Monday 6th to Thursday 9th February 2023
Posted: 10/02/2023 16:54
Monday 6th. Another sunny day with the light to moderate ESE'ly soon veering into the SSW. 14 ATs were flown behind the Pawnee with runway 24 being used for launching and 20 for landings. Lift was hard to come by, so most flights were of limited duration, but Polly Whitehead flying K21 JVZ solo was the first to post a flight of over 30 minutes, 31 minutes in fact, the result of finding some lift and reduced sink over Sutton village. Lift became a little more available towards the end of the flying day, with Nigel Burke/Albert Newbery's flight in JVZ lasting 39 minutes utilising lift in the main bowl and the next bowl north, while Andy Evans flying Astir DSU found sufficient lift in the same areas to eke out 44 minutes, the best of the day.
Tuesday 7th. Although the anticyclone was still dominating the weather, the blue skies of Monday were replaced by overcast ones, the overcast base descending during the day and limiting flying to 3 ATs off runway 24 as a light WSW'ly blew. Graham Cooksey/Simona Latimer flew the first two launches in K21 JVZ, with Polly Whitehead/Jim McLean flying the 3rd. In the absence of any lift, flight times were in the range 14-22 minutes.
Wednesday 8th. The clouds of Tuesday had disappeared leaving a sunny daym as a moderate and at times moderate to fresh SSE/S'ly blew. Flying didn't get underway until around middaym with Guy Hartland/Paul Leake in K21 JVZ finding some lift over Kilburn and Gormire to extend their flight to 27 minutes. This time was equalled by Jesper Mjels who flew the only First Flight pupil of the day on a slow descent from a 3,000' tow, followed by a brief period soaring the White Horse ridge. This area of lift was also used by Guy Hartland/ C Stanward in their flight in JVZ to briefly maintain a height of 1,000' QFE, with the remaining flights of the 5 flown on the day being straight descents from release height.
Thursday 9th. An interesting flying day at Sutton as an initially light SSW'ly soon veered into the W and increased to moderate to fresh before declining again towards the end of the flying day. A mixture of 6 ATs, 3 for First Flight pupils, and 16 winch launches all off runway 24 led to 6 flights of over 30 minutes, of which 3 were over an hour. The day also saw Andrew Bedford re-solo on the winch after 40 years, so well done Andrew. Lift on the main W'ly ridge was a little unreliable, mainly due to wave interference, giving consistent lift to 1200-1300' QFE at times and very patchy lift at others. The wave was, however, contacted by a number of pilots, with climbs to between 6,800' and 8,000' asl. The first to contact the wave were Clive Swain/Steve Morgan in K21 JVZ who climbed to 6,800' asl from their AT release height of 3.,600' asl on a NW/SE beat centred on Sutton village in a flight lasting 54 minutes.. They were followed by Chris Handzlik/Thomasz Rusin in the DG1000 who took a high tow to 4,000' asl and then climbed to 7,100' asl over Topcliffe, reaching their maximum altitude of 7,800' asl over Cowesby, after having explored as far north as the Tontine, returning to site after just under 2 hours.. The two other flights to contact the wave did so from winch launches. Steve Thompson/Roger Taylor, after 20 minutes hill soaring at 1100' QFE in the DG1000, found a hot spot just north of Gormire, eventually climbing to 6,800' asl with a flight time of just over an hour, while Jesper Mjels, flyng the recently returned Discus, climbed to 2,800' asl in the main bowl, then to 7,400' asl just south of Boltby and eventually via a climb over Knayton, got to 8,000' asl just SW of Northallerton before returning via Thirsk, as the cold started to penetrate in his flight of 1:35. The other flight to exceed 30 minutes saw Fred Brown/James Prosser have 31 minutes in the DG1000 off the last winch launch of the day as the sun set, having climbed to 3,100' asl.
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.