reward being 16 minutes of flying time to add to his logbook.
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.