Thursday 3rd to Monday 7th February 2022
Posted: 07/02/2022 21:30
Thursday 3rd. A moist and cloudy light to moderate SW'ly brought low cloud and bits and pieces of light rain and drizzle, restricting the flying to 3 ATs off runway 24, with 20 sometimes used for landings. The 3 ATs were primarily for Tug pilot training so all were to 1000' QFE, with Clive Swain/Stuart Wallace in K21 JVZ flying the first one, Clive and Paul Bulmer the second, this time in the DG500 and Paul flying the last, solo in the DG500.
Friday 4th. A moderate W'ly ushered in a patchy hill soaring day, with some thermal for good measure. 10 winch launches were flown off runway 24, the day's three First flight pupils being given ATs, the first of which brought a gain of height of around 1,000' and a flight time of 45 minutes. John Carter and Kelly Teagle investigated the hill lift from a winch launch first thing but winching was not resumed until 1200 hrs when Bruce Grain and Dave McKinney took off in the DG500 and returned some 53 minutes later, having used hill and thermal lift to reach Boltby and the forward ridge, Bill Payton was next off in the DG303, getting to north of the Tontine and to Thornton Le Beans and up to 3,500' asl in his flight of 1:50. Two other flights exceeded 30 minutes, Fred Brown and Dave Thompson in K21 JVZ having 46 minutes, including a climb to 3,100' asl, while Chris Knapp in the Discus had 33 minutes of hill soaring. Conditions then deteriorated and flight times declined to typically 15 minutes.
Saturday 5th. A nearby deep depression led to fresh WSWly winds at site, gusts up to 43 kts being recorded at nearby RAF Topcliffe. This was enough to prevent any flying although low cloud and bits of light rain and drizzle didn't help.
Sunday 6th. A passing cold front left the site in a moderate to fresh, gusty, initially W'ly flow, this veering into the WNW later. RAF Topcliffe recorded a gust of 70 kts in the early afternoon as vigorous sleet/snow and hail showers crossed the area so there was again no flying.
Monday 7th. A sunny start to the day didn't last long as cloud slowly increased, the initial light S'ly progressively veering into the WSW and increasing to moderate. The above changes were reflected in the flying with only Polly Whitehead flying K21 KLW solo managing to stay aloft for longer than 20 minutes out of the the first 5 ATs off runway 24 behind the Eurofox. The 6th flight of the day, Clive Swain and Mike Schueft in K21 JVZ found the main bowl providing some lift which enabled them to extend their flight to 29 minutes. Things continued to improve with Steve Thompson and Dominic Hammond taking a tow and then soaring the main bowl before coming into land after 44 minutes. With the clouds indicating the presence of wave, Steve and Dominic then took a higher tow to 3,000' QFE where they did contact wave near Cowesby, climbing an extra 500' before losing the wave and returning to the main bowl where they soared at 500 to 1100' QFE for another 50 minutes before landing after a flight of 1:27. This proved to be the last flight of the day as the cloud base continued to fall with the approach of a warm front.
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.