When I wrote the previous post, the weather forecast was for only one day of soar-able weather over the Bank Holiday weekend, and that day belonged to my hubby. We duly rigged the glider on Saturday morning, and he went and flew, but the weather conditions weren’t as good as forecast, and he was back on the ground within 2 hours. He was very disappointed, but you can’t help the weather!
We were very surprised to wake up the next day and see clear blue skies. RASP and other forecasts were indicating it would be another good day (2 good days in a row??), and it was my turn to fly!
Just for the practice, I planned a task. I haven’t flown many cross-countries since my son was born, so I planned something fairly short: Sutton Bank, Pontefract, Leyburn, Wetherby, and then back to Sutton Bank for a total distance of 221.4Km. I thought that would be a good task to get me back into the swing of things.
Conditions looked good late morning, so I joined the launch queue and took off at just after lunch time.
Conditions were indeed reasonable, and I released from the aerotow at 1300 feet above Sutton Bank, joining fellow club member Rob Bailey in a thermal just over Bagby airfield. I hung around the club for a while, getting a feel for the conditions and re-familiarising myself with my glider. Then I got into a good thermal to cloudbase and set off on task.
The first leg of the task was reasonably good, getting to Pontefract in around 35 minutes. Coming north again, I caught my best thermal of the day, with an average of 6 knots, back to cloudbase. It was never quite that good again. Slowly I made my way north, topping up at various clouds on the way until I came to Wensleydale. I could see clouds over the hills, but felt I didn’t want to go over the high ground in case it all went wrong. There were few clouds up the Wensleydale valley itself, but I could see one or two wispy clouds near Leyburn. I headed for them, hoping that my luck would hold and they would work. However, it didn’t go to plan.
Heading up the valley, into wind, I was in constant sink. But I held on, as the clouds at Leyburn were still there. I was sure they’d work. I got lower and lower as I approached Leyburn, with the ground rising up to meet me. I identified several fields that would be suitable for landing in if it all went wrong. Just before Leyburn, I passed under one of the wispy clouds, which was looking considerably less well-defined than when I’d seen it from the mouth of the valley. It was dying. As I passed under it, my variometer indicated weak lift with a half-hearted bleep, but it wasn’t enough to turn in. I turned overhead Leyburn, the impartial observer in me noting that I could almost read the street signs. Then I returned to one of the fields I’d picked on the way in, gave it a final check, and started the circuit.
My checklist went as follows: Size: Acceptable. Slope: a little bit, downhill. Landing direction: mostly into wind. Stock: none. Surface: young crop, small enough to see through with big bare patches in the field. Anything else: rocks in the field.
ROCKS IN THE FIELD!!!
The impartial observer in me sat up and took notice. I hadn’t seen the rocks before, as they weren’t that large, and they were the same colour as the bare patches of earth in the field. But, no problem, they were mainly confined to one side of the field, so I could steer away from them. When I landed I came to a stop fairly quickly, without having to use the brakes, as the surface of the field was lightly raked on top. No damage. Phew.
Here’s a photo of one of the rocks:
You wouldn’t normally expect to find these in fields – it was obviously a crop field in regular use so surely these would present a problem to the farmer’s machinery?
In any case, they were a nasty shock, but easily avoided. It reminded me that you never know what you’ll find in a field when you land out!
The rest of the retrieve was uneventful, with a short (1.5 hour) wait for my hubby with the trailer. The place I landed in was very beautiful, with far-reaching views, and I had a very pleasant time sitting in the sun whilst waiting for the trailer.
We were back at the club within 3 hours of my land out, which isn’t bad at all as retrieves go!
Oh well, it’s all part of the fun of gliding!
Here’s a photo of my hubby and son in the field before we derigged. Aren’t they gorgeous? And the glider’s not bad either!
The Secret Life of a Glider Pilot 