Monday 22nd to Tuesday 23rd March 2021
Posted: 24/03/2021 13:00
Monday 22nd. The high pressure out to the west of Ireland continued to dominate the UK's weather but with variability in respect of cloud amounts. Monday was a sunny day with the temperature rising to 14.5C as a light WNW'ly blew, this increasing to moderate towards the end of the day. With little prospect of any soaring the club remained closed.
Tuesday 23rd. Tuesday dawned cloudy and cool as a moderate SW/SSW'ly blew, providing the opportunity for a portion of the instructor cadre to re-acquaint themselves with winching and hill soaring. 14 winch launches off runway 24 resulted in 4 flights reaching or exceeding an hour with a further 6 flights being around 30 minutes. Landings were either on runways 24 or 20. Take offs required a significant left wing down attitude to prevent the parachute landing to the west of the track, while the hill, at least that part of it facing the wind, provided consistent lift augmented by weak wave/rotor and some thermal activity. Peak operating heights slowly increased over the day with a morning best of around 1300' QFE by Steve Thompson in his Ventus, an early afternoon best of around 1600' QFE by Steve, again in his Ventus and by George Rowden in K21 KLW and a final flourish to around 2,200' QFE by Bruce Grains in K21 JVZ. Paradise Farm at the northern end of the main ridge was reached by a number of pilots but no one ventured farther north to Black Hambleton.
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.